1st Big Carnival disappointment !!!!!!

[soulfulone]

You arent paying fuel, let it go or cancel. You cant fight city hall and all I was saying is it doesnt help YOU to get all upset if you cant change something. Or keep calling until you get the reduction, but you cant get a 8A price if you are in a 8B. Only the 8B price. That is the bottom line.

 

All that stuff about making a ton of money on the fuel to me isnt true. You are assuming folks cant figure out the bottom line. So, Carnival is reducing the price for those that ARE paying the fuel surcharge, so their bottom line is better and more in line with what you are paying.

 

You do seem to be arguing about getting a 8A price when you are in a 8B and that's never going to happen on any line. The other, call back and try again if you dont like the answer? But dont expect to get the 8A price.

 

Think of it this way, they are paying the fuel and you aren't. Be happy about it. You won, you had it removed.

UMM unless i missed something Katie was not the OP. Ron and Fay was the OP they are the ones whom where complain about paying for a 8a and getting 8b.

Katie just did not understand about fuel charge.

[Crusin6]

JMO, Time to get the Fire Retardant suit out 'cause some of the people who post here are about to light you up like a Roman Candle. If you express an opinion that is not Pro-Carnival it's time to take cover. I think some of these posters are on the Carnival payroll. Good Luck my friend.

BTW, I agree with you.

I agree as well, and I believe that some of the posters who claim to be in the travel industry should not really offer their opinions as their opinions are biased.;) They get a commission don't they?

[KULPN]

I will be going on my 3rd Carnival cruise in 2 weeks. I never knew any of these problems existed or that I could ever change anything once I booked. I just booked (usually a year ahead) paid & went. Had a ball. Now that I read all these posts & know all the ways I can be screwed, I sit & ponder how I get can more from Carnival. It is becoming an all consuming effort to squeeze another dime out of what would have been a perfectly wonderful cruise, based on ignorance. Yes, ignorance is bliss-----or was.

[Eeyoregon]

I know I will be flamed for my view, but, I am not one that feels the cruise lines charges are the end all. JMO

 

No flaming from me because I agree! The cruise lines NEVER should have developed this new fuel surcharge "refund" scheme. Gee, what are the odds that the price of oil will be below $55 a barrel on ONE of the FOUR days that they are going to check each year?? Please. It's more insulting to us to charge us and then tease us and dangle the glimmer of hope for a refund over our heads when there isn't a a chance in hell that it's gonna happen.

 

id cancel if you have nt already paid in full

 

OP's cruise is in February so final payment came and went.

 

I hope that the OP can move past this and have a good time. Just be glad that you can afford to be cruising in these difficult times.

[dan40]

After 11 cruises on Carnival and taking 61 cruisers with us since our first, I am so disappointed I am thinking of changing Lines. We booked over a year ago for an 8A balcony on Liberty for Feb. 09. We were assigned an 8A room and there was no fuel supplement. Also there was no Senior rate. Since then the rate has dropped (twice) and they have added a senior rate. I contacted my PVP with Carnival and advised him of the drop and new senior rate. He advised me he would get with his super. and get back with me. He called back a few days later and advised me the only way they would honor the new rate was if they added the fuel supplement and charged me for an 8B room which they assigned. Needless to say, I was not happy and called back to talk to his super. After arguing my point for over 40 minutes on the phone, that I had only booked an 8A and that the fuel supplement was not on when I booked and that THEY had assigned me this room and THEY had now changed the room catagory to 8B, they still refused to budge. I advised them I had been a Loyal Carnival Cruiser up to this point but I was now thinking I had spent a lot of time and money on the wrong cruise line. Their responce was Sorry, but that was all they could do. Anyone had anything like this lately. I know things are tight now, but I would think they would try to work with their customers to try to keep them coming back.

 

If you canceled and rebooked, would you save money?

 

It is commonplace for Carnival and many other lines to look at changes as if they were cancellations and rebookings.

 

You want, as do we all, the new price at the old rules. But you have been around long enough to know that is not the way life works.

 

 

Enjoy your new cruises on MSC with their 140 sq.ft. cabins..............And free whine!

 

Dan

[greatful]

If you canceled and rebooked, would you save money?

 

It is commonplace for Carnival and many other lines to look at changes as if they were cancellations and rebookings.

 

You want, as do we all, the new price at the old rules. But you have been around long enough to know that is not the way life works.

 

 

Enjoy your new cruises on MSC with their 140 sq.ft. cabins..............And free whine!

 

Dan

 

It'd be nice if there could be a charge for the "whine"

[Ron & Faye]

Man, I knew I would bring them out of the Woodwork on this one! My points on this are ; 1) I am not changing my booking at all, they have.

2) I booked an 8A balcony guarantee, THEY changed the category to 8B after THEY assigned my room.

3) There was no Senior Rate (which I do qualify for) when we booked, now there is.

4) There was no Fuel Supplement when I booked in Oct. of last year. They added it after that and then was forced to take it off.

5) They are not setting a new precedence because they always have in the past honored price reductions, at least for us (even tho some don't need it or want it HaHa)

6) I am not a Carnival bash-er or I would not have been on this many Carnival cruises and have taken so many others with us that probably would never have cruised. Nor would I have a 12 day planned for next year.

7) Final payment is not due yet....12/15/08

 

O.K, let's hear it

[firefly333]

Man, I knew I would bring them out of the Woodwork on this one! My points on this are ; 1) I am not changing my booking at all, they have.

2) I booked an 8A balcony guarantee, THEY changed the category to 8B after THEY assigned my room.

3) There was no Senior Rate (which I do qualify for) when we booked, now there is.

4) There was no Fuel Supplement when I booked in Oct. of last year. They added it after that and then was forced to take it off.

5) They are not setting a new precedence because they always have in the past honored price reductions, at least for us (even tho some don't need it or want it HaHa)

6) I am not a Carnival bash-er or I would not have been on this many Carnival cruises and have taken so many others with us that probably would never have cruised. Nor would I have a 12 day planned for next year.

7) Final payment is not due yet....12/15/08

 

O.K, let's hear it

 

It does not matter if YOU changed the category or CARNIVAL changed the category. I mentioned they changed how they categorize cabins, I get it. The fact remains if you are NOW in a 8B, you will NOT be granted a 8A price.

 

Next, senior rates are almost always offered last minute to fill up the ships. Its rare they are more than 90 days out. More lately than before because of the economy and cruises not selling.

 

.... again. If you are insistent on getting the 8A price, then offer to move to a 8A cabin. You cant stay in a cabin that is now a 8B and expect them to give you a 8A price. Thats just being stubborn about what you want. I do get it. I was in a similar position. You do the best you can within the paramaters allowed and then go and enjoy your cruise. Either move to a 8A cabin or wait for 8B prices to drop. Your choice.

[oceanseagle12]

OP, you're still missing a critical point. Carnival's approach to this whole thing is to charge you what it would cost if you booked it today. Basically, you are only eligible for the difference between what you paid and what I would pay if I booked the same cabin today.

[cuyahoga11]

Man, I knew I would bring them out of the Woodwork on this one! My points on this are ; 1) I am not changing my booking at all, they have.

2) I booked an 8A balcony guarantee, THEY changed the category to 8B after THEY assigned my room.

3) There was no Senior Rate (which I do qualify for) when we booked, now there is.

4) There was no Fuel Supplement when I booked in Oct. of last year. They added it after that and then was forced to take it off.

5) They are not setting a new precedence because they always have in the past honored price reductions, at least for us (even tho some don't need it or want it HaHa)

6) I am not a Carnival bash-er or I would not have been on this many Carnival cruises and have taken so many others with us that probably would never have cruised. Nor would I have a 12 day planned for next year.

7) Final payment is not due yet....12/15/08

 

O.K, let's hear it

 

Not sure but it seems easy enough

 

Cancel since you are before final payment

 

Book 8A gty

 

Get senior discount

 

Pay fuel supplement

[Kurbanfan]

7) Final payment is not due yet....12/15/08

 

O.K, let's hear it

 

Perfect! Get to shopping around and comparing prices. I am almost certain if you cancel now you will find a comparable cruise/itinerary cheaper!

The prices for Dec and Jan (which is when you were booked) are going down drastically!

Regardless of what others say........everyone would prefer to pay less;)

Good luck on whatever cruise you decide on....

This is another reason why I would never book a year in advance........

[grandmotherof3]

ok, but is the fuel surcharge the same now as when you booked? If it is then I think you are missing the point.

 

 

The fuel charge is higher now..we paid $5 a day so I am not missing the point:)

[G'ma]

dupe-sorry

[G'ma]

Check the math, Carnival sails with more than 45,000 people on their cruise ships everyday. Multiple that by $9 per person/per day that is just over $400,000 just for the Fuel Surcharge everyday for fuel they purchase at 60% less than they did when they implemented the $9 Fuel Surcharge and BTW those figures didn't come from my butt. They are facts, do the research like I did and find out. So it really takes a little more than two days to make a million. Not bad work if you can get it.

 

Using this logic, Carnival paid for ALL increases in fuel before they instituted the surcharge...... By the time they added the charge, they had already eaten millions of dollars in additional cost without passing it on to their passengers. If you're going to do "math" do it from the very first increase in fuel prices when they started going up......

[greatful]

It is what it is live with it, go & have a good time !

[halos]

This is another reason why I would never book a year in advance........

 

I agree that in most cases (unless you are cruising at a busy time) booking last minute is definitely cheaper....however we seldom do this.

I prefer to choose my 'prime location cabin' early and make sure to book with a company that will honor a price reduction.

So far, I have not had a problem.

 

I do see a TON of deals out there right now so I agree that the OP should cancel (if they can do so without penalty) and find something else.

[stlrboo]

We always book early as we love those 9A wraps...:D Those are usually the first to go...:(

 

I'd still consider cancelling, if I was in the OP's shoes, and rebook... Ton's of GREAT deals out there...:)

At this point, even if the OP believes CCL is slighting him, it is the time to cancel and rebook...

 

If some other line has a better deal, go for it.. I have NO problem sailing on other lines...:cool:

[tedjazz]

And of that $400,000, how much do they spend in fuel? How much does their fuel cost? I can understand when people were upset when they were charged the supplement after booking their cruise. That has not been the case for quite awhile. fuel supplements have been around for over a year. Imagine this, instead of adding a fuel supplement they charge you an extra $100 per person for a 7 day cruise. Would you notice? You would pay $28 more but somehow most people would be happier because they didn't pay the fuel supplement.

 

What part of Fuel Prices are down 60% since Carnival bumped the Fuel Surcharge to $9 per person/per day don't you understand, oh and that was only 6 months ago. Fuel Costs are a part of doing business, when it skyrockets yeah, make the customer help out with the cost, when it plummets give it back, without the hoops and magic spells.

The rest of what you said I can't comprehend, amigo.

[tedjazz]

My cruise had dropped in price originally and then I was able to do military friends and family and then after that they were offering a 4 cabin free upgrade (to the category that I was already paying for because that is where I wanted to stay) so they let me take advantage of that also. I We were booked in a quad cabin, now have a balcony and an inside and saved money so I was more than happy to pay the increase in fuel surcharge as they were under no obligation to change my existing booking at all.

 

The total I was able to save paid for my plane tickets and two night pre- cruise stay so the increase in fuel surcharge did not bother me because I knew that that was part of Carnivals policy in allowing me to change my cruise pricing.

 

So you're not really sure how much you saved, but it was alot... Good Job!

[tedjazz]

Using this logic' date=' Carnival paid for ALL increases in fuel before they instituted the surcharge...... By the time they added the charge, they had already eaten millions of dollars in additional cost without passing it on to their passengers. If you're going to do "math" do it from the very first increase in fuel prices when they started going up......[/quote']

 

...and you know this how? Did Carnival send you a itemized explaination of how much money they have lost due to "High Fuel" charges.

Here's your corrected math, Nov 2007, Carnival spokesman says that they are implementing a Fuel Surcharge of $5 per person/per day because Oil was trading at nearly $100/barrel. So the new math says Nov 2008, High Fuel prices are down 40+%, (trading in the $50's) but let's not forget we are not paying $5 per person/ per day anymore, we are up to $9 per person/ per day or an 80% increase in a Fuel Surcharge to pay for High Fuel prices that are no longer High. Does that seem to right? Not for me it doesn't.

[halos]

... Does that seem to right? Not for me it doesn't.

 

If it doesn't seem right, then don't cruise.

Problem solved.

 

I am seeing cruises out there for balcony cabins at under $100 pp/pd.

If they want to charge me $10 pp/pd fuel surcharge, I am fine with that.

 

There is NO way that I'd be able to have 3 cruises a year if the TOTAL cost of the cruises were high...which they are not. I am extremely frugal and very practical. I just don't understand the fuss.

If you think there is a better way to spend your vacation dollars, then by all means do it!!!!

[rjpolly]

She wants the 8A price for the 8B cabin because she claims Carnival just changed it on her without her knowledge I guess, I really doubt that, Carnival just wouldnt change your reservation.

 

If you wanted the 8A so bad, why didnt you just book 8A guarantee and pick your room up front, then they wouldnt have changed it on you?

 

I have never had Carnival just change my reservation, we always just pick our room from the beginning.

 

Really, what is the difference in 8A against 8B? Pretty much the same isnt it?

 

It still comes down to the fact that the OP cant claim all the "new" senior benefits while not also accepting the higher taxes and fuel surcharge that has started since her original booking. Take the good with the bad or take nothing at all is my feeling on it.

[rjpolly]

Here's your corrected math, Nov 2007, Carnival spokesman says that they are implementing a Fuel Surcharge of $5 per person/per day because Oil was trading at nearly $100/barrel. So the new math says Nov 2008, High Fuel prices are down 40+%, (trading in the $50's) but let's not forget we are not paying $5 per person/ per day anymore, we are up to $9 per person/ per day or an 80% increase in a Fuel Surcharge to pay for High Fuel prices that are no longer High. Does that seem to right? Not for me it doesn't.

 

 

This is very true, how can the fuel surcharge almost be doubled when the price of fuel is half of what it was 1 year ago. If anything, Carnival should lower the fuel surcharge to about 2.50 per day or just eliminate it completely.

 

This nonsense of 25 consecutive days trading below $70 is confusing for alot of people and just plain insulting to the passengers.

[Browneyes43]

She wants the 8A price for the 8B cabin because she claims Carnival just changed it on her without her knowledge I guess, I really doubt that, Carnival just wouldnt change your reservation.

 

If you wanted the 8A so bad, why didnt you just book 8A guarantee and pick your room up front, then they wouldnt have changed it on you?

 

I have never had Carnival just change my reservation, we always just pick our room from the beginning.

 

Really, what is the difference in 8A against 8B? Pretty much the same isnt it?

 

It still comes down to the fact that the OP cant claim all the "new" senior benefits while not also accepting the higher taxes and fuel surcharge that has started since her original booking. Take the good with the bad or take nothing at all is my feeling on it.

 

Carnival did not just "change their reservation" for the sake of changing it. They booked an 8A and then Carnival assigned them a room then proceeded to recatagorize their cabins and in doing so,the cabin they were assigned BY CARNIVAL went from an 8A to an 8B. The OP's point is that she doesn't feel that she should be "penalized" so to speak for being in an 8B cabin when she originally paid for an 8A that through no fault of her own, turned into an 8B.

[tedjazz]

If it doesn't seem right, then don't cruise.

Problem solved.

 

I am seeing cruises out there for balcony cabins at under $100 pp/pd.

If they want to charge me $10 pp/pd fuel surcharge, I am fine with that.

 

There is NO way that I'd be able to have 3 cruises a year if the TOTAL cost of the cruises were high...which they are not. I am extremely frugal and very practical. I just don't understand the fuss.

If you think there is a better way to spend your vacation dollars, then by all means do it!!!!

 

Wow, now that you have explained it to me that way I feel so much better. You give great advice. I too love to Cruise (14 in 7 years), but I am done until the Fuel Surcharge for Oil trading at 2005/2006 levels comes off. (BTW, that was before Fuel Surcharges) Not all of us are like you Mr. Rockefeller and can just throw money around like Drunken Sailors (pun intended), but maybe I'll get their someday. Happy Cruising! :)