I bought into the club at the very lowest level. I like the VIP perks, and have enjoyed them on the cruises we have taken since we joined. Couldn't use the airfare at all since our last 3 vacations were Hawaii, Aruba and San Juan. But WAS able to actually use my resort certificate in Aruba. I had been checking OTHER ISLANDS and low and behold, one day ARUBA was available for just one week. The resort was very nice and a steal at $299 a week, as it normally costs over $200 per night. So that helped ease the pain some. We have taken 2 cruises with our points so far, and I worked really hard to find the cheapest ones. I have enough for at least one more cruise, but will not likely be able to get the FOUR from my package that we expected. I keep checking resorts and the next time I find a good one, we are going to book our vacation for that time slot. Working from that angle seems to help. But I too was very disappointed in how many points each cruise needed compared to how much I could book it for outright. The early debarkation and Skipper's club were the main reason we bought into the package, since we have only twice in the past (before joining)booked suites that gave us those perks and liked them. That part of the promise has been upheld so far. While the chocolate covered strawberries they sent to the cabin last cruise certainly were a nice treat, they don't make the investment worthwhile. I am resigned to getting the biggest bang for the buck, and then being done with the club. I have always enjoyed our Carnival cruises, but find with the club I am taking cruises on ships I normally wouldn't, just because they are cheap enough in points so that I would be able to squeeze out at least 3 cruises.

I strongly warn anyone thinking about this vacation club to stop & research it FULLY before joining. My wife & I are VERY disappointed in their approach & in what they actually offer. The sales people were all wearing Carnival Cruise line uniforms, but they have no real connection (see their fine print).
I can't believe Carnival allows the scam to continue on their ships.

We have had numerous problems with this club since we joined in July 05. We only recently received our airfare vouchers, and it took several phone calls to even receive those. We haven't been able to book a single resort stay, For any of the dates we have tried. We have sent letters to the club and also to Carnival. We can't believe Carnival is allowing them to continue this scam!!

As someone who knows first hand about the Carnival Vacation Club, I strongly recommend you research this membership fully before signing anything. It is very hard, if not impossible, to get the manager to do anything to help when problems arise.

We joined last March. The cocktail party, VIP baggage service, early debarkation were OK. The salesman was a charmer. We opened up a Carnival Mastercard as well to get "sea miles". When we went to use our "free" week in Mexico found a limited number of places were available, none by the expiration of the certificate. We want to checkout the other places that were available on our other certificates and no longer can find CVC on the internet. I think the whole thing is a lesson in life...there are no free rides... things are never as good as they're portrayed when the "hard sell" is going on...Don't get caught up in the moment....Never give thousands of dollars away on a few promises made at sea!!!
I would gladly support a lawsuit...

We have been trying to use our first Resort Vacation Certificate. EVEN in February it is nearly impossible to find something available that is acceptable. This program is AWFUL !!! We are not going to get the value for our money that we put up.
Carnival needs to quit dealing with that sub contractor & refund our money or let us use ALL the money for cruise points.

Carnival Vacation Club is The Big Rip Off at Sea at this time, I got in and Rip Off also.

See more infomation on this web site www.badcustomerlist.com/dietmar I can not believe Bob Dickinson a the Stockholder would let Carnival go down hill with this group.

Thank goodness we got up and left when the rep that was talking to us left the room for a minute. It sounded like a scam, and he was using high preasure tactics trying to sell it to us. We were not a bit impressed

They did finally refund my money.

We joined Carnival Vacation Club while we were on the Pride in August 2004. We were excited by everything that was promised. However, as soon as we were back home we found things were not as advertised and we had past our 3 day right to cancel.

We couldn't cancel our credit card too late. We contacted the company no response. After approximately 6 weeks and threats to sue and contact the Attorney General we finally got a letter from some representative from Carnival, basically saying nothing we can do.

So we have tried to use it for what it is and ignore the freebies. After all they were freebies, and you get what you paid for.

We have found things that work great and are well worth the cost.

The way we look at it, we prepaid for 5 cruises and get VIP service.

As part of the VIP service is Embarcation.

We just got back from a cruise and we were 2nd on the ship. We got to the ship walked to the front of the line, showed our card and were led to a private room with about 25 other families, sat down in a leather chair, signed the credit card slip and were off. The entire process from drop off to our room took 30 minutes. When we got to our rooms, they were already made up and ready for us. We put up our carry ones, and went to lunch on the lideo before the people who arrived with us were out of line.

Not all ships have the vacation club on them so some ships don't have all the perks. We were just on the Victory which doesn't have the club. We did have a concerige and had chocolate strawberries delivered to our room, but that was all.

We booked a 9A balcony and were upgraded to a 9D. We booked a 4A inside for our two teenage girls traveling with us and they were upgraded to a 4E. Very nice interior room.

As for the points themselves, we figure we prepaid for approximately 5 cruises with our 2 silver memberships. Now that Carnival owns so many of the lines we can go anywhere and get treated as though we had sailed everyone at least 20 times. I have checked prices with travel agents and then with Carnival Club to see how the prices shake out. Carnival Club's prices may appear to be a little higher, but remember they always quote their prices including all port fees and taxes, not all travel agents do that. Also, if you don't book for an exact room you can get a pretty good upgrade.

The concierge on Victory said she had someone in the vacation club very uphappy on the cruise we were on. The booked a 2A room (just up from crews quarters) and were expecting to be upgraded to a suite. GET REAL. Book a room you want, and if you get an upgrade great.

As for the coupons, we too have been disappointed in attempting to use them. The website isn't very helpful. They do appear to be work this way. A one week stay at a hotel or condo that would normally be $600.00 you can stay at for just $299.00. If you want an upgraded hotel you pay the $299.00 plus anything over $600.00. Not much of a deal.

I have gotten our airplane ticket coupons. I haven't been able to use them. We live in Bangor, ME and apparently these are only good out of Boston. The one time, I was going to fly my daughter and myself to Los Angelos from Boston, I called the specified number to use a coupon. The company was able to get me a better price with better connections than if we had used the coupon. I recieved an additional coupon for future use in the mail from them as well.

Overall our original reaction was that this was a complete scam. It's not, remember you get what you PAY for. We have not had any difficulties getting good rooms with points at a comperable price that other travel agents have. We have gotten nice room upgrades, a little welcome gift, and VIP service getting on the ship. Everything after that is a freebee and not worth much. I think the coupons will make great gifts to young couples who want a trip but can't afford much and who aren't looking for much.

We are off on our next cruise, paid for through points, on March 1, 2006, to St. Maartin, Barbados and Martinque. We booked a 8A room (regular balcony)and have been upgraded to room with an extended balcony (one about 1/2 again as big). We can't wait. So look for us on our big balcony a few minutes after noon on March 1 when the rest of the guest are still standing in line.

I was just reading this post and I am wondering if this offer is offered on every Carnival cruise? If so those who have purchased it and feel as if they are being ripped off and are booked on another Carnival cruise in the very near future should attend the vacation club sell and let everyone in the meeting know the real truth. I know if I was ripped off like that and was booked on another Carnival cruise the whole ship would know about it. And we all know that united we stand so you'll should come together as one. I'm a Carnival lover but I hate to see a company ripping people off. As a matter of fact they still owe me 2 bottles of wine with the ship engraved in it, but that's another story. I hope Carnival is not becoming like the saying goes,,,, You get what you pay for!!!

Deege

When I signed up they had us meet in small groups, it was me and another person. They kept it on a very personal level. The woman I met with made it sound like a fantastic deal, she had all the right answers to any question we asked. I did not actually sign up until later in the cruise.

Guess you got to go by the sying, If it sounds too good to be true....

We just joined this club Jan 17 on the Conquest. We love to cruise and travel. We were so busy after coming home that we let the days to cancel pass. Big mistake. We have since found out that there were at least 4 discrepancies between their rep on the ship and what we can actually do with our points. We have emailed and phoned to no adequate response. At least we know now there is a group of unsatisfied customers. Thank you SO MUCH! We are also going to send our e-mails to the president of Carnival and if we can find the person, the president of Solutions at Sea, or I.C.E. Please keep me informed of your progress.

The people who run the Carnival Vacation Club is ICE Gallery or International Cruise and excurtions, the sub company operating on the ships are Solutions At Sea. ICE is located in Phoenix Arizona. The head of Ice is John and Marcia Rowley. The Vice President of Onboard Operations that deals with the consultants selling the product is Ms Pat Olsen.

Larry in Miami, you better get a quick refund.

We bought a carnival vacation (CVC) membership you get points to use on a cruise. If you need more points you can get them (was told at a cheaper price). Ok so I booked two rooms with CVC. I have a balcony and a quad, I called to add two people to the quad (CVC) wanted 1768.00 to add two people, because I dont have enough points and would have to rent points. Or I could save points and pay cash which was even more money. I called carnvial direct and they cant add to a room which a travel agency already has. They could give me a double or give me a quad for two (Eric and girl) for 1500.00 Now remember I already have a quad room and I have points 2,000 pts but even with the points it would have cost 1786. through cvc. I still have not received my air coupons and have called three times for these. So I called (CVC) who is suppose to be cheaper then carnival and they said no way I talked to supervisor after supervisor. The supervisor advised me to hurry and get the other room through carnival LOL. Anyway, I booked a room for eric and tiff and they will be with john and jen because thats the reason they are going. So Eric and Tiffs room will not be used. I have filed a complaint with Carnival in a email and when i get back going to file with BBB. I would also like names and numbers to file more complaints. I dont think anyone should have to go through this. If Carnvial allows this on their ships it will cause major problems for them in the long haul.

Has anyone had any satisfaction with their complaints.

Sincerely,

Carol Stead
briteminds@aol.com

The points I have left are useless, unless I buy another vacation package. This is the 4th cruise we have been on. And if I paid cash would have been a whole lot cheaper.

Sincerely,

carol stead

Do yourself a favor, enjoy Carnival Cruising but Do NOT join the Carnival Vacation Club

We love Carnival, so in December 2004, when we were invited to a Carnival Vacation Club presentation, we thought, “why not?” We are going to cruise anyway, why not pre-pay and get perks like priority boarding and disembarkation?

For $3500 we bought 14,000 cruise points; enough, we were told, for 2 or 3 cruises. We were also given two certificates for 1-week stays at time-share resorts for $300 ($299 actually) and two companion airfare certificates.

I should have guessed that something was not right when they finessed the question about how many points it took for the average cruise. We were assured that we would get the best rates. We figured, well even if we did not save money, we would pay no more; and we would get the VIP treatment.

Admittedly, my math skills are limited, but my calculator tells me that $3500 divided by 14,000 points is 25 cents per point. They tell us that it is only 17.5 cents per point because of the “perks”. But 14,000 points times 17.5 cents/point is $2450. That means I spent $1050 for the right to pay $300/week x 2 at a resort—gee, what a deal. To make me feel worse, it turns out that the companion airfares are only good in the continental US, only for flights over $379 and they expire 3 years before the membership does--we will probably not be able to use them.

Okay, buyer beware, we are not saving any money. But it turns out that the $3500 I spent on 14,000 points was not enough to cover two passages in a balcony cabin on the Spirit (to Alaska), that my travel agent priced for me at $3450. In points, it was over 16,000. Carnival Vacation Club graciously offered to “rent” me the additional points at 31 cents per point. So the $3450 cruise that I could have bought was going to cost me $5150 because I am a VIP!

I gave up on the balcony and decided to go low-end rather than blow all our points on one cruise. The 4A cabin on the 8/2/2006 sailing was 5885 points. On the 7/26/2006 sailing that same cabin was 4277. That is a difference of 1608 points ($402 real world dollars/ 281.40 in “Carnival-eese”). However, if I were just a regular pedestrian, instead of a VIP, I could get the August 2nd sailing for $50 less than the July 26th sailing. I wanted the August 2nd sailing because, a) I wanted to sail Southbound; and b) I wanted to be cruising on my 50th birthday. But I was not paying $402 per ticket more to do that, so we booked July 26th.

I tried asking, “Barb” the Vacation Club representative to whom I spoke, about why as a “VIP”; I get to pay so much more than the rest of the world? She tried to tell me that you cannot compare cash and points. But when I pointed out that you can compare paying more points to paying less cash, she hung up on me!

I do not know what the wonderful on-board Member Benefits are (they want to surprise you with them)--but if they do not include a balcony up grade then they are not worth the $1050 that I apparently paid for them.

Do yourself a favor, enjoy Carnival Cruising but Do NOT join the Carnival Vacation Club

LN, your is one of several messages I've read lately about how the Vacation Club is not worthwhile. Thanks for posting, and sorry for your trouble!

Sandy

I to joined this scam of a club. I am waiting for my refund and I am starting to get a little nervous.
After this I will never cruise with carnival again. They let these scam artist aboard their ships to take advantage of their customers. I wonder how much carnival is receiving for letting them use their ships and sell this crap.
I took a cruise on Royal Caribbean once and it was much nicer than carnival. I went carnival this time because I had points on my credit card.
I usually don't fall for such scams, must have been the champayne. We were lied to about how many points it would take to book a cruise.
There must be a way to e-mail the big guy at carnival cruise lines.
Maybe if they get enough e-mails they will stop these scam artist from boarding their ships