New Carnival rate structure

[John Reid]

I checked rates for Carnival Pride as recently as this morning.

September 8, 2013 - $709 pp obstructed balcony Early Saver

October 6, 2013 - $669 pp obstructed balcony Early Saver

 

Seven hours later, our new friend and structure. . .

 

September 8, 2013 - $789 pp ES obstructed balcony

October 6, 2013 - $839 pp ES obstructed balcony - $170 pp increase!

 

I'd say there have been price increases!

 

I qualify for past guest and military. Six options come up - six!

 

I don't think "functioning" is quite the word for the new system.

[treasure4two]

Wow, just checked our prices and early saver is higher than others. And the easy saver is the price that early saver was last week. Glad im booked already. Doesnt look good for early saver rates on my sailing anymore.

 

Early saver was good before but then on our Victory cruise out of San Juan over Thanksgiving , they took it off about a week out and filled it with locals with prices halfour early savers. Carnival should play fair, but have not proven to be so in the past on certain issues.

[Pellaz]

Spoke with a Carnival rep. there is a problem with the new system.

 

Wait, you're telling me there's some sort of issue with Carnival's website? NEVER!!

 

:D :D

[Koval]

Early saver was good before but then on our Victory cruise out of San Juan over Thanksgiving , they took it off about a week out and filled it with locals with prices halfour early savers. Carnival should play fair, but have not proven to be so in the past on certain issues.

Are you saying that Carnival took off the listing 7 days before the sail date

and you couldn't see if there were any lower rates 3 days before the sail date?

then in that 7 days sold to all the locals any empty Cabins for 1/2 price?

Not saying that is a nice thing to do...

But it is their ship, and you did get a good price, that when you booked you were ready to settle on right?

[lettienets]

Are you saying that Carnival took off the listing 7 days before the sail date

and you couldn't see if there were any lower rates 3 days before the sail date?

then in that 7 days sold to all the locals any empty Cabins for 1/2 price?

Not saying that is a nice thing to do...

But it is their ship, and you did get a good price, that when you booked you were ready to settle on right?

If the person booked Early Saver shouldn't they be guaranteed the lower price up to two business days before the cruise according to ES?

[Koval]

If the person booked Early Saver shouldn't they be guaranteed the lower price up to two business days before the cruise according to ES?

I believe so. Unless the ship is sold out. That is why I was questioning it...

How can a person really know that Carnival didn't have it sold out or that all those locals got 1/2 the price of those paying with ES

just saying I don't see how they could know that.

If I understand the cruises out of SJ part of the ship is filled with folks who book and board in Barbados and SJ is one of their port stops.

Not sure and I guess I wont find out until 2014 :D

[richfret]

This is just Carnival's way of saying they are raising pricing. They don't want to get you upset, so they confuse the issue and hope you won't notice.

 

If you are booking a cruise where you select the cabin, you will definitely see higher pricing. A few days ago, I had reviewed pricing for February and March sailings in 2014. I did this because I am going to purchase a cruise during my next cruise booked for February, 2013. In the 2 cases that I checked (Dream & Breeze), the price was now $120 and $180 more than last week. To me, that is a price increase regardless of how all the nitty gritty they threw in.

Now I have to decide if letting Carnival pick the cabin is worth it or do I pay the increase and I select the cabin. "Oh the tangled webs we weave!"

[richfret]

After further review, it looks like the Military rate has the benefit of having you pick out your cabin while the Early Saver and Super Saver have the cabin assigned by Carnival. Super Saver has a slight price advantage while Early Saver is the same rate. I think Military would be your best bet if you qualify. Every body agree?

[John Reid]

This is just Carnival's way of saying they are raising pricing. They don't want to get you upset, so they confuse the issue and hope you won't notice.

 

If you are booking a cruise where you select the cabin, you will definitely see higher pricing. A few days ago, I had reviewed pricing for February and March sailings in 2014. I did this because I am going to purchase a cruise during my next cruise booked for February, 2013. In the 2 cases that I checked (Dream & Breeze), the price was now $120 and $180 more than last week. To me, that is a price increase regardless of how all the nitty gritty they threw in.

Now I have to decide if letting Carnival pick the cabin is worth it or do I pay the increase and I select the cabin. "Oh the tangled webs we weave!"

 

And this is the point exactly. There is this web of rates that is somewhat masking the enormous increase in fares across the board that was made today. Forget which rate is more, which is less, which is refundable, which is eligible for upgrades. I'm looking for an explanation for a 20% fare increase even for the lowest "new" fare that occurred over the course of six hours.

[themnms]

Doesn't affect us one bit, as there are no changes to ES and that is the only way that we book anymore.

 

 

We do the same but now I am thinking that any reductions we will see will be on the super saver or instant saver rates and we will then have to forfeit our chosen cabins! this worries me more as we have been in a couple of noisy, less desireable cabins and want to avoid that!

[sonicbuffalo]

It may be time to teach Carnival a lesson and go on more land vacations. It's been a while since we've had one and I have a brother that lives in beautiful San Diego....so after next years cruise on the Allure....I think I see Southern California in our future. My brother wants to either go to The Great Wall in China, or to The Holy Land for a vacation so we may go with them. He isn't that interested in cruising since he served in the Coast Guard for 22 years. He saw his share of ports and Hawaii and Alaska.

[Ken076]

After further review, it looks like the Military rate has the benefit of having you pick out your cabin while the Early Saver and Super Saver have the cabin assigned by Carnival. Super Saver has a slight price advantage while Early Saver is the same rate. I think Military would be your best bet if you qualify. Every body agree?

 

I've been looking at "Past Guest with Upgrades" and it seems for the cruises I'm tracking that you might get a slightly higher category for the same (or a little more) money. My last two cruises I've booked this way and then further matched/upgraded for same or alittle more $$$ with some of the "sales" that included Past Guest up to 7 sub-category upgrades.

 

I'm personally done with the "non-refundable" deposit bookings and I don't think I'll be paying the FunSelect and FunSelect+ rates.

 

We're also looking at an Allure Cruise, a European RiverBoat Cruise and a Grand Canyon, Lake Powell, etc. land vacation.

 

ken

[trvlqueen]

I think some are confusing Easy Saver with Early Saver - in my opinion (not that it matters) the two fare codes will be easily confused by people - the names are too similar. They'd have been better off calling Easy Saver something else -

[davids68girl]

I hate it. Let's add four more fares, make some only applicable when others expire, keep the names deceivingly similar, and throw in some non-refundable rates while we are a it. Who else sees a plethora of issues ahead? TA's were having issues with only the Early Saver and now we are adding FOUR more fares and changing up all the restrictions? Oh yea, and add in a website that is always problem plagued and we have the perfect storm. Good thing I don't want to book anything in the next couple weeks (months?). :cool:

[joe bucker]

If all prices stay jacked up like they are, The wife and I will try RCL or NCL for about the same $$ what the heck. We are booked for 1-27-13 out of Galveston on the Magic. We are kind of CCL homers causes of the price, but everything being equal we will give someone else a chance.:D

[beachbride91011]

We have been planning to add a guest to our cabin, tomorrow. As it was up until yesterday, it would be $317.00 more, now it is $1,177 more for the 3rd person. Our pvp is calling us back shortly. This is crazy!

[Alliezona09]

Doesn't affect us one bit, as there are no changes to ES and that is the only way that we book anymore.

Not sure if you saw that you can no longer price match to their guarantee cabins. So there probably won't be a lot of OBC issued~which I think sucks!

 

Since this new pricing stucture, DH & I have decided to try out NCL as we can get 20% our cabin fare every cruise, which bring it down to Carnival's pricing~

[sonicbuffalo]

Carnival went and bought 3 new ships, and is in the process of upgrading others. In the process, they figure they can get away with taking away more and more stuff from the passengers. They have now figured out a new way to screw us by practically taking away the ability to get the lowest fares AND pick out your own cabin. They are charging extra for that privilege now. I simply won't pay it. I will cruise elsewhere and yesterday booked Allure of The Seas. I figure even though we've been to the ports it goes to (we didn't want to go to Haiti or Jamaica), we'll be on the best ship in the world. We have been to all the ports in the eastern and southern Caribbean now, and unless Carnival adds some stops we have never been to and the other lines don't go to, we will stop cruising with carnival. I used to book a cruise every year while we were on one, but not this year. I won't be booking anything with carnival. They are just taking advantage of all of us now. For that, they're not going to be getting any more of my money. I'm glad we started sailing with them when we did, but they've steadily gone downhill.

[richfret]

Two weeks ago, I had been in the process of pricing Carnival cruises. When comparing those prices to the new price system, I find it to be a complicated price increase in most cases. In addition, most reasonable pricing is for pricing where Carnival picks the cabin for you. If you want to select it, be prepared to pay considerably more than you ever did before. As for good news, it appears the Military is better and you can do the cabin selecting. I also found a military rate on all the cruises I was pricing. One other thing I noticed is that the price increases were much greater for the newer ships like the Dream or the Breeze. When I priced the Liberty, the increase was very minor ($20.00 total for 2 with a Balcony).

[lisa e]

Two weeks ago, I had been in the process of pricing Carnival cruises. When comparing those prices to the new price system, I find it to be a complicated price increase in most cases. In addition, most reasonable pricing is for pricing where Carnival picks the cabin for you. If you want to select it, be prepared to pay considerably more than you ever did before. As for good news, it appears the Military is better and you can do the cabin selecting. I also found a military rate on all the cruises I was pricing. One other thing I noticed is that the price increases were much greater for the newer ships like the Dream or the Breeze. When I priced the Liberty, the increase was very minor ($20.00 total for 2 with a Balcony).

Yes I just posted on another thread, that I am booked on The Breeze June 22nd for 4 in a cove it has gone up 1100.00! That is a huge increase.

[dadof2boys]

What the heck! I was reading through this, rather skimming through the thread. Wasn't quite getting it. Just went online and priced a cruise that my family and I were planning on taking this September. The Early Saver rate (what we always book) is now exactly double what it was on Friday night. The Super Saver (don't get to pick rooms or get price matches) is that old amount, half the price. So essentially they replaced Early Saver with Super Saver! This sucks. I think I read something about a computer glitch? I mean this can't be right? Can it?

[sonicbuffalo]

Yes I just posted on another thread, that I am booked on The Breeze June 22nd for 4 in a cove it has gone up 1100.00! That is a huge increase.

 

Proves my point! If you want to be able to pick your own stateroom, like we've done on ALL of our cruises....you will be paying out the wazzooo. I'm ready to jump ship. First, no more shrimp cocktails, the lobster got smaller, and next, we got a new menu with "comfort foods" including hamburger for the MDR. Now, they're screwing us with new HIGHER pricing. I've had enough! Not only that, the other ships are constantly missing ports due to 'propulsion issues'.

[SNJCruisers]

I a balcony cabin on the Magic for June/July 2013. I want a balcony & inside with 2 passengers in each cabin.We are also considering saling out of Miami on the Liberty or Breeze, as I love the itineraries and the prices for the Magic are SO high.

Just for comparison sakes...here are the numbers without taxes for the cheapest cabin (new super saver rate) for June/July 2013 comparing the Magic vs the Breeze.

Breeze

6 day inside 669-829.....balcony 909-1099

8 day inside 959-1179....balcony 1479-1779

Magic

7 day inside 879-1059...balcony 1309-1439

 

So...it looks like if you need to be on the flagship of Carnival in prime time this summer, the 6 day sailings will be a better value, especially if you need to be in a balcony, but you could sacrifice the cove over 6 days for an inside over 8 for only a few more dollars.

[GottaLuvCruising]

I'm really frustrated with rate structure and offers that don't seem clear. When I select a balcony and pick a rate code that offers free "upgrade to the highest available", shouldn't that include a spa category? Apparently not.

[sonicbuffalo]

We just priced a cruise for next December 7th on the Breeze, which is a 8 day similar itinerary as what we're going on this year and are you ready?????

 

It's $543 more than what we are paying for this years cruise. I priced it for the same cabin on the same deck we're on, using Super Saver fares.

 

When you want to pick your own stateroom, you will be paying a premium. I am convinced that Carnival is embarking on a fundraiser, with your wallets the target.