Originally posted by anni522:
I became a member of this club back in July and it sounded great! But I realized that it was just a scam. You do go by a point system like NancyN stated and all that she wrote is exactly what they tell you, but I have yet to receive my free companion air tickets, the resorts that you get are limited to only Cozumel & some other mexican resort and I was told I would be getting the best rate in the industry and I just checked for a cruise next year and my travel agent was cheaper than they were. I'm extremely disappointed and wish I would've never joined this club.
We also have found that the great savings promised have not been there. On board when they wanted me to sign up they promised 30% to 50% savings on future cruises...but I have found every time that the Carnival Vacation Club (CVC) price works out to be the same if not more than just booking through Carnival itself. I have called CVC and written them about this, but so far not one of the people I have talked to has helped. I am thinking of taking them to court on this because it was very deceptive advertising to say the least. The resort stays are always all gone or not available, no matter when you try to get them. This has turned out to be a very big dissapointment.
If you find any help, please let me know. We joined back in July 2004. We also found the points were not worth the value they told us on the cruise. The resort stays are always all booked up. We are at the end of our rope. We can't afford to lose the $5,000 we gave them for our big dream cruise we had hoped we could go on, which with the points we can't even get close to taking the four of us we had hoped for or were promised for the 30% to 50% savings. We would have kept our money and bought the cruise outright from Carnival if we had known what a scam this was. We have called and written them letter after letter but no help has been forthcoming. I think maybe if we all get together and form a class action lawsuit, we might be able to see some justice.
This sounds a little weird for a cruise line to be sponsoring. I would be talking to Miami Better Business Bureau as they may have something to say about this. Or even contacting the District Attorney in Miami.
I think maybe a law suit is the only thing that is going to get their attention. They don't seem to reply when you try to contact them about your concerns. We too have been very misinformed concerning the points and the availablity of the resort stays.
I was within the three days so there was not a problem canceling. However they have yet to credit my card with the money I paid on the ship.
They had no explanation for the difference in the value of the points.
I don't know how a lawsuit would work. They only sell the memberships a high tea, not in any ports. I am sure they have them selves covered very well. That does not mean I can't or won't file complaints if they don't refund my money.
We purchased the Carnival Vacation Club while on the Pride in September 2005. We have been on 6 Carnival cruises and were happy for the opportunity to save a little on future cruises and receive the VIP priveleges they advertised. We also were told it was valid for any of the other cruise lines, and in fact, their brochure states "As a member you will receive a variety of VIP rates and privileges onboard the World's Leading Cruise Lines." (identified in the index as Costa Cruises, Cunard Line, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Yachts of Seabourn, and Windstar Cruises.) In addition, they gave us a 'free' Mexican vacation certificate. Membership included four resort certificates good for '7 night stays at resorts around the world' and four companion-fare certificates. What a joke! First of all, the 'free' Mexican vacation is only good at two resorts in Mexico both of which are coincidentally booked through our expiration date! Second, the resorts that show availability for a particular week are suddenly not available with the certificate, and you can't book more than a year in advance. The 'hotel discounts' are only available within 30 days of reservation date, and then only if the hotel doesn't think they can book the room at the regular rate. And third, we finally received the companion-air certificates and the fine print on them state so many restrictions that they are even more worthless than the resort certificates. Carnival should have stuck to offering discount (pre-paid) cruises and skipped the rest--I won't enjoy our next cruises nearly as much and am wondering now if Carnival will even make good on their 'VIP services' as promised.
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