Carnival Vacation Club

[wakewatcher]

I just returned from a Western Carribean cruise on the Conquest. The cruise was wonderful. We joined the Carnival Vacation Club and I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with the club? :rolleyes:

[GoinCruisin]

If you do a search on Vacation Club, you will find MANY MANY posts on the CVC... good luck, glad you enjoyed your cruise!!!

[SoloCroozer]

Wakewatcher, we also joined the CVC on the Conquest...Last Oct....we just recently went on the Ecstacy through the CVC and were somewhat disappointed....they were very hesitant about VIP tags while embarking...although they did send us to the Skipper's Club where they were very nice to us....the next disappointment was..no upgrade at all..we were told on the Conquest to always book the lowest catagory cabin and you were almost assured of an upgrade...NOT....we booked a 1A and got a 1A..Don't get me wrong now...we have never had a bad cruise and we just laughed and said live and learn....when it came time for debarkation they told us we were not entitled to VIP tags .....however we had a copy of the letter from CVC that said we were....didn't matter...we got pink tags for the carry your own luggage and get off first...now on the Conquest they escorted us off first before carry your own disembarked...there were also no extras on the Ecstacy for CVC members....the letter said we would go to a special get together for CVC members...never received any info on such a gathering while on the Ecstacy....Oh by the way they said the ship was sold out is why no upgrade....understandable I guess....We have booked the Spirit for Hawaii next April,2006 from Ensenada through the CVC...Yes we booked the lowest catagory again...we are hardheaded....plus I understand they sell the memberships on the Spirit...so we will see....Just prepare yourselves for whatever when you book through the CVC...Without an upgrade you are getting about dollar for dollar for your points...not much benefit from that...I think the Ecstacy has very little understanding of the CVC and didn't want to be bothered with us...again we had a wonderful cruise and the inside cabin was fine....that is the lowest deck we have ever stayed on in our 20 cruises that we have been on....so hope you'all enjoy your CVC...just wanted to let you know our experience with it so far...we have not heard from others about their experiences....Carl

[Wennfred]

Im a Silver member of CVC, We got it on the Spirit this Feb. CVC is still new on many Carnival ships.. One couple wrote that they didnt have a VIP Party but were invited to sit with the Captain for dinner on that first Formal night, which is pretty cool. We booked using our points for Oct. on the Pride Cruise out of Long Beach, also booked 1A Guar. will let ya know if we got an Upgrade.

 

Getting an upgrade using our Membership isnt a guarrenty thing, its just like booking with cash, you get lucky some days. We have had the best luck on TBA or Guarrentee booking. We never stayed in a 1A Cabin yet, if we do this time we will laugh and get over it. LOL

 

You will love the Carnival Spirit, Great ship! and a Great Cruise Director. And yes they are well aware of CVC and you will be able to board and disembark first.

 

Please call CVC and let them know about your Experiance with the Ecstacy so that it wont happen again.

 

I will post the other CVC Threads here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=153804

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=148875

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=58342

[SoloCroozer]

Winnfred, we also are silver members of the CVC....actually boarding is not a real issue with us...if you get to the ship after the initial rush it is never a very long wait to get on board....once we had the attendents understand we were to go through skipper's club at the Ecstacy terminal everything went well...they were very nice...now disembarking can be another matter...as at the Ecstacy terminal where we drove to the pier it would have been very nice to have been VIP exit and been on our way home early...now when we do the Spirit we will be staying in Honolulu for 5 extra days so no hurry to disembark...we did the Spirit in 2001 from Vancouver to Hawaii...so yes we love the ship....

Now our main reason for buying into the CVC was for the upgrade....thats the only way I feel it makes it worth the purchase...otherwise using dollars or points has no meaning..as both are about equal without the upgrade...our T/A also wonders how they plan on continuing sales if they don't offer better perks to members..

It does seem like you will get much better treatment if going on one of the ships that are selling the package...probably because of the newness I don't think the other ships have much knowledge of the program..some of the crew on the Ecstacy were not aware of what we were talking about..same with many of the terminal people...the pursers on the Ecstacy basically refused to acknowledge the CVC as receiving any perks...even after reading the letter we had from the club to show them...however we thoroughly enjoyed the cruise itself..unlike some board participants who trash the Ecstacy we had a great experience on the ship...Carl

[gsb]

nuf said.

[Salty_Breezes]

I agree with the above poster. We cruised on the Valor May 1. This was my first cruise since joining the Vacation Club. We too were disappointed. We went to the Skippers Club where they handled everything just fine and then took us outside the door and pointed where we should go next. We ended up in long lines. We found a Carnival rep and told them we were Vacation Club members. They acted like we were lying. We pulled out our CVC cards. They quickly found someone to walk us to our room. They took us on to a taped off people mover and people were looking at us like hey thats not fair. Then they butted us in front of people standing in line to get their welcome aboard picture taken. I didnt like this. People were looking at us like...hey we have been waiting....what are you doing crowding. They did the same thing when they took the picture for the sail and sign card. Carnival should have a separate area for people to board so you aren't jumping in front of people. It is awkward.

 

During debarkation we were supposed to have VIP tags. We didnt get them. I went to the information desk and was told they really didnt have priority debarkation unless you have an early flight. Huh? What in the world did I pay for then. I am unimpressed with their Vacation Club.

 

Stacy

[Wennfred]

I keep my CVC 1-800 number handy for those situations also so they can also talk to a CVC rep, but this is also good info, I will email CVC right now and let them know what Im hearing so far so that the message gets out.

[Wennfred]

Email sent, Not sure if I will get a reply but I will also write Guess Relations in Miami to get some answers, they can forward the letter to the right department or even the pres. of CVC. Will let you know as soon as I get some feedback.

 

CVC Rep told me that the Carnival Pride is aware of CVC, but from the reviews out of Long Beach, they only have a Skippers Club line, nothing about CVC, this I will address to Guess Relations.

[SoloCroozer]

Winnfred, we did contact the CVC club on our return and expressed our concerns...they were very nice and could not understand why we had run into the situations we did...they felt all of Carnival ships should be aware of the CVC requirements...my wife made a few suggestions she felt would aide all CVC members when arriving on any ship...like a letter waiting in your room giving you instructions on how to use the amenities on each ship and contacts you need to make to use them...the CVC rep thought this a good idea to be looked into...I noticed when we received our confirmation on our Spirit cruise next April that it was less points used than I saw on the web site for that cruise..maybe a perk..?? We are excited about that cruise and will definitely give the club another chance...enjoyed hearing from all who have responded to this thread. Carl

[Wennfred]

Same here, I booked the Pride in Oct. and we got it for lesser points then the ones that were listed. I wrote Guess Relations a letter, but havent mailed it, I will also note the cool suggestions you mentioned about having some instructions in the cabin etc. The Email went out to CVC staff and the letter will go to Martha Colon, advisor to the President so I hope something will come of it.

 

Im currently in Vegas, I just checked out the Wynn hotel, its very nice and elegant but nothing worth writing home about, the buffet is 30.00 pp, and there is a cool light show but you need to pay for a 1 drink minimum to go outside and see it lol, This guy Mr Wynn wants this hotel paid off in a month :eek:

[Bsan1221]

My hubby and I went to the presentation of the Carnival Vacation Club, however, I Personally, didnt agree with what they where selling..

 

Please dont bash me or anything like that just stating my personal opinion.

 

The reason I didnt sign up was first the amount of money you have to pay and the short period of time to pay

 

Also, they keep saying how you had all these perks and stuff, however, I think those perks should be given to people who have cruise more than once on Carnival. For example, on RCCL if you have cruised more than 5 cruises you get certain perks, after 10 , 20, etc... you dont have to pay for them and on Carnival you do..

 

and the other reason I didnt sign up was because they kept saying its for you the people who are faithful to Carnival, etc... but the prices where crazy to sign up. and certain things should be given to you free of charge for being loyal to carnival

[SoloCroozer]

Winnfred, he probaly will pay for the place in a month...!! We go out there a couple of times a year and help them out with their payments....always stay at the Excalibur...spend our money everywhere...Carl

[kkaren]

I joined the CVC in February on board the Spirit. I recently tried to redeem the complimentary Mexican Resort Vacation certificate. It's valid for the El Cid in either Mazatlan or Cozumel. I tried the Mazatlan resort but was told they have nothing available there this year. I was advised to phone back in two weeks when they should have the dates available for 2006. I guess I am not going to get too much of a choice of when I want to go.

[tribbs1]

El Cid is a very nice resort in Mazatlan. If you ever do get in there you will surely enjoy it. I'm guessing the CVC is like being a member of RCI or other timeshare clubs. You have to book far in advance to get the benefit and will only get it if it is available. No guarantees. This doesn't always work out for those of us who don't know what we will be doing for vacations in 2006 yet.:confused: