OK I know that this is probably a scam, but

[Crystalbast]

has anyone received a promotional notice in the mail that you have been selected to receive an 8 Day/7 Night Cruise for 2 with an outside cabin? It indicates Carnival but does indicate that the promotion is not sponsored by or affiliated with Carnival. I have not called the 1-877 number.

 

I know it is probably a hoax or scam but it should would be nice if it was an authentic offer. I was the victim of identity theft a couple of years ago so of course I am paranoid about scams.

[WiCruiseDreamer]

has anyone received a promotional notice in the mail that you have been selected to receive an 8 Day/7 Night Cruise for 2 with an outside cabin? It indicates Carnival but does indicate that the promotion is not sponsored by or affiliated with Carnival. I have not called the 1-877 number.

 

I know it is probably a hoax or scam but it should would be nice if it was an authentic offer. I was the victim of identity theft a couple of years ago so of course I am paranoid about scams.

 

It is not a "scam" but will require you to sit through a presentation for a timeshare group.

[Sargent_Schultz]

There may be a "free" cruise behind it, but the "free" cruise will cost a lot.

[Sargent_Schultz]

It is not a "scam" but will require you to sit through a presentation for a timeshare group.

 

and perhaps pay all taxes and book transportation through a specific agency and on and on. There are several ways they work it.

[SkyMaster]

Yep, and if you start asking them questions about how much this "free" cruise is going to cost you, they get real defensive. Also, I found out that you'll be very limited on when you can take this "free" cruise, that's going to cost you almost as much as if you had booked it yourself. You'll be required to give them several dates that fit your schedule, (difficult if you're working) and then they will let you know when you can actually go. All in all, you'll probably be far better off to just pick up the phone and make a reservation. Just my opinion, based on my actual finding when I got one of those post cards. ;)

 

"SKY"

[yogimax]

Timeshare

[kjunea]

If you google the phone number for you to call, you will find lots of information about it. I got one too, as did my husband a couple of weeks ago.

[larkz]

Scam, plain and simple. The minute they try to fake an element of any advertisement media, it is a scam. This includes such schemes as fake checks, fake subscription renewals, fake winnings, fake official letters from government agencies.

 

Giving the impression that mailing is a Carnival promotion is deceptive. Ask yourself -- if they start out a relationship with you by lying their *sses off, why consider any kind of transaction with them?

[firefly333]

Not a timeshare, its a vacation plan so they can honestly tell you not a timeshare if you call ..its worse, you dont actually get anything for buying into it.

 

Mine says FEES .. and yep, they can charge any amount of fees, including booking fees, port fees etc.

 

I actually went thru with it .. and its for a 1A, but they gave me a supposed upgrade to a 4A .. next to the engine. Worse deal I ever made.

 

Wouldnt do it again.

 

Btw, I had to contact better business bureau to get the cruise, and my post card promised out of Galveston, and they told me flat out that wasnt going to happen and the TA booking agent, is not the company who sent the postcards, so whatever the postcards said they did not have to honor.

[golfadj]

I am getting the call quite often recently. When I ask quetions about availability get answers that tell me to hang up.

[MommaOf3Princesses]

We have gotten the 'free cruise' one and just today got the '2 free round trip airfare' one. They come in a hand written addressed envelop and have some sort of vacation club or travel agency logo and header on them.

The first time i got one i did some research and many times they ask for some sort of money or deposit and then take your money!

I just pitch them!

[Moobaby214]

We got the card, attended the presentation, informed them i'd die if I had to spend seven days in one place, took our certificate, and left. $17 here, $100 there, use this TA, no thanks give me my money back. Out $17 on entire experience, definitely wouldn't do it again.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[golfadj]

We did get once for caribbean cruise of 7 days leaving from portland once.

 

Still wondering how they do that

[LuckyZ]

I live by several golden rules, one of which is:

 

"if something looks too good to be true, it usually is"

[golfadj]

I live by several golden rules, one of which is:

 

"if something looks too good to be true, it usually is"

 

Another one is Aint no free lunch!

[GlendaleCruiser]

A friend got roped into that. I tried to warn her, but...............

 

The "free cruise" was about 1/2 the full price as she had to pay taxes and port fees on the entire cost (1/2 of the charges).

 

She had to sit through a timeshare presentation.

 

She could have gotten the cruise for the same price through a CCL sale.

It was not endorsed by Carnival, even though the timeshare company used their logo.

[kinggartk]

....And be careful, even though they have a carnival logo, your not guaranteed carnival. We researched one of these a bit some time ago. Small print stated it could be through one of several cruislines. The one they offered us was a cruise line I had never heard of. The ship was an old one from the 80's, I want to say about 40K tons. I don't recall the name of the ship or the cruisline.

[SadieN]

The postcard we got said we could get an 8day cruise to St Thomas, etc from Los Angeles. It was roundfiled.

[nina_930]

It's not a scam, but it's BS. You go for the presentation for a travel club. Which actually sounds really really good. But if you say no they bring over someone else to try and persuade you and then they bring a 3rd person. They don't giv e you a certificate for the cruise and/or airfare until after they've gotten really pissy about you saying no. They make you sign a paper saying you understand the free cruise is through a 3rd party and you do not hold them liable for anything.

 

As for the free cruise certificate, you have to mail in like $70 or so and then they send you something else with a whole lot of restrictions. I didn't get that far because I looked the company up and found lots of complaints. Supposedly you have to sent them another check after the one for $70.

 

Bottom line....don't do it. I wish I remembered the names of the companies doing this so you could look it up. But there are a lot of complaints about them.

 

Edit:

The name of the company hosting the presentation is Sea to Ski Vacations and the free cruise is through Wonderland Incentives.

[firefly333]

As for the free cruise certificate, you have to mail in like $70 or so and then they send you something else with a whole lot of restrictions.

 

I had to mail a money order (a whole lot harder to get your money back from than a check or credit card) for $258 for a 4 day it said out of Galveston. After more than a year, they tried to bait and switch to Miami. If I wanted a 4 day and airfare out of Miami I would have booked it. Galveston they said was a premium port, and only full price. Id have to pay the difference. They finally gave me the most awful cabin, usually storage next to the engine, last cabin aft, bottom deck of Triumph out of NOLA, after I pushed them thru Better Business Bureau. (The TA just dared me to complain and let her charge me full price for something else. I knew it was really far aft, but I never dreamed that our back wall and ceiling would vibrate so much and loud that it drowned out the tv, the tv which was green picture every station, the cabin steward said had been fixed 4 times, wouldnt stay fixed)

 

Believe me you are not getting a 7 or 8 day cruise for $70 and probably not thru anything but the cheapest port, like Miami.

[nina_930]

 

Believe me you are not getting a 7 or 8 day cruise for $70 and probably not thru anything but the cheapest port, like Miami.

 

 

The $70 is just for more information. It doesnt' cover the taxes and "fees" involved.