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Carnival's New Early Saver Program

SouthernCaribbean

By SouthernCaribbean,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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gman0119

gman0119

Posted
Posted

I remember a month or so ago when people started getting notice from Carnival that once they paid their cruise in full, they weren't going to get a refund or OBC.

 

Maybe they caught enough flak from us to make them throw out some sort of peace offering?!?

 

In business, anything is possible to boost profits!

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SouthernCaribbean

SouthernCaribbean

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I remember a month or so ago when people started getting notice from Carnival that once they paid their cruise in full, they weren't going to get a refund or OBC.

 

Maybe they caught enough flak from us to make them throw out some sort of peace offering?!?

 

In business, anything is possible to boost profits!

Actually, I was thinking they stopping offering OBC after Final Payment because they KNEW they planned to do this in 2009.

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UpstateCruizer

UpstateCruizer

Posted
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Thanks for the code (of course it's not working yet) but can't fault me for testing it right? :D I just paid our final payment today on our April Splendor cruise. I mentioned to the group cruise agent that all of these new programs and special offers are beginning to confuse the daylights out of me. For example ....on the April cruise we are getting $100 per cabin OBC because it's a Cruise Critic group cruise, we purchased a $100 future cruise certificate (FCC) while on board the Liberty earlier last year that was applied to this sailing. They reduced our final payment amount by $100 and will be giving us an additional $100 OBC as part of the FCC program. We are also getting another $100 OBC as stockholders for this sailing. If that isn't confusing enough I can't wait to see how the FCC program will work with the early savings program and the shareholders credits.

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Pyro Tec

Pyro Tec

Posted
Posted
• What should I do once I find a lower rate?

Complete a price protection claim form. If the request meets the price protection requirements, we will process your onboard credit for the fare difference and send you an email confirmation within 2 business days of your request.

 

 

Am I the only pessimist that thinks that this is going to be their "out". "Hi, I filled out your form because I found a lower rate." "Oh sorry, didn't you read the fine print, in order for that to be valid it has to be on a third Sunday in July, the temperature has to be over 105 degrees and a herd of water buffalo would have to have just stampeded the Governor's mansion in Colorado. I see we got all those here, but sorry, 2 water buffalo doesn't qualify as a 'herd'. This lower price is no good." :rolleyes:

 

LOLOL LMAO :D:D:D:D WoW! I actually was laughing hard on that one, sounds like something i would say, being i am always sarcastic!!! we got everything except, 2 buffalo doesn't count as a herd!!! LOL :D

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UpstateCruizer

UpstateCruizer

Posted
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Actually, I was thinking they stopping offering OBC after Final Payment because they KNEW they planned to do this in 2009.

 

That would make sense and make it even more enticing for anyone who tried to get that last minute credit but was denied in the past. I can see this program really cutting down on cancellations which will hopefully save Carnival from having so many last minute cabins to fill. On the other hand those that cancel right before last payment wouldn't probably take advantage of a program like this to begin with?

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gman0119

gman0119

Posted
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Actually, I was thinking they stopping offering OBC after Final Payment because they KNEW they planned to do this in 2009.

 

 

That's possible too! I thought only my DW took my words and rearranged them to mean something different!:D

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firefly333

firefly333

Posted
Posted
So if I do it the old way, I have until final payment to get price reductions or get my deposit back or the new way of 150 days to get obc and loss of deposit if I cancel. Am I missing something?:rolleyes:

 

the speculation that they will offer lower rates if you agree to a non refundable deposit.

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mr. cruiser

mr. cruiser

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the speculation that they will offer lower rates if you agree to a non refundable deposit.

But under the old way if they offer a lower fare your good till 75 days out and still have a refundable deposit. I don't have a problem booking early, but things can change that insurance doesn't cover and you always had an out up to 75 days.

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Kurbanfan

Kurbanfan

Posted
Posted
So if I do it the old way, I have until final payment to get price reductions or get my deposit back or the new way of 150 days to get obc and loss of deposit if I cancel. Am I missing something?:rolleyes:

 

If you do it the old way you can get price adjustment up until final payment.....the new way only offers obc.......

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dan40

dan40

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I know, right??!! Again, I am a pessimist when it comes to this offer. They say "ANY" advertised rate but then come in after that and say "IF" the rate "qualifies". It could be "any rate" alright, but you call or fill in your form and then get the "sorry, this doesn't qualify because....." I might be more optimistic if I wasn't seeing all cruiselines trending in the raised prices, loss of privileges (like the stock holders are seeing now), and upsells for what used to be "free". Again, it could just be me, but I am not seeing anything in this that makes me want to jump on board.

 

DH and I always cruise last minute anyway (with the exception of the fiasco of a trip booked through a TA in 07) because he refuses to pay a deposit months or years ahead and then the cruiselines benefits because they are earning the interest on that deposit for however long we paid ahead. And I agree with him. The interest on our puny $500 (or whatever) may not be much, but interest accrued over 9 months for 10,000 $500 deposits would look pretty sweet. Anyway, if I wasn't seeing cruising trending the in "what can we NOT do for people" category I might use this new offer but I'd want a guarantee that "ANY" rate would qualify as long as it was offered to the public, including "new bookings only" and any other rate that would necessarily disqualify me (as my PVP has always honored them anyway). They'd have to get rid of that "IF the rate qualifies" verbiage for me to jump on this bandwagon.

 

 

"Applies only to a Carnival.com or Carnival advertised fare available to the general public"

 

AND

 

"ANY" advertised rate

 

are two very different statements.

 

Newspapers, Radio, TV, we all see and hear thousands of "specials" every day, on every kind of product and service.

 

ALL HAVE 'FINE PRINT' LIMITING THE OFFER.

 

Cruiselines and Carnival in particular have long been overly accommodating on price changes. To the point where they have given away millions of dollars.

They are trying many different ways to curtail the bleeding off of PURE profit dollars.

 

Dan

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mr. cruiser

mr. cruiser

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If you do it the old way you can get price adjustment up until final payment.....the new way only offers obc.......

Thats what I am saying. I can't see much of an advantage. I must be missing something. I guess on Monday I will look and see if they are offering any savings up front on the fare to take the chance of a non refundable deposit.

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SouthernCaribbean

SouthernCaribbean

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Thats what I am saying. I can't see much of an advantage. I must be missing something. I guess on Monday I will look and see if they are offering any savings up front on the fare to take the chance of a non refundable deposit.

The "potential" advantage would be if there are significant price drops after final payment. Currently, you cant get any adjustments or OBC. With this program there is a chance to get OBC. For many sailings in the coming months that could be pretty enticing.

 

Also it remains to be seen how much of a savings there will be initially. Up to 25% seems hard to imagine.

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gill_boo

gill_boo

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I think we need to get full clarification on what rates will apply and what won't. Problem is, I can see one PVP saying sales will apply and then the next saying it doesn't. I would be very interested in this, but Carnival needs to fully explain it in detail before I would think about it.

 

I am looking at booking in April for our October cruise so I could benefit from this. I think their idea of offering good initial discounts is to probably avoid having to give any OBC since the fare might be a lot lower and nothing advertised as a regular price would ever beat it, plus they get your deposit in their bank account to gain interest on, so it covers the lower fare that brought you in.

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Vanessa L

Vanessa L

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LOLOL LMAO :D:D:D:D WoW! I actually was laughing hard on that one, sounds like something i would say, being i am always sarcastic!!! we got everything except, 2 buffalo doesn't count as a herd!!! LOL :D

 

I'm just sayin'..... it might be different if the cruiselines haven't been doing some weird stuff lately like doing away with the fuel surcharge but raising the prices of the cruise the exact amount of the surcharge (why not just keep the surcharge and call it that since we are paying the same amount anyway?), the upGRADE fairy is now the upSELL fairy....I don't know, it just seems to me that this is not going to pan out as well as they'd like us to believe. The reason I say that is because, clearly, all the cruiselines think we DON'T think if they believe they are "giving" us something by taking away the fuel surcharges but jacking the prices up to offset the fuel charges. It just seems like a big circle to nowhere to me. I'll be interested to follow the posts of the folks who actually use this service and see if, in fact, they use the herd of water buffalo fine print excuse not to allow the new rate to be valid. We'll see.

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old sole

old sole

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I think their idea of offering good initial discounts is to probably avoid having to give any OBC since the fare might be a lot lower and nothing advertised as a regular price would ever beat it

 

I think you've probably got this part right.

 

plus they get your deposit in their bank account to gain interest on, so it covers the lower fare that brought you in.

 

Not so much on this part. A $250 deposit, a year in advance of final payment date, at a very generous 5%, would earn them $12.50.

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