Carnival Liberty draw scam!!! I Won!, Wish I didn't!

[imluvncruzn]

I wonder if this is something new fleetwide? Everytime I've went there has been several drawings for everything from haircuts, mani's, pedi's, massages, facials, etc. A few years back I won a seaweed wrap but could only use it on night one. I went and it was nice but I would never pay $225 for it. They charge it to your S&S card and I had to sign for it but then they credited the amount back. I also HATE the hard sell afterward from the spa staff. It was aggravating have to listen to the continuous sales pitch for the products even after you've said "no thankyou" several times.

[kcdancerkc]

Wow -- sail away is the best part of the cruise for me -- It is not worth a "chance" at winning anything!!!!

 

Large percentage of beaches in carribean offer massages --- that atmosphere plus a massage is something we cannot get in the Midwest!

[MMastell]

This is something I don't even think of any more. Many years ago we went to the Spa giveaway on Celebrity and walked away knowing we had wasted our time. Now I don't even pay attention to the spa people at embarkation.

 

It's something you get used to but I agree that it is somewhat of a "sham".

 

Take care,

Mike

[SoCalKJ]

On the Ecstasy, I did the spa tour and entered to win. They never drew my name but I did enjoy the free 3 minutes (or so) massage samples in the spa lobby at the beginning of the tour.

 

Funny though, later I got an envelope under my door saying I won!!....a discount....whatever! LOL!

[DallasGuy75219]

On the Ecstasy, I did the spa tour and entered to win. They never drew my name but I did enjoy the free 3 minutes (or so) massage samples in the spa lobby at the beginning of the tour.

 

Funny though, later I got an envelope under my door saying I won!!....a discount....whatever! LOL!

 

And once they have your name and cabin number from the drawing, don't be surprised if you get a call from the spa trying to sell you a "limited time special" for whatever time their bookings are slow:rolleyes:

[sandi422]

As a previous poster stated, a company called Steiner is the operator for many of the cruise lines. Their employees go through an extensive training program that includes how to pressure sell. A part of their compensation comes from their sales. If you want to splurge on vacation, enjoy! If you want a therapeutic massage tailored to your specific needs, wait until you get home. Then visit an independent small business or healthcare based practitioner.

I once had a massage therapist try to sell me a treatment for under eye circles

Disclaimer*** I am a highly trained small business provider of therapeutic services who has researched the requirements to work for Steiner. I chose to pass.

[mzloolue]

Same here, along with the free liquor tasting.

 

 

I did that once.

A line to a table where a bored looking guy gave me a thimble full of something.

It was embarrassing truthfully.

 

I wish that Carnival would come up a bit in their estimation of passenger intelligence.

The spa silliness, the art ripoffs, the BIG SALE of fake watches, the liquor tasting all leave a bad impression of the whole line.

 

And the watches really tick me off.

My son proudly presented me and his father with the watch things.

He believed their lies and was so tickled to give us something nice.

I could not tell him that he got ripped off, but it really made me resent Carnival for promoting this lie.

He figured out that the watches were junk when he took his to the jeweler to get the band adjusted and found out that all the dials were fake.

 

After I catch someone in a lie I never really believe anything they say.

And I have a really long memory.

 

I am just there for the boat ride.

They can keep all their bs. :)

Edited April 18, 2013 by mzloolue

[Frank12]

This is just another example of why CCL targets new cruisers as opposed to repeat cruisers........They don't know any better yet! :D:eek:

[ch27088]

As soon as we boarded the Carnival Liberty in March, we were bombarded by people from the spa department. They told us to go to the Spa immediately to enter to win a $500.00 gift certificate for the Spa. So we went and entered. We were told we had to come back at 5:00pm for the draw. (have to be present to win). So there we are, ship is leaving Miami, and my GF and I are jammed pack in the "gym" portion waiting for this "draw" to take place. Must of been 300 people jammed in that space. All of a sudden, we get a lecture on services they offer, and then they do a draw for $50.00. They go on and on and tied up close to an hour drawing $50.00 every 10 min. I WON!!! Go to book our Spa package and use the "$50.00" certificate, and was told it was only good on regular priced spas! LMAO everything was on sale, and if you wanted to use it the spa packages started at $205.00. What a scam! What a way to force you to see what the Spa offers.

 

Don't waste your time with this "draw" as its bogus.

 

BTW we never did see a $500.00 winner.........:cool:

 

I did a spa treatment on one of my cruises and I will never do it again. I was bombarded with a sales pitch the whole time. I was never able to relax and enjoy the treatment. Don't get me wrong I love going to a spa and having a relaxing time, but never again on a cruise!

[uncleg]

Yes I avoid the SPA drawings now. Lat time I went it was like 10 $50 coupons or towards specific services. I have won a complimentary "computerized" body fat and other body measurement service. It turned out to be nothing more than a sales pitch and the measurements were extremely inaccurate, as I had just had a BF measurement a day or two before.

 

One other after a massage the therapist got real nasty, because I would not buy the products she was pushing.........it kinda ruined to whole session. I withheld her tip and told the desk help why it was withheld.

 

Overall I have had good service in spa, however its one of those things that has now gotten to expensive to indulge in these days.

[topofE]

I did that once.

A line to a table where a bored looking guy gave me a thimble full of something.

It was embarrassing truthfully.

 

I wish that Carnival would come up a bit in their estimation of passenger intelligence.

The spa silliness, the art ripoffs, the BIG SALE of fake watches, the liquor tasting all leave a bad impression of the whole line.

 

And the watches really tick me off.

My son proudly presented me and his father with the watch things.

He believed their lies and was so tickled to give us something nice.

I could not tell him that he got ripped off, but it really made me resent Carnival for promoting this lie.

He figured out that the watches were junk when he took his to the jeweler to get the band adjusted and found out that all the dials were fake.

 

After I catch someone in a lie I never really believe anything they say.

And I have a really long memory.

 

I am just there for the boat ride.

They can keep all their bs. :)

 

I bought the watches on my last cruise. They were very pretty and I didn't mind when I found out that the dials don't work. I did ask them about the dials cause I thought I was looking at a broken one and the sales people tried to brush off the question. But I still thought they were a good deal so I got four sets. Two for my sister and two for me. A week later, at home, we wore our pretty watches to our nursing clinicals. By the end of the day, they were in the trash. NOT WATERPROOF. None of them are. Not even water resistant. Like "wash your hands and the watches are done for good". :(. So now I own 4 pairs of cheap earrings that I paid 80$ for.

[Sparky2]

As soon as we boarded the Carnival Liberty in March, we were bombarded by people from the spa department. They told us to go to the Spa immediately to enter to win a $500.00 gift certificate for the Spa. So we went and entered. We were told we had to come back at 5:00pm for the draw. (have to be present to win). So there we are, ship is leaving Miami, and my GF and I are jammed pack in the "gym" portion waiting for this "draw" to take place. Must of been 300 people jammed in that space. All of a sudden, we get a lecture on services they offer, and then they do a draw for $50.00. They go on and on and tied up close to an hour drawing $50.00 every 10 min. I WON!!! Go to book our Spa package and use the "$50.00" certificate, and was told it was only good on regular priced spas! LMAO everything was on sale, and if you wanted to use it the spa packages started at $205.00. What a scam! What a way to force you to see what the Spa offers.

 

Don't waste your time with this "draw" as its bogus.

 

BTW we never did see a $500.00 winner.........:cool:

 

On my first cruise in 2003, we went on a tour of the spa and entered our name in the drawing. However, we never went back for the drawing because we knew we wouldn't get anything for the $50 (or whatever) if we did win.

[bitemyfly]

When I had my issue with the spa , carnival tried to suggest I should seek help from Steiner as they are the ones who run the spa.. That aconflict lasted about 2 mins. Wonder how may fall for that line

I had pointed out that I paid carnival , not their sub contractor

[airmj2123]

I did that once.

A line to a table where a bored looking guy gave me a thimble full of something.

It was embarrassing truthfully.

 

I wish that Carnival would come up a bit in their estimation of passenger intelligence.

The spa silliness, the art ripoffs, the BIG SALE of fake watches, the liquor tasting all leave a bad impression of the whole line.

 

And the watches really tick me off.

My son proudly presented me and his father with the watch things.

He believed their lies and was so tickled to give us something nice.

I could not tell him that he got ripped off, but it really made me resent Carnival for promoting this lie.

He figured out that the watches were junk when he took his to the jeweler to get the band adjusted and found out that all the dials were fake.

 

After I catch someone in a lie I never really believe anything they say.

And I have a really long memory.

 

I am just there for the boat ride.

They can keep all their bs. :)

 

I wish I could tell you that other lines don't do the same thing but on Celebrity:

Same junk watches

Same spa raffle

Same junk art auction

Same thimble of free booze

[bitemyfly]

I wish I could tell you that other lines don't do the same thing but on Celebrity:

Same junk watches

Same spa raffle

Same junk art auction

Same thimble of free booze

 

True but a constant barrage of PA announcements for a pitchman

[DTXCruiser]

I have little sympathy for the OP. nothing in the description indicates a "scam" and titling as such is more harmful than what you describe. Essentially you're upset because you didn't like the manner in which you were given free stuff and didn't like the rules the FOR PROFIT business put in place to ensure their continued efforts to stay in business.

 

I would say, "buyer beware", however, you didn't actually purchase anything, did you?

 

By the way...did you use the FREE $50 certificate?

[airmj2123]

True but a constant barrage of PA announcements for a pitchman

 

One of the reasons I like Celebrity, less announcements

[mattp269]

"This is just another example of why CCL targets new cruisers as opposed to repeat cruisers........They don't know any better yet!"

 

"Large percentage of beaches in Carribean offer massages."

 

"I have come to look at the spa as a step about the art folks."

 

"...along with the free liquor tasting."

 

"There's a little known secret obout these cruise ships.... They're a business trying to make money."

 

I wanted to add just a little commentary to this discussion, and what I feel is part of the issue. And I would like to thank the number of posters I have quoted above from this article.

 

Years ago, other than people living in a major city or going to a major tourist destination, services offered in the spa were very rare to find on land. Carnival / Steiner have not keep up / adjusted pricing to compete with on-land service providers and therefore do seem very expensive.

 

As the poster stated above, Carnival is a business, and as such their obligation is to provide a return to stakeholders. I would have thought that a multi-billion dollar company would have had more original ideas to make more money for their shareholders than offering spa services, art sales, liquor sales & trinket sales. These product offerings were good enough in the past, they are probably fine for "first time" cruisers, but, cruisers who have traveled multiple times don't spend their money on these offerings and I am sure would "like" to have new opportunities when they travel.

[katcruiser1]

Oh thats not good to hear.....Im cruising solo in Nov. and was hoping to spend some relaxation time in the spa:mad:

[CanWeGoYet?]

I have little sympathy for the OP. nothing in the description indicates a "scam" and titling as such is more harmful than what you describe. Essentially you're upset because you didn't like the manner in which you were given free stuff and didn't like the rules the FOR PROFIT business put in place to ensure their continued efforts to stay in business.

 

I would say, "buyer beware", however, you didn't actually purchase anything, did you?

 

By the way...did you use the FREE $50 certificate?

 

I didn't read it that way. The contest promoted a prize for $500, but in reality was $50. It couldn't be used for the numerous spa services that were discounted - only applied to the most expensive services. So in effect she would be out more $ using the prize.

 

It only cost her the time she wasted trying to win something of little to no value - but cruise time is valuable. We pay a lot via vacation time & budget to be on a cruise.

[Love my butler]

First of all, you're upset with Steiner Leisure, not Carnival. They're an outside company who runs the spa (and about 75% of the cruise ship spa industry). You could have left at any time... You're not out any money and you didn't have pay to enter their drawing. Did you think they were giving away $500 out of the goodness of their heart? They're a business who where making new customers aware of what they offered. They were GIVING AWAY $50 credits every 10 minutes, which you won and were under no obligation to use, and yet you're upset that you weren't given something free and it's a scam???? It's called a promotion. There's a little known secret obout these cruise ships.... They're a business trying to make money. If you didn't like what you were seeing after 10 minutes, walk away. Nobody owes you anything and there certainly wasn't a "scam". I'm sure many of the winners were happy to apply a 25% discount off their $200 treatment. If you're not interested, walk away and enjoy your vacation.....

 

It's deceptive and the OP wasted a lot of her valuable vacation time. CCL takes advantage of the less-savvy and they should be ashamed. Blaming these deceptive practices on a subcontractor is laughable. The buck stops with Carnival.

[workingmom67]

As soon as we boarded the Carnival Liberty in March, we were bombarded by people from the spa department. They told us to go to the Spa immediately to enter to win a $500.00 gift certificate for the Spa. So we went and entered. We were told we had to come back at 5:00pm for the draw. (have to be present to win). So there we are, ship is leaving Miami, and my GF and I are jammed pack in the "gym" portion waiting for this "draw" to take place. Must of been 300 people jammed in that space. All of a sudden, we get a lecture on services they offer, and then they do a draw for $50.00. They go on and on and tied up close to an hour drawing $50.00 every 10 min. I WON!!! Go to book our Spa package and use the "$50.00" certificate, and was told it was only good on regular priced spas! LMAO everything was on sale, and if you wanted to use it the spa packages started at $205.00. What a scam! What a way to force you to see what the Spa offers.

 

Don't waste your time with this "draw" as its bogus.

 

BTW we never did see a $500.00 winner.........:cool:

 

Thanks for the heads up as I'm sailing on the Dream May 4 and was planning on doing the tour and attenting the raffle. I checked my Apr 6 copy of the Fun Times and it says "Enter the spa raffle to win UP TO $500 in spa credits!" When you look at the simplified listing of activities at 5pm it says FREE $500 spa raffle. Very misleading; glad I now know better thanks to you!

[belles]

That scam reminds me of the drawing they have in the gift shop. You have to be present and you win a not so impressive gift. They also say be at the gift shop at a given time when they reveal these Pandora look alike bracelets. That's a joke, they cram so many people there, the people go crazy looking at all the different colors of bracelets. If you go back into the gift shop the following day, they are all restocked and no crowds. Btw...I bought 4 of them and 1 broke. It's a pain to get it refunded. You have to go through a separate company called Starboard Cruise Services. I'm thinking it's not worth the money I paid for it.

[DirtyDawg]

That scam reminds me of the drawing they have in the gift shop. You have to be present and you win a not so impressive gift. They also say be at the gift shop at a given time when they reveal these Pandora look alike bracelets. That's a joke, they cram so many people there, the people go crazy looking at all the different colors of bracelets. If you go back into the gift shop the following day, they are all restocked and no crowds. Btw...I bought 4 of them and 1 broke. It's a pain to get it refunded. You have to go through a separate company called Starboard Cruise Services. I'm thinking it's not worth the money I paid for it.

 

It's not a scam. it's just aggressive sales tactics.

 

Hey these guy are people too. They are just trying to make a living.

 

................Just like all those telemarketers, used car salesmen, furniture sales people, time-share sales people, and those "lawyers" who offer you a piece on a huge inheritance - just send them some cash first.;)

 

If you can buy a dollar for 95 cents - that's a deal. If someone offers you a dollar for 25 cents - run away - fast! :eek:

[PAMWANTSTOCRUISE]

Read the whole description, ask questions, ask questions of other cruisers. I subscribe to live and learn. You lost an hour of your time, next time you won't. I do a lot of the tours when I am on a new ship, grab a drink and enjoy, it's a great way to learn about the ship.

 

The other so called scam is the shopping talks. Sometimes I go, sometimes I don't. My girls like to walk around port and get all the "free" stuff. You know, bracelets, charms, del sole rings, etc. It's really not worth much if anything but the girls have fun and if we don't have an excursion booked who cares. Or we make a quick trip when we return from an excursion. kind of like a scavenger hunt.