Pros and Cons of Early Saver

[kapcruiser]

Exactly whst is early saver? What are pro and cons?

[winddawn]

Exactly whst is early saver? What are pro and cons?

Early Saver is a Carnival fare type that comes with specific, strict rules.

 

Pros are that you get a reduced rate if you book early and you MAY qualify for price drops before and after you make final payment. You can also pick your own cabin with Early Saver.

 

The cons are that there are lots of rules such as no name changes allowed, no cancellations allowed (and changing cruise date or ship is considered a cancellation), non-refundable. Another con is that many of Carnival's price drops are only for "guarantees" where Carnival picks your cabin and Carnival's Early Saver rules say they won't let you price match to any rate that is for a guarantee cabin. There are other cons such as losing onboard credit if you try to claim a price drop. Another con is that sometimes Carnival inappropriately denies your attempt to claim a lower price, and you end up having to deal with a hassle to get the price drop.

 

You can often get price drops or upgrades with Carnival's other fares before final payment date, but not after.

 

So don't fall for Carnival's claims that Early Saver "guarantees" you the lowest price because it often doesn't. The lowest prices often come close to sail date for "guarantee" fares where Carnival picks your cabin.

 

http://www.carnival.com/specials/early-saver-how-it-works.aspx

 

http://www.carnival.com/legal/specials-terms-conditions.aspx

(shows fare rules for current promotions including the current early saver promotion)

 

The current Early Saver offer states:

 

The Early Saver fare is subject to availability and is capacity controlled. Cruise rates are in US dollars, per person and based on double occupancy. 50% reduced deposit is applicable to sailings outside of final payment due date and is valid for all ships, stateroom types and sail dates. Category restrictions, exclusions and cancellation penalties apply. Full names are required for each guest. Carnival reserves the right to withdraw and/or change offer at any time without prior notice. Price Protection applies to the cruise fare only and does not include Taxes, Fees and Port Expenses. Taxes, Fees and Port Expenses range from $42.38 to $324.27, and are assessed on a per guest basis for all guests according to the itinerary. Early Saver fare is backed by a unique price protection policy (only available to bookings made in USD currency) that allows you to adjust your cruise fare to the best available fare for a like category stateroom (no downgrades allowed) advertised by Carnival and available to the general public. Price protection will be subject to the prevailing Taxes, Fees and Port Expenses and/or fuel supplement if applicable. Carnival will honor your request for price protection if the reduction on the total amount paid for your booking results only from a lower cruise fare and not from the booked ancillary services, such as air, transfers, pre-paid gratuities, or Taxes, Fees and Port Expenses. The guest is responsible for increases to ancillary services such as air, resulting from changes to ship and/or sail date, or adjustments to cruise fare. Early Saver price protection does not apply to group rates, membership programs, charters, select promotional fares, travel agent rebates, or other travel agent promotions not offered by Carnival to the general public. When re-pricing to a new promotion, guest assumes all terms and conditions of the new promotion and may forfeit any or all features associated with the original fare, such as cabin assignment, onboard credit, an upgrade, special deposit and payment terms, etc. A $50 change fee per guest will be assessed for ship and/or sail date changes made prior to final payment due date. Remaining funds are nonrefundable/nontransferable and will be held as a future cruise credit to be applied to your cruise fare on a sailing within 24 months from the date of cancellation. Unused portions are forfeited. Upgrades are automatically assigned at the time of booking and are based on availability in like to like categories only (interior to interior, ocean view to ocean view and balcony to balcony). Subsequent upgrades in lieu of price protection will no longer be offered. Offer is not applicable on Carnival Australia & Alaska sailings. Must book between January 19, 2015 – January 25, 2015 EST. Offer is applicable on sailings between April 2015 and December 2015. Request Early Saver. Ships' Registry: The Bahamas, Panama & Malta."

Edited January 23, 2015 by winddawn

[Nic6318]

Am I reading this right...if " Early Saver Rate " Before final payment you may cancel with a $50 fee per person and you will get a future cruise credit to be used within 2 yrs. from cancellation date.

 

Thanks for anyone who can confirm this

[kicia]

True. We've never had to cancel and usually book ES when we're not booking last minute. Even if we did have to cancel, we're way ahead with the amount of price drops and OBC received.

[getupgo]

I'm a Early Saver believer. Carnival has been very fair with me on price drops. They actually gave me a bonus $180 obc that I still don't know where it came from. Of course, credit goes to this web site or I wouldn't know I could ask for price drops.

[terri-eddie]

We always book Early Saver. On two cruises, we didn't have any price drops, so no issue...I guess I should be happy, since that means we paid the lowest price to begin with.

 

On one cruise, we managed to find a price drop of $20, which we received as OBC. Not much, but it was still exciting to us!

 

On our current booking [we cruise in under 40 days] we have received price drops of $20 and $60. Both times, I had to call and have our account adjusted again after the price drop, because they somehow deleted our $75 OBC which we received for booking a cruise while on a cruise. But the agents were very friendly and apologized for the error, and were quick to reinstate our booking credit.

 

The icing on the cake....I saw a rate for a cove balcony that was less than what we paid for our ocean view, so I was able to switch cabins, keep my OBC that had accumulated, and gain another $100 for the cove being cheaper than the ocean view! So far, Early Saver has gotten us almost $250 in OBC, and a better cabin.

[legion3]

Our advantage is that we book a year out for a very specific week and cannot change that week. So we go ES and have always gotten several price drops (almost $900 for our upcoming cruise) and OBC. I hope to get some obc after final payment as we have always gotten before but I am very pleased with the price drops so far and we currently have $50 OBC thanks to one of the price drops before final payment.

 

We have never had to cancel and will deal with that when it occurs but the con of $200 (for my family of 4) change penalty is a con...it is a con I am fully aware of and comfortable with if anything big should change our plans.

 

If we were more flexible in changes then perhaps ES would not be the best choice but I doubt I would go GTY to save a few bucks, I like knowing about my cabin and would not like surprises unless they were a free suite.

 

And even on the Breeze or Magic I would rather have a deck 10,11 or 12 balcony over a deck 7 GS or OS. Don't want to be that close to the deck 5 promenade...but that's me. :cool:

[NHNEV2003]

We've booked the Early Saver rate for our six cruises--each and every one of the previous five have had some kind of a price drop--we'll see if our upcoming November cruise has any price reductions.

 

We book Category 8C and compare pricing often after we book. If that specific category has a price drop, we submit (or call) for the lower price, and it has been honored each and every time. (Prior to final payment, our final due balance is reduced; after final payment, we receive on board credit).

 

There are pros and cons and you have to factor your own situation--there are many opinions for and against--what works best for you?

[timmy1958]

We booked Early Saver for our upcoming cruise. All I can say is that it turned to be the best price we could get, and we got to chose our cabin, which was somewhat important to us. I checked every day since we booked last May and it never went down. So I only see it as a pro. Others may have different experiences.

[Fouryoungladies]

We booked ES for our cruise leaving on Wednesday. I think we booked in October, so not too far out.

 

We have been able to get price adjustments via OBC($20 and then an additional $40) but they have not been as great as a guaranteed room rate. It would have been cheaper (by as much as $50/person for our family of 4) to book guarantee instead.

 

However, we are pleased with our ES rate because we wanted to pick our own room rather than have one assigned. It was worth the extra $200 to us.

[deladane]

I am a huge fan of booking early saver. For my Mediterranean cruise in 2013, I booked it in January for a September cruise. A month later, the whole Triumph incident happened and we ended up with an $800 price drop before final payment! That made for an incredibly affordable cruise and gave us $800 to spend on tours that would have otherwise been an additional expense :).

[snowball's mom]

I am a huge fan of booking early saver. For my Mediterranean cruise in 2013, I booked it in January for a September cruise. A month later, the whole Triumph incident happened and we ended up with an $800 price drop before final payment! That made for an incredibly affordable cruise and gave us $800 to spend on tours that would have otherwise been an additional expense :).

 

We did that same cruise earlier in the summer, and received $600 in obc. It covered gratuities, wine and a few other things. I have also received obc on a couple of other Early Saver bookings, but that is the most I have saved. Any little bit helps!

[nissach]

Our advantage is that we book a year out for a very specific week and cannot change that week. So we go ES and have always gotten several price drops (almost $900 for our upcoming cruise) and OBC. I hope to get some obc after final payment as we have always gotten before but I am very pleased with the price drops so far and we currently have $50 OBC thanks to one of the price drops before final payment.

 

We have never had to cancel and will deal with that when it occurs but the con of $200 (for my family of 4) change penalty is a con...it is a con I am fully aware of and comfortable with if anything big should change our plans.

 

If we were more flexible in changes then perhaps ES would not be the best choice but I doubt I would go GTY to save a few bucks, I like knowing about my cabin and would not like surprises unless they were a free suite.

 

And even on the Breeze or Magic I would rather have a deck 10,11 or 12 balcony over a deck 7 GS or OS. Don't want to be that close to the deck 5 promenade...but that's me. :cool:

 

We also book very early, usually December or January for our next Christmas/NY cruise. So ES is the only option that early out. Due to the high demand of the only two weeks we can sail price drops are not common, but they do happen occasionally. We cannot wait for last minute deals, as we also need to book flights, hotels, etc. So for us ES is great!

[luv2kroooz]

I am a huge fan of booking early saver. For my Mediterranean cruise in 2013, I booked it in January for a September cruise. A month later, the whole Triumph incident happened and we ended up with an $800 price drop before final payment! That made for an incredibly affordable cruise and gave us $800 to spend on tours that would have otherwise been an additional expense :).

 

But you could have received the price drop even if you weren't booked early saver if you were prior to final payment.

[mishka422]

Ok, dumb question, If I am under Early Saver and take a price drop which changes the rate code from an ES to some other promotion can I still apply for price drops or does the price protection from ES go away once that code has changed?

[fuddrules]

Ok, dumb question, If I am under Early Saver and take a price drop which changes the rate code from an ES to some other promotion can I still apply for price drops or does the price protection from ES go away once that code has changed?

 

Yes to more price drops

 

Once early saver always early saver. Your rate code won't change (just your price), it's still early saver.

 

With one exception, if you switch to a guaranteed rate you lose ES and your room and go into the guaranteed pool of people.

Edited January 30, 2015 by fuddrules

[frito58]

I will be honest I am be coming less and less of fan of all these crazy games Carnival is playing when you book a cruise. It used to be they just offered a great rate, then the ES came with all its rules and regulations , now they run all those sales oh we have this FANTASTIC rate but wait you don't get to pick your room. I mean what is up with all of this. I understand marketing tactics. I mean RCI did the BOGO half off sale and the OBC sale. But they don't play near the games Carnival does with their rates. Love Carnival , but man cant I just book a cruise without reading 3 pages of fine print and find out later on man what did I do .

[sjcruiser]

I'm also a early saver(ES) fan, but have become so after watching how it works for two years now. The first time I was told about the ES rates I declined to use it, and stuck with the military rate instead. The family members who booked this rate saved several hundred on their cabins over the long term, and at savings each cabin occupant had over $200 in obc. Last year I booked the ES rate in January for an inside cabin for a summer cruise. During the last month before sailing, including up until the last week prior, the price had dropped several times, and using/changing/keeping or in combination to the ES rate, along with the pack-n-go rate, we upgraded to a balcony, and at sailing we had $220.00pp in obc. Viewing the rates during the last week before sailing, if we had stayed with the IS cabin, we would have had almost $500.00 in obc each!!!!! I usually don't start watching the fares for price drops/upgrades until after final payment, but we're going to see how we make out staying in an IS this year (we'll freeload off of family members with balconies and suites on our deck. lol). Some say the ES fare can't be combined with other fares or promotions, but it can depending on whom you get at Carnival. My PVP last year wouldn't make some changes or apply price drops, so I just called the regular number, and the rep. I got made the changes with no problems, or after consulting with a supervisor. I think the pack-n-go rate was the last change or promotion I used, and was told that no other changes would/could be made using that rate/promo. I don't mind the guarantee rooms, and have always been placed in a good location, or given the same room. Before I make any changes, I do check the Carnival website, Priceline and Expedia to see what cabins are left/available to see if I might get a room in an "undesirable" location, but that's a chance I'm willing to take. Hope this helps, and enjoy your cruise.

[jhede1]

The price went down on my carnival cruise by 5 dollars. I am booked in the early saver rate i think. I was able to get onboard credit before but now they are saying they can't because all of the cabins are booked in by stateroom type. Why is this and how to get around this?

[Illbcruzn4life]

4 hours ago, jhede1 said:

The price went down on my carnival cruise by 5 dollars. I am booked in the early saver rate i think. I was able to get onboard credit before but now they are saying they can't because all of the cabins are booked in by stateroom type. Why is this and how to get around this?

 

How was the price $5 cheaper if there are no cabins left or was there a cabin left and by the time you put in for the drop the last cabin was sold?

 

Personally I'd just forget trying to get around it for $5.00 but that's me.

Edited January 3, 2019 by Illbcruzn4life

[bahacca]

Keep in mind if you cancel, the credit that is valid for 2 years is in the passenger's name, NOT the person that paid. 

[jhede1]

I think the last cabin was sold because yesterday the price was down but the cruise line was closed and I called but they sai I cant get OBC. Its only 10 bucks but a weird policy. Do you know why they do this? I was able to get obc before. Thanks!

[beachbum53]

It's obvious that not everyone has the same preference when booking a cruise. We've been using Early Saver for several years. We tend to book our cruise 12 months (or more) in advance, and prefer to choose the cabin we want rather than wait to see what Carnival chooses for us. Also, depending on the cruise (itinerary, sailing date, etc.), using ES to book the cruise when it's first posted typically gives us the lowest price. The cruise we're currently booked has gone steadily UP in price, and is now sold out. So, even though there won't be any OBC (since there haven't been any price drops), we're happy knowing that we got the cabin we want at the lowest price possible. 

[Jamman54]

52 minutes ago, beachbum53 said:

It's obvious that not everyone has the same preference when booking a cruise. We've been using Early Saver for several years. We tend to book our cruise 12 months (or more) in advance, and prefer to choose the cabin we want rather than wait to see what Carnival chooses for us. Also, depending on the cruise (itinerary, sailing date, etc.), using ES to book the cruise when it's first posted typically gives us the lowest price. The cruise we're currently booked has gone steadily UP in price, and is now sold out. So, even though there won't be any OBC (since there haven't been any price drops), we're happy knowing that we got the cabin we want at the lowest price possible. 

 

EXACTLY!!!  We book way out, typically 1 1/2 to 2 years, as soon as bookings open up. Being retired our plans aren't going to change unless there is a family emergency or illness for which we purchase insurance to cover those instances. Booking so far out we now rarely get any price drops, but that's okay since we know we got the lowest fares possible to begin with. I still check for price drops frequently. As of yesterday, checking the seven cruises we currently have booked, if we booked those same cruises now it would cost us nearly 5 grand more!

[beachbum53]

2 minutes ago, Jamman54 said:

 

EXACTLY!!!  We book way out, typically 1 1/2 to 2 years, as soon as bookings open up. Being retired our plans aren't going to change unless there is a family emergency or illness for which we purchase insurance to cover those instances. Booking so far out we now rarely get any price drops, but that's okay since we know we got the lowest fares possible to begin with. I still check for price drops frequently. As of yesterday, checking the seven cruises we currently have booked, if we booked those same cruises now it would cost us nearly 5 grand more!

 

Seven cruises currently booked? No, you're not addicted. And bears don't eat honey.