kg21rules

That cancel button is confusing. So long as you were to cancel before your actual final payment date, you will lose $50pp on an ES booking. Everything else is held as a future cruise credit to be used within 24 months. Once past the final payment due date, you lose money on the same sliding scale as any other rate with Carnival. So if you pay off a cruise early then cancel, they're keeping the entire cruise fare to use towards a future cruise less $50pp. You don't actually get a refund of your money - hence why that button can be confusing when you click on it.

Thanks for the explanation! Makes me feel a lot better. Future cruise credit is fine with me, not that I plan on canceling.

When I click on the terms and conditions of the fare on the website the wording is different. It does not say "the deposit less a $50pp service fee" like it does on the regular ES. It says there is a $50pp service fee and the remaining funds are held as a credit for a future cruise. That would mean the whole cruise fare less $50pp. Considering we are on an 8 day cruise that is a whole lot more than the $200pp we would have held under the regular ES. I really don't like having close to $2000 held as a credit for a future cruise. At least that is how I am reading it. I guess I should call and find out if that is the case.

I'm interested to see what the answer to this is. After I paid in full, when I clicked my cancellation fee on my booking, it was nearly the whole amount. (A little over 80%). Would I lose that whole amount if I canceled or would it be future cruise credit?

I was able to take advantage for a January sailing. It cost me $60 more, but I figure I'm still coming out $140 ahead. :)

Looking forward to hearing more! Bummer about missing sail away. That's always something I worry about not getting to see. I've been lucky so far.

I've done an L Shaped on the Breeze. I know it's a little different, but same premise I believe. The extra long balcony is totally worth it. I loved it.

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Just wondering what people do to store their valuables if they want to swim on the beach close to the ship in Grand Turk? The two of us would like to swim, but don't feel like leaving passports, money, etc by our chairs unattended.

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Does Carnival carry Kraken black rum? I've had that instead of CM sometimes and it's tasty.

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Looking forward to the rest of the review! Sailing the Breeze in December. :)

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Thanks everyone for all the great tips!! Keep 'em coming if you have other ideas. I'm now leaning towards staying in Miami for the night.

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We are flying into the Fort Lauderdale airport the Saturday before our cruise. We plan on staying in a Ft. Laud hotel as well. Any tips for getting to the Miami port the next morning? I'd like to be able to arrive at the port around 11:00.

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Thanks for the responses! I think we'll make the change to the aft ext.

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We are currently booked on the Breeze in an L Shaped cabin with the longer balcony. We've never had this cabin type, but like the pics and vids we see a lot. However I just saw a huge price drop for many cabins on my sailing and since I can't compare prices for other L-Shapes (all sold out), I compared to an Aft Extended. I can get in the aft for about $170 less than my current cabin (price is for 2 people). We like that we have booked the L Shaped, but the price drops I keep seeing make me feel like I'm missing out on a bargain. Any thoughts/comparisons?

I don't have "blinders" on as my friend attacked me with. Ive been on 2 other lines besides Carnival. I'm just stating facts. $1400 on the Breeze for 2 people. Comparable Celebrity around the same time is $2600. Those are facts. It's does not make sense for my situation. I'm not saying it will never work if you book at different times, it just doesn't work for me. My whole point is that it's not always possible to go with another line.

Cheers!

You mentioned 300+ dollars in your OP, and then you mentioned 1200 dollars, so by dividing the numbers, I had assumed that it was 4 people involved. So....why are you backing down from an intelligent discussion? You said it was going to cost you 1200 dollars more and if there are only 2 of you involved, then that would be a 600 dollar per person difference, which is certainly more than 300+ that you had originally stated. So, could you please get your facts straight? If you stated which Breeze cruise you were on then we could crunch the numbers and have an intelligent discussion. At that point I would know whether it was a 6 or 8 day sailing and I would be happy to compare balcony numbers on your sailing with those from Celebrity. All I want you to do is provide something substantial to back up your statement and not be a drive by poster that makes hollow statements and can't back them up with concrete facts.

My first post was half cocked, so

I'll apologize a 3rd time. The 2nd post was the real numbers. Although, after I looked it up to double check again this morning, it doesn't actually work since the celebrity cruise doesn't have a matching date(the one I price checked was a week after), so I'm stuck.

I just thought it would be fun to active on this forum, but I'll go back to a reader only. I don't like having to battle after giving an opinion.

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My last post on this, but that price differential is for 2 people. We would only have to buy 2 packages.

I definitely understand your point of view. It just doesn't work at all in my specific scenario.

Let's see if cold hard facts and numbers are "foolish & misleading".

Here's a comparison from 3 different ports San Juan, Ft Lauderdale & Miami, comparing 3 Celebrity ships versus 3 Carnival ships with all of the cruises departing some time during next April.

 

Valor 4/27/14 7 nights 459 in 539 ov 799 bal

Summit 4/26/14 8 nights 549 in 649 ov 894 bal

 

Freedom 4/5/14 8 nights 589 in 729 ov 1009 bal

Silhouette 4/6/14 7 nights 769 in 899 ov 974 bal

 

Breeze 4/12/14 8 nights 839 in 1029 ov 1309 bal

Reflection 4/12/14 7 nights 869 in 999 ov 1074 bal

 

All of these numbers are for cruise only, just pulled from a site online. All 3 of the Celebrity ships are higher rated and the numbers are fairly comparable, even when you factor in the 1 day differences.

 

But, all 3 of the Celebrity cruises above will include at no extra cost, their Classic drink package for FREE, which is valued at 44 per day, plus 15% tip. If you want the Cheers package, it's another 49.95 plus 15% added onto the above numbers.

 

I'm a loyal Platinum cruiser with Carnival and 17 of my 23 cruises have been with them. Mainly because I have seen the value with Carnival over the years. But.....after seeing the price comparison above and even if you pick other sailings where Celebrity could be 300 more per week, the Cheers program will cost you 402 per week, so you'll still come out ahead on Celebrity and more often than not be on a better ship to boot. I have praised Carnival for being a value leader over the years and that is why they have gotten my loyalty, but my next two are booked on Celebrity because their recent promotions offer more value than what Carnival is offering.

I certainly didn't mean to offend anyone, so I apologize for my word choice. I stand by the concept of what I'm saying though. I'm looking at it from the perspective of someone who as already booked the cruise and airfare. Comparing a Celebrity cruise leaving the same time as the Carnival cruise I already booked is a $1200 difference. You could see where it would not make sense to me. If you have more flexibility, you may indeed be able to find something that is somewhat closer in price range, especially if you choose a lesser ship of a competitor in comparison to something like the Breeze, which I will be sailing.

I see a lot of posts in this thread complaining about the price and talking about going on Celebrity or RCCL instead for thier much better drinking program. Maybe I'm not a good bargain hunter, but looking at those lines I'd pay another $300+ per person to get an equivalent balcony cabin. Lets keep price in perspective. Carnival presents amazing value. Yeah, the Cheers program may be a rip off for many and I'm not sure if I'll get it, but simply saying switch cruise lines for a better deal is foolish and misleading.