11 replies to this topic

[~St.T Bride~]

Just curious for those brides who have cruised with Carnival for their wedding and/or any other group function, did Carnival throw in any extras for you? (ie. shipboard credits, free room upgrades or the like?) We are not doing our wedding with Carnival, but with an independent co-ordinator on the island, but we are getting them business by choosing them for our group vacation.

And as of right now, they aren't doing us any favours. What are realistic expectations?

Please let me know!

[Banana11]

You should totally get group perks for taking a large group on the ship. Are you booked as a group through one TA? I cruised Carnival for a friend's wedding (wedding was planned on St Thomas and not through Carnival) and we all were given discounted rates and $100 on board credit.

[sunstarsmoon]

I work part-time for a travel agency that specializes in cruises and YES you should be getting some perks. A group consists of 8 cabins, and if you book thru a travel agent they can get you a discounted rate plus they are give points per cabin which they can decide on how to use them. They can choose to add that to their commission thou, so maybe that is whats happening. But I always use the points for onboard ship credits and other stuff for my clients.

[TATrisha]

I have sailed as a group, and yes we got comps. We all got $50 in room credits (I think we had 6 rooms). We also got slightly upgraded rooms.

[Cattie]

We have our wedding cruise with Royal. I'm not using them for our actual wedding, however I can tell you, we have 21 booked. 11 cabins, we're using our GAP (group amenity points) for a $50 on board credit for each cabin. Also, for every 8 cabins booked we're getting a free berth, which for us since a majority are balconies, is $834.

We didn't get a discounted rate for having a group, but we did get perks. Depending on how big your group is depends on how many GAP points you get. Then based on your points you can pick and choose from a list. I'm pretty certain most cruise lines are comparable with how they do this.

I also am going directly through Royal, not using a TA. I have heard of horror stories where certain TA's have not given all earned perks.

If you don't think you are getting what you deserve, call the group dept directly and give them hypothetical of your exact group and ask what you are entitled to. They should be more then willing to let you know. Just tell them you are considering booking a group for that sailing =)

Hope this help! GL with your planning!!

[~St.T Bride~]

Thanks for your help! I've told my TA that I'm part of a destination wedding forum where brides talk about everything, and that this has been brought to my attention. I just wrote her today, so I'll keep you posted with what she says...good thing is Carnival's deposit is only $25 pp and 100% refundable up until Nov /09. I won't hesitate to change TA's if need be (although I wouldn't do that without giving my TA the benefit of the doubt).

[JenniferSS]

The answer is generally yes, you can recieve amenities/perks for a grp on most sailings -however not all sailings offer Fun Points (Carnivals equivalent of RCCLs GAP points). Sometimes they only offer discounted cabin rates.

I've had some groups where we've had $100 off per cabin and a $200 shipboard credit per cabin and other groups where we were only able to get $25 discount per cabin and no amenity points.

Carnival sets Fun points amounts and with cruise prices falling as they have been I doubt they are offering many extra amenities anymore. They just can't give the vacation away as quality would suffer somewhere-personally I'd rather give up some extra perks and enjoy good food & pleasant staff !

[hunniebee724]

We're getting a $100 per cabin credit and a bottle of wine in each room.

[march132010]

were getting 25 shipboard credit and cash back at the beginning of cruise for hunny moon

[~St.T Bride~]

Well speaking with my TA after hearing from some of you ladies, we are getting some Carnival fun points which is going towards a $75 credit and embarkation bottle of champagne/chocolates...pretty good I think! ( could my TA have just kept these points if I didn't ask?? )

Now, I need some more help. We have a block of 14 rooms with deposits on them which were to be held until the final deposits are due in Nov.

Now, Carnival has called my TA and told her that they will be taking those rooms back as of July 17th since the ship is booking faster than expected. As a TA could she not advocate for more time for us? Or is she stuck?
3 weeks is a little quick to have our invitations (already designed) printed, sent and people booked...

I'm a little disheartened with my whole travel agent / cruise experience. I've booked every international trip myself whether resort or backpacking and have had wonderful experiences. Smooth running experiences. Is it just the cruise industry that is so fickle? Or maybe a TA problem??

-They changed the entire sailing ship/dates last year this time...
-Then they told me that any rooms that had deposits needed names in order to hold them at the price I had gotten (so a mass email was sent by me to my guests ...very tacky!)
-Now they've changed the sailing itinerary
-And SOMEHOW -this really doesn't make sense-.. we have 12 rooms (without names) set aside again and they are trying to pull the same thing they did last year requiring names by Jul 17th...it doesn't make sense.


ARGHHH!