Early Saver Rate

[Gil40]

At leat once a day, it's my homepage on Firefox. So far 200.00$ obc!! :)

[MissRabbit]

check boxes for which you are entitled.

if you are booked in a 7C and an 8 D goes down in price-- you gotta give up the 7c and move to the 8D and get back what ever is left on the price.

example-- you paid 50 .00 for the 7c 8D goes on sale for 45.00 you give up the cove- move to the 8D and get 5.00 back.

 

SOme people will not give up what they have-- Like me.

 

yeah i don't really want to give up my cove balcony. So unless i actually move to the 8D, i can't get any price difference. bummer. Thanks for clarifying that. I'll just stick to only looking at 7C prices.

[tiyana4]

I don't check since we're in an aft balcony for our trip. We were on the Dream last year and it never got any cheaper. Oh well, at least we got the rock bottom pricing.

 

We are running into the same thing. We used to check every 3-4 days for price drops but our category has actually gone up significantly. Several on our upcoming Dream roll call have received price drops for lower categories, but not the aft balconies. We book 18-24 months out so we got a phenomenal deal early on but I will continue checking after final payment (3 weeks away) when they are trying to get rid of cabins.

[AQW]

I check once a day. One thing that can help is having a Roll Call thread here on CC - there's someone on our Panama Canal roll call who has been awesome about spotting price drops. She may not have to spend any $$ on drinks during our voyage, as many of us as have vowed to buy her a drink to thank her for the price drop alerts she's posted!

[blondietink]

I have only been checking once a week for our Nov. cruise, but somebody on our roll call posted they noticed their balcony went down. So, I checked our category and it went down $10.00 each for the first 2 passengers (we have 4). So, I filled out the form and am waiting to hear. Hey, it's only $20.00, but that will give me a few cocktails or some extra casino cash.

 

I couldn't believe it went down so soon! I was expecting it to maybe go down after you could no longer book the ES rate.

[SteelerCruiser]

whenever i get a chance.....try to at least once a day!

[Gig103]

Help a newbie out... Do ES price drops always result in OBC or do they ever refund some of your money? Is there a way to cash out unused OBC or put it into the casino?

 

To me, I'd be thrilled if the cruise dropped $200+ like some of you are reporting, but I'd rather it cash in my pocket than OBC, in case I don't spend it all.

[Offroad]

Every Tuesday, that seems to be when the prices change.

[kym&lee]

yeah i don't really want to give up my cove balcony. So unless i actually move to the 8D, i can't get any price difference. bummer. Thanks for clarifying that. I'll just stick to only looking at 7C prices.

 

While YOU may not want to move, other people WILL. When they are offered their free upgrades and take them, that will free up some of the 7C cove balconies, Carnival will put them on sale to try to generate the business to sell out the sailing, and you can get OBC and still keep your cove. So yes, you should only be looking at the 7C prices for credit, but just know that when prices drop on other categories, people will take the upgrade which will make the 7C's NOT sold out any more :)

[MissRabbit]

While YOU may not want to move, other people WILL. When they are offered their free upgrades and take them, that will free up some of the 7C cove balconies, Carnival will put them on sale to try to generate the business to sell out the sailing, and you can get OBC and still keep your cove. So yes, you should only be looking at the 7C prices for credit, but just know that when prices drop on other categories, people will take the upgrade which will make the 7C's NOT sold out any more :)

 

This is why i love Cruise Critic :) Thanks :)

 

I'm not expecting there to be price drops cause it's the Magic so it's still new and popular, but no harm in keeping a close eye on it.

[Nicalewi]

Can you please give me the web address to check on the current price?

 

Thanks!

[AQW]

Make sure you know your CRUISE ONLY RATE (no taxes, fees, port charges, gratuities, etc.) and use the Fare Viewer to compare:

 

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

[Nicalewi]

Thanks so much!!

[capndinghy]

How often do you check your early saver rate?

 

Thanks!

 

I do not understand all I know about price drops. My suggestion is to join the roll call for the cruise you are on. Lots of people do understand it, check it often, and report back to the roll call. For instance, on my Trans Atlantic people on the roll call started reporting price drops. I called my PVP (that is who I book through) and what to you know. A $740 Price Drop!!

 

Good Luck

[travrn]

I tried to find out how to check prices of the cruise I'm on in order to see if the price will drop so I can get SBC's. I saw the link above on how to check the prices, but where is the form for Carnival located in order to apply for the credit? Any info to help me out will be much appreciated...

[Native Floridian 26]

check boxes for which you are entitled.

if you are booked in a 7C and an 8 D goes down in price-- you gotta give up the 7c and move to the 8D and get back what ever is left on the price.

example-- you paid 50 .00 for the 7c 8D goes on sale for 45.00 you give up the cove- move to the 8D and get 5.00 back.

 

SOme people will not give up what they have-- Like me.

 

If cove balconies are all sold out and higher balconies are abundant-- carnival will try to move the people from the lower priced cabins to free up space so they can sell them for a cheaper rate

 

So what if you're in a 4A and the prices for a 5X are what you had paid, but the 4A went down $100. If you don't want the upgrade to 5X do you still get the $100 OBC?

[MissRabbit]

So what if you're in a 4A and the prices for a 5X are what you had paid, but the 4A went down $100. If you don't want the upgrade to 5X do you still get the $100 OBC?

 

based on what was explained above, i would say that if you stay in the 4A, you get $100 OBC. If you move up to the 5X, since it's the same price, it would be even steven. I may be wrong, but that's how i understood this explanation given to me. Of course, that's only if you book ES.

[camper49]

based on what was explained above, i would say that if you stay in the 4A, you get $100 OBC. If you move up to the 5X, since it's the same price, it would be even steven. I may be wrong, but that's how i understood this explanation given to me. Of course, that's only if you book ES.

So if you book past guest could you move up...if it was before final payment??

[kym&lee]

This is why i love Cruise Critic :) Thanks :)

 

I'm not expecting there to be price drops cause it's the Magic so it's still new and popular, but no harm in keeping a close eye on it.

 

You are welcome!

 

By the way, go ahead and keep that close eye on it. We sailed the Dream last year when it was new and popular, and our price dropped several times and DH and I ended up with enough OBC to eat at the steakhouse, get a future cruise voucher, and pay most of our bar bill (and you have not seen how much my DH can drink!)

[serene56]

So if you book past guest could you move up...if it was before final payment??

 

 

if it was before final payment yes.

[kym&lee]

So if you book past guest could you move up...if it was before final payment??

 

Yes. The way my PVP just explained it to me yesterday (we just booked a cruise for September and since we are less than 5 months away, we did not get the ES rate, just past guest, so I wanted to make sure I knew my options since I don't want to be looking for price drops if it is only going to make me sick when I can't do anything about it!):

If there is a price drop BEFORE final payment (and this would include being booked in a cat 4A, seeing a price drop, and also seeing cat 8A at the same price as your 4A), then you are eligible to EITHER take the price drop (of which the price will be adjusted to what your final payment now becomes) OR you can upgrade to the higher category cabin and your final payment amount stays the same. You do NOT have to be on the ES rate for this.

If these same conditions are all true but AFTER final payment, if you booked on the ES rate, you get the difference in OBC. If you booked the past guest rate, you get either the difference in OBC OR you get an upgrade - it depends on the supervisor who is working. Those are literally the words from my PVP.

 

(Since the ES rate is supposed to "reward" you for planning ahead, they theoretically don't have to do anything for any other rates and in the past, you only got price protection if you saw your price drop within 48 hours after booking. In this tough economy, they also do not wish to piss off their past guests by not offering you at least SOMETHING if the price goes down, but obviously the only way to guarantee yourself any type of OBC is by booking an ES rate)

 

Please remember that information even among the PVPs is different a lot of times. I can swear to you that my PVP told me this just yesterday. Someone else will have heard something totally different from their PVP and will report it - and neither person is lying about what they were told. Last year I called to get a price adjustment and my PVP told me his supervisor wouldn't let him do it because I was ES rate and the price went down on the past guest rate (can you freakin' imagine?!? I was PISSED - after all, I'm a past guest who booked an ES and you are going to offer past guests now a better rate than the past guest who planned ahead?!? Confusing!) So I called back later that night just to talk to whatever PVP I randomly got assigned to and viola! Price adjustment.