Price Protection - Drama??

[Electricx]

Hello!

 

Please see my previous post: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2673101

 

On August 29 I called for a price reduction, as I was booked under early saver, and received a casino offer. They gave my husband and I an OBC of 120, and we were both eligible for 50 Casino Cash each.

 

I check the price of our cruise today, and it has gone down another 60.00. So I called....

 

The first gentleman I spoke with immediately processed it, and sent us the new confirmation. It showed the price reduction, but not the extra 60 as OBC. So I called back and spoke with someone else.

 

I was told that the 60 would be refunded to us, and I wanted it added to our OBC. I ended up 'debating' with the guy because he told us we were now booked under the Casino deal (which is why we were getting the casino cash), and that we can only get price reductions until the final payment date (Nov 18). And once you are on the casino deal, 'refunds' go back on your card, not done as OBC. I quoted the 'Once an Early Saver, always an early saver'...but that didn't seem to get me anywhere.

 

Ultimately what I wanted was the 60 to be OBC, which is what I got...but he told us we are under the casino deal now...which doesn't make sense since there is no price protection on the casino deal. I asked what the note meant under my confirmation (ie early saver), and he didn't know, then when I told him it was early saver, he said NO. He told me that Carnival doesn't combine deals (ie early saver and casino), and I tried explaining that we didn't switch promos, we were priced matched based on the promo...which didn't get me anywhere either.

 

I am very new to the price protection...apparently I have only gone on cruises that have gone up in price! Am I saying these things incorrectly? Is there another way that I should be explaining etc so that the customer reps know what I am talking about?

 

Thanks for your help!!

[cherylandtk]

Here is what I was told; the ES Protection only applies to publicly available rates...meaning casino rates are targeted and thus not part of the price protection guarantee. But, since you were eligible for the casino rate, you could get it by changing your booking from ES to Casino. Which apparently is what happened, but not well explained to you.

[Donh44]

Hello!

 

Please see my previous post: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2673101

 

On August 29 I called for a price reduction, as I was booked under early saver, and received a casino offer. They gave my husband and I an OBC of 120, and we were both eligible for 50 Casino Cash each.

 

I check the price of our cruise today, and it has gone down another 60.00. So I called....

 

The first gentleman I spoke with immediately processed it, and sent us the new confirmation. It showed the price reduction, but not the extra 60 as OBC. So I called back and spoke with someone else.

 

I was told that the 60 would be refunded to us, and I wanted it added to our OBC. I ended up 'debating' with the guy because he told us we were now booked under the Casino deal (which is why we were getting the casino cash), and that we can only get price reductions until the final payment date (Nov 18). And once you are on the casino deal, 'refunds' go back on your card, not done as OBC. I quoted the 'Once an Early Saver, always an early saver'...but that didn't seem to get me anywhere.

 

Ultimately what I wanted was the 60 to be OBC, which is what I got...but he told us we are under the casino deal now...which doesn't make sense since there is no price protection on the casino deal. I asked what the note meant under my confirmation (ie early saver), and he didn't know, then when I told him it was early saver, he said NO. He told me that Carnival doesn't combine deals (ie early saver and casino), and I tried explaining that we didn't switch promos, we were priced matched based on the promo...which didn't get me anywhere either.

 

I am very new to the price protection...apparently I have only gone on cruises that have gone up in price! Am I saying these things incorrectly? Is there another way that I should be explaining etc so that the customer reps know what I am talking about?

 

Thanks for your help!!

 

I have always booked Early Saver and this is my 9th or 10th Carnival cruise. I have always been happy to get the reductions in price. This time (and I am booked for Oct 27 to Bermuda on the Conquest) they called and offered me a balcony upgrade for $300 (I always have an inside cabin). Because of my price reductions, I had accumulated $269 in OBC. Had I taken that upgrade offer, I would have had to pay the $300 plus I would have lost my OBC that I got for ES. These different categories are so confusing. Glad that I stayed with my Inside cabin.

[sanger727]

Hello!

 

 

 

Please see my previous post: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2673101

 

 

 

On August 29 I called for a price reduction, as I was booked under early saver, and received a casino offer. They gave my husband and I an OBC of 120, and we were both eligible for 50 Casino Cash each.

 

 

 

I check the price of our cruise today, and it has gone down another 60.00. So I called....

 

 

 

The first gentleman I spoke with immediately processed it, and sent us the new confirmation. It showed the price reduction, but not the extra 60 as OBC. So I called back and spoke with someone else.

 

 

 

I was told that the 60 would be refunded to us, and I wanted it added to our OBC. I ended up 'debating' with the guy because he told us we were now booked under the Casino deal (which is why we were getting the casino cash), and that we can only get price reductions until the final payment date (Nov 18). And once you are on the casino deal, 'refunds' go back on your card, not done as OBC. I quoted the 'Once an Early Saver, always an early saver'...but that didn't seem to get me anywhere.

 

 

 

Ultimately what I wanted was the 60 to be OBC, which is what I got...but he told us we are under the casino deal now...which doesn't make sense since there is no price protection on the casino deal. I asked what the note meant under my confirmation (ie early saver), and he didn't know, then when I told him it was early saver, he said NO. He told me that Carnival doesn't combine deals (ie early saver and casino), and I tried explaining that we didn't switch promos, we were priced matched based on the promo...which didn't get me anywhere either.

 

 

 

I am very new to the price protection...apparently I have only gone on cruises that have gone up in price! Am I saying these things incorrectly? Is there another way that I should be explaining etc so that the customer reps know what I am talking about?

 

 

 

Thanks for your help!!

 

 

 

So not an expert on early saver; but here is how it works for every other booking type: up until final payment is due if the price drops you can call and get the difference refunded. Which is what they tried to do so you are almost certainly not under early saver anymore. The reason this happens is because these bookings are refundable until final payment; so if they said no, you would just cancel and rebook under the new price. After final payment there is no price protection.

 

Early saver on the other hand is non-refundable from the beginning but allows for price matching via OBC up to sailing (including after final payment).

 

So I would expect at this point that you will continue getting price drops until final payment (offered as a cash refund) and once final payment passes your price will no longer be eligible for price drops.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Howlonguntilmynextcruise?]

Early saver on the other hand is non-refundable from the beginning but allows for price matching via OBC up to sailing (including after final payment).

 

So I would expect at this point that you will continue getting price drops until final payment (offered as a cash refund) and once final payment passes your price will no longer be eligible for price drops.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Hmm, definitely not an expert here, but when I asked for price protection before final payment was made, my final payment amount was reduced. If it was after I made the final payment, I received the difference as OBC. This was with early saver.

[Nic6318]

Hi

 

As many on this site have said before, when speaking with someone on the phone, who doesn't seem to understand your position, just call back or ask to speak with a supervisor. Apparently, you will get many different responses to the same query.

 

I would also suggest asking to be assigned a PVP, I have found that they typically have a better general knowledge of the rules.

 

My personal experience with casino rates was that you would lose your deposit for a cancellation before final payment. That was what was indicated online for my current booking. I had never paid any attention before, but I did notice it now. I can imagine that different casino promotions could have different cancellation rules, but I wouldn't know for sure.

 

have a great cruise

[CruzCrazy]

I had a similar thing happen recently. We booked a cruise for December 2018 on the Horizon while sailing on the Magic back in Feb. 2017. It came with $100 OBC for booking on board (they've since discontinued that promotion). Anyway, I always book Early Saver. I have price-matched that original Early Saver rate numerous times in the ensuing months, sometimes with OBC. I've had to "fight" to keep the original $100 (it was a "protected" OBC since it was for booking on board). Almost every time I price-matched, the $100 OBC would stay intact, but sometimes not. Anyway, someone in guest care finally did something on the computer which "moved" the $100 so that it only shows up on my cruise documents, and whoever is doing price adjustments doesn't really have access to it. Problem solved.

 

One of the times I price-matched was to a casino rate. Everything went through fine. I always check to make sure I still have Early Saver, and it was still there judging from the "notes" section on the confirmation.

 

Then a couple of weeks ago, I price-matched to a casino rate that was a net $80 reduction. It was actually $130 less, but I knew we would have to forfeit $50 of "regular" OBC that we had accumulated from prior price matching. When I got the approval e-mail, they had price-matched to a regular Early Saver rate, which ended up costing us money. I had specifically indicated on the form that it was a "Dealer's Choice" rate that my husband qualified for. Like I said, I've done this before.

 

Of course, I had to call. The first rep I got didn't understand a word of what I was saying until I mentioned casino. She immediately transferred me to global sales (this had never hapened before either).

 

The rep to whom I spoke in global was snippy to say the least, argued with me about price-matching to a casino rate, basically said I didn't know what I was talking about, etc., etc. Because my category has been sold out for months and I just happened to catch one cabin when somebody either cancelled or moved, I felt like I wasn't going to miss out on much by losing Early Saver and switching to the casino rate, so I acquiesed.

 

The very next day, the price went down another $40, so I called. This time they immediately transferred me to global (my fare was now PTC/casino, so I understood). I talked to a very informative lady named Natalie. She let me tell my whole story and then went on to explain in very detailed fashion how we used to be able to "double-dip" by price-matching to casino rates but that when the program was revamped a few months ago and the deposits for casino rates were lowered and made nonrefundable that the ability to price-match to a casino rate and still maintain Early Saver status was suspended. It all made perfect sense the way she explained it. I had told her that as far as I was aware, only certain fares like Super Saver had been excluded before, and I also invoked the "Once Early Saver, always Early Saver" mantra. She knew exactly what I was talking about and went on to explain the above about the changes to the casino program in recent months.

 

Anyway, long story short is that the end result for us was the same as for you--we have been switched to casino rate with casino cash and the lowest rate currently available, but we will not be able to price-match once final payment due date comes, which will be next week. We did keep our original $100 OBC for booking on board, but that too will be a last hoorah.

 

I think they should make this information more readily available, but we all know how that goes.