Better deals for those with Red cards than Platinum with CCL

[riclop]

SOOOO frustrated with Carnival right now. I am ready to book a cruise. Credit card in hand. I have been platinum for several years. Surprisingly, I get very few email offers for deals, but a friend of mine, who cruised with me a few years back and had my email address on her booking, is getting them DAILY! Reduced prices, reduced deposits, upgrades, but NOTHING for my platinum status. I've watched CCL go cheap on a lot of things over the years, but you would think that they would want to keep their customers who have been loyal to them coming back. I even called to see if they had anything they can offer; I just got an apology...but no deals. Guess I will be booking an all-inclusive at a resort, instead of taking a cruise. :mad::mad:Anyone else encounter this issue?

Just keep checking the web site daily.

[spookyfudge]

SOOOO frustrated with Carnival right now. I am ready to book a cruise. Credit card in hand. I have been platinum for several years. Surprisingly, I get very few email offers for deals, but a friend of mine, who cruised with me a few years back and had my email address on her booking, is getting them DAILY! Reduced prices, reduced deposits, upgrades, but NOTHING for my platinum status. I've watched CCL go cheap on a lot of things over the years, but you would think that they would want to keep their customers who have been loyal to them coming back. I even called to see if they had anything they can offer; I just got an apology...but no deals. Guess I will be booking an all-inclusive at a resort, instead of taking a cruise. :mad::mad:Anyone else encounter this issue?

 

yes:halo:

[CRUISERMOMX3]

I would agree, but the emails are coming directly to my inbox with her past passenger info from Carnival. And they come often. I get very few of them and none with any good deals.

I get them weekly for my ex-husband and we’ve been divorced for 10 years!

[BlerkOne]

If you want to trade places, perhaps just create a new profile on Carnival.com and start booking under that ?

[S.S.Oceanlover]

OK. Here is my take. My wife gets those offers at my email and I do not. We have different last names. She has never booked a Carnival cruise, I book our travel. I am diamond she is platinum. I have booked before through a travel agent. I wonder if that is the reason they do not market to me directly. Cruise lines walk a very thin line when it comes to their relationships with agents. They try not to "undersell" agents with offers agents are not allowed to sell. Am I on to something here, or just throwing spaghetti at the wall?

 

What kinds of offers does CCL have that agents aren't allowed to sell?

 

Bill

[foxglove]

What kinds of offers does CCL have that agents aren't allowed to sell?

 

Bill

 

That's what I intended to say.

[floridafunlady]

I am Red and got off a cruise less than 2 weeks ago. I did a mock booking with my "special" deal and it was still more than the mass cruise TA so there really is no way of knowing.

 

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[donan54]

SOOOO frustrated with Carnival right now. I am ready to book a cruise. Credit card in hand. I have been platinum for several years. Surprisingly, I get very few email offers for deals, but a friend of mine, who cruised with me a few years back and had my email address on her booking, is getting them DAILY! Reduced prices, reduced deposits, upgrades, but NOTHING for my platinum status. I've watched CCL go cheap on a lot of things over the years, but you would think that they would want to keep their customers who have been loyal to them coming back. I even called to see if they had anything they can offer; I just got an apology...but no deals. Guess I will be booking an all-inclusive at a resort, instead of taking a cruise. :mad::mad:Anyone else encounter this issue?

In our experience, we just decide on a cruise with an itinerary we want, from a port we want to leave from & we book the best rate we can get - always, always book on Early Saver. We are Diamond on Carnival, Emerald on Celebrity & Royal Caribbean. Hubby & I both get emails constantly. I believe there are settings somewhere in the websites where you can request the frequency of your emails.

Sometimes we do think about booking when they offer things like Reduced Deposits!

 

In my humble opinion, if you sit around & WAIT for offers, you are too late! The best rates are gone! There are so many ins & outs to these rates & from what I hear, people get screwed royally. If you have already booked & find a reduced rate for your cabin category, you have to be careful cause you can lose perks you got with the original booking; i.e. on board credits. The casino rates offered say they can save you up to $500? Trust me, hasn't happened yet! I save more money just by booking ahead, checking one other website that Cruise Critic won't let me mention here & watching the rates daily ( or at least weekly). As long as you book Early Saver, you can get your cruise rate reduced all the way up to 2 days prior to sailing! But NO cruise line will ever notify you that a price reduction has occurred. The onus is on you to check the rates yourself!

 

I also don't believe there are any "special" or frequent offerings based strictly on your loyalty status! Red card holders don't get any more emails than Diamond card holders! These cruise lines want MONEY regardless of how many times you've sailed! Go to their websites & check the parameters for your emails. They do send out offers based on the state you live in, where you generally like to cruise & what season you cruise. You should also be able to check the frequency of receiving emails. Generally, my inbox stays full!

Hope this helps! Happy sails!

 

 

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[Towel Critter]

Don't depend on emails. Those "specials" are for the most part smoke and mirrors. As others have said, it's up to the shopper to shop and to shop all lines.

[loveJake]

Okay now lets see if I got this correct. You are getting the emails. But they have her info. Sounds to me more of a computer clitch then anything. Most likely what happened was some how when you cruise together her name was listed first on the booking. We get the same thing I gent emails almost daily from carnival with my wife's info. She gets almost none. Our cruise history is the same.

We have taken our grandkids on numerous cruises, I get emails in there name all the time, they have never taken a cruise with out us, they are adults now. I seem to never get emails when I have a cruise booked, only when the cruise is over, usually have one booked. So Don't get offers, except casino ones.

[donan54]

This is just a guess but I imagine Carnival tracks everything about you onboard. How much you gamble, how much you drink, how much you shop, how you tip, shore excursions, spa services etc. They then profile you as a customer, give you an internal rating and target market you. A long time cruiser who carries onboard drinks, has done all the excursions and doesn’t spend much is not as profitable as a red card cruiser who has a big onboard account at the end of the cruise.

 

I know the companies I have worked for know all these details of their customers.

 

 

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I can verify from talking to officers on different cruise ships that this is INDEED what they do! But I disagree that if you don't shop or drink much, they don't care about you. Goes back to that almighty dollar again, but loyalty goes a long way. I have actually started booking my own private excursions, but I'm still getting targeted excursion emails.

 

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[donan54]

It was a casino offer, which I found to good to be true also. But I wasn't about to wait for them to pull it back if it was a mistake.

 

Editted: No, no comps other than the casino offer, and no certificates. We have had a couple of cruises where we missed a port and they gave us a 25% discount on future cruises, if that's what you mean.

We've been offered FREE cruises before, just pay taxes & fees. Sometimes casino stuff, sometimes not.

 

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[donan54]

For me, I agree that trying the other lines is a good thing. I also agree that sailing a line because of the loyalty status alone is a bit silly.

 

Although, everyone has different needs/wants. Some people have very basic needs. Some need to be dazzled all of the time. A loyalty status could be that icing on the cake for some.

We've been on almost all the other lines, (except princess) but why waste your money for basically the same thing when you can't beat Carnivals prices. Granted, Carnival doesn't do much of Europe, but we've managed to visit most of it thru them.

 

We appreciate the diamond status we have with Carnival. No the perks are almost the same as platinum, but sitting with Capt of each ship has been some of the best memories we've had!

 

One of the best things any traveler can do is make friends with members of the crew. They will take care of you! No need for give- ahead tips or extra tips either. We are still in contact with crew members we sailed with since 1997, and the list is growing. We have little reunion parties when we meet up with them again. We've even had a maitre'd who came off another ship to meet us down on the sidewalk when our ship was in the same port! No one can give you more of an inside scoop like crew members!

 

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[CavemanTactics]

Call Carnival & get with a Booking Agent. Have had some horrible experiences, almost left Carnival yet our agent stepped in & helped resolve everything. Our Carnival agent has got us dialed in and knows everything we want so I get alot of awesome offers.:)😁 That's where I would start.

[SmileEh]

SOOOO frustrated with Carnival right now. I am ready to book a cruise. Credit card in hand. I have been platinum for several years. Surprisingly, I get very few email offers for deals, but a friend of mine, who cruised with me a few years back and had my email address on her booking, is getting them DAILY! Reduced prices, reduced deposits, upgrades, but NOTHING for my platinum status. I've watched CCL go cheap on a lot of things over the years, but you would think that they would want to keep their customers who have been loyal to them coming back. I even called to see if they had anything they can offer; I just got an apology...but no deals. Guess I will be booking an all-inclusive at a resort, instead of taking a cruise. :mad::mad:Anyone else encounter this issue?

 

Yep same thing here... I am Platinum and my husband is Gold... I never get any kind of promotion or upgrade offer but her gets one every week it seems... makes no sense to me... and yes it bothers me too

[JinxyB]

A few years ago I was planning a short cruise from Jacksonville with my sister. She has a red card and I am platinum. We were on the phone checking out the cabins and her past guest rate was $50pp cheaper than mine. I had her screen shot the page and send it to me so I could verify that it wasn't a resident discount, etc. (we live in different states). Sure enough, the same cabin was $50pp cheaper than any rate I could get so we booked it under her name/rate. My sister proceeds to tell me in the weeks leading up to the cruise that she is getting calls from Carnival daily for paid upgrades-she got annoyed and stopped answering the calls.

 

Fast forward to the day of embarkation and my sister picks me up at the airport and tells me to listen to a voicemail from Carnival. They are offering a paid upgrade to a balcony cabin. I called them back just to hear the offer and it was more money than we wanted to spend so we declined the offer. We are in the security line and Carnival calls my sister's phone again. We did not answer it but check the voicemail and it is the same agent offering the cabin upgrade for FREE this time. We call the agent back and they communicate with guest services and we scored our free balcony cabin upgrade. I was very happy about this, don't get me wrong, but I was also a little resentful because I have never been offered anything like this for free. They figure I am a loyal customer and will keep coming back, so why bribe me with incentives and free upgrades.

 

After my very disappointing cruise on the Vista a few weeks ago, I vowed to not sail Carnival again and came home and cancelled my bookings. Now I am getting emails every few days for "special offers" and sales that I have never gotten before when I had future bookings. It will take a lot for me to ever set foot on a Carnival ship again!!

[Doggielover68]

We are Platinum now as well and never get any special offers, probably because we already have 6 cruises booked. We get our own deals by planning ahead and that way, we can vacation on our schedule instead of whenever a last minute offer comes up. Sure, we could hop on over to another cruiseline and take advantage of their special offers, but Carnival is always cheaper for us in the end since we need to plan in advance.

 

Unfortunately that is just the way it goes.

 

 

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[pacruise804]

Of course they make better offers to try and attract new cruisers.

 

The big problem is attracting cruisers who frequent other lines because of the "second" class treatment a new cruiser receives on board a Carnival cruise.

 

Want to talk to Guest Services? Stand in a very long line while others get to cut the line and walk right up.

 

Want to tender ashore? Stand on line and watch the "special" cruisers be escorted to cut the line.

 

Sign up for a check in time? Sure, and watch others walk in and board whenever they wish once boarding has started.

 

The example are numerous and while many of you feel you "earned" those rights, it really doesn't make a real good impression on experience cruisers from other lines.

 

And no, one is not treated so obviously as second class on other lines as a first timer. There may be benefits as a repeat customer (and I have very high status in some lines' loyalty programs), but it is more discreet and better done.

 

My personal yardstick for an onboard experience is that the first time cruiser on that line is treated no different than the cruiser on their fiftieth cruise with the line (as I said, any repeat privileges are discreet). Carnival falls short in this aspect.

 

I'm not sure about all lines, but Princess definitely has the different levels too. We did our first cruise with them a year ago and won "Elite" for the cruise at a first time guest meeting. They had a dedicated guest services line, Elite level parties, and priority disembarking (other perks too, but those would be visible). I remember reading some of the card color status issues on their boards too. They even had cabin mailboxes labeled with your loyalty level (ours were switched out during the cruise).

 

On either RCL or NCL we had requested robes (something standard for all on Carnival upon request) and told they were only available for higher status cruisers.

 

I don't think Carnival is alone in not-so-discreet loyalty levels.

[firefly333]

I get the emails and more often than not find they are not deals. They will say discounted, but then its early saver claiming its discounted from some other fare.

 

I just did a pretend booking as i was talkingn about on another thread at 2 am last night because i saw they were advertising a $50 obc, ..lol turns out for $25 pp x 2, i could book that fare and get the $50 obc sale price.

 

Every time i get those sales they arent really sales, at least not for what i want to book out of Galveston, maybe there is a special sale and its out of Miami for instance which also helps me not at all.

 

Ive about quit even bothering to look into their sales which never apply to Galveston.

[donan54]

A few years ago I was planning a short cruise from Jacksonville with my sister. She has a red card and I am platinum. We were on the phone checking out the cabins and her past guest rate was $50pp cheaper than mine. I had her screen shot the page and send it to me so I could verify that it wasn't a resident discount, etc. (we live in different states). Sure enough, the same cabin was $50pp cheaper than any rate I could get so we booked it under her name/rate. My sister proceeds to tell me in the weeks leading up to the cruise that she is getting calls from Carnival daily for paid upgrades-she got annoyed and stopped answering the calls.

 

Fast forward to the day of embarkation and my sister picks me up at the airport and tells me to listen to a voicemail from Carnival. They are offering a paid upgrade to a balcony cabin. I called them back just to hear the offer and it was more money than we wanted to spend so we declined the offer. We are in the security line and Carnival calls my sister's phone again. We did not answer it but check the voicemail and it is the same agent offering the cabin upgrade for FREE this time. We call the agent back and they communicate with guest services and we scored our free balcony cabin upgrade. I was very happy about this, don't get me wrong, but I was also a little resentful because I have never been offered anything like this for free. They figure I am a loyal customer and will keep coming back, so why bribe me with incentives and free upgrades.

 

After my very disappointing cruise on the Vista a few weeks ago, I vowed to not sail Carnival again and came home and cancelled my bookings. Now I am getting emails every few days for "special offers" and sales that I have never gotten before when I had future bookings. It will take a lot for me to ever set foot on a Carnival ship again!!

Don't base a sailing on the Vista as the standard for all Carnival cruises. We hated the Vista! But we're sticking with Carnival & currently have 8 booked. I'm not sure what all you other people have going on, but we have inboxes FLOODED with offers from Carnival & Celebrity!

 

If you didn't like Vista, try a much more congenial ship class like Spirit; Legend, Miracle, Pride, etc. Love this class!

 

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[I Luv Crusin]

Okay now lets see if I got this correct. You are getting the emails. But they have her info. Sounds to me more of a computer clitch then anything. Most likely what happened was some how when you cruise together her name was listed first on the booking. We get the same thing I gent emails almost daily from carnival with my wife's info. She gets almost none. Our cruise history is the same.

 

We did a cruise in January. I had my email on the bookings since I was planning the trip but not paying for my and son and DIL. I keep getting emails for my DIL. Same deals. I generally don't pay attention to them because we are booked out until April 2020.

[NavarreCruiser]

A few years ago I was planning a short cruise from Jacksonville with my sister. She has a red card and I am platinum. We were on the phone checking out the cabins and her past guest rate was $50pp cheaper than mine. I had her screen shot the page and send it to me so I could verify that it wasn't a resident discount, etc. (we live in different states). Sure enough, the same cabin was $50pp cheaper than any rate I could get so we booked it under her name/rate. My sister proceeds to tell me in the weeks leading up to the cruise that she is getting calls from Carnival daily for paid upgrades-she got annoyed and stopped answering the calls.

 

Fast forward to the day of embarkation and my sister picks me up at the airport and tells me to listen to a voicemail from Carnival. They are offering a paid upgrade to a balcony cabin. I called them back just to hear the offer and it was more money than we wanted to spend so we declined the offer. We are in the security line and Carnival calls my sister's phone again. We did not answer it but check the voicemail and it is the same agent offering the cabin upgrade for FREE this time. We call the agent back and they communicate with guest services and we scored our free balcony cabin upgrade. I was very happy about this, don't get me wrong, but I was also a little resentful because I have never been offered anything like this for free. They figure I am a loyal customer and will keep coming back, so why bribe me with incentives and free upgrades.

 

After my very disappointing cruise on the Vista a few weeks ago, I vowed to not sail Carnival again and came home and cancelled my bookings. Now I am getting emails every few days for "special offers" and sales that I have never gotten before when I had future bookings. It will take a lot for me to ever set foot on a Carnival ship again!!

 

Adding to the theory that if you have a cruised booked you do not get any specific offers. I have taken 92 Carnival cruises since 2005. I have always had multiple cruises booked. I have received zero special email offers. After I hit 100 and get the free cruise I will spend my $s and time on Royal. It will be interesting to see if I start getting offers then.

[gmblr]

As a red card ccl cruiser / gambler I received multiple offers. Mostly $200/cruise plus tax and gratuity for two people with a $200 room credit and $1000 casino cash.

 

My September 2018 cruise was $200 plus tax and gratuity with a $200 room credit. So, about $650 my cost not including the $200 credit. That’s for a ocean suite on the horizon for two. Without the seal it would have been about $4500 or more.

 

I receive weekly free cruise offers. I’ll have taken 10 carnival cruises by this years end. I’ll be platinum by years end. I hope the free cruises don’t stop.

[5PUPS]

Yep same thing here... I am Platinum and my husband is Gold... I never get any kind of promotion or upgrade offer but her gets one every week it seems... makes no sense to me... and yes it bothers me too

Same here!

 

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