Can anyone tell me, do you save anything if you have cruised 3 or 4 times before? I'm almost tempted to think that you do, but whenever I mention it to my "Personal Vacation Planner"""...he almost stutters and gets tongue tied when I inquire about this....maybe I am not getting what I am entitled to so that he makes more commission?

Use a good Travel Agent. Yes, They have past passenger promotions even if you've only cruise once with Carnival. It isn't on every sailing. The thing is; you have to really compare the Past Passenger promotion with the Early Saver rates (if booking early enough) or any other possible promotions. I've often found the Early Saver promotion still beats the Past Passenger promotion. Just remember the Early Saver deposit is non-refundable.

Early saver is almost always the best price.. The only time a past guest rate would be good is if the cruise might be 1-2 mo out or sooner..

Past cruise discount is not offered on all cruises. It is true that the Early Saver discount is usually the best, but sometimes the military discount is cheaper. You do not have to be active duty, but will have to provide a copy of your DD214.

Hi Jack Stephan Sr, and Welcome to Cruise-Chat!

We happen to be practically neighbors as I live in Windy Hill. http://cruise-chat.com/groupee_commo...on_biggrin.gif

Welcome aboard,

Dwayne

Nice to know that we use the internet to find people of like interests that are local. Know the Windy Hill area well. since we spent many vacations in Crescent Sands and owned a unit at Beach Cove during the 2001-2002 years period.

There have been many times that the Past Guest Discount was not available when we booked a cruise.

Our PVP simply watched the price of our cruise and when the Past Guest Discount did become available...he reduced our final payment.

ES is usually (but not always cheaper)....
Military discount is great, even available....

and if you work for an Airline (or FAA) the Interline discount is good as well.

You can get all of these through your PVP....

The only advantage is using a PVP over a TA is that IF there is a price reduction...the PVP does NOT work for commission...so them getting you a lower rate does not affect their pay check.

It may affect a TA's pay, but any TA that values a client's business will not have any problem reducing the cruise rate. Also; all the rates can be booked through a TA.

If a passenger books through a TA and the TA has group space blocked for the date the passenger wants to travel, the TA often has a better rate than the PVP.

Cruise Fanatic is right that most travel agents happily reduce the price because losing future business is not worth the 10% of the price difference they may lose this time.