The moral of the story

[BugsyCruiser]

Hello friends!

 

So I needed to share with you my experience with cancelling a booking on another line(fun ships, hint hint). Normally I cruise Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and Princess. Well I decided I wanted to give this line a try just to see what they were like. Well after a while I decided I would be getting out of my comfort zone straying away from my 3 favorite lines, so I decided to cancel it.

 

When you book with this line they have several different fare structures to select from. The first one that they always try to push on you is Early Saver. This gets you the lowest fare BUT your deposit is non refundable. I purposely avoided that because if I wanted to cancel or needed to I did not want a future cruise credit instead of a refund. When my ta went to cancel this booking, Carnival insisted I booked it under the early saver rate so I would not get a refund on the deposit. A deposit of 500 dollars nonetheless! Yes I would get back the other 1000 paid on the balance but not the deposit. I had a copy of the original invoice at home but I was in Texas at the time.

 

This turned into a back and forth argument all day that got me so furious I ended up getting sick. Finally, Carnival admitted they made a mistake and I was right but offered no apology for spending the day telling me it was my goof up. Would Royal Caribbean or sister line Celebrity had done this? I think not because for one thing they do not have all these different fare structures and two, everything is up front and clearly spelled out before you hit book.

 

The moral of the story? Stick with what you're comfortable with.Carnival lost me before I even set foot on one of their ships. I look forward to sailing on Liberty of the Seas later this fall instead :)

[firegal2539]

BugsyCruiser,

 

I had the same problem. I am a solo cruiser and a good friend invited me to cruise with her on the same line you had problems with. I hated it, interior room, so small I could not turn around, we had to ask the steward to take tables out so we could put our luggage away. I found a cruise on this line that I loved the ports, Key West, Nassau, Freeport and one other so I called my TA and had her book it. She called me and said " I am confused, have you looked at their pricing, they have four or five plans you can choose from". She began explaining and I couldn't believe it. She booked it where I would get my deposit back. I had her call yesterday to move the cruise to another date and they told her I had booked the Early Saver. Teri said no she hadn't booked the Early Saver and all I wanted to do was move the cruise to another date, I wasn't cancelling it. The rep told Teri she would be glad to move it for a $500 deposit and $50 being kept by them because of changing the booking. First the cruise was only $1,100 dollars and they wanted a $500 deposit, are you kidding, the cruise is over a year away. Secondly, keeping $50 to change the booking, no way. So I told Teri to cancel it and they said they would keep all my deposit because I booked with Early Saver. Teri faxed all paperwork to them and they called her said their mistake but if I want to rebook still $50 charge or a full refund. I took the refund and will never book with them again. SHAME ON THEM for the deceptive practices. It sounds like they automatically say you booked with Early Saver to see if they can get away with keeping your money.

 

I agree with the moral of your story, stay with what you know and feel comfortable with!!!

[Laurac22]

Thanks for this information. I sail Royal or Celebrity, but have considered trying a short cruise (on the line your mentioning)out of my home port. I will know to make sure I get everything clearly stated and in writing if I do it...

[DocLC]

Yes, Carnival seems to have roughly four price structures from my experience.  And in reality, the Early Saver does not save that much money in the end (maybe $50 at the most per person in my experience).  The only benefit is that you receive price protection including after final payment.  Thus, if they discount a cruise 45 days out, you're eligible for a price reduction.  Still not worth it to me, though.

[jticarruthers]

Definitely prefer the RCI price structure but just to chime in with an alternate example, booked Vista last April and just made the final payment yesterday. In the year since ... 22 (not a typo that's two two's) reprices and about $800 in total savings later. On the one hand you could just say they screwed up their pricing and should have given me a better price a year ago but at least I was able to take advantage of it.

 

Deposit was $200 per person so $600 deposit at risk has paid off so far.