Thread: "Early Booking Fare" or wait for a "Fire Sale"?

If we decide to go on a cruise, we book as soon as possible. We can select a cabin and have something to look forward to. the last cruise we booked just weeks before as that's when my hubby decided we could finally celebrate something (a lawsuit seemed to be going our way -- and since then, we found out that it's being resolved in his favor, yea). The same cruise five years before, we had booked 13 months ahead.

We haven't been on that many cruises - yet....But we have generally booked way ahead. Once, last year we were going to Orlando and I didn't think we could manage just over 2 weeks in the same location, so we booked a 4 night cruise out of Miami just 10 days before flying out. As it was just 4 nights, we weren't that fussy about cabin location although it worked out just fine. But for longer cruises where the cruise IS the holiday, we definitely book as far ahead as possible.

We book as soon as we decide on an itinerary. Sometimes we have a price drop, like our upcoming trasatlantic offered a military discount for our class of cabin and our TA got us an $800 total price reduction. We were very happy about that! But most of the time the price we paid doesn't go down...most of the time it goes up! The military discount was an exception to the rule for the kind of cabins we like to book.

If I am happy enough with the price I book it. If there is a price reduction that is icing on the cake!

The only reason I am not booking a cruise ASAP is I have to discuss it with my mom first and she is in the process of getting her house ready to sell. So I am waiting for the right time for her and hoping the necessary delay does not force me to miss out on a cabin I prefer. If for any reason I can't get the cabin I want or miss out on the lowest price, it is not my fault as I am not cruising alone.

I have sworn .. no more ES for me. I got caught in the "no name changes". (I had booked quite a few cruises as I always do and my sister suddenly got married and cancelled on me). Couldnt replace her, went solo.

Early Saver on Carnival, no downgrading, no name changes and nonrefundable deposit. If you book 2 years out like I have, and get caught, true you can cancel and rebook for $50 pp, but dont forget you will never get your deposit back.

Now add in that Carnival does last minute pack n go rates which are ONLY guarantees. Lets say you booked that 8A balcony, but the BL gty is now cheaper.. no downgrades, so they usually will deny you to give up your cabin and take the BL gty. (carnival doesnt always follow its own rules)

There is a long thread just started last night on the dark side where people are complaining about this very thing. Surprise .. you had to pick your cabin to get ES and now Carnival wants to sell your cruise and you cant price match. While technically Pete is correct, he can get you that price drop if YOUR category dropped .. by putting out pack n goes for rates you cant price match to, Carnival has gotten around how to reduce prices you cant match to.

Pack n goes generally are for wednesday to friday

https://www.goccl.com/content/specia...ments/PKGO.pdf

I swore I was only going to do pack n goes from now on, but friends were on another cruise on the Triumph one I booked yesterday .. so I booked ES, but its only 3 months out, not far in advance like I used to do. I hate ES myself. All other rates you get price drops until final payment, can be cancelled with no penalties until final payment and you can always change to ES closer in once you are sure of your plans.

People love ES .. until life happens and then they are like .. well no one told me all the rules.

Flowers, it looks like just a Carnival issue and personal situation. Chances are many cruisers have no problems with the ES booking and you just had some bad luck. But what do I know? That I need to "hire" Pete instead of go to my local AAA office, of course!

Originally Posted by Smart Traveler

Flowers, it looks like just a Carnival issue and personal situation. Chances are many cruisers have no problems with the ES booking and you just had some bad luck. But what do I know? That I need to "hire" Pete instead of go to my local AAA office, of course!

Smart Traveler, yes, I answer questions on another site, about booking Carnival in particular and people all the time dont read the fine print. They dont know all the rules of the early saver fare. ES fare is a rate particular to only Carnival.

I agree, let Pete guide you. AAA is a generic company with irons in lots of fires. Pete specializes in cruises which is what you need.

Originally Posted by Smart Traveler

Flowers, it looks like just a Carnival issue and personal situation. Chances are many cruisers have no problems with the ES booking and you just had some bad luck. But what do I know? That I need to "hire" Pete instead of go to my local AAA office, of course!

I won't say anything bad about anyone, but we were on a cruise and we were doing the open dining option. We sat at a table with 4 other people and were introducing ourselves, so I asked the lady next to me what she did. She said she was a travel agent with AAA. I asked her how long she had been an agent, while not telling her I was one, and her answer was 20 years. I said she must have been on a lot of cruises during that time and she remarked, I kid you not, "Oh, this is my first cruise." My obvious question was, "You've been selling cruises for 20 years and this is your first cruise. How can you sell something you know nothing about?" Her partner chimed in and remarked, "She's very good at it." All the time, I'm thinking that she must be very good at lying to people!

Another time we were in a AAA office while they were having their grand opening. We're AAA members and went under cover to check out our competition. I won't go into the whole story, but I personally watched and listen to one of their agents try to sell a Carnival cruise to an older couple who wanted to go to the Mexican Riviera and they kept telling the agent they wanted something really nice. The agent never once mentioned any other cruise line even though Celebrity, Holland America would have been a better choice for them. She also kept trying to sell them the airfare and insurance through Carnival - something a good agent would never do. I later did some research and Carnival was offering a $50 bonus commission for their Mexican Riviera cruises, so the agent was only considering herself and not the client.

I have alot of stories about AAA, but you get the picture. Many of their people are simply sellers of travel and aren't really trained travel agents. I made this comment to one of our District Sales Managers with one of the cruise lines and she just smiled at me. She knew exactly what I was saying.

While some people swear by them, personally if I were not an agent, I would never go to them to book my travel. They're very good at what they do, but travel is not one of them.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to pick on AAA because the same could be said about alot of those large agencies as they are always more interested in the money they make than the money they can save their client. It's always important to do your homework and find someone with whom you feel comfortable and trust to work in your best interest and not in the best interest of the agency.

When I first started my own business 9 years ago, I once went into a very well-known travel agency pretending I was looking for an all-inclusive resort in Cancun. I put myself in the role as a customer so I could take notes on how they did business so I could see what to do and what not to do. The agent pulled up Apple Vacations and provided me a quote for one resort that she recommended. That was all I could basically get her to do for me even though I asked her for some other resorts.

So I really learned alot in that when my clients ask about a resort, I provide them as much information as I can get for them, but I never recommend any one place. As I've always said, what one person loves, another will hate. So just because I liked it, does not mean my client will. Plus, once we find a resort they're interested in, then I check the price with several wholesalers, not just one. Apple Vacations is very good, but they often have the highest price. By checking at least 8 wholesalers, I assure myself that the client is getting the best rate possible. Yes, I could be like the other agencies and check Apple Vacations, and provide one price for one resort. That would save me a great deal of time and trouble. But that would be in my best interest, not in the best interest of my client. Lesson learned; if you are talking to an agent about a resort vacation and they only provide one quote from one wholesaler, ask about pricing from other wholesalers. If they cannot or will not look up another one, run the other way.

As the saying goes, the easy way is not always the best way.

But as for the Early Saver Fare offered by Carnival, unfortunately name changes are not allowed. And if you need to change the ship and/or sail date, they will charge you $50 to make the change and transfer the remaining deposit to that booking. It's been set up to be much like what you find with airfare and other cruise lines are now starting to set up specials just like this. I'm guessing it won't be long before all the cruise lines have some type of fare that is pretty much the same as the ESF.

Pete