HELP - PVP or TA to book

[Organized Chaos]

7 hours ago, beshears said:

Just when I think I have things going through, my d-i-l and son (married to another d-i-L) throw in wrenches to what I'm trying to do. 😞 I have not received quotes back from the TA, and I know the longer I hold out, it seems like the prices are going up. 😞 Organize Chaos, I appreciate you trying to explain to me.  Are you saying "after" I put a down payment on the cruise, I can then go to the deck plans where the rooms are?  Or are you saying when I click on a deck and room "before" I put a down payment, it will say if this room is in the quoted price I see, or more/less? Sorry, I have cruised a lot, but trying to get rooms/decks, etc. for 8 people is not easy, as everyone seems to have their own opinion.

 

In case  you were talking about price matching, ignore all of that stuff in my last post. LOL

 

Price matching (Carnival calls is Price Protection) can only be done if you book an Early Saver rate. Near the beginning of the booking process, you'll see a few different rates... Early Saver, Fun Select, other specials that they might be running. Early Saver is the only one with Price Protection (price matching) and it'll show that it's included...

 

 

So if you book an Early Saver rate, it's up to you to watch for price drops, unless you decide to use your TA and they're willing to do it for you. But even then, maybe they don't look often and could miss it. We used a TA once years ago and she said she'd look for price drops, but she only ever got us one. We kept watching ourselves and got a couple more that she missed.

 

Obviously you can't look for price drops until after you've booked (after you've paid the deposit). To look for price drops yourself, just go to Carnival's site and do a mock booking. That just means you go through the process of doing a booking for the cruise you already have booked, but you won't complete it at the end. This is just to see what the current prices are for your cruise and to check if they're lower. Be sure you're logged in to your Carnival account or at least enter your VIFP number when it asks so that you see the best rates possible for you.

Enter in everything just like your booking. The same number of people in a particular cabin, the same area of the ship, and the same deck. This will bring up cabins that are still available in that particular category. Pick one of the ones that are left. For example, on our Dec. cruise, we have an Interior on deck 8 and its category is 4G. If you look at the deck plans for your cabin on Carnival's site, it'll tell you the category.

Once you get to the summary page where it shows you the current cost of the cruise, look at the base rate for each person. That's the price you're trying to price match to. Don't include taxes & port fees, pre-paid gratuities, or Carnival insurance. Just the base rate. If the base rate of the mock booking is less than the base rate of the cruise you already have booked, you can submit a Price Protection claim. That can be done on your own or by contacting your TA or PVP, whichever you decide to go with.

 

You can only price match to the exact same category that you've already booked. If you go through this mock booking and there are no cabins left in that category, you can't do a price match because there's no more cabins to match to. If someone else has that category and cancels, you can then do a price match again (until it sells out again). Since you're booking for multiple people and multiple cabins, if you end up with more than one category across your group, I hate to break it to you, but you'll have to do these mock bookings for each category if you want to check for price matches for everyone.

 

Here's where it gets a little tricky. For example, our 4G cabin in Dec. is on deck 8, but there are also some 4G cabins on deck 9. If I'm trying to price match and do a mock booking for deck 8 and see that those are all sold out, there might still be some open on deck 9 that I can still match to. So your category might be found on multiple decks and just because it's sold out on one of them doesn't necessarily mean it's sold out on the other.

 

I hope all of this makes sense. If you need any more help, just holler.

Edited August 9, 2019 by Organized Chaos

[Organized Chaos]

7 hours ago, beshears said:

Sorry, I have cruised a lot, but trying to get rooms/decks, etc. for 8 people is not easy, as everyone seems to have their own opinion.

 

There's been some other discussions on here recently about a single person organizing a cruise for multiple people/multiple cabins. You're right, it's not easy and can be very stressful. I think many people who do it, especially when trying to do it with family (who aren't always the easiest people to work with), many come to the conclusion that it's not worth the hassle. Everyone still goes together, but everyone handles their own booking.

 

Since you are organizing for multiple people/cabins, it might be best for you to use your TA. But I think you were the person who said their TA doesn't typically handle Carnival cruises, but they would if you needed them to. I'd be kind of hesitant about that just because they aren't familiar with Carnival. Maybe they'd do just fine, but it'd make me think twice. Or you could call Carnival and request a PVP. They can help you book all these different cabins, help find ones that are next to one another, or at least close, things like that. Good luck with whatever you decide and if you have any more questions, fire away.

 

 

[beshears]

Thank you for the last responses, which are very helpful.  To say I have been under stress, oh yes! (My son called me from work last night worried about me and all of this, but I told him I would make it.) Between trying to get information from "both" the TA and the PVP, and they not knowing about each other, and then trying to decide which one to go with is hard. Texting back and forth too, takes a long time as well. My children (they are the ones going with me, along with my friend, who just goes with the flow), including my d-i-l's too, KNOW at times, I've felt like throwing in the towel, but I haven't given up!  I will say "both" the TA and PVP have given me the "same" prices.  The TA has shown me a deck plan, with the rooms that are available, along with the numbers/letters, which do not make sense to me. Example: balcony rooms on deck 6, mid ship, and she calls it 8B, which as you can guess, does not make sense to me.

 

As for the Price Protection, and Early Saver, I appreciate you explaining that to me.  If I'm understanding you right, once I book under the PVP (if I do) (not the TA, as I know she will not be checking or want to mess with giving me discounts that I might find), and put a down payment down, I will still be getting emails from Carnival, and then look I can look under the Early Saver area, and put my current info in, and see what the price might be then.  Now that I'm thinking of that, the "Early Saver" is free like the Price Protection, correct?

 

My only problem at this time, as I said, "both" the TA and PVP have given me the "same" price.  The only difference is that that the TA has shown me a deck diagram with the rooms that would be available, along with the number/letter.  The PVP has not done any of that, only describing that it would be on deck 6, mid ship. I have sent a request back to the PVP to send me a deck diagram showing the rooms that are available, and also the room (I don't want a balcony, but found an ocean view at the end of the ship (seen it on You tube) number that I liked, if it is available.  As I said, she does not use any numbers or letters, like the TA, which can be confusing to me.

[beshears]

Organized Chaos, thank you for showing me the diagrams, as I have never seen anything like this. What you just showed me, is that in the "Early Saver" area that I would click on, once I put a deposit down, and was receiving emails from Carnival?

[Organized Chaos]

On 8/10/2019 at 3:26 AM, beshears said:

Organized Chaos, thank you for showing me the diagrams, as I have never seen anything like this. What you just showed me, is that in the "Early Saver" area that I would click on, once I put a deposit down, and was receiving emails from Carnival?

 

The pictures I used all happened to be under the Early Saver rate, just because that's what we typically purchase, but it doesn't have to be. No matter what rate you choose, there could be an additional cost for, let's say, a cabin on a higher deck. That's just the nature of the beast. But oftentimes as the cruise gets closer, they won't always charge you more to be higher up because they want to fill up the ship. You'd have to play around with the different rates to see if there's a difference. For example, for our Dec. cruise, there's only 2 cabins left on deck 7 mid-ship. Under Early Saver rates, it costs an extra $3 per person, per day to be on deck 7. But if you switch to the Fun Select rate, it's only $2 per person, per day extra on deck 7. To see these charges, you don't have to have booked yet. They'll show up as you go through the booking process. We like to be on a higher deck, so we don't mind paying a little extra for it if necessary.

 

If you want to try to take advantage of price matching, just remember that it's only available if you purchase an Early Saver rate. We've had pretty good luck with price matching in the past that saved us a couple hundred dollars total for three people, but there's times when we haven't had any luck with it at all. We booked our Dec. cruise last month and the price hasn't dropped below what we paid, that I know of. For our March 2020 cruise, I did get one price match. I can't remember how much it saved us, but that cruise has gone up since. It's a bit of a trade-off. Early Saver comes with the cheaper price and price matching, but it also comes with more stipulations and penalties. For instance, no name changes. Meaning, you can't replace one person booked in a cabin with another without having to go through a pain in the butt process that usually ends up costing more. Been there, done that. Basically, Early Saver makes it more difficult (and often more expensive) to make any changes later. So you have to weigh the pros & cons of that with the cheaper price + price matching.

[beshears]

OK, here is my big question.  How do I know if I got the Early Saver rate?  I was working for the 1st time with a PVP from Carnival, as well as a TA that I have used for several years.  Both of them, not knowing about each other, quoted me the same price.  Now that I have officially booked the 4 rooms, will it do me any good to still look at the new emails that come from Carnival, or will my price that I am paying be set in stone?

 

Another question that you or someone might want to reply on.  Up till now, it wasn't much, but my TA always gave me $50 OBC for our room, and we would split it.  Since I am starting out with a new PVP for the first time, I should probably NOT ask, or mention it to her, right?

[Organized Chaos]

10 minutes ago, beshears said:

OK, here is my big question.  How do I know if I got the Early Saver rate?  I was working for the 1st time with a PVP from Carnival, as well as a TA that I have used for several years.  Both of them, not knowing about each other, quoted me the same price.  Now that I have officially booked the 4 rooms, will it do me any good to still look at the new emails that come from Carnival, or will my price that I am paying be set in stone?

 

Another question that you or someone might want to reply on.  Up till now, it wasn't much, but my TA always gave me $50 OBC for our room, and we would split it.  Since I am starting out with a new PVP for the first time, I should probably NOT ask, or mention it to her, right?

 

I've read multiple times on here that you're supposed to be able to find which rate you booked somewhere in your booking info. when you log into your account, but I've never found it. Maybe someone else can clarify, but if not, you can call whichever one booked your cruise and ask. Our PVP usually books the Early Saver rate for us, or one of the cheaper VIFP rates that pops up here & there.

 

Did you book it through the TA or PVP?

 

From what I've heard, TA's sell cruises at rates that are set by Carnival, so to set themselves apart, they often give out perks, like OBC.

 

The only emails I ever get are just different promotions they have going on, nothing that ever really has anything to do with the cruises we have booked (except maybe excursion suggestions, things like that). Your price is now set at what you booked. The only change that could be made is, for example, they had to make an itinerary change for some reason and your port fees change, but I wouldn't worry about that too much. Or if you have to make a booking change later with one or more of the passengers in your group. And then if you booked the Early Saver rate, and you discover that it went down, your balance will be adjusted to the lower rate if the price match is accepted. Or if it's after the final payment date and the price goes down, they'll give you OBC instead.

 

If your TA gave you the $50 OBC as a perk through the travel agency, you don't have to tell your PVP if you don't want to. I don't know if OBC that comes from TA's shows up in Carnival's system or not.

[beshears]

I did book through Carnival's PVP for the first time.  I told her if everything works out the way we want it to, I will be using her again.  Both, the TA and the PVP ask for VIFP#'s which I gave them, and that is how we got the discount.  Maybe that replaces the Early Saver?

 

As for the OBC that my TA always gave me, I don't know how it works.  I know that when I get the papers from the cruise agency, it always states the cost, etc., and that I have an OBC of $50 for the room.

 

Yes, in regard to the emails I get from Carnival, they don't specifically state that they are in regard to any one ship, etc. So, maybe it would be a waste of time, if I already got the discount with the VIFP, and not worry about it anymore.

[Organized Chaos]

2 hours ago, beshears said:

I did book through Carnival's PVP for the first time.  I told her if everything works out the way we want it to, I will be using her again.  Both, the TA and the PVP ask for VIFP#'s which I gave them, and that is how we got the discount.  Maybe that replaces the Early Saver?

 

As for the OBC that my TA always gave me, I don't know how it works.  I know that when I get the papers from the cruise agency, it always states the cost, etc., and that I have an OBC of $50 for the room.

 

Yes, in regard to the emails I get from Carnival, they don't specifically state that they are in regard to any one ship, etc. So, maybe it would be a waste of time, if I already got the discount with the VIFP, and not worry about it anymore.

 

First, congrats on the booking. At least that part is out of the way.

 

Look at the booking confirmation email your PVP sent you. Scroll down to where it says "Guest Notes" and there should be some information about the rate you booked. The confirmations for our two current bookings don't specifically say Early Saver, but mention requiring a valid VIFP number. I looked at the confirmation from our cruise last year and it specifically said something about, if you find a lower rate, contact Carnival. So that's indicative of Early Saver. You can call your PVP and ask her just to be sure. That way if it is ES, you can look for price drops if you want to. If your cruise is anything like ours (the week before yours), the price has been going up for the last few months.

 

I wouldn't worry about the $50 OBC too much. You can find other ways to save to make up for that. Are you familiar with the 10% off Carnival gift cards from AARP? Right now their updating their program and it isn't available, but it's supposed to open up again next month.

Edited August 13, 2019 by Organized Chaos