Lollipop's Mom

Yeah learned this the hard way.

Now the cabin I want on deck 11 he is claiming is not a spa balcony -so i screencapped the actual booking screen showing the cabin as spa and available.... ugh what a pain in the ...

I am a fairly easy going person. I run my own franchised business across Canada and have very little time on my hands, so I like to book my vacation and be done with it. This has turned into such a pain. I am going to give the TA another hour and then I am getting on the phone with Carnival!

I am within my 75 days - paid in full - I just emailed and asked for a deck 11 spa balcony so at least I have the cover if it rains! Honestly love the spa balcony but don't believe for a minute that carnival 'upgraded and took away my obc'. I told him I plan to write a letter to carnival to complain. It was only $50 OBC, but its $50 towards my tips!

I am an avid disney cruiser who made the switch to carnival for this trip to try it out - and so far not impressed - and I know it is the TA's fault - so I told him I am going to write and complain about this - he probably won't want me writing to carnival to complain about something that was HIS doing!

So here is where I am at now.

Woke up to a new cabin number on deck 12, spa cabin. Saw this on my phone while still laying in bed. Check email and got an email from my TA that says

"Carnival has agreed to give you a free upgrade to a Spa balcony but you will lose you obc.

I am not exactly sure as to what happened, Carnival can't explain as to why either ??"

Ummmmmmmmm so here is what I am thinking is going on... I got a really good discount on this cruise from this TA - this company obviously works in bulk rooms. Now fares for spa cabins have gone even lower than when I first booked, and with his discount he gets, I am guessing he was able to get it for the same money I paid already for my regular balcony, and just did a switch, which on a new deal doesn't have the OBC attached.

Also - I don't even want to be on deck 12 because the balconies have no covers - but seriously I feel like i start to sound like a whiney B**** if I keep on this and asking for changes. Know what I mean?

So now I have lost my OBC due to an upgrade? Makes no sense to me at all! I think the TA is screwing around :(

As we figured, they will only talk to my TA. What I am ticked with is when I was booking there were 3 rooms I saw - 2 of them were just a regular room for 2 people (maybe 3?) and the one we ended up with apparently can handle 4 people. So I know why we got bumped- but why in the first place would my TA or Carnival even put us in that one? I didn't know what each one took, I just said "Hey i like the location of these 3 rooms - any of these would be great thanks". Originally I paid about an extra $40-60 to book a room - had one on deck 8 I liked, then saw these on lido deck and i paid $60 to move to those. With my 'upgrade' I may as well be back on deck 8 and have saved the $60!! I have asked my TA to try and get my extra upgrade money back in form of OBC, OR a bump up to spa balcony, which right now is only $25pp more than I paid anyway! Im not one of those 'entitled' people who will demand stuff, I just feel ripped off that I spent the extra money to ensure that deck, and didn't end up with what I wanted (and I know Im not going to get it back) - especially sucks because there were 3 options I liked and thats the one I was assigned :(

Thanks everyone. I am going to call carnival and see what can be done. I will let you know what happens

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I used a TA and there were 3 rooms I was happy with getting any of the 3. I got one of them. It was not an adjoining room. There are 2 of us in the room.

I paid a bit more to handpick a room I loved on the lido deck. I loved the idea of being on lido. Handy to everything. I just noticed on my reservation we have been changed to deck 11. Same room basically but one deck up. I loved my room I picked for being close to laundry too, as we are continuing on for a week after the cruise in Orlando. We light to pack light too and bring across from laundry was very handy for me. Can I get my old room back or am I out of luck?

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Oh ok thanks - yep think I will do my own laundry! Not into washing everything on hot and having it shrink!

Do they have a paid service like this on the 3rd day or anything? where you can pay a flat fee for a bag?

Thanks so much!

I have a really stupid question, as I have only really sailed on Disney, so having a casino on board is new to me.

I assume you need cash for the casino? Since everything is sign and sail card based, I just wondered if you can use your card in the machines? Or there are atms? or ???

Thanks!

I have not read this entire thread, but putting in my 2 cents....

I recently cancelled my NCL cruise and rebooked with RCL.

I felt they were doing sur-charge overkill.

Want to watch an evening show that is of some better quality? $30 per person

Want room service? $8

Want to go to a nicer and less busy deck to lay in the sun? $65 (?)

Way too many surcharge restaurants in my opinion.

I have been spoiled by Disney in the past - pay one price, get everything, even pop! We would pay $20 or something for Palo brunch surcharge, but I could leave that ship with only tips on my end bill if I wanted, and do and see everything. Yes, the outset of the cost was more, and in the end if I added up all the NCL charges, it came out about the same as Disney.

Re-booked on RCL Harmony of the Seas, paid $800 less than NCL for the same balcony type stateroom. Tons of dining choices that don't cost extra, and all entertainment is included. Plus I think the Harmony looks WAY more fun than the Escape I was booked on. Much more to do it seems.

Happy with my decision - not a fan of all the charges from NCL!

thanks

Well right now if I book in the USD its cheaper - by about $200 - than using the current exhcange on xe.com - so better off to book in USD and make payments on days the dollar is good :)

Am I better to book my cruise in USD on the RCCL site or in CDN on there?

I am soon going to book the Harmony and I know its not a full ship/date - the cruise is a lower cost compared to other dates -but all they show for balcony is a D5 - I don't like any of the stateroom locations coming up (all next to the kids stuff/nursery -and I don't have little ones so would rather not listen to that in the halls constantly as they go in and out). I have put in dozens of other D5 numbers and its all unavailable. I am willing to spend an extra $ to go to a D6/7/8 - but I can't get anything but a D5 to come up on their site. When I go to a cruise outlet type place, they show availability in other categories, but the actual RCCL site doesn't.

Anyone know why?

Perfect - we had booked Starboard :)

Im a musical theater fanatic and have seen Cats up close a few times, but can't say its my fave show. I do find the beginning of act 2 to be really boring, but we will go see it - can always leave at intermission - didn't cost anything! :)

Is there a 'better' side of the ship to be on for good views?

YOu are going to get a WAY better deal booking at the main website and putting in the province you live in -comes up with a great deal. I got Oasis oceanview balcony for $2073 cdn for 2 people with a Canadian resident discount. Same cruise was $2500ish in USD.

2 similar excursions being offered - we love a good resort day.

Which is better???

Looking for a good beach, great pool -both seem to have that!

Need some input on these - thanks!

Just rented a Nellie's Beach cabana for January. I noticed 'could' have rented an over the water one - it allowed me to put it in my cart, yet I am not a suite guest. It is only 2 of us, and we are in Canadian dollars, which makes the over the water about $430 for us -can't justify that. So stuck with Nellies.

Thanks everyone -I actually just saved $1300 by switching and got an oceanview balcony over my CP View balcony!

What are the main differences?

We are booked on the Allure, but the same week, the Oasis is $700 cheaper and I am fine with either itinerary.

Just wanting to see the main differences in the ships? Is the Allure worth $700 more?