Past Guest to Early Saver?

[jcw2462]

I'm getting ready to book a 7 day for next spring. I have a friend who 'may or may not' go with me. I need to know the best and most economical way to book. I'm thinking book early saver in just my name as a single, pay the $500 deposit and then switch to early saver before deadline.

So, when does early saver go away? I will give my friend until then to confirm yes or no, then make the switch. Also, if i've paid the $500 deposit when booked, does that count as 100% deposit when I switch to early saver if I add my friend at that time? Please tell me if I have this wrong. Thanks

[S.S.Oceanlover]

I'm getting ready to book a 7 day for next spring. I have a friend who 'may or may not' go with me. I need to know the best and most economical way to book. I'm thinking book early saver in just my name as a single, pay the $500 deposit and then switch to early saver before deadline.

So, when does early saver go away? I will give my friend until then to confirm yes or no, then make the switch. Also, if i've paid the $500 deposit when booked, does that count as 100% deposit when I switch to early saver if I add my friend at that time? Please tell me if I have this wrong. Thanks

 

cruises of 6 days or longer go away at the 5 month mark and cruises 5 days and less go away 3 months before the sailing date.

 

Bill

[jcw2462]

thanks Bill. I'm assuming this won't be a problem with my PVP? I've never switched rates after booking, but have read on here where people do it all the time.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

thanks Bill. I'm assuming this won't be a problem with my PVP? I've never switched rates after booking, but have read on here where people do it all the time.

 

you are welcome but I am not sure i follow what you are trying to do now that you said you might be switching rates.

 

In your first post you said you were going to book early saver in your name and then switch to early saver?

 

I'm just a little confused and just want to make sure you have the correct information for what you are trying to do.:)

 

Bill

[jcw2462]

oh, yes I meant book past guest then switch to early saver before it goes away. Just want to make sure it won't be a problem when I ask my PVP to switch the booking to ealy saver later on.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

oh, yes I meant book past guest then switch to early saver before it goes away. Just want to make sure it won't be a problem when I ask my PVP to switch the booking to ealy saver later on.

 

That should not be a problem as long as early saver is still available.

 

Thanks for the clarification. I'm not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer." Lol

 

Bill

[Freckles_51]

oh, yes I meant book past guest then switch to early saver before it goes away. Just want to make sure it won't be a problem when I ask my PVP to switch the booking to ealy saver later on.

 

My PVP actually suggested we do do this, we had not considered it :cool:

[jcw2462]

Thanks for the help. now all I have to do is pay close attention and make sure I make the switch while early saver is still available. Do you know if I add a person later if the deposit will already be counted when I book and pay the $500 required even for one person, or will I have to pay another $250 for the person I add?

[Biffer1997]

Last week I booked ES rate for cruise next April and then thought took check other rates looking for price drops...the past guest rate for cabin category was $150 less :) so might be good to get ES rate so you can get price drops.

 

However, you might want to verify that you can add someone after booking ES...I had put a 24 hour hold thru ES rate and hadn't put 2nd pax name in....so they couldn't do the booking off it..had to cancel the hold and do another booking.

[gcooper]

Why would you NOT book Early Saver?

...it has price protection!

All you need to do is book Early Saver. Then after you are booked go directly to the price protection form and fill it out for the Past Guest Rate (as long as it is a "pick your cabin" type of fare and is the same category you can match other promotions).

 

Tada! Same price now ;D

 

I have a group of 50+ I booked in Jan for an Aug sailing. All I convinced to book Early Saver....we have saved of $20,000 already and I expect some last minute price drops as well.

[jcw2462]

the cruise is not until next spring and i want to have a few months with the option to add a second person in case my friend can go. I want to go ahead and book so I can get the cabin I want. I'm not sure I could add someone if I book early saver to begin with. I'll ask my pvp what is the best option.

[gcooper]

Definitely start by asking about HOW they would add your buddy later. Then drive your PVP to the question about what is the cheapest option based on what you want to do. My best guess is that they will still tell you to book Early Saver now.

 

What they may do when you go to add your buddy is cancel your current reservation then rebook you as a double. In your case, when the rearrange they probably will have to charge for both of you whatever the going rate is at the time you add your buddy.

 

When we first booked our big group we moved people around several times, changing room sizes. It wasn't a big deal for the PVP to do and he never charged us.

[jenng1976]

the cruise is not until next spring and i want to have a few months with the option to add a second person in case my friend can go. I want to go ahead and book so I can get the cabin I want. I'm not sure I could add someone if I book early saver to begin with. I'll ask my pvp what is the best option.

 

If I were in your shoes, I would book Past Guest now, then switch to ES once your plans are confirmed. It's much easier to cancel or make changes that way.

 

That's what we did - we booked a cruise far in advance, before we knew if we could get vacation at work, so we booked Past Guest, then switched to ES once the time off was approved.

 

It was quite easy to do, though it happened to be at that time that ES was not the lowest rate, so we booked ES and then immediately price matched to the sale rate.

 

Good luck!