lolavix

Cruzelover55--I am so sorry you went through all of that. Next time, you could try tripinsurancestore.com. They are very responsive to questions, and have a handy side-by-side comparison tool to help you see what is available through each company, with the premiums listed. And again, you can call and speak to someone or email with questions. Worst case scenario, you still wind up purchasing Carnival's insurance, but they might be able to help you out in sorting out the details and you find someone new/better/cheaper. For our very first (and only!) cruise to date, I purchased insurance through a company I had researched through Tripinsurancestore, and we actually had to use the policy when my 8 year old broke his leg 3 weeks before the cruise and we had to cancel. While there was a TON of paperwork and a few calls to ask the status, we did get reimbursed and were able to rebook that cruise for later that summer.

My kid received an email from the professor. She will definitely be able to take the test early. Was no problem at all.

Bottom line is were going on cruise.

Thanks for the assistance everyone

I was hoping that would be the case.

Have a great time!

I teach college and don't allow make ups, either.

However, if students know they have a conflict with a test, I do allow them to take the exam ahead of time.

I have had many students take me up on these offers and it usually works out OK for them. It can't hurt to ask the professor.

I've ordered more than $500 multiple times and always get them in about 5-7 days. They are shipping from Ohio and I live in the Northeast.

BUT...one booking increased the gratuities to the new rate and the other booking's gratuities stayed at the old rate.

Do you sail prior to August 31, 2016, for the one where they stayed at the old rate? The increase in gratuities doesn't go into effect until sailings after that date.

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1123

I can't take credit for this tip, but I figure I will share.

My offer was for the first three ports. I only wanted excursions for 2 of the 3. I chose the three and put them all in my cart, and then deleted the one I didn't want before I paid. It retained the discount for the other two. I did this twice, since we have two cabins, so it worked for both and wasn't a fluke (and as I said, someone else had posted about this tip, so it seems to work, if you don't want to book all of the ports in the offer).

We cruised to Bermuda when my kids were 10.5, 8 and 6 and we didn't feel like there were any limitations. The link to the trip report, with tons of photos and details, is in my signature.

Have fun!

We have two cabins which were booked Early Saver in January. For one, I've gotten nothing so far. For the other, we wound up with a net gain of $10 (it was a $30 price drop per person but we lost the $50 OBC). We don't sale until August, and we're still before final payment, so I can't say if we'll get any more drops, but I'm not counting on it. If we do, it will be a nice surprise. :)

The one thing I'd caution you about Early Saver is that if you have to cancel, you'd be out $50 x 7 ($50 pp cancellation fee).

I didn't want a guarantee rate because I have my kids across the hall from us, and I want to be sure it stays that way.

If you have Verizon Wireless or join AARP (you can join the "Rewards for Good" program at any age), you can collect points and use them to purchase Carnival gift cards at a 10% discounted rate. The GCs are not always available, so you need to keep an eye on the sites (or subscribe to the threads on here which have done a pretty good job at alerting me when they are available). My entire cruise will be 10% off because I've purchased enough cards to cover the cost.

The deal was that I had to book an excursion at all three ports within 48 hours, for a 20% discount on all three.

If anyone who is reading gets this deal pop up when they book their cruise, know that you don't have to book all three. I selected three to put in my cart, and then I deleted the one I didn't want. I did wind up booking two for two cabins, but we retained the discount on the two excursions even after I deleted the one I didn't want.

Why would you wait to last day? Why does it matter if they get your money a few days early? How does that affect you?

I normally would think this way, too. However, for our cruise this summer, I am waiting to pay until probably before the day final payment is due because I have Early Saver and if the price drops right before final payment, I want the price adjustment as actual money back to my CC and not OBC. I know for some people OBC is essentially the same as the money back but we don't typically have a huge amount of on-board spending and will have a huge amount of spending on the private tours we are doing.

I've decided that the ones on AARP are the exact same engine. I see them available and unavailable at the same times. I have yet to see them available on one site and not available on the other...

Yes, it's the same distributor. A few months ago, I ordered some from Verizon and some from AARP and the two separate orders came in the same envelope.

Rusty will do a nice review when I get back.

Please do. I've been waiting for the transition of the Fascination to San Juan as we sail later on this summer. I've read reviews of the Fascination out of Jacksonville, and reviews of the itinerary on other ships, but would love to hear one of the ship/itinerary we'll be doing.

Have fun!

Totally......the prices for the cruise before and the cruise AFTER..................much lower. Daughter is a teacher. We are tied to her schedule.

The weeks before and after aren't 8 night cruises to the Southern Caribbean. I see:

March 4--Philipsburg, St. Maarten • Basseterre, St. Kitts • San Juan, Puerto Rico • Grand Turk Island, Turks & Caicos--8 nights

March 12--Grand Turk Island, Turks & Caicos • Amber Cove (Puerto Plata), Dominican Republic • Nassau, Bahamas--6 nights

March 18-- Grand Turk Island, Turks & Caicos • La Romana, Dominican Republic • Willemstad, Curacao • Oranjestad, Aruba--8 nights

March 26--Eastern Caribbean--Grand Turk Island, Turks & Caicos • Amber Cove (Puerto Plata), Dominican Republic • Nassau, Bahamas--6 nights

Spring Break isn't the same for everyone, so I don't think that is what is to blame. I think the price differentials are due to the itinerary and the length of the cruise.

I know I'm contributing to the "junk mail" right now, but wondering if we could create something pinned at the top of the Carnival page with all the pertinent information (a FAQ for this).

I've learned to only get excited about the cards when I have notifications for this thread as well as the AARP thread.

Is the special expired? Won't work for me

Not working for me, either.

We've been on one cruise, two years ago. We are going on our second this summer, although my kids don't know it yet.

When we went on our cruise, my kids were 10, 8 and 6.

My now almost 8 year old will still say, when the topic of vacation comes up, that he wants to go "visit" the ship again. (He doesn't realize that you can't just go visit the ship whenever you want.) His favorite thing of the entire vacation wasn't anything we saw in Bermuda, but the T-Rex pool on the NCL Dawn.

I get that you want to make it memorable, but even if you don't do anything at all extra, I'm guessing that it will still be special for your kids. Heck, it was pretty special for me as it was my first cruise and first trip to Bermuda as well. :)

And thank your husband for his service to our country, please.

30 minutes is more than enough time for a leisurely walk and it can be easily done in 20.

Agree here. I had a family of five--including a 10 year old, a six year old and and 8 year old who had broken his leg earlier in the summer, and it probably took the five of us about 40-45 minutes. Someone moving faster (e.g. not with kids, especially one convalescing from a leg injury) could do it much more quickly.

I think having a six year old changes things as far as what to do.

When we took our three kids (ages 6, 8 and 10), what they enjoyed most was the beach. We had three days, so we did go to St. George, but the highlight of our time in Bermuda from a family perspective was the beach and snorkeling. If you snorkel at all, that would be where I'd focus my time with kids. We did love St. Catherine's beach near St. George, but we didn't have to be back at a certain time that day, and there are other places to go to the beach that are easier to get to.

Horseshoe Beach is the most popular, and we did do that, but we liked Warwick/Jobson's Cove. The cove was great for my six year old, while my older two ventured out further with my husband. You can get the bus right from the port and spend half a day at the beach. You could head back and do a little shopping near the port. Glassworks was interesting to all since there was a glassblowing demonstration, and we enjoyed looking around the craftmall for a short time for souvenirs. (I've pretty much described our last day on Bermuda, so if you are at all interested in more details, they are in my trip report.)

You could also do an organized tour. We didn't do that since we had more time, but we are planning a cruise to the southern Caribbean this summer and we are going that route this time. Maybe the tour could drop you off at a beach after seeing the main sights and you could get an hour or two of beach time that way.

Bermuda is beautiful. Have fun!

This is our first Carnival cruise, and I booked two cabins in January. The prices included $25 OBC pp, and that has been the sticking point.

In theory, the price for the cabin with three has gone down a couple of times by about $50 total, but when you consider we would lose the $75 OBC, we would come out behind.

The price for the cabin with two gave us a $60 decrease in price, but we lost the $50 OBC. So, we've had a net decrease of $10 for that cabin.

Since I've never experienced huge price drops, I don't know what I am missing, but I do remind myself that it means that I booked at the lowest price I could have, since we booked right after we decided to sail. I don't know what the cruise started at, so I'm happy.

But that won't stop me from looking once or twice a day for the drops. ;)

I ordered mine on Friday. It is still showing pending. Does anyone know how long before I will get a tracking number. I am just nervous how long it will take to get them. We sail in two weeks.

Have you ordered them before? You might need to confirm with AARP before they send them. I think I received an email the first time I purchased them which had a link to confirm. If your status doesn't change to pending by tomorrow, I would call customer service and ask. I have ordered three times and received them in either 5 or 6 days each time, and that includes the few days it takes for them to get around to shipping them.

If you order the $500 cards, someone will have to sign for them.

It might be the total value of the cards ordered. I ordered 5 $100 GCs last week and I had to sign for them. I didn't have any $500 GCs in that order.

1. Someone posted this a few weeks ago, but when you get your cards, there is a flyer with them. There is a code for 1000 points. I just got the cards I ordered last week and got an easy 1000 points.

2. If you get the "Rewards for Good" emails, there is always a code towards the bottom of the email. If you enter it on the "Rewards for Good" website, you usually get another 150 points.

3. As some of you have mentioned, if you log in, you get 50 points. That is true every day.

4. The quizzes seem to be sporadic for me as far as rewarding me points. Sometimes I get points, and sometimes I don't, and there doesn't really seem to be a rhyme or reason as to when I'll get points. Sometimes I can take multiple quizzes and get points for each one. Sometimes, I'll just take one and get no points at all.

Both $500 and $100 GCs are available right now (12:28 PM, Eastern time)

Go get them!

Good luck!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by TerReuv

Not correct. If you are booked ES you can price match to any rate up until 2 days before sailing. You will always be ES unless you book any rate where Carnival picks your room. Then you will no longer be ES. You can price match to any other rate and stay ES except guarantee.

 

We regularly book ES and later we can match to military if the rate is less. We will still be ES.

 

So, as long as you are not matching a rate where Carnival picks your room, you will always be ES and can price match until 2 days before.

 

Perfect answer!

Thank you. This is what I thought.

Once you are ES you are always ES. The caveat is that you have to be able to select your own cabin (not GTY) to claim the drop(s). CCL will do a one-time GTY adjustment, but it puts you in the cabin pool and I'm not sure how you continue to rack up the adjustments at that point.

I have read and understood that about having to be able to select my own cabin; I did that for the one price drop I received. I wouldn't go the GTY route on this cruise anyway, since we have two cabins and I don't want them separated.