What Gives with 4-Day Mexico Cruise September 2009?

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Things get even weirder. On the Carnival board, there is a thread because Carnival is switching Elation (doing similiar itineraries to Radiance) from 4 & 5 night cruises to 3 & 4 night cruises out of San Diego.

 

Something's cooking......I just hope it won't smell too bad!:rolleyes:

[wrp96]

Me too. I'm really looking forward to sailing on Radiance out of San Diego. Not to mention the fact that I may have convinced my brother and SIL to go on their first cruise - and that won't happen if something changes.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

I was so excited to see the short cruises out of San Diego. My DH will not take two week long cruises in one year. (His work will fall apart without him, you know:rolleyes: ). However, I was able to convince him to do the Radiance as it left port on Wednesday night. He has customers in San Diego and he can go see them early in the week and even see one customer on Wednesday AM. I can fly in and meet him and he only has to take 2 days off work. I may just miss out on a 2nd cruise in '09 if they cancel this one.:(

[tinkerme1]

Wrona, I'll jump in and say, this is really strange. Many folks are coming off of the Radiance and feel that the ship is in need of some "sprucing up". Is it possible that RCI is going to drydock Radiance in SF, and they don't know which dates would be best, so they are taking the ship off-line for booking until they know more? Of course, this is just a guessing game at this point, but it does sound possible.

[wrp96]

If that's the case, I'm going to be selfish and say I really hope it's not my cruise that gets affected!

[Sunny AZ Girl]

If that's the case, I'm going to be selfish and say I really hope it's not my cruise that gets affected!

Me too!:)

[kerrydee]

the cabins and pricing are all back on the TA site. some have gone up but they are all back.;)

[wrp96]

the cabins and pricing are all back on the TA site. some have gone up but they are all back.;)

 

It's not surprising that the price went up - since Carnival has pulled Elation off of doing similiar cruises.

[MomtoCCC]

Yeah! We are back! The prices did go up - I just did a pretend booking for same category as the one I'm booked on - price is $200 more than when I booked! Plus I got in under the $8/day fuel charge - plus I have a coupon to get another $25 or $50 off (can't remember...)

 

It sure does pay to book early! On one hand I hate that RCCL has my deposit for over a year - but it does pay off!! I keep telling my DH that we should put the deposits down way far out and then if we decide not to go we can always cancel. I will be putting a deposit down for an Alaska cruise as soon as the itinearies are posted for 2010.

[Arizona Laura]

Our cruise on Sept 30th on the Radiance increased $100.00 pp for a D1 cabin.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Laura - I haven't checked yet, but since we are in a D1 also and we booked around the same time we have probably gone up the same. I just noticed today that the fuel surcharge went up to $10 per day, too. We got $8 per day. I also have an OBC of $50 since we booked this with my NextCruise booking. Plus I am hoping to have the points necessary on my RCI VISA for a free companion fare. That works on the 4 night. I was concerned about that as I am not flying to Florida for a 4 nighter! I'm so glad we're back!:D

[critterchick]

JS are up $100 across the board, too. But no flying, yay!

 

I can't believe it took them 5 days to adjust the prices, though. Maybe I watch too many Oliver Stone movies,:rolleyes: but I think they were planning something else first.

[wrp96]

JS are up $100 across the board, too. But no flying, yay!

 

I can't believe it took them 5 days to adjust the prices, though. Maybe I watch too many Oliver Stone movies,:rolleyes: but I think they were planning something else first.

 

 

Jean I'm with you on this one. I think it's too coincidental that they reopened bookings (with higher prices) just a couple of hours after Carnival annouced they were pulling Elation from the 4 & 5 night cruises out of San Diego.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

The total price on my D1 cabin went up $290 - and we're still more than a year away!:eek: Nothing like losing a little competition......:rolleyes:

[G'ma]

That would be one huge company! To book over a thousand cabins approximately 12 times, then multiply that number twice, assuming it would only be double occupancy.

 

I don't think I'd want to work for a company so large it could give incentives to its top 12 thousand employees ;)

 

Think worldwide, large scale......and yes, there are those companies who do this.

 

One company I handled took the entire Kempinski hotel in Budapest for a month.......and picked up the entire tab; drinks, hotel meals, room service, use of the gym, paid for any of the tours that were offered. They flew people in from all over the world for a 3/4 night stay...and paid for all the airfares....and the employees could bring their spouses.

 

These type of reservations are referred to as "incentives" and "rewards". Lots of companies, large and small, use similar types of things. Some may host a 2-nighter at a golf resort in California or a Spa treatment in Arizona or a weekend in New York. Some do bigger and better things. Some do much smaller.

[funforsun]

I am the OP. We finally found a TA that is worth something and got a 5-day on Oct 24. Same as the original price for the 4-day Sept 30 cruise. Then, after booking we found the Cruises back on, with prices raised.

 

We got a deal and are better for it.

 

Thanks to everyone here.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Congratulations on getting such a great deal. Wish you were on the Sept. 30 with us, though. You'll have a great time either way. I'm glad it worked out.:)

[mringenoldus]

Unfortunately, the GS I coveted is really gone - but we have great cabins anyway.