Carnival sales just a gimmick?

[ashton57]

Carnival keeps claiming to have new sales every other day. Everytime they do a new one I do a mock booking for several different room categories and still get the same final price that I got before the sale started. How can they claim they are having a sale when the prices never change? Is this just a gimmick?

[Saint Greg]

It depends. A couple weeks ago when they did a sale...the room I had been looking at went down a little bit...plus I got $50 OBC...plus $50 deposit. So that sale made a difference. But I've seen them go from a reduced deposit sale to a OBC sale and the price increases by $40 before they give you $50 OBC.

[Foxinspace]

I've never seen a difference. I've noticed the same w RCL too. They always have some version of 30% off going on, but the final fare never really changes. Sometimes you can get a slightly higher deck but otherwise no real difference.

 

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[winddawn]

Carnival keeps claiming to have new sales every other day. Everytime they do a new one I do a mock booking for several different room categories and still get the same final price that I got before the sale started. How can they claim they are having a sale when the prices never change? Is this just a gimmick?

 

Carnival finds many different ways to restate similar prices and calls them sales. I agree Carnival's sales are pretty meaningless. It's more of a marketing tactic than an actual sale. :D :D

[torcruise]

The On board credit always draws me in but then i see that the price is higher, so I'm like "your just making me pay for the Obc

[kona_wahine]

OBC or reduced deposits seem like the only real benefit. Upgrades feel like a joke to me.

[broberts]

I've never understood the attraction of a reduced deposit. It doesn't affect the final price, just the time at which a relatively small amount must be ponied up.

 

I would much prefer a fare reduction in place of a non-refundable OBC.

 

Royal Caribbean is the master of this marketing shell game.

[coevan]

how is a $50 deposit a sale? Oh, it's not

[dsotm73]

I've never understood the attraction of a reduced deposit. It doesn't affect the final price, just the time at which a relatively small amount must be ponied up.

 

 

The reduced deposit allowed me to book an AEB on a cruise 18 months from now while only putting $100 at risk.

[deliver42]

I've found the same results with RCCL, Celebrity, and Princess. The last real sale I've seen by anybody was in May, 2014, wjhen Royal started their BOGOHO sale. Two weeks later they adjusted the prices and they came out to the pre -sale prices. Nobody has had a real sale since. It's just a shell game.Give this, and raise that.

[StolidCruiser]

The reduced deposit allowed me to book an AEB on a cruise 18 months from now while only putting $100 at risk.

 

If you know how to book thoughtfully, none of your money is at risk.

[Nic6318]

Hi

 

I agree while the price for cabins do go up and down, The "sale" promotions do appear to be an illusion. I also agree that this is the case for all of the cruise lines that I have priced. I don't actually understand how they can make these claims of a sale, but I don't see it much different than many other companies that promote other types of "sales". We see it everyday...90% OFF, sure.

 

It is just another situation where the consumer needs to be aware. There are many things about pricing in cruising that will come as a surprise for new cruisers if they don't think to ask friends, or have a helpful TA. Most issues that people have going on a cruise are due to things they did not know.

[Micahs Grandad]

IMHO Carnival sales are anything but.

[Keys2Heaven]

Carnival keeps claiming to have new sales every other day. Everytime they do a new one I do a mock booking for several different room categories and still get the same final price that I got before the sale started. How can they claim they are having a sale when the prices never change? Is this just a gimmick?

 

It's called marketing.

[CheckersMidwest]

The only time I've seen a real price difference is when one of us has a good VIFP offer. The casino offers are hard to beat and I had a really good one for our last cruise that wasn't casino related.

[coevan]

If you know how to book thoughtfully, none of your money is at risk.

 

 

exactly, only online T.A.'s can give extra perks. The cruise price is always the same. The last B2B we got a Steak dinner each leg and $50 OBC each leg.

[PlayTheAces]

Carnival keeps claiming to have new sales every other day. Everytime they do a new one I do a mock booking for several different room categories and still get the same final price that I got before the sale started. How can they claim they are having a sale when the prices never change? Is this just a gimmick?

 

Pretty much like the never ending mattress store sales.

[sfaaa]

how is a $50 deposit a sale? Oh, it's not

 

Unless you are booking a Guarantee, it's a sale of the right to lock up a certain cabin at a certain price that would normally cost you more than $50. But instead of forking out the normal deposit amount which is higher, you are now getting the same contractual right or option for less money.

[Keys2Heaven]

Pretty much like the never ending mattress store sales.

 

You mean the ones that are always "liquidating" or having a "going out of business" sale?

[rjl1977]

My favorite part about these "sales" are the up charge in booking a interior ( about $5.80) a day for a true interior and then the up charge for moving to a higher floor

[Joebucks]

The cruise I booked ending up being about 20% cheaper when I applied an offer in my VIFP. Plus I got a OBC.

[Retired_to_Cruise]

I have found that sales usually occur as various cabin sales levels have been reached and the pricing has gone up. They can then offer a sale that says you can get $50 OBC and a 2 category upgrade for the same price as the going rate for the original lower category cabin. By all definitions, this is actually a sale based on the going rate for those cabins. It may not look like a sale to those who bought those cabins at the initial price, but those people have won already by buying the cabin at a lower price compared to if they were buying at the current "sale price". After all, how many times can you go back to a store where you bought a shirt 2 months ago and insist that you should get a refund because they now have a 20% off sale on the same shirt?

[lizardhowson]

Carnival keeps claiming to have new sales every other day. Everytime they do a new one I do a mock booking for several different room categories and still get the same final price that I got before the sale started. How can they claim they are having a sale when the prices never change? Is this just a gimmick?

 

Correct, most of the time the price is the same as the "non-sale" rate.

[asalligo]

how is a $50 deposit a sale? Oh, it's not

 

Exactly, I have no problem putting $500 down if I have to pay it eventually anyway and I always book a rate that can be cancelled. In my opinion, if next week Carnival is cheaper than when you booked, then you booked during one of their raise the price and call it a sale week and you have not been watching the prices very long.

[CruiseHealing]

I usually wait for their one Day Sale. The last one, I believe, was January 8th. I was able to book a balcony cabin for the cost of an inside cabin. The only catch is that it was a "Guarantee" booking only. We got a great cabin.

 

Using an excel spreadsheet and a lot of spare time, I pick a 3 to 4 cruises in the future (ranging 3 to 6 months out) and start tracking the cabin absorption rate and price per cabin category. I have found that the further out the cruise is the more erratic the cabin price is, however, as the ships fills up price begin to stabilizes around an occupancy level 75% to 80%. This also seems to conincides to the ship date being about 6 to 7 weeks out. For the next few weeks, weekly cabin booking absorption rates reach the highest level tracked.

 

With the ship sailing date being around 3 weeks out; supply is less, with the ship's occupancy being in around +90% booked, so rates start creeping up. As the ship exceeds 97% filled, some cabin categories are at guarantee only. But these rates are slightly higher than the rate that was stated a couple weeks before.

 

You may disagree with this analysis, but the data has proven to be very constant over time. I know people have mentioned that they would never book a guarantee Cabin because they do to not have control on the location of cabin, but there are some ships/cabins where this type of booking makes sense.