Am I a dim-bulb?

[MagSeven1413]

Being in healthcare financial management, I have a half decent grasp of money matters, but for some reason (at least today) I can't understand the purpose of the ES. When we booked our Oct 30 Legend cruise for us and our son and fiancee, I was going to book our room as PG and the newlyweds as an ES. Both my TA and her Carnival rep suggested that we book each room as a PG (my DW and the fiancee in one and our son and me in the other). At the time, the ES was going to be about $50 more per person.

 

We got 2 8A balconies with an 8C upgrade and have the first 2 'hump' rooms in the back of deck 6. I look at the ES rate for the 8C and it is the same as the PG now. If I look at the PG sale, I can upgrade to an 8F, which is up on deck 8, for the same price.

 

Here's where I get confused: If I'm a PG, how will the ES ever benefit me? I honestly don't understand how people are getting so much OBC unless they book when the prices are high.

 

I re-read this post before submitting and I think I'm rambling. Thanks for letting me go on and on.

[Mike&Shell]

I do understand. Its a gamble and it all depends on if you want to spend more now and save down the line.

Example with ES you are guaranteed lowest rate so you are entitled to those OBC when the price goes down. For and Oct cruise you know the prices will go down for sure.

With the PG you get room upgrades.

 

I am booked on the Dream for Oct. I am paying ES rate of $814 for a balcony per person. That rate I know will go down to about $700 per person before my cruise. So that will give me $228 OBC before we sail. Basically I am giving me some spending money onboard but paying for it early.

Or look at it like this. I would rather have OBC then a cabin upgrade..

[Ken076]

Being in healthcare financial management, I have a half decent grasp of money matters, but for some reason (at least today) I can't understand the purpose of the ES. When we booked our Oct 30 Legend cruise for us and our son and fiancee, I was going to book our room as PG and the newlyweds as an ES. Both my TA and her Carnival rep suggested that we book each room as a PG (my DW and the fiancee in one and our son and me in the other). At the time, the ES was going to be about $50 more per person.

 

We got 2 8A balconies with an 8C upgrade and have the first 2 'hump' rooms in the back of deck 6. I look at the ES rate for the 8C and it is the same as the PG now. If I look at the PG sale, I can upgrade to an 8F, which is up on deck 8, for the same price.

 

Here's where I get confused: If I'm a PG, how will the ES ever benefit me? I honestly don't understand how people are getting so much OBC unless they book when the prices are high.

 

I re-read this post before submitting and I think I'm rambling. Thanks for letting me go on and on.

 

Especially when you factor in the "value" of the free upgrades generally included with Past Guest Rate, the Past Guest rate is usually pretty competitve with Early Saver, if it's offered when you want it.

 

Not everyone is a Past Guest, though. And the Early Saver DOES allow you to take advantage of any or all of the other (55+, Resident or Military rates as they occur.

 

ken

[firefly333]

There are no humps on Carnival ships, thats RCL, people probably dont know what you mean. RCL ships protrud out in the middle.

 

Id take the free upgrade.

[Mike&Shell]

There are no humps on Carnival ships, thats RCL, people probably dont know what you mean. RCL ships protrud out in the middle.

 

Id take the free upgrade.

 

 

Wow I didn't even catch the hump comment.. Good look Firefly...

[Raven Days]

Ok...I am not an expert or anything....But I did stay in a Holiday Inn last night :D jus kiddin

 

Anyways....As I understand it the benefit of ES vs PG is that if there is a price drop AFTER the final payment you will not get the OBC - I was able to get a upgrade from a OV to a Balcony when I booked PG. I was also able to get a $90 OBC when I booked ES. Also typically I see that ES rates are cheaper then the PG rate. Not sure if this helps but this is what I have been able to gleen from reading multiple posts about the topic.

[Mike&Shell]

Raven that was a good one...:D:D

[oldrailfan]

I'll take ES. My rate for a cruise is $716.00 per couple after all taxes, etc. Current price for the same sailing, same category is $836.00/couple, and there's maybe six left, last time I checked. (At least, when I go to "Book a Cruise," they show only six random cabins, spaced out all over the category)

 

So maybe I won't get any OBC - I didn't sign up for the OBC any way - but I got the cabins I wanted for a darned good price. No upgrades? Prob'ly wouldn't take 'em if they were offered. I don't buy something hoping I'll get offered something better... just the way I am!

[sciencegal]

I currently have 3 cruises booked. When I booked them, the ES was the best rate. I do check prices everyday and most days twice a day. We are not yet at final payment on any of them. Every time the price has dropped I have sent an email and gotten a reduction on final payment. On our July Caribbean cruise we have had several drops, plus we moved from an 8C to an 8K extended balcony AND dropped the price. I got an email today showing a 72 hour sale at Carnival.com. I checked all three cruises and the rates are currently higher than what we are paying. I am expecting the Magic TA to drop a bit more when we get closer to Oct. but have already had 3 drops since I booked in June. ES is usually worth it if you check the prices all the time. It has really paid off for us.

[katiel53]

We are sailing on Dream 4/2 and 4/9/11 and are past final payment. Before FP we were able to get price drops, but now (today) our rates are going down again based on the past guest rates. We are past guests and our TA is submitting the forms for us to get more OBC.

 

We have already gotten OBC from price reductions since we made FP and prior to that we had price reductions that resulted in lowering the FP. There is one big disadvantage in booking ESA and that is that that your deposits are non-refundable and even if you decide to change to another date, you are out $50 per person of the deposit.

 

I would book ESA if I know I am definitely going at a specific time and I also buy insurance in case something happens. I would pay for the insurance anyway, so it's not anything more than I would have paid.

 

I also would consider booking PG or whatever rate is the cheapest at the time I book, and then changing over to ESA. To me, ESA is the way to go as I don't really care about upgrading as I choose the cabin to start with and what's left for the upgrade are not cabins I would want.

[jdcml]

When we book for our Oct cruise ES was cheaper than the PG that was offered at that time. Since then the rates have only gone up (especially a few days before the 72 hour sales :rolleyes: ).

 

We knew exactly what cabin we wanted and weren't really interested in any upgrades. We booked a 4J and want to keep it. For us, benefits are limited but possible. Booking PG wouldn't have had any upside potential because we didn't want an upgrade. Limited at best because there are so few 4J's that hold 4 people that we will likely never see that cat open for a price drop.

 

For the others in our group they are just in a standard interior cabin. They have a great chance of this rate dropping and taking advantage of it. Again, when we book ES was less that PG.

 

All in all the whole thing is screwy. I think it is hard to make a comparison between ships/dates/itineraries because the rates seem to vary so much depending on when you book and who you are (PG, 55, military).

[MissDiva1]

You are not a dim bulb. In your case PG is a better deal. ES is not always the cheapest......

[kicia]

We book either early or late and most of the time there are no past guest rates, resident, senior or anything else when we book early. Early Saver is available and has worked out well for us. We are on the Carnival Magic in Europe and so far we have each received $650 OBC for a total of $1300. There are lots of cabins left and I'm betting the prices go down again. We just got off the Glory a week ago and we received $45 each as OBC. You can't lose with Early Saver since you can always get any price drops and/or upgrades. The only downside is the $50 penalty if you have to cancel but so far we've come out ahead. You can add a person to a cabin if you booked as a single under Early Saver with no penalty. The problem comes if you need to change a name since that is not allowed.

[ferfoodle]

There are no humps on Carnival ships, thats RCL, people probably dont know what you mean. RCL ships protrud out in the middle.

 

Id take the free upgrade.

 

What are the non-humps on the Spirit class ships called? The 3 portions (front, mid, aft) that protrude out farther than the two middle sections between those non-humps. I would think those are humps too?

[MagSeven1413]

What are the non-humps on the Spirit class ships called? The 3 portions (front, mid, aft) that protrude out farther than the two middle sections between those non-humps. I would think those are humps too?

That's exactly what I was talking about. There isn't any other way to describe them.

[maggieworkman]

For our cruise on the Dream this August, the ES rate was the cheapest. It has remained the cheapest since we booked. I check every day. My ES rate for a spa interior is less expensive than the lowest interior cabin with PG rate which would be upgraded to the lido deck (counted as the highest category for interior).

 

I guess it depends on the ship and date, but there are many cases where the ES is the cheapest rate even if its not the case for your cruise.

 

Not to mention the fact that on our last cruise we got OBC for a price drop after final payment which we wouldn't have been able to get if we had booked PG.

 

Maggie