crooooze

2 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

There is no rule on the topic...no "best" time.

 

If no money is put up front, you can book as early as 365 days out. If the price goes down, you make another booking at the lower price, THEN cancel the higher priced booking.

Exactly what I do. Book as early as possible and every few weeks, look for price drops.

Unfortunately in the past year, prices have only gone up to ludicrous levels.

1 hour ago, PrincessArlena'sDad said:

If the card was used up it'll show a balance of $0. Invalid card means the number is incorrect. 

 

Double check that you aren't making a mistake with the number.  I did this once, when I copied them into a spreadsheet, the last number was cut off. 

 

If the number is right, call carnival.

A used gift card will show a zero balance for a short time. After that, it does show up as invalid.

Call the toll free number on the back of the gift card. They can tell you the dates and amounts of all transactions against the card. As wemjam said, sometimes the full gift card balance is applied. This has happened to me many times.

5 minutes ago, shortyjoesmith said:

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4250/~/specialty-restaurants---dining-reservation-information

 

Based on the Specialty Dining information on the Carnival website above, the gratuity is included for:

     The Steakhouse

     Ji Ji Asian Kitchen
     Cucina del Capitano
     Rudi’s Seagrill
     Green Eggs & Ham Breakfast

 

The 18% gratuity is automatically added to the bill for:

     Bonsai Teppanyaki
     The Chef’s Table

 

 

Thanks. I haven’t seen this before.

Venezia’s Il Viaggio also adds the gratuity on top of the per-person charge.

Still, I wonder why they decided to include gratuities in some and exclude on others.

1 hour ago, pnwredhead said:

Hi All,

 

I have a few cruises booked, and I have been looking to find out what Promo Codes I used to book them. I can't find them on the site or in the booking emails.

 

Is there a place where this is visible?

 

TIA ☺️

You can’t find this little detail on your own.

• If you booked through Carnival.com, call Carnival (800) 764-7419.
• If you booked through a Carnival PVP or a 3rd party travel agent, call them.

For some specialty dining reservations, Carnival adds an additional 18% gratuity up-front when you make the reservation. And for others, like the steakhouse, they don’t.  
 

I wished there was consistency across all the dining venues - I don’t care if I pay it upfront at reservation time or pay it when I settle the check after we eat.
 

I just don’t want to unintentionally double tip, just because I forgot I already paid months ago.

1 hour ago, lasvegascruising said:

I want to book a cruise, 7 days balcony, the first week of December 2023 which includes December 8(our wedding anniversary).  Panorama looks like the ship for us and we want Lido deck for two.  None left!  I have played around and see cabins for 3 or 4 guests still open on Lido.  Will Carnival, at some point, open up these cabins and let a party of two book one of the cabins that can hold 3 or 4 guests?    

I would call Carnival directly and see if you can just book one of them now.

9 minutes ago, wemjam said:

Do not agree with your 100% assessment at all.  I have cancelled items a LOT of different things using gift cards and only had an issue once or twice.  And those issues were stupid stuff.  Like I had used 2 gift cards, One for the majority of the purchase and the other was like $5 that I had left, they missed the $5 when the sent me new gift cards.  Called and had an emailed $5 gift card the next day.  Now I did have one issue like this OP where I didn't receive it at all, and after a shuffle game of phone calls and a lot of time on time and frustration on the phone it was resolved.  But it was the exception and not the rule.

 

 I literally just cancelled a spa item I used a gift card for like 3 weeks ago and had a new gift card in the mail in under a week.  So it is not 100% of the time there is an issue.

 

PS:  I have also had an issue with refund not going to my Credit Card once too.  So I think it is more about human error and oversight, then about the specific form of payment used.

Were all those cruises booked directly through Carnival either by yourself or using a PVP? If so, then I agree - you wouldn’t have this issue.

11 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

If you use a travel agent, why is it on Carnival?

The TA was only used to book the cruise and not involved with booking excursions or dining through the Carnival Cruise Planner.

Those purchases are made directly with Carnival. And, yeah, behind the scenes, Carnival uses a third party for gift cards, but that should be hidden from the customer.

12 hours ago, mz-s said:

 

Seems like something Carnival should take a look at, if they cared about customer service.

I agree. I hope they’re working on it. But at least if people are aware of this, they know what to expect and exactly what has to be done. 

2 hours ago, Eli_6 said:

After 35 minutes on the phone a second time, they are filling out a form for me to get new gift cards and they said I should have an email with the GCs in 5-7 business days.  Fingers crossed it works. 

You should be good now. As I have mentioned in previous threads, this same situation will happen 100% of the time when you cancel a purchase you made with a gift card related to a cruise booked through a TA. This form is needed for a manual intervention. 

You may get the GC email by Fri.

Now that mask requirements and pre-cruise testing requirements are gone, I feel we’re as good as we’re going to get. Want more? spend more.
 

But now you need a defib nearby for when you see the cost of excursions, specialty dining, etc..

RU2 is definitely out there. I am looking at one right now. $290 higher than the Early Saver Bonus Sale (PEH) rate.

16 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

Do you really expect a cash refund when you pay with a discounted gift card?

Nope - I did not say that.

7 hours ago, mz-s said:

With a gift card you're essentially paying cash so you're relying on the goodwill of a company $30bn (and counting) in debt to pay you back. Sobering when you think about it.

Hmm… with a refund via a gift card, are they really paying anyone back? Carnival still has your money. It’s just some accounting magic with the books.

14 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Yay. And if you had faith that that would eventually happen, this thread would have never appeared. 😁

Not quite… if that form was not filled out to have human follow-up,  the refund would be in limbo indefinitely.

18 hours ago, Eli_6 said:

After 40 minutes on the phone, the second lady submitted a form to their "gift card" team who is supposed to reach out to me via email in 24-48 hours..but said to allow 3 business days.  They said it doesn't show a gift card was ever re-issued so the team is going to have to research the matter and get back with me.  So, basically, another 45 minutes wasted and still nothing is resolved.  Basically, I just spent 45 minutes on the phone so they could fill out a form to send me to yet another department to "research" the issue. Not understanding why this is so darn difficult.  I have the email showing I purchased the excursion. I have the email showing I canceled it.  

I think you’re almost there…. In my experience, this “form” usually works. You should have a new eGC in your email by Wed. Keep checking your spam box too. Hard part is getting a Customer Service rep that knows this process. It is usually done by the Fun Shop department, even for excursion or specialty restaurant purchases.

I’ve gone through this numerous times. The problem always happens when canceling a purchase that the passenger books directly with a gift card for a cruise booked through a TA. It is definitely a problem with Carnival and how they work with their third party gift card company.

Knowing this, I still use gift cards for every Carnival purchase to save that 10%. But I am very aware that this, for sure, will happen again if I need to cancel.

The so called lessons-learned that people are harping for using a GC or not using a PVP are pure garbage.

9 hours ago, skrufy said:

Platinum guests get $25.00 dollars cash from the casino compensation for no tournaments being held. Guess you can call it a perk

The last couple of cruises, they didn’t do this. They gave $25 in casino freeplay, which you had to gamble. From that, we walked away with a whopping $7 in winnings. Paid for a couple of Pepsis. 🤪

This is where Carnival gets the money to give out all that shareholder OBC. 😂

I’ve personally experienced this exact nonsense several times and it is 100% consistent.
 

Book the cruise through a TA, but purchase anything else (excursion, dining, etc) on your own through the cruise planner using a GC… If that purchase is cancelled for whatever reason, your refund will 100% guaranteed go into limbo.  For some reason, Carnival processes the refund to the TA. But the TA doesn’t get it either. I’ve had many 3-way calls between Carnival and TA, hunting this crap down. Eventually, with enough back-and-forth and months later, you’ll get the refund. I have noticed it’s a little quicker now that refunds are no longer through physical card replacement.

Why on earth Carnival doesn’t process the GC refunds through the email and contact details you provide when making the purchase is beyond me.

I have never had this issue when using a credit card for the purchase. (Not counting the initial Covid fiasco with 2020 cancellations)

While inquiring about a refund for a cancelled steakhouse reservation, Carnival told me that they recently stopped sending refunds via physical gift cards completely. All gift card refunds are now via e-gift card to your email and you should get them within 3 business days of cancellation.  Check your spam box for messages with the subject “You’ve received a Carnival Cruise Line Digital Gift Card!”. If you don’t have it, contact Carnival and follow the prompts for the “Funshop”. That’s the dept that processes pre-cruise excursions and specialty restaurants. Sometimes things get stuck and they will push it through again.

Also, I’ve also had where the refund GC was emailed to my travel agent, even though it was purchased by me through the cruise planner. Believe me - that’s a real pain in the butt to chase down.

Thanks. I was leaning toward the Hyatt. But saving $120 bucks over the 4 nights sounded enticing, too. That could be a steakhouse dinner 😉 

No, not a Veteran. Rates I am comparing: Hampton Inn $175/night,  Hyatt House $204/night…

Hyatt House Downtown directly across from the Needle or Hampton Inn Seattle Downtown?

Hampton Inn is about $30/night cheaper, but seems to have a longer walk to and from everything.

TIA

On Royal, they ask you to swap answer sheets with someone nearby for scoring… not a bad idea