How to get on board credit and watch for price drops

[snapsbymel]

Hey! We have booked our first cruise with family members. We have some cruise virginia and some experienced cruisers in our group. This will be a first for the family to go together. We depart on May 31 on the sensation. My question is what's the best way to know about price drops to get a lower priced cruise. Do we need to check the website everyday(please say there is an easier way)? Also, how can we get on board credit? If we get on Board credit can we use it to pay for an excursion since we are paying through the cruise line?

 

Thank you in advance for your help

[fuddrules]

Hey! We have booked our first cruise with family members. We have some cruise virginia and some experienced cruisers in our group. This will be a first for the family to go together. We depart on May 31 on the sensation. My question is what's the best way to know about price drops to get a lower priced cruise. Do we need to check the website everyday(please say there is an easier way)? Also, how can we get on board credit? If we get on Board credit can we use it to pay for an excursion since we are paying through the cruise line?

 

Thank you in advance for your help

 

Couple things to remember:

 

When is your final payment date?

What rate did you book under?

 

In all honesty, checking cruise prices on Carnival.com is usually the best. There are a few other sites you can use (can't say what they are) but when I used those I got a bunch of inaccurate notices.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

Hey! We have booked our first cruise with family members. We have some cruise virginia and some experienced cruisers in our group. This will be a first for the family to go together. We depart on May 31 on the sensation. My question is what's the best way to know about price drops to get a lower priced cruise. Do we need to check the website everyday(please say there is an easier way)? Also, how can we get on board credit? If we get on Board credit can we use it to pay for an excursion since we are paying through the cruise line?

 

Thank you in advance for your help

 

you can use fareviewer.

 

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

 

Bill

[falkcor]

here's a link to fare viewer, to check on the current price of your cruise:

 

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

 

you can get a reduction to the price before final payment with pretty much any fare type. you get obc for the difference after final payment with ES / early saver fare type.

 

you can use this form to report / request the price protection:

 

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

 

yes, you could use obc for shore excursions.

[snapsbymel]

We have to have final payment in by April 1st.

 

We have a oceanview upper deck room.

 

It wasn't a free upgrade we paid an additional $20 per room for upper deck

[snapsbymel]

Thank you for that link falkcor

[SkiTeton]

I check this one daily! So far it's saved me over $70. I called my PVP when I saw it drop and she helped confirm I was eligible. It took all of 5 minutes.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/price-drop/?order_type=cabin&order_by=ASC&destination=&sail_month=&departure=&length=&cruise_line=Carnival+Cruise+Lines&cabin_type=

[snapsbymel]

What is pvp? I booked directly through carnival. This is our base price. Does this mean I need to submit a form for the $15 difference? Does it matter how often we do this?

[S.S.Oceanlover]

yes Falkor that was very nice of you to provide that link.:D

 

Bill

[snapsbymel]

[S.S.Oceanlover]

What is pvp? I booked directly through carnival. This is our base price. Does this mean I need to submit a form for the $15 difference? Does it matter how often we do this?

 

if you booke early saver you can submit as many times as you like up until 2 days before your cruise.

 

If you didn't book early saver you can get reductions up until final payment is due. You also can just call if you didn't book early saver.

 

Bill

[snapsbymel]

Ok, great! I did book early saver.

 

Have you done this before? Does the prices do a bunch of small increment decreases?

[snapsbymel]

Oh wow! I just looked at the pictures I attempted to upload and they are pretty bad. Here they are again. Hopefully it will be clear

[SkiTeton]

What is pvp? I booked directly through carnival. This is our base price. Does this mean I need to submit a form for the $15 difference? Does it matter how often we do this?

 

PVP = Personal Vacation Planner

 

Having a single point of contact with Carnival is such a huge asset IMO. Any question or concern I have I call mine and she makes me feel like I am her only client.

[falkcor]

Ok, great! I did book early saver.

 

Have you done this before? Does the prices do a bunch of small increment decreases?

 

you're in luck then. check it every day. you can apply for price protection up to 2 days before sailing.

 

yes, the prices change constantly, up and down based on supply and demand. i've seen it where placing a hold on a cabin / booking a cabin immediately changes the prices shown on the website.

[snapsbymel]

Ok, I spoke to someone super nice before I booked and got her information. I will call her back and make her my pvp since I didn't get the info of the person we actually booked with

[snapsbymel]

Are those pictures blurry to you? I'm uploading from my cell using best quality but they look horrible to me

[falkcor]

as noted pvp is basically a carnival agent that works for carnival - consider them your carnival TA.

 

it's good that you got their information - just be aware that it may be a 'CVS' = cruise vacation specialist, those are the people you get when you just call the 800 number. a pvp is a little different.

 

the pictures are a little blurry. mostly, it's that they're too small as attachments via the cruise critic attachment format. not really your error, it's just how it works. you can post them to another site like tinypic.url or photobucket then post the link here to be full size.

[snapsbymel]

Ok, thank you so much for your help. I'm about to call now

[falkcor]

Ok, thank you so much for your help. I'm about to call now

 

good luck and a belated welcome to cruise critic. enjoy your first cruise :)

[snapsbymel]

Thank you so much! This is actually my 4th cruise. 3rd on carnival. This will be my first cruise with my family. My sister and her family have never cruised before. My parents have also cruised.

This will be our family vacation for the year ;) I hate I didn't know all this information for the other cruises we took. We just booked through travel agent for those.

 

My husband and I did a Royal Caribbean cruise once but it was tied with a timeshare. We only paid $850 for 4 day cruise and 3 days in Orlando with rental car and park hopper tickets to universal and islands of adventure

[dnj1]

The fair viewer has a lower price, but when I do a mock booking it shows my same booked rate. Is this possible or am I doing something wrong?

[dnj1]

Nevermind.....Fare Viewer, did not include taxes. Oh well better luck later.

[snapsbymel]

Dnj1 I just spoke to pvp. If you have a pvp that you booked with then they can change prices for you. I booked with regular customer service so I will have to submit forms.

 

I thought it was a lower rate but basically you select category and then go to next page. You have to pay attention to the room category you have to check if price changes.

[Retired_to_Cruise]

Ok, great! I did book early saver.

 

Have you done this before? Does the prices do a bunch of small increment decreases?

 

I book ES on a Breeze 8 day cruise the week of Jan 16, 2016 about a week and a half ago. 6 days after I book I was looking at that days rates. I found that in that 6 days the rate had changes by $60.00p/p. I called my PVP (Personal Vacation Planner) at Carnival and she confirmed that there was a reduction. She processed it immediately. I am hoping that this $10.00 p/p a day drop in rates continues because by next January, they will be paying me to take the cruise. :)