Price Drops and Upgrades

[Satchel85]

I'm a first time cruiser planning for a cruise sometime in May/June of 2008. How exactly do the price drops and upgrades work? We're planning on booking when the 2008 itinerary becomes available for RCI Carribean cruises during that time span. I've read on these message boards that if the price drops you can be reimbursed if you paid more than that current rate. Does that include after the final payment or only price drops before the final payment? And do you just keep continually checking for deals on your particular cruise in order to find the price drops and upgrades. Thanks for any and all advice!

[petel]

Price drops and upgrades are two very different issues.

 

Price drops happen from time to time and allow you to get a ship board credit or a direct refund on your credit card depending on circumstances at the time. Price drops aren't all that frequent on a day to day basis so as your cruise comes up on 70 days prior check the price for a possible drop. Lately the earlier you book the better the price on most cruises. A few may see a reduction but not all. So, you don't need to call every day. One of the advantages of being on a CC roll call is notification of a price change by other cruisers.

 

Upgrade is a different animal. If you mean get the next higher cabin for what you have already paid that doesn't happen very often. When it does it is usually for someone who has cruised a lot, like more than 24 cruises with RCI. If you want an upsell, that is pay the difference and get the next higher cabin then you run the risk of none available by the time you are ready to take the plunge. The standing advice is book what you really want as early as you can. Then you can just go and be happy. :)

[momofmeg]

I'm a first time cruiser planning for a cruise sometime in May/June of 2008. How exactly do the price drops and upgrades work? We're planning on booking when the 2008 itinerary becomes available for RCI Carribean cruises during that time span. I've read on these message boards that if the price drops you can be reimbursed if you paid more than that current rate. Does that include after the final payment or only price drops before the final payment? And do you just keep continually checking for deals on your particular cruise in order to find the price drops and upgrades. Thanks for any and all advice!

 

Yep you have got it-unless you have a great travel agent who will do it for you! but if you have booked Freedopm on the Seas or Liberty of the seas don't expect a price drop-but a price increase= those and the voyager class ships are very popular and the rates go up and not down usually.

[EmmaJean]

So, if I see a price drop on a "bargain" website from what everyone basically had it at, should I be asking for a refund or a credit or something? (Even though when I look at the cruiseline's and other's price, they are still at what I paid.)

 

Please help!

[firefly333]

Id call and make sure its a price drop. Carnival and RCI do not allow any TA to advertise lower rates than on their site. I have seen rates on say VTG that appear to be cheaper than Carnival, but when I call, the inside rate shown on VTG turns out to be a 1A, not the inside rate. Or some sites dont include port taxes in what they show and the cruiselines do show the price with port taxes.

 

If you book far out, dont book with a online agency if you think there might be a price drop. They are reluctant at best to give you back the difference. Either book direct or book through a TA who has agreed they will issue credit and drop the price, some wouldnt.

 

Carnival has a lot of past guest upgrades, you put in a code when you check prices and you cant get a discount, but they give you the same cabin on a higher deck. RCI currently has a similar deal going out of Florida ports for 2 category upgrades free for four day cruises.

 

Princess does allow discounting, so check around for prices. I mostly sail on those three. Im trying to build to platinum status (and higher eventually) on each of these cruise lines.

[EmmaJean]

Id call and make sure its a price drop. Carnival and RCI do not allow any TA to advertise lower rates than on their site. I have seen rates on say VTG that appear to be cheaper than Carnival, but when I call, the inside rate shown on VTG turns out to be a 1A, not the inside rate. Or some sites dont include port taxes in what they show and the cruiselines do show the price with port taxes.

 

If you book far out, dont book with a online agency if you think there might be a price drop. They are reluctant at best to give you back the difference. Either book direct or book through a TA who has agreed they will issue credit and drop the price, some wouldnt.

 

Carnival has a lot of past guest upgrades, you put in a code when you check prices and you cant get a discount, but they give you the same cabin on a higher deck. RCI currently has a similar deal going out of Florida ports for 2 category upgrades free for four day cruises.

 

Princess does allow discounting, so check around for prices. I mostly sail on those three. Im trying to build to platinum status (and higher eventually) on each of these cruise lines.

 

My parents made the reservation through AARP powered by travelocity.com

Now I see our Princess cruise lower on *****.com. Our booking was for the cheapest inside and balcony cabins that we could find near eachother. I sent the price quote to the aarp email address yesterday and they have not responded yet. Every time we call we talk to a different person. I suppose a real travel agent would be better, they would want your loyalty, where I doubt all the people I've talked to would really care.

 

Glad to hear Princess allows discounting. Is there anything else I should do besides emailing aarp, who we booked through? Who should I call to make sure of the price drop? *****? aarp? or princess?

Is 1A the guaranteed cabin that you don't find out about until you get there?

 

Thanks

[firefly333]

I have not heard anything but problems with AARP. Im sure someone must have good experiences? They may not even honor price drops as would some TAs. Can you call them if they dont bother to answer you? Is there a penalty for cancelling?

 

Id book with someone that I had already talked to and knew they would honor a price drop, AARP may not. Travelocity and VTG and any online site is equally difficult. They are great for last minute deals. I use VTG for grabbing a last minute deal, have used them 3 times, but not if I think the price might drop.

 

There are a lot of last minute princess cruises on skyauction.com, but that wouldnt be good if you are booking far in advance like you are.

[firefly333]

Is 1A the guaranteed cabin that you don't find out about until you get there?

 

1A is the category below inside cabins on Carnival. You can book it as a guarantee or a exact cabin, same as inside, outside, balcony or suite.

 

Some have port holes and many have bunk beds. They are the odd ball cabins. Its a category on Carnival. A guarantee means that category or better.

[EmmaJean]

I have not heard anything but problems with AARP. Im sure someone must have good experiences? They may not even honor price drops as would some TAs. Can you call them if they dont bother to answer you? Is there a penalty for cancelling?

 

Id book with someone that I had already talked to and knew they would honor a price drop, AARP may not. Travelocity and VTG and any online site is equally difficult. They are great for last minute deals. I use VTG for grabbing a last minute deal, have used them 3 times, but not if I think the price might drop.

 

There are a lot of last minute princess cruises on skyauction.com, but that wouldnt be good if you are booking far in advance like you are.

 

We bought the insurance, have already made the final payment. I'm now looking for the cancellation policy...don't know.

 

My cruise is for June 2007, not sure if "last minute" would work for me because we're bringing 2 children & are trying to be by their grandparents. I've heard that it is hard to get last minute deals for 4 to a cabin. (Heard it on here CCboards) Is now even considered "last minute" for June 2007? I did see it on VTG

 

I wish I would have known about cruise critic before we booked. We would have done things totally differently. next time perhaps... find a good travel agent that honors price drops is what I'll try next time and what I'd recommend to a newbie.

[C-Ked]

By the way -- if you're seeing what look like lower prices on the online discount TA websites, make sure you go all the way through the booking process (up until you have to enter in a credit card number, of course! :)) to make sure that you're getting the full price, including things like tax, fees, travel insurance, etc. The online agencies are all structured differently, such that some of them list the full price on the first screen, and others make you go through four or five screens before you see the full cost. I thought I'd found a "drop" of $600 on our Princess cruise on an online TA website, until I realized that that wasn't including fees, etc.... Oh well, maybe our cruise will go down a bit in price at some point between now and 7/31!

[kitty9]

EmmaJean, you're confusing price drops for a cruise line and the price an agency is offering. You cannot get a refund for a price difference between travel agents unless you can get the agent to match the price you saw for another agency and those online and discount agencies don't generally honor other agencies discounts. The only time you MIGHT be entitled to claim a price drop is if the cruiseline drops prices. And, you have to be wary of some of the prices you see online and in newspaper advertisements. Many will be "come on" prices, but once they add in all their fees/taxes/extras, the price isn't anywhere what they advertised. As far as cancelling, unless you have travel insurance that allows cancellation for any reason, you won't be able to cancel your cruise and receive full compensation unless it's for a covered reason, such as medical emergencies. Most travel insurance policies don't allow cancelling just because you changed your mind.

 

If you book with an agency, rather than directly with the cruiseline, and the cruiseline drops their price, you can ask for a refund IF it's not after final payment. According to cruise contracts, once you're past final payment, you're not entitled to anything, although some lines might give you a small on board credit as compensation for the price difference.

[janetz]

I have a great TA. who watches prices. I do the same. Last September we booked a balcony GTY and the price dropped and we then switched to a extended aft cabin for the same price as the GTY. After final payment the price dropped again and we had a 500.00 cabin credit. I was shocked. This was on the Carnival Legend. :o

[JustMom]

The whole question of price drops is confusing!:eek: We just returned from a cruise on the Carnival Valor. Four cabins (2 inside & 2 balcony) had been booked through my son's Carnival Vacation Cruise Friends and Family, membership (supposed to be the lowest rates). My son got a lower rate, but the rest of us did not.:mad:

AFTER the final payment had been made, we discovered that the price of our cabin category had dropped. So, I bit the bullet; called the CVC person and asked about onboard credits. (Nobody wanted upgrades; the inside cabins were across the hall from the balcony cabins). The result was............ that they couldn't do anything for us.:(

 

GUESS WHAT?? The morning after we sailed, we had a notification of onboard credits of $120 for each of the inside cabins, and $80 for our balcony cabin. :D (my son didn't get any credits).

 

So, I guess it doesn't hurt to ask!!:)

[EmmaJean]

EmmaJean, you're confusing price drops for a cruise line and the price an agency is offering. You cannot get a refund for a price difference between travel agents unless you can get the agent to match the price you saw for another agency and those online and discount agencies don't generally honor other agencies discounts. The only time you MIGHT be entitled to claim a price drop is if the cruiseline drops prices. And, you have to be wary of some of the prices you see online and in newspaper advertisements. Many will be "come on" prices, but once they add in all their fees/taxes/extras, the price isn't anywhere what they advertised. As far as cancelling, unless you have travel insurance that allows cancellation for any reason, you won't be able to cancel your cruise and receive full compensation unless it's for a covered reason, such as medical emergencies. Most travel insurance policies don't allow cancelling just because you changed your mind.

 

If you book with an agency, rather than directly with the cruiseline, and the cruiseline drops their price, you can ask for a refund IF it's not after final payment. According to cruise contracts, once you're past final payment, you're not entitled to anything, although some lines might give you a small on board credit as compensation for the price difference.

 

Well, no refund or credits here. The cruiseline still has the same price. I did find out that we could have paid $1000 less and gotten a better balcony room on VTG if we had just waited. I didn't understand how their price could be so much lower. Someone said that they probably buy up rooms when they are cheap and just wait til the last minute and sell them off. Do you think that's how it works?

 

We already made final payment, so we're stuck. Cancelling would cost us half the amount.

 

Learning a lot from this experience....to bad we had to learn the hard way.

[firefly333]

Don't feel bad, we all learned the hard way, some of us took longer than others lolololol. I didnt find this site until after my third cruise. I overpaid big time on my first cruise, but told myself never again. Still learning, but getting better each time as I add to my body of knowledge.