Past guest upgrade...good deal???

My husband and I are ready to book our Western Caribbean 7-day cruise and we are very excited. We are considering Carnival's Legend during the first week of Dec/07. Cruises Only quoted us the following rate and we like to get opinions to see if this is actually a good deal:

$1,602.00 for both, (port charges/taxes/travel insurance included).

Now, our TA said that we are paying for a CAT 8A,(Main Deck), and getting a GUARANTEED upgrade to CAT 8I (Panorama Deck), since we have cruise on Carnival before.

Is this a good deal?

[macmom111]

I think I would check around before I book I think you would be able to get it cheaper...

[cruizinallthetime]

dorispatricia - I checked Carnival's Website and from what I see, a Cat 8I on the Legend for December 2, 2007 starts at $889.00 per person plus tax and insurance. The rate you are stating seems cheaper to me. Hope this helps

[Cruise Fanatic]

It is a good price take it.

Thanks to everyone for the feedback.

So far I have received two lower quotes, 1 about $50.00 less, the other one almost $90.00.

I am still shopping around a little bit, but will be sending out my deposit before week's end.

Thanks again, Ill keep everyone posted!

[jmsettles]

dorispatricia,

I am a shopper when it comes to anything.....So, I check every possible website, even Carnival, and my Travel Agent always gets me the best price. Maybe it is because they specialize in cruising, and they are based out of Florida., but she has beat all the others everytime. Carnival even dropped their rates on the cruise that I am taking next month, and I just emailed my Travel Agent with the new rates that Carnival was listing, and she contacted Carnival...and informed me that we were given a $200.00 credit on my credit card since the rates had dropped. Now, that is customer service!! And, it was even actually after final payment was paid in full.
Let me know if you want her phone#, or email address, I would be glad to get it to you.
Joan
jmsettles@yahoo.com

Joan: Thanks a bunch for the TA referral. I just emailed Jean with all the info and now I await for her responce. BTW, I did mention your name... Doris

[Jim C.]

This Thursday is Carnival's big 35th anniversary sale. I'd check prices from that before I booked anything. You may be able to get a better deal.

[goin' cruisin']

[quote]Carnival even dropped their rates on the cruise that I am taking next month, and I just emailed my Travel Agent with the new rates that Carnival was listing, and she contacted Carnival...and informed me that we were given a $200.00 credit on my credit card since the rates had dropped. Now, that is customer service!!

I went through a travel agent for our first cruise, and booked well in advance. Our cabin price dropped twice during the interim, which I caught on various web sites. After informing the agent, we received credits to our credit card for the appropriate amounts.

When you mention "Now, that is customer service," maybe I'm expecting too much, but should'nt the travel agent be on top of price drops and should'nt the agent be calling you and advising you of the good news? It would'nt seem to be that difficult to have a tickle system on your clients to run a price check on a monthly basis.

I respectfully throw this question out to the TAs on this site. Am I expecting too much as a customer?

Thanks for enlightening me.

[jmsettles]

goin'cruisin',

You do have a good point there!
So, if you were to book directly thru Carnival, do they inform you of price drops? I just happen to have gotten an email from a Carnival cruise agent that gave me the pricing on our upcoming cruise, that is when I realized that it had dropped from what we had alrady paid. I also thought that once your final payment was made, there was no price adjusting., but that wasn't the case for me this time.
Where do you go to check on the rates to see if they have dropped? As I mentioned, I just happened to have gotten an email informing me. I did not know there was a site to continue checking the prices.
Joan