quote:

Originally posted by PJFNME:

quote:

Originally posted by LN804:
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

Did you purchase the "bronze" membership??? I am trying to see if that is what we purchased. After reading this I am sooooo upset that we joined this!! If only we had known!!!!

I wanted to reply to many of these messages. I stumbled onto this site, and like a bunch of you, I too, bought into the CVC.

I purchased the bronze package. So, for $3500 I was getting 14000 points ( enough for 2-3 cruises, depending on where I went/how long I cruised for---thats what I was told ), the 2 resort vacations, and the 2 2 for 1 airfare coupons ( not counting the free trip to Mexico I received for signing up before midnite ). I was very excited, since I love to cruise, love Carnival, had been on 3 cruises so far, and planned to go on many more. Also, the young man who sold it to me was so very nice, charming, and very accomodating with me, in regards to paying off the 'balance'. Gave me a year to do it.......I thought I was 'special', but after reading these posting, I was not!

So, where am I now? I purchased this package in Feb 2005, while on the Carnival Pride, and paid off the balance before using any of the 'perks'. I have been on one vacation since. I took the 'free' trip to Mexico. And yes, I had a good time, but, as others have said, I was given 2 choices: Mazatlan or Cancun. And to go to Cancun, I'd have to wait over a year from when I WANTED to go. So I went to Mazatlan. It wasn't a 5 star resort, but, in all honesty, it wasn't bad. But, unless you were a time share owner ( they said we were, thank goodness ) guests weren't allowed to take food, etc, to their room. And they had a 'special' pool for the VIP's....the time share people. Other than that, I'd rate the resort as a 2-3 star.

But now? I'm in the process of booking a cruise to Mexico. There are 5 of us going.......myself, my mother, my daughter, her boyfriend and his 4 yr old daughter. And while looking over the website, its looking like I'll have to pay for a good chunk of it. And as for renting extra points? Like someone else who said they couldn't do that due to the state they lived in, I can't do that either, cause Washington State is another of the 'few' states where you can't buy extra points. What happened to the 2-3 cruises, for 2? I figured, with what I was told, at the very least, I'd have to pay for the 4 year old, and yes, it would take all my points, but my moms getting older, and its going to be a special cruise for us all. So I didn't care. Now? I'm not so sure. As for the other perks? I did get to use the priority disembarkation, on the cruise where I bought the package. We actually did get off fast, but, since we made our airline reservations according to getting off the ship, we had to wait at the airport for 3 hours, instead of waiting on the ship! At least on the ship they have free coffee/juice/muffins, etc. And as for the airfare coupons? I don't think we'll be able to use them either. We will be flying into San Diego, so technically we can. But, we're departing from Portland, Oregon, so the flights won't be more than the cut off cost to use them!

So, in closing, yes I love carnival cruise lines. But, I feel like I got ripped off buying into this package. I have talked to many of my friends who have time shares ( ie: Trend West ), and they seem happier then I do. I'll come back and update you after I get my cruise booked, but after reading all these postings, I'm not holding my breath. Hey, I have an idea....maybe if I book all inside cabins, there might be enough points???? Not my idea of my perfect vacation, which is what I was thinking when I purchased into this vacation club. The only good thing, I can see, is that we get to get out of it in 5 years!

We just came back from the Conquest on her 05-14-2006 sailing. We were "invited" to CVC's presentation and almost purchased into this program. I was in favor of purchasing CVC package but luckly, my wife insist to "sleep-on-it". I asked the sales person on a specific cruise for December of this year, since I was going to book that cruise and I have good knowledge regarding the details & price of this particular cruise. The sales person on board wont show us the real price if we book via CVC, but keep showing other cruises. That really make me think twice about this CVC thing. CVC representatives really pushing you to buy with little or no (useful) information available to you. That's always a bad sign when you are deciding on a major purchase ($3,500 to $10k)!!!

Thanks to my wife, we did not make the purchase and we are so happy.

Think before you buy!

Steve

To all those interested in joining Carnival Vacation Club.....DON'T DO IT!!! The worst mistake my husband and I have made. So far, our free vacation package for signing up cost us $1900 when we arrived at our location because the vacation DOES NOT give you a written confirmation, and most of the information we received was completely wrong. We are now trying to use our cruise points to go on a cruise and are getting a hard time over that. Will let everyone know how that works out. Our resort stay took over 2 months to even confirm. So buyer....BEWARE.

What credit card company did you use? We paid with American Express and they denied our claim. It had been past the 3 day cancellation, was yours

quote:

Originally posted by debandtim:
Just an update and to encourage people to pursue a refund if you haven't used any of the services. Thanks to all of the info on this forum (especially the BBB link), I discussed the situation with my credit card company who suggested that I file a dispute with the credit card company along with all of the supporting documentation. The credit card company informed me that these companies are automatically fined when there is a dispute. I just found out today that my account was credited a couple of days ago, only 8 days after I submitted the dispute and requested a credit. Now again, in our particular case, we had paid 50% down on a credit card with the final payment coming up in July and had, of course, not received any "benefits" or services whatsoever. Of course, my emails to CVC were never responded to, but I did file a complaint with the BBB as well. Hope this helps some people

What credit card company did you use? We paid with American Express and they denied our claim. It had been past the 3 day cancellation, was yours?

quote:

Originally posted by cinjim:
What credit card company did you use? We paid with American Express and they denied our claim. It had been past the 3 day cancellation, was yours?

Go back and file a formal dispute and do a "cut and paste" of this forum and get additional statements if you can from others that had problems with CVC - American Express has to then advise CVC that a dispute has been filed - of course CVC will deny any wrongdoing; however, in light of the documentation you provide, AmEx will have little choice but to accept your dispute and have your money refunded to you. By the way, the "fine" on disputes is usually only about $25.

Just stumbled across this today. I joined the club and wished I hadn't. I feel that I will not get what I was promised; mainly that I would get several cruises, compared to the one cruise I will get according to the points I anm quoted by the rep's at CVC.

I am considering contacting the BBB to see if it is possible to get a refund. For those of you who have successfully accomplished the refund, what do you think is the better way to get it; through a dispute with American Express or filing through the Better Business Bureau.

Any advice for a plan of action would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
GC

Enjoyinglife,
The BBB can't get you a refund - if you purchased using your AmEx card, you need to file a dispute with them.

Yes, document your complaint with the BBB....then reference your complaint to the BBB in your complaint to AMEX. Also direct AMEX to this web-site. Good luck!!

Thanks cinjim and chuckok. I talked to my husband about trying to file complaints, etc. and he's all for it. We really have nothing to lose.
Again, Thanks

Just to let all know...CVC received my complaint about how we were treated. The person who booked us "no longer works" for them. Isn't that just convenient? People there were very rude to us when we tried to get a response about being overcharged and would not listen. Wrote them a very long letter, including all my confirmation e-mails from their employees telling us exactly how much our resort stay was to be. They are now "looking into it" So far this week I have 3 calls from them telling me that they are unable to reach anyone at the resort who can verify anything. Will let you know how the outcome is. Does anyone know if the BBB will even handle these people?

By all means, post a complaint to the BBB. They have a list of complaints as long as your arm against I.C.E. Not many are getting resolved. At least get your complaint documented, so the credit card companies will begin to recognize the problem. We are having no success getting American Express to unravel our contract. Good luck.

Sorry for the delay - re filing a dispute with our credit card company - it was a Capital One Visa card. Before contacting my credit card company, I emailed CVC at all of the possible email addresses listed (there are about 6 for ICE Gallery, etc.) requesting cancellation of my membership and a refund (and of course never expected to hear from them, and I didn't). I emailed the BBB of Phoenix and filed a formal complaint. They've got LOTS of them. THen, I called my credit card company and spoke with someone at length in the Dispute Dept. They transferred me, interestingly, to Fraud Investigations. That person spoke with me at length and told me exactly what I must document in my complaint, which was very specific, and told me to fax it (not mail it) in. The credit appeared 8 days later without any written response from my credit card company.
BTW, just this week, I received an email from CVC letting me know that they were getting ready to charge my credit card for the balance of the membership. I emailed back that I had cancelled, had already requested my refund, and had disputed the charge, reported it to the BBB, and had received the credit to my credit card. I IMMEDIATELY got an email from another person from CVC informing me that I had not sent them any emails, my membership was not cancelled, I wasn't getting a refund, and did any of this occur within the 3 days I signed the contract? My how quickly they responded. I, however, am not bothering to respond back. Capital One said they can't obstruct the charge from coming through on my account (even if I cancelled my card), but they will dispute it once it shows up. Hope this helps.

Just got off the Spirit. And yes, I saw them pushing the CVC. I wanted to stand outside the door and warn people not to even go in. But didn't want to be ushered off the ship at the next port so I just let it go. The cruise director kept "plugging" them in his announcements also which is something I don't remember on my Conquest trip. Either way I thought it was shameful that Carnival continues to use this company. I don't have a problem with the idea of approach of CVC, but it should be done through a reputable company. I used all the space on my comment card lambasting CCL for even affiliating themselves with ICE. Don't think it will do any good, but at least it fealt good. I also told anyone that mentioned looking into CVC to "run for the hills". I figured I saved a few poor souls.

Good for you Jim

Hi! I am pretty new to this board. I found you guys again, because someone had posted the link to this thread on "another" popular board who was having this very discussion.

I am neither for or against CVC, but I have worked very hard on this other board to help people make an informed decision. We were first exposed to CVC on the Spirit back in July and clearly decided it was not for us.

And after reading some 40+ separate individuals who either cancelled or felt ripped off on the other board, (and now all you folks on here) I have to wonder what Carnival is thinking.

There are about 10 folks over there who admit it has not been as promised, but felt they have gotten their money's worth...because they were willing to pay a little more for the cruise to get the VIP Check In. It seems the trick is to always book a 1A or 4A gty and hope for an upgrade that probably isn't going to happen.

And (as usual) there is always the one guy who "claims" he has saved $7,000.00 in cruises by purchasing the Silver package. Being an accountant (and a stat frat) it does not take long to see that folks can make "figures" say whatever you want them to.

For example, if I usually book a 6B (picking my own room) on the Spirit during peak season for $1,000.00 per person....and I use CVC and get a 4A gty for $400.00 on the Holiday in September ...then I have not saved $600.00 because we are not comparing apples to apples. But that is what this guy is doing and telling everyone how much money they will save on cruises. He actually tried to convince me that before CVC, he was paying $1,000 per person for a 4a gty on boats like the Pride and Spirit (not the Alaska route).

I told him (if that were true) just because he has been paying way to much all these years, does not make CVC a good deal.

If folks want to pay more for their cruise to get the VIP Check In and feel like a "big shot" with the party and chocolate covered strawberries...then they have every right to do so. But I just don't want folks to be misled that they are going to save money on cruises when that is not the case. Some have been told they will save 30% to 60% and that is simply not the case.

Again, I can't imagine what Carnival is thinking. They have worked so hard to overcome a "Walmart" reputation and now they let these ICE guys come in and mess it all up.

I love Carnival. Our family of four are all Platinum members. But this is not good for their reputation when 90% of the folks who have had dealing with these folks feel like Carnival is ripping them off.

Another tip is to contact your Attorney General's office and the Attorney General's office in every state where ICE has an office. It does not cost you one thing to file a formal complaint and it may not do any good, but it will bury them in paperwork for quite a while. From what I understand, it is not a pleasant experience for the companies involved.

I will get off my soapbox now. I just hate seeing people being misled.

quote:

Originally posted by sc6103:
We just came back from the Conquest on her 05-14-2006 sailing. We were "invited" to CVC's presentation and almost purchased into this program. I was in favor of purchasing CVC package but luckly, my wife insist to "sleep-on-it". I asked the sales person on a specific cruise for December of this year, since I was going to book that cruise and I have good knowledge regarding the details & price of this particular cruise. The sales person on board wont show us the real price if we book via CVC, but keep showing other cruises. That really make me think twice about this CVC thing. CVC representatives really pushing you to buy with little or no (useful) information available to you. That's always a bad sign when you are deciding on a major purchase ($3,500 to $10k)!!!

Thanks to my wife, we did not make the purchase and we are so happy.

Think before you buy!

Steve

That was the same sailing we were on. It kind of sucked missing the Caymans.

Anyhow, I took the prices of three cruises from carnival.com (using the ship's rather expensive Internet service), then obtained the CVC point totals for those same cruises. When I multiplied those point totals by .25 (they said that each CVC point is worth 25 cents), the CVC cost was always significantly higher than the cash price. The CVC cost was slightly lower when I multiplied the point total by .175 (they told us that each point was worth 17.5 cents of the price of a cruise). They did tell us that CVC is an entire vacation package, not just a cruise package, and they did give us the .25 and .175 numbers. However, they did not tell us outright that CVC only works out if you use every part of the package--and keep in mind that those hotel packages are $200 a pop. Of course, if they did that, nobody would buy it.

My wife and I also bought into the CVC in April 04 on the Spirit. I must say that I feel that we were also duped as far as the value of the cruise points. We were in a catagory 8I cabin and were told that we could go on three identical cruises with the 20,000 points we were buying. When we booked our cruise on the Glory 4/06 I was shocked at how many points it would take to get a balcony cabin. So I decided to blow the whole wad and booked a suite to Hawaii next year. The other perks are valuable, but chances are I will not get the chance to use all of the vacation certificates. I will pass the next time it is offered to me.

Good suggestion about reporting to the Attorney General's office. I do believe it would be helpful if everyone who can document that they were unable to obtain exactly what we believe we were being sold, filed that information with the BBB regardless of whether you are able to get any money back or not. BTW, in our case, some of you asked if we cancelled within the 3-day window. Heck, no. We signed up the first week of this year on the New Years Eve Carnival Glory cruise out of Port Canaveral and spent the spring researching and realizing we had made a big mistake. We "cancelled" and asked for a refund in May, realizing that the 50% we owed was to be charged in July. We made the case that we had not received any "services" or products for our down payment, which of course, we hadn't. I agree with the individual who said to still complain and document it with your credit card company. I'm wondering if my company HAS heard of this before and so was quick to credit my account. We just got a letter the other day saying they are in the process of charging the "merchant" (CVC).