Early Saver - Positive comment!

[spenc]

For all the complaints about early saver - there are some good things. We are booked on the Magic transatlantic cruise in October and have had two price drops already. The first one was $140 and we got the confirmation within 24 hours. The price dropped again today and we received confirmation that we received the additional $100 within about two hours. :D

[RICKAR]

:DCongrats! Hopefully that is $240 OBC!

 

We booked ES had receive a $10pp reduction in price on our last cruise. Granted that the AFT balconies are few and sell out quickly, but we did receive a reduction. Will try the ES again on our next cruise.:)

[IslandSliderGirl]

Our group (4 couples) booked Early Saver for our weekend cruise to the Bahamas this weekend. Three out of the four couples received two price drops resulting in OBC of $70 per couple. We would definitely book Early Saver again. In fact, we are looking at booking Destiny in September. :)

[spenc]

Actually since the final payment isn't due yet, that $240 came off what we owe!!!

[Jenbo57]

That's good to hear, but how often do you need to check for price drops? We're not going again 'til December; I hate the thought of having to check the Carnival website daily...

[EnTnSA]

Yep, i have done 4 seperate ES forms since our booking, saving around 100 total dollars so far. I am thrilled with ES to be quite honest.

[EnTnSA]

That's good to hear, but how often do you need to check for price drops? We're not going again 'til December; I hate the thought of having to check the Carnival website daily...

 

 

Its completely up to you. I work at a computer all day, so i check once a day usually. Its all a matter of how much you want to try and find that price drop.

[spenc]

I check daily also but I am also at a computer all day. The search engine makes it really easy. About 30 seconds.

[ahoughton]

We usually get such a good deal to start with we don't have a drop in price but we did have one cruise drop. I have been satisfied with early saver.

[Jenn24101]

We used early saver and are very happy so far! We got two price drops, for a total of $180 OBC. I have the search page saved, so it only takes a couple of seconds to see the current prices.

 

And for those that are wondering, we received our drops fairly early on, before final payment was due or early saver dropped off. Prices are currently $200 pp higher than we originally paid, so I'm guessing no more credit, but hey, that's a lot of "free" drinks :)

[parentsof5]

I am wondering how far out some of you originally booked. If you could share how far out, how many price drops you've received, and how much so far that would be great.

[G'ma]

For all the complaints about early saver - there are some good things. We are booked on the Magic transatlantic cruise in October and have had two price drops already. The first one was $140 and we got the confirmation within 24 hours. The price dropped again today and we received confirmation that we received the additional $100 within about two hours. :D

 

All of my cruises have been booked at the Early Saver rate since the fare was first introduced. I've received OBC or price reduction on all but one.

 

Never had a problem and response was within a couple days.

 

The biggest problems is this: most folks who complain about it simpy either don't bother reading and understanding the rules on the fare..and that those ARE the rules, without exception.

 

Some either think there should be an exeption for them or "in case of"....Some who have been denied because they were not eligible say "that doesn't make sense"...or the like.

[genegri]

If the price drops and you file the form, do you lose your cabin then? Does Carnival put your cabin into the pool of guarantees?

[ineed-a-vacation]

Nothing changes with your cabin when you file a price drop form. You just save a few dollars hopefully. I work on a computer most of the day too, so I check daily. Normally it's only once per day, but like today, the price changed 3 times, so I was able submit my second form in, and I cruise next week. I think it has to do with getting the ship filled, because I never would've thought that I would get a price drop this close to sail date. So it definitely pays to check the prices on a daily basis if you can.

[k2excursion]

I've mentioned this before on other threads regarding Early Saver. Even if you see no price drop at all, Early Saver was still the better way to go. Any other rate booked at any time for your category will cost you more (or equal), with the exception of Pack & Go rates, but those are guarantees. In fact, if you see no price drops at all, that means that you are paying a lower price (for your category) than anyone on the ship, other than those that might have booked before you for cheaper. No price drops just means that you got an amazing deal.

 

The only situations that makes Early Saver bad is if you feel you will need to cancel and never rebook, or you feel you'll cancel more than once or twice before finally getting to go, or you feel that everyone sailing with you may cancel and leave you by yourself.

[CruisinCT]

When you all say you check daily and it takes about 30 seconds, can I ask how you are checking, specifically? When I check, I have been going back through the booking process and starting a fake booking to see if the total is less than I paid. Is there a quicker and/or easier way? Thanks!

[trk3]

Going on our first cruise on feb 12, but wondering for our next one. Is this through Carnival? And can you use FCC, if we decide to buy that?

[mouche]

I love love the ES, last cruise we had $140.00 OBC and for my cruise comming up in May all four of us had a $60.00pp price drop, some of us have OBC and others had the amount taken off the balance.:D

[Jenn24101]

When you all say you check daily and it takes about 30 seconds, can I ask how you are checking, specifically? When I check, I have been going back through the booking process and starting a fake booking to see if the total is less than I paid. Is there a quicker and/or easier way? Thanks!

 

What I did was do a search through the Carnival site as specific as I can to my exact cruise, and include my home state (and you would also want to check past guest or whatever if you are eligible for that too) then I bookmark the page that comes up with the search....I can see instantly that the lowest balcony price is still higher than what I paid, so I know I don't need to go any further. You can continue through booking to check further, or use some other online site that still tells you categories if you need to check 3rd and 4th passengers or your specific category rate.

 

So, checking my price takes only as long as it takes for the search page to load, just a couple of seconds.

 

Also, I have my browser set to dump all history, cookies, etc every time I close the browser, so it is always a fresh search. If you don't have this set, I think it would be possible your browser could bring up the page without refreshing, so do a manual refresh in that case to be sure.

[mdrobtx]

When you all say you check daily and it takes about 30 seconds, can I ask how you are checking, specifically? When I check, I have been going back through the booking process and starting a fake booking to see if the total is less than I paid. Is there a quicker and/or easier way? Thanks!

 

I use this fare viewer link:

http://www.carnival.com/BookingEngine/FareViewer

[Kimjergen]

I use this fare viewer link:

http://www.carnival.com/BookingEngine/FareViewer

 

Great tip!

[mouche]

I use this fare viewer link:

http://www.carnival.com/BookingEngine/FareViewer

 

 

Just tried this link, maybe I did something wrong, but it gave a way off price than what was shown when doing a cruise serarch from the main page, off by hundreds of $. Okay, like I said I was looking at it wrong, the price was the total not pp. :)

[mdrobtx]

Just tried this link, maybe I did something wrong, but it gave a way off price than what was shown when doing a cruise serarch from the main page, off by hundreds of $. Okay, like I said I was looking at it wrong, the price was the total not pp. :)

Yeah, you want the price without the taxes and fees.:)

[blindrid]

For all the complaints about early saver - there are some good things. We are booked on the Magic transatlantic cruise in October and have had two price drops already. The first one was $140 and we got the confirmation within 24 hours. The price dropped again today and we received confirmation that we received the additional $100 within about two hours. :D

 

And I contend that if you would have shopped the cruise, you would have gotten the lower price anyway. The only thing that ES does is there is no longer no need to shop a cruise hard any more.

[spenc]

And I contend that if you would have shopped the cruise, you would have gotten the lower price anyway. The only thing that ES does is there is no longer no need to shop a cruise hard any more.

 

Not necessarily. Sometimes the rates will fluctuate depending on how the cruise is selling or not selling. How in the world would you be able to find that? We booked our cruise the first day it was available. Early saver has already saved us $240 and all we had to do was submit an online form. It was no big deal and took about a minute. Why waste time?