Has anyone won a cruise?

[Wayfairers]

Has anyone ever won a cruise? How was the room, travel arrangements, etc?

[Talisker92]

The only ones I know of are scams where you have to attend a timeshare presentation, or put up all kinds of money up front

[dawnvip]

My girlfriend won a cruise on HAL. She was playing bingo on a HAL cruise and !winner! a free 7 night cruise within one year.

 

DH and I went with her for her freebie. She had an inside cabin at the aft end, but hey, for free who can complain?

[Wayfairers]

My girlfriend won a cruise on HAL. She was playing bingo on a HAL cruise and !winner! a free 7 night cruise within one year.

 

DH and I went with her for her freebie. She had an inside cabin at the aft end, but hey, for free who can complain?

 

Congrats to your friend. I see many contests (legitimate, not time share presentations) for cruises, but, had never heard of anyone who won. Glad to hear that someone is out there enjoying those free cruises!

[Wekiva Jim]

The wife won a week long DCL cruise from a travel agency a few years ago. We could have had a balcony (two people), but instead choose an inside (four people) so we could bring the kids. Had a great time!

[mapsmith]

My Mom has won a couple over the years. One year she won a Balcony on Celebrity thru A CLIA Cruising Month Mail in Contest. She also won one thru a Smoker Cessation (Nicorette) sweepstakes where they chartered the entire ship and made it non-smoking during the week. Nicorette provided free thruout the ship. :)

[Cruisin' Chick]

Many years ago I worked for the ad agency that handled Princess. When it was time for the 84 Olympics, it was announced that two cruises were given away. One would be given in a drawing of all employees who didn't miss any time during the games (to make up for the traffic jams that were predicted but didn't happen). I did miss one day so I was out of the running for that. The only prize would be given to the employee who came close to guessing how many gold medals the US team will win. I analyze the Sports Illustrated issue devoted to the Olympics and came up with a guess. Then if I heard a fellow employee mentioning their guess and thinking it was way off, I suggested they check out the issue. So many of them started rooting for me when it was down to a few days and it looked like it might be me.

 

On the final day of competition, the US unexpectedly won a medal in equestrian (the Brits were expected to win). So I missed it by one -- and someone had that number.

 

I'm not sure what was included besides the cost of the cruise.

[cruisekap]

My niece won a RCI Majesty Bud Light cruise. Included flight, cruise, alcohol(all Bud products) and a private party of Coco Cay(I believe Dave Mathews performed)

:)

[Imagineer]

...according to the phone call I got this morning, I just won a cruise to Cancun for the 48th time in a row, I hung up...:rolleyes:

 

cheers,

 

the Imagineer

[GlendaleCruiser]

Not me, but my friend won a cruise on Carnival for 7 days for two people. She won it playing bingo on a Carnival cruise that we were on. It was in the Grand Suite.

 

She did not take me...................:(

 

On the flip side, it was valued at $4,000 and she had to pay about $1,000 in taxes on it (USA).

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have never won a cruise.

 

But in the HAL section, several people have mentioned that they won a cruise playing Bingo. HAL's is usually a Caribbean 7 day cruise -- inside cabin.

 

A few people mentioned that they paid to upgrade to a better cabin.

 

And some people didn't realize that they had to pay taxes on the cost of the "win" cruise.

[firefly333]

Has anyone ever won a cruise? How was the room, travel arrangements, etc?

 

Hope you didnt get one of those post cards .. scam.

 

Iv won a cruise voucher on auction on ebay ... that you redeem for a cruise. Thats how I got many of my cruises, 6 of the ones I have booked in fact.

 

Nothing like being sat with your group and finding out you paid more on auction than anyone else at the dining table... Im off to fly to Ft. Lauderdate today to board Oasis tomorrow. .. my best buy is Nov Oasis, inside $600 total for 1 or 2 people. The one today I also paid to upgrade to a OV balcony and fee to change 2nd pax name. $1300 for 2 of us on Oasis, normally about $2300ish for 2 in a OV balcony.

 

So, I won the auction, but not free. . but it does include all taxes and fees.

[eh2zed]

I have won so many cruises from telemarketers I lost count. I decline in order to let someone else go in my place.:D

[Wayfairers]

I think we have all won from telemarketers.... they are one reason I no longer have a home phone. And, I throw away all the cards saying I have won a cruise. :D:D

 

I'm glad to hear that several people know someone that has won a cruise.

 

Never thought about looking on ebay for cruises - I'm going to check that out.

 

We watch Kelly & Regis most mornings while we have breakfast and wondered several times if the winners if their trips realize they could probably have bought the trip off the internet for less than the taxes they will have to pay. But, we may be wrong.... $1000 in taxes for a $4000 cruise isn't the 50% tax I thought we Americans had to pay on things we won.

[firefly333]

i dont think they are using ebay for US, other auction sites now being used. If you google for cruise vouchers, you will see what I mean.

 

No cruise is ever free. Even if they say YOU WON. lol but you can bring down costs.

 

I even did the post card cruise and went to the sales pitch.. saved a little eventually, wouldnt advise anyone to do that.

[Wayfairers]

We actually find the sales pitches entertaining.... we have gotten a lot of cash, merchandise and free meals in MX doing them. It is always fun to try to figure out their sales technique and screw with them. We spent almost every morning during a 2 week visit to PV doing them because it was rainy season and rained every morning. We figured, why not get a free meal, etc instead of sitting inside wishing the rain would stop. We were done and back at the resort by the time the sun came out. The trick is to name a price you truly wouldn't mind paying for what they are offering and let them tell you no. Example.... they want 50,000, you offer 3,000, they say no and send you out the door.

 

I've never done the post card cruise - could you tell me more about it? Why wouldn't you advise anyone to do it? What line? How long? Where to?

[Taxguy77]

On an NCL cruise we had a trivia partner who won a cruise at bingo. She was very happy to be able to take her mother on a cruise rather than her mother always paying.:p

BAD NEWS: It was an inside cabin, restricted cruise and time of year, and NCL refused to allow her to upgrade, :( Her mother had clostraphobia and couldn't stay in such a room. :mad:

The talk of about 200 of us in line at the airport after debarkation was all negative about NCL.

 

Note: That was several years ago, bad customer relations is remembered a long time.

[K&RCurt]

The company I work for had a big picnic / open house / party for the 20th anniversary of the founding of our US division. They put everyone's name in a hat and had a bunch of prizes they gave away at the end of the event.

 

The grand prize was a cruise that had been donated by our corporate travel agent. For that prize, my name was drawn!

 

We met with the T/A and she talked with us about our lifestyle, what we liked etc.

 

The trip included airfare from Philly to the departure port and a balcony cabin on a 7 day Caribbean cruise on HAL as well as a hotel room in FLL for the night before the cruise.

[jocap]

I used to enter competitions in a big way, when we'd moved areas and I couldn't get full time work....I was part of a club, and a cruise would sometimes be won by a member....it was one of the 3 Cs- cruise, car, conservatory. I never managed any of the Cs, but I won every kind of electrical gear, holidays and money- which comes in handy for a cruise! There's no tax on any winnings in Europe, so there was never anything extra to pay for cruise winners- in fact, there was often cash for spending money added, if it was a promotion from a big firm.:cool:

My best prize was winning shopping for a year at a supermarket, and that paid for OH to fly to the Red Sea and learn to dive. The best prizes were usually slogan writing competitions.....Go on, have a go!:)

Jo.

[Nebr.cruiser]

Not me, but my friend won a cruise on Carnival for 7 days for two people. She won it playing bingo on a Carnival cruise that we were on. It was in the Grand Suite.

 

She did not take me...................:(

 

On the flip side, it was valued at $4,000 and she had to pay about $1,000 in taxes on it (USA).

 

I've often wondered about how much taxes are and if they are figured on the retail, listed, non-discount cruise price that is in the brochures, which, as almost everyone knows, is much higher than what most people actually pay.

 

I've often thought about this on shows like the Price is Right, where the prizes have huge price tags that have no reality with actual prices; so, you have to pay taxes on that supposedly $4000 fridge, say, when it could be bought at any discount store for much, much less--like $1500.

 

I wonder how people pay the taxes on some things; I have heard many people refuse the prizes once they realize how much cash they have to ante up for taxes.

[gypsydeb]

:oFunny you should ask. Just won a Carnival cruise for two at my supermarket last week!!!!!!!!!!:D 4 day inside room. I can upgrade of course to a 7 day balcony which I will,of course I pay the difference. I talked to Carnival yesterday and it sounds easy enough only 800 more out of my pocket to upgrade includes all fees taxes and tips, plus obc 75$. The whole prize was worth 1088$.Am thinking of going on Conquest next oct. and will be on the boards looking for answers to questions.:)

[Wayfairers]

Congrats to those who have won a cruise! Gypsydeb - have fun!

[GlendaleCruiser]

I've often wondered about how much taxes are and if they are figured on the retail, listed, non-discount cruise price that is in the brochures, which, as almost everyone knows, is much higher than what most people actually pay.

 

I've often thought about this on shows like the Price is Right, where the prizes have huge price tags that have no reality with actual prices; so, you have to pay taxes on that supposedly $4000 fridge, say, when it could be bought at any discount store for much, much less--like $1500.

 

I wonder how people pay the taxes on some things; I have heard many people refuse the prizes once they realize how much cash they have to ante up for taxes.

 

 

the normal tax rate on a lump sum (last I heard) was 39% of the value. Good for her and bad for her that Carnival gave her the best suite on the ship as her winnings. Good because she never would have paid for that level of suite and bad because it bumped up the tax liability. Not sure why she only had to pay $1,000

[Sailor_Sally]

Yes , My daughter won a cruise playing bingo on NCL . It was an ocean view cabin and she had a huge choice of itineraries .

[obxgirl]

The only ones I know of are scams where you have to attend a timeshare presentation, or put up all kinds of money up front

 

We won a Carnival cruise on their non-smoking ship (can't remember the name) in the late 90s. It was a great 7-day Caribbean cruise including air (started in San Juan and went to the American and British Virgin Islands). We had cruised many times before and have since. This one was comparable to other cruises we have taken. We won it when we activated a phone card that came with a bottle of Centrum vitamins. We hadn't even noticed that they were offering a cruise. The poor man who called to notify us had to call three times before we believed him.