Has anyone ever changed their booking after they put down a deposit?

[CruisingGarcias]

My family and I are currently booked on the Magic 08/19 - 08/27. We've had several conflicts come up for this week. I was wondering if anyone has changed their booking after they put down their deposit. Looking to change to another cruise on the Magic earlier in August. Was Carnival able to accommodate your booking change?

 

Thanks for your help! 

[mz-s]

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3401/related/1

[wemjam]

As the link mz-s provided states.  What you will have to pay potentially is ALL related to what promotion you booked under.  There are at least 20 different ones and each have their own penalties associated with them.

 

Now, I will say, first hand experience for me and my PVP, I can usually get it waived (if it is just the $50/pp) especially if I am upgrading to a more expensive cruise.  However, they did start cracking down on "waiving" fees and the very last time I asked I couldn't get it waived and had to eat the $100 to switch.

[mz-s]

2 minutes ago, wemjam said:

As the link mz-s provided states.  What you will have to pay potentially is ALL related to what promotion you booked under.  There are at least 20 different ones and each have their own penalties associated with them.

 

Now, I will say, first hand experience for me and my PVP, I can usually get it waived (if it is just the $50/pp) especially if I am upgrading to a more expensive cruise.  However, they did start cracking down on "waiving" fees and the very last time I asked I couldn't get it waived and had to eat the $100 to switch.

 

Yeah starting around this past Summer, I am no longer able to convince them to waive the $50pp service fee for changes anymore.

[ninjacat123]

Same here.  My PVP warned me last October when she could waive it, that I shouldn't expect "waiving" in the future.  I needed a date change four months later and there was the $50/person admin fee. Le sigh.

[serene56]

if you booked early saver rate-- comes with penalties     You need to have your agent call carnival to see what it will cost you to make changes

 

[SRQbeachgirl]

We've changed bookings several times after deposit--dates, ship, cabin--and always paid the $50pp fee. It's always been very quick and easy to make the changes we wanted.

[CruizinSusan70]

We always book through a TA that gives us refundable fares and luckily we have never had to change.  But at the same time, it's a discounted group fare that is better than any rate that a PVP could give us.  We usually book at least 18 months out.  We lose control, but we save money in the end and that's more important.

[nydney1]

My PVP can usually make the change for $50pp. I pay the new rate but don’t lose the deposit 

[shiner6]

We paid the $50 pp fee and have the rest in FCC.

[BrotherCraig]

Yes, we did that recently and they charged us $50 per person. So we paid $300 to change our cruise to a week later.  First time we have ever been charged for a change so that one hurt.  

[missholly24]

21 hours ago, CruisingGarcias said:

My family and I are currently booked on the Magic 08/19 - 08/27. We've had several conflicts come up for this week. I was wondering if anyone has changed their booking after they put down their deposit. Looking to change to another cruise on the Magic earlier in August. Was Carnival able to accommodate your booking change?

 

Thanks for your help! 

Yeah they wouldn't waive the fee for us (platinum cruisers) this time. Had to eat the $200 deposit. ($50pp)

[mz-s]

9 minutes ago, missholly24 said:

Yeah they wouldn't waive the fee for us (platinum cruisers) this time. Had to eat the $200 deposit. ($50pp)

 

Yeah my TA and the casino department told me that after the COVID policies (masking, testing, vax cards, etc) were relaxed, the edict came down from above that waiving the fee was no more under any circumstances.

 

I can't complain too much because it's there in black and white when I book these discounted rates.

[missholly24]

1 hour ago, mz-s said:

 

Yeah my TA and the casino department told me that after the COVID policies (masking, testing, vax cards, etc) were relaxed, the edict came down from above that waiving the fee was no more under any circumstances.

 

I can't complain too much because it's there in black and white when I book these discounted rates.

I agree no complaints. Especially when I just ventured over to Royal to price out a Feb 2025 cruise. $5800 for 4 people. 😳😳😳 

[EllieinNJ]

I had a refundable fare for a cruise that I had to change from Oct. 2022 to May 2023 so I was able to carry over all my perks.  Problem was the new cruise went down in price after final payment and I was not eligible to get the new price.

[Heartgrove]

During COVID we changed cruises three times for the Sunshine, changed again and finally cruised on the Legend in January paying the $50pp change fee. We were also booked on the Legend for the August Greenland cruise but decided after the January cruise that we didn't want eight sea days at the start (longer than most Transatlantics!) followed by the first two ports with no excursions available on the Legend. Paid $50pp to instead cruise on the Venezia in November.

[CruizinSusan70]

11 hours ago, EllieinNJ said:

I had a refundable fare for a cruise that I had to change from Oct. 2022 to May 2023 so I was able to carry over all my perks.  Problem was the new cruise went down in price after final payment and I was not eligible to get the new price.

Were you able to get OBC for the price drop difference?

[EllieinNJ]

29 minutes ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

Were you able to get OBC for the price drop difference?

Nope.  Said a refundable fare is not eligible for OBC either.  

[Cruisin_Mo]

I don't know if this counts, but after I paid my deposit last month, I needed to downgrade one cabin, from balcony to interior, and move the other cabin to where the first one was. I contacted my PVP, who did not do the booking (my error, not knowing that she didn't get a commission for me holding and paying the deposit), and there was no fee for these changes.

[MistyRo76]

We were booked on the Paradise going to Cuba back in April, 2019. We had initially booked the last week of April (into early May) as at the time of booking it was the only April itinerary that visited both Cuba and Key West. Unfortunately, none of our regular cruise companions could go the week we initially planned to sail. 

 

A month or two after booking, I decided to do a quick check at pricing to see if we might score a price drop. When I logged onto the Carnival site and put in our sailing month and ship, I noticed there were now more sailings to Cuba. Carnival had changed some cruises that month to Cuba itineraries and now there was a Cuba sailing departing mid-month on our actual anniversary and it would end on my birthday. So it was perfect timing. Plus it allowed us more time in Havana and was considerably cheaper than our original booking. So I called my PVP and she got us switched over to the new dates. Even with having to pay a $50 per person rebooking fee (a restriction of our Early Saver booking code), we still saved about $500 total! Plus now, with the new dates, our friends and family were able to join us! We ended up with a group of about 20 people! It was perfect! 

[wemjam]

57 minutes ago, MistyRo76 said:

We were booked on the Paradise going to Cuba back in April, 2019. We had initially booked the last week of April (into early May) as at the time of booking it was the only April itinerary that visited both Cuba and Key West. Unfortunately, none of our regular cruise companions could go the week we initially planned to sail. 

 

A month or two after booking, I decided to do a quick check at pricing to see if we might score a price drop. When I logged onto the Carnival site and put in our sailing month and ship, I noticed there were now more sailings to Cuba. Carnival had changed some cruises that month to Cuba itineraries and now there was a Cuba sailing departing mid-month on our actual anniversary and it would end on my birthday. So it was perfect timing. Plus it allowed us more time in Havana and was considerably cheaper than our original booking. So I called my PVP and she got us switched over to the new dates. Even with having to pay a $50 per person rebooking fee (a restriction of our Early Saver booking code), we still saved about $500 total! Plus now, with the new dates, our friends and family were able to join us! We ended up with a group of about 20 people! It was perfect! 

Yep, sometime even if you have to eat the $50/pp it still ends up to your advantage.  We have changed to a different/ship/sailing and had to pay it, but in the long run still cruised for less.