Early Saver Question

[Cruzin4fam]

I need some input regarding Early Savers. I currently have a booking through a travel agency. I noticed that the price in my cruise had dropped. The travel agency won't do anything about it.

 

I went to Carnival's website and did a mock booking and if I do Early Savers it is $200 cheaper than I booked. However, it will cost me $100 to cancel with the agency. It is still worth cancelling and rebooking? Is there anything I should be worried about when booking Early Savers? Would I cancel my travel insurance (purchased through an outside agency) and then repurchase or would it carry over? Thanks for any help/advise you can give. :)

[shof515]

you might get lucky and find someone at carnival that can adjust your booking if you explain to them how horrible and useless your travel agent is

[AdGuyMG]

If you cancel an Early Saver reservation and it's before final payment you are going to have a $50 per person penalty from Carnival. Assuming 2 passengers, that's $100. Then the Travel Agent apparently has a $100 cancellation fee.

 

That's your $200 savings.

 

There's nothing wrong with booking thru a TA but you need to do business with TAs that don't charge fees to book, make changes or cancel.

 

Your 3rd party travel insurance would carry over.

[Cruzin4fam]

If you cancel an Early Saver reservation and it's before final payment you are going to have a $50 per person penalty from Carnival. Assuming 2 passengers, that's $100. Then the Travel Agent apparently has a $100 cancellation fee.

 

That's your $200 savings.

 

There's nothing wrong with booking thru a TA but you need to do business with TAs that don't charge fees to book, make changes or cancel.

 

Your 3rd party travel insurance would carry over.

 

At this point if I cancelled with the TA it would be $100 total. That is it. So I would come out $100 ahead if I cancelled and booked directly with Carnival. Just wondering if I was missing something with ES.

Edited November 1, 2016 by Cruzin4fam

[mishka422]

I'd be calling carnival and telling them the agency won't work with you for the price adjustment you deserve. I'll tell you why....they lose some commission when the price goes down. Refusing to price protect is a bad business practice and will lose repeat business. Disgusting.

 

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[stevethepirate]

Your beef is with your TA. Carnival most likely won't talk to you only the booking agent.

[skrufy]

Carnival will not touch it. TheTA has to make the fare adjustment request. This is the reason we do not book through a TA. I would cancel with the TA, go to Carnival book early saver and grarb the $100.00 savings. You never know, the price could drop again. Read the ES rules before you book. Check with your insurance co. Maybe someone will chime in with the insurance problem. I would cancel on principle if the TA refused to help.

[Buffalofirsttimer4]

Carnival will not touch it. TheTA has to make the fare adjustment request. This is the reason we do not book through a TA. I would cancel with the TA, go to Carnival book early saver and grarb the $100.00 savings. You never know, the price could drop again. Read the ES rules before you book. Check with your insurance co. Maybe someone will chime in with the insurance problem. I would cancel on principle if the TA refused to help.

For our upcoming cruise we booked with a TA but I was able to put thru ES request online, saved $10 and got $50 OBC, right before final payment- I just used the ES form.

 

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[klfrodo]

At this point if I cancelled with the TA it would be $100 total. That is it. So I would come out $100 ahead if I cancelled and booked directly with Carnival. Just wondering if I was missing something with ES.

 

Yes, the TA charges $100.

But Carnival also will charge you $50 pp for canceling under the terms and agreements of the Early Saver program.

 

A TA is like a union at work. They are your representative for all negotiations with Carnival. Like a union, some good/some bad.

[tef43]

Nowhere has the threadstarter indicated that their current booking is ES.

[ItsAllAboutTheSass]

I would inform your TA that this is the last piece of business that they will be receiving from you either directly or from referrals.

[dacsmom]

Submit the form online and see if they will honor it. Sometimes I book with a TA and sometimes through the cruise line, depends on the perks offered. I have been successful in the past getting a price drop using the form online. They did not care who I booked with.

[Cruzin4fam]

Thanks everyone who chimed in. Just to clarify...my original booking was not ES. There would have been no penalty to cancel from Carnival. I checked on that first. It was only the $100 from the TA.

 

I didn't realize yesterday that you could still submit for price drop if you booked through a TA and not directly with Carnival. Good to know.

 

I did inform my TA that in the future I would book with Carnival directly so if there were price changes I could take advantage of those.

 

I have been traveling for work today and just got around to checking email. There was an email from the TA asking if I received my new confirmation. She re-booked the cruise at the lower price. And did NOT charge me the $100 to do so. My faith in good customer service was restored. :D