Cons of Early Saver??

[redefinition]

I've searched old threads and haven't found the answer to this: What are the cons of booking Early Saver? Can you not pick your own cabin?

 

Also I saw that with Fun Select (or something like that??), you get free upgrades within the same category. If it's within the same category, what do they consider as an upgrade? Does Carnival notify you of the upgrade? What if you like the cabin you've already selected?

 

I've always booked through CCL's website and never changed cabins unless I called CCL myself to change cabins.

 

 

Thanks!

[winddawn]

I've searched old threads and haven't found the answer to this: What are the cons of booking Early Saver? Can you not pick your own cabin?

 

Also I saw that with Fun Select (or something like that??), you get free upgrades within the same category. If it's within the same category, what do they consider as an upgrade? Does Carnival notify you of the upgrade? What if you like the cabin you've already selected?

 

I've always booked through CCL's website and never changed cabins unless I called CCL myself to change cabins.

 

 

Thanks!

You can pick your cabin with early saver. The cons of early saver are that the fare is non-refundable and no name changes are allowed. In exchange for a lower fare and price protection, you accept more restrictive fare rules. Carnival does not offer the early saver rate on every sail date. It is completely up to Carnival which sailings and cabin categories they will offer it for. The last minute Pack & Go fares are typically not honored for someone booked under early saver trying to claim a price drop, and that is because the P&G rate is for a "guarantee" which means that Carnival picks the cabin.

 

When free upgrades are offered as part of a promotion, the upgrade will show when you are making the booking, so there is no follow-up by Carnival. Carnival's upgrades are usually within the same category; i.e., inside to inside, oceanview to oceanview, balcony to balcony, etc. So the free upgrade is usually the same cabin in a different location on the ship. Carnival has had one promotion recently though offering a balcony for the price of an oceanview on certain close-in sailings.

 

Here is a link with all of the fare rules associated with the fare types currently being offered.

 

http://www.carnival.com/legal/specials-terms-conditions.aspx

 

Hope this helps.

Edited April 28, 2014 by winddawn

[bunchesofun]

I generally only book past guest. It is only slightly more than easy saver, but has a refundable deposit. You would still get fare drops up till final payment. It's just less restrictive.

[StaceySteveDMB]

We learned after our first cruise to always book early saver in order to get the best price. The only negative I see is the non refundable deposit, but it has not been an issue for us. On the other hand we have secured thousands of dollars off out cruises and thousands in OBC from rate drops because we booked early saver.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[beachbum53]

You can pick your cabin with early saver. The cons of early saver are that the fare is non-refundable and no name changes are allowed. In exchange for a lower fare and price protection, you accept more restrictive fare rules. Carnival does not offer the early saver rate on every sail date. It is completely up to Carnival which sailings and cabin categories they will offer it for. The last minute Pack & Go fares are typically not honored for someone booked under early saver trying to claim a price drop, and that is because the P&G rate is for a "guarantee" which means that Carnival picks the cabin.

 

When free upgrades are offered as part of a promotion, the upgrade will show when you are making the booking, so there is no follow-up by Carnival. Carnival's upgrades are usually within the same category; i.e., inside to inside, oceanview to oceanview, balcony to balcony, etc. So the free upgrade is usually the same cabin in a different location on the ship. Carnival has had one promotion recently though offering a balcony for the price of an oceanview on certain close-in sailings.

 

Here is a link with all of the fare rules associated with the fare types currently being offered.

 

http://www.carnival.com/legal/specials-terms-conditions.aspx

 

Hope this helps.

"Carnival does not offer the early saver rate on every sail date."

 

Since I've never checked every sail date for every cruise, I can't dispute that. However, I've never had a problem booking a cruise using Early Saver for any cruise that we've gone on.

[beachbum53]

We learned after our first cruise to always book early saver in order to get the best price. The only negative I see is the non refundable deposit, but it has not been an issue for us. On the other hand we have secured thousands of dollars off out cruises and thousands in OBC from rate drops because we booked early saver.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

We book our cruises using Early Saver too, for the same reason. And so far (knock on wood), the non-refundable deposit hasn't been an issue for us either. We have been able to score a few hundred dollars in OBC, but unfortunately not "thousands". Oh well. I guess it's just the luck of the draw, so to speak.

[littlesnit]

We've had luck with Early Saver OBC in the past, but this next cruise ES was offered only briefly at a higher rate after we had already booked. Something told me not to switch, and good thing I didn't: The rate has only gone up, so we would have lost a couple of hundred just purchasing it.

Edited April 28, 2014 by littlesnit

[maldenmusic]

We have usually booked ES and gotten a good deal.

[harleygirl4rb]

We to have always booked ES on our past cruises, and have been able to take advantage of price drops each cruise. It's always nice having some OBC during your sail!

[Sparky2]

I generally only book past guest. It is only slightly more than easy saver, but has a refundable deposit. You would still get fare drops up till final payment. It's just less restrictive.

 

 

 

I think you mean Early Saver.

[kristie64063]

I've not ran into any con's. My deposit is only $50 pp, so if I lost that, I guess I wouldn't be too sad.

 

To date (and we don't sail out until late July), I've saved a total of $320. I'm not paid in full yet, so they just keep taking it off the total I owe. So far so good for us!

 

I fully expect to get more. This is how our last cruise was. I wanted to do the Balcony sale, but like getting the $$ off more!! lol :D We would enjoy a balcony, but love the OV as well, and spend a lot of time out of the room. Pre-paying gratuities, so once paid in full, any OBC will be just fun money!!

Edited April 28, 2014 by kristie64063

[LHP]

Another possible "con" is that IF you like cabins that Carnival does not have a lot of (like extended balconies) ... then you are having to live with the restrictions with little benefit because there must be a cabin available to get the price reduction.

[SadieN]

We found that ES is not advantageous for West Coast cruises. The fares rarely go down. Knowing this the price difference is rarely enough to make a difference. On our upcoming HI cruise the price difference was $60 and now all suites, 7As and 4Ks are sold out. Also the prices on categories lower than ours are way higher than we paid.

 

We were able to get price drops on one of our Caribbean cruises. So for that it's worth it. That one was a RT. The repo cruise never went down.

[winddawn]

"Carnival does not offer the early saver rate on every sail date."

 

Since I've never checked every sail date for every cruise, I can't dispute that. However, I've never had a problem booking a cruise using Early Saver for any cruise that we've gone on.

If you remember a while back, people on this board were complaining that early saver rates were not showing for many sail dates/ships that they were shopping for.

[CruisinCarps]

Yeah, we lost $400 between early saver deposit and OBC for switching between a cruise this November to this May.

 

And definitely Early Saver is not always available. Isn't it mainly for cruises only 6 months or so out?

 

Otherwise, if you can snag it I think it is worth it. (And keep checking back often for price drops.)

[redefinition]

Thanks, guys!

 

What exactly do they mean by price protection?

[loxley]

Thanks, guys!

 

What exactly do they mean by price protection?

 

If you find a rate you qualify for that i lower, your rate is dropped to the lower rate up to 2 days before sailing. If it is before final payment, you get it off what you owe, if after final payment, you get it in the form of obc.

 

example, you pay 500 per person early saver rate and a senior rate or a resident rate shows up at 300, and you qualify for those rates, you would get 200 back.

 

If you paid 500 per person and a pack and go rate shows up at 300 you would not get that drop because a pack and go is a guarantee cabin so if does not match what you have.