How I Stacked Six Carnival Discounts

[plane2port]

It is my little hobby to look for and use travel discounts. I collect and use miles and points for big ticket items like airline tickets. But I do like to cruise and it is so much harder to get great discounts on cruises! But it doesn't keep me from trying.

 

Compared to other cruise lines, I find that Carnival has a very liberal policy about letting us use several discounts on each cruise. I was able to use six different discounts on an upcoming cruise. I learned about most of these techniques right here on CruiseCritic. Thanks to those that have shared this information in these forums, and I hope you can use some of these yourselves!

 

http://www.plane2port.com/stacking-carnival-cruise-discounts/

[VASOXFANN]

Cool :cool:

[tatt2ed]

Nice link to a professional article. You forgot the biggest discount thats usually available. It saved us 25% and 22% on our last 2 cruises right off the bat and then we compounded it with a few other discounts and loyalty programs. Lol, sorry charlie , this is all old news.

Edited September 8, 2016 by tatt2ed

[plane2port]

Nice link to a professional article. You forgot the biggest discount thats usually available. It saved us 25% and 22% on our last 2 cruises right off the bat and then we compounded it with a few other discounts and loyalty programs. Lol, sorry charlie , this is all old news.

 

I'm flattered you are calling my blog post a professional article. Thanks, but its just me making a post on my personal blog.

 

Anyway, what is the way you saved your 25% and 22% right off the bat? The purpose of these forums is to share info. Would you mind sharing yours?

Edited September 8, 2016 by plane2port

[ourcruiseyears]

Hello from Asheville NC! Great post & nice blog! :)

[RCmommy]

what kind of cabin?

[jgh1204]

On a side note, I found your blog while looking for information about the AARP discounts. That was very helpful.

[Crusin5252]

I have paid for our last 42 days of cruise fares entirely with the 10% off Carnival gift cards. I have also used these cards to pay gratuities and any expenses on our S&S cards. With our shareholder's OBC, credit card statement credit, and Early Savers credits, it was fairly easy to save a large percentage of our expenses. The key was to pay for everything with the 10% off cards from Verizon and AARP. You also can get extra OBC for booking a cruise while on the ship, but we do not usually do this. We did always buy the Future Cruise certificates before they were discontinued. I wish they would bring those back. I put our normal , everyday iving expenses on Carnival MC and then use the statement credit to pay for gas, food, and a hotel night prior to the cruise. It is usually cheaper to stay at a hotel for the night and park your car there for free than to pay for port parking. This assumes there is a free shuttle to the port so our only extra cost is a tip for the shuttle driver.

Edited September 8, 2016 by Crusin5252

[falkcor]

nice compilation of the discounts out and about. while nothing 'new', it's nice to see them all addressed in one spot - i'm sure it will help someone out.

 

great bottom line - 995 for 4 on a 5 day cruise - that's pretty great, way to go. B)

[plane2port]

I'm on my iPhone so won't use multiquote😜.

 

Thanks for the positive feedback folks!!

 

We are in an outside cabin on this cruise.

 

To the poster who mentioned credit card points--yes those are definitely important! And sometimes it is cheaper to stay at a hotel one night and use their parking.

[Karnyval]

If you book you cruise while on a cruise, you get an OBC on the future cruise.

[lizardhowson]

Items #1, #2 and #6 are unique discounts/savings tools.

Items #3, #4 and #5 identical, just from different sources.

 

Nice that you shared these for those who might be new to cruising.

[tatt2ed]

I'm flattered you are calling my blog post a professional article. Thanks, but its just me making a post on my personal blog.

 

Anyway, what is the way you saved your 25% and 22% right off the bat? The purpose of these forums is to share info. Would you mind sharing yours?

Residential discounts. And you also forgot travel credit card rewards. Saved us another 3%. For our Vista cruise we also booked our AA flights thru carnival, saved almost $400 over any travel site or AA directly.

Ive learned even tho booking online is usually cheaper, calling and talking to humans might give you a heads up on obtaining deeper discounts. I always ask is there any other discounts i might be eligible for. My wife thinks im crazy.

[VASOXFANN]

Don't forget Military discounts if you qualify (this includes most veterans!) Our upcoming cruise on RC was 1/2 price with this discount!

 

Booking an inside cabin is a big discount over booking a suite ;)

Edited September 8, 2016 by VASOXFANN

[boxermom73]

Thanks for the info! This was all "New" to me! I also enjoyed your blog.:D

[plane2port]

Don't forget Military discounts if you qualify (this includes most veterans!) Our upcoming cruise on RC was 1/2 price with this discount!

 

Booking an inside cabin is a big discount over booking a suite ;)

 

Wish I qualified for the military discount!

 

Thanks for the info! This was all "New" to me! I also enjoyed your blog.:D

 

Thank you!

[plane2port]

Residential discounts. And you also forgot travel credit card rewards. Saved us another 3%. For our Vista cruise we also booked our AA flights thru carnival, saved almost $400 over any travel site or AA directly.

Ive learned even tho booking online is usually cheaper, calling and talking to humans might give you a heads up on obtaining deeper discounts. I always ask is there any other discounts i might be eligible for. My wife thinks im crazy.

 

Believe me, credit card rewards are foremost in my mind! What card are you using to get 3% back? I'm currently getting 2.6% back on the Bank of America Travel Rewards, but I wouldn't mind the extra 0.4%:D

Edited September 9, 2016 by plane2port

[tatt2ed]

Believe me, credit card rewards are foremost in my mind! What card are you using to get 3% back? I'm currently getting 2.6% back on the Bank of America Travel Rewards, but I wouldn't mind the extra 0.4%:D

Thats what im using too. Sorry i rounded up a touch.

[tatt2ed]

Military vets get OBC too. Im not exactly sure amounts and if im remembering correctly Royal Caribbean does it too.

 

To me vetrans should cruise for 99% off. But thats just me

[trueblue91652747]

Really good information. Thanks so much.

[Karnyval]

Believe me, credit card rewards are foremost in my mind! What card are you using to get 3% back? I'm currently getting 2.6% back on the Bank of America Travel Rewards, but I wouldn't mind the extra 0.4%:D

 

You can get double points on the Carnival Master Card for Carnival purchases and sometimes other charges and a 50% bonus if you apply to a $1500 or more Carnival charge. So 3%?

[spiritkat090909]

Great info!

 

We were using the Bank of America RCI card for our home/business purchases but switched to Sams Club's card for their rewards.

 

Travel purchases made on the card are 3% cash back, annually...and 5% on fuel. It pays for the annual cruise easily with all of our monthly purchases being made on the card (1% other). And added benefit...the old BOA card now has 0% interest...with no future charges being made.

Edited September 9, 2016 by spiritkat090909

[crusinpsychRN]

Why isn't ARNP or RN included in the EMT offer?

[MrPaulAR]

May want to look at the new sapphire reserve card from chase. Yes, $450 annual fee but you get $300 travel credit per calendar year that works on carnival and $1500 in UR points that can be used to book a cruise... Just have to book through chase. Other benefits too.

 

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk

[plane2port]

May want to look at the new sapphire reserve card from chase. Yes, $450 annual fee but you get $300 travel credit per calendar year that works on carnival and $1500 in UR points that can be used to book a cruise... Just have to book through chase. Other benefits too.

 

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk

 

I hope this offer is still around in December. That's the soonest I can apply for a Chase card since I have reached my 5/24 limit. For those not familiar with this rule--Chase doesn't want to approve you for new cards if you've opened 5 or more cards in the last 24 months.