Website bait and switch?

[Valor2005]

Sometimes they include the insurance in your total price.  Be sure the uncheck that if you don't want it.

[christyran1228]

I just mock-booked an interior cabin on the Dream 11/16 sailing at the super-saver rate and it came out exactly as was stated.

[Bases5]

I do know on the inside cabin the advertised price is for bunk beds. Upper and Lower. So as soon as you pick a true double the price goes up. 

[1city@atime]

My wife does our cruise booking so this is new to me but this sort of pricing tactic seems sketchy and best and illegal at worst.

 

I remember here in CA, during Thanksgiving, the retailers would run pricing for the black friday ads but when people went into the store, or shopped online, there were non of those items available. If I remember correctly, the CA attorney general took action and the retailers were then required to have inventory for everything they advertised.

 

[Sean_B]

29 minutes ago, 1city@atime said:

My wife does our cruise booking so this is new to me but this sort of pricing tactic seems sketchy and best and illegal at worst.

 

I remember here in CA, during Thanksgiving, the retailers would run pricing for the black friday ads but when people went into the store, or shopped online, there were non of those items available. If I remember correctly, the CA attorney general took action and the retailers were then required to have inventory for everything they advertised.

 

I'm sure they "had" inventory, but it was all gone by the time people got there. Business has worked like this for over 100 years.

[Doggielover68]

I kind of stopped looking at the per person rates and instead, book my travel around the total price. If the room I want plus taxes and fees exceeds what I want to spend, I look elsewhere. Sometimes the higher room rates end up costing the same or less depending on the itinerary and time of year

[sparks1093]

18 minutes ago, Sean_B said:

I'm sure they "had" inventory, but it was all gone by the time people got there. Business has worked like this for over 100 years.

The law requires a certain amount of inventory but does not require an unlimited inventory, so it is possible for a vendor to run out and still be in compliance with the law.

[Nic6318]

Hi

 

I guess I have been doing this too long to even notice. 

 

There is no confusion, once you understand. That's why sites like this are invaluable for people looking at cruising for the first time. Unfortunately most people come to this site after they have cruised at least once. I have made this statement many times... The people who get the most upset about issues that may arise, are getting upset about things they didn't understand (thought they knew but were wrong). The information is always available if you spend sufficient time researching. 

 

Regarding cabin pricing, the lowest advertised price will most often be the price for the lowest category of cabin, not including tax and port charges. With Carnival, this is often an upper and lower cabin (bunk beds), but if this is the case, they tell you. If you are unsure you can see it on the deck plans. They are available for every ship. Any category cabin in a higher category than the lowest available advertised will cost more than the lowest advertised price. That's not bait and switch and really is not complicated.

 

For those that pointed out the NCL pricing, I hope there is nobody out there that really believes that the "freebies" are really free. If that were the case there wouldn't be pricing shown that was lower if you didn't opt for them. It is simply a bundled upgrade package, if it is something that works for you, then you purchase it. That would be the case for all cruise lines that offer "freebies".

[aztekpm]

20 minutes ago, Nic6318 said:

Hi

 

I guess I have been doing this too long to even notice. 

 

There is no confusion, once you understand. That's why sites like this are invaluable for people looking at cruising for the first time. Unfortunately most people come to this site after they have cruised at least once. I have made this statement many times... The people who get the most upset about issues that may arise, are getting upset about things they didn't understand (thought they knew but were wrong). The information is always available if you spend sufficient time researching. 

 

Regarding cabin pricing, the lowest advertised price will most often be the price for the lowest category of cabin, not including tax and port charges. With Carnival, this is often an upper and lower cabin (bunk beds), but if this is the case, they tell you. If you are unsure you can see it on the deck plans. They are available for every ship. Any category cabin in a higher category than the lowest available advertised will cost more than the lowest advertised price. That's not bait and switch and really is not complicated.

 

For those that pointed out the NCL pricing, I hope there is nobody out there that really believes that the "freebies" are really free. If that were the case there wouldn't be pricing shown that was lower if you didn't opt for them. It is simply a bundled upgrade package, if it is something that works for you, then you purchase it. That would be the case for all cruise lines that offer "freebies".

 

Not me, but I know some who will swear by it!  It's free ... until you calculate all costs & show them the proof!

 

I calculate thru to the final cost for any cruise and compare; like cabin with like cabin, add in the drinking packages and then determine who I'll cruise with.   NCL is usually the most expensive over both Carnival and & RCCL.  I tend to cruise in either May or Sept - Nov, and it's very rare that I find them cheaper.

[Sean_B]

23 minutes ago, Nic6318 said:

I hope there is nobody out there that really believes that the "freebies" are really free.

Let's not forget the added taxes and gratuities on the "free" alcohol package.

[Sean_B]

2 minutes ago, aztekpm said:

 

Not me, but I know some who will swear by it!  It's free ... until you calculate all costs & show them the proof!

 

I calculate thru to the final cost for any cruise and compare; like cabin with like cabin, add in the drinking packages and then determine who I'll cruise with.   NCL is usually the most expensive over both Carnival and & RCCL.  I tend to cruise in either May or Sept - Nov, and it's very rare that I find them cheaper.

I've built an Excel spreadsheet that does all the calculations for me (booze package, gratuities, airfare, pre-cruise hotel, etc), so I have all the total prices at the bottom of the page.

[AAAAmerican]

An easier answer:

 

Book it with a Travel Agent, ASTA is best .

 

 

[Organized Chaos]

2 hours ago, 1city@atime said:

My wife does our cruise booking so this is new to me but this sort of pricing tactic seems sketchy and best and illegal at worst.

 

I remember here in CA, during Thanksgiving, the retailers would run pricing for the black friday ads but when people went into the store, or shopped online, there were non of those items available. If I remember correctly, the CA attorney general took action and the retailers were then required to have inventory for everything they advertised.

 

It's a marketing tactic used by businesses everywhere. Carnival advertises the cheapest cabin in that category (e.g. interior upper/lower). They then say those prices are "from" that price, meaning starting from. They also say "Avg PP." Those cabins are available for that price, but the prices only go up from there. It's no different than a retailer displaying a sale sign that says "Up to" 50% off. Is it sketchy? Maybe, but certainly legal and very common.

[ProgRockCruiser]

Not sure if this data helps, but looking at the Carnival website now for sailings out of NYC in Sept 2019, and the lowest price shown is $429 (more than the $414 the OP was quoted in the end).  Today is four days since the OP's post, so obviously stuff is selling well in the last few days, and perhaps the OP's price selection simply was snagged by the time they got to the booking page.

[bunnyonthehighseas]

On 5/4/2019 at 2:09 AM, scpirate said:

That's the way carnival operates unfortunately.they lure you in with a low price then nickel and dime you on everything you have to shop around.that 249 per person adds up to 499 before it's all said and done.been like that for years and will be forever.

Not really. They add in the port fees, taxes and gratuities. You can actually go ahead and remove the prepaid gratuities if you'd like.

[boomhower]

On 5/4/2019 at 6:54 AM, Sean_B said:

We take our first cruise in Oct 2020 and we didn't let the cruise line pick our room because we didn't want to end up in a cabin with up/down beds! We ended up picking a balcony room ourselves for $400 more than the interior sail-away choice.

 

For carnival that's a different room type.  A guaranteed interior would have gotten you a room with a normal be layout.

[matymil]

13 hours ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

Not sure if this data helps, but looking at the Carnival website now for sailings out of NYC in Sept 2019, and the lowest price shown is $429 (more than the $414 the OP was quoted in the end).  Today is four days since the OP's post, so obviously stuff is selling well in the last few days, and perhaps the OP's price selection simply was snagged by the time they got to the booking page.

I don't think so I tried afew times across the span of a week. Id think that if the price went up they would change it on the website...I hope

[matymil]

I feel by some of the responses that some people aren't reading my post. I did take into account taxes, gratuity and fees. The $100 is just the base fee

[mredandchis]

 I believe what you are saying is the base room price itself jumped 100 bucks.   Taxes and gratuities not withstanding.  The problem is the website is simple software that is responding. I am a retired analyst/programmer of 50 years.  When you selected the "option to let them book the room for me" you entered a different path of the software.  This is where things seem to go astray.  If I was the programmer and you came to me with this then i would go directly to that software code.  It would seem simple enough that the software would select the room group that matched that price but maybe it had to move up a tier as there was no more available.  Now the code that is displaying the low low room price isnt seeing that the tier is all booked.  Maybe it doesnt look at it and waiting for an someone running the website to simply tell it that the lowest is all sold out.   When developing this kind of software there are so many things that have to be taken into account and it could be just a total SNAFU.  I do doubt that it was designed to simply bait and switch.  Sometimes when this sort of thing happened we as developers would tell the client it was an undocumented feature.    lol  Anyhow i do think it was the option you select to have Carnival book the room for you.  Had you looked for a room at that price you may have discovered there was none in that price.   I think if i was you I would be calling carnival customer service.  just my opinion

 

[Nic6318]

3 hours ago, matymil said:

I feel by some of the responses that some people aren't reading my post. I did take into account taxes, gratuity and fees. The $100 is just the base fee

 

Hi

 

Yes, I believe understand what you are saying, but I believe that it was either a glitch in the website that was correcting itself when you proceeded or the possibility that you had been looking at prices for some time and had seen a lower price, and if not refreshed, would continue to show that lower price until you proceeded further and it again corrected the pricing. Either way, the cabin was not being offered at the lower price that you saw at the time you went further. It may have at some time been that lower fare, but that doesn't matter. If they don't let you buy it at the lower price, it is just considered a glitch. Sometimes, even if you do complete the transaction, if they consider it to have been a glitch, they might reverse the transaction, and you would have to fight to get the discounted price. You hear about these situations occasionally. Sometimes the company will "eat" the loss.

 

That being said, I just looked up that sailing... Sep12. on the Sunrise, 4 day Bermuda. I believe that's what you were looking at. Interior is shown as $429. When you continue, it show pricing as $429 p/p + $188.52 p/p. So, no change. If you are still seeing what you said initially, it's your computer. If you are not, then it was a glitch that Carnival corrected. Sometimes if you see things like that and you are really interested, just call the company right away, they might give it to you at the lower price (or not), but they might also change their mind.

 

hope this helps