Puerto Vallarta Pirate Ship - Carnival excursion price match denied! Help!

[JMKreno]

I posted this in the Mexican Riviera forum, but that area does not get much traction I thought I would also ask in the Carnival forum.

 

I am traveling with family to Puerto Vallarta in April on Carnival. I booked the Pirate Ship excursion through Carnival, but then I found it for a better price through a third party (almost 50% less). I submitted the form for price protection through Carnival since the details of the excursion are EXACTLY the same (it IS the same excursion). Carnival denied stating that no transportation is provided and since they provide transportation, the claim is denied. There are no closer excursions! The Pirate Ships leave from the Marina terminal, and the cruise ships dock in the Marina terminal. The vendor even states that no fees are required from cruise ship passengers to enter the marina since we are already in the marina! I even remember seeing them load/unload passengers right by the ships last time I was in Puerto Vallarta!

 

Has anyone done this through Carnival (or other cruise lines)? What transportation did they provide? Looking at the maps provided on the Pirate Ship site, the pirate ships board in the same area of the terminal as the cruise ships! They even say they load and unload in the Puerto Vallarta Marine Terminal, the same as the cruise ships.

Edited March 3, 2014 by JMKreno

[jimboridesmtb]

Why not book independently and cancel with Carnival?

[CoconutJD]

Why don't you just cancel with Carnival and book it with the other vendor?

 

Edit: beaten to the punch ;)

Edited March 3, 2014 by CoconutJD

[WindsorFred]

Cancel Carnival and book independently.

 

Edit: Wow am I slow or what?

Edited March 3, 2014 by WindsorFred

[bradleyskis]

You could cancel your Carnival excursion and book directly for like half the price...don't know if anyone mentioned that yet!!!!:)

[JMKreno]

So I should have mentioned in the email that the excursion gets back at 2:30 and the ship leaves at 3 so there is not much of a cushion for any "surprises". That makes us a little concerned for time since we have 11 people total going including 3 young kids. While there are likely going to be other Carnival passengers on-board I am always hesitant to book something that comes back so close to departure.

 

Also, apparently the privately booked excursion can be "cancelled" if Carnival ends up booking the entire ship, which can happen. I won't know this until I arrive at the boat. That would be unfortunate since the kids are really looking forward to this.

[loxley]

So I should have mentioned in the email that the excursion gets back at 2:30 and the ship leaves at 3 so there is not much of a cushion for any "surprises". That makes us a little concerned for time since we have 11 people total going including 3 young kids. While there are likely going to be other Carnival passengers on-board I am always hesitant to book something that comes back so close to departure.

 

Also, apparently the privately booked excursion can be "cancelled" if Carnival ends up booking the entire ship, which can happen. I won't know this until I arrive at the boat. That would be unfortunate since the kids are really looking forward to this.

 

That statement right there is reason enough for denial of a price match in my opinion.

[suzeqlts2]

They tried this with my sister for one of our excursions . she cut and pasted the info from the other site and sent it right back to them followed by a call. They did give her the difference in the end. I put in a request 2 days before her for a lot bigger rebate and they gave it to me immediately. I saved $77 on our dolphin swim stingray city excursion and she only saved $10 because in that short period of time the other place raised their price!

[JMKreno]

I sent them a response back to have them specify what transportation Carnival provides so I could better judge the value of going with Carnival instead of the private vendor. The Carnival associate responded that the Program Manager denied the price adjustment without any further explanation.

 

I even wrote the vendor and confirmed that Carnival doesn't offer anything more than they do when it comes to getting to the pier and even seemed surprised that Carnival said they offer transportation considering we are at the same dock. I must be missing something...

[morganboys]

So I should have mentioned in the email that the excursion gets back at 2:30 and the ship leaves at 3 so there is not much of a cushion for any "surprises". That makes us a little concerned for time since we have 11 people total going including 3 young kids. While there are likely going to be other Carnival passengers on-board I am always hesitant to book something that comes back so close to departure.

 

Also, apparently the privately booked excursion can be "cancelled" if Carnival ends up booking the entire ship, which can happen. I won't know this until I arrive at the boat. That would be unfortunate since the kids are really looking forward to this.

 

carnival books all the spots for this excursion so they know that you can not book a spot on your own. Therefore they don't have to give you the price difference. They also do this with all the dolphin excursions they offer.

[unionville3]

We did the pirate ship excursion while on Disney Magic - it's was several years ago. We had booked through Disney and met in the lounge for our "transportation". You are going to love this!!!! We literally walked to the pirate ship as a group. So yes, the pirate ship was a short walk from the cruise. I'm not sure we could book independently??? Our ship was in port longer than you seem to be. We were served breakfast and lunch on the pirate ship. The pirates were great and do a "show" as you are leaving port toward the island for your beach day. Word of warning.... This is a pirate ship - that means lots of motion. Our son hugged the large trash can with others while the pirates served him ginger ale. We should have known something was up when we realized the pirates were handing out individually wrapped Dramamine.

[CWcruisers]

carnival books all the spots for this excursion so they know that you can not book a spot on your own. Therefore they don't have to give you the price difference. They also do this with all the dolphin excursions they offer.

 

 

 

This is correct, if you book independently, you may show up and find yourself cancelled with no notice because the cruise lines review the list of the independent vendors. They do refund your money, but your family will be disappointed, not to mention, as you stated, there is not much time between when you get back and when the ship is scheduled to leave.

Edited March 4, 2014 by CWcruisers

[CWcruisers]

Here is a thread discussing the cancellations:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1530658

[smeyer418]

you can file a complaint with the Florida AG

 

http://myfloridalegal.com/contact.nsf/contact?Open&Section=Citizen_Services

 

they have in the past gone against cruise lines for advertising and not delivering things..

[IslandBound79]

We went through the same thing but didn't let up! Just keep bringing it to their supervisor and eventually they will fold! We booked 8 people on this excursion and got back in the end $150 but we did have to fight for it! They wanted to charge us $5 each for transportation to the pirate ship and that was when I totally lost it on them!