Early saver question!!! Please help

[ravluis]

hi, my family and i just booked carnival glory for february 2015, and we recieved the ealry saver rate. This is my first time booking so far in advance and recieving early saver. My pvp advised me that i would need to check the rates myself everyday and call them if the rate was to drop. My question is, the cruise isn't until feb 2015 should i be checking everyday now or is their a certain time frame out from the cruise i should actaully start checking? Is their a certain time during the day the rates actually drop? Also, is their a certain website i should be checking, or just check carnival's website? Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[ravluis]

I've never received a price drop and I check all. the. time. I hope you have better luck than me!

 

LOL, funny thing is I was also wondering if I would ever even see a price drop. My PVP claimed I should. But for some reason I don't see it happening.

[twinmom38]

it has to be Carnivals website, I know that for sure... and I do check, though not everyday, but at least a couple of times a week.. my son has over $300.00 in on board credit, from price drops in his cabin category.. so yes it does pay.. there are other things that factor in though so be advised.. like if you had any discounts such as military, or whatever.. basically they cancel and rebook for you at the new rate.. but if you had any discounts or promotions, they wont be there when they "re-book" it for you .. so make sure your PVP explains it all to you.. ENJOY!!!

[springs741]

Here is the link to the fare viewer.

http://www.carnival.com/BookingEngine/FareViewer

 

I have sometimes had great luck with ES and other times not so good. Last year we had over $700 in OBC on our Alaska cruise. This year's Alaska cruise the only OBC was from booking on a cruise.

 

Remember when you compare price you go to manage my booking and use the dollar amount listed as cruise rate only. This is before tax, port fees, auto grats and/ or insurance. When I find a lower rate I just submit the form.

 

http://www.carnival.com/request-forms/price-protection-claim.aspx

 

By submitting the form (be sure to print) you don't have to connect with anyone. I have found price drops in the middle of the night on a weekend. Kinda hard to get your PVP on the phone at those odd hours.

 

Like OP I have a cruise booked in early 2015 and I am checking once or twice per day. I also have late summer booked for family (4 stateroom configurations) and one in January 2016. Six cruises to price check twice per day!!!

 

Happy cruising and good luck with those price drops!!

[Brighton Line]

I'm with using the form, got an answer with in 12 hours, and the answer included OBC only a $60 drop but I check every day since I made the reservation and will do so until 2 days before.

[ravluis]

Here is the link to the fare viewer.

http://www.carnival.com/BookingEngine/FareViewer

 

I have sometimes had great luck with ES and other times not so good. Last year we had over $700 in OBC on our Alaska cruise. This year's Alaska cruise the only OBC was from booking on a cruise.

 

Remember when you compare price you go to manage my booking and use the dollar amount listed as cruise rate only. This is before tax, port fees, auto grats and/ or insurance. When I find a lower rate I just submit the form.

 

http://www.carnival.com/request-forms/price-protection-claim.aspx

 

By submitting the form (be sure to print) you don't have to connect with anyone. I have found price drops in the middle of the night on a weekend. Kinda hard to get your PVP on the phone at those odd hours.

 

Like OP I have a cruise booked in early 2015 and I am checking once or twice per day. I also have late summer booked for family (4 stateroom configurations) and one in January 2016. Six cruises to price check twice per day!!!

 

Happy cruising and good luck with those price drops!!

 

Thank you so much for this information!!!! I am saving those links. I will be checking everyday.

[ajenali]

I always check, if not daily then every other day. Sometimes it pays off, and sometimes it doesnt. Working on #8 cruise with Carnival and have only received one price drop of $20 in the past. But in the past 5 days, I have received 4 price drops resulting in a $320 OBC for my upcoming cruise.

 

Keep checking!!! :D

[Sparky2]

We booked our January 2015 B2B while on our January 2014 B2B.

 

I check in the morning and evening almost everyday.

 

We received a price drop on May 8th for the 2nd cruise. So, yes, they might drop the price very early so it pays to keep checking.

[kona_wahine]

We are booked for April, and I'm thinking if a price drop does happen it would be just a couple months in advance. I do check, but will be more so when we are closer. So far, rate hasn't budged.

[lady_cruiser]

hi, my family and i just booked carnival glory for february 2015, and we recieved the ealry saver rate. This is my first time booking so far in advance and recieving early saver. My pvp advised me that i would need to check the rates myself everyday and call them if the rate was to drop. My question is, the cruise isn't until feb 2015 should i be checking everyday now or is their a certain time frame out from the cruise i should actaully start checking? Is their a certain time during the day the rates actually drop? Also, is their a certain website i should be checking, or just check carnival's website? Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

One place that I have found price drops on our cruises was at the Roll Call. People on the Roll Calls I have on have always been anxious to share the good news about price drops.

 

Check their too.

[jandb6266]

I am lucky I am retired and can check for price drops 4 to 5 times daily at all hours. Remember to check because they will sometimes change rates a couple of times a day. On my last cruise on the dream I saved 376.00 from when I first booked. When I returned home on 10/19/2013 I booked on the pride five days later. So far no drops in fact today it jumped 60.00. Thank God I do not have to pay for increase. We still have 107 days till we sail so I will keep on looking. Have a great cruise

[dadroy]

Unless you spend a lot of time here on CC you may not understand that your chances of a price drop directly relate to the category of room you book. For example, a category with 10 rooms, is not likely to get any drops. They will fill those up fairly quickly.

 

A category with 50 rooms is more likely to have open rooms as they get closer to sail date. Carnival will drop these prices to sell them and that is when you get the price match.

[lrockwitt]

I check pretty often and always book early saver. We have had many price drops. Just had one on a B2B on Freedom in December, which we booked a year ago. I keep watching as it will probably drop more as it gets closer.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[isaiahsnana]

Booked regular balcony cabins on the Magic, first cruise got $450 total OBC and on second cruise on the Magic (thanks to the Triumph problems) got price drops/OBC for the cabin of $1150. I always checked a couple of times a day, from the time I booked the cruise which for one was almost a year and for the other 6 months, takes only about 2 minutes! I would always be willing to invest 5 minutes a day to save that much money!!

[shukapaw]

@ravluis,

 

As you can see from these posts, there are a lot of variables which determine if/when you might expect a price drop. Here is a bit of history on our experience with our pricing for our sailing in a couple Saturdays from now

 

Sailing: Carnival Freedom, June 14, 2014

Original booking date: June 26, 2013 - almost a year in advance!!

Cabin type: Ocean View, Midship, Main deck (note: there are quite a few of this variety so this probably helps with price drop availability)

 

Original Price June 26, 2013: $2395.24

 

Sept 16, 2013 re-fare: $2225.24

December 16, 2013 re-fare: $2117.84

Jan 28, 2014 re-fare: $2014.56

Mar 20, 2014 re-fare: $2014.56 PLUS $50 OBC

Apr 7, 2014 re-fare: $2014.56 PLUS $100 OBC

Apr 25, 2014 re-fare: $1814.56 PLUS $50 OBC (Military rate)

May 2, 2014 re-fare: $1714.56 PLUS $50 OBC (Military rate)

May 16, 2014 re-fare: $1494.56 (Senior rate - lost the OBC but price difference more than made up for that :D)

May 27, 2014 re-fare: $1394.56 (Senior rate)

May 30, 2014 re-fare: $1294.56 (Senior rate)

 

So, as you can see, our rate has so far dropped from 2395.24 to 1294.56!!.... $1100.68 price reduction.... almost a 46% savings. :eek: Of course, this is because we qualify for the senior fare. Right now, without the senior fare, the best rate for that cabin is $1554.56 which would still be a 35% price drop. Not too shabby!

 

We still have a couple weeks to go so I'm keeping my eyes peeled. I don't believe this is typical for all cruises but at least it gives you an idea of what can happen.

 

I'm a price junkie and check the fare once a day or so. Like somebody else mentioned, joining a roll call for your sailing is a good way to hear about specials. I generally let members of my roll call know when I see a price drop. Also, there is at least one online service which will monitor your cruise for you. (Can't mention the name here. ) They have a very inexpensive service to monitor your selected sailing(s), cabin categories, etc and will send you an email notification about price changes as they occur. It's a dollar or two well-spent IMHO.

 

Brian

Edited May 31, 2014 by shukapaw

[jazzlover04]

It pays to check! I went from 2 interiors to 2 oceanviews side by side and picked up 450 bucks obc for a total of 972.00. Keep checking and ask questions. Politely don't take no for an answer.

[camper49]

We have cat 8b on our Jan. 2015 Sunshine cruise...i booked it in Feb. of this year. It looks like 8b is sold out already!..

[Cruisin'Allie]

I got almost $550 in OBC on my Breeze cruise but that was only after the final payment date. It actually went up a little before final date. I used the form both times I saw drops. Once was at 3 am! I was on my phone and took screenshots of both the mock booking and of completed form. Never needed to use them for proof.