Carnival Vacation Club warning.

[luv2cruze]

Dear fellow cruisers, this is critical information of how the Carnival Vacation Club plan works. They only want your money, so forget about their promises. In January of 2005 my family and I cruised on Carnival for our then fourth cruise. We were introduced to a Carnival Vacation Club planner on day 1 of the trip. He was pleasant and very good at what he does. We purchased the silver plan membership good for 5 years at the cost of $4995. Along with that came numerous promises, a token gift and the visions of 4 future happy cruises.

 

Well the companion airfare tickets expired after only two years, the 4 oceanview 7 day cruises we were told that we prepaid now are worth 4, 7 day cruises with interior staterooms or, 2 1/2, 7 day oceanview cruises. The cruise points decrease in value the longer you hold them. Airline tickets expire in 2 years not in 5 years like your membership and the value of each point is worth only 17 1/2 cents, which we bought 20 thousand. Just do simple math and you will see how much you actually paid for the cruise. You will get much better deals with your T/A trust me. They are rude, do not budge an inch and politely tell you that you should have read the really fine print. In other words, stay away from this ripoff scam. Hopefully you all will benefit from our loss.

[skylock]

The Carnival Vacation Club is no longer sold.

 

We often play "the condo game" as we call it. But NEVER buy.

 

We uphold our end of the deal by attending the presentations, pay attention and ask intelliegent questions, then say no thanks.

 

They often get mad. We stay very cool and see just how mad we can make them. I am the winner as I had mine jumping up and down. That was so much fun.

 

We figured out a long time ago anything there is pressure to buy RIGHT NOW, is not something in your favor.

 

I am sorry you fell for their lies. My only advice is to get the most out of what you have you can and call it a lesson well paid for.And either never attend another presentation or learn to say no without feeling bad.

[jandjfun]

We found the same to be true for us. As far as the cruise points, and airfare discounts go. But on the other side of the coin is this. We received one 7 day cruise (balcony), one 4 day cruise (balcony) one "free" 5 day resort stay (Cabo), and two 7 days resort stays paying 299.00 for each week. Plus we get VIP treatment on any Carnival cruise for 5 years,and discounted resort stays for 5 years.(this year we are going to Mazatlan and are saving around 500.00 with the discounted resort prices, using no certificate) Cruises are not necessarily discounted as they say they are. I have found better deals elsewhere. But We paid 3400.00 for our package. Plus the 600.00 for the 2 week resort stays. So 4000.00

total for 5 really great vacations. And that's for 2 people. In balcony cabins, and really nice resort rooms. I think we have certainly got our money's worth.

That's not to say that we weren't lied to, of course we were. All timeshare style sellers lie. They work on commission! But we are not feeling ripped off by any means.

[luv2cruze]

Thank you for the response. What they informed me of is that they do not sell on board any longer. But they still sell. So that was the reason for the posting. I wholeheartedly agree with what you wrote. And believe it or not I had the same philosophy until that day. The older the wiser I guess, Happy Cruising...

[LHP]

Thank you for the response. What they informed me of is that they do not sell on board any longer. But they still sell. So that was the reason for the posting. I wholeheartedly agree with what you wrote. And believe it or not I had the same philosophy until that day. The older the wiser I guess, Happy Cruising...

 

I am confused by this comment. Where do they still sell new packages? They are not allowed to sell in the US and all the offices on board all the Carnival ships have been closed. CVC will cease to exist in May 2012 when the last contract runs out.

[klfrodo]

I am confused by this comment. Where do they still sell new packages? They are not allowed to sell in the US and all the offices on board all the Carnival ships have been closed. CVC will cease to exist in May 2012 when the last contract runs out.

 

 

not sure about them still "selling". I do know that we are using the last of our points and my BIL is paying them cash for his portion of the cruise.

 

As you are aware CVC was run by ICE. Interestingly ICE is also the company handeling the "Points" system with Carnival "Sea Miles" credit card.

[luv2cruze]

Yes, I had found out about the Sea Miles and CVC being one after the fact. Since then I have stopped using my Sea Miles card and have no intention of using it ever again. Regardless of the this fact, Carnival knew how this operation worked from the start and I felt should have had a say in the way they ran this part of the company, whether or not they were as they said outside vendors. And this was substantiated by CVC yesterday in a conversation with a woman named Karen, no last name was given. She identified herself as a customer service supervisor.

[okgirl]

not sure about them still "selling". I do know that we are using the last of our points and my BIL is paying them cash for his portion of the cruise.

 

As you are aware CVC was run by ICE. Interestingly ICE is also the company handeling the "Points" system with Carnival "Sea Miles" credit card.

 

After I got my Seamiles card I realized that there are much better deals out there and also how hard it is to redeem my points.

 

Just figures that ICE is involved.

 

I was a CVC member and sister and I took 2 7-day and 1 10-day Med cruise, but we found out also that our companion air had already expired and there were virtually no resorts that we wanted to use our coupons on.

[marty30907]

We were approached by the CVC while we were on the Glory. After listening to the presentation, we almost brought into it. But, after my DW starting thinking it over, we decided not to purchase. Boy, the rep got really mad! But it is our money.

[luv2cruze]

If anything this thread will save many people lots of their hard earned dollars. Except for a few satisfied customer's the responses and feelings of others have been equal to mine. And I have spoke to nearly a hundred people that have experienced the same bad . I wish someone would have written about this sooner.

[LHP]

not sure about them still "selling". I do know that we are using the last of our points and my BIL is paying them cash for his portion of the cruise.

 

As you are aware CVC was run by ICE. Interestingly ICE is also the company handeling the "Points" system with Carnival "Sea Miles" credit card.

 

Thanks. Yes, I realize that CVC and Sea Miles were both handled by ICE. We never bought into CVC, but have had a Carnival Credit Card since they came out with one years ago. ICE is the reason I cancelled it. We used the points we had and chunked it in the garbage. Brian at Solutions At Sea (or whatever name they are going under now) blatantly lied to us and that was all I needed to direct that credit card to the trash can.

[skylock]

If anything this thread will save many people lots of their hard earned dollars. Except for a few satisfied customer's the responses and feelings of others have been equal to mine. And I have spoke to nearly a hundred people that have experienced the same bad . I wish someone would have written about this sooner.

 

 

True, but the thing is, some people actually did get to make a good deal out of it, so it is a hard call. (I know they are rare and far apart)

 

By and large, I do not think the timeshare/ vacation package deals work out for the biggest majority of people.

 

I have a very insistant seller last year. I told him, ok, lets see how this works. I had him get the best price he could on a cruise I already had booked for March. (I didn't tell him it was booked) He came back with his best price at $100 per person more than we had paid. I pulled out my notebook I always carry that has all my information in and showed him what we were paying. He had all kinds of excuses. We got a sale. (we didn't) It was when we booked (we had booked that same week) SO I told him basically he was trying to sell me a package for $2,995 that was going to actually cost me more then if I didn't buy the package. He knew I had him. He couldn't get us out of there fast enough he was very angry and turned very rude. I told him I had given him a fair shot and had he met the challenge I was fully prepared to pay for his package and since he had failed, there was no call to get mad at me. He told me I did not understand how things worked. I told him I thought I had a very good understanding of how these things work and that was why I would not be buying into the scam.

 

He was a very nice guy and I think he really thought he was offering a quality product. I do not for one minute think he was trying to rip me off. But if I had bought the package, in the end I would have been ripped off. I am sure other people in that room bought the package. I hope they did not regret the purchase.

[luv2cruze]

When we were all together in the room that day, there must have been about 40 people for the first show. Many people signed right there as a few always do. We signed the following day with a guy named Dave. He had all the right words at hand and was excellent in his job. He had people all over that room smiling and walking up at the end of their presentation. I agree that there are a few, and I do mean a few that had a favorable experience doing this plan.

[salty dingo]

Some people have had positive experiences with CVC, but I think they are the minority.

 

There is no better deal out there than waiting for special deals that come up from time to time on the various travel agencies. With CVC, you are only going to sail on Carnival and that means you miss out on most of what the cruising world has to offer you.

 

Carnival's a great product, but serious cruisers would not want to limit themselves to just that one line.

 

Also, like with any sales-oriented scheme, a lot of what you pay goes to pay the salespeople. Truly great deals do not need any paid salespeople to explain them to you... they sell themselves. So, if you are paying the salespeople there is less left for the cruise fare.

 

The basic premise of the CVC was legit, but no doubt lots of people were misled or downright lied to from this outfit.

[luv2cruze]

Does anyone know if Carnival Vacation Club still honors the VIP program that we purchased?

[LHP]

Does anyone know if Carnival Vacation Club still honors the VIP program that we purchased?

 

Yes, all current contracts are being honored until they expire. Even if you pay cash for a cruise and book it through someone else, you call CVC and you still get the VIP Check In and Debarkation and choc. strawberries. I think you also get the party if there are at least 10 CVC members on your cruise. The best I remember the last contract should expire no later than May 2012. There are just no more packages being sold on the Carnival ships.

[sparkscruiser]

We used up the last of our points on our Triumph cruise about a month ago. When was first tried to book they told me that it wasn't available with points I had remaining. But I was persistant and finally got a balcony cabin with my points. I called and inquired about how many CVC cabins were on our cruise and was told there were 17 - but there was no private party. I did send a note to Carnival about our cruise - the good and the bad (they forgot about the VIP folks when they started to board the ship!) and I did mention that they did not provide a private reception. But overall, we had a great cruise. I have two future cruises already booked, but went straight through Carnival and let my PVP know we are CVC so we can still get the few perks that are left. Would I sign up again? Probably not - I could have like many here, gotten the same cruises for less money.

 

Laurie

[luv2cruze]

Thanks for the heads up. I booked a trip for my family and we are going in March as we almost always do. Unfortunately half of us are VIP through the CVC and the rest are not. What should have been a great start to a usually wonderfully time so far has not been due to this problem with CVC.

[DarthGrady]

Thanks. Yes, I realize that CVC and Sea Miles were both handled by ICE. We never bought into CVC, but have had a Carnival Credit Card since they came out with one years ago. ICE is the reason I cancelled it. We used the points we had and chunked it in the garbage. Brian at Solutions At Sea (or whatever name they are going under now) blatantly lied to us and that was all I needed to direct that credit card to the trash can.

 

What is ICE, and is the CVC part of Carnival or are they a separate company?

 

Sorry to seem ignorant, but we never got involved with CVC.

[luv2cruze]

CVC is an outside vendor who buys cruises from Carnival. They add an extra level of service or so they claim. So far very few and I mean very few have experienced what they were originally promised from CVC. And like I said earlier the fact that Carnival did not watch this from a closer angle has definitely left a bad impression on my mind. Carnival's first C.C. was a good deal but I lost the points because when they ended the program I was just a few point shy of a cruise. Then Sea Miles comes out and their points system turned me off so I cancelled the card because I could not carry over the points. Then ICE the company who is in charge of the Sea Miles program takes on the CVC points. With that front and center I lost money as well as many others had.

[dclark]

The old Carnival Credit, done with Capital 1 was great! Spend $600 and you had enough points for a bottle of Champagne. Spend $9000 and you got your choice of a $200 obc or a $200 redit on your credit card. It really doesn't get any simpler than that. There were other deals for more points, but these are the ones I took advantage. On our last CCL cruise, we had to use the points up before they expired so we got $400 in credit and five bottles of champagne!

The current Seamiles card is worthless- you get better rewards elsewhere. I now switch between my Comfort Inn Visa/AA Visa and Hilton Honors Visa- the hotel value is pretty good in my book.

[cathyoo]

All of this talk about ICE worries me. I have the SeaMiles credit card. I agree it stinks but I am determined to get a free cruise. I got the card in 06/05 and have about 85000 points on it. We cruise once a year so I have a cruise in 08 and 09 to get my double points. My calculations put me around 150000 points by 2010 (five year point). We are not fussy about where we go, cruising not the ports is what matters to us. I'm worried that something will go wrong and I will have wasted all this time and energy.

 

The RCI credit card looks so much better.

[luv2cruze]

Honestly speaking there are about 5 or 6 Credit cards out right now that will get you points to a cruise faster and more secure than Sea Miles. The thing is to find the right one. I paid it off then threw my Sea Miles card away and it was the best thing I could've done!

[keene state mom]

I was so very lucky, ....I was so happy with everything until I was about to sign away, and saw the word ICE and I had a bad experience with them in the past using my credit card that I knew it was not for me, our guy became very nasty also, as I tore it in 1/2 in front of him. We never even received the prize for showing up, and wasting a few hours.

[LHP]

Honestly speaking there are about 5 or 6 Credit cards out right now that will get you points to a cruise faster and more secure than Sea Miles. The thing is to find the right one. I paid it off then threw my Sea Miles card away and it was the best thing I could've done!

 

As far as Cruise Rewards Credit Cards, I have read that NCL is the best.

Travel Rewards Credit Cards are many. We are currently using the American Express Blue Sky card and have had wonderful success. First, they gave me 30,000 points (equal to $400.00) for signing up. 7,500 points gets you $100.00. No annual fee. You can pay on your account monthly (although we always pay it off in full every month) and you can literally use anyone to book the cruise, hotel, air travel or car rental. You do not have to go through them. No blackout dates.

 

We just used our free $400.00 on our upcoming Imagination cruise and it could not have been easier.

 

You pay for the cruise (or any other kind of travel) with your American Express and then before you pay the bill, just apply the points. You pay the balance.

 

It is the best one we have used yet.