Background Information: We sailed on the Miracle three years ago at this time of year. It was also an 8 night cruise, but with a different itinerary.

We made reservations for this cruise about 16 months in advance using Carnival's Early Saver rate. The initial price was very good, we knew we were going to vacation this week, and we were able to book the Category 11 wraparound balcony suite we wanted, so we were willing to make the non-refundable deposit to guarantee us the lowest rate (if we ever found a lower rate and subject to stipulations). We received one price reduction within a few months after booking and Carnival immediately gave us a reduction in the balance owed. Since that time, Carnival changed the cabin/suite categories (our Category 11 was now a Vista Suite), and unfortunately they were not willing to honor price matching with the original category of cabin booked. I believe Carnival did not uphold its end of the Early Saver agreement in doing this and it left a bad taste in my mouth as a result. Other (original) Category 11 cabins which we were able to price match prior to the category change had price reductions, but since there were only a few Vista Suites on the ship under the new classification, once they quickly sold out, there was no more price matching. Again, I was very happy with the fare we paid, however, I felt that having made a full non-refundable deposit on the booking date, I made a commitment to Carnival, and Carnival did not uphold their end of the contract - they changed the rules in the middle of the game, and you can't do that with contracts.

We had some issues with setting up the dining arrangements. Having previously had freestyle dining with Norwegian, we were very excited to see that Carnival had countered with Your Time Dining. When I made the original booking, I chose Your Time Dining. Later, when we made final payment and printed out our cruise documents, Your Time Dining was indicated. About three weeks before our cruise, we received a "confirmation phone call" from Carnival. My wife said that the person making the call was clearly screwed up as he was saying we had Early Seating for dining. My wife corrected him that it was Your Time. A week or two goes by, and while checking the online reservation, I see that it was in fact changed to Early Seating, even though I'm holding printed cruise documents indicating Your Time. Attempting to change to Your Time on carnival.com was showing that Your Time would be a waitlist. I called Carnival and a very helpful representative was extremely apologetic, and said that it wouldn't be a problem, since we were in a suite, we automatically get our preference of seating. She said even though it showed as waitlist, the following day it would show as confirmed. Sure enough, the following day we were switched back to Your Time. Read more