A "Free Cruise" scam?

[shipgeeks]

I'm afraid that a friend of mine has been duped. She received a Free Cruise postcard.......you know the rest.

She assures me that rather than calling the number on the card, she called Royal Caribbean, who confirmed that the deal is legitimate. She says they do not have to attend a meeting.

However, I see a number of things that worry me.

The cruise was for two days, on "some new ships, not yet in service, that the company wants feedback on". She upgraded to 7 days and paid $1000. And so on.

She is convinced it's a great deal. This will be her first cruise. She does not yet have a sailing date.

Has anyone successfully gotten out of an arrangement like this, with money refunded?

[hamgela]

You may want to review this thread...

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1917472

 

However, what you're describing doesn't seem right. The one that I got we had to attend a timeshare presentation in order to get our "free" cruise.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We used to get those postcards -- and if we had agreed to the cruise -- we would have to attend the presentation -- plus it would have cost us more to get to Florida than the cruise cost.

Most of those cruises you still have to pay the government fees and taxes.

And they usually want you to buy into a time share. I know of a couple we met on a cruise who fell for this -- the first thing they wanted at the presentation was their credit card. When they wouldn't agree to that and said that they didn't want involved in a time share, they were left on their own to get back to the ship -- no more free transportation.

Your friend should have just thrown away the card.

[marco]

Geez.....a two day cruise and the upgrade was A THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!!!!!! I guess that's going to be quite a sweet suite!

[notentirelynormal]

I've received three calls in the past two weeks about my "winning a free cruise". I just hang up. I'm not sending money to Nigeria either.

 

I once got an email from a friend of mine who was stuck in London because his money and passport were stolen and he just wanted to get back home. Problem was he was from Iran but had lived in the US for well over twenty years. His English was fine. The person sending me the email asked that I wire them $400 for him to get back home but his phrasing wasn't right. Nor was the way he signed off. So, knowing it was a scam I decided to have fun. I asked what about paying for the hotel and whether Judy, insinuating his wife, was with him and did she need money to get home as well. Yes, yes, was the response, for both Judy and me. So I wrote back again and asked who the h*ll was Judy and why was he traveling without his wife? Gosh, golly, never heard from them again. We had to call my friend to tell him his email was hacked.

[Scrapnana]

I'm afraid that a friend of mine has been duped. She received a Free Cruise postcard.......you know the rest.

She assures me that rather than calling the number on the card, she called Royal Caribbean, who confirmed that the deal is legitimate. She says they do not have to attend a meeting.

However, I see a number of things that worry me.

The cruise was for two days, on "some new ships, not yet in service, that the company wants feedback on". She upgraded to 7 days and paid $1000. And so on.

She is convinced it's a great deal. This will be her first cruise. She does not yet have a sailing date.

Has anyone successfully gotten out of an arrangement like this, with money refunded?

 

RCI doesn't have a new ship scheduled for another year. With whom did she actually book? She should be able to get her money back if it was RCI (which I'm guessing it wasn't).

[sail7seas]

I had two offers for 'free' cruises in the last month......

 

I couldn't get them into the shredder fast enough.

 

[GranysT]

WOW a $1000.00 for a 2 night cruise :eek: To me that's 1000 reasons to stay away from this "Freebie". Sad for that to happen to someone trying to take their 1st cruise.

[vivian02]

I had a fellow employee several years ago answer to one of these thinkings that he had a free cruise coming. After paying airfare to Orlando plus government fees for the so called free cruise he got no more than a free ferry ride over to Bermuda and back. I even told him at the time if he had "booked" a 7 day carribbean cruise at the time he would have come out much better on a vacation. What it all comes down to is he got a free post card and that was it. For those who don't know better this is not the way to cruise. Tim

[sail7seas]

granysT

 

WOW a $1000.00 for a 2 night cruise To me that's 1000 reasons to stay away from this "Freebie". Sad for that to happen to someone trying to take their 1st cruise.

 

 

 

I'm afraid that a friend of mine has been duped. She received a Free Cruise postcard.......you know the rest.

She assures me that rather than calling the number on the card, she called Royal Caribbean, who confirmed that the deal is legitimate. She says they do not have to attend a meeting.

However, I see a number of things that worry me.

The cruise was for two days, on "some new ships, not yet in service, that the company wants feedback on". She upgraded to 7 days and paid $1000. And so on.

She is convinced it's a great deal. This will be her first cruise. She does not yet have a sailing date.

Has anyone successfully gotten out of an arrangement like this, with money refunded?

 

 

OP said his friend upgraded from two day to seven day cruise for the $1,000. Still, I would have little faith this is a legitmate offer without a whole lot more evidence.

 

 

[my underline]

[cheerldrmom]

I throw those postcards and letters right in the trash barrell... No one is going to give you a free cruise

My mom got a call from someone claiming to be her grandson...saying he was arrested in canada she would have to send 1000 dollars to get him released.

Luckily my mom is pretty smart the caller first off called her nana my son has never called her nana in his 30 years... she knew he was in chicago not canada... She told the caller they could keep him in jail hahahahah

[SeaTeach]

Recently received 2 postcards from a woman with the last name Smith. Can't even remember her last name. That's just how much of an impact was made. The deal was a free cruise (RCL), and my only obligation was to attend a timeshare meeting. Ya, right!!

[Gunner22aa]

Straight to the shredder. Wouldn't even waste my time doing that except they have my name and address on them. Rates right up there with the e mails like:

 

"Hello dear friend,

 

I need to get 10 million out of my country and need a bank account to deposit it to. Please send me all of your banking information including passwords and I'll split it with you for your time and effort."

 

I might have been born at night but it just wasn't last night.

[kcwingwalker]

Unfortunately some people never get past the word "free" nor do they understand the meaning of the word. They jump when they see the word free and overlook the details. A few minutes with a calculator and a check of current cruise fares would very quickly do away with the word "free".

[Sipsey]

I learned the hard way in Lake Tahoe that, even if they give you what they promised, these time share presentations are not worth the time and aggravation. Do you really want to sit through a hard sell sales pitch while on vacation? I got $50 in casino coin out of it, which was fairly generous, but to get it I ruined an entire morning of vacation.

 

Add to that, if you have an appointment and they don't have anyone to talk to you at that time, they may make you wait and won't give you what they promised until you hear them out.

 

So now when in Vegas, when approached I just tell the person I'm leaving town this afternoon or evening. I don't need or want their "free" show tickets, room for a night or two, or whatever.

 

And, if you actually decided to purchase a timeshare, remember that since the recession started, many timeshares have financially collapsed. No telling what you might be buying into that could turn out to ultimately be worthless. They were never a good deal, and now should be avoided like the plague.

[lifeguard404]

Nothing in life is ever free there will be some kind of catch or scam attached to it.

[hamgela]

I learned the hard way in Lake Tahoe that, even if they give you what they promised, these time share presentations are not worth the time and aggravation. Do you really want to sit through a hard sell sales pitch while on vacation? I got $50 in casino coin out of it, which was fairly generous, but to get it I ruined an entire morning of vacation.

 

 

In our case, the vacation that we received doesn't have that string attached. We already sat through the presentation. We had to sit through the presentation to earn the "free" cruise. We're cruising with NCL in November and we're very excited. We've never cruised with NCL so I'm excited to compare the differences. With that being said, it's not a free cruise. It's highly discounted with about a thousand hoops that you have to jump through to get it. In our case, at the time, it was worth it. In the future, we will not waste our time.

[navybankerteacher]

A couple of years ago five friends of ours telephoned one day - worried to have heard that my wife was stranded in Barcelona and needed cash to get home. Fortunatelly no one was taken in by the scammer who had hacked into her email and sent that plea to the friends she had most contact with.

 

It's scary when you realize how much someone can learn about you if they can access your email.

[CaroleSS]

Yesterday I got a call from "Peggy" from the World Wide Web saying that my computer was infected with an awful virus and they would help me get rid of it. Knowing it was a scam, I decided to have fun.

 

I played really dumb and kept asking who exactly they were and where they were from ("no time to tell you that, this is an emergency! We are getting errors from my computer as we speak....you might lose all your data if you don't act quickly"). By this time I had put my phone on speaker and everyone from work was gathered around trying not to laugh!

 

He told me that they had all my computer information....but needed to verify what my computer's make/model number was. I said "if you have all my info, tell me what my IP address is". (silence) Eventually I was transferred to a 'specialist' who asked if my computer was turned on...I said "no". He told me to turn it on. I told him I couldn't as it was broken and had been so for 3 months! We went round and round for about 15 minutes before they eventually hung up on me....

 

We laughed until we cried! :p

[Sipsey]

We laughed until we cried! :p

 

 

I hope all of you stayed late to make up for the time spent misleading these poor people who are just trying to make a dishonest living scamming you!

[kcwingwalker]

Yesterday I got a call from "Peggy" from the World Wide Web saying that my computer was infected with an awful virus and they would help me get rid of it. Knowing it was a scam, I decided to have fun.

 

I played really dumb and kept asking who exactly they were and where they were from ("no time to tell you that, this is an emergency! We are getting errors from my computer as we speak....you might lose all your data if you don't act quickly"). By this time I had put my phone on speaker and everyone from work was gathered around trying not to laugh!

 

He told me that they had all my computer information....but needed to verify what my computer's make/model number was. I said "if you have all my info, tell me what my IP address is". (silence) Eventually I was transferred to a 'specialist' who asked if my computer was turned on...I said "no". He told me to turn it on. I told him I couldn't as it was broken and had been so for 3 months! We went round and round for about 15 minutes before they eventually hung up on me....

 

We laughed until we cried! :p

 

For me the "Peggy" scam is a new one and I thank you for sharing!

 

Your response was priceless!

[Cruisin' Chick]

I've received three calls in the past two weeks about my "winning a free cruise". I just hang up. I'm not sending money to Nigeria either.

 

I once got an email from a friend of mine who was stuck in London because his money and passport were stolen and he just wanted to get back home. Problem was he was from Iran but had lived in the US for well over twenty years. His English was fine. The person sending me the email asked that I wire them $400 for him to get back home but his phrasing wasn't right. Nor was the way he signed off. So, knowing it was a scam I decided to have fun. I asked what about paying for the hotel and whether Judy, insinuating his wife, was with him and did she need money to get home as well. Yes, yes, was the response, for both Judy and me. So I wrote back again and asked who the h*ll was Judy and why was he traveling without his wife? Gosh, golly, never heard from them again. We had to call my friend to tell him his email was hacked.

 

I've gotten a couple of those. One from someone who my only contact with her was a few years ago when she had a question about a cruise ship I was on -- she saw this on another cruise forum and so she had emailed me. Her email list apparently had been hacked. I did try to send her an email warning her but maybe she never saw them. Didn't hear from her again. Just last month, I got another one of these from a woman whose daughter and mine were in the same drama class a few years ago. She had her own dance academy and was asking me questions in an email about promoting her business (I was the publicity for the school's plays and she must have thought I did a great job). But we really don't have any other contact. So I went on Facebook as I knew she had an account and sent her a PM recommending that she check her email account and change her password. Never heard back from her so hopefully things worked out for her -- and hopefully no one fell for this scam.

 

Yesterday I got a call from "Peggy" from the World Wide Web saying that my computer was infected with an awful virus and they would help me get rid of it. Knowing it was a scam, I decided to have fun.

 

I played really dumb and kept asking who exactly they were and where they were from ("no time to tell you that, this is an emergency! We are getting errors from my computer as we speak....you might lose all your data if you don't act quickly"). By this time I had put my phone on speaker and everyone from work was gathered around trying not to laugh!

 

He told me that they had all my computer information....but needed to verify what my computer's make/model number was. I said "if you have all my info, tell me what my IP address is". (silence) Eventually I was transferred to a 'specialist' who asked if my computer was turned on...I said "no". He told me to turn it on. I told him I couldn't as it was broken and had been so for 3 months! We went round and round for about 15 minutes before they eventually hung up on me....

 

We laughed until we cried! :p

 

 

:):D Love this!

[Sekhmet]

A couple of years ago five friends of ours telephoned one day - worried to have heard that my wife was stranded in Barcelona and needed cash to get home. Fortunatelly no one was taken in by the scammer who had hacked into her email and sent that plea to the friends she had most contact with.

 

It's scary when you realize how much someone can learn about you if they can access your email.

 

We had similar yesterday concerning a colleague of my wife who had apparently been mugged in Budapest and needed £1650 to pay his hotel and get home. We printed the email off before deletion, and she took it to the meeting they were both attending later in the day:).

[jewopaho]

Who would send out thousands of postcards to perfect strangers giving away something (be it a cruise or anything else) with no strings attached? If you can answer that question, I have some oceanfront property in Kansas (right off the coast of Nebraska) that I can let go for a steal.

 

These things are continually being reinvented ... and as soon as they're closed down by a government agency, they re-emerge under another name. An acquaintance of mine became involved in one of these operations several years back ... he gets out in about four months.

[LandlockedCruiser01]

I'm afraid that a friend of mine has been duped. She received a Free Cruise postcard.......you know the rest.

She assures me that rather than calling the number on the card, she called Royal Caribbean, who confirmed that the deal is legitimate. She says they do not have to attend a meeting.

However, I see a number of things that worry me.

The cruise was for two days, on "some new ships, not yet in service, that the company wants feedback on". She upgraded to 7 days and paid $1000. And so on.

She is convinced it's a great deal. This will be her first cruise. She does not yet have a sailing date.

Has anyone successfully gotten out of an arrangement like this, with money refunded?

Was it, by any chance, the Caribbean Cruise Line? (no "Royal" in front of it) Caribbean Cruise Line is not a cruise line at all. They don't own or operate any ships. It's a timeshare agency that also acts as the vendor for the Celebration Cruise Line, an obscure line that owns only one ship: Bahamas Celebration, which sails only to Freeport (not the nicest port, but not too shabby, either). And I'm sure the agency's name is intentional; I confused it Royal Caribbean at first myself. Which raises even more questions, because it's suspicious for a well-established cruise line like RCI to be relying on sketchy timeshare vendors to sell its cruises.