Question regarding Early Saver Fare and what my travel agent told me

[pebblesjns]

I see all kinds of threads on the forum about people getting obc due to the price of their cruises dropping after they booked the early saver rate. I keep checking the price of our cruise, and it keeps dropping due to promotional rates they keep offering (friends and family rate to be specific right now). I emailed my travel agent to see if he could put in a price drop form for us and he responded to my email that we don't qualify for a price drop because the friends and family rate is for new bookings only. I really am not sure I believe this at all. I emailed back for an explanation of that and here is his reply to me:

 

"If you are booked into an Early Saver rate and another Early Saver rate comes out with a lower fare than what you booked. Carnival will make up the difference in on board credit. They will not offer on board credit difference on any other promotions, the Friends and Family promotion is obviously not Early Saver. Hope this clears it up for you."

 

Is this true at all or is he completely wrong/lying to me on this? I am getting pretty concerned since our fares are now down $100 per cabin and there are 2 cabins booked. That's a lot of OBC up in the air and I figure ya'll are more versed in the rules than I am. We booked last summer for a cruise on April 28.

 

Thank you for your help!

[put me on a ship]

TA is wrong....we booked ES for our cruise, and qualified for the price drop under the sale! Already got our $200 OBC.

 

In fact, you can submit for price drops under ES up to 2 days before you cruise. If what the TA is telling you, then ES would no longer be offered up to that time. The lowest rate guarantee is good for ALL rates, even after final payment, if you booked early saver! Good luck!

[kenholt]

I agree he is wrong.I booked my breeze cruise under early saver and recieved a price drop due to the friends and family rate.:mad: Sorry i beleive its time to find another TA.

[happy cruzin]

With ES you are eligible for the lowest rate - whichever it may be.

We too are ES and have had 5 (I think) prices drops since we booked and at least 3 of them were matching to Friends and Family promotions.

Ask for a 3 way call - you, the TA and Carnival!

[happy cruzin]

I see all kinds of threads on the forum about people getting obc due to the price of their cruises dropping after they booked the early saver rate. I keep checking the price of our cruise, and it keeps dropping due to promotional rates they keep offering (friends and family rate to be specific right now). I emailed my travel agent to see if he could put in a price drop form for us and he responded to my email that we don't qualify for a price drop because the friends and family rate is for new bookings only. I really am not sure I believe this at all. I emailed back for an explanation of that and here is his reply to me:

 

"If you are booked into an Early Saver rate and another Early Saver rate comes out with a lower fare than what you booked. Carnival will make up the difference in on board credit. They will not offer on board credit difference on any other promotions, the Friends and Family promotion is obviously not Early Saver. Hope this clears it up for you."

 

Is this true at all or is he completely wrong/lying to me on this? I am getting pretty concerned since our fares are now down $100 per cabin and there are 2 cabins booked. That's a lot of OBC up in the air and I figure ya'll are more versed in the rules than I am. We booked last summer for a cruise on April 28.

 

Thank you for your help!

 

 

You also may want to consider just transferring the booking to Carnival. That way you can work directly with them and not through the TA. ;)

[spacepotatoes]

Your TA is definitely wrong, and what he is saying doesn't make sense. Early Saver disappears 3-5 months before your cruise so what happens then? You are supposed to be able to get price drops up to 2 days before sailing. According to what your TA is saying, that's not possible.

 

Under Early Saver, you can claim a reduction for any rate that you are elgible for as long as you can match to your specific cabin category. The fact that F & F is for new bookings only shouldn't make a difference.

[smc0320]

Agree that your TA is wrong.....use this link to check your exact room category and sailing date.....if the price is lower, and you hav ebooked Early Saver, you should qualify for price drop:

 

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

[pebblesjns]

Thanks everyone. I thought that was the case.

 

I just asked to transfer the booking over to Carnival so I can deal with the price drops myself. I will not be using this TA again or recommending him to others since he is either clueless or trying to rip me off, either of which is not cool!

[jakesnana]

Your TA is wrong on 2 counts.

 

First, the Friends and Family promotion IS NOT only for new bookings.

 

Second, if you booked ES you can price match to any promotion or special pricing that you would qualify for, such as resident, senior, military, etc.

 

If your TA gives you ***** about this, just tell him that an informed TA that you spoke with gave you this info and to stop giving all TA's a bad name by being either uninformed, lazy or watching out for his commission rather than your satisfaction.

[riffatsea]

It sounds like your TA just doesn't want to get you the OBC.

IF your price gets lower then his commission likely gets lower too!

[bjinouno]

I'm not getting OBC..... their just taking the cash right off of what I still owe,,, even better,, I can spend how and where I like on my cruise! so far saved 400 on inside and 423.00 on Aft wrap on Splendor as they say whooo hooooo

[LarAndShar]

having the same problem with my mother/father in laws TA... she actually told me...... "You guys keep changing the prices on this cruise and I don't have the time to deal with that!" :eek:

I was SHOCKED!!! I mean... ISN'T THAT HER JOB????

 

Happy she wont be using her for any future cruises.. I'll book her cruises for her directly and show her what being "IN CONTROL" of your own booking really means and how much money they will be saving will amaze them both.

[jakesnana]

having the same problem with my mother/father in laws TA... she actually told me...... "You guys keep changing the prices on this cruise and I don't have the time to deal with that!" :eek:

I was SHOCKED!!! I mean... ISN'T THAT HER JOB????

 

Happy she wont be using her for any future cruises.. I'll book her cruises for her directly and show her what being "IN CONTROL" of your own booking really means and how much money they will be saving will amaze them both.

 

You are correct, that is her job and she's doing very badly at it. While I agree, I waited 60-90 minutes on hold that first week when the Friends and Family Sale was announced, to get upgrades etc., that's what speaker phones are for. I just put the hold message on speaker phone and proceeded to work on other things.

[jaxie001]

Like they say early saver, always early saver, lol we gotten 2-3 hundred in drops on 4 separate cabins, all booked early saver. My TA has been awesome for putting in the forms, she did tell me she loses commission each time, we are going to gift her to make up for it tho.my sis tho is having issues previous poster had, TA company says Carnival won't pay, called Carnival they say of course they'll pay OBC, but TA won't submit form, so my sis loses out, TA is her friend, so....rock and hard place as they say :S

 

Sent from my BlackBerry 9300 using Tapatalk

[suzinva]

My TA on our last cruise told me the same thing, essentially. I argued and argued but he point blank refused to submit the form. When I tried removing him from our booking, I couldn't get hold of him come H E Double hockey sticks or high water. I cannot imagine a scenario where I would use a TA again for a Carnival cruise. I'm seasoned enough at this point to do it on my own.

 

Point is, they don't know everything and can (and do) "misinterpret." Not saying all TA's are like this but there are some pretty unscrupulous ones.

[Sparky2]

You also may want to consider just transferring the booking to Carnival. That way you can work directly with them and not through the TA. ;)

 

She booked last summer for April 28th cruise. Can she still transfer the booking to Carnival? I doubt it.

[okgirl]

Your TA is wrong for the most part. You can match to any rate where you select a specific cabin category; not a rate that doesn't allow you to select your cabin.

[jsfromsc]

The whole point of booking early saver is to guarantee that if a lower price comes along, you'll be able to get it. Sounds to me like:

 

1) your TA doesn't want to bother to check this out

2) your TA doesn't want to give up any commission on the cruise

 

Tell the TA he is wrong and that if he doesn't contact Carnival and work this out for you that this is the last time you'll be using him.

[WetToes]

She booked last summer for April 28th cruise. Can she still transfer the booking to Carnival? I doubt it.

 

 

Sounds like she did - post #8.

[kelzbelz77]

She booked last summer for April 28th cruise. Can she still transfer the booking to Carnival? I doubt it.

 

 

You can always transfer it back to Carnival (if the TA agrees to it) but you only have 30 days from booking to transfer it from Carnival to a TA.

 

My TA was having her job reassigned (they outsourced to travel to a different company) so I was going to transfer it back to Carnival. Luckily she can manage my booking, just not make any new bookings.

[serene56]

She booked last summer for April 28th cruise. Can she still transfer the booking to Carnival? I doubt it.

 

 

i thought a booking needed to be transferred to carnival within 30 days of booking.

[heatherbelle]

Are you from the UK? I am asking because those TA's have different terms and conditions attached. Carnival UK tried that one with me, Neil I sent them an email from .com saying I could switch rates to the friends and family one. I was NOT booked on the early saver. I was booked on the easy saver rate.

 

My advise would be to take screen shots until it's sorted out and date them.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

having the same problem with my mother/father in laws TA... she actually told me...... "You guys keep changing the prices on this cruise and I don't have the time to deal with that!" :eek:

I was SHOCKED!!! I mean... ISN'T THAT HER JOB????

 

Happy she wont be using her for any future cruises.. I'll book her cruises for her directly and show her what being "IN CONTROL" of your own booking really means and how much money they will be saving will amaze them both.

 

You should try sending in the ES price drop form yourself.

 

Bill

[ch27088]

I see all kinds of threads on the forum about people getting obc due to the price of their cruises dropping after they booked the early saver rate. I keep checking the price of our cruise, and it keeps dropping due to promotional rates they keep offering (friends and family rate to be specific right now). I emailed my travel agent to see if he could put in a price drop form for us and he responded to my email that we don't qualify for a price drop because the friends and family rate is for new bookings only. I really am not sure I believe this at all. I emailed back for an explanation of that and here is his reply to me:

 

"If you are booked into an Early Saver rate and another Early Saver rate comes out with a lower fare than what you booked. Carnival will make up the difference in on board credit. They will not offer on board credit difference on any other promotions, the Friends and Family promotion is obviously not Early Saver. Hope this clears it up for you."

 

Is this true at all or is he completely wrong/lying to me on this? I am getting pretty concerned since our fares are now down $100 per cabin and there are 2 cabins booked. That's a lot of OBC up in the air and I figure ya'll are more versed in the rules than I am. We booked last summer for a cruise on April 28.

 

Thank you for your help!

 

I would call your TA back and tell him/her that they are wrong and for them to check into this for you. Did we forget that the TA is working on our behalf??