Carnival PVP vs. Carnival Groups vs. TA

[Miss Kellybean]

Hi brides and grooms!

 

My love and I are at the beginning stages of planning our spring 2016 wedding on the Carnival Sensation. As I was e-searching last week, my PVP called (they know when we look on their site!) and asked if she could help with anything. I told her what my thoughts were and she shared that she could handle everything. Of course.

 

Where I am having a problem is that in order to get the benefits of being a group, I have to book a minimum of 8 cabins together I explained that I would have at least 8 cabins however; I would not be paying for them and making the booking arrangements all together is more coordination and planning than I am interested in. Also, I will be booking our cabin LONG before any guests will be - in order to book my wedding package. This being the case, she said to just book like normal, have everyone book through her (easy enough) and then she will link our reservations for dining, etc. We would lose the group benefits but essentially still be a group.

 

My questions are:

• What benefits would I miss out on if we book separately?
  
• Could I go through a TA and get the best of both worlds (benefits and separate bookings)?
  
• Has anyone had a strong experience either way?
  

 

Thanks!!

[DustinandStacy2015]

Weran into this same problem. Ultimately we decided to just book everyone separate and just joined our rooms together because our pvp said if we kept the group we would all have the same room types too and too many room types were already booked. Everyone booked on their own and asked me any questions they had.

[amberc1991]

I would book separately through a pvp. We booked early saver and saved thousands of dollars. Like literally $3000 was saved through it. I just read my emails and when a sale was going on I called my pvp and he adjusted it and gave me on board credit. I currently have 10 staterooms linked to my account right now with 35 sailing guests and 57 non sailing attending my wedding.

[slord12]

I also chose to not use the "group bookings" and just have everyone book on their own and link from there. You give up potential price drops with a group booking, and sometimes Carnival is funny about giving you VIFP points for "non-revenue" nights. We have had no problems linking reservations and the group dining coordinator has even emailed me!

[laycj18]

This is a great topic....I went through the same thing. I wanted to book a group for two reasons: 1. We have a large number of people going with us. 2. We booked and are paying for 8 rooms ourselves (for the wedding party).

 

Our PVP said that it would be "best to do individual bookings and then later when it is closer to the cruise, and all guests have booked, we can go back and look at whether it would be beneficial to switch over to a group" - which didn't make any sense to me. So, I guess when it's closer to August I'll find out if it really works like that.

 

I currently have 23 rooms linked to our booking, with more people yet to book. I knew we would have a large party, and with us paying for 8 rooms I was looking forwards to snagging a few free berths from booking as a group. But, it is what it is I guess.

 

I am thinking that you could use a TA and get the best of both worlds, but I'm not certain. If your guests haven't booked yet it might be worth a call to a TA to find out.

[Miss Kellybean]

Great info, ladies! Thank you!!

[Carnival_Brides]

We ran into the same problem as DustinandStacy. We were going to do a group booking, but the rates were higher to make up for the "free berth" and our guests wanted everything from 1A to Grand Suite. We paid for a chunk of our guests to go and easily saved a few thousand dollars by booking separate as Early Saver and watching for price drops. We also ended up only having six cabins and for a group booking there had to be 8.

 

 

It was a bit of work to do it on our own, but if you have a TA that you like and prefer that might be the way to go. We haven't had good TA experiences in the past, so hence the DIY method.

Edited January 10, 2015 by Carnival_Brides

[NL2134]

Like others we debated the same thing and ended up booking separately through the PVP. By booking the group, you miss out on some of the deals, so you may end up paying more per cabin to get that one free cabin and therefore losing that "free cabin" savings. And you miss out on the early saver pricing, which is usually the best deal and it gives you the price guarantee so you benefit from price drops, which can save you A LOT of money.

 

We booked our suite with early saver pricing, but most of our guests slacked on booking and just missed on the ES deal. Prices dropped significantly the week or two before the cruise and most of them would have saved hundreds of dollars if they had booked with ES. Unfortunately, we booked a spa suite and by the time prices were dropping all the suites were booked full, so there was no comparable price drop there for that cabin class. But, usually going with the ES booking and watching for price drops will save you more money in the long run than a group booking will. At least that's what I was told by two PVP's.

[SadieN]

.......................... You give up potential price drops with a group booking.................................

 

I've set up many groups on Carnival (not weddings, I'm not a TA).

 

Many, but not all, rates support group bookings. So there is a potential of getting price drops before final payment.

 

Our TA will choose a variety of cabins based on our group's past history. $25 per person deposit is required to hold the cabins. (Sometimes this isn't needed right away.) When I've put the deposit down I had no trouble at all getting the deposited refunded or paid towards my fare.

 

Problem with waiting to decide if you want to book as a group or not is the Amenity Points available for each cruise. These points cover the 'gimmees'. Photos, cocktail parties, wine, logo items, OBC etc. There are only a few free points available for each cruise though more can be purchased.

[Bo59rt]

We did a group booking with our wedding.

 

here are some quick points i can elaborate more later if you want:

-we booked our family at the first 8 rooms. We then added our friends /extended family later (total of 18 rooms)

- We all booked DIFFERENT room types/categories

- We all booked early saver so we didn't loose out on any price drops. The only thing you lose when you do this is the points amenities which can get you the free cocktail hours and wine bottles and such.

- The thing you will be loosing out on if you don't book a group - you get the average price of a berth (one person) for every 16 berths booked (8 rooms at double occupancy). So we received almost $1600 bucks back two weeks after the cruise)!!!!!

 

- we booked through a group carnival PVP. she is now my normal PVP we loved working with her! Definitely talk to a group PVP before you do anything! you might miss out on some great stuff.

 

 

Sorry i am trying to type this fast before i leave work, if you have any questions i can answer them for you. I just went through all of this for our wedding last April.

[Bo59rt]

We did a group booking with our wedding.

 

here are some quick points i can elaborate more later if you want:

-we booked our family at the first 8 rooms. We then added our friends /extended family later (total of 18 rooms)

- We all booked DIFFERENT room types/categories

- We all booked early saver so we didn't loose out on any price drops. The only thing you lose when you do this is the points amenities which can get you the free cocktail hours and wine bottles and such.

- The thing you will be loosing out on if you don't book a group - you get the average price of a berth (one person) for every 16 berths booked (8 rooms at double occupancy). So we received almost $1600 bucks back two weeks after the cruise)!!!!!

 

- we booked through a group carnival PVP. she is now my normal PVP we loved working with her! Definitely talk to a group PVP before you do anything! you might miss out on some great stuff.

 

 

Sorry i am trying to type this fast before i leave work, if you have any questions i can answer them for you. I just went through all of this for our wedding last April.

 

Oh and you have 2 weeks to book your first 8 rooms if that is of any help.

 

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[oneninjen]

Can anyone message me their Carnival PVP info? I've had nothing but l less than helpful regular agents :(

 

Thank you!

[Carnival_Brides]

Can anyone message me their Carnival PVP info? I've had nothing but l less than helpful regular agents :(

 

Thank you!

 

You can't private message on these boards. You would have to post your email to receive anything.

 

I'd send you mine, but he became waaaaay less helpful after our wedding.

[oneninjen]

Well shucks. Thanks anyway!

[Bo59rt]

I went through contacting the groups department and found mine....she is awesome I wish I could get you get information on here but that's a big no no (which sucks).

 

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[wed2015]

We are getting married May 24, 2015 on the Sensation and we decided to use a TA. It has honestly been great. She handles everything for us. Your guest can make smaller deposit which makes it possible for more people to go. Guest can also choose a Esaver rate if they would like so they get the discounts or get upgrades they just have to pay a larger deposit.

 

Right now we have 34 rooms booked and a total of 80 guest. She sends me an updated list when each payment is due. My guest call her with any questions or concerns. I do contact the wedding department for any wedding details that way she is not in the middle for the most important part.

 

Please feel free to email me if you have any more questions @jewellfrasier@yahoo.com

[dbrown13]

We are probably going to book everything separate as well. We are going to be booking for April of 2016 but we are only inviting 40 guests. My thought is that maybe only half of them will even sail with us. This being said, those that will be sailing with us will not likely be booking in the first 8 weeks.

 

Additionally, if we book together we don't want to have the same room types and my fiance and I don't want to be in a room next to our guests.

 

But I'm still trying to understand the benefit of booking as a group? If you get a certain number of rooms booked then you get yours free? Is that what I'm understanding? Someone also said something about onboard credits? I am booking my cruise later this week (waiting on my tax return to come in) so if anyone has specific additional information they can provide before then I would greatly appreciate it :D

 

Does anyone know if we can just process an upgrade from what we are paying for depending on the number of rooms booked?