Help me with early booking questions....please!

[Ken076]

Fire: Good point, what I have done in the past is book myself and then the second passenger I book as TBD (to be determined) then when I know for certain I add the name to that person, no name change needed

 

We are on the Valor in January and we booked when we got off of the Freedom last January, we have had three price drops since, now that we have made final payment any drops would be OBC - still fine with me

 

There are no "TBD" bookings allowed with Early Saver. If you were able to do so in the past, you caught a "break". ken

[Ken076]

OK, I'm thinking of doing this (surprise wife with a fully paid for trip).

 

Trip would be early November. To pull it off I need to be able to make a deposit and than make periodic payments. Can I do it all on line or do I need to call? If I do, I'd probably want to set up in the next 30-60 days to be sure I had plenty of time to make the needed payments to pay off by, what...September???

 

Most important things to me,

 

Get to pick cabin

Buy insurance

Make deposits and than "lots" of small but regular payments towards the fare (again to keep all a surprise).

 

So call or do by net??? What else do I need to know?

 

Just be aware, there's no formal Carnival payment plan or such - on your own you would simply periodically call in and pay another $$$ toward your balance.

 

there's no advantage to booking direct via carnival.com. The site only shows max of 10 of the available cabins in each "sub-category" - a PVP can tell you all the available locations and help you pick best choice for you and the PVP may be able to identify a fare or booking option that you're not aware of. If you call PVP, have a deckplan in front of you, with some idea of your desired locations.

 

Insurance - The Carnival Trip Protection Plan is more expensive than the 3rd Party Plans for younger travelers and generally the 3rd Party Plans offer better, wider coverages.

 

ken

[brooklynfc]

Question? I can't think of a logical reason why Early Saver doesn't let you change names? What is the reasoning on that and how does it relate to ES. I'm just curious.

[Ken076]

Question? I can't think of a logical reason why Early Saver doesn't let you change names? What is the reasoning on that and how does it relate to ES. I'm just curious.

 

It's simply one of the stated Terms & Conditions for an Early Saver booking, and kind of goes along with other restrictions of non-refundable deposit, penalty for changing sail date, etc. ken

[gecko2gecko]

Question? I can't think of a logical reason why Early Saver doesn't let you change names? What is the reasoning on that and how does it relate to ES. I'm just curious.

 

My guess would be that if people could buy whatever great rates they find and just change the names for the booking then they could run a cruise travel business without going through the proper channels. I think it would have a lot of potential for being a really bad situation. It sucks for the people who have a friend get sick or whatever, but I'm sure it's in place because others, given the opportunity would take advantage of the situation.

[Sirwinston]

I think no name changes is for the same reason the airlines do it with the non refundable cheapest fares. While you are sure you will be able to make the trip the airlines and cruise lines know a certain percentage will have to cancel, die, whatever, and for them this is money in the bank While the customer is willing to take the risk, It is pure profit for them if you need to cancel.

 

While I would love to save a buck Early Saver is not for me.

Of coarse for airlines I do the non refundable, because refundable are usually 200 % more than cheapest fares.

 

Tom in Long Beach

[Sdallnct]

Just be aware, there's no formal Carnival payment plan or such - on your own you would simply periodically call in and pay another $$$ toward your balance.

 

there's no advantage to booking direct via carnival.com. The site only shows max of 10 of the available cabins in each "sub-category" - a PVP can tell you all the available locations and help you pick best choice for you and the PVP may be able to identify a fare or booking option that you're not aware of. If you call PVP, have a deckplan in front of you, with some idea of your desired locations.

 

Insurance - The Carnival Trip Protection Plan is more expensive than the 3rd Party Plans for younger travelers and generally the 3rd Party Plans offer better, wider coverages.

 

ken

 

Right, not having a formal payment plan is even better. I might call as often as ever 2 weeks to put money towards trip.

 

We have always bought the insurance thru Carnival. Hadn't really thought about a 3rd party......will have to look.

 

Also had not thought of using a PVP...guess no reason not to....

[twinklen01]

I'm hoping to do an early saver cruise in Nov . I was thinking that if i need to cancel the $250 deposit per person couldnt be refunded but could be used toward another cruise booked within a year but that $$ cant be used toward the new booking deposit. I dont want to throw away $750.

 

Now, if i get insurance and need to cancel then I will get my refund right, as long as it falls under sickness or death

[k2excursion]

there's no advantage to booking direct via carnival.com. The site only shows max of 10 of the available cabins in each "sub-category" - a PVP can tell you all the available locations and help you pick best choice for you and the PVP may be able to identify a fare or booking option that you're not aware of. If you call PVP, have a deckplan in front of you, with some idea of your desired locations.

 

Insurance - The Carnival Trip Protection Plan is more expensive than the 3rd Party Plans for younger travelers and generally the 3rd Party Plans offer better, wider coverages.

 

ken

 

Great advice about calling Carnival and not using the website!

 

Insurance - I agree. The 3rd party plans give better coverage for less money. insuremytrip.com will give you many different options to choose from with the coverage spelled out in detail. That's what we've used. Carnival's emergency evacuation amount is so small, you're sure to go way over it if you do have to be evacuated. That's one of many areas where Carnival's coverage falls short.

 

It was mentioned in an earlier post that when booking earlysaver, Carnival will lower your rate if the rate later drops. They will, but only if you notice the price drop and fill out the online form on their website. It's not automatic. I filled out that form 3 times for the Holiday cruise, and it was approved each time. We've done it for the Dream, and it was approved. You just have to keep your eye on it.

 

Most changes are not allowed with earlysaver, but one thing you can do without any extra charge is upgrade. If you're in a 4A and want to move to a 4B or window (cat. 6) or higher, you can do so for free. But you cannot downgrade. They'll charge you for that.

[Rizzorp]

Does anyone have an advice on what sites, other then the main Carnival one of course, people usually browse to keep any eye open for price reductions for Early Saver? I though I saw a thread somewhere, but I can't seem to find it.