Costs through a T/A

[jen1016]

I am travelling with a group of about 40 people and the Travel Agent books the cruise and all other little extras. He is looking to book us on the Valor on the Feb 23/14 sailing. He indicated he has booked a block of rooms on the Lido & Panorama decks and has given us our rates.

 

When I look at Carnival website this morning, the base rate for a balcony room is $ 739, he is quoting us $999 CAD for balcony room on the higher decks.

 

Has anyone experienced this kind of discrepancy before? Could it be that he booked his rooms earlier or that there is some kind of sale going on, now? Is the Carnival website in CDN or US dollars?

 

Just curious what other people have found!

 

Thanks :)

Jen

[mrshingles]

You can go to carnival site and look up the same level rooms just like you where going to buy through carnival to see how much the same room is , you can back out before purchase . That is how we check for price drops. If it was just 1 or 2 cabins I just go to carnival . But with that many a T A is a good idea.

[CocoaMom]

I am travelling with a group of about 40 people and the Travel Agent books the cruise and all other little extras. He is looking to book us on the Valor on the Feb 23/14 sailing. He indicated he has booked a block of rooms on the Lido & Panorama decks and has given us our rates.

 

When I look at Carnival website this morning, the base rate for a balcony room is $ 739, he is quoting us $999 CAD for balcony room on the higher decks.

 

Has anyone experienced this kind of discrepancy before? Could it be that he booked his rooms earlier or that there is some kind of sale going on, now? Is the Carnival website in CDN or US dollars?

 

Just curious what other people have found!

 

Thanks :)

Jen

 

Jen - not sure, maybe 'all other little extras' are adding up. And the 739 rate is super saver (carnival assigns cabin). The carnival site is in USD. Quickly looked at your sailing - 896 / 906 USD pp - you have to add $ for certain decks, midship etc which is how I'm coming up with that rate. The caution in my mind would be, if you were to book early saver, you'd be able to take advantage when/if the price goes down ... your current rate seems a bit high and I'd review exactly why.

[FlaMilkman]

Bring the discrepancy to the TA's attention and ask him why there is such a huge difference. Based upon his/her response decide if you want to be part of the group that they are putting together. Group space generally is less expensive (depending on how far out the reservations are made) and may include extra amenities.

[SadieN]

Bring the discrepancy to the TA's attention and ask him why there is such a huge difference. Based upon his/her response decide if you want to be part of the group that they are putting together. Group space generally is less expensive (depending on how far out the reservations are made) and may include extra amenities.

 

adding on--

 

The group price is set and does not fluctuate. The costs for the Amenity points (for the gimmes) is included in the fare. At time of booking it is usually somewhere between the two lowest fares where you can choose your own cabin.

There are only a certain amount of Amenity points available each cruise, but more can be bought.

 

Just because he has blocked a group of cabins does not mean you HAVE to book those cabins. In our group we hold certain categories and there are several that will book other categories, even guarantees.

[Leo's Rule]

I am travelling with a group of about 40 people and the Travel Agent books the cruise and all other little extras. He is looking to book us on the Valor on the Feb 23/14 sailing. He indicated he has booked a block of rooms on the Lido & Panorama decks and has given us our rates.

 

When I look at Carnival website this morning, the base rate for a balcony room is $ 739, he is quoting us $999 CAD for balcony room on the higher decks.

 

Has anyone experienced this kind of discrepancy before? Could it be that he booked his rooms earlier or that there is some kind of sale going on, now? Is the Carnival website in CDN or US dollars?

 

Just curious what other people have found!

 

Thanks :)

Jen

 

Jen, Carnival's site shows in US dollars. I've never looked on the site to see if you have the option of seeing the rate in another currency. I'm not even sure if Carnival has a Canadian site.

 

But the higher rate could be a group rate; they tend to be higher because of added perks (fun points or whatever they're called; you use them for cocktail parties, OBC, wine in the cabin, etc.)

 

Also, rooms may be cheaper than when the TA booked them, but you should qualify for a price reduction.

 

Another point to consider is the added costs for the location of the cabin. The base rate that is shown online is normally always for the cabin with portholes and then the price increases for other room types, floor location (1st, 2nd, 4th, etc) and whether or not you're midship, aft, or fwd.

 

Good luck to you

[Jeffbhhs]

You might want to skip the TA altogether... My understanding was that with groups you should be able to get at least one cabin for free... Now you can just divide that savings over the group, but you should definitely be paying less than advertised in my opinion...

 

Also keep in mind that some Travel Agents charge a bit more for extra profits... I have had one give bad rates like this... So I always go through Carnival direct...