Price Match guarantee for shore excursions

[DukeASUGirl]

How similar do the excursions have to be? What qualifies?

 

For example, if Carnival has a 2-hr kayak tour for $69, and a local operator has it for $59, is that what they mean? It probably isn't the same company, but both tours are 2 hours and go to the same place.

[naxer]

The form you fill out helps you see how similar or different they may be.  In the end, somebody at Carnival's end makes the determination.  I have had success at this, but not always.  If the evaluator doesn't see it as similar enough, there will be an explanation of what is different.  

Edited March 22, 2019 by naxer
clarity

[purplephenom]

The times I've had success are when the provider is the same as the cruise ship, and the descriptions are exactly the same.  I've also had some success when the 3rd party excursion is better and cheaper.  This has been more hit or miss, so probably depends who is reviewing.  

 

The form is easy to fill out, so can't hurt to try. If it's not accepted you're no worse off than you were before you tried.  

[teknoge3k]

A lot of times, it's not the same.

Carnival may offer a kayak trip for $69 that lasts 3 hours

The local vendor may offer the kayak trip for $59 but that also may include visits to stop x, y and z, and also lunch and their may last 6 hours.

 

 

[ABQrobin]

It doesn't hurt to submit a price challenge.  We have done it several times, always approved, but we are careful to make sure it is the same basic thing.  They will give you an onboard credit if approved.  But don't wait until the last minute, it has to be approved at least a week before cruise, I think.

[DukeASUGirl]

On ‎3‎/‎22‎/‎2019 at 7:18 AM, teknoge3k said:

A lot of times, it's not the same.

Carnival may offer a kayak trip for $69 that lasts 3 hours

The local vendor may offer the kayak trip for $59 but that also may include visits to stop x, y and z, and also lunch and their may last 6 hours.

 

 

Both excursions go to Frog Rock in Catalina and include baked goods as a snack once you arrive at the midway point of the trip. The Carnival excursion is 2.5 hours and the local vendor says "about 2 hours" so that might be the "difference" that would punt us out of the price match.

 

I might as well try, though. Couldn't hurt. I'm leaning towards the Carnival one just because it's a tender port so I think it would be easier to have priority for the tenders.

[ontheweb]

On 3/22/2019 at 1:05 AM, DukeASUGirl said:

How similar do the excursions have to be? What qualifies?

 

For example, if Carnival has a 2-hr kayak tour for $69, and a local operator has it for $59, is that what they mean? It probably isn't the same company, but both tours are 2 hours and go to the same place.

The one time I used this, the only difference was the private excursion said they would pick you up at your hotel. I e-mailed them and asked if they also would pick you up at your cruise ship. They said they would, and I made sure I added this fact to the Carnival form.  Our TA was skeptical about us getting the credit, but we got it almost immediately.

[Mm13]

On my upcoming cruise out of the 5 port days, I have successfully had Carnival price match 4 of the excursions. 

 

I just Googled the activity and found quite a few excursions being offered by a few companies. 

 

St. Lucia has a ziplining excursion that is 120 something through Carnival. I found it for 81. It is ziplining, hiking, and tram. At first they sent an email saying they were going to escalate to a supervisor bc the excursion I found didn’t go in the same order: hike, zip line, then tram. After a day or two they emailed back and said they would pricematch. 

 

If you get a denial email, you can email and ask why.  They respond really quickly. 

[chrisnatca]

So if I pay for an excursion with a Carnival Gift Card and then apply for price matching, how do you suppose I'll get reimbursed?  Room Credit?  Or another Gift Card?

[Mm13]

5 minutes ago, chrisnatca said:

So if I pay for an excursion with a Carnival Gift Card and then apply for price matching, how do you suppose I'll get reimbursed?  Room Credit?  Or another Gift Card?

You do not get a reimbursement. You will get onboard credit for the difference plus 10%.

[kmmmcruiser]

Thanks everyone. I did not know I could do this. Submitted and approved for an excursion on our Alaska cruise next month. In the past received several price adjustments for the cruise price. Cruise Critic is a great resource. Thanks again. 

[SRQbeachgirl]

We were able to get the price match last year for the Caye Caulker Shark Ray Alley tour. Another operator did the same tour, but it was 30-60 minutes longer. I filled out the form and in about 24 hours we got an email approving the request.

Edited March 28, 2019 by SRQbeachgirl