First Time Cruiser - Booking Question

[allgood2010]

Ok so here is my question..

We will be taking a 7 day Riviera Cruise on Carnival in June for our Honeymoon. We spoke with Carnival directly and then someone with a different company who promised us a $20 lower rate. The person from Carnival said that undercutting is not allowed (the other company's person called up Carnival, verified the rate I gave them since it was public knowledge online and then gave me the price match/lower prices).

Today the cruise has gone up $60 total. That would be $80 more with Carnival than the other agency.

Any thoughts what to do here or ways to get Carnival to give me the lower rate?

I guess since I'm usually great at getting Travel deals I am sort of lost being that I have never booked a cruise before.

Thanks for any advice.

[Kamloops Cruiser]

Usually a Travel Agent is your best bet for booking a cruise.
They will represent you and not the cruise line . When you call the
cruise line your agent might not be avaiable or heaven forbid was let go(fired) the you made the booking .

[AF1]

Since you are used to getting travel deals, see if either Carnival or a travel agent will give you onboard credit; that way you will have some money already on your account when you board.

[Mike M]

I would stay with the Travel Agent. They will usually do more for you than a Carnival PVP. An agent has access to the same pricing as Carnival and while they cannot sell for less than Carnival sells the cruise they can add OBC, insurance or other amenity that Carnival will not.

Take care,
Mike

[LisaK]

i am a bit confused here, have you booked already? if you haven't then you are out of luck with the lower rate and would have to go with the current published rate

[allgood2010]

We actually booked our cruise today. We had the price held a few days ago until we could make the full payment.

Turns out that the TA offering us a lower price than Carnival was not following rules. I guess the fact that they took the pricing I gave them then called Carnival and undercut them was a big No No.

That's ok it was a very small difference and I like the Carnival Rep we were working with.

So we're all set. We booked the cruise which is a spa interior room on Carnival.

Purchased flights from Jet Blue. We had to fly out the same day since our wedding is the previous day. Good thing the flight leaves early and is only 1 hour long.

I also purchased the medical and evacuation insurance for a total of $38 for both of us since after reading a lot on this forum so many people say it is important.

We are so excited! This will be our honeymoon and I can't believe we are actually getting to go on a week long cruise!

Thanks for all the help.

[AF1]

sounds like you made a good choice. Keep your travel agents phone number handy; if u run into problems just prior to sailing you can reach out and call your agent. Have fun.

[LisaK]

sounds like everything is falling into place for you. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask