Carnival Vacation Club?

[Hangman]

Hello all, I have posted various time but this time I need info. I joined the CVC on our last cruise in 05 and my family and I just booked two cruises and would like to know what the perks really are if any? I was told various things pre boarding and pre off boarding now other than that is thier anything else we should expect or hope to get? I just think that going on a cruise is enough but if I can get a little bit more it would be great. Thank you guys you alway seem to come though for me when I have any questions. You guys are the best.:)

[GoinCruisin]

There are numerous threads on the CVC here.. just do a search on "Carnival Vacation Club" and you should be able to find all you are looking for. Best of luck to you!

[MilliesMom]

Hello all, I have posted various time but this time I need info. I joined the CVC on our last cruise in 05 and my family and I just booked two cruises and would like to know what the perks really are if any? I was told various things pre boarding and pre off boarding now other than that is thier anything else we should expect or hope to get? I just think that going on a cruise is enough but if I can get a little bit more it would be great. Thank you guys you alway seem to come though for me when I have any questions. You guys are the best.:)

 

Welcome aboard gift - last cruise it was a lanyard for sign N sail card

 

Chocolate covered strawberries delivered to our cabin one evening.

 

2 parties ... one that included prospective members, one members only. Dancing, free drinks, prizes.

 

Last morning we met in a separate lounge area. They had juices, danishes, bagels to munch on. Also had some show (Happy Days???) showing up on the dance floor.

 

At that time in San Diego, no priority (VIP) boarding or separate lounge but they said SOON.

 

Have a great time.

[cvcenlightened]

hello there .Well what can I say looks like you been using this board for a while. There are plenty of posts from folks who been hoodwinked plus a few ex employees that are trying to enlighten the public to watch out for the sharks in black suits-CVC sales staff.

 

Have a really good look at some of the posts then when your membership is up go to travelocity or surf the web there are many many better offers out there that the Carnival vacation scam.

[salty dingo]

2 parties ... one that included prospective members, one members only. Dancing, free drinks, prizes.

 

You mean if I have pretended to be interested in joining when I was on Valor, they would have invited me to a party? Wish I had played along now.

[Hangman]

Yea took the bait when we where on the spirte and now we are going to use what we bought. I am not sure what to expect but as I have been telling me wife when we get invited to those time shares don't fall for it again. I am so hoping that we at least get somthing out of this we have not used anything of this package that we bought. I will tell you one think I never got my airline travel vouchers, when we booked this trip I asked for the vouchers the guy said he was going to send them that was three weeks ago:(. I hope I don't need to call again but I know I will sorry to say, has anyone had this problem. Again thanks for the help, if you don't get the answer here you won't get it anywhere.

[LHP]

Yea took the bait when we where on the spirte and now we are going to use what we bought. I am not sure what to expect but as I have been telling me wife when we get invited to those time shares don't fall for it again. I am so hoping that we at least get somthing out of this we have not used anything of this package that we bought. I will tell you one think I never got my airline travel vouchers, when we booked this trip I asked for the vouchers the guy said he was going to send them that was three weeks ago:(. I hope I don't need to call again but I know I will sorry to say, has anyone had this problem. Again thanks for the help, if you don't get the answer here you won't get it anywhere.

 

 

Don't forget that you do get the "perks" (VIP Check In and Debarkation,etc) on all cruises you book, even after you have used up all your points and you pay cash. The parties are only given on the few ships that have a CVC office. But the VIP Check In and Debark are on every ship. So hopefully, by the time your perks expire (isn't it 5 years?) you will be a Carnival Platinum member (have 10 cruises under your belt) and you will get these perks for life...without having to join anything.

 

Suggestions on the best way to get the most for your points have been to book a 1a or 4a GTY and hope for an upgrade and book during the off season.

 

Now that the deed it done, a little research will help get you the most bang for the buck.

 

Good luck!

[Cruise-Crazy]

When I signed up for CVC they flat out lied about what the package was worth. The rep on the ship told me the points worth twice what the rep on the phone said they were worth after I got off the ship.

[cruisebabe43]

We bought ours in July and I am currently booking 2 cruises for next year just to use it up. After we got home and started really looking into it we figure we probably just paid for some cruises in advance. We haven't been able to use any of the resort coupons and to tell you the truth most of the places don't look that great. Apparently, there is a beautiful one in Orlando but we have been there so many times (orlando, I mean) so we really don't have a desire to go there. Anyway, I called to ask about the friends and family benefits they spoke of and apparently they don't exist unless you use your points to buy their room too. So, we are taking another couple on one cruise and they are paying us for the use of our points 17.5 cents per point, which is a bargain for them since we paid 25 cents a point. Then we are taking another cruise shortly after that and all of the points will be used up. That is that. We are already booked on a cruise with RCI for 2008 with the same couple and are looking forward to that. From now on we won't go to anything that carnival offers especially when we are having a wonderful time and drinking all week. :) We chalk it all up to experience. Still, love Carnival and will continue to cruise with them. We will just book it through Carnival or get one of the great deals you see on the internet all the time.

[Cruise-Crazy]

When I signed up for CVC they flat out lied about what the package was worth. The rep on the ship told me the points worth twice what the rep on the phone said they were worth after I got off the ship.

[Hangman]

Live an learn I guess but you know what I hate being made a fool of. I do hope the VIP check in is at least a little worth it. I did not like waiting the first time with my family watching everyone else get on first. I was looking at my last cruise pictures and low and behold I found one of the guy who sold us our CVC I am now using it as a dart board :D , but like I said have not used anything else hope the VIP is fast and easy.

[cruisebabe43]

I hope it is as nice as it was when we were on the Glory in July. They let us be a part of the VIP debarkation because we had signed up. They gave us a special lounge and coffee and danish and we were the first off the ship. Also, our luggage was apart from the rest so it was really easy to find. We were in our car by 8:00 am and on our way home to our loveds ones. :)

[LHP]

Live an learn I guess but you know what I hate being made a fool of. I do hope the VIP check in is at least a little worth it. I did not like waiting the first time with my family watching everyone else get on first. I was looking at my last cruise pictures and low and behold I found one of the guy who sold us our CVC I am now using it as a dart board :D , but like I said have not used anything else hope the VIP is fast and easy.

 

 

You will enjoy VIP Check In and Debarkation. And don't be so hard on yourself. You were up against time share professionals who have 2 choices...sell or get booted off the ship.

 

If you have a picture, why not post it on Webshots under CVC? That way folks would know who to avoid on that ship.

[swain13]

I've been CVC member for 1 year now. Priority embarktion, seperate room to do the credit card/passport thing. You get to skip all the long lines in the miami terminal. Welcome aboard gift (Triumph 10/21/06 was a bottle of champagne), 2nd day was plate of chocolate covered strawberries. Members only party one night, private art auction with free $500 work of art (5x7 ooohh!!) Priority disembarktion, after the self assist people are gone, before they start calling for the deck by deck, they walk you down and you get off with no lines, no waiting. Then your luggage is in a seperate part of the customs warehouse. I am very pleased with my membership and have recommened 4 other couples. For each couple you recommend, you get $50 credit. Not bad for simply referring a great service, all you do is refer them to the service, and the program sells itself.

[fllady61]

Hello all, I have posted various time but this time I need info. I joined the CVC on our last cruise in 05 and my family and I just booked two cruises and would like to know what the perks really are if any? I was told various things pre boarding and pre off boarding now other than that is thier anything else we should expect or hope to get? I just think that going on a cruise is enough but if I can get a little bit more it would be great. Thank you guys you alway seem to come though for me when I have any questions. You guys are the best.:)

 

I read some reviews earlier today on CVC, and they say don't do it. some have been members for 2 years, and are just now receiving their vouchers for air and ther vacations. One even said the air and the vacation voucher were not good at the same time. they could use the vacation, but had to pay their own flight.

 

type in Carnival Vacation Club and read some of the reviews.

[Sashalanda]

We didn't go to the sales pitch...how much is the membership if you don't mind my asking?

[swain13]

Price is based on the number of points you buy into. We bought in to the 30,000 point level and it was about $6500. I recieved the packet right away. Just used some of our points for the Triumph 10/21 and used the airline vouchers as well. Only trouble with the vouchers are that you have to wait until about 6 months prior to departure before they will start looking at pricing. Then the base price has to be $349-$379 depending on the season.

[Sashalanda]

Wow thats a lot for us simple folks lol. Maybe that was why they weren't pushy with us...they could see we were of modest means. Which is good cause I don't like pushy sales anywhere much less my vacation.. thanks for answering :D

[LHP]

I've been CVC member for 1 year now. Priority embarktion, seperate room to do the credit card/passport thing. You get to skip all the long lines in the miami terminal. Welcome aboard gift (Triumph 10/21/06 was a bottle of champagne), 2nd day was plate of chocolate covered strawberries. Members only party one night, private art auction with free $500 work of art (5x7 ooohh!!) Priority disembarktion, after the self assist people are gone, before they start calling for the deck by deck, they walk you down and you get off with no lines, no waiting. Then your luggage is in a seperate part of the customs warehouse. I am very pleased with my membership and have recommened 4 other couples. For each couple you recommend, you get $50 credit. Not bad for simply referring a great service, all you do is refer them to the service, and the program sells itself.

 

 

If VIP Check In and Debark is worth a minimum of $1,000.00 to you, that is fine. All that has ever been asked is that this program be sold without all the BS that isn't true. Guess what happens on ships that don't have a CVC office....no parties, no private auctions, and guess what ...most Carnival ships do not have a CVC office. And if you use your points on another cruise line...no perks at all.

 

So it boils down to, if VIP Check In and Debarkation are worth a minimum $1,000.00 then go for it. If someone sprung for the $5,000 package...they paid $1,500.00 for that VIP Check In and Debarkation. The bigger package they bought, the more they paid for that privilege.

[LHP]

We didn't go to the sales pitch...how much is the membership if you don't mind my asking?

 

 

The minimum package available when we took the tour was $3,500.00. You lose a little over $1,000.00 of that for the "perks". The more you spend...the more money you lose.

[cruisebabe43]

I booked my first cruise through the CVC and got a very nice person on the phone. Her name was Dawn. She seemed to really know what she was talking about. She was very honest. Too bad the folks (salespeople) on the ships aren't. Oh well, live and learn. We booked on the Glory so we get all the perks because they are a ship with the office. Our friends are traveling with us and since we booked them too they will also receive all of the perks. We will see I guess. I am now looking for another cruise to book me and dh so that I can use up the 8500 points we have left. Unfortuneatly, since we have to travel in the summer out options are limited and we don't have enough points left for a balcony. Oh yeah we could buy some points from them. Yeah right! We'll have to see how that goes.

[bonniemari]

Cruisebabe we also booked a cruise using our CVC points and took and our children and their spouses. They got all the perks we did and also when CVC upgraded us they also upgraded our kids. I have booked 5 cruises using my CVC points and all but this last one we were upgraded. 3 times from within the same cat and once from Cat 6 to Cat 12. Couldn't have been happier with the customer service. Everyone I have ever spoke with at CVC has been really easy to deal with.

 

I just use my CVC points for shorter cruises and pay for my longer cruises. I prefer to book Cat 11 on the longer cruises and this would have used up my points in a hurry. This has worked well for us and now that I only have 108 points left I am not sure whether we will buy another package or not.

 

We are planning to use one of the condo resort certificates this spring to go to Myrtle Beach. So far it has worked pretty well. 2B/2B at a very nice resort for $299.00 was a steal since they wanted almost that for 1 night on a website that I checked out the resort.

 

We bought the silver package right when they first started the CVC and received 5 resort certificates and 5 airline certificates. We have used one airline certificate and it really saved me money cause I live near a NWA hub but will not fly NWA and all other airlines prices here are outrageous thanks to the lock NWA has on Memphis.

 

One other thing about the resort certificates. If the resort you choose is all inclusive the $299.00 does NOT include the all inclusive-you must pay a hefty price for the all inclusve.

[Hangman]

I guess as with everything we do and buy we get some people that like what they got and then we get people that don't. I will see how it goes for us, I hope well but like I said early in this post we have not recived the airline vouchers. I am going to call them again in the morning and see what the hold up is.

[Wennfred]

I have been a member for some time now and have posted tons of info on here, I am very happy with CVC, Enjoy all the Perks and the special treatment. One other perk not mentioned above are 25% off on Spa, they say while in Port only but if you have the CVC Rep book the appointment for you, you will get the 25% off also while at sea. The CVC Coupon book you get with your package when you board also has a few cool items there from a Free Specialty Coffee to 5 extra minutes for using the Internet. The 2 VIP parties are fun and the food is awesome with open bar. I will be joining again in April on the same ship I first became a member.

 

One of the coolest things I like is being able to walk onboard with the Wedding party and having Lido Deck all to myself.

 

Heres a link of the chow they serve up at the Second VIP party: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=415036

 

Fred

[swain13]

If VIP Check In and Debark is worth a minimum of $1,000.00 to you, that is fine. All that has ever been asked is that this program be sold without all the BS that isn't true. Guess what happens on ships that don't have a CVC office....no parties, no private auctions, and guess what ...most Carnival ships do not have a CVC office. And if you use your points on another cruise line...no perks at all.

 

So it boils down to, if VIP Check In and Debarkation are worth a minimum $1,000.00 then go for it. If someone sprung for the $5,000 package...they paid $1,500.00 for that VIP Check In and Debarkation. The bigger package they bought, the more they paid for that privilege.

 

 

What Programs have you found not to be true. I call and talk to my personall CVC Rep whenever I have had any questions and they are more than happy to answer them or me. As far as I know, none of the ships have an actuall CVC office. Most have a shared desk with the Super Shopper. The cruises you take plus the level of stateroom you choose determains the number of points the cruise will cost you. Basically, long story short, you are pre-paying for your cruises. If you like the suites, you will only get a couple out of the whole deal. If you travel cheap like me, you get about 5 or 7.