CARNIVAL VS DCL: The discussion and comparison thread!

[PrincessTrisha]

OMG guys, my family is seriously thinking about taking the $500 loss and booking the new MSC Seaside. That ship looks phenomenal!! We can book the combined east/west Caribbean itinerary for the same price as our 8 day Vista cruise! That is a 14 day cruise. How crazy is that?

Unless you're past final payment, you shouldn't be losing $500 by cancelling your Carnival cruise (unless you're a family of 10). Even with early saver rates, you lost $50 per person to administrative fees and the rest of your deposit is held for you to use within the next 2 years.

 

[mevelandry]

You should also check out the Celebrity Summit (leaves from Bayonne NJ - just across the harbour). It does the Bermuda run throughout the summer. It's a lovely ship.

It looks great but so far it seems that at this date, it's a signature event and it's much more expensive than the Breakaway.

But I'll look for it if the Breakaway ends up being sold out or too expensive for sure.

 

[mevelandry]

Yes - the 10 day Princess cruise is around $4500 Canadian (for 3 people) and the DCL 7 night cruise was around $4700 US. We're also keeping our Carnival cruise on the Magic (November 11-18) as the cost is very good and then we'll hop onto the Caribbean Princess on November 20th. Even with adding in gambling money, we're still ahead of the game on this one.

Huh, yeah. You can definitely book a whole extra vacation for the price difference!

 

[trvlgirlmq]

Unless you're past final payment, you shouldn't be losing $500 by cancelling your Carnival cruise (unless you're a family of 10). Even with early saver rates, you lost $50 per person to administrative fees and the rest of your deposit is held for you to use within the next 2 years.

Yes, but we can only vacation once a year and 2019 was not going to be a cruise year so it would be a total loss. If I remember you have to cruise within 24 months of cancelling so even if I waited until right before final payment in 2018 that puts us to Spring 2020 and the timing wouldn't work to book something else with Carnival. Even if I add the $500 to the budget we still come out much better on cost for a 14 day versus 8 day vacation.

 

[RedSox68]

Yes, but we can only vacation once a year and 2019 was not going to be a cruise year so it would be a total loss. If I remember you have to cruise within 24 months of cancelling so even if I waited until right before final payment in 2018 that puts us to Spring 2020 and the timing wouldn't work to book something else with Carnival. Even if I add the $500 to the budget we still come out much better on cost for a 14 day versus 8 day vacation.

I must be missing something, but I still can't comprehend why you are losing $500. If final payment isn't until 2018, you have plenty of time to cancel

 

[mevelandry]

I must be missing something, but I still can't comprehend why you are losing $500. If final payment isn't until 2018, you have plenty of time to cancel

If you cancel and you get a credit, you have to use your credit within 24 months, otherwise, you lose it.

 

[trvlgirlmq]

If you cancel and you get a credit, you have to use your credit within 24 months, otherwise, you lose it.

Exactly, I can cancel and they will hold the money but we will not be able to afford a second vacation in 2018 or 2019. Now something could go wrong with our plans for 2019 and then we might choose to cruise on Carnival but it would be a big IF.

 

[mevelandry]

Exactly, I can cancel and they will hold the money but we will not be able to afford a second vacation in 2018 or 2019. Now something could go wrong with our plans for 2019 and then we might choose to cruise on Carnival but it would be a big IF.

I would take a leap of faith and hope for the best. With 500$, you can pretty much pay 100% of a 3 or 4 nights cruise to the Bahamas. That is something I would do if it could prevent me from losing 500$.

 

[cruiser21]

Just remember it's 24 months from the day you cancel so wait until the PIF date to cancel.

 

[keishashadow]

I think you made the right choice. I don't know how much is the price difference but sometimes you can pay a whole extra vacation for your family if you go for the less expensive option.

I find closer to 2-1/2 CCL (military rate) vs DCL (don't quality for their military rate) price.

You should also check out the Celebrity Summit (leaves from Bayonne NJ - just across the harbour). It does the Bermuda run throughout the summer. It's a lovely ship.

Loved our sweet sixteen balcony on the Summit, southern itinerary out of San Juan. Older crowd but food was good, booze was free and TA tossed in gratuities!

 

[mevelandry]

I subscribed to the price drop e-mails on CC for Bermuda from NYC on the Breakaway.

Now I'm watching. The best prices usually happen 7 days before the cruise... I've made a step by step plan so we can move forward very fast if/when the price is right, to make sure I don't miss a thing.

I've printed a fact sheet about the ship. The fact that I booked A Bermuda cruise (then cancelled) before helps because I have kept my itinerary and worst case scenario, we will have two whole sea days at the beginning of the cruise to figure out how things work. Lol

Don't want to get too excited because there is always a chance that the ship sell out before we are confortable with the price.

*Finger crossed*

 

[RedSox68]

If you cancel and you get a credit, you have to use your credit within 24 months, otherwise, you lose it.

Thanks.

 

[RedSox68]

Just remember it's 24 months from the day you cancel so wait until the PIF date to cancel.

But if they cancelled after PIF, wouldn't the credit be a lot more than $500 -- unless that cruise was just that cheap

 

[trvlgirlmq]

But if they cancelled after PIF, wouldn't the credit be a lot more than $500 -- unless that cruise was just that cheap

We booked the Early Saver rate with a reduced deposit. The Early Saver program allows for changes to the cruise date/ship for a $50 administrative fee per person that they take from your already paid deposit. If I were to just change cruises then I would owe the remainder of the deposit for the new cruise right then. If I "cancel" the cruise before final payment they take the $50 per person fee and "hold" the remainder for up to 24 months. The rest of the deposit amount is divided by individual booked so for us there are 4 people on the original booking, minus the $50 leaves $75 per person held. We must book and complete travel within 24 months of cancelling. I really hate the fact that the person who booked and paid doesn't get the whole amount saved to use as they want. If just my mom and I rebooked then I would lose the $75 per kid. I'm thinking we will just take the whole loss and count it as a lesson learned.

 

[RedSox68]

We booked the Early Saver rate with a reduced deposit. The Early Saver program allows for changes to the cruise date/ship for a $50 administrative fee per person that they take from your already paid deposit. If I were to just change cruises then I would owe the remainder of the deposit for the new cruise right then. If I "cancel" the cruise before final payment they take the $50 per person fee and "hold" the remainder for up to 24 months. The rest of the deposit amount is divided by individual booked so for us there are 4 people on the original booking, minus the $50 leaves $75 per person held. We must book and complete travel within 24 months of cancelling. I really hate the fact that the person who booked and paid doesn't get the whole amount saved to use as they want. If just my mom and I rebooked then I would lose the $75 per kid. I'm thinking we will just take the whole loss and count it as a lesson learned.

Thank you so much for the detailed explanation. That is a hard one to decide -- whether to take the loss or not. I have a cruise we cancelled for work reasons and the travel insurance, for which I paid extra for the work reasons clause, is not denying my claim. So I will lose the $960 airfare. That is a very hard pill to swallow since we don't even get a credit to use for future -- and we have never lost that much on a trip before.

 

[mevelandry]

We booked the Early Saver rate with a reduced deposit. The Early Saver program allows for changes to the cruise date/ship for a $50 administrative fee per person that they take from your already paid deposit. If I were to just change cruises then I would owe the remainder of the deposit for the new cruise right then. If I "cancel" the cruise before final payment they take the $50 per person fee and "hold" the remainder for up to 24 months. The rest of the deposit amount is divided by individual booked so for us there are 4 people on the original booking, minus the $50 leaves $75 per person held. We must book and complete travel within 24 months of cancelling. I really hate the fact that the person who booked and paid doesn't get the whole amount saved to use as they want. If just my mom and I rebooked then I would lose the $75 per kid. I'm thinking we will just take the whole loss and count it as a lesson learned.

But if you save A LOT of money by booking another cruise, it's not a huge loss...

And, there is still the possibility that you are going to be able to afford another cruise within 24 months.

 

[cruiser21]

But if they cancelled after PIF, wouldn't the credit be a lot more than $500 -- unless that cruise was just that cheap

No you would lose the deposit after the PIF date. You would get the rest of the money back. It's really no different then DCL except the deposit is non refundable. I won't book with early saver rates because of this. I want to able to cancel and change dates without penalty.

 

[mevelandry]

No you would lose the deposit after the PIF date. You would get the rest of the money back. It's really no different then DCL except the deposit is non refundable. I won't book with early saver rates because of this. I want to able to cancel and change dates without penalty.

Lesson learned on this one.

 

[cruiser21]

We booked the Early Saver rate with a reduced deposit. The Early Saver program allows for changes to the cruise date/ship for a $50 administrative fee per person that they take from your already paid deposit. If I were to just change cruises then I would owe the remainder of the deposit for the new cruise right then. If I "cancel" the cruise before final payment they take the $50 per person fee and "hold" the remainder for up to 24 months. The rest of the deposit amount is divided by individual booked so for us there are 4 people on the original booking, minus the $50 leaves $75 per person held. We must book and complete travel within 24 months of cancelling. I really hate the fact that the person who booked and paid doesn't get the whole amount saved to use as they want. If just my mom and I rebooked then I would lose the $75 per kid. I'm thinking we will just take the whole loss and count it as a lesson learned.

This is what I did, chalked it up to a lesson learned. I was talking to a TA on a DCL cruise he told my a lot of people get burned by this. Be happy it was a reduced deposit and not the whole 1000.

 

[trvlgirlmq]

But if you save A LOT of money by booking another cruise, it's not a huge loss...

And, there is still the possibility that you are going to be able to afford another cruise within 24 months.

We actually won't "save" but even if I add the $500 to what the MSC cost is we get a 14 day cruise for only a couple hundred dollars more than an 8 day. It's still a win in my book!