[New-york-news] Free Cruise Scams out there, if it sounds to good to be true it is by Cheryl Echevarria

Tue Dec 16 15:37:13 UTC 2014

Good morning everyone:

Over the past 2 weeks I have had to educate many clients, who have called me
to ask me about the phone calls and post cards they have been receiving
about a free cruise to the Bahamas, some even booked, and thank god they
were able to get their money back. 2 couples that are blind and 3 families
that aren't.  They felt stupid and I said they shouldn't be. That is what we
are here for to educate you about these things.

Let me say right now, this is a scam. If it sounds too good to be true it
is!

Please read the information below. This is also up on my blog, and I am
posting it also to the www.nfbtravel.org <http://www.nfbtravel.org>
website, if you have not registered on the website to get updates, please do
so, it is a wordpress site and you will need to give your first & last name
and e-mail.

Anyway, here is the article.

If you are interested in cruising or any other type of vacation, remember I
own Echevarria Travel phone number is 631-456-5394 or
reservations at echevarriatravel.com <mailto:reservations at echevarriatravel.com>

Here is the article, it is very lengthy, and I also got most of the
information from Cruisecritic.com which is one of the travel websites out
there.

The Free Cruise Offer: Scam or Legit?

You may have seen these postcards or gotten these calls to your home
especially during the holiday season. I actually am working with a client
who booked this last week, and thank god we were able to get her money back.

If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is!!!

There is a company out there calling and sending these postcards for a free
cruise you only pay $59 per person for taxes and port fees. DON'T DO IT!!!

This is not the legitimate cruise line called Royal Caribbean. In fact, last
week, Nelson and I had told our clients who called us and asked us why we
couldn't offer the same thing, we said because it isn't a legitimate offer.
This time of year from November through the holidays, these scams come out.

They are trying to lure you with a sales pitch for a time share in FL, and
then take you on a 1 day cruise to the Bahamas, and then you sail home.

My client was actually charged $1700. You know what we did for them when
they cancelled their trip, we actually got them a cruise on "Royal
Caribbean" for 2 people for $1700 in a Balcony for 5 days instead of 7 days.

See below from a story from one of the travel agent websites
Cruisecritic.com about this, that has been out there for years!

"Congratulations add your name here , Caribbean Cruise Line has identified
you to receive a free two-night cruise for two on board the Bahamas
Celebration to Grand Bahama Island." *

The Free Cruise

We've seen spokesmodel Carmen Electra touting free cruises on TV, received
the award booklet mailing (with its official-looking stamps of approval from
The Islands of the Bahamas, Alamo and Our Lucaya Beach & Golf Resort) and
discovered the offer while browsing the Web. We're told that collecting our
free cruise is easy: Call an 800 number, or fill out a form, and it's time
for two nights of zero-cost cruising.

Naturally, "scam" might be the first thing that comes to mind with such an
offer. And it quickly becomes apparent that the * means it's not actually
free. It'll cost you a minimum of $59 per person for government fees and
port taxes. There's nothing necessarily untoward here; the government taxes
and fees are clearly stated, and $59 per person for a two-night Bahamas
cruise -- which includes accommodations, all meals, entertainment and a call
at Grand Bahama Island -- still seems like a decent deal for a quick
getaway.

Still, people have had serious complaints when trying to book the offer,
ranging from confusion about which company is making the offer (Caribbean
Cruise Lines, which sends the deal, or Celebration Cruise Line, which
operates the ships) to forced timeshare pitches and misleading pricing. Many
agents have done some research, including attempting to book a cruise, to
help you determine whether the offer is a scam or a good deal.

First, a bit of background:

Who is Caribbean Cruise Line, Anyway?

Let's clear up a key point of confusion right away. Celebration Cruise Line
is the actual name of the line on which you'll be sailing. Caribbean Cruise
Line is not a cruise line at all, but the name of a wholesaler that's
touting the free cruise. But, the difference between line and wholesaler
seems to be blurry at best, with many, many complaints on sites like Cruise
Critic, complaintsboard.com and ripoffreport.com and the Better Business
Bureau conflating line and seller. It doesn't help that each has a telegenic
spokesmodel -- Daisy Fuentes for Celebration and Carmen Electra for
Caribbean.

As a travel wholesaler, Caribbean Cruise Line is licensed and bonded in the
State of Florida, "Fla. Seller of Travel Reg. No. ST-37425." (Though, there
are timeshare marketing outposts in locations where the company is
registered; for instance, in New Jersey, it's registered by the New Jersey
Real Estate Commission.) Regardless of the official license, the charges
against Caribbean Cruise Lines have been fast and furious -- consumers have
had difficulties getting refunds, been subjected to aggressive sales
tactics, discovered that salespeople had misrepresented cabin locations --
and many equate the two companies or confuse one for the other.

Angelina from Pennsylvania, who booked an extended-stay vacation after
seeing Carmen Electra touting the cruise on TV, told us a horror story,
which included more than five hours of timeshare presentations that they
were not told they'd have to attend. "You have to go, or you will not be
allowed to get on the cruise ship if you don't," said Angelina.

Florida's Division of Consumer Services has record of at least 40
complaints, the content of which we've yet to receive in the form of a
public record request. Moreover, the Better Business Bureau gives Caribbean
Cruise Line and "F" -- and the BBB has documented 459 complaints filed
against business, 396 of which have been considered resolved. Still,
according to a spokesperson at the Florida Attorney General's Office, the
body responsible for responding in earnest to those consumer complaints, no
official investigation has been opened or closed on Caribbean Cruise Line.

Celebration Cruise Line, meanwhile, debuted in March 2009 as the newest
player in the bustling South Florida cruise market. The line offers
two-night budget cruises out of Palm Beach to the Bahamas aboard its
recently converted ferry, Bahamas Celebration. It's the first cruise line to
offer multiday sailings out of the Florida port since 1996, according to the
port authority.

Celebration Cruise Line is filling the void left by Imperial Majesty Cruise
Line, a similarly budget-minded, first-timer offering -- and one that also
relied on the free cruise timeshare pitch to help fill its only ship. IMCL
ceased operations in March 2009. (In fact, Celebration's parent company is
Fort Lauderdale-based Celebration Cruise Holdings, which previously owned
Regal Empress and chartered it out to Imperial Majesty Cruise Line.

Collecting Our Free Cruise: What Happened When We Called?

I grabbed the awards booklet that came in the mail from Caribbean Cruise
Line and called to go through the process. Here's what I found:

I reached Jerry Porter, who told me the conversation was being recorded to
make sure he didn't "promise me a trip around the world on the Queen Mary."
Jerry went on to clearly state that I would be responsible for the payment
upfront at the time of the call and that I'd have to book now or lose out on
this exceptional offer. He asked me if I had my credit card handy. Expecting
my total to be $118, port and government fees for two people, it was
actually $217 -- Jerry had, by default, tried to sell me an upgraded
oceanview cabin instead of the cheapest cabin available. Jerry didn't tell
me until I asked, but there is also a $10 per person, per day, fee for
gratuities, which is automatically added to your onboard bill. It's a
standard practice for cruise lines, but it's not something that first-timers
would necessarily know.

After my second question, I was transferred to the supervisor. No one was
particularly rude, but the sales people stayed strictly on script. I had
additional questions and was given the number for the corporate office --
or, rather, "Travel Services," a fulfillment center.

A woman who answered the phone and identified herself as Tanesha provided
informationabout Celebration Cruise Line and Caribbean Cruise Line, stating
that the companies were one and the same. She said that the promotional
department, Caribbean Cruise Line, handles the free cruise giveaways and the
extended-stay vacation packages, and the cruise line, Celebration Cruise
Line, sells cruises and cruise-stay packages.

Again, according to Celebration Cruise Line spokesman Glenn Ryserson, there
is no connection; they are two separate businesses.

I tried calling a different free cruise 800 number I found on the Internet.
The drill was the same. On the second attempt, additional questions were met
with a curt, "We're instructed to send you to the Web site," and then they
hung up on me.

For the next week, I received at least three phone calls a day from the
wholesalers. When I picked up, I heard a recorded message touting Caribbean
Cruise Line.

Booking Directly Through the Line: A Different Tune

Attempting to book directly through the line was a different story. I was
quoted $199 per person for an oceanview cabin. With port and government fees
and auto-gratuities, which are collected onboard, the total came to $269.92
per person. (A number of readers from various travel message boards have
noted that they've had to pay the fuel surcharge as recently as April. It's
$9 per person, per day. I asked the sales woman directly, but was told there
were no fuel surcharges. Ryerson confirmed that the company's policy was
currently not to charge surcharges.)

That's $540 total -- quite a bit more than the $217 I was quoted by the
wholesaler.

More Hidden Costs from the Free Cruise Offer? The Timeshare Pitch

OK, so there's a savings potential, to be sure. But, there's yet another
potential catch. On the back of the mailing, we spotted this statement:
"Promotion requires the attendance at a presentation on the sale of
independent vacation ownership resorts." The fine print continues,
clarifying the company's intent: "The advertising material is being used for
the purpose of soliciting sales of a vacation ownership plan." In other
words, the "free cruise" is the lure to get you to buy a timeshare.

And yet, on the two separate calls made to two different 800 numbers -- one
received in the mail and one found online -- I was told that, in booking the
cruise-only portion, I would not have to attend a timeshare presentation.

At least a few Cruise Critic members have posted slightly different stories.
"I received my cruise confirmation from Celebration in the mail yesterday
for our April 24 sailing. Of course it says we must go to Fort Lauderdale to
pick up our vouchers prior to boarding in Palm Beach," writes memberTracyESQ
on the message boards. Others have confirmed that the post-payment booking
packet that arrives in the mail directs passengers to a "welcome center,"
rather than to the Palm Beach pier (or an online location) to pick up their
boarding passes.

To confuse matters, some readers have noted that, after calling the cruise
line directly, they were told to proceed right to the pier and bypass the
"welcome center." Definitely follow the instructions of the wholesaler, says
Celebration's Vice President-Marketing Glenn Ryerson, an official spokesman
for the line -- again, the real name of which is Celebration Cruise Line,
not Caribbean Cruise Line. "We wouldn't want you to come to the pier and be
unable to board."

In a telephone conversation, Ryerson aimed to distinguish Celebration Cruise
Line from Caribbean Cruise Line. Ryerson tells Cruise Critic, "There is no
free cruise offer from Celebration Cruise Line and never has been. A few
wholesale companies may be promoting it as part of a package, the same as
with most other cruise lines."

So what does the line say about how Caribbean conducts business? "I know
that they do go up there with a taxes-only cruise with the goal of selling a
bigger package."

And those wholesalers are very important to Celebration. Ryerson mentions
that that some 30 percent of passengers get onboard by way of wholesalers
like Caribbean Cruise Line.

"What we do with every customer on the ship, whether they come through a
wholesaler or directly through us -- we don't care how they get on the ship
-- we only care once they get onboard that the experience is a very positive
one, and 98 percent of the comments are positive. We haven't had the need to
talk to any business partners. From what I understand, these people are
getting on the ship for taxes only, and they would have never experienced a
cruise otherwise. The salespeople are earning commissions, and some of the
people might be a little more aggressive, but I definitely don't think
they're disreputable in any way."

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