Missed Final Payment

[bstel]

10 minutes ago, snowballs mom said:

I hate that fake "Urgent" designation! I received one like that a month in advance for a payment due and when I saw the attention line in my emails I immediately thought that my paid-off Celebration trans atlantic had been canceled!

or the more common "your upcoming cruise booking needs attention" crap.  no it doesn't, you're just trying to upsell me crap.

[snowballs mom]

1 minute ago, bstel said:

or the more common "your upcoming cruise booking needs attention" crap.  no it doesn't, you're just trying to upsell me crap.

I have been getting those for a series on B2Bs we have on the Sunrise in January, asking for a payment to be made...

[bandjwayne]

Sorry this happened. I just set a reminder a week before to pay mine. 

[CruizinSusan70]

4 hours ago, wemjam said:

... so once purchased your $ is tied to Carnival until it is spent.

A small inconvenience to get 10% off on all expenses related to your cruise.

[ninjacat123]

1 minute ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

A small inconvenience to get 10% off on all expenses related to your cruise.

Right!  I know I'll be able to spend my gift card money on one of my five upcoming Carnival cruises, if need be.

[Toofarfromthesea]

6 hours ago, karmamule said:

OP, I hope you can make lemonade from this lemon! Sometimes the unexpected can push us to try something different and discover something we wouldn't have otherwise.

 

A few years ago we had only cruised on NCL and were booked on the NCL Joy as it returned to the US from its initial run in China. They were retooling the ship for the western market and we were on the second cruise in the US. However, they ran into delays on the makeover and much to our disappointment our cruise was canceled. Perfectly understandable but we had zero flexibility on vacation times and searched for a replacement.

 

NCL didn't have any we liked much, and we noticed for the same price as the mini-suite we were going to get on NCL we could get a suite in the Yacht Club on the MSC Seaside so we gave that a shot. (The Yacht Club is their equivalent of NCL's Haven "ship within a ship", and back then it was about half the price of a similar Haven cabin) It was one of the most wonderful cruises we've ever been on, and since then have taken two more MSC cruises and loved them both as well.

 

I hope you can have a similar experience if you do decide to try out another line. Good luck!

 

We did 2 cruises, Med and Baltic, in the yacht club - Divina and Meraviglia - and loved it.  If we ever return to cruising it will be in the yacht club.

[wemjam]

5 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

A small inconvenience to get 10% off on all expenses related to your cruise.

I agree, but I do like to point that out when people ask. 

 

Some people do not cruise a lot and may not realize that if something unexpected happens they will not get cash back.  For those of us who cruise all the time it is not as big a deal.

 

When the pandemic hit, I personally had almost $9000 wrapped up with Carnival.  I didn't freak out because I expected I would be able to use it again (which I have done this year).  But for some having a couple thousand or more wrapped up and then an unexpected life event happening can be a big deal.

[BlerkOne]

10 hours ago, wemjam said:

You can also get 10% off Carnival cards through AARP and Citi Cards Citi Easy Deals (which is where I usually get all mine).

 

Do keep in mind, while you can use these gift cards to pay for anything with Carnival before and while on board, if you have to cancel anything for any reason you will be reimbursed in Carnival gift cards as well.  You will not get cash back, so once purchased your $ is tied to Carnival until it is spent.

How much interest are banks paying on those $?

[ninjacat123]

49 minutes ago, wemjam said:

I agree, but I do like to point that out when people ask. 

 

Some people do not cruise a lot and may not realize that if something unexpected happens they will not get cash back.  For those of us who cruise all the time it is not as big a deal.

 

When the pandemic hit, I personally had almost $9000 wrapped up with Carnival.  I didn't freak out because I expected I would be able to use it again (which I have done this year).  But for some having a couple thousand or more wrapped up and then an unexpected life event happening can be a big deal.

That is a very good point and definitely something to consider before you purchase or use Carnival gift cards👍

[CruizinSusan70]

34 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

How much interest are banks paying on those $?

If you buy 5000.00 in cards, you save 500.00, so it costs 4500.00.  It would take a long time to make 500 in interest on that 5000.  I'll gladly tie up a few thousand in cards and make zero interest in order to save 10% on all costs related to Carnival cruising.

[wemjam]

25 minutes ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

If you buy 5000.00 in cards, you save 500.00, so it costs 4500.00.  It would take a long time to make 500 in interest on that 5000.  I'll gladly tie up a few thousand in cards and make zero interest in order to save 10% on all costs related to Carnival cruising.

That's all well and good for people who can afford to do so.  But there are a LOT of people that save a whole year to do one cruise and may or may not ever cruise again.  And as we have all learned the hard way over the last 2 years - life happens!

 

Those are the people I add the cautionary tale for.  They just need to understand that if something happens, they do not get cold hard cash back they get gift cards.  

 

If you have no issue potentially having the money tied up, or know you plan on using it as some point no matter what, then most certainly saving the 10% is the way to go - which is why I do the same thing.

 

 

[CruizinSusan70]

1 hour ago, wemjam said:

 But there are a LOT of people that save a whole year to do one cruise and may or may not ever cruise again.  

Fully aware of the frugal cruiser.  If they wish to save 10% by investing in gift cards to pay for the cruise, they should read the terms & conditions that are involved.  It would be really naive to assume you would get a cash refund.

[ontheweb]

15 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

How much interest are banks paying on those $?

I assume that is a rhetorical question as you know that the bank interest these days is extremely low, even of CDs.

[kirtihk]

On 8/12/2022 at 1:40 PM, jsglow said:

 The rep. refunded my deposit because of all the trouble

 

Wait..... YOU missed your final payment date and the cruise auto cancelled.  And Carnival REFUNDED your deposit meaning you are out exactly zero of your own dollars. And your solution is to go over to a competitor's line?  Makes perfect sense to me.

Edited Friday at 01:40 PM by jsglow

It was not "because of all the trouble" and it was not "the rep. refunded"; when the booking is not paid by the due date, 1. the booking is automatically cancelled, and 2. the whole amount paid (deposit and any additional payments - for example, paid in full  in advance to get an extra bonus) is also automatically refunded on the form of payment of the amount paid with the exception of potential fees imposed by a cruise line: for example, $100 per person Celebrity's fee if booked non-refundable deposit or a similar fee by luxury cruise lines (Regent, Seabourn, Ponant, Azamara...).

Edited August 16, 2022 by kirtihk

[ultrafighter]

On 8/12/2022 at 1:00 PM, ThaNectar said:

within the 10 emails they send me per day. 

 

Man, ain't this the truth.  They remind me super regularly to use my cruise manager as if I don't log in and check my countdown nearly every single day because I'm jonesing for this cruise BAD.  But I don't mark them as spam because I don't want something that's actually useful to get tossed before I can see it.