Seeking Advice on Carnival Pride

Mason

I've used SkyAuction in the past without a hitch, although not for a
cruise. I suggest you try a number of online cruise agencies and/or
travel agents to get quotes for any auction that you're considering. A
few good ones are Cruise Value Center, CruiseQuick, VacationsToGo, as
well as Orbitz, Travelocity and Expedia. I'm sure you've got your own
favourites. There's also CruiseCompete.com which sends your request to
a number of brokers and then forwards the quotes to you via email. You
can also try to check inventory on Travelocity and/or Orbitz to see if
a 1A cabin is actually being assigned or is guaranteed. If it's
guaranteed, your odds of getting upgraded are pretty good. Once you've
established a ball park figure price, including all taxes and port
charges, you're ready to bid. I wouldn't bid anything less than at
least a 25% savings over the lowest price you've found, but that's
your call. I suspect that people that have had a problem with
SkyAuction are those that haven't fully read the full details on taxes
and date surcharges, or those that have tried to change or adjust
reservations. SkyAuction customer service is quite poor, not unlike
that of Priceline (which I've also used for years without any
problem). I also wouldn't consider an auction where there is a variety
of dates available, especially with a surcharge. Unless you're
flexible, the particular sailing you're seeking may be "unavailable",
and then you're stuck choosing another, possibly with a premium
attached to it.

I would also not bid until the very last moment, as you can
inadvertantly get sucked into a bidding war with someone when you are
both using the "autobid" feature that automatically rebids in
increments of $1 until you've reached your predetermined maximum.
Within minutes the bidder with the higher autobid setting will have
reached the lower bidder's maximum + $1.

My wife and I just completed our first Carnival cruise, the Conquest
from New Orleans, and were quite pleasantly surprised. The ship was
sold out, and yet there was always plenty of deck and seating space
throughout the ship. There were deck areas that were almost always
deserted. The staff and pax were the most friendly we'd ever
encountered, and the food was at least equal and in some regards,
better than what we had experienced on RCI. Prime rib, lobster tails,
escargots and pumpkin soup were our favourites. Our wait staff was the
best we'd ever had. Friendly and efficient. Their midnight buffet's
were a bit weak, but they were offered nightly. Entertainment was the
usual Las Vegas calibre stuff, some hits and some misses. Their
photographers weren't as persistent as those on the RCI ships we've
sailed, and their photos were actually quite good. We liked it so
much, that we booked the Destiny departing in a couple of weeks. I
hope our initial positive experience will be repeated there as well.
If you do manage to get aboard a Carnival ship, I hope your experience
will be as good.

BTW, I've found last minute pricing through some online cruise brokers
to be very attractive. We used the Cruise Value Center for our Labour
Day Conquest cruise, paid $383 total per person (4A guaranteed inside)
and were upgraded to a 9A (Lido deck). Due to our last minute booking,
we were able to pick up our documentation at the pier in New Orleans.
No problems whatsoever. If you must fly, using an airline award for
last minute travel is often the most cost effective way of getting to
port.

I just sailed on a 2 day promo cruise on the Pride. It was very nice, no
complaints.
Also, I have used skyauction and had no problems. Best of luck, enjoy!