I think Carnival should freeze the price you pay. No more going back for reductions

[Crusin6]

Sorry - I disagree.....

I booked our Freedom Europe cruise 1 year in advance. Cabin rate was $3,300. A few weeks ago, there was a "Senior Sale" and it went down $400 per person......that's $800.00!! Don't know about you, but $800 is a lot of money in my wallet. Now I think the real reason is, the US dollar sucks now and Europe isn't selling as well as it has in past years. They couldn't sell that cabin at $3,300 p/p. Maybe if it's $2,900 p/p more will book. There are still a lot of cabins available on our sailing.

 

If Carnival hadn't given me the credit (which they did with no problem) or let me cancel and rebook, I would have cancelled and started looking to see what kind of sale RCI or another line had. At worst, we would have gone next year and hope for a better exchange rate on the dollar.

 

I can guarantee that Carnival will get their $800 back in the bar bill, from shore excursion, photos bought and gift shop purchases. In all reality, they are letting me hold the $800 until I get on board and spend it there.....

Karen

I am in total agreement here! We have 2 cabins booked for the Med this July. We booked last June. I researched and found as well that they were not fully booked and that other agents were booking at lower prices. I sent a simple e-mail to my online TA and received a total reduction of $1500 and of course the surcharge was removed so we saved $1750 in total. It doesn't take a genius to figure out why the posters here think we should all just pay the quoted price! They have paid higher than they needed to in the past is my guess and won't give in to logic. It is also Friday night and from my experience on these boards that seems to cause folks to vent. Which may actually be a good thing anyway.:rolleyes:

[Drew B]

I haven't read the entire thread, so I apologize if this point has already been made...

 

The last thing in the WORLD the cruise industry wants to do is to create a disincentive to booking early. That's what eliminating the price reductions would do. If nobody books early, the prices don't go up, so Carnival then end up selling ALL of the cabins at base price or below. Moreover, as the dates come closer, if sales are slow because people are waiting for better prices, Carnival will have to drop the prices, and quite possibly they will have to drop them further than they would have had they experienced healthy bookings all along.

 

There are reasons why the cruise line is FINE, even if they have to discount for people. Here are a few of them:

 

• They have been holding people's deposits and making the money work for them.

• Most people don't think to check the prices frequently. If they see prices going up at some point, they give up checking altogether. Most people never happen to find the price breaks to get the better deals (most T.A.'s don't either).

• If people get what they feel is a great deal on their cruise, it increases their goodwill towards the company. This can result in brand loyalty (e.g. booking future cruises), but it can also result simply in a greater willingness to spend money on onboard. Either way, Carnival wins.