Carnival Sudden Price Increases?

[Travelbug78]

Is Carnival known for having sudden price increases? I'm trying to book a balcony room on the Triumph for Sept 2015. Checked pricing last night and when I got to work this morning. Wrote down pricing, then got called into a meeting, came back to my computer, and went back to the site to find that the price had jumped about $100 higher than just an hour and a half before. Is this an error or is Carnival known for this? I sent in a support ticket on the website to see if they will still allow us to have the rate I saw just a couple of hours ago. Any insight here? Thanks!

[firemanbobswife]

They're getting ready for their next big "sale". The current one expires 1/31. They do this every time.

[iheartmarshall]

Out of curiosity, I checked Fare Viewer for my current booking and WOW - prices are almost $150 more than what I paid a month ago. I know they fluctuate but that's a big increase to me. I'd hold off booking and see if they drop in the next couple of weeks.

[Travelbug78]

They're getting ready for their next big "sale". The current one expires 1/31. They do this every time.

 

Oh. Yes, I see the current one is $99 deposit that ends on the 31st. So do you think I should go ahead and book now, or wait until after the 31st because the price will come back down? I've never booked with Carnival before so I don't know all the ins and outs. :)

[flounder315]

i've seen price change 4 times in 12 hours

[cruising maniac]

It will change many times between now and your sailing in September. Depending on how full or how empty the ship is, usually drops to very reasonable before cruising. If you have early saver, you get price matching until 2 days before sailing. We are currently booked at WAY more than I want to pay but experience of 25 cruises tells me that the price will come down.

[skyeman27]

Preparing for the influx of bookings due to their Super Bowl ad???

[Travelbug78]

i've seen price change 4 times in 12 hours

 

Wow, so if I check in a couple of hours, I could find that the price goes back down?

[Dive Master]

Pricing is probably going up to off set the cost of that brilliant bottle of water that Repeat cruisers are getting.

[jenng1976]

You should also know that pretty much any rate can get price adjustments up to final payment date. So, after you book keep an eye on the prices, and if they go down call in and they will make an adjustment.

 

Only Early Saver rates can get price drops after final payment as someone else mentioned.

 

And yes, prices can change frequently, especially closer to sail date.

 

Good luck! :)

 

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Forums mobile app

[TerReuv]

Preparing for the influx of bookings due to their Super Bowl ad???

 

You beat me to it. That is exactly what I was thinking.

Edited January 29, 2015 by TerReuv

[faroozi]

Sometimes "cookies" on your browser see that you are looking to buy certain things and increase the price to give you an urgency to buy now before it goes up again. Not sure if Carnival does this but I know airlines do. I research in Internet Explorer and buy in Chrome or vice versa.

[kteachcruiser52]

Supply and demand play a role. We booked a balcony on a Bermuda cruise for $904 pp cabin rate and now the cheapest interior is $1099 pp cabin rate. On our Splendor repo cruise the price of our room more than doubled, but right before the cruise it went back down to $100 more than we paid. On our Hawaii cruise, the balcony rate went down and we ended up with around $300 OBC. All 3 cruises were booked within a week of when they first became available. So you never know. Just keep watching the prices for price drops.

Edited January 29, 2015 by kteachcruiser52

[Travelbug78]

You should also know that pretty much any rate can get price adjustments up to final payment date. So, after you book keep an eye on the prices, and if they go down call in and they will make an adjustment.

 

Only Early Saver rates can get price drops after final payment as someone else mentioned.

 

And yes, prices can change frequently, especially closer to sail date.

 

Good luck! :)

 

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Forums mobile app

 

Interesting info, thank you. So, maybe we should go ahead and book with the $99 deposit special, then if we see that it goes down just call in and get the adjusted rate? I will probably see this as I book, but do you just make monthly payments to Carnival on the rest until the final payment is due?

[Travelbug78]

Supply and demand play a role. We booked a balcony on a Bermuda cruise for $904 pp cabin rate and now the cheapest interior is $1099 pp cabin rate. On our Splendor repo cruise the price of our room more than doubled, but right before the cruise it went back down to $100 more than we paid. On our Hawaii cruise, the balcony rate went down and we ended up with around $300 OBC. All 3 cruises were booked within a week of when they first became available. So you never know. Just keep watching the prices for price drops.

 

Wow, that's alot of variance! I think I'll probably go ahead and book and I'll definitely keep an eye out and call in for an adjustment if it does drop. Thanks!

[Travelbug78]

Sometimes "cookies" on your browser see that you are looking to buy certain things and increase the price to give you an urgency to buy now before it goes up again. Not sure if Carnival does this but I know airlines do. I research in Internet Explorer and buy in Chrome or vice versa.

 

That was my first thought, Faroozi. I was originally looking in Chrome, so then I went to IE. No dice, got the same price.

[springs741]

I was looking at the Vista TA. Price went up $1000. in five days. Yes, that said one thousand dollars. I was waiting to book when on our Freedom Repo cruise for the OBC. So much for that idea. Now I will just have to hope that after I book the price will come down and I can match thru ES.

[cruizinisthebest]

Pricing with Carnival is like the stock market, it goes up and down, sometime stagnant for days, weeks, months. Just gotta check often. That same sailing may go back down before the day is over. Heck before 5pm!

[firemanbobswife]

Oh. Yes, I see the current one is $99 deposit that ends on the 31st. So do you think I should go ahead and book now, or wait until after the 31st because the price will come back down? I've never booked with Carnival before so I don't know all the ins and outs. :)

 

 

If you want to. If it's ES, then you will get price drops up until 2 days before sailing. Keep in mind that if you price match to another rate that doesn't have the reduced deposit, you will have to pony up the difference at that time or your room will be canceled with no notification.

[michigyrl]

I was looking at the Vista TA. Price went up $1000. in five days. Yes, that said one thousand dollars. I was waiting to book when on our Freedom Repo cruise for the OBC. So much for that idea. Now I will just have to hope that after I book the price will come down and I can match thru ES.

 

I also noticed the crazy price increase on the Vista TA. An inside room last week was $549 I think?? Now it's $1,049. Was half-way contemplating a balcony on that cruise--not so sure now.

[RuthlessBoss]

Interesting info, thank you. So, maybe we should go ahead and book with the $99 deposit special, then if we see that it goes down just call in and get the adjusted rate? I will probably see this as I book, but do you just make monthly payments to Carnival on the rest until the final payment is due?

 

Don't forget, if you get in on another promo, your deposit will change from $99 to whatever the usual deposit is and pony up when you do it. So, be sure a price reduction will benefit your needs.

[Travelbug78]

Pricing with Carnival is like the stock market, it goes up and down, sometime stagnant for days, weeks, months. Just gotta check often. That same sailing may go back down before the day is over. Heck before 5pm!

 

Yes, absolutely. I have been watching these rates all week, and they never changed until after I came back from a meeting this morning. I thought I was good at least until the weekend! Also, the website isn't showing the Early Saver rates boxes on the homepage. That was on there all week until about 10am CST this morning. Now it's just the $99 and some Texas residents special messaging.

Edited January 29, 2015 by Travelbug78

[Travelbug78]

Don't forget, if you get in on another promo, your deposit will change from $99 to whatever the usual deposit is and pony up when you do it. So, be sure a price reduction will benefit your needs.

 

Thanks for the heads up on that. I'll make sure my friend knows, too.

[Travelbug78]

True evidence that different browsers yield different results. I just looked on the Carnival website on IE and on Firefox, price is $299. Looked using Chrome, price for the exact same cruise/dates is $889!! I have all three of these windows open at the same time, and got different pricing. I wonder if I look later tonight if they will come down on all sites. Might make sense to go ahead and book now.

[Cruisin'Allie]

I booked my December cruise for the $99 promo and it appears you only get a 48 hour price adjustment of 110% of the difference. I've done trial bookings and get two different "booking engines" so it's hard to tell what rate you're actually booking.

 

I'm thinking I'm not at an ES rate but I'm probably safe. I got the last 4j cabin available and in order to take advantage of a price drop, it would have to be on the oceanview category pricing and I highly doubt it'll drop much lower than $550 pp on an 8 day. I'm good with my decision tho.