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Early Saver rip off~

Litewait

By Litewait,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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Litewait

Litewait

Posted
Posted

Once again Carnival finds away to keep Early Saver bookings from the OBC. We cruise Dec 29th on the Miracle. The price went up the $200 for this latest so call called sale so you could get $200 OBC:rolleyes:.. Do they think were idiots..

Today they drop the price $80 oh but wait you have to book Instant Saver to get it. They assign the cabin so no OBC for ES. They are trying to do everything they can to keep people from getting OBC. :mad:

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CrzRani

CrzRani

Posted
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Agreed. I'm still hoping for a reduction on the Breeze in March, but they have these other lame sales that are impeding my ability to cash in. Yea, what's with the upcharge of $200 to get $200 OBC.

 

I suppose taking advantage of the marketing campaign they are doing here, at least in Cali, on TV and on the radio. Trying to get some new people sailing is my guess.

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BigDfromTN

BigDfromTN

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Once again Carnival finds away to keep Early Saver bookings from the OBC. We cruise Dec 29th on the Miracle. The price went up the $200 for this latest so call called sale so you could get $200 OBC:rolleyes:.. Do they think were idiots..

Today they drop the price $80 oh but wait you have to book Instant Saver to get it. They assign the cabin so no OBC for ES. They are trying to do everything they can to keep people from getting OBC. :mad:

 

Its called "Marketing". And yes they do try to keep revenue up. Is that not someones job at Carnival?

 

I don't understand how it's a sale when they ask for $200 more than the regular rate and give it right back to you as OBC? Where's the deal?

 

Only thing is that it also includes half price deposits and "Best Available" upgrades.

 

 

With all that said. I agree. Most of Carnival "sales" are just marketing.

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klfrodo

klfrodo

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How dare these big bad mean corporations try to provide a service, employe 1000's of people and still try to make a small profit. They should be ashamed of themselves.

It should be every cabin is first come first served and everyone gets $500 OBC

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Lovefuninthesun

Lovefuninthesun

Posted
Posted
Once again Carnival finds away to keep Early Saver bookings from the OBC. We cruise Dec 29th on the Miracle. The price went up the $200 for this latest so call called sale so you could get $200 OBC:rolleyes:.. Do they think were idiots..

Today they drop the price $80 oh but wait you have to book Instant Saver to get it. They assign the cabin so no OBC for ES. They are trying to do everything they can to keep people from getting OBC. :mad:

 

Come on! It's a business! It's not done to vex you, but to increase their margin.

All businesses want to improve their bottom line, and use a variety of marketing tactics to do so.

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PoppyandNana

PoppyandNana

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How dare these big bad mean corporations try to provide a service, employe 1000's of people and still try to make a small profit. They should be ashamed of themselves.

It should be every cabin is first come first served and everyone gets $500 OBC

 

Thank you, thank you, thank god for you

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cruizinisthebest

cruizinisthebest

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They don't base their pricing so that people currently booked can get a price drop. To someone doing a new booking, a $200 obc is pretty good. If you're already booked and catch a price drop, good for you. I love them too. But that's not Carnival' s goal. Why would it be.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

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Lovefuninthesun

Lovefuninthesun

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They don't base their pricing so that people currently booked can get a price drop. To someone doing a new booking, a $200 obc is pretty good. If you're already booked and catch a price drop, good for you. I love them too. But that's not Carnival' s goal. Why would it be.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

 

Amen.

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barbatkins

barbatkins

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They don't base their pricing so that people currently booked can get a price drop. To someone doing a new booking, a $200 obc is pretty good. If you're already booked and catch a price drop, good for you. I love them too. But that's not Carnival' s goal. Why would it be.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

 

Ditto...

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Ron_L

Ron_L

Posted
Posted
Once again Carnival finds away to keep Early Saver bookings from the OBC. We cruise Dec 29th on the Miracle. The price went up the $200 for this latest so call called sale so you could get $200 OBC:rolleyes:.. Do they think were idiots..

 

This has nothing to do with Early Saver?

 

Today they drop the price $80 oh but wait you have to book Instant Saver to get it. They assign the cabin so no OBC for ES. They are trying to do everything they can to keep people from getting OBC. :mad:

 

The policy for Early Saver has always been that you have to match the same fare class and cabin category. If you booked a fare that allowed you to choose your cabin then you can't match to a fare where Carnival chooses the cabin.

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Litewait

Litewait

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all the ends and outs of early saver.. Also the way their sales are not sales.. If you consider paying $200 more for $200 OBC a sale~ good for you. 50% deposit.. if you make any changes that becomes due in full and changing to any other promo or category you lose the OBC.

 

I've been cruising on Carnival for 11 years, 20 plus cruises with them. I've seen just about everything. The latest is the ES scam in my book! It used to be a great deal if you were willing to accept all the rules that go with it. In the last several months there has been sale after so called sale ( they aren't for any experienced person watching pricing)which alleviates the ES fare thus no chance of catching a price drop.

 

I also get that Carnival is out to make a profit and I don't begrudge them that. I do not like that they set up Early Saver under the caveat of you get price drops that occur after final payment and up until a few days before final payment, that was the enticement..Now they have figured out all the ways to keep that from happening. There really is no point in ES if those benefits aren't going to happen, MANY besides me are seeing this. And I don't suggest that every ES booking should get obc. I have had some that did and some that didn't, but with the current booking categories ( I know you cant match to instant saver) and "sales" ES isn't an option to book nor compare pricing unless booking way way out from what I see. Rather than drop price they add Instant saver, so know one gets OBC.

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fuddrules

fuddrules

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I do not like that they set up Early Saver under the caveat of you get price drops that occur after final payment and up until a few days before final payment, that was the enticement..

 

but with the current booking categories ( I know you cant match to instant saver) and "sales" ES isn't an option

 

So you don't like how ES is currently set up. You're not alone.

 

You can't book ES at the moment (pre-2015 cruises).

 

Sounds to me like Carnival solved your problem. They aren't letting you book something you don't like. So book under something other than ES for any future cruises.

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jsfromsc

jsfromsc

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I think Carnival lost a bundle this past year when prices kept dropping because of the Triumph incident and the incident where the Dream was stuck in St. Maarten. There were notices all over CC of price drops, OBC, etc. Back in June of 2012 we booked early saver for our July 2013 Baltic cruise, and by April 2013 got a huge reduction (maybe $2000) in the price and a cabin upgrade. Multiply that by hundreds, maybe thousands this year and you can see why they are looking into other booking plans. I certainly don't blame Carnival for not wanting to run into that sort of situation again. And if people are foolish enough to think they are saving money by this OBC deal when it really amounts to just putting $200 on your S&S card ahead of time, so be it. I don't think anyone would actually book a cruise if they weren't prepared to pay the price stated at the time of booking. If you get a break down the road, good for you! But I don't think you should go into it expecting you're going to get one.

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ohiogymrat

ohiogymrat

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. And if people are foolish enough to think they are saving money by this OBC deal when it really amounts to just putting $200 on your S&S card ahead of time, so be it. I don't think anyone would actually book a cruise if they weren't prepared to pay the price stated at the time of booking. If you get a break down the road, good for you! But I don't think you should go into it expecting you're going to get one.

 

We also have to bare in mind there is no "way back machine" so if a person starts looking today, it doesnt matter if the price was higher or lower a week, month or year ago.

The average cruiser doesnt price stalk like the average cruise critic member. They book and rarely check prices. Carnival loves those type of cruisers :)

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