A little lost booking on the Carnival site...

[MandyMooToo]

My first Carnival cruise I booked us direct but we have since used a PVP (we will be taking our second Carnival cruise in February) so I am not fully schooled in Carnival website workings. I am at work right now on a break and have computer access but cannot use a phone (stupid work rules 😄) so I was perusing the site and found a cruise I was interested in placing a hold on for our PVP to book later this evening.  My issue is that I got a little lost when I tried to follow through to the end and I was hoping someone could help me out here.  I was looking at a Havana cabin on Horizon and I chose an interior Havana as we typically book for the ship and trip, not the cabin itself.  When I went through to the page with the various offers I saw three or four different offers and one guarantee cabin offer that was much lower.  I chose that offer and of course it gives the spiel that I could be assigned anywhere basically, yada, yada.  I am fine with this as I planned on an interior anyway and moved on but at the end of the booking it never says that I have a Havana guarantee...just a guarantee.  That concerns me because the guarantee I chose was 1. supposed to be a Havana and 2. more expensive than the average interior.  Any ideas?  Am I missing something?  I am totally fine with you telling me how I messed this up but I just cannot figure it out (the website changing the price in the ten minutes it took me to compare Mardi Gras Havana cabins to Horizon Havana cabins is another story). 

[bobsfamily]

We have been on close to 20 Carnival cruises and used to have a PVP. He left and since then I've booked online without any PVP. I never really saw the need for him but he was very nice and enjoyed talking with him.  Once they assigned me a new PVP all I got was constant calls every time I did a check for a cruise.  I told the PVP to forget my name!

Just saying...

[MandyMooToo]

2 minutes ago, bobsfamily said:

We have been on close to 20 Carnival cruises and used to have a PVP. He left and since then I've booked online without any PVP. I never really saw the need for him but he was very nice and enjoyed talking with him.  Once they assigned me a new PVP all I got was constant calls every time I did a check for a cruise.  I told the PVP to forget my name!

Just saying...

Well to be honest I have gotten a loooot of calls, ha ha.  I am very familiar with Royal since we have cruised with them many times so I do not feel like I need much help there but I am pretty new to Carnival and I thought it could not hurt.  I may start going direct very soon though!

[MamatoJack]

I don't believe it would be a Havana guarantee, only interior. That's why the wording doesn't specify. 

 

I normally book myself online and wouldn't book a guarantee if I wanted a particular area of the ship. Like for my next cruise I wanted to be in the Family Harbor area so I booked a particular cabin instead of just a guarantee. 

 

Only way to be positive though would be to call I think? So maybe put the Hanava cabin you want on hold until you can call, just so you don't lose it between now and then, when you call they can change it to a guarantee if that's what you decided to do. 

[MandyMooToo]

1 minute ago, MamatoJack said:

I don't believe it would be a Havana guarantee, only interior. That's why the wording doesn't specify. 

 

That's what confused me, I specifically chose Havana at the higher rate and then chose guarantee from the offers page.  I emailed the PVP to ask her but I think you are correct and I will have to call Carnival to find out after work.  Thanks.

[soccersharon]

You will more than likely not be booked in a Havana interior. They often sell out quickly.

[LuckyStar]

7 hours ago, bobsfamily said:

We have been on close to 20 Carnival cruises and used to have a PVP. He left and since then I've booked online without any PVP. I never really saw the need for him but he was very nice and enjoyed talking with him.  Once they assigned me a new PVP all I got was constant calls every time I did a check for a cruise.  I told the PVP to forget my name!

Just saying...

Just the opposite here.  Never had a PVP, finally got assigned one and he called me numerous times to book.  I finally got around to booking but he never returned my call. I give up. 🙂

[Organized Chaos]

10 hours ago, MandyMooToo said:

My first Carnival cruise I booked us direct but we have since used a PVP (we will be taking our second Carnival cruise in February) so I am not fully schooled in Carnival website workings. I am at work right now on a break and have computer access but cannot use a phone (stupid work rules 😄) so I was perusing the site and found a cruise I was interested in placing a hold on for our PVP to book later this evening.  My issue is that I got a little lost when I tried to follow through to the end and I was hoping someone could help me out here.  I was looking at a Havana cabin on Horizon and I chose an interior Havana as we typically book for the ship and trip, not the cabin itself.  When I went through to the page with the various offers I saw three or four different offers and one guarantee cabin offer that was much lower.  I chose that offer and of course it gives the spiel that I could be assigned anywhere basically, yada, yada.  I am fine with this as I planned on an interior anyway and moved on but at the end of the booking it never says that I have a Havana guarantee...just a guarantee.  That concerns me because the guarantee I chose was 1. supposed to be a Havana and 2. more expensive than the average interior.  Any ideas?  Am I missing something?  I am totally fine with you telling me how I messed this up but I just cannot figure it out (the website changing the price in the ten minutes it took me to compare Mardi Gras Havana cabins to Horizon Havana cabins is another story). 

 

Just to get an idea of what would happen, I picked a random cruise next year aboard the Horizon. I chose the Havana area, then a Havana Interior. Once I got to the listing of rates, the Super Saver rate (guaranteed cabin) said this:

• Your stateroom will be assigned within the selected room type (Interior, Oceanview Balcony, Suite)

I could be wrong, but to me that says the guaranteed cabin will be assigned within the Havana area since it says, "within the selected room type." One thing I suggest you do is go back to that cruise and do a mock booking. See if the cabin rate you chose says that. But to be absolutely certain, call your PVP. You could call their 800 number and talk to a regular customer service rep., but they're notorious for being wrong sometimes, and with this, you want to make sure you get it right. So I'd trust a PVP more.

 

And speaking of PVP's, there's good ones, not so good one, and great ones. Luck of the draw. You said you emailed her, but just a heads up, she may not email back. It seems like there are some who simply prefer not to correspond via email. Our first PVP didn't want to. We had other problems with him, so we ditched him. Someone I know recommended theirs and he's been great. However, he too doesn't like to correspond via email. I wish he would because sometimes that's much more convenient, but it's something we're willing to overlook because he's been great. Yeah, we could easily book cruises on our own, and we have, but we do like to give our bookings to him most of the time. And when you have a good one, they're great to have when there's a problem. And he's done things for us that we didn't even know were possible. More often than not, they're a lot more knowledgeable than the regular customer service reps., so a good PVP is nice to have when needed.

[soccersharon]

 
Just to get an idea of what would happen, I picked a random cruise next year aboard the Horizon. I chose the Havana area, then a Havana Interior. Once I got to the listing of rates, the Super Saver rate (guaranteed cabin) said this:

• Your stateroom will be assigned within the selected room type (Interior, Oceanview Balcony, Suite)

I could be wrong, but to me that says the guaranteed cabin will be assigned within the Havana area since it says, "within the selected room type." One thing I suggest you do is go back to that cruise and do a mock booking. See if the cabin rate you chose says that. But to be absolutely certain, call your PVP. You could call their 800 number and talk to a regular customer service rep., but they're notorious for being wrong sometimes, and with this, you want to make sure you get it right. So I'd trust a PVP more.
 
And speaking of PVP's, there's good ones, not so good one, and great ones. Luck of the draw. You said you emailed her, but just a heads up, she may not email back. It seems like there are some who simply prefer not to correspond via email. Our first PVP didn't want to. We had other problems with him, so we ditched him. Someone I know recommended theirs and he's been great. However, he too doesn't like to correspond via email. I wish he would because sometimes that's much more convenient, but it's something we're willing to overlook because he's been great. Yeah, we could easily book cruises on our own, and we have, but we do like to give our bookings to him most of the time. And when you have a good one, they're great to have when there's a problem. And he's done things for us that we didn't even know were possible. More often than not, they're a lot more knowledgeable than the regular customer service reps., so a good PVP is nice to have when needed.

Room type just means “interior” in this case. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of someone being given a Havana cabin via a guarantee booking.


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[firefly333]

15 hours ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

Just to get an idea of what would happen, I picked a random cruise next year aboard the Horizon. I chose the Havana area, then a Havana Interior. Once I got to the listing of rates, the Super Saver rate (guaranteed cabin) said this:

• Your stateroom will be assigned within the selected room type (Interior, Oceanview Balcony, Suite)

I could be wrong, but to me that says the guaranteed cabin will be assigned within the Havana area since it says, "within the selected room type." One thing I suggest you do is go back to that cruise and do a mock booking. See if the cabin rate you chose says that. 

Agree with above poster, if it says within selected room types.... Interior, oceanview ... that's what it means.... you will get a random interior.  

[ARcruisin2]

I saw the same thing when i was booking my last cruise...and it is confusing.

But I figured out that the lower rate would be for any balcony...not the subcategory I was looking to book.

I took this literally that they are defining it in the parenthesis and would make no assumptions it would mean you get to specify the Havana area: Your stateroom will be assigned within the selected room type (Interior, Oceanview, Balcony, Suite)

 

If you call and find out differently...let us know 🙂

[Organized Chaos]

3 hours ago, soccersharon said:

Room type just means “interior” in this case. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of someone being given a Havana cabin via a guarantee booking.

 

 

Yeah, I wasn't absolutely certain what they meant. That's why I advised the OP to call. The only reason I thought maybe they'd get a guaranteed Havana interior is because Havana is literally listed as a "room type" in the booking process. I think they could do a better job clarifying what exactly people are going to get. The order in which it happens makes it a bit confusing. We pick a "room type" first, which could be a Havana or Family Harbor, for example. Then we choose guaranteed cabin after that. So it kind of implies that the guaranteed cabin will be within the room type we picked in the previous step. I think if someone wants to choose a guaranteed cabin, that should be the first step.

[firefly333]

1 hour ago, Organized Chaos said:

 I think if someone wants to choose a guaranteed cabin, that should be the first step.

Lol and to me carnival booking is so easy and straightforward 

 

I think rcl booking is totally nuts like a secret language. For instance I see a gty rate, already put in 1 pax,  and price and looks good. Everyone acts like I'm totally stupid when I say I want to book it at the price shown.

 

Dont you know solos cant book gty rates ... why not? Seems like a stupid rule not printed. I called crown and anchor who explained when you put in all your credit card info and get a message payment didnt go thru you know something is wrong. So I should have to go get my credit card and enter all that and if it doesnt go thru figure out, oh solo pax arent allowed to book gty rates.

 

Give me carnival booking engine any time. I book both but need a ta to book rcl they have made my bookings which we have now switched every single booking, did 2 lift and switches, to a b2b on allure, and now they said 2 days ago, sorry allure not coming, move your booking to liberty OTS,   I swear I've never been thru anything like this in my life. (And of course today they changed to allow switching to a couple other ships, but I got a aft corner balcony I'll stick with. My coice was that or a hump, which carnival also doesnt have. 

 

I'm considering radiance to panama and wondering if it's going to be switched by carnival after what I've been thru. .. but at least to me I could book it online myself easily. 

 

Carnival the rules dont change constantly either. Easy.

[soccersharon]

 
Yeah, I wasn't absolutely certain what they meant. That's why I advised the OP to call. The only reason I thought maybe they'd get a guaranteed Havana interior is because Havana is literally listed as a "room type" in the booking process. I think they could do a better job clarifying what exactly people are going to get. The order in which it happens makes it a bit confusing. We pick a "room type" first, which could be a Havana or Family Harbor, for example. Then we choose guaranteed cabin after that. So it kind of implies that the guaranteed cabin will be within the room type we picked in the previous step. I think if someone wants to choose a guaranteed cabin, that should be the first step.

I agree. They've added a guarantee option, where it doesn't belong. I can certainly see where the OP could get the wrong impression.

[Organized Chaos]

5 hours ago, firefly333 said:

Lol and to me carnival booking is so easy and straightforward

I'm not saying Carnival's booking engine isn't easy. I agree with you, it's very easy. But I can perfectly understand someone getting confused over this one piece of it.

 

Bear with me here. I'm going through the booking process. They tell me to pick a "room type." It literally says room type at the top of the page and one of the options is Havana, so that's what I pick. Then it asks to pick an "Upgrade" (Interior, Balcony, Cabana, etc.) and I choose Interior. After that, they tell me to pick a rate. I choose Super Saver with a guaranteed cabin. The description of that says, "Your stateroom will be assigned within the selected room type." OK, I just picked Havana Interior as my "room type," so I guess that means my assigned cabin will be within the Havana area. Nope, think again, it'll actually be an Interior somewhere else on the ship. Can you see how someone could be confused by that? Since the system makes someone choose a rate with a guaranteed cabin after they picked the Havana area, it gives the impression that their assigned cabin will be within Havana.

[firefly333]

11 minutes ago, Organized Chaos said:

I'm not saying Carnival's booking engine isn't easy. I agree with you, it's very easy. But I can perfectly understand someone getting confused over this one piece of it.

 

Bear with me here. I'm going through the booking process. They tell me to pick a "room type." It literally says room type at the top of the page and one of the options is Havana, so that's what I pick. Then it asks to pick an "Upgrade" (Interior, Balcony, Cabana, etc.) and I choose Interior. After that, they tell me to pick a rate. I choose Super Saver with a guaranteed cabin. The description of that says, "Your stateroom will be assigned within the selected room type." OK, I just picked Havana Interior as my "room type," so I guess that means my assigned cabin will be within the Havana area. Nope, think again, it'll actually be an Interior somewhere else on the ship. Can you see how someone could be confused by that? Since the system makes someone choose a rate with a guaranteed cabin after they picked the Havana area, it gives the impression that their assigned cabin will be within Havana.

I agree several cruiselines seem to need to be upgrading their booking engines.

 

I'm still mad I cant book a guarantee on rcl and they cant put a simple message saying this choice is invalid if you click on it.

 

I'm being told cruiselines dont spend money on things like a antiquated booking engines that make them no money.

 

Yes of course I can see how you could be confused, though the much lower price might have worried me into calling. I think she just put a hold on the cabin, didnt lose any money doing a hold. 

 

 

[MandyMooToo]

Okay so my PVP got back to me and said that the even though I initially chose a Havana cabin and clicked through to the offers if I choose guarantee at that point then I will only receive a guarantee with the cabin category of my choice (meaning interior, balcony, etc.) but not Havana.  It does not make sense if you have already chosen Havana, Spa or whatever but apparently you have the ability to basically drop back to a general guarantee in the offers screen.  So thank you all for your help and now we have an answer!

Edited June 14, 2020 by MandyMooToo

[Organized Chaos]

2 hours ago, MandyMooToo said:

Okay so my PVP got back to me and said that the even though I initially chose a Havana cabin and clicked through to the offers if I choose guarantee at that point then I will only receive a guarantee with the cabin category of my choice (meaning interior, balcony, etc.) but not Havana.  It does not make sense if you have already chosen Havana, Spa or whatever but apparently you have the ability to basically drop back to a general guarantee in the offers screen.  So thank you all for your help and now we have an answer!

 

Well, at least you got clarification, even though it's not what you wanted to hear. There's always a demand for the Havana area, so I guess they don't see the need in offering someone a cheaper price to guarantee a cabin within that area. But I stand by my previous posts...I think it's misleading to have someone choose Havana as a "room type" first, then a guaranteed cabin afterwards. The wording of the guaranteed description can be misleading.

[MandyMooToo]

15 minutes ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

Well, at least you got clarification, even though it's not what you wanted to hear. There's always a demand for the Havana area, so I guess they don't see the need in offering someone a cheaper price to guarantee a cabin within that area. But I stand by my previous posts...I think it's misleading to have someone choose Havana as a "room type" first, then a guaranteed cabin afterwards. The wording of the guaranteed description can be misleading.

 

Yes, I totally agree that it is misleading.  I will just book a Havana at the higher rate and be done with it but I wonder how many people have been stung by that?  Oh well...

[firefly333]

On 6/11/2020 at 1:41 PM, firefly333 said:

Agree with above poster, if it says within selected room types.... Interior, oceanview ... that's what it means.... you will get a random interior.  

The room TYPES are interior, ov, balcony and suite.

Havana is a choice like spa cabin within several of the room types.

 

If it says you will get a cabin within the type you selected and then it says inside, ov, balcony suite), and you can see a huge price difference. ..... 

 

When I was new there used to be sales where they promised at least 2 categories upgrades. So I'm thinking book a higher inside get a ov. I've found out sales are rarely sales and read the fine print. Sorry you didnt believe my answer but now you have it confirmed from someone you believe. Why bother to ask here though if you arent going to believe experienced answers? 

 

Btw there are no spa cabin gtys either that I've ever heard of, or family rooms etc. If there were it would say spa inside gty or Havana inside gty, not just inside gty. 

[MandyMooToo]

8 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Sorry you didnt believe my answer but now you have it confirmed from someone you believe. Why bother to ask here though if you arent going to believe experienced answers? 

 

No need to be snarky.  I asked here while waiting for a response from my PVP, thinking someone may know the definitive answer but of course I got more than one answer/response and they were not the same.  So which experienced answer should I have believed?  I came back and reported what the PVP told me to clear up the issue.  It is confusing in my opinion because I specifically chose a Havana cabin and clicked through to choose the "offer" where a guarantee option came up.  I could have chosen a regular cabin and then picked guarantee and that would have been understandable but when you pick a Havana cabin and go through to the offers and see guarantee then you would of course think it is a guarantee in a Havana cabin.  Apparently I am not the only one that though so too.  But regardless I now know.

[firefly333]

1 hour ago, MandyMooToo said:

 

No need to be snarky.  I asked here while waiting for a response from my PVP, thinking someone may know the definitive answer but of course I got more than one answer/response and they were not the same.  So which experienced answer should I have believed?  I came back and reported what the PVP told me to clear up the issue.  It is confusing in my opinion because I specifically chose a Havana cabin and clicked through to choose the "offer" where a guarantee option came up.  I could have chosen a regular cabin and then picked guarantee and that would have been understandable but when you pick a Havana cabin and go through to the offers and see guarantee then you would of course think it is a guarantee in a Havana cabin.  Apparently I am not the only one that though so too.  But regardless I now know.

I see quite a few saying what I said and many saying they can see how you might be confused, and some said to me even cant you see how she could be confused. I dont see any saying it was a Havana gty only agreeing it could have been confusing. But ok. I did post above i agreed it could be confusing.

 

Just like on rcl for 1 person, why give me a gty choice if solos cannot book. I did call crown and anchor and was told if i put in a credit card it wouldnt take it. Seems like a dumb way i agreed above.

 

Most say the cruiselines dont spend money on their booking engines because they make them no money. To me wastes customer service time by not fixing them. 

 

But above i did grant that it was confusing. Not well written. 

[firefly333]

And again it was not meant snarky, but more like a peeve of mine. I got so aggravated with things I wrote to the vice president of rcl with my grievances though I havent heard back. Starting with the unwritten rule solo cannot book a gty cabin. 

 

I got so aggravated with them I asked for a refund instead of a fcc and came over and booked carnival. After the 3rd time they changed the rules on using fccs. Every week they changed rules. 

 

And ending with this past week, they told every who booked allure out of Galveston that instead they were getting the fan favorite liberty and needed to change their cabins over to liberty. Allure is a special ship. The only thing they offered at first was yet another fcc if you choose to cancel. They knew for months they cancelled building terminal 3 but just got around to telling people. There was enough yelling now you can get a refund or a cruise out of another port. So I got 2 bookings changed to a lesser ship without even a offer of obc, or I can now after 4 days of people yelling get a refund or pay to fly to another port. 

 

But you caught me in a aggravated mood. I agree that to me it would be money well spent to not waste customer service peoples time and update booking engines. Those Havana cabins probably didnt exist when they wrote the code and had to find a way to squeeze them in that is confusing. 

 

Instead of some of the other stuff they spent money on in the past years, I'm agreeing with you they could have  updated booking engines so it's not like a secret language. 

 

We agree. Booking a cruise shouldnt be like a secret language. It should be more straightforward like booking a hotel. ... now onto the mystery of why carnival cruises keep appearing and disappearing from the carnival booking engine. .. 

 

 

Edited June 14, 2020 by firefly333

[Organized Chaos]

7 hours ago, firefly333 said:

Sorry you didnt believe my answer but now you have it confirmed from someone you believe. Why bother to ask here though if you arent going to believe experienced answers?

 

Firefly, who are you accusing of not believing your answer? A few different people have clarified what the wording on the site means and I never said I don't believe any of you. Neither has the OP. All we've said is that the wording can be confusing or misleading. It confused the OP, myself, two other users in this thread, and I'm sure many others, so I don't think I'm exaggerating.

 

This is what I'm talking about. When it's time to pick Havana during the booking process, it's literally listed within the "room type" portion of the booking engine. As seen in the bold header at the top center and the line graph at the top left that shows us what part of the process we're on.

 

 

I understand that cabins like Interior, OV, etc. are also listed here, but so is Havana and Family Harbor. Two steps later is when you pick a rate, and if you pick a guaranteed cabin, it says: "Your stateroom will be assigned within the selected room type." All I'm saying is that Havana fell under the "room type" portion of the process, so it can be misleading to some people. They picked Havana from the "room type" page, so someone could easily think their guaranteed cabin would be within Havana. We're not saying you're wrong or that we don't believe you. We're simply saying, now we know what it means, but we think it could be done better.

 

I think I've kicked this dead horse long enough.

Edited June 14, 2020 by Organized Chaos