Laserb,

Personal attacks on forum members are against our rules. I also get the sense that people who either are or were employed by CVC and it's affliated vendor are showing up here in an effort to mitigate things. I hope you are not among these folks. I'll be watching though, and if I get the sense that this is an orchestrated effort I will intervene and do some banning of members and messages.

ViVa LA Carnival Vacation CLub. Let's see some real statistics

OK Dave...no more personal attacks, but it would be appreciated very much if others who want to bash a wonderful vacation club be asked to prove not only their sources but also prove the statistics because I know for a fact the number of members and that other member is not even close. So all I will say at this point is VIVA LA Carnival Vacation Club.

quote:

Originally posted by Tarson07:
If anyone has had luck with a refund or even just spending your points (if that is what we have to do). PLEASE give us some pointers. We are paying for our entire wedding on our own and to have the honeymoon up in the air is just devastating. I can't believe we have been taken for such a ride.
Thank you
Honeymooners in Distress

Tarson07: I won't address the first part of your post because it was not part of our experience (my husband and I are CVC members).

We have had no need to ask for a refund, so for that answer you'll have to look to others, however, I don't see why you should have any trouble spending your points. My husband and I used ours for the Mediterranean Cruise we are taking in 6 weeks. We also used the coupon we received for a free week's stay at a resort in Mexico (we chose a very nice one in Cozumel). We have not, as yet, used our $299 coupons for Resorts. We didn't even bother with the Free Companion Air Fare; we use our AmEx Membership Rewards points for flights.

If you are planning a wedding, you have enough stress right now. DO NOT stress about this. Just call CVC and use your points to plan a wonderful honeymoon.

I've been reading this forum off and on for the last year since signing up for my membership. I was really nervous at first, after hearing things from a couple people on here, but my husband convinced me to give it a try.

Now I'm glad he did. We know enough not to put all of our faith into a salesman on a cruise ship, because, hey, they have to make a living to. We read our contract, which is only like twenty pages or something like that, and in the three days from getting home, decided to keep it, despite posts like these ones. A couple weeks after that, a wonderful lady named Sandy called us and went over all of the benefits we were entitled to, which I have to say, is more than we thought initially. So far, we haven't had any problems using our membership. Does anyone know why they aren't continuing with the program?

If you've been reading this thread for a year you should have a pretty good idea. Yours seems to be a minority opinion.

"only twenty pages".. If it takes 20 pages of legalise to write the contract up for you to join a "club", why wouldn't that scare you off?

I've bought $35,000 auto's where the loan contract was 2 sides of one legal sheet.

I agree with what Mattox says, if you have been reading through this whole thread (which is only one of at least 3 of equivalent size) you would know why CVC is going away. The bigger question is "Why did it take so long for it to happen?"

Excuse us if we are a little suspicious of someone claiming to have been reading this forum for a year and only registered on it March 29th. (5 days ago) Then posting a favorable comment on CVC despite the numerous people that have nothing but negative experiences with the club.

Jim,

Not only cars, but mortgage documents are not twenty pages long! So I can buy a $400,000 house with less legalese than a vacation club requires...it certainly raises my hackles.

Good point, Jim C., about the registration date and the claim in the text; didn't catch that. You like to take people at face value but come on--this dosen't add up.

quote:

Originally posted by Laserb:
LHP MAKES ME LAUGH....HE IS SO FULL OF HIMSELF.
FIRST OFF...HIS MEMBERSHIP FOR CVC IS WAY OFF. SECOND...MY SPOUSE WORKS AT CVC AND THERE HAS NEVER BEEN AN EMPLOYEE NAMED VALERIE AS LHP SAYS WAS FIRED FOR BEING TO NICE. THERE HAVE BEEN NO LAY OFFS. TWO PEOPLE GOT FIRED FOR ABUSING COMPANY PROPERTY AND ONE OGT FIRED FOR USING A PORN SITE. SO LHP IS DOING NOTHING BUT BLOWING SMOKE YOU ARE A_ _!!! WHAT AN IDIOT!!! HE CLUB IS ALIVE AND WELL AND WILL SERVICE ALL THE MEMBERS AND KEEP THEM HAPPY. THE NEW CLUB WHICH HAS NOT BEEN ANNOUNCED WITH BE BIGGER AND BETTER AND ALLOW OUR MEMBERS TO ENJOY MANY MORE BENEFITS. MAYBE WE CAN GET LHP AS A CHARTER MEMBER....LAUGHING OUT LOUD. HE MUST BE A DISGRUNTLED POSTAL WORKER OR TRAVEL AGENT WHO IS TOTALLY JEALOUS OF CVC.

Those who can not defend their stance with facts resort to name calling. It is the oldest (and most childish) game in the book. Now if we could please get out of 2nd grade and back to the facts.

For your information, Valerie was indeed a sales agent on the Miracle. She was a lovely lady who did try very hard, but she did not have the "killer" instinct. We have a mutual friend who worked on the Miracle at the time she was there and he said you could literally tell from week to week if she had made her "quota". About mid way of the cruise, if she was doing well. She was relaxed. If she feared she was going to come up short that week, she was stressed. Sadly, she was mainly stressed...so it ia actually a good thing she was fired....because stress can kill you.

For the upteenth time (if you will take the time to read the posts in front of you) you will see that I did provide all the proof for this random sampling. I gave the dates, number of customers polled, locations of where this information was pulled and the fact that I only used customers who had actually purchased a package. I did not use the vast majority who saw this for the lies they were telling and did not buy it.

It is always amazing to me how these CVC cheerleaders will common on here for 2 seconds (reading none of the posts on this very subject) and want to blast me for providing facts, but will completely ignore all these posts on here from the actual people themselves. How sad and shallow.

I have not heard if Ali has been laid off yet. (Yes another REAL manager we sailed with who was on the Spirit and then on the Pride) I hope not because (even though he did have that killer instinct) he was alot of fun.

The Charter Club (new name) will be out shortly. There won't be any more "slight of hand" with paying 25 cents for a point and then it only being worth 17.5 cents from what I have heard.

ICE very much wants to get into the Travel Agency business...but as I stated earlier (no I am not a travel agent) they have a lot to learn. They tried for 3 years to promote a travel agency with timeshare tactics and that simply will not work. I do know several people who own Travel Agencies who have been in business for years and the "joke" was that ICE was going to have to teach their agents the definition of service instead of con.

With a timeshare, once you have hooked them...you have to them for life. This is not the case with CVC. People were simply not renewing and not electing to do any more business with them once their points (and the perks) were gone. You can not break all the promises you make to someone and think they will come back and renew with you. Even if the package still worked for them, without that relationship...they will not come back.

Timeshares are built on one time hits and gimmicks and that simply will not work in the travel agency world.
TA depend on building a relationship with their clients. Repeat business is the foundation.

The bottom line is that after the 3 year contract expired and the 90 day neg. period was over, Carnival removed its name from this mess. As I told Bob Dickinson, Carnival worked so hard to rebuild its reputation from a "cheap party barge" to an affordable family cruise line. It is a shame that they allowed CVC to drag the Carnival name through the mud and sulley the reputation Carnival worked so hard to earn.

Carnival finally learned its lesson, only time will tell if ICE has learned theirs.

quote:

Originally posted by Dave Beers:
Laserb,

Personal attacks on forum members are against our rules. I also get the sense that people who either are or were employed by CVC and it's affliated vendor are showing up here in an effort to mitigate things. I hope you are not among these folks. I'll be watching though, and if I get the sense that this is an orchestrated effort I will intervene and do some banning of members and messages.

Thanks Dave for sending him "to the corner". But actually, childish fits only show the bright light of truth as to what they really are. They are quickly dismissed and pitied.

I do see the ending of CVC's "selling shell game" as a small victory for all the posters who came on here and expressed their displeasure about being lied to.

ICE will go on, but Carnival's name is out of it. Anything ICE does in the future will NOT have Carnival name on it. It will be an independent operator just as the Spa and Gift Shops on board. While ICE may have a small podium like they have to peddle their Sea Miles venture (which is also catching all kinds of flack ~~interestingly enough), I do not foresee them having the big offices any longer. ( just a prediction )

As my Grandpa used to say, "if they have to work that hard to sell it...it ain't worth buying!"

quote:

Originally posted by Dave Beers:
Jim,

Not only cars, but mortgage documents are not twenty pages long! So I can buy a $400,000 house with less legalese than a vacation club requires...it certainly raises my hackles.

My first red flag was on the Spirit in 2005 when they were trying to get South Carolina residents to lie (on an official contract) about where they lived, in order to sell them a package.

Now there is someone you really want to do business with.

quote:

Originally posted by Tarson07:
Hello Cruisers-
I am so immensely sad about Carnival Vacation Club (CVC). We purchased the silver package on our cruise in May of 2006. We are only just now finding all the problems with it. We purchased this so that we could really pre-pay for our honeymoon. We thought we were being smart. We were only talking about getting married then but are in full swing now and ready to book our honeymoon. We listened to every word our sales rep told us, and are only discovering now that most of what we were told were lies. (which is even more disappointing because we actually though he was our friend on the boat) We asked all the right questions but were told no truths.

Our story is much like everyone else's here but there are a few other things that stand out that we were told, that I didn't notice anyone else mention. I wonder if we are the only incredibly gullible people or if there are others who were take for the scam under the following pretenses?

1) We were told that best price guarantee would be valid at any point. We were told that if we found the same cruise for less money at any point before we set sail that we would be able to call CVC and get the best price for that cruise. (I'm a bargain shopper and usually find great deals on VacationsToGo)
2) We were told that we would get an additional 17%- 35% off the lowest price.
3) We were told that the vouchers were a bonus and not part of what we were paying for.

If anyone has had luck with a refund or even just spending your points (if that is what we have to do). PLEASE give us some pointers. We are paying for our entire wedding on our own and to have the honeymoon up in the air is just devastating. I can't believe we have been taken for such a ride.
Thank you
Honeymooners in Distress

First of all don't be distressed. Use this as a learning a life lesson and move forward. (Lesson 1: a salesman that is selling you something is never your friend)

There is no possibility of a refund unless you were a South Carolina resident at the time.

There is a post on here from a SC resident who purchased the $10,000 package (I believe) and was able to get her money back after the 3 day waiting period because ICE had broken the law by knowingly selling a SC resident a package.

Since that is probably not the case, please email me a musicalcruiser@hotmail.com and I will direct you to a person who can help you get the most for the money you have spent.

No, sadly, the lies will still be there. But there are things you can do to maximize the money you have spent.

Now concentrate on the positives. You are getting married!!!!

My question is: What is "The Charter Club"? And is it a "replacement" for CVC? If it is, how will it differ?

...and then I just want to take slight issue with one thing said:

quote:

Lesson 1: a salesman that is selling you something is never your friend

As I mentioned earlier, my husband is in sales (not for CVC!) and his philosophy has ALWAYS been that a salesman's true job is to help people. They help people solve problems. There are things that people want or need, and salespersons help supply those things to them.

Granted, not every salesperson has that attitude, but it really irks me when people assume that salespersons are nothing more than con men with no ethics or integrity.

One cannot assume that any person in any given profession will be ethical, but neither should one assume that they are NOT.

Being in real estate, I take great pride in SELLING families their new home, their new investment, and their new financial vehicle toward building net worth. It is my objective to make every transaction "win-win" and I am happy to report that all 812 sales over the past 7 years are happy and still wave with all five fingers.

As everyone is constantly reminded on here, personal attacks against forum members are against the rules and many of us are proudly employed in sales-related professions.

To make a broad statement like that about all salespersons is disappointing.

quote:

Originally posted by tncruiseman:
Being in real estate, I take great pride in SELLING families their new home, their new investment, and their new financial vehicle toward building net worth. It is my objective to make every transaction "win-win" and I am happy to report that all 812 sales over the past 7 years are happy and still wave with all five fingers.

As everyone is constantly reminded on here, personal attacks against forum members are against the rules and many of us are proudly employed in sales-related professions.

To make a broad statement like that about all salespersons is disappointing.

My intention was not to disrespect all salesmem. My brother is been a real estate broker for 30 years. (and a really good one)

My point to this young lady is that it is her responsibility to make sure she and her fiance are well informed and not blindly trusting in business matters. "Friendship" has no place in a business transaction. In fact, one bad business transaction can ruin even the best of friendships.

Sadly it is common knowledge that "some" salesmen do use the "appearance" of "being your friend" in order to sell a product. This is one of the life lessons that she and her fiance had to learn the hard way.

quote:

Originally posted by Tarson07:
Hello Cruisers-
I am so immensely sad about Carnival Vacation Club (CVC). We purchased the silver package on our cruise in May of 2006. We are only just now finding all the problems with it. We purchased this so that we could really pre-pay for our honeymoon. We thought we were being smart. We were only talking about getting married then but are in full swing now and ready to book our honeymoon. We listened to every word our sales rep told us, and are only discovering now that most of what we were told were lies. (which is even more disappointing because we actually though he was our friend on the boat) We asked all the right questions but were told no truths.

Our story is much like everyone else's here but there are a few other things that stand out that we were told, that I didn't notice anyone else mention. I wonder if we are the only incredibly gullible people or if there are others who were take for the scam under the following pretenses?

1) We were told that best price guarantee would be valid at any point. We were told that if we found the same cruise for less money at any point before we set sail that we would be able to call CVC and get the best price for that cruise. (I'm a bargain shopper and usually find great deals on VacationsToGo)
2) We were told that we would get an additional 17%- 35% off the lowest price.
3) We were told that the vouchers were a bonus and not part of what we were paying for.

If anyone has had luck with a refund or even just spending your points (if that is what we have to do). PLEASE give us some pointers. We are paying for our entire wedding on our own and to have the honeymoon up in the air is just devastating. I can't believe we have been taken for such a ride.
Thank you
Honeymooners in Distress

I got your email and in the process of having a friend of mine contact you. You will be hearing from both of us soon.

quote:

Originally posted by Terri R.:
My question is: What is "The Charter Club"? And is it a "replacement" for CVC? If it is, how will it differ?

...and then I just want to take slight issue with one thing said:

quote:

Lesson 1: a salesman that is selling you something is never your friend

As I mentioned earlier, my husband is in sales (not for CVC!) and his philosophy has ALWAYS been that a salesman's true job is to help people. They help people solve problems. There are things that people want or need, and salespersons help supply those things to them.

Granted, not every salesperson has that attitude, but it really irks me when people assume that salespersons are nothing more than con men with no ethics or integrity.

One cannot assume that any person in any given profession will be ethical, but neither should one assume that they are NOT.

From what I have heard, The Charter Club will be the new name of the "product" ICE will sell.

It should not affect your existing contract with CVC. CVC will have to stay in existance until all contracts they issued have expired. That is the law. (one good thing that came out of that 20 page contract folks signed)

Details are still not complete, but while many folks will not get what they were promised by the agents, they will get what is in the their contract.

As soon as I hear more...I will post.

Thanks LHP for clearing that up! I tend to get overly defensive sometime over "one-fits-all" statements.

For the various clubs, time-shares, etc. I must agree that people have to use common sense. if the promotion says you have won either a country ham, camper, or new car (and the subject property is owned by a meat company) it doesn't take long to know you've won a ham! Time shares and the likes really aren't salespeople, they are for the most part pressure-cookers although there are rare exceptions. I'm glad Carnival pulled out because we don't need those type distractions on a vacation.

A big thank you to member Judy27. Thanks to you, I was able to get some help tracking down my refund. To anyone currently pursuing one, expect it to take at least 2 months. And you may need to find a person at Solutions At Sea to help.