Early saver, group, amenity..oh my

[bermudashorts]

I know another ES issue isn't the greatest thread to tackle. But can anyone talk me though this here or email. My brain just can not figure it out.

A quick rundown.

Booked through my TA (my cousin) and both of us are new to ES.

Have a total of 6 cabins, all booked under ES, group..no amenities.

3 picked their own cabins. (is that the issue?)

 

So I assumed any price I see cheaper than what I paid for my cat (8E) is grounds for ES.

Last month they had the best vacation, past guest (which we are) on sale. Miracle Oct 13, 12. base cruise price before $1778, sale was $1678.

Should be $100 off cruise rate or obc in my opinion.

 

Summit and told no. Various emails back and forth. (Sent screen capture)

Maybe they agree to some point?

 

The question is why do they keep talking amenities when we booked None.

They have changed 1 cabin today and it looks like they changed that to some PG code while the other 2 cabins are 2pcc. (they have offered to change the other 2 8E's now)

Does that now mean the one cabin is not ES anymore? No $$ back for price drops?

Confusion.

 

Here is an email. Can you dumb this down for me ;) thanks

 

 

I've reviewed this with my supervisor and we cannot offer anything beyond the $704 per person base rate. When you book non-group rates in a group reservation, as I mentioned previously, some fare codes allow you the option of declining the amenities to get a lower cruise rate. Some promotions do not offer this option. Your group was booked at 3 amenity points; however you chose a promotional code that does not support amenities. So as long as we find fare codes that offer the option that doesn't support amenities, you won't have to worry about the $24 per person. Unfortunately the promotion you have requested does not have that option. As your group was booked at 3 points, for 8 days, that promo code is only available with the $24 buy up. So the rates are the $680 base rate you requested ($1698 / 2 = $849 - $169 non-commissionable fees), plus the $24 for a base rate of $704 per person, plus non-commissionable fees and cruise fees and gratuities, as the confirmation I sent will show.

 

There would be no place for your guests to view group rates; you would need to watch rates for them. Most promotions will probably require the buy up. And your guests are being offered the best rate for your group. The base rate is the same you're requesting, however the buy up is not optional for that fare code.

[mondello]

I've always thought that a Group booking consists of 8 or more cabins, minimum.

[golfadj]

Very strange.

[VickiD59]

Short answer... your reservation was either booked ES or Group, but not both. You will need more than 8 cabins to see any discounted fee on a group booking. ES you will always pick you cabin when you book.

 

There seems to be a combination of all of the above for your "group". I would have your TA call and verify what type of fare your reservation was booked as.

[firefly333]

Short answer... your reservation was either booked ES or Group, but not both. You will need more than 8 cabins to see any discounted fee on a group booking. ES you will always pick you cabin when you book.

 

There seems to be a combination of all of the above for your "group". I would have your TA call and verify what type of fare your reservation was booked as.

 

You can book ES into a group .. so that isnt the answer either.

 

ES group is higher than ES regular is probably another possibility.

[harlekuin]

Short answer... your reservation was either booked ES or Group, but not both. You will need more than 8 cabins to see any discounted fee on a group booking. ES you will always pick you cabin when you book.

 

There seems to be a combination of all of the above for your "group". I would have your TA call and verify what type of fare your reservation was booked as.

 

Correct number for groups is 5 cabins. Many group rates have amenity points added to entice more bookings. If this group code is what the TA booked, Carnival is right, there is no changing the price or OBC. The TA should have booked each reservation as an ES and not used a group rate code.

[bermudashorts]

My understanding is that we are booked individually but at group rate so we are booked group.

This is how Carnival wanted it, but we requested no amenity points, (since we didnt care about 'freebies like strawberries ect..) just waned a cheap rate that we could price out and maybe get cheaper in ES.

 

She wrote a email to the rep last night that she has been talking to, basically asking the same questions as above. Here is the response.

Im at the point of saying fine change the last 2 cabins, credit the cabin $54 (which they are not doing I think I had seen it was $32) to my account after hey take a bogus $24 pp off for amenity points we cant even use.

 

Im assuming they are saying the form was submitted after the sale. Which isnt true.

And now they have to play around with it to be nice and give some kind of code to us since they cant use the real one. right?

 

Going to be calling tomorrow in 3 way conversation, Any thoughts on what to say?

 

 

Thank you for contacting us. We appreciate the opportunity to be of assistance.

Yes, the promotion you had asked for is closed, as you know. When the promotion closes our Revenue Management department normally leaves us access for a few days to finish up our rate adjustments, and then closes the promotion code. As this was an exception made well after the promotion closed, I didn't have the luxury of using the promotion code you asked for. As they have the same non-negotiable buy up and the rate was essentially based on the past guest rate with a more extensive upgrade I applied a past guest rate and had to manually adjust it to the proper amount. I'm sorry it's messy, I much prefer the other method but I just didn't have that option. Either way, you still retain the ability to adjust rates if a lower applicable rate is available later.

 

The eSolutions department will be able to help you find out the best way to check rates for this, as well as an explanation of how to read the rate grids. Our department has almost no information regarding GoCCL. You can reach eSolutions at 1-800-845-2599.

 

Your PPC fare codes will not be listed on Carnival.com, they are a group fare code and the pricing on Carnival.com is not geared towards group bookings. The PEB promotion in individual sales would match PPC rates as PPC doesn't have the amenities, however neither will be offered any longer, as Early Saver rates are closed 5 months prior to the sailing for this length of cruise. I hope this provides some clarification, and, again, please let me know about those 2 other cabins.

 

 

[harlekuin]

My understanding is that we are booked individually but at group rate so we are booked group.

This is how Carnival wanted it, but we requested no amenity points, (since we didnt care about 'freebies like strawberries ect..) just waned a cheap rate that we could price out and maybe get cheaper in ES.

 

First off, yes the cabin and reservations are individual. However when logged into the booking engine there are multiple codes that can be selected. Those are the codes the person at Carnival is talking about. I'm a little confused in that PPC is Early saver, group no amenities, so it would appear that you have some cabins at this price/rate. Perhaps it was booked as PPB, which has amenity points, in error.

 

I know it sounds super confusing and it can be especially if you don't do it very often, so it sounds like the wrong code was selected to start with and because you can't really 'see' the rate you are paying, at least they told you what amount you need to be looking for to match.

 

I'm going to say something sort of harsh, but, if you booked the cruise and you were happy with the price, you need to decide if all this hassle is worth $50 or $100 of your time. I'm not discouraging you or trying to get you to stop because you feel Carnival is "getting away with something", but there is a hassle factor involved here and perhaps your TA cousin made an error to start with..... just my .02 cents. Good luck.

[Eastcstrob]

Sounds like the TA used the 3 amentity points to buy down the rate.

 

You should have taken the 3 amenity points as an OBC therefor leaving the rate at a standard ES rate.

 

You wanted a group booking to get the lowest rate and you did. No amenities, lowest fare. Now you have to accept what Carnival is saying.

[Eastcstrob]

ES is a very restrictive rate. Some TA's will not even quote this rate.

[zzupschuck]

This is usually what happens when you use a cousin, friend, or anyone else that's a home based travel agent. Most of them have no experience and they really don't know what they are doing...except for the part about making money off of your cruise.

[harlekuin]

This is usually what happens when you use a cousin, friend, or anyone else that's a home based travel agent. Most of them have no experience and they really don't know what they are doing...except for the part about making money off of your cruise.

 

Thanks for the pat on the back.... I guess when you're new you were perfect and you never make or made any mistakes in your job. Travel booking is more complicated than anyone knows and everyone wants a piece of your pay in the form of OBC, perks, wine, etc... I can guarantee you that folks at some of the online agencies know way less than those of us that do it part time as contract employees for larger agencies.

 

Again OP, good luck.

[VickiD59]

You can book ES into a group .. so that isnt the answer either. ES group is higher than ES regular is probably another possibility.

I learn something new everyday :rolleyes:

[bermudashorts]

@halekuin, no offense taken. I was happy with price originally and it wouldn't bother me to stay there.

But the whole point of ES was to get it cheaper. Pain, yes this is and I think I've had enough.

I do not understand why Carnival has to be so difficult.

 

My TA works in a travel agency and at home and has never had issues with other cruiselines.

(I won't even talk about how they messed me up last year with obc)

They just seems to try to make you work for it or to try to confuse.

Anyway she booked it right as she spoke to group sales originally.

 

I don't see another drop coming and even then I wont be able to use the carnival fareviewer since they say that is for individual bookings and we are group.

 

My luck just isn't there like so many other who get reductions for whatever reasons.

 

Thanks for all the replies. If anything happens besides the above posts I will let you know.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[katiel53]

Next time, just book your own ESA and not use group rates as it seems, from what you are saying, it's not benefiting you. Group rates are a lot different from regular rates and have more restrictions as there usually are points given to the agency to use for the passengers in any way she/he feels the group wants.

 

We have used ESA, not group ESA, just ourselves even though we have had enough people to be a group and have gotten all the reductions. I think that it's a combo of your TA not knowing what to do for you and thinking at the time she booked you into the best rate. It appears now that that isn't what's happening. Good luck with your pursuit.