Booking with carnival versus booking with airline miles

[Jsh5566]

If I book my cruise using airline miles I have enough to get a $290 discount from any other price I have found on Carnival's website. Would there be any negatives to booking through the airline instead of Carnival's site? Or reasons not to do it?

 

TIA,

 

JoEllen

[zdcatc12]

Any changes that you wanted to make or price drops that you wanted to match to would have to go through your TA, you could not contact CCL directly.

[riffatsea]

What is the actual price you'd be paying off with miles?

Compare that to what an actual flight would cost if it was too expensive for you to take and decide if using the miles for the cruise is worth it to you.

True that you won't have the ability to change things or easily get money if the price goes down so that is also a consideration.

[ellen4257]

we did that for our upcoming cruise and just a few issues came up that we weren't aware of. First of all, we had to go through the credit card's travel agency, which was only open during business hours and part of Saturday, which was very inconvenient for us. Second, they did not sell Carnival's cruise protection insurance, so we had to purchase our own. And third, they really had no specific inside knowledge regarding the ship or Carnival, so we had to do all our own research. That being said, we still saved close to $500.

[klfrodo]

How many miles to save that $290?

[Jsh5566]

35,000 miles. We drive to the port we do not fly, it is only about 5-6 hours. We are a family of 5 and do not fly very much. I did not have enough miles for airline tickets nor will I ever get enough.

 

This cruise is for my anniversary and only my husband and I will be going.

[Davey Wavey]

As mentioned, any price reductions or changes would have to be done through the travel agency your credit card uses. Nothing is wrong with using a travel agency, but I have generally found those types of travel agencies the worst to deal with for cruises. They are generally unfamiliar with the ships and price protection policy, so you need to know what you are doing.

 

If you want Carnival's travel insurance, you can still purchase it directly through Carnival's site after your booking is made, but I would recommend you go with a third party insurance. Almost anything offers better coverage at a lower price than Carnival's.

[snowskier]

I book every cruise through my mileage program / credit card. I don't use miles for the cruise but that doesn't matter. They are extremely responsive and have more expertise than the cruise line representatives most the time. They have always been a great advocate for me when needed. Isn't that what you want with a TA?

 

I get a significant number of miles for booking through them in addition to OBC.

[It's a Ship!!!]

Booking through the airline or credit card usually means you are actually booking through a travel agent. The only problem is that you don't know who the travel agent is. A lot of times it can be someone who specializes in something like corporate travel or land vacations, who doesn't know much about cruises. Sometimes it might not even be someone who works for an actual travel agency, but just someone who handles that kind of thing for the company. A lot of times those people have never been on a cruise

 

If your airline/credit card company uses a good travel agent, then they can answer your questions and give you advice that will be helpful to you. They can also get you third party insurance like others have mentioned. If something goes wrong and you have a good travel agent, then they will take care of it and you don't have to deal with Carnival's clueless reps.

 

It's just hard to say what kind of travel agent you are getting. Since you said you probably won't be using your miles for anything else, you might as well give it a try and see how it goes. Just make sure you know exactly what you want so you don't have to make any changes after you book.

[firemanbobswife]

Be sure to ask if they have an initial booking fee and/or fees for subsequent price drops. Those can add up.