Free cruise scam ?
 

One of my daughters friends won a cruise and invited my daughter to go along.
However, now they discover there is a $351-$409 processing fee to be paid before reservation can be confirmed.
That seems like a very hefty processing fee to me- do you smell something rotten going on here? Or this standard for a "free" cruise?

Remember the old saying "If it's too good to be true, it usually is"

What their getting is probably the worst cabins on the ship, off season. Not really a scam, but not exactly a great prize. A few years ago we 'won' two nights at the Flamingo in Reno. There was a $37 per night processing fee. We did get the room, which was overlooking a microwave dish. We didn't get ripped off, but it was no big prize.

Port charges for a seven day cruise should be around $250 so if taxes are an additional $100 or $150 that would be right.

I'd get a detailed list of what the processing involves.

Anything other than the above would be a scam.

If that was a free cruise then all I would expect to pay are the port charges which can be $100-$150 approx. It's a scam if they asking for anything over $160.

I forgot to say that the processing fee is per person - so GoTravel - does that still seem reasonable

Is it a timeshare thing? Are they required to hear a pitch? If so, then it's probably legit, but they'll have to suffer the hardball timeshare sales attempt.

(While in college in the early 90's, I "won" a 6 night "cruise vacation" to Florida and the Bahamas from a timeshare company. I had to pay like $200 and go to a presentation by the timeshare company. It was incredibly high pressure, but of course I said "no," apparently much to their dismay. The "cruise," by the way, was a 3 hour ride from Ft Lauderdale to Grand Bahama Island. Was it worth the $200 and pitch? Yes. My friend & I had a great time.)

How long is this cruise? You said in your second post that the fee is $351-$409/pp. That sounds more like the selling price of a short or really cheap cruise, in a bad cabin of course.

I've "won" several free cruises, but there's always a catch. These people who give away free cruises have a very different definition of the word "free." I think this is actually a sales gimmick. Have you looked at the web page for the cruise line to find out what the fare would be?

no- its not a timeshare thing -
just won the cruise in a drawing- real estate company puts all new home buyers in a drawing for a cruise - and he won an expensive "free" cruise - does not include airfare either

sunburn, we were posting at the same time, so please see my post above.

I don't know how far you are from the port, but now it sounds like this free cruise will cost at least $700 per person, and that's making the conservative estimate you can fly there for around $300.

Could you share with us some more details about the cruise, like what ship and cruiseline?

she says they have a choice of several cruise lines - but they chose Carnival because they liked their initerary best

OK, how long is the cruise?

Yes, how long is the cruise and how many ports?

sunburn, I need to get off the board for now and get back to work. But what I would like to suggest is that you go to Carnival's web page and price out the exact same cruise. Also take note of the port fees and taxes, which will surely be a lot less than $351-$409/pp. I'm betting that your daughter and her friend are actually buying a ticket instead of getting something for free. Maybe they are getting a discount, maybe not. But please check it out. This reeks of scam.

There is no such thing as a "free" cruise unless it's a prize you won in a legitimate contest - in which case there should be no cost to you at all (but it will be repoted to the IRS as income to you and you'll have to pay taxes on the value of it).


This sounds like one of any possible number of scams - from a timeshare presentation to "fees" that equal more than the value of what you get to "cruises" that are never available when you want them. (I get at least 2/3 offers per month of "free" hotels or vacations or trips - all of which are scams of this type.)

Don;t pay anything until you have all the info, have checked directly with the cruise line that payment has been made for the trip - and looked into the company's better business record. It's also a good idea to insist they put everything in writing to you, including answers to all your questions - which they are often loathe to do - since it then becomes postal fraud - a federal crime they can;t escape from by moving their operation to another state.

I am thinking it reeks of scam also- thats why I posted to get your opinion

Its a seven day cruise- stop at 4 ports
She lives in Sacramento so would have to pay airfare to Miami
I am also guessing this will cost her at least $800 and thats with no side excursions and no extra alcohal - not much of a free trip

It may or may not be a scam but you can book a seven day cruise much closer to your home for less than $500 including port charges and tax.

It sounds like one of those drawings that everybody who enters "wins". I've seen this sort of thing for ski resorts and cruises a lot.

I would at the very least see if the company has any complaints against it on the BBB website.

I'll bet she won a "free cruise" Freeport in the Bahamas on the Discovery Line right? Yes it is a scam, and you can read more about it on www.bahamas-mon.com The company is a Florida company with LOTS of complaints about deceptive advertising with the BBB.

The "processing fee" is pretty much what they would pay if they did the trip on their own.

I 2nd NYtraveler's post, whenever I get a telemarketer's call, I tell them to mail a WRITTEN information to me. They either hang up or ask for my e-mail address. When I say no, if you send me an e-mail you are not legally responsible, even the strongest give up and hang up.

Skip it...nothing in life is 'free'.

saNpARIS- Some things in life are free- my sister in law just won her 3rd car in 3 years ( well maybe its not free since you do have to pay taxes) but they were definately legitimate deals .

Anyway, I called Carnival Cruise lines since that is the cruise they would choose if they went and they were not helpful at all in giving me any information.
It turns out that AQUA Resources is a marketing company that is offering this package- havent called them yet to see why they charge so much for processing-
I also called my travel agent who agreed that the processing fee was very high - havent looked yet to see what it would cost just to book a 7 day cruise in Nov - going to do that next.
Anyway- I dont think its a good deal

One of the points nytraveler made is worth repeating:
No matter what you decide, the cruise will not be "available" on any of the dates you choose.
I got one of these, and in the fine print, you had to "request" a date - in writing - 60 days in advance, and then it had to be "confirmed in writing", so you could waste months just going back and forth on the dates. And the fine print on the website was unreadable, so I printed it out. Well, the end of each line was cropped...making the fine print impossible to figure out. Coincidence?

Forget it!

sunbum, I'm glad you are smart enough to check this out for your daughter and her friend. People often get so excited over the idea that they've won something, they might not realize that this prize is actually a purchase in disguise. Good job for checking with us. ((Y))

The other scam I have seen about "free hotel" (never seen it for cruise) is that traveler must book air thru a special number - and airfare is outrageously high.

My friend's son won a Disney Cruise from Disney - the only thing they paid was air and the charges one would normally incur while on cruise (tips, drinks, excursions, etc.) So port charges, processing fee, etc. is certainly not standard.

A sort of related thought. Cruise lines really do make much of their money on board, and they are willing to work with agencies or directly to make sure that every cabin is filled to increase the onboard "sales". Here in Naples, I know several people who LOVE cruises (I'm not one of those) and they are regisered for special notices. Just this week, one of the girls in our show got a notice for a four day Carribean Cruise leaving Ft. Lauderdale next week (apparently very undersold). For $79 each -- yes that is correct -- four of them are sharing two deluxe cabins on the cruise. Several of them do this all the time. Of course, this won't work for everyone who would still have to get flights to the cruise (these four will simply drive over and park the car), or for those who can't take four days off at the last minute.

The phone rings and the caller, or more likely the recorded message, asks you to take a short political survey.

You're ready to hang up, but the voice on the other end of the line says for helping out you'll get a free two-day cruise to the Bahamas.

"And they ask a few questions and then all of a sudden they're getting people's personal information, credit card information," says David Quinlan with the Better Business Bureau of Western Washington.

If you get one of these calls, Quinlan says you need to hold on to your wallet.

"There's the risk of identity theft in a lot of these situations if people are giving their personal and private information over the phone thinking that they're going to sign up for this free cruise."

And keep this in mind, should you be tempted.

"The cruise is not free."

That's right, there are taxes and fees. And you may have to sit through a timeshare sales presentation before you can get on the ship, if there's a cruise at all.

The BBB has already received more than a thousand complaints about this sort of scam.

Fraud experts say you should always be suspicious when you're offered a prize to take a survey. I don't know of any legitimate political poll that does this:

http://www.timesharescam.com/blog/162-timeshare-deals/

And you brought up this 7 year old thread to advertise your lame website -- why? Oh, yea, to get more hits on it.