Grrrr....Please help!

[teachncruise17]

I am booked on the Vista for March 2021.  I just found out that my school district changed our spring break for next year, so I need to cancel and rebook.  I *think* I booked Early Saver, which stinks, but...whatever.  Anyways, on to my question!  WHERE can I cancel?  I'm usually quite tech savvy and familiar with Carnival's site, but I cannot figure it out!!!!  Also, is it better to cancel myself then rebook, or would using a PVP be better?  (I usually book things on my own...just wondering if they would waive the change fee or...something!)  

[sparks1093]

I believe that this is something that you have to call in to do. Since you are essentially rescheduling your cruise I would hope that they would waive the fee.

[buckeyefrank]

12 minutes ago, teachncruise17 said:

I am booked on the Vista for March 2021.  I just found out that my school district changed our spring break for next year, so I need to cancel and rebook.  I *think* I booked Early Saver, which stinks, but...whatever.  Anyways, on to my question!  WHERE can I cancel?  I'm usually quite tech savvy and familiar with Carnival's site, but I cannot figure it out!!!!  Also, is it better to cancel myself then rebook, or would using a PVP be better?  (I usually book things on my own...just wondering if they would waive the change fee or...something!)  

I don't believe there's a way to do it on Carnival's website.  You will likely have to call.  I also wouldn't hold my breath about having the penalties waived.  Some people have been successful, we were not.

[LaRue1975]

They will rebook your cruise to a different date and charge you $50 person. Not sure if the fee is just for the adults or includes children also. Just give Carnival a call, they will be happy to help! 

[Jamman54]

The change fee is $50 per person, and not likely to be waived. 😎

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

42 minutes ago, Jamman54 said:

The change fee is $50 per person, and not likely to be waived. 😎

 

Just to be complete... this is for most rates booked directly with carnival, but not all rates.

 

Also, for those that book with a TA, you have to ask what change penalties there are, if any.  Don't assume that just because the price is exactly the same as booked directly with carnival, the rules will be the same!  The rules could be completely different! (Some more lenient than carnival, some more harsh).  

 

 

[Organized Chaos]

1 hour ago, teachncruise17 said:

I am booked on the Vista for March 2021.  I just found out that my school district changed our spring break for next year, so I need to cancel and rebook.  I *think* I booked Early Saver, which stinks, but...whatever.  Anyways, on to my question!  WHERE can I cancel?  I'm usually quite tech savvy and familiar with Carnival's site, but I cannot figure it out!!!!  Also, is it better to cancel myself then rebook, or would using a PVP be better?  (I usually book things on my own...just wondering if they would waive the change fee or...something!)  

 

Carnival's regular customer service reps. are hit or miss when it comes to bigger issues. They're notorious for giving different answers each time you talk to a different one. I've experienced that myself...three different reps. giving me three different answers one time.

 

Whether or not you should get a PVP is something that's hotly debated on here now & again. We started off getting one that Carnival assigned to us, but he was pretty bad, so we switched to one that was recommended to us. Unfortunately, Cruise Critic doesn't allow us to exchange that info. A lot of people will say you don't need a PVP because you can do everything yourself. That's true, for the most part, but I'm glad we have ours. I do most everything myself, but there have been times we were glad to have our PVP. We were supposed to cruise with another family in 2018, but they backed out without notice. It created quite a mess and, yes, we were booked Early Saver. Our PVP was invaluable in helping us straighten it out. I don't think a regular rep. would've handled it as well. He's cruised on several ships, so he offers suggestions on good cabins, among other things we really appreciate. He's there when we need him and we're happy to have that resource available.

 

Personally I say it's nice to have a good PVP just in case. The trick is finding a good one. You can call Carnival and request one. If it works out well, great. If not, you can try again. Or get recommendations outside of this forum. I've never done it, but I've seen people mention doing simple web searches for good Carnival PVP's.

[pe4all]

If you purchased travel insurance check your plan.  Sometimes "work-related" changes are covered.

[tonit964]

You might want to consider booking a fare that won't charge a change fee. March 2021 is quite a ways off and things happen. The money you save with the early saver fare will negate that savings if you have to change for whatever reason.

[andie717]

Thanks for the replies.  I guess I will be phoning Carnival and very sweetly asking for the switch!  *fingers crossed*  I'll let you know if it happens!  🙂

[andie717]

4 hours ago, tonit964 said:

You might want to consider booking a fare that won't charge a change fee. March 2021 is quite a ways off and things happen. The money you save with the early saver fare will negate that savings if you have to change for whatever reason.

 

Yeah, yeah, I know...to be totally honest, when I booked it, I meant to click on a different rate!  LOL  It's totally my mistake, though.  Lesson learned to double check which fare you clicked on!  

[Organized Chaos]

3 minutes ago, andie717 said:

Yeah, yeah, I know...to be totally honest, when I booked it, I meant to click on a different rate!  LOL  It's totally my mistake, though.  Lesson learned to double check which fare you clicked on!  

 

It's a matter of weighing the savings against the stipulations/penalties. It's going to be different for everyone, so do what's best for you. Early Saver is what works best for us, so far. We know the risks of penalties if we have to make changes or cancel. We did have the one snafu, but we learned from it. Most of the time, everything goes as planned and we don't need to face any of those problems. Knock on wood.

[amyotravel]

Just now, Organized Chaos said:

 

It's a matter of weighing the savings against the stipulations/penalties. It's going to be different for everyone, so do what's best for you. Early Saver is what works best for us, so far. We know the risks of penalties if we have to make changes or cancel. We did have the one snafu, but we learned from it. Most of the time, everything goes as planned and we don't need to face any of those problems. Knock on wood.

Once we had forgotten we had company coming in town on the dates we booked (they told us like a year in advance and we booked the cruise 4 months in advance and had just forgotten). We had to pay the $50 per person but the sailing we changed to was about that much less, coincidentally, so it was a wash! 🙂

[Jamman54]

26 minutes ago, amyotravel said:

Once we had forgotten we had company coming in town on the dates we booked (they told us like a year in advance and we booked the cruise 4 months in advance and had just forgotten). We had to pay the $50 per person but the sailing we changed to was about that much less, coincidentally, so it was a wash! 🙂

Glad that worked out for you 😎

[coevan]

5 hours ago, pe4all said:

If you purchased travel insurance check your plan.  Sometimes "work-related" changes are covered.

 

 

We never book without it, owning a business, anything can happen. The OP's story is exactly why you always buy travel insurance. 

[zorky12]

 

20 hours ago, andie717 said:

Thanks for the replies.  I guess I will be phoning Carnival and very sweetly asking for the switch!  *fingers crossed*  I'll let you know if it happens!  🙂

 

Not sure if the OP has found it or not but you can cancel from the website. Its under you payment details at the bottom.

 

[bubba777]

I have had to cancel or change dates numerous times, and my awesome PVP always gets the early saver fees waived. If she can’t get it waived, she gives me OBC equal to the change fees.

[sparks1093]

On 1/3/2020 at 7:12 PM, coevan said:

 

 

We never book without it, owning a business, anything can happen. The OP's story is exactly why you always buy travel insurance. 

Just buying travel insurance won't do it, you have to make sure that changes in your work schedule are a covered loss. Many policies don't cover that and the ones that I've seen that do cover it are generally more expensive.

[coevan]

that's kind of what I said, we never book without cancel for work and any reason, yes there is a slight premium, well worth it to us.

[andie717]

Well, as an update...

I called.  Spent an hour and a half on the phone (!!).  To no avail.  Changed the cruise date, for a $200 fee.  I totally own it, it was my bad.  I didn't intend to book Early Saver, but...alas...that mistake was made.  

 

Although it didn't work out in my favor (yet...one of the supervisors gave me an email to plead my case...), everyone I dealt with was professional, friendly, and helpful.

 

Life is too short to be upset about a mistake that I made.  A small price to pay when being grateful we have the money to cruise.  We will have a fantastic trip, regardless!  

 

Thanks for the helpful comments, and if the email results in a refund or on board credit, I will surely let you all know!  🙂

[Organized Chaos]

27 minutes ago, andie717 said:

Well, as an update...

I called.  Spent an hour and a half on the phone (!!).  To no avail.  Changed the cruise date, for a $200 fee.  I totally own it, it was my bad.  I didn't intend to book Early Saver, but...alas...that mistake was made.

 

I don't consider booking ES a bad thing. It has its advantages. We pay a cheaper with the risk of paying penalties if something happens. But a majority of time, things go off without a hitch, so the penalties don't come into play and we got a cheaper rate. Sorry it didn't turn out as good as you'd hoped, but at least you were able to change it to something that'll work for you.

 

My advice would be to think about getting a PVP. You don't always have to use them, but they sure do offer an area of expertise that comes in handy sometimes.

[Elaine5715]

On 1/3/2020 at 11:18 AM, sparks1093 said:

I believe that this is something that you have to call in to do. Since you are essentially rescheduling your cruise I would hope that they would waive the fee.

The ship is still leaving on its scheduled cruise, The OP is cancelling and rebooking and there will be a penalty 

[sparks1093]

10 hours ago, Elaine5715 said:

The ship is still leaving on its scheduled cruise, The OP is cancelling and rebooking and there will be a penalty 

It never hurts to ask, although in the OP's case the answer was no.

[Retired_to_Cruise]

On 1/3/2020 at 10:18 AM, sparks1093 said:

I believe that this is something that you have to call in to do. Since you are essentially rescheduling your cruise I would hope that they would waive the fee.

It is a $50.00 change fee that you will have to pay no matter what you do. You agreed to that by booking the Early Saver rate. 

[sparks1093]

16 minutes ago, Retired_to_Cruise said:

It is a $50.00 change fee that you will have to pay no matter what you do. You agreed to that by booking the Early Saver rate. 

And yet I've read more than one account of the fee being waived. As I just said in post 23 it can't hurt to ask.

Edited January 6, 2020 by sparks1093