Change itinerary before final payment

[mojitos24]

We booked a cruise from Galveston and made a 99$ deposit. The final paiements is supposed to be on nov 18th. We want to modify the cruise and depart from Miami instead of Galveston. When I called the advised me I would lose our deposit because we used the casino offer ( which we had no idea). They refused to transfer our deposit from one cruise to another. Did anyone encoutered the same situation ? Should I call back ? I did not book the cruise from Miami yet...

[boomhower]

Sounds correct.  Many of the rate codes have non refundable deposits and/or a charge to change names on the booking or transfer to a different booking. 

[ray98]

Common for deposits to be non-refundable.

[bury me at sea]

Carnival doesn't consider this a modification, they consider it cancelling a cruise from Galveston and a making a new booking for a cruise from Miami.

 

I am not familiar with the casino rate but if you look at your booking confirmation it probably says you will incur a penalty for cancelling.  If after deducting the penalty from the deposit you paid, it's possible you would get a future cruise credit to apply to your new cruise.

 

When you re-book for the other cruise it will be at the current rate for that cruise.

 

After reading your confirmation terms, phone Carnival again to see exactly how much of your deposit you will forfeit and ask how the balance can be used toward the new booking.

 

It's all in black and white in your documents but a phone call should fully explain your options.

[Kermarkim]

Only one time in 2015, I had booked the wrong week on the Magic.  And I called back after making my initial deposit and switched to the same cruise itinerary and ship but just two weeks earlier and they did not charge me a new deposit.  The only other time I have never been charged a penalty is just last week.  I called back after booking a February cruise and I had actually paid in full for what I thought was the lowest rate.  I had initially booked the guaranteed cabins that they pick the room # for you  a couple of weeks before the cruise.  I got nervous after reading some of the comments on this board.  So I called Carnival and stated that I would like to change the cruise rate to one that I can pick the cabin and I was prepared to pay any additional fees hoping they wouldn't consider this a penalty for what was initially a non-refundable deposit.  And they didn't.  Well not only did I not have to pay anything additional fees, they put me in a Cabin on Verandah deck and  refunded my card $77.  Apparently, the cruise was a lower price.  They said they wouldn't have given me anything back if I stayed in the same rate of guaranteed cabin because that is the price at the time you book it and no refunds.  But since I was changing to a past guest special even though now in a specific cabin, that the price turned out to be lower and they refunded me money.  But it never hurts to call and ask. 

[xitappers2bx]

It sounds like the rate you booked was nonrefundable; but if you found a better cruise or a cheaper one, I would take the loss of the $99 and book what you really want to do.  I do know that flying into Galveston from where I live is really really expensive, so I'd be more than saving that in airfare alone.

[Saint Greg]

Is that on top of the $50pp change fee or is that essentially the fee? I just changed one and it was $50pp.

[geoffrywillhardt]

I had a similar experience recently. The first person I talked to said there would be no problem transferring my deposit to another booking, then she said she ran into a problem and needed to transfer me to another department(she didn't specify which department). When I talked to them they said they would be happy to do it but that I would loose essentially half my deposit because of change fees so it would cost me $150. We booked the Mardi Gras 15 day for $100pp x 3 of us so $300. It was a casino offer. We were having second thoughts on taking that much time off to go. For us it will essentially mean taking 20+ days to go. We will have to fly to NYC (we want to spend a few days there before the cruise to see the sights), take the 15 day cruise, and fly back to Montana from Florida. We decided to keep our booking and try and make it work. About a week later we got an upgrade(sell) offer to go from a Cove balcony to a regular balcony 2 decks below Lido and we took that ($65). So if we end up not being able to take the cruise I know we will be out $150 for the original deposit but I'm not sure about the $65 upgrade that we paid for. 

So TLDR We could have paid $50 pp to change but chose not to. If you paid $99 total for two people then you would end up paying $100 to move $99, so not worth it. If you paid $99 each for a total of $200 then you could get $100 back, could being the main thing, I don't know how nice they are about these things especially last min. Our Mardi Gras is almost a year away still so they might have been more relaxed about that one. 

[Nic6318]

9 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

Is that on top of the $50pp change fee or is that essentially the fee? I just changed one and it was $50pp.

 

Hi

 

There is no "fee". The OP would be cancelling the initial cruise, losing their deposit (because of the rules for their booking rate), and then rebooking.

 

For the OP: for sure, if the cruise out of Miami works better for you, then cancel the original cruise. The $50 pp deposit is lower than normal. People on this site are always looking for this lower deposit, just for that reason.

 

If it is a better cruise, then you will likely save more than the deposit just in airfare. Sailing out of Miami gives you more airfare options because you can also fly into Ft. Lauderdale, and there are more and less expensive options to get you to port.

 

have a great cruise

 

[meatloafsfan]

Many of the casino rates with the low deposits ($99) have the non-refundable deposits.

 

In fact, if you read the offer it says something to the effect of "Secure your cruise with only a $99 non-refundable deposit" (yes, I have booked one with the hot streak offer with that clause). 

[bingomamma19]

I had the same thing.   I booked a casino cruise with a $99 per person deposit on the Legend out of Florida.   I switched to the Breeze out of Port Canavarel.  We have 3 of us.   The $99 for 2 of us was not refunded and lost.  The third person was refunded.

 

That's the way the casino cruises are.   We were ok, because I wanted to be on the Breeze, so I just ate it.   Its the price of booking cruises with non refundable deposits.

 

 

[ray98]

It isn't simply changing the itinerary, it is a total different event.  It is like holding tickets to the football game this Sunday and deciding you would rather go to the one in December.  You own it.

[GeorgiaMomof4]

Sometimes I think it depends on who you talk to when you call Carnival.  It never hurts to call 

back and talk to someone else - do it several different times if you have to.

 

My friend had booked a cruise out of Mobile for February.  They wanted us to go but we couldn't

go during the time they wanted to go.  I found a cruise out of Mobile for 5 days later and one 2 days

earlier out of Jacksonville.  It took about 3 different calls and talking to 3 different people but we

finally got it changed to the cruise 2 days earlier out of Jacksonville and it even ended up saving

them a little bit of money and they didn't have to pay any change fees or loose their deposit.  The

one thing they did have to do was pay extra on the deposit because when they had originally

booked they were running a special on the deposit and they weren't when we changed the

booking. 

 

I would keep trying - I honestly think that sometimes it depends on the

supervisor that the person asks when you call.  Definitely worth a try!

 

 

[mojitos24]

We book our new cruise today and paid for the entire cruise and we receveid our credit deposit after some explication

[elcuchio24]

On 10/29/2019 at 5:33 PM, mojitos24 said:

We booked a cruise from Galveston and made a 99$ deposit. The final paiements is supposed to be on nov 18th. We want to modify the cruise and depart from Miami instead of Galveston. When I called the advised me I would lose our deposit because we used the casino offer ( which we had no idea). They refused to transfer our deposit from one cruise to another. Did anyone encoutered the same situation ? Should I call back ? I did not book the cruise from Miami yet...

 

I would call again and ask for a manager. We have had 'nonrefundable' deposits transferred to new sailings in the past. BUT, fyi, its certainly not a guarantee and they have every right to NOT do that for you. But, if you are booking a new sailing and run it up the chain they very well may help you out. Good luck.