It's a Ship!!!

If you are on a 7 night cruise leaving anywhere other than Texas, and you buy Cheers on the second night, do you have to pay for all 7 nights? I've looked at this thread and others, and I have seen a lot of conflicting information about this, so If anyone has any clarification, I would appreciate it. Some people say you have to pay for all 7 nights, but if you buy it on the second night it refunds any drinks you bought the first night. Others say that you can get it the second night and you just pay for the 6 nights.

Since you can bring a bottle of wine on board, then I would be able to save the cost of the first day by just drinking the wine we bring the first night and purchasing Cheers the second. I've looked all over the place, and I always see both answers so I may have to just figure it out on board.

Those new itineraries are pretty cool, if you have the time to take that long of a cruise. I wish they would've mixed up the 7 & 5 day cruises though...

There really isn't anywhere else they can go out of Galveston in 7 or 5 days besides the places they already go, unless they did 5 or 7 night one way cruises. The only other round trip option would be Costa Maya or maybe somewhere else in Mexico. At least this is a start.

No, it's not. I'm a cruise TA. Maybe we do it differently in Australia...

Definitely not how we do it in the U.S. The cruise lines set the price, and the travel agent has to sell at that price. There are loopholes where they can offer certain perks, or they can book at a group rate that may be lower. The travel agent gets a set percentage as their commission. They can only change their commission by selling more in a given year so that the commission is raised for the next year.

Galveston isn't an easy port for those flying in. It is really made for people that will be driving. If you were going in the day of, the answer would be to just fly into Hobby and take the transfers Carnival offers for $70 per person round trip. Since you are going in the day before, there are really not a whole lot of options, but Hobby will be closer to Galveston than IAH, so at least there is that.

I got a call from a PVP today and they seemed to have a good deal on the cruise we want and the cabin we want, plus they are having a $50 deposit sale, etc.

 

I'll be receiving an award from my company in a few days that is a travel voucher, which I can use for any type of trip, but is through a specific travel agency.

 

My question is can I book it today with Carnival to get the price and cabin I want, pay the minimal $50 deposit, then switch it to the travel agent later and use the voucher towards final payment????????

You can easily transfer it over to the travel agent within 90 days of making the booking, but it has to be before the final payment date. The only thing I can't tell you is the policy of the travel agent you will be using, and the type of voucher you will get. If the travel voucher is for a certain amount of money, then you will most likely be fine to transfer the booking. If the travel voucher is for a full trip, then you may have to initially book with the travel agent.

Is the offer the PVP gave you an early saver rate? If not, then you can book the cabin and if the travel agent allows it, then you can just transfer the booking once you get the voucher. If the travel agent doesn't allow it, then you would just cancel the booking and create a new one with them. That wouldn't work if you had early saver, because you would lose the $50 deposit if you had to cancel and rebook. It also wouldn't work if you are past the final payment date.

Wow people, read the previous posts. It doesn't matter if the OP booked with a travel agent or not in regards to entertainment reservations. However, OP, the travel agent will probably be able to help you if you explain the situation to them. With that said, you should most likely be able to call back and get someone else at NCL who will try to work with you. Sometimes you just get a bad customer service person and need to try again.

I wouldn't talk you out of it for sure lol. I have done the Disney cruise and loved it!! There were 12 adults and none of us had kids. As far as the kids... we saw less kids on the Disney cruise then other cruises just because they can keep them much busier with all the kid stuff they have going on. Disney also has an 18 and over pool and other areas where you don't have to worry about kids. I would go again in a heartbeat if I could afford it.

Exactly. I've been on a Disney Cruise as a kid and as an adult, and I can tell you that the kids are having so much fun, and are so occupied, that you might not even see your own kids all cruise.

There are adult areas for both pools and bars. The Fantasy has an awesome Irish pub that has all kinds of sports trivia, and plenty of TVs to watch sporting events. If you like Guinness, they have the real version (non pasteurized) that they have in Ireland.

There are a lot of great things about a Disney Cruise, but as others have said, they can be pretty pricey. They are definitely geared toward kids in that way that Disney always is. If you have kids, or just like Disney, and you can afford it, then you will love it.

Thanks for the responses. My sister in law booked the cruise. I believe it was under some type of promotion, so I'm not sure which cancelation policy we will fall under. We aren't quite ready to tell our family, so I don't want to ask her about the cancelation yet. I completely understand the policy for cruising past 24 weeks and wouldn't take that risk.

If she booked under a promotion, then it most likely wasn't early saver, so you will probably be refunded the full deposit. If it is a 6 night cruise or longer, you can cancel up until 75 days before the sailing date with no penalty. If it is a 3-5 night cruise you can cancel up until 60 days before the sailing date with no penalty.

We figure that most of these folks must be eating garbage at home to go on and on about how great cruise line food is.

Or maybe you are eating garbage at home, so when you actually taste something good, it upsets your "superior" palate.

Thats what im trying to say, thought i explained it by telling the prices. Sorry for the confusion. What im saying is im paying more for the third person then the first 2.

If i book 2 people it 499 per person.

With 3 it 559 for the first 2 and 579 for the third.

I have checked and this is the correct price. Could not tell me why.

It just is MORE for the THIRD PERSON then the first 2.

That doesn't make sense. If it is 499 for a cabin with 2, then it would be 499 for the first 2 plus whatever the third person price is. Most of the time that third person price is lower, but not always. What doesn't make sense is that the price for the first 2 would be different if you have the same category. Are you looking at different rate codes? What ship and sailing date is it?

Who uses a travel agent anymore? You can do a lot better doing your own research and booking direct. TA's are dinosaurs.

You can also do your own taxes, cook your own food instead of going out, change your own oil, and mow your own lawn. Some people just choose to use a professional. Since most travel agents don't charge you anything to book a cruise, and may save you money or get you a perk you otherwise couldn't get, why would you not use a travel agent?

As far as excursions, most travel agents don't try to sell them so this won't be a big deal.

Appleton Estate is my favorite rum ever. The first time I had it was on a Carnival ship, and the moment I took a sip, I shed a single tear as angels sang in the background. It mixes great with coke, but it is just as good to sip on the rocks if that's your thing. You will not be disappointed.

Wow, love the brochure. I haven't use a TA in about 20 yrs, and I don't have tripple A. I currently have it saved to my iBook. Gonna have to figure out a way to get a hard copy.

On princess website I signed up to get a brochure. Got it within 2 weeks. Wish Carnival would do the same.

Not that travel agents love when you come in without planning to book anything, but it's not a big deal at all to stop by a travel agent with a storefront and just ask for a brochure.

I saw the ones going to new ports on our last cruise a few weeks back. Do they move them around ports regularly throughout the year or was this just a one time thing?

It really depends. It seems like they've been doing it a lot lately. Usually if a ship has been at a home port for a while, they want to give cruisers a different ship so they don't get bored. So if a ship has been somewhere for a few years, they might change it out.

I was on her 2 weeks ago, but the only thing we got while still in Texas were a couple well drinks and a beer. Although the beer was a 12 oz can of Bud Light, and when the ship was not in Texas they served the 16 oz aluminum bottles. If I remember correctly the only beers the waiter offered when I asked what they had were Bud light, Budweiser, Miller Light, Coors Light, XX, and Becks, even though they had others on the ship.

It depends on what kind of repositioning you are looking for. There are the Transatlantic ones that go Eastbound in April/May or Westbound in October/November. Carnival won't be in Europe next year, but other cruise lines will. There are a lot of repositioning cruises that go whenever one season ends and another begins, like when ships leave the Caribbean to go to Europe, or leave the Mexican Riviera to go to Alaska.

There are also some that are just moving from one port to another, like when the Conquest moved from New Orleans to Miami recently. In April, the Dream is going from Port Canaveral to New Orleans and the Sunshine is going the other way. To find these ones, you just have to find out when a ship is leaving a particular port.

That's like saying you're only slightly pregnant. You either are or aren't. In this case, you are getting screwed. You are paying for something that you didn't have to pay for before.

You can't be slightly pregnant, but you can be pregnant with triplets.

$3.75 plus the administrative fee of $3.00 (the press release doesn't say if this is per bottle, or per person, so I have no clue if you have to pay it one time or per item). Having to pay a fee for them to collect taxes is ridiculous in my mind. It'd be like paying the IRS to process your tax returns.

That $3.75 includes the $3.00. So if you payed $15 for a liter of liquor and you would normally pay $25 for that same bottle at home, you are still saving money, even if it wasn't as much as before. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but I just don't want people to think they are getting totally screwed....only slightly:p

For a detailed list of the taxes for both cigarettes and alcoholic beverages go to http://www.tabc.state.tx.us/poe/tax_rates.asp.

Ok everyone chill out and look at this link for how much the taxes are. The taxes are $3.75 for a liter of alcohol. It's never good when something gets more expensive, but it will still probably be cheaper than getting it at home. As for cigarettes, taxes are $15 per carton. I don't smoke so I have no idea if that is going to make a difference, but I would think that you would still be saving money over buying at home.

Your 2 daughters ages 18 & 19 in Cabin #3 can be booked in their own cabin anywhere on the ship as long as you are booked on the same cruise.

 

I see a problem with Cabin #2. You are not the parents of both & they are not married so I believe one of them would need to be 25. If I'm right about this, then booking yourself with one & your DH with one & then switching once on board will work.

There is no problem with Cabin #2 because both passengers are over 21. Only people under 21 have to be booked with someone 25 and older or have a parent somewhere on the ship.

Here's the specifics. The cabin was $708 PLUS $150 OBC per room. This makes it $558. The current price is $578 but no OBC. A difference of $20. My initial call to PVP was to apply for the $578 AND keep the OBC. I thought, silly me, the OBC was set in stone and ours no matter what. OH NO, it's part of the "deal" to go from one cabin to two cabins. MY PVP stressed to me that if we apply for the price protection we will loose our OBC. It's only $20. Yes, we will, but wouldn't we be better off to apply and possibly get an OBC, after payoff,if it goes down again? I may be reading too much into this, but I think I was told not to apply so we'd have to stay at the high rate. I was told that in order to ever receive ANY future price drops, it has to include an OBC. They will gladly give us the $578 but they are going to take away the OBC of $75 pp or $150 per cabin. My worry is I can't recall too many price drops that included an OBC. In between now and payoff we may not see a price drop like this. After payoff, if drops we'll get OBC no what.

I think you either misheard or were given incorrect information. The offer does not have to have OBC for you to qualify for a price drop. The offer has to have OBC for you to keep the OBC you already have when you get the new price. So right now, you have the best deal possible, because you are paying a net of $20 less.

How come the actual chair hogs never post on these threads. There must be a few of them lurking on CC.

They are way too busy planning what pair of shorts and tank top to wear to the MDR on formal night, packing 17 bottles of "mouthwash" in their luggage, laughing maniacally as they remove their gratuities, and running through the buffet line touching all of the food.