Prices Dropping?

HI,  We're thinking of going on a cruise this summer...  I hear if we wait till closer to time to sail, we could get a better rate.   Is this true???? 

Well it does say all over the site that the summer bookings are going up in price in a few days, but I think it's generally better to book on the early saver rate (if there's still time) and if the price goes down from there for your actual category, etc. you can get on-board credits for the difference if you fill out a form on this site.  It wouldn't hurt to get some of those gratuities paid off for you.  :)  I suppose the price *could* go down, but it's a pretty popular time to go.  Doesn't seem worth the risk to me.

That used to be the way it was in years past but things have changed.  Plus, rates for summer cruises will be going up beginning 3/22.  Summer months are usually pretty busy times for cruises, therefore, I would be checking them out now and booking something before the rates go up.  It will also depend on what intinerary you are interested in too.

Sue

not only what the other poster stated, but you risk getting a room that is not in a desirable location. it is true that sometimes when they only have a few rooms left that there is a possibility that to sail full they will drop the rate, but as i said, you risk getting a room that may be noisey, etc.

Robin,

Where is this form located? I just got off the phone with Carnival to try to get a 117.48 credit because the price dropped, but was told they wouldn't do it. They wouldn't even entertain 2 soda cards for my kids to satisfy the difference. I simply got sent packing.

the only people who can get OBC after the final payment date are people who have booked using the early saver rate. 

here is the link to the form for the early saver rate

http://www.carnival.com/cms/fun/earlysaver/default.aspx

Unfortunately, we booked before the early saver rate ever came about. What are they doing for those people?

when the early saver came out a little over a year ago... I know people that changed their bookings over the the early saver rate because they were lower....

I booked my cruise Othrough a AAA travel rep.  Prices dropped, shes been on the phone with them for two weeks trying to get some kind of compensation, all we'd like is OBC even at 50% of the difference.  However, she tried, their policy is what it is, even with the people she deals with at Carnival, supervisors and others, she could get nothing.   I also realize, that if they gave everyone OBC everytime they dropped prices online they would not make any money.  You get rewarded with the best room selection for booking early, sometimes you get lucky, book early, get a good room and the early saver rate, sometimes you get lucky by booking late where you just happen to get a great rate and a decent room.

Oh well....the money would be nice, we're not rich, but I'm going to go on this cruise and have a blast.  I can't wait, my husband and I are so excited to be going again so soon.  The fact that we were able to book with the rates we did tells me we are pretty fortunate.  I know there are a lot of people out there right now who would just like to be able to take their families on a weekend getaway, but can't afford to.  Soooo.....am I upset?  Not really....just wish we would have booked early saver rate!!!  Lesson learned.  Gonna have a great time because we are goin on a boat!!!!!!

We have booked two cruises now, both fairly close to sailing.  We are never able to plan ahead for vacations because of our line of work.  We had pretty good luck still getting a nice cabin on the Paradise, which is an older less popular ship, booking only about 12 days ahead.  However, it was in NO WAY cheaper to "fill the ship."

The Dream was an entirely different story.  All of the good cabins are already gone for a cruise over 50 days away.  We ended up in a Spa room, which I'm sure will be great but again cruises are sailing very full right now.  Hence, the reason they are raising prices.

It cracks me up to see the cruise countdown clocks that say my next cruise is 372 days away, etc....maybe one day I can get the early saver rate.

Kand22 - Not sure what type of cabin you booked, but rather than try to get an OBC, maybe you could get a cabin upgrade??  I know many that have been able to do that, you might want to talk to your travel rep to see if that is possible, hey at this point anything would be better than nothing!  The most that they can say is no.

Sue

That's why it's always better to book directly with Carnival.  They always have the best prices and if you've booked with a travel agent Carnival can't help you, you have to use your travel agent.  I've booked the early saver and gotten some price reductions.  Right now I have 2 cruises booked early saver but neither have gone down past the price I have.  When my past cruises rates have dropped I had no hassle at all getting the reductions.

They did offer us, through our travel agent, a little upgrade on the cabin, but the cabin we have right now is right in the center of the ship (I have trouble playing video games because of motion sickness), the cabin offered is toward the rear 1 floor up.  Truly it is no big deal....something in the line of OBC would have been nice, but no big deal....like I said, I'm just excited we are going again.

How do you even find out that the price dropped?

Just check online....like you are booking the cruise.