spiritkat090909

I bring all of our casino funds in gift cards. Hubby & I both play at tables mainly... we download to slots initially, then play tables. DAILY cash out. So far, we haven't been locked out. BUT, we do play heavily. The daily cash out is so that we buy in with cash at tables and KNOW what we are winning/losing.

Keep trying. If you could book the same cabin for the same people for a lower price today, Carnival should honor it. And keep watching the casino rate. We once ended up with over $2000 in OBC as two of our three cabins were able to snag the Pack and Play rate a month or two before sailing, and that was over spring break here in Florida. Good luck.

I will keep watching! That is a substantial amount of OBC for the casino. ;) Our last Premier in October, hubby hit the Royal Flush playing quarter Chips on Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em...hence the family trip... We actually had to go through customs to report cash since it was the last day of play when he hit and they didn't get any of it back in the casino. lol

UPDATE:

I did the resubmission...and it was refused again with standard form letter stating price was higher.

SO...I emailed copies of my 'proof' of lower rate to the earlysaver email on the refusal letter, copied to my pvp. And this morning, I get msg from pvp that everything HAS been taken care of, with confirmation fax.

What an ordeal. I'm just guessing that they had temporary help on the weekend for the sale hired to do these price protection forms that couldn't do math? I asked for details on how they were making their math different from mine. The email was 5 attachment pages with each step of each change I had made to the record from inception. (I have my BINDER! lol.... cc101 tip)

But, $300 is substantial.

I'm confused. Have you done a mock booking online with four people in the cabin? If the rate is lower then you should get that rate if your original booking is for four in the same category. I book three in a room all the time and have never had an issue with first/second vs third passengers. It should be the total rate for the cabin.

Yes, I did the mock booking (after I logged out so it wouldn't throw MY vifp info in). That is how I came up with the 859 pp rate. And I'm even MORE confused the more I look at it.

Except my first rates were : total price 3317 (849/849/629/629 +)

The current rate in the cabin is a total price of 3202. (899/899/259/769 plus port)

(changed from ES to military for $50 obc from Early Saver)

The SALE rates for quad/Tx resident/cove rm asgn TODAY is a total price of 3122. plus $100 OBC (859/859/259/769 +)

It SHOULD be rather simple. Rate is lower now than I currently have...right?

I RESUBMITTED the form. Somebody won't bother to take the time to figure it out and I'm going to make someone TELL me something. In detail. Until I see the reasoning behind...this rate is higher than what I have...because it is not. (Head spinning.)

This is my FIRST time to book under Early Saver. (Jan 2016) I usually can't book far in advance and get better rates with casino promotions but I wanted to take my daughter, mom, & sister's families with us on a pre-Christmas cruise. So...I'd have to hope my husband could go (probably will be a no-show.) Dec 2017 this year...

And since it would be a holiday cruise, rates would probably not go down, but I could get a reduced deposit of $50pp. Since I was paying for these...every PENNY would count. Haunting Verizon/AArp sites for 10% gift cards along the way!

So far so good.

And then...RATES start actually dropping! I would not have even known about it ...had I not gotten my hoped for CASINO promotion of reduced rate (meh..about $12pp less) and CASH on board (SCORE! $900 for me, $400 hubby, if he goes...and Premier Cruise inclusion drink card/gifts/towels etc.)

So...I start submitting forms. Mom's rate up $12 total with port fees, but adds $100 onboard credit. Getting pvp to add the casino rate to our cabin... Somehow my pvp? got a really nice rate reduction of $300 for my daughters quad cabin. She is VIFP red and was on that Liberty sailing that got a 25% discount. I have no idea how they came up with those rates...but ..SURPRISE. THANKS pvp?

BUT...the quad cabin for my sister, who is Royal Caribbean & NCL past pax... her rate LOOKED to be $195 less instead of the $300 of my daughters. I submitted the form. Hey..the total for the cabin WAS $195 less on my Early Saver res. They DECLINED IT.

Reason: The rates were higher? I looked again.

Yep. The first TWO people in the cabin WERE $10 per person higher. TECHNICALLY, they are right. But, bottom line?

EARLY SAVER STINKS.

That reduced deposit is due if you change anything, and that was known and planned for. But, they purposely fix those rates so they CAN decline on quad cabins! And you can't convince me otherwise. I've asked my PVP to see what he can do. Not hoping for anything...he seems to be rather low on the empowerment pole. And I shouldn't have to ASK him to do anything. I booked them myself and transferred over to him so he could get sales credit. He is earning his sale this week. My fingers are not crossed that he will be successful. Corporate greed. They must have bean counters go over every possible scenario to come up with a way to beat OUR systems!

I don't know that I could have done anything differently. To book in advance over a year and a half to get everyone in Cove balconies...maybe I could have gotten the same starting rates with full deposits? But, the rates NOW are less...it is 6 months out for a holiday sailing from Galveston. Who would have thought that possible? But, room locations are no longer together.

I didn't expect the rates to drop. So, I am PLEASED for the small bonuses. It just really irritates me that they do those sort of things! As my momma would say, " FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD! "

This offer ends on JUNE 12th...MONDAY.

Yes...hate it. Yesterday...entering gift certificates and the website FROZE (Firefox) and one of the certificates got 'lost' in internet land. Emailed my pvp and it was 'found' when I looked this morning. So no loss...but really freaked me out overnight. I long for the old easy to use pick this, this and this ON THE SAME PAGE without having to load, load, load to get to the bottom line. I have started using other websites/companies to find rates and THEN go to book on carnival, or just tell my pvp...what I found/where. OR...sometimes...since I have found a better rate on those OTHER sites, book on Carnival THEN transfer to the other agency. The new makes me do more work...but I find savings ELSEWHERE.

Another code is PC9, I have this offer on PC2,husband is 9. Different cash amounts.

Celebrity..for the smoke-FREE casino and the fantastic main dining room food.

It was better than Crystal and much less expensive. Carnival keeps giving us (not really) free cruises (via casino deals) and they are hard to turn down, when the time is available.

Celebrity doesn't sail year round Caribbean, though. We prefer Fall/Winter cruising and if the schedules work out... I'd actually choose them over Carnival. But, rarely happens.

So, we keep going on Carnival out of Galveston or New Orleans. Royal Caribbean has priced itself out of comparability and substantially cheapened it's food. We are Diamond level on that line and basically they are our 3rd choice.

Have sailed HAL, PCL, & NCL and don't any longer.

I have been haunting the sites...and keep missing.

I have question. Does the person booked with you also get the same perks!?

 

 

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Only if they are in the same cabin.

I actually found an itinerary on the Breeze out of Galveston in September 2017. I was excited and ready to book until I read about the Galveston fog.

Fog will not be an issue in September out of Galveston... mainly only in Jan/Feb...those are the only two months of WINTER in TEXAS. September will still be steamy, hot summer weather. In fact, lots of times...Christmas in Texas means running the A/C.:D

Half Moon Cay is the BEST of the BEST of private islands.:D

This just in. Mom & Dad are having a great time of their lives without the kids and in no hurry to call home.

They are in a 'dead' zone. They have Verizon International plan, however, the phone goes straight to voice mail. They checked in at Cozumel before the ship departed. I hope they ARE having the time of their lives. Because the baby wants her MOMMY.

Umm....

 

You know today is the 18th....right???!?!!!

 

 

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Bad fingers... due today, the 18th. Mon-Fri cruise.:D

Who's the one having a meltdown?

 

 

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Grandma!

I'm amazed... no one has said ANYTHING on here about the Liberty 11/14-19 sailing or the one following. How am I supposed to keep informed?

My daughter is on the current sailing that was supposed to have a late return TODAY, the 19th. I'm keeping her two little girls, ages 3 and 9 who were expecting mom & dad tonight. (I've spilled 3 drinks and had one meltdown. lol) After much searching...this sailing and the following one...and coming up empty...seeing only the Disney ship docked in Galveston...

I actually had to CALL CARNIVAL! I feel let down. What is the world coming to when I can't find a needed cruise answer on Cruise Critic?!

So...

Carnival rep says that the ship is supposed to be back tomorrow by 6pm.

I'm surprised they are allowed to even board the ship if there are warrants.

I'm not...they know where the person is for the week(?) and the red tape paperwork gets processed IF they are finally on the ball...and they have to come home. Pretty easy capture, probably. Easier than picking them up at home where there might be weapons of various natures at hand. As far as boarding the ship, I think that the manifest isn't turned in until 24 hours before departure so that would probably not be enough time to get through the procedures and have an officer waiting at the dock to see if the person shows up.

If you add a half a cup of the hot water before filling with coffee...it's pretty good! Lemonade, good. Tea...yukky no matter what you do to it.

I doubt the computer will let you earn points at 2 different spots at the same time.

This.

If you are both playing, the computers won't track one of you. Also, you have to have a card inserted into the machine and when one is at the table, they also swipe your card. So, basically...you can't do it. The only time it would work is if one is doing other things and you have a card inserted into a machine, you could both use the same card at a machine UNLESS you win a jackpot!

Hubby had Royal Flush on UTH table game on Carnival ship. It was day before return, international waters. No forms were given by the ship, no tax taken out. It was in excess of $10k.

We had to fill out an extra form at customs in the overflow area since we were bringing back in more than the allowed amount. We had taken onboard $5k in the form of gift cards. The customs form says that if you do NOT report all the cash you are carrying, it can be seized. It also says you cannot divide the amount and have other people carry for you (we were alone anyway) or put it in other forms of cash equivalents, like gift cards. So.

We paid our ship account in cash and still had more than we could carry off without reporting. (I had a profitable week, too.) I was more than a little nervous, but it was Texas port and things went smooth and nothing to worry about. We DID get off as soon as we could, self assist priority since EVERYONE in the casino knew we would be carrying a lot of cash. Nice problem to have.

I'm not sure about the income reporting aspects of international earnings and will have to consult our tax expert next year.:D

Best lesson I ever learnt about Blackjack was "it's not about getting 21, it's about beating the dealer". I've seen people hit 18s......................

SOFT 18 against a dealer up of 10, if the dealer hits soft 17. (see wizardofodds dot com for optimal strategies..):D

NEVER split 10's, unless you want to clear the table. (caveat: single deck game)

I am also planning family cruise for Christmas next year...I found something AWESOME! Fast, quick, economical and I'm very pleased with the result.

Small (6x3, but you can get up to bumper sticker size for same price) cabin door magnets, personalized with names! Website is stickersbanners dot com. I paid less than $25 for four, shipping included..which was the main part of the price. I think shipping was $10. I picked out beach clip art and added first names of each person in the cabin.

:D:D:D

I'm guessing so too. My mom won't be happy about the no string lights. She has a small strand that is run on a couple AA batteries that she likes to hang in the bathroom in case she needs to get up at night. Oh well.

I keep a small flashlight on the dresser...no stubbed toes coming or going~

I have sailed on one of these casino offers.

You have booked the cruise and paid for it already, correct? I'd do the no-show. Your sis is planning on catching up at the first available port, if she can. (wink wink)

You can't delete anyone from the record without losing money. Instead of losing it ALL, the remaining pax should go. Just in case, I'd look at rates and print copies of what the prices SHOULD be for 2 pax in the same cabin category on other online websites that sell discounted cruises and print copies. I'd do it a couple of times and last minute, too. Documentation should someone say the price now for 2 is x IF your sis doesn't make it. But, I see that has highly unlikely.

If you were flying in from different cities and she missed her flight...it wouldn't be any different, would it? How could you know that would happen and she would miss the ship?