Canceling passenger 2 from a triple BEFORE final payment

[surrocruiser]

Hello,

 

I am looking for any and all advice. We are just over 30 days from final payment and my husband just found out his employer probably is not going to allow him to take a week off of work for our Thanksgiving cruise. We booked under early saver rate so I know there will be an administrative fee of $50. I have called Carnival 3 different times today to ask what the price difference is. We have paid about 40% of the total as of now. One rep couldn't even understand what I meant by cancelling just one person and kept saying I could cancel up until final and be charged $50 per person and the rest that I have paid would go to future cruise credit (I was not aware of that, I will never make any payments prior to final above the minimum required to book). One just kept telling me that the "fee" is the same as the third passenger fare but that she had no idea what that actually is bc the only break down numbers show the average per person. And one told me absolutely nothing besides maybe he can talk to his boss about working overtime before the trip but said absolutely nothing about the booking.

 

My concern is, if they cancel us to rebook, pricing is significantly higher now and we would be better off to pay it and have him be a no show. Also, could they really force us to change cabins? We are currently booked in a connecting cabin with my parents and there are no others available.

 

Has anyone been here? I am not sure what to do from here. 

[Elaine5715]

1 hour ago, surrocruiser said:

Hello,

 

I am looking for any and all advice. We are just over 30 days from final payment and my husband just found out his employer probably is not going to allow him to take a week off of work for our Thanksgiving cruise. We booked under early saver rate so I know there will be an administrative fee of $50. I have called Carnival 3 different times today to ask what the price difference is. We have paid about 40% of the total as of now. One rep couldn't even understand what I meant by cancelling just one person and kept saying I could cancel up until final and be charged $50 per person and the rest that I have paid would go to future cruise credit (I was not aware of that, I will never make any payments prior to final above the minimum required to book). One just kept telling me that the "fee" is the same as the third passenger fare but that she had no idea what that actually is bc the only break down numbers show the average per person. And one told me absolutely nothing besides maybe he can talk to his boss about working overtime before the trip but said absolutely nothing about the booking.

 

My concern is, if they cancel us to rebook, pricing is significantly higher now and we would be better off to pay it and have him be a no show. Also, could they really force us to change cabins? We are currently booked in a connecting cabin with my parents and there are no others available.

 

Has anyone been here? I am not sure what to do from here. 

How many people are still going to sail and what is your cabin occupancy?

[surrocruiser]

4 minutes ago, Elaine5715 said:

How many people are still going to sail and what is your cabin occupancy?

Two will still sail, occupancy is listed as 3.

[crazycatlady82]

What I’ve heard is just for him to no show, and then you’ll receive his port fees as a credit. There won’t be any penalty or rebooking, from what I understand, if you do this. 

[bingomamma19]

12 hours ago, surrocruiser said:

Hello,

 

I am looking for any and all advice. We are just over 30 days from final payment and my husband just found out his employer probably is not going to allow him to take a week off of work for our Thanksgiving cruise. We booked under early saver rate so I know there will be an administrative fee of $50. I have called Carnival 3 different times today to ask what the price difference is. We have paid about 40% of the total as of now. One rep couldn't even understand what I meant by cancelling just one person and kept saying I could cancel up until final and be charged $50 per person and the rest that I have paid would go to future cruise credit (I was not aware of that, I will never make any payments prior to final above the minimum required to book). One just kept telling me that the "fee" is the same as the third passenger fare but that she had no idea what that actually is bc the only break down numbers show the average per person. And one told me absolutely nothing besides maybe he can talk to his boss about working overtime before the trip but said absolutely nothing about the booking.

 

My concern is, if they cancel us to rebook, pricing is significantly higher now and we would be better off to pay it and have him be a no show. Also, could they really force us to change cabins? We are currently booked in a connecting cabin with my parents and there are no others available.

 

Has anyone been here? I am not sure what to do from here. 

If you look at your documents on carnivals website, you will see what the 3rd person rate is.   If its pretty low, I would just let him be a now show and get your port taxes and fees refunded.   If the 3rd person fee is high (and it doesn't matter who the 3rd person is actually listed as), then just cancel him before final payment and there will be no rate change for the other 2.

 

Carnival has the right to change you to  a 2 person room, but most likely will not, again no rate would change for those 2 remaining though.

 

You also do not lose out on extra payments that were made before final payment...anything over the deposit would be refunded.   Early saver has the $50 penalty then the remainder of the deposit is held for a future cruise, but money above the deposit is refunded

Edited July 14, 2019 by bingomamma19

[ProgRockCruiser]

As other posters have stateed, you are cancelling the third person in the room (it doesn't matter what order you booked - you are going from 3 to 2).

 

More than likely you should be able to cancel that third person, and all payments to date, minus $50, will simply apply as the payments towards the other cruisers.  The total for the cabin would be the same as through two people had booked in the first place.

 

That is my understanding.  I would ask to speak with a supervisor when you call Carnival again.

 

It is possible Carnival will change your assigned cabin, though, to free it up for demand for a three-person capacity, and move you to a two-person capacity cabin.

[Lottacruises]

On 7/14/2019 at 9:17 AM, crazycatlady82 said:

What I’ve heard is just for him to no show, and then you’ll receive his port fees as a credit. There won’t be any penalty or rebooking, from what I understand, if you do this. 

 

 

No, not this. They haven't paid for the third person yet. 

[surrocruiser]

Spoke with someone today who seemed to know what she was talking about. She said we can cancel and just pay for passenger 1 and 2 but would probably be moved. That will be my new battle since we are booked in connecting with my parents.

[bingomamma19]

2 minutes ago, surrocruiser said:

Spoke with someone today who seemed to know what she was talking about. She said we can cancel and just pay for passenger 1 and 2 but would probably be moved. That will be my new battle since we are booked in connecting with my parents.

How much is the 3rd person rate?  Is it worth it to you to keep him on as the 3rd person rate to keep the adjoining room?   Remember you would get the port taxes back when he is a no show if you did that option.

 

I know for our cruise next april the 3rd person rate is $199....That is a 7 day on the Breeze in a balcony.   

[glrounds]

As others have said, let the 3rd person be a NO SHOW . . . might cost you a little  over other solutions, but takes the guess work out of it and allows you to keep the same cabin. Give Carnival another opportunity to "squeeze" another dime out of you and they will. Let sleeping dogs lie . . . 🙂

[Treyatl2006]

I would do a cost analysis to see which option is the best for you. 

 

Option A - Dont say anything. Keep your room. You will pay what you already suppose to pay minus taxes, port fees, or gratuities for the No Show Passenger.

 

Option B - Forfeit your deposit. Re-book with just two people. If this option is cheaper and you don't mind changing rooms then choose Option B. 

 

A wildcard option is to find a person to replace your husband... (kid, Grandkid, neice, nephew, sibling, coworker and etc). Just ask them to atleast pay the $50 change fee.

[Schoifmom]

9 hours ago, surrocruiser said:

Spoke with someone today who seemed to know what she was talking about. She said we can cancel and just pay for passenger 1 and 2 but would probably be moved. That will be my new battle since we are booked in connecting with my parents.

 

Good.  I have actually done this.  You can cancel.  They will charge you the $50 administrative fee and the remainder of the deposit for that person will be held as a FCC (they won't apply it to this cruise).  The other two persons pay the 1st and 2nd person rate for the cabin.

 

As far as being moved, they do have the right to move you; however, in my experience, unless they absolutely have to have that 3 person occupancy room, they will not.

[Cafedumonde]

Yes, make him a no show.  We have done this and they only charge the $50 but then they rebook you at the current fare and move you to a cabin that only holds 2.

[Schoifmom]

26 minutes ago, Cafedumonde said:

Yes, make him a no show.  We have done this and they only charge the $50 but then they rebook you at the current fare and move you to a cabin that only holds 2.

 

Interesting.  When I canceled a person from my cabin, they didn't cancel/rebook.  They only canceled the one person.  The fare didn't change and the booking number didn't change.  Are you sure you aren't comparing the "blended fare" (the average rate per person) to the 1st/2nd person fare?

[Cafedumonde]

32 minutes ago, Schoifmom said:

 

Interesting.  When I canceled a person from my cabin, they didn't cancel/rebook.  They only canceled the one person.  The fare didn't change and the booking number didn't change.  Are you sure you aren't comparing the "blended fare" (the average rate per person) to the 1st/2nd person fare?

We actually dropped a fourth person.  The cost of the cruise had gone up.  When we dropped number four they charged us the $50 ( took it out of what we had already paid) and we got about $100 off of the total cruise fare instead of the $400 fare at which the fourth person had originally been booked.  It wasn’t worth taking him off because they moved us to the cabin from hell under the galley because it was the only cabin left in that category that accommodated 3.  Total nightmare.   We thought it would be okay because are not light sleepers and had earplugs but that cabin ruined our cruise, galley noise at 5am.  Not worth the $100.

Edited July 16, 2019 by Cafedumonde

[surrocruiser]

OK, so I am 99% sure husband is not going.

 

I have since been able to get additional info.

 

The 3rd person fare is $510.

We only paid $50 deposits.

Port taxes and fees are $125 and change.

Keeping the connecting cabin while it is ideal, it isn't as big of a deal as originally thought. If we end up moved, it's fine.

 

My concern is the repricing possibility. I have called so many times and the responses seem to be 50/50.

[xitappers2bx]

Ultimately, this is the problem when booking directly with Carnival.

 

I would take one of two paths:

 

1.  Find a travel agent, most are knowledgeable about cruises. Explain that you would like to transfer the booking to them (they will get the full commission) and then you would like to remove the third person from the room.  Because you will still have two people, the price should (in theory) go down, you *may* have to change rooms though (to a room that only holds two people).  They will be able to deal with the right people at Carnival to fix it the right way, the first time.

 

2.  Call the 800 number and get the highest supervisor you can (can be a challenge... call centers are the actual worst).  Explain as clearly as possible that you need to remove the third person from the room, BUT that you DO NOT want to cancel the booking and rebook, you ONLY want to remove the third person.  This is possible (I have done it).  If they give you a hard time, see above.  There is zero cause for them to cancel the entire booking (outside of collecting that $50/pp administrative "fee"). 

[luvmy2kids]

$510 for the third passenger seems high.  Usually the third and fourth passengers are around $199-$299 at the most.  (First and second passengers pay the bulk but when you get a quote and they give you a per passenger quote, they are actually dividing the entire fare by three.  It does sounds like they are taking the whole cabin price and dividing it by three which is not the accurate third passenger fare.  If you log into carnival.com and enter your booking number, you will be able to see the actual fare breakdown per passenger in the booking details.

 

Example:  Let's say the cruise price is $1599. When they divide that by 3, the per person price is $533.  But what it usually looks like is:  First passenger $683, Second passenger $683 and third passenger $233.  (I'm making up taxes and fees of $33 per person).  Make sense?

[PhillyFan33579]

14 minutes ago, luvmy2kids said:

$510 for the third passenger seems high.  Usually the third and fourth passengers are around $199-$299 at the most.  (First and second passengers pay the bulk but when you get a quote and they give you a per passenger quote, they are actually dividing the entire fare by three.  It does sounds like they are taking the whole cabin price and dividing it by three which is not the accurate third passenger fare.  If you log into carnival.com and enter your booking number, you will be able to see the actual fare breakdown per passenger in the booking details.

 

Example:  Let's say the cruise price is $1599. When they divide that by 3, the per person price is $533.  But what it usually looks like is:  First passenger $683, Second passenger $683 and third passenger $233.  (I'm making up taxes and fees of $33 per person).  Make sense?

 

The charge(s) for a 3rd/4th person is often significantly higher over a holiday. The OP said this cruise was the week of Thanksgiving, so that could be the reason the charge for a 3rd person is higher than normal.