If you book a cruise with Carnival using their Early Saver program you can also get price protection included with your purchase. The great thing about price protection is that in case the price ever drops even lower you can either get that money back and is it towards on board credit or you can use it to upgrade to a higher category stateroom.
It’s relatively easy to use the price protection form with Carnival cruise lines, and you can see an example of the form here. This article will just cover some of the basics you need to know about the price protection and what it takes to qualify. Some people are confused by how this all works, but these tips should make it simple and easy to figure out.
Who Qualifies?
First you need to realize that you can only qualify for the price protection program with Carnival if the rates have dropped for the same ship, sail date, and stateroom that you have booked. So if you booked an ocean view room, and the prices have dropped for the interior rooms or balcony rooms only you will not be able to get any extra money back. But the cool thing is that if your room category’s rates do drop you can use the price difference toward a category upgrade and get an even better room.
How can the price difference be used?
You can use the difference between the price you paid and the price the cruise has dropped to for on board credit on the ship or for an upgrade. You cannot just get the money back as cash. This would be nice, but using that money as on board credit can be just as good as you will probably be spending some money on the ship anyway.
It might take a couple days for Carnival to get back to you but if your claim is legit you will be able to use that price protection without any problems.
Cruise ship rates could drop at any time and you really never know how long it is going to last. Sometimes a cruise deal may only last for a few hours to a couple days, and if you don’t see it you will never know that you could be entitled for a monetary refund of some sort. Some people recommend sending in a screen shot of the price difference on your computer so that Carnival can verify it, but they already have this information since they are the ones who approve these price drops.
It would be nice if the price difference could be applied to your room automatically without you having to keep checking rates all the time, but the cruise line would not be able to afford doing this for everyone. This is where it pays to be diligent, as it can save you up to $200 or more on your cruise, or at least have that much money to spend on board your ship.