Drop 3rd pax - price change?

[MandyGirl]

If I drop my third passenger from my booking, does Carnival just deduct their charges from our existing bill? (fare, fuel, and port/taxes?) Or do they go through everything and "rebook" as a new booking? We are 6 months out.

 

Prices have increased, so if we rebook as a 2-pax cruise, it's almost as much as a 3-pax cruise that we are booked with now. We are not looking at changing cabins, sailing dates, or anything else--- just dropping the third pax in our cabin.

 

Also, there are no other 2-pax cabins left in our category as all are only showing when booking 3-pax. I am assuming they would leave us in our same category as 2-pax since no other 3-pax available in our current category (and no other upgrades available). We are in an 8D.

 

I know I could call... but we are not 100% certain we are dropping the 3rd pax yet... thought I would ask here first. :) Thanks!

[MandyGirl]

I should also add that Fuel prices have remained the same. It is only the Fare that has increased per passenger.

[travelntreats]

Dropping the 3d passenger should not change the fares of the 1st and 2nd passenger, and I do not believe it would affect the fuel supplements if by chance they increased. I would call your PVP and get a specific answer from them and if it is not what you want to hear, make another call and speak to another rep to see their take on this. If they tell you what you want to hear, get their name and document the conversation so you have record of this if you elect to drop that passenger and run into friction when doing so. If you drop that 3d passenger before final payment is due, the balance due would be adjusted, less the deposit you placed in the inital booking.

[MandyGirl]

Okay - got my question answered. In case anyone else is looking for the same answer...

 

Have until my cxl date to drop third passenger and no new "rebooking fare" to deal with --- we would keep our current fare and charges.

 

Cabin: since no other 2-pax cabins on our 8E Panorama (thought it was 8D earlier - wrong) and I would be unwilling to downgrade to a lower category/deck, a supervisor would override us remaining in the same cabin (although it has a couch/bed for third pax). There are plenty of those left for 3-pax on Panorama deck for our sailing.

 

Whew - a breath of relief. My vacation consultant I booked with through Carnival is no longer there so I spoke with someone different this morning. Very friendly!

[travelntreats]

Good to hear....

[MandyGirl]

If they tell you what you want to hear, get their name and document the conversation so you have record of this if you elect to drop that passenger and run into friction when doing so.

 

Yep - and they pulled up my record to look after I got off holding - so surely that would be a part of the record that it was accessed on this date. But she gave me the answer I was hoping for (posted above).

[LHP]

Okay - got my question answered. In case anyone else is looking for the same answer...

 

Have until my cxl date to drop third passenger and no new "rebooking fare" to deal with --- we would keep our current fare and charges.

 

Cabin: since no other 2-pax cabins on our 8E Panorama (thought it was 8D earlier - wrong) and I would be unwilling to downgrade to a lower category/deck, a supervisor would override us remaining in the same cabin (although it has a couch/bed for third pax). There are plenty of those left for 3-pax on Panorama deck for our sailing.

 

Whew - a breath of relief. My vacation consultant I booked with through Carnival is no longer there so I spoke with someone different this morning. Very friendly!

 

 

Great to hear.

 

And remember if you are in need of a new PVP....feel free to try a few of them until you find one you really click with!!!

[MandyGirl]

I called this evening to go ahead and remove our third passenger (daughter) as we have now finalized having a grandparent fly in to babysit. The story I heard tonight from the 888-Carnival rep was totally different from what I was told when calling previously to inquire. He even checked with his supervisors when putting me on hold.

 

Situation:

Currently booked in 3-pax 8E on Panorama deck as 3 pax (trying to drop third pax)

There are six (6) other 3-pax 8Es available on Panorama deck, but no 2-pax 8Es (on our deck or any other deck in that category)

Instead of supervisor over-riding and leaving us in 8E, we were told we could downgrade to lower deck (and lower category).

Price of 8D is now more than what we paid for 8E, but they would let us keep our same booking price for downgrading. (Is that supposed to be nice??)

The available 8D cabins for 2 pax on lower deck are all the way forward, not near elevators like our current Panorama 8E is. Not nearly as good of a location.

Upgrade available but much, much more $$$$ (category 11)

 

So it looks as if we are definitely between a rock and a hard place. We can downgrade or pay third pax (about $800).

 

I was told I could call back 9:00-5:30 Eastern and they would put it through to Revenue Mgmt above the supervisors, but the rep on the phone did not see that going through.

 

I had been all excited about this cruise- our anniversary, we married while on a cruise, our first cruise since our child was born, and ironically the cabin we have is basically same deck/location as our wedding cruise. (Yes, I am sentimental) Sad thing is, our original 2-person cabin in 8E Panoramo deck was same location, opposite side (port) and perfect location as well, but we lost that cabin when we added our daughter to the reservation and had to change to 3-pax cabin when the first grandparent backed out of babysitting.

 

:confused: Has anyone had to go as high as Revenue Mgmt in a situation like this? :confused: When I hung up on the phone tonight, it was basically downgrading as our only option for same price. The guy was really nice, but not really encouraging when I told him I would at least try Revenue Mgmt tomorrow during the hours he told me. He didn't foresee us keeping the same cabin (even though six more are avilable on Panorama deck, but all 3-pax). I had been looking forward to giving Carnival a try. :( Any guidance or experiences?

 

Many thanks in advance...

[big_duck]

Simple, see if you can switch to an 8e guarantee at your current rate.

[MandyGirl]

I had asked that as well. Because we are booked on interline rate, we do not have the guarantee option - must do a cabin. That would be fine with us since I know there are other 8Es and there are three category 11s and we would at least not be downgraded. I will try asking that again tomorrow. Who knows - since this person gave us a complete different story from the person in September, we might see another different story tomorrow. Or who knows what Revenue Mgmt might do.

 

This has just completely thrown me weird. Everywhere on CC I read about price drops, OBCs, etc. Then I call with a situation that I was told a month ago how to handle, and it's like "downgrade and get to keep your current rate" like it's doing us a favor.

[MandyGirl]

Update: After almost thirty minutes on the phone with Carnival this morning after Revenue Mgmt opened, we are getting to keep our cabin and not being forced to downgrade or cancel as I was told last night.

 

Apparently when I booked in July there was no passenger restriction, but they said in the future any 3-person cabin that loses the third pax will be forced to move to 2-person cabin and cannot be overridden. There are passenger restrictions now.

 

What was MOST concerning to me:

I had called Carnival September 20 (like I documented above - had the laptop in my lap when calling). When the rep pulled up my reservation today, she let me know there was absolutely no documentation of me ever calling. So apparently when you call Carnival from your home phone number on record, give them your booking number, give them your PIN number, and they pull up your reservation... that is not denoted ANYWHERE in your record. Kinda scary someon can access your personal reservation and Carnival has zero record of it. And of course... the computer is always right and never the customer.

 

In the future, I will ASK to please denote my record that the conversation took place and the key points of the conversation. Definitely concerning that someone can access your reservation yet nothing in the reservation will even denote that in any way for when a problem occurs in the future. Not even a time/date stamp that it was pulled up. (I figured something as basic as that would show on any reservation any time a representative pulls it up with a customer pin number.) :confused:

[old sole]

Apparently when I booked in July there was no passenger restriction, but they said in the future any 3-person cabin that loses the third pax will be forced to move to 2-person cabin and cannot be overridden. There are passenger restrictions now.

 

One more indicator that Carnival is reexamining all their policies to tweak them towards more revenue. Reclassifying cabins, up-sells instead of upgrades, more controls over who can authorize OBC and under what circumstances, etc. None of this goes beyond what other lines have been doing for awhile, and in some ways Carnival is still more liberal (getting OBC for a price drop after final payment is impossible on NCL for example). But it still seems a shame to see policies people have become accustomed to change with each phone call.

[Ken076]

MandyGirl - CONGRATS - thanks to some perseverence (sp?) IMO you came out of this "smelling like a rose"; time to take a breath, relax, and start planning the trip!!!

 

Again, IMO, I'm thinking that Carnival will/is tightening-up on the unlimited Price Drops and OBC's, GREAT free Category upgrades, and slack from the PVP's - it's already more difficult to get OBC and upgrades are being replaced by "upsells", ETC., ETC. kEN