Question about the excursion guarantee?

[Davey-D-99]

So...I just booked an excursion through Carnival last week. It's for our upcoming Feb. 1st sailing on Breeze. The excursion is in St. Thomas. I now noticed the EXACT same excursion on two other cruise lines are cheaper than what I have paid.

 

Does this mean I can claim this?

I have to wait until we are at least one week away to fill out some online form?

 

Just trying to understand what this new guarantee actually means?

[what to go here and there]

So...I just booked an excursion through Carnival last week. It's for our upcoming Feb. 1st sailing on Breeze. The excursion is in St. Thomas. I now noticed the EXACT same excursion on two other cruise lines are cheaper than what I have paid.

 

Does this mean I can claim this?

I have to wait until we are at least one week away to fill out some online form?

 

Just trying to understand what this new guarantee actually means?

 

ok logic says to me No ... as they are not an excursion company that you could book from.. ie. another cruise ship company. I am thinking and i could be wrong it has to be a private shore excursion company not another cruise ship company

[KenMo]

ok logic says to me No ... as they are not an excursion company that you could book from.. ie. another cruise ship company. I am thinking and i could be wrong it has to be a private shore excursion company not another cruise ship company

 

Agreed.

 

I think it has to be an excursion you can actually book.

[Davey-D-99]

Well that sucks...On the excursion company website it states that you can only book through the cruise lines with a link to each cruise line.

Not much of a great rate guarantee by Carnival...The same excursion on just about every other line is cheaper than Carnival.:mad:

 

Great rate guarantee...Pffffftttt

[Mommzie]

I have a question as well....

 

Carnival offers the Swim and ride with unlimited food and drinks for $129pp, There are 4 people in my family making the total $516.

 

Dolphin Discovery has the same excursion for $436 BEFORE the discount making my final cost $348.

 

Will i not qualify for this excursion guarantee because we do not get unlimited food and drinks?

 

 

In Key West, Carnival has Para-sailing for $90pp, the same tour company offers it for $40pp. Again with my family of 4, i am paying $160 vs Carnival's $360. I don't think many people will pay double just to have OBC.

[jks336]

if the cruise companies try to get the company to monopolize the excursions for only the cruise ships. I talked to a company in Canada back when and he had said that if he contracted with the cruise lines, he couldn't book anyone else. he said nope. which I didn't blame him.

 

and yes, must be an excursion you can book on your own which some you can find. but got to check too, is it guaranteed a refund if the ship doesn't port, do they provide transportation.

[jks336]

I have a question as well....

 

Carnival offers the Swim and ride with unlimited food and drinks for $129pp, There are 4 people in my family making the total $516.

 

Dolphin Discovery has the same excursion for $436 BEFORE the discount making my final cost $348.

 

Will i not qualify for this excursion guarantee because we do not get unlimited food and drinks?

 

 

In Key West, Carnival has Para-sailing for $90pp, the same tour company offers it for $40pp. Again with my family of 4, i am paying $160 vs Carnival's $360. I don't think many people will pay double just to have OBC.

 

 

your getting the food n drinks w/carnivals excursion plus transportation they provide. so I would say it is not the "same" excursion. check out the difference and then make the choice of who you will book with.

Edited January 15, 2014 by jks336

[what to go here and there]

davey that tour company most likely has a contract with Cruise lines only and it is up to the cruise line to set the price. That is why you can not book it outside of the cruise line..

[Mommzie]

I went back to the dolphin excursion and saw that they raised their prices by $10....which isn't alot, but when there is only a $10 difference with Carnival, i would rather book through Carnival for the obc.....They're very smart

[Webb of Joy]

I went back to the dolphin excursion and saw that they raised their prices by $10....which isn't alot, but when there is only a $10 difference with Carnival, i would rather book through Carnival for the obc.....They're very smart

 

I would ask John and get the answer straight from the source

[what to go here and there]

I went back to the dolphin excursion and saw that they raised their prices by $10....which isn't alot, but when there is only a $10 difference with Carnival, i would rather book through Carnival for the obc.....They're very smart

 

Mommie not how smart they are ?????

 

example

 

let's use these numbers for the example same excursion same thing .. will qualify for the OBC ... not augruement there

 

private excursion $90. 00

Carnival excursion $100.00

 

you will get 110% price difference.. per claim form NOT the difference and the 110 %

 

 

100.00 - 90.00 =10.00 price difference multiply this by .110 = 1.10

 

So you have to pay the price difference between the private excursion and the carnival excursion which is $10.00 and you get 1.10 really inturn OBC, sure it is going to show up on your account as 11.10 but you really had to pay the difference between what the private excursion to the Carnival excursion. YEP Carnival is really smart if people don't do the math and don't read the claim form..

[techstar]

I think that them offering this guarantee is good PR, but actually trying to collect on it, is going to be another story.

[Isa65]

you will get 110% price difference.. per claim form NOT the difference and the 110 %

 

 

100.00 - 90.00 =10.00 price difference multiply this by .110 = 1.10

 

 

Your math is off again. 110% of something is calculated as 1.10 and NOT .110.

[cruizinisthebest]

I think that them offering this guarantee is good PR, but actually trying to collect on it, is going to be another story.

 

I don't doubt that you could collect on it. But you best believe you will be hard pressed to find cheaper excursions that match side by side from now on. Just ny opinion.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

[sailor_jimc]

Your math is off again. 110% of something is calculated as 1.10 and NOT .110.

 

 

They got it correct in the end.. the $10 difference would result in an OBC of $11.00.. not a huge sum but in the end you got the excursion for 1.00 less than booking it privately AND you had the security of being on a Carnival excursion where you have the insurance of getting back to the ship before it leaves or having Carnival pay to get you to the ship in the next port....

Edited January 15, 2014 by sailor_jimc

[Isa65]

They got it correct in the end.. the $10 difference would result in an OBC of $11.00.. not a huge sum but in the end you got the excursion for 1.00 less than booking it privately AND you had the security of being on a Carnival excursion where you have the insurance of getting back to the ship before it leaves or having Carnival pay to get you to the ship in the next port....

 

Exactly. I actually believe this could be a win/win situation in places like Belize, where everyone wants to go to the ruins, but don't want to pay cruiseline prices.

 

If you read the post, some folks believe they would save about 2 dollars and that's it. Not quite. You save the difference PLUS you get to go on a ship's excursion for a private vendor price.

[overthehillcruiser]

This was my answer on the other thread.

 

 

My view on this is that it is going to be difficult to find an independent tour that matches EXACTLY..Example would be in Roatan on our upcoming cruise Carnival offers some island tours for $59 or $69 PP..We get Victor Bodden with a private cab all day, not just say 3 hours , for $25 PP for the 4 of us. They will take us wherever, whenever, stop and get beer for the ride, etc. We are on our own schedule, not on a crowded bus, and much less expensive..I know many are afraid of private tours, not getting back on time, etc.,but after you learn the ropes you can get more for your money. I do not see them having to honor this guarantee much, simply because of the "exact match" clause. JMO...

[Litewait]

Book with Carnival save $11.00 :rolleyes: and you get to go on an excursion with a cattle call group size (in almost all cases) Book privately get more and enjoy a smaller group with more attention.. No thanks Carnival and I have to jump thru hoops for that $11.00 LOL~ and that's if they approve it.

[dstern]

so I just got word that my claim I submitted was approved! we port in grand cayman, doing the stingray city tour. independent site selling the excursion for $40 vs the carnival $69.99. I got a total of $66 OBC (2 ppl were booked). that will be a few drinks for us! you can say what you want, but I will take full advantage of things ive already paid for...

 

Dan

[MMastell]

Exactly. I actually believe this could be a win/win situation in places like Belize, where everyone wants to go to the ruins, but don't want to pay cruiseline prices.

 

If you read the post, some folks believe they would save about 2 dollars and that's it. Not quite. You save the difference PLUS you get to go on a ship's excursion for a private vendor price.

 

That may not be that great. While Ship's excursions protect you from missing the ship, they are often crowded and you have to go at the pace of the slowest person. I prefer a private tour that allows me to set my pace and alter it if I want to.

[Mysticks1]

This was my answer on the other thread.

 

 

My view on this is that it is going to be difficult to find an independent tour that matches EXACTLY..Example would be in Roatan on our upcoming cruise Carnival offers some island tours for $59 or $69 PP..We get Victor Bodden with a private cab all day, not just say 3 hours , for $25 PP for the 4 of us. They will take us wherever, whenever, stop and get beer for the ride, etc. We are on our own schedule, not on a crowded bus, and much less expensive..I know many are afraid of private tours, not getting back on time, etc.,but after you learn the ropes you can get more for your money. I do not see them having to honor this guarantee much, simply because of the "exact match" clause. JMO...

 

Those are my feelings exactly. This new guarantee is good for those that will only book those ships tours anyway but it isn't going to cause me to book directly with the cruise line. On a smaller private tour you will be on to your next stop while that big bus is still sitting at the first one. I prefer the smaller tours even if I have to pay more for them. I only book private tours that have wonderful ratings on the ports of call boards and on Tripadvisor and I would never book one not allowing a cushion of time in case there was a problem with transportation, etc. I know many are saying you get a guarantee that the ship won't leave you but I don't think you can absolutely count on that. They will try to wait for you if the port allows it, in some cases they can't sit there and will leave even a ship sponsored excursion.

[gnc1229]

so I just got word that my claim I submitted was approved! we port in grand cayman, doing the stingray city tour. independent site selling the excursion for $40 vs the carnival $69.99. I got a total of $66 OBC (2 ppl were booked). that will be a few drinks for us! you can say what you want, but I will take full advantage of things ive already paid for...

 

Dan

 

Yes, but $60 of that credit was money you had already paid to Carnival over what you would otherwise have to pay to the independent company so your real gain was only $6.00. At the end of the day it is still money you paid out.

[hillbilly73]

Yes, but $60 of that credit was money you had already paid to Carnival over what you would otherwise have to pay to the independent company so your real gain was only $6.00. At the end of the day it is still money you paid out.

 

 

In the case you are referring to they booked a more expensive Carnival excursion without the price guarantee anyway then their personal gain over what they would of spent is 66.00 dollars. It does not matter WHERE that money was spent it has been returned in the form of OBC. Now is the true cost to Carnival 66 dollars no just their cost of goods or service provided. Is it going to change very many minds on booking excursions probably not but in dsterns case where the money was already spent then returned in OBC it is a gain back of 66.00 dollars.