Early Saver --- Glad or Sad?

[dickinson]

Were you happy or glad you booked ES? In other words, after final payment did you get price reductions or not? Please post your experiences.

[MCC retired]

Booked ES, but now that Final Payment is past , all the lower rates are Guarantee's so ES is useless .

Those that waited and can accept a Guarantee , are getting the CCL deals .

Doubt I will ever book ES again as I have never been upset with booking a Guarantee .

[Herbaltees]

Generally, I've been glad. The one time I booked a cruise and my DH had to cancel, I was a bit :mad: about the $50. But i knew that going in.

 

I will say, I am one of those extreme ES pax that checks the price multiple times a day, though.

[GottaLuvCruising]

I've made ES work for us in the past with excellent OBC. BUt this time I wish I had not booked it.

 

1) Carnival should automatically adjust the fare, rather than making us watch it constantly then going through the form hassle / approval process.

 

2) Carnival has gotten very tricky with fares / categories / promotions with OBC to make it even more complicated and difficult to meet the criteria.

 

3) I expect my upcoming cruise to be my final one with Carnival. If I hadn't booked ES, I could cancel and be done with it.

[Herbaltees]

I've made ES work for us in the past with excellent OBC. BUt this time I wish I had not booked it.

 

1) Carnival should automatically adjust the fare, rather than making us watch it constantly then going through the form hassle / approval process.

 

2) Carnival has gotten very tricky with fares / categories / promotions with OBC to make it even more complicated and difficult to meet the criteria.

 

3) I expect my upcoming cruise to be my final one with Carnival. If I hadn't booked ES, I could cancel and be done with it.

 

I like the idea of having to apply for the adjustment, but I think it needs to be instantaneous, because their fares can change within the hour. The OBC along with a fare code does make it hard to keep track.

[Mutumbojimbo]

Booked ES, but now that Final Payment is past , all the lower rates are Guarantee's so ES is useless .

Those that waited and can accept a Guarantee , are getting the CCL deals .

Doubt I will ever book ES again as I have never been upset with booking a Guarantee .

 

We have booked 4 of our 5 cruises ES, and on the 3 previous got at least some sort of price drop, we usually start near the low end anyway, so I never expect much. I knew I got a good price on our Elation cruise upcoming but we have never come close to getting a drop this time. I have a feeling that in the future, for any Bahamas/Caribbean cruises, we'll pick a general date then book a guarantee a couple months out. We usually drive to the ports and any of the Florida ports are easy enough to get to.

[snc_cam]

I've booked ES with the past 4 bookings, three still active. On the one taken, received two OBCs in the last 10 days, saved $150. On one of the current bookings, for a cruise in Dec, have already received $200 in OBC. Some of the OBC was before final payment, some after.

 

Yes, there is a $50/person admin fee to change an ES cruise. And not all post-final-pay rates are GTY. It really depends on your cabin type. If you have a rare cabin type, like a 4J, you won't get many (or any) OBC drops. But I have a 4E with all my bookings. So, much more common.

 

And yes, the price drops have to be watched for. If you see one, get a screen snapshot so you can show it to Carnival if the rates do change. I have not seen "hourly" changes, but I have seen 3 times in one day. Usually overnight, in the morning, then late afternoon.

 

And nothing is automatic, you have to be diligent. If you don't want that, don't book ES. It is very much like SWA.

[Herbaltees]

I've booked ES with the past 4 bookings, three still active. On the one taken, received two OBCs in the last 10 days, saved $150. On one of the current bookings, for a cruise in Dec, have already received $200 in OBC. Some of the OBC was before final payment, some after.

 

Yes, there is a $50/person admin fee to change an ES cruise. And not all post-final-pay rates are GTY. It really depends on your cabin type. If you have a rare cabin type, like a 4J, you won't get many (or any) OBC drops. But I have a 4E with all my bookings. So, much more common.

 

And yes, the price drops have to be watched for. If you see one, get a screen snapshot so you can show it to Carnival if the rates do change. I have not seen "hourly" changes, but I have seen 3 times in one day. Usually overnight, in the morning, then late afternoon.

 

And nothing is automatic, you have to be diligent. If you don't want that, don't book ES. It is very much like SWA.

 

There was a sale last week, 3 of our family's cabins qualified for a reduction. I submitted the form for two, and when I went to check for the rate code on the third, the price had gone back up to the earlier pricing. I was shocked. :eek:

[Nadersmom]

All three of our cruises have been booked close to a year out.

 

Our first cruise we booked ES and ended up with about $100.00 OBC

(I also check the prices for drops obsessively)

 

Our second cruise we booked ES and 4 months later had to change cruise dates so we were penalized $$ because we had booked early saver. I think that time in the end we still had about $60 OBC

 

This time, for third cruise, we booked Sept 2013 for a Nov 2-14 cruise during a really good sale. ES wasn't even listed yet. Price only went up and then stayed the same for a really long time. Never switched over to ES when it became available because the price was still higher than what our sale price had been.......until about 6 weeks ago. Then, it started dropping, right after final payment date :rolleyes: I knew we couldn't get OBC but I called PVP anyway because, well hey, it never hurts to try. She confirmed no ES, no OBC. But we got bumped up from Empress deck to Lido deck balcony for no charge. that said, if I had booked ES, I would have gotten to upgrade AND I would have had around $200 in OBC by now :(

 

Sometimes ES is good, sometimes not :D

[jcearth]

I have gotten a price drop every time that I have used it. The biggest drop was on the cruise I took last month. On two oceanview cabins, I received about $900 in OBC for price drops.

[Bunkie103]

I booked it twice and had very good experiences with it. One time actually ended up with almost $500 in OBC. On our Alaska cruise I was more interested in upgrading our cabin and thanks to price reductions I was able to do this. Both times responses were quick but I also put a lot of time into price checking and sometimes found two price reductions in one day, but it was well worth it.

[QTPieRye]

I've booked ES, my past 5 cruises with this mindset..... at the time I book, I am always content with the price I am paying and am always certain I will not need to cancel (with the exception of an unforseen emergency out of my control).... I watch prices, reduced deposits, etc. and book ES, with no expectations of a price reduction. If I end up getting a discount great, and if I don't, no biggie, because I was already content with the price I booked for......

 

.... WITH THAT SAID, we've benefited from ES for 5 years straight in some fashion. Whether it's been an OBC after final payment or price reduction prior, we've always been ahead of our original booking price.

[junder62]

We are going on the sunshine 10/25/14 and booked early saver. Well worth it for us $463.00 OBC

[thundercrack]

I've booked early saver last 2 and current cruise (1 Balcony and 1 Inside each cruise)

 

$500.00 and $1100 OBC on past 2 and currently $730 on this coming X-mas cruise.

 

BTW, I thought prices I originally booked were great prices prior to reductions.

 

Extremely Happy with Early Saver

[hartsnvt]

Booked Sunshine OS in April for August sailing. Loved ES! 2 drops before final and one after for a nifty $375 OBC for a 5 night cruise. I would do it again in a heartbeat! My next cruise we were lucky enough to get a casino offer that we could not refuse so I know there will not be any extra OBC from price drops, just the $100 that came with the offer.

[golfadj]

I've made ES work for us in the past with excellent OBC. BUt this time I wish I had not booked it.

 

1) Carnival should automatically adjust the fare, rather than making us watch it constantly then going through the form hassle / approval process.

 

2) Carnival has gotten very tricky with fares / categories / promotions with OBC to make it even more complicated and difficult to meet the criteria.

 

3) I expect my upcoming cruise to be my final one with Carnival. If I hadn't booked ES, I could cancel and be done with it.

 

Would never expect them to justd giv you the obc.

[mzlinda]

I booked early saver for an oceanview in January for my Fantasy cruise. I'm leaving in less than 2 weeks and I haven't seen one nickel of OBC. The price just goes up and up. The suites are sold out. I imagine they are busy up selling all the inside cabins to oceanviews right now. I expect insides to drop a little by sail date, but not the ocean views. But I'm not mad. I'm in this room solo so I paid just about double and it was still cheaper than my last cruise which was 6 nights in a balcony room on the Breeze, with 3 people in that cabin.

 

 

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[sweetsixteencruisers]

$790 happy!

 

 

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[luv2kroooz]

I regret it. I don't put a lot of value on cabin location. Just get me on the ship.

Early saver is a very restrictive fare...you pay high deposit up front, no changes or cancellations in exchange for "best price guarantee". This keeps prices high early on.

 

Carnival is then forced to deeply discount cruises that don't sell well, but they have loopholes so that the deeply discounted fares they offer don't apply to early saver. Not illegal, but a bit disingenuous.

 

If you want a really good price and don't care much about cabin location, book close to sailing. I would not book ES again.

[Jenny in TX]

We have booked ES on our last 2 cruises and both times received price drops both before and after the final payment date. On our last cruise we had 3 cabins booked and received over $450 in drops between the 3 cabins. On the cruise before that we had 4 cabins booked and each cabin received $450 in price drops. I like to pick out my own cabin so I wouldn't book a guaranteed cabin. I would not hesitate to book ES again.

[snc_cam]

I've booked ES, my past 5 cruises with this mindset..... at the time I book, I am always content with the price I am paying and am always certain I will not need to cancel (with the exception of an unforseen emergency out of my control).... I watch prices, reduced deposits, etc. and book ES, with no expectations of a price reduction. If I end up getting a discount great, and if I don't, no biggie, because I was already content with the price I booked for......

 

.... WITH THAT SAID, we've benefited from ES for 5 years straight in some fashion. Whether it's been an OBC after final payment or price reduction prior, we've always been ahead of our original booking price.

 

Hey Rye, agree with that fully... The ES price is good... and if we get drops, all the better.

 

Steve

[snc_cam]

I regret it. I don't put a lot of value on cabin location. Just get me on the ship.

Early saver is a very restrictive fare...you pay high deposit up front, no changes or cancellations in exchange for "best price guarantee". This keeps prices high early on.

 

Carnival is then forced to deeply discount cruises that don't sell well, but they have loopholes so that the deeply discounted fares they offer don't apply to early saver. Not illegal, but a bit disingenuous.

 

If you want a really good price and don't care much about cabin location, book close to sailing. I would not book ES again.

 

Brian, from what I saw on my just recent cruise, you are correct... the GTY rates fall quickly at the end.

 

Steve

[hartsnvt]

I just want to say that when I booked my ES it was a $50 pp deposit on the 5 night cruise.

[kona_wahine]

We have $50 OBC. I think we will probably get a bit more. I recently found ********** dot net that has a fare alert for $1. They will email when there is any movement. I still look because I'm a bit OCD, but nice to have the back up. I did get an alert already of the price going up.

[getupgo]

I board in 43 days and ES finally paid off with a $50 OBC. My first ever. I wasn't glad but now I am but probably won't do it again.