$25 dollar cruise!

[Markmom18]

16 hours ago, nwcruiselover said:

I got a balcony on a 7 day Panorama sailing in January for $223.50 solo.  It wasn’t a casino offer, as I’m not a gambler.  Maybe because I’m a West Coaster.  They required pre-paid gratuities to be paid along with cruise fare.  What a deal!

    Hi,

 

    I just checked 2 cruises January 8th Panorama BALCONY, that were listed in “My” Reduced Rate Categories… paraphrasing category rates here … 🙂

   *Upgrade Sale $1,200   
   *Casino Rate $1,099 

 

   * Prices Before Taxes & Grats.

  I always like to prepay my grats so that’s not a deal breaker.

 
Can you please post the Link or the Official Name of this offer?  That would be fantastic!! Thank you. 🙂
 

I have yet to be given a Solo Rate BTW, always, always have to pay the double occupancy.

 

I’m about an hour from Long Beach with traffic, Also over 55.

 

🛳🛳

Bobbi 

Edited December 23, 2021 by Markmom18

[nwcruiselover]

34 minutes ago, Markmom18 said:

    Hi,

 

    I just checked 2 cruises January 8th Panorama BALCONY, that were listed in “My” Reduced Rate Categories… paraphrasing category rates here … 🙂

   *Upgrade Sale $1,200   
   *Casino Rate $1,099 

 

   * Prices Before Taxes & Grats.

  I always like to prepay my grats so that’s not a deal breaker.

 
Can you please post the Link or the Official Name of this offer?  That would be fantastic!! Thank you. 🙂
 

I have yet to be given a Solo Rate BTW, always, always have to pay the double occupancy.

 

I’m about an hour from Long Beach with traffic, Also over 55.

 

🛳🛳

Bobbi 

I am on the January 29th sailing.  I booked it on 12/6 under rate code PTG, Exclusive VIFP offer..  Balconies are no longer available at that rate, but OV’s are, currently $208.50 solo.  That’s using my VIFP number.  This is the double occupancy rate.  At the time I booked the balcony was $111.75 per person,, so $223.50 solo.  

[SOPHIHEYY]

Got a great deal on the 6 day Mardi Gras Jan 2 sailing for me and my boyfriend right before thanksgiving! 200+tax for a midship balcony on the hump, free drinks in the casino, can’t wait! We’re lucky to live in Orlando to make sailing out of Port Canaveral super easy. Reading through these posts it didn’t even occur to me to check offers for Alaska or Europe cruises. Adding that to the to-do list! We did a 12 day med cruise on Carnival maybe 15 years ago or so when the Liberty first started sailing, and it was wonderful! 

[NutsAboutGolf]

15 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

Must be tough to turn down a reduced price or free down under cruise because it's only in an Oceanview and not the free balcony you're accustomed to.

I've sailed on Carnival 20 times, 18 in an inside cabin.  The other two were balconies via Amex points on one and with my Dad on the other, who didn't do insides.

 

I'm happy you're able to enjoy inside cabins, cabin type is only one of several factors I consider when booking a cruise.  Vacation time for myself and GF trumps all, if I've recently visited the location before is another (I visited Australia in 2019), airfare cost and flight duration which is 15ish hours.

[Markmom18]

6 hours ago, nwcruiselover said:

I am on the January 29th sailing.  I booked it on 12/6 under rate code PTG, Exclusive VIFP offer..  Balconies are no longer available at that rate, but OV’s are, currently $208.50 solo.  That’s using my VIFP number.  This is the double occupancy rate.  At the time I booked the balcony was $111.75 per person,, so $223.50 solo.  

  Ohhh … I thought Carnival was having SOLO RATES for your cruise. Still a GREAT deal for a Balcony 7 day cruise…wow!!

 

Thank you and now for my cruise sanity, I won’t be looking at this Thread anymore. I’m not getting these offers for whatever reason. I guess only the Carnival gods can pick ‘n choose the chosen ones 😏.  
 

Enjoy everyone. I will be enjoying as well🤗

 

🛳🛳

Bobbi 

[Anyislandwilldo]

9 hours ago, DrSea said:

Do you mean that you are sailing for free?

Well basically.  We still have to pay port taxes and gratuities.    But otherwise the room is free.

[SNJCruisers]

3 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

I'm happy you're able to enjoy inside cabins, cabin type is only one of several factors I consider when booking a cruise.  Vacation time for myself and GF trumps all, if I've recently visited the location before is another (I visited Australia in 2019), airfare cost and flight duration which is 15ish hours.

Cabins are made to shower and sleep so insides are fine as far as I'm concerned.  Being out on deck or enjoying a meal or drink of my choice is why I cruise.  

Covid has forced me into an early retirement and I currently have 19 cruises booked totalling over 150 days in 2022 and 2023, all paid for by me, without any perks by any cruise line for free or reduced fare cruising.

[NutsAboutGolf]

31 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

Cabins are made to shower and sleep so insides are fine as far as I'm concerned.  Being out on deck or enjoying a meal or drink of my choice is why I cruise.  

Covid has forced me into an early retirement and I currently have 19 cruises booked totalling over 150 days in 2022 and 2023, all paid for by me, without any perks by any cruise line for free or reduced fare cruising.

 

Awesome, everyone should continue to live their best life

[britbritrawr09]

15 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

Cabins are made to shower and sleep so insides are fine as far as I'm concerned.  Being out on deck or enjoying a meal or drink of my choice is why I cruise.  

Covid has forced me into an early retirement and I currently have 19 cruises booked totalling over 150 days in 2022 and 2023, all paid for by me, without any perks by any cruise line for free or reduced fare cruising.

But if they have deals that save you money why not use them? That’s more cruises. 

[NutsAboutGolf]

51 minutes ago, britbritrawr09 said:

But if they have deals that save you money why not use them? That’s more cruises. 

 

The other dynamic is you simply always want people to be happy, if you're an extremely introvert, you're simply just going to be uncomfortable socializing the entire day.  I've cruised for 42 days since the restart, the biggest difference I've seen pre-pandemic to now are that people are far more willing to spout out their political opinion/views right in the beginning of a conversation and too many keep their rant going for far too long.

[SNJCruisers]

8 hours ago, britbritrawr09 said:

But if they have deals that save you money why not use them? That’s more cruises. 

I guess you didn't pick up on the fact that I don't get any of these types of deals.....the best one I ever got was 200 in OBC for cruising in 2022.  Which is nothing compared to the fire sale by rates or gambler rates that are out there.

[britbritrawr09]

22 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

I guess you didn't pick up on the fact that I don't get any of these types of deals.....the best one I ever got was 200 in OBC for cruising in 2022.  Which is nothing compared to the fire sale by rates or gambler rates that are out there.

I got 500 obc for a four day cruise… I cruised carnival once and only gambled 20$ lol. So that’s odd. Well you said you were paying it all yourself like you didn’t want to use coupons or perks . If you cruise that much you should be getting deals so maybe something wrong with your email?

[nwcruiselover]

When I booked my great price on the Panorama for January 29th,  I didn’t get an email offer or any other form of invitation from Carnival to book.  I was simply browsing their available cruises to warm climates in January.  When I did a mock booking and put in my VIFP number that price was there, $223.50 solo for an 8 day cruise.  I have never had any offers from Carnival, casino or others, and I have done 18 cruises so far with Carnival.

[Virga]

We'd heard about these amazing deals, so we purposely both rang up 1000pts on our (plague discounted) 4nt Sunrise cruise - something like $350 lost between us.  Hubs got a terrible offer onboard - something like 35% off - and I didn't get anything.  We still made a point of earning a few hundred points on our (also plague discounted) Mardi Gras sailing - about $150 list between us - but still didn't get anything better than plague pricing for several more weeks.

 

Then suddenly we had the amazing offers we'd hoped for.  Free drinks everywhere, freeplay, low end cabins on a ton of sailings for just port fees.  That $500 lost was the best investment we've made in quite some time.  I've never cared for slots, and can't stomach their VP paytables under normal circumstances, but I'll happily trade them our normal Cheers cost in losses for as long as they're willing.

[DrSea]

On 12/23/2021 at 4:41 PM, Anyislandwilldo said:

Well basically.  We still have to pay port taxes and gratuities.    But otherwise the room is free.

So lucky!

[SNJCruisers]

On 12/24/2021 at 8:25 PM, britbritrawr09 said:

I got 500 obc for a four day cruise… I cruised carnival once and only gambled 20$ lol. So that’s odd. Well you said you were paying it all yourself like you didn’t want to use coupons or perks . If you cruise that much you should be getting deals so maybe something wrong with your email?

There's nothing wrong with my email.  I've cruised on Carnival 20 times since 1986.  Only 4 times over past 8 years. Gambled zero.  Never said I would not use a coupon or perk.  There were 4 Cheers perk codes RU1 RU2 RU3 RU9.  The first three were a sliding scale, with the 1 code being the cheapest.  RU9 was the one I got, which was worthless.  No idea how the algorithm chose who got it or not.

I got an OV8 code that was good for 200 in OBC per cabin in 2022.  I used it to book two separate B2B's on the Mardi Gras.  If I get a code in the future that is good on an Excel Class ship, I will probably redeem it.  

[NutsAboutGolf]

Offers are loaded on your account.  If you go to www.carnival.com/offers or https://www.carnival.com/cruise-deals, after you sign in you'll see all your offers regardless of what was emailed / mailed to you.

[NutsAboutGolf]

Well the offer surprises keep on coming!  Even if you have a free inside/oceanside its worth checking out several sailings as you may find surprisingly affordable Balconies and Suites.  Additionally, if you're booking into 2023-2024, the deposit may only be around $200 and final payment will be potentially over a year away

 

Good price:

[guxu]

2 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

Well the offer surprises keep on coming!  Even if you have a free inside/oceanside its worth checking out several sailings as you may find surprisingly affordable Balconies and Suites.  Additionally, if you're booking into 2023-2024, the deposit may only be around $200 and final payment will be potentially over a year away

 

Good price:

I would jump on it. But my VIFP price is $1,034 for interior 😩

[Calnev1]

4 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

Well the offer surprises keep on coming!  Even if you have a free inside/oceanside its worth checking out several sailings as you may find surprisingly affordable Balconies and Suites.  Additionally, if you're booking into 2023-2024, the deposit may only be around $200 and final payment will be potentially over a year away

 

Good price:

Please post the rate code when mentioning a specific offer you may have.  This makes it easer for everyone else to know whether they might also have such a fine offer buried in among their multiple VIFP offers.   For example, I have at least two AUstralia offers (QA2 and QP2) but I''m betting the screen shot you just displayed is not under one of those codes.  

[NutsAboutGolf]

57 minutes ago, Calnev1 said:

Please post the rate code when mentioning a specific offer you may have.  This makes it easer for everyone else to know whether they might also have such a fine offer buried in among their multiple VIFP offers.   For example, I have at least two AUstralia offers (QA2 and QP2) but I''m betting the screen shot you just displayed is not under one of those codes.  

 

If you go to book any sailing you it will go to the offer section before checkout and you can change offers.  My offer code is EP2 and while anyone is welcome to try this code, it will only work if your VIFP number allows it.  For Aussie sailings I also have YE1 for a free interior.  My Aussie offers are the only offers that work in 2023 or 2024

[SNJCruisers]

On 1/6/2022 at 12:20 PM, NutsAboutGolf said:

Well the offer surprises keep on coming!  Even if you have a free inside/oceanside its worth checking out several sailings as you may find surprisingly affordable Balconies and Suites.  Additionally, if you're booking into 2023-2024, the deposit may only be around $200 and final payment will be potentially over a year away

 

Good price:

Feb 16, 2024...You can cruise for 150.  My offer is 989 inside and I am Platinum with 20 cruises.  They can stick it.  After my milestone, I may be done with them.

[NutsAboutGolf]

1 hour ago, SNJCruisers said:

Feb 16, 2024...You can cruise for 150.  My offer is 989 inside and I am Platinum with 20 cruises.  They can stick it.  After my milestone, I may be done with them.

 

The overwhelming majority of the time the house always wins therefore Carnival is generous with offering players cheap rates as they believe they'll get their that discounted fare money back.

[Calnev1]

I have a theory based on my multiple booking experiences with Carnival, Princess, and Holland America.

 

We have sailed  all three lines.  When we sail, we use the casino about the same in all of them.  We are members of the Player’s Club on all three lines.  And yet . . . 

 

There is a big difference in the casino offers we have gotten recently from the three lines.  We don’t get great casino offers from Carnival or Princess.  We have recently got nice offers, though, on Holland America:  Free Oceanview on 12 and 14 day cruises.

 

So what explains this difference in offers?  I think I know. 

 

We always have some sort of upcoming cruise booked on Carnival and Princess at NON casino rates.  Right now, three Carnival cruises in 2022 and two Princess cruises in 2022.   We are willing to pay to cruise them at non casino rates because of the itineraries.  And of course they see us paying some nice coin for these bookings.  

 

On Holland America (HAL), we last cruised them in 2017.   We had nothing booked on them when we got the great casino offers in the fall of 2021.  We took the casino offer  for two cruises late in the summer of 2022.  As far as they know, the only way they got us back on a HAL ship was with the casino offer.

 

Bottom line:   If you are a “loyal” Carnival cruiser . . . if you book Carnival cruises at higher rates than the casino rates . . .  if you have pending cruises booked at the higher rates . . .  I don’t think they will offer you casino rates.  At least not the “free” ones, the good ones.  I mean, they are a business, and they will try to make as much money as they can off of all of us.  If they can get you on the ship at higher cruise fares AND you lose some money in the casino -- or spend on other services like alcohol or spa -- Cha Ching for them.

 

In any event, I am going to test my theory by not booking any more HAL cruises unless and until they offer me more “free” casino rates.  We will see.

Edited January 9, 2022 by Calnev1

[icft]

4 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

Feb 16, 2024...You can cruise for 150.  My offer is 989 inside and I am Platinum with 20 cruises.  They can stick it.  After my milestone, I may be done with them.

As others have noted, you are not being treated badly assuming you don't spend a good bit of time in the casino. You might pay a higher fare, but the average gambler who gets the free rooms or very low fairs leaves more money in the casino than you pay in cruise fare.

 

Carnival is not "nice" to some and not others, they just get their money from different folks in different ways. We happen to like gambling. It is nice that we get some of our losses back (and in the long run you will lose to the casino) in low fairs, but we are paying our pound of flesh. We just have an expensive form of fun.