Can/Does Carnival Lock or Flag Bookings?

[mooveebuff]

I called to get an Early Saver's Price adjustment. They had our cruise discounted by $200 per person on their website. The call was close to an hour long, with several periods of extended holds while the operator checked with her shift supervisor. She would give an excuse as to why they could not honor the website price and I would counter. Hold, excuse, counter...repeat.

 

Finally she put me on hold for about 20 minutes. When she came back to the phone she refused to adjust the cost saying there was nothing more she could do. I said, thanks for your time and hung up, but as I did I could her her begin to speak again. I will never know what she was trying to say, but wouldn't have believed her anyway; I was frustrated and exhausted.

 

When I went to the website and pulled up my booking today the online bill invoice had been altered, with a $100 per person credit. It also has a red star on it and the dollar amounts are in red print. When I tried to call customer service to ask about this and gave my booking number I was "accidentally" disconnected and had to call back twice.Then one guy who answered told me my booking froze his computer and transferred me to a second man who told me that all he could do was add services, otherwise he would have to transfer me to a supervisor and then I was disconnect from him, making it the forth disconnection.

 

This is not normal and I can only figure that they must have flagged my booking due to the first call I made about the Early Saver's Program. We've sailed with them in the past, but I've never had anything like this happen before. I was wondering if some of you have experienced something like this with Carnival.

Edited July 24, 2014 by mooveebuff

[msmagpie83]

I'm struggling with that now too... They don't want to honor my price match :/

[carhopsrock]

Sorry you are having trouble. I sent a price protection form at 8:00pm and it has already been adjusted (9:40pm). I have never called.

[DebJ14]

I don't understand all these calls to get the price lowered. You just fill out the form online and submit it. They have always gotten it taken care of quickly and sent me an updated confirmation.

[jandb6266]

I agree. Everytime i see a price drop on carnival's website fill out the price protection claim form and sometimes within hours i have an email confirmation and onboard credit. No calls should have to be made.

[hockeyluver]

I don't understand all these calls to get the price lowered. You just fill out the form online and submit it. They have always gotten it taken care of quickly and sent me an updated confirmation.

 

I tried two different times on both chrome and explorer both time cleaning out the cookies and when I hit submit nothing happened. So for both price drops i had to call it in.

 

OP wish I could help but I have never had that happen.

[golfadj]

I tried two different times on both chrome and explorer both time cleaning out the cookies and when I hit submit nothing happened. So for both price drops i had to call it in.

 

OP wish I could help but I have never had that happen.

 

That used to happen to me but now call my pvp and she takes care of it on the phone.

[tinyrose]

Never had a problem when calling for price drops so can't offer you any words of wisdom.

[Mary Ellen1]

I guess the lesson learned here is to take (and save!) screen-shots. Save a screen-shot of the lower price that you saw, save your invoice & booking info, etc.

 

mooveebuff, good luck with this. It sounds really weird and kind of fishy...

[dad2my3]

It can sometimes be hard to convince customer service of anything with screen caps in the age of Photoshop. I submitted one in an insurance debate and they said they couldn't confirm that it was genuine and not doctored.

[fanda120608]

I guess the lesson learned here is to take (and save!) screen-shots. Save a screen-shot of the lower price that you saw, save your invoice & booking info, etc.

 

mooveebuff, good luck with this. It sounds really weird and kind of fishy...

Last time I tried this I was told they wouldn't accept a screen shot as I could alter it to my benefit.

 

Also to the ones saying why call, I always try to submit online but the vast majority of the time the form will not submit and just sits there. Tried both Internet Explorer and Firefox with the same result.

 

 

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[wicruisin]

y

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Cheetah474]

OP this is a problem that other people have reported as well. I submitted a price protection form and it was a problem. You called and it was a problem. Some people share that that their PVP did not do things accurately. The real issue is a lack of consistency within the company when applying these ES price guarantees. I can only imagine how frustrating that whole situation was for you. I wish I could off a helpful response but all I can say is that I understand.

 

 

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[mooveebuff]

For those of you who have been able to get your online claim processed; congratulations! I did fill out the form, it looked like it got submitted, but when I did not get a response from Carnival after 3 days I made the first phone call.

 

When I got up this morning there was an email from Carnival...offering me a 2 day past guest rate. I followed all of the links in the email, found my ship, found my deck and I could book the cabin right next to mine for another $50 off per person!

 

Call me crazy, but I called Carnival and someone answered and I'm on hold waiting for them to honor this pricing. I will post back with the results. I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone with how they are handling their customers and pricing programs. I really wish they would just play by the rules they advertise and treat each guest exactly the same. WISH ME LUCK!

Edited July 25, 2014 by mooveebuff

[Out to sea!]

I don't understand all these calls to get the price lowered. You just fill out the form online and submit it. They have always gotten it taken care of quickly and sent me an updated confirmation.

 

Exactly. I have never called to get an ES price reduction, just filled out the form online. Usually receive an immediate automated response saying they receive my request and have received the reduced rate or OBC from 12 hours to 5 days later.

Edited July 25, 2014 by Out to sea!

[mooveebuff]

It's been resolved!!!

 

Carnival finally honored their Early Saver's Program and adjusted my cruise rate to reflect the email promotion they sent to me this morning. I'm not sure what\how\why this was so difficult as I have sailed with Carnival many times before and I have submitted the ES claim form in the past without any drama.

 

I feel both elated and drained in equal measure, but mostly very happy to be cruising without resentment or disappointment over a bizarre customer relations issue that still confuses me.

 

Bon Voyage to all of us! :)

Edited July 25, 2014 by mooveebuff

[Cruise, J.D.]

It's been resolved!!!

 

Carnival finally honored their Early Saver's Program and adjusted my cruise rate to reflect the email promotion they sent to me this morning. I'm not sure what\how\why this was so difficult as I have sailed with Carnival many times before and I have submitted the ES claim form in the past without any drama.

 

I feel both elated and drained in equal measure, but mostly very happy to be cruising without resentment or disappointment over a bizarre customer relations issue that still confuses me.

 

Bon Voyage to all of us! :)

 

Glad you got it resolved!

[winddawn]

For those of you who have been able to get your online claim processed; congratulations! I did fill out the form, it looked like it got submitted, but when I did not get a response from Carnival after 3 days I made the first phone call.

 

When I got up this morning there was an email from Carnival...offering me a 2 day past guest rate. I followed all of the links in the email, found my ship, found my deck and I could book the cabin right next to mine for another $50 off per person!

 

Call me crazy, but I called Carnival and someone answered and I'm on hold waiting for them to honor this pricing. I will post back with the results. I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone with how they are handling their customers and pricing programs. I really wish they would just play by the rules they advertise and treat each guest exactly the same. WISH ME LUCK!

Good luck with getting your price adjustment! I hope it works out for you.

 

I saw a new past guest promotion this morning that has a lower rate than what I paid and allows for choosing your own cabin. So I submitted a price drop request on the online form this morning. Within 5 minutes, I got an email from Carnival with a form letter standard denial of my request. So I picked up the phone and called Carnival and had my price drop adjustment completed within about 5 minutes with the new email confirmation of my booking following shortly thereafter.

 

What is up with those people processing the online requests?!? There is no excuse for poor customer service.

 

 

I'm beginning to think that sending in the request on the online form gets an automatic denial without explanation.

[winddawn]

Good news! Have a great cruise.

[Mary Ellen1]

Wow, fanda and dad2my3. I stand corrected on the validity of screen-shots. Ugh...

 

 

mooveebuff, so glad you got it worked out! :)

[ch27088]

I booked Early Saver and have called about three times for price adjustment and never had a problem, and price was adjusted. In fact, I just called the other day, since my booking is now paid in full. The customer service representative checked for a price adjustment, but there were no other price drops, and then told me going forward that I could call every week, plus any adjustments would be a OBC since our booking is now paid in full. Never had any problems, and I've always called.

[blb431]

We always submitted the online form for price drops however the past 2 times we did we received an email within 10 minutes denying the request. Both times we called and the request was honored. It seems like they are automatically denying a lot of online requests.

 

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[Out to sea!]

Good luck with getting your price adjustment! I hope it works out for you.

 

I saw a new past guest promotion this morning that has a lower rate than what I paid and allows for choosing your own cabin. So I submitted a price drop request on the online form this morning. Within 5 minutes, I got an email from Carnival with a form letter standard denial of my request. So I picked up the phone and called Carnival and had my price drop adjustment completed within about 5 minutes with the new email confirmation of my booking following shortly thereafter.

 

What is up with those people processing the online requests?!? There is no excuse for poor customer service.

 

 

I'm beginning to think that sending in the request on the online form gets an automatic denial without explanation.

 

I've never had an online form denied (in 10 attempts so far). Out of curiosity, are you filling out every line on the form (and with the correct information)?