price drops and military discounts...

[MamaParrotHead]

is there such a thing? I'm curious as to whether or not the military rate is a flat fee (that they don't discount further) or like a percentage of the regular rate (that, if it drops, I could get further discounts as well). Does anyone know? I booked direct with Carnival, so I know if the adjustment is available I won't have any problem getting it. Thanks!

[Shadieeie]

I booked directly with carnival using a milatary discount, I didn't do the room guarantee though because we got an AFT extended balconey and I didn't want to chance losing that. I called Carnival this AM and I gather from what I was told that the discount we got was SUPER. So I am sticking with it. If you find anything different let me know. :)

[katsted69]

I really have no clue what the difference is in the discount. Guess that is bad. All I know is I checked prices for weeks and found what I wanted (no military discount) called to set it up and the price was higer, asked about a military discount and was told it didn't apply to that cruise. Wasn't going to pay the price I was given so hung up. Called back about an hour later and was told thee was a military discount for the room the AD member would be in and the price was ok. Had to pay a little extra because we needed rooms close together so I don't know if I got a discount or not.

 

Personally, I haven't been happy with Carnival and my trip hasn't even started. I am planning to walk into it excited though and hope that all my issues will go away once I get to the ship.

[jetskier]

MamaParrotHead,

I dont know about price drops with the MIL rate because it is so low to begin with. On my last cruise about a month before the sailing, my TA saw where the Past PAX rate had become $60 cheaper than the MIL rate and asked if I wanted to change. I am so glad to have found a TA who looks out for her customers without being asked.

Dave

[Binney]

Personally, I haven't been happy with Carnival and my trip hasn't even started. I am planning to walk into it excited though and hope that all my issues will go away once I get to the ship.

 

Katrina,

 

As I mentioned in another thread, the weak spot for Carnival is the telephone customer service. I realize that there are LOTS of them, but they should all give you the same answer, however, they do not!

 

When we booked, I had to tell Carnival how to enter the Military Discount - once she got the price we were going to book, but then she said that the military personnel had to actually be in the cabin (no true) so we could not get the rate.

 

GOOD LUCK!

[spookwife]

From what I understand, there is only a set number of cabins set aside on a sailing(and not on all sailings) that qualify for the military rate. Now, I am unsure if that means 2 IS,2 OV, 5 BL and 1 Suite are set aside, or if 10 cabins period are set aside or if it's a percentage of cabins.

 

For us, the rate we got for a BL GTY is running hundreds cheaper than an IS currently, and the rates are expected to rise even further the closer we get to the cruise. If all the helpful folks I have spoken to here are correct, we paid for an 8A and are getting an 8I(extended balcony) for a ridiculously inexpensive price. heck, even if all we get is an 8A, it's still $300 PP cheaper than the quoted rate on the carnival site.

[luvz2run2000]

According to our PVP the military discount is a % off the current price. We were told that if the price dropped we could get an adjustment in our price as well. If there is a special like a free up-grade or something along those lines then we wouldn't get an adjustment because the "price" hadn't changed.

We book really early (9 months for the Med and 17 months for Alaska) so we can get the cabin we want, take advantage of the early booking rates, and make sure there are still cabins available with the military discount.

Haven't gotten to take advantage of a price drop yet since our Med cruise went up by about $800 per person since we booked. Can't imagine that aft balconies are going to dropping for Alaska either, but I'll keep an eye on it just in case.

[molme]

The answer to the original question is yes. If the price drops you can ask for a price adjustment. We use the military rate and on our last cruise the price dropped twice. The first time the amount was taken off our balance due and the second time after final payment was made was given to us as a shipboard credit.

 

I check and see what the reg price is when I book and then if I see where it has dropped I call my PVP and ask her to check and see if we can also get the price drop on ours. You need to stay on top of the prices as they can go up and down at any time.

 

Hope this helps.

[ladycaveat]

How can one find out if the price of your cruise has dropped. My son and I booked our cruise last December for next January (with the military discount because he's an officer in the military). We got a great price and I would be a tad embarrassed to ask our TA (actually he's not a travel agent . . . he's a personal vacation planner with Carnival) for even more of a discount. But . . . I was just cruious how one knows if the prices on a particular cruise have dropped . . .

[cruise.freak]

We also booked a 4a guarantee under a military rate at 186 days out. Before final payment price dropped just a little each time and it was taken off our bill. After that the rate dropped again so I upgraded to oceanview at no cost. After that price dropped a little so I upgraded to balcony but did have to pay some.