"The Caribbean Cruise Line" - Anyone have experiences?

(Moderators - please move this to a better location, if there is one - I tried to search for something like this and couldn't find anything)

Had a "different" tele marketing call today, offering me a 2 night Bahamas cruise for free. OK - I know the drill on these things, keep digging and you'll get to the punch line - free is really a few hundred dollars and not a good deal at all.

I pressed the lady for a while and it appears the only charge is the $59 port charges per person. I'd need to pay that now before they sent the tickets for my cruise. She pointed me to their web site, http://thecaribbeancruiseline.com/index.html, looks nice enough, but anyone can put a web site on the air.

I did not have to book airfare through any special agency. I did not have to go listen to a time share spiel. I could use these tickets "any time".

I aked her to let me do some research and call me back. No dice. Fine with me, I don't do business that way, good bye.

I have no doubt that I did the right thing by saying Good bye. No doubt about it.

But, I'm curios - anyone have any experience or knowledge about this cruise line, this ship? Not all of these types of calls are bad news - the key is to know what you are getting into, what you are really going to pay and what you are really going to get. In this case, I had none of that knowledge, but, I wouldn't mind getting educated.

(Moderators - please move this to a better location, if there is one - I tried to search for something like this and couldn't find anything)

 

Had a "different" tele marketing call today, offering me a 2 night Bahamas cruise for free. OK - I know the drill on these things, keep digging and you'll get to the punch line - free is really a few hundred dollars and not a good deal at all.

 

I pressed the lady for a while and it appears the only charge is the $59 port charges per person. I'd need to pay that now before they sent the tickets for my cruise. She pointed me to their web site, http://thecaribbeancruiseline.com/index.html, looks nice enough, but anyone can put a web site on the air.

 

I did not have to book airfare through any special agency. I did not have to go listen to a time share spiel. I could use these tickets "any time".

 

 

I aked her to let me do some research and call me back. No dice. Fine with me, I don't do business that way, good bye.

 

I have no doubt that I did the right thing by saying Good bye. No doubt about it.

 

But, I'm curios - anyone have any experience or knowledge about this cruise line, this ship? Not all of these types of calls are bad news - the key is to know what you are getting into, what you are really going to pay and what you are really going to get. In this case, I had none of that knowledge, but, I wouldn't mind getting educated.

I think this line is the former Imperial Magesty line. At least that what someone posted on Imperial forum.

Some info on the new cruise line and the ship here:

http://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2425-31109-celebration-cruise-line-sets-sail-.html

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20090325006090&newsLang=en

The ship is a former cruiseferry refitted for cruising. See this thread on CC: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=876429

In mid-October 2011, I was called SEVERAL times by the same number without answering but I finally answered. It was a recorded survey message about a chance to win a free cruise if I answered a few questions. I was just curious to see what questions they would be and none of them were person, so I decided to answer them. I'm usually not one to fall for these scams or believe in something that's "too good to be true" but the questions were ones like "are you male or female" "have a you taken a vacation outside of the usa before" etc...I decide to answer them thinking "what the heck...won't hurt to at least hear about the "free" cruise. after taking the survey they said they would reward me with my free cruise within a couple weeks. They called back the next week but I decided to ignore them. They continuously called day after day...leaving an automated voicemail every time. Finally I called back on November 3, 2011 around 7:30pm saying "fine, tell me about this so called free cruise" After listening to their long 20 min scripted speeches about the free Caribbean Cruise Vacation Package I decided this was probably a waste of my time and that we can NOT afford this cruise right now as my fiance and I are getting married in a couple months and have just bought a house together. They became very rude and pushy on the phone and decided to not take no as an answer. I felt very pressured, uncomfortable, and harassed over the phone! =( They spoke very quickly giving me many reasons why I shouldn't miss out on this opportunity. I then told them I would like to at least wait for my fiance to get home from work so that I could discuss this matter with him first and then make a decision. (but really I just wanted to get them off the phone and make them think I would call back) They responded by saying this was a one time deal and I'll only get the promotion if I made the purchase at that moment. I asked many questions about the vacation package over the phone and everything seemed legit even though I still didn't trust these people since I've never heard of this company in my life. After many tries of reasoning with this sales person, I just gave in. I figured it was just $129 (port fees etc) and I could just cancel it if my fiance and I decide right away we can't do it. So I gave my credit card info. What a huge mistake...they led me into other fees and a bigger vacation package totaling $598 charged to my visa credit card going to hotels that I was told were great but after looking them up online I found out they were probably wrong. My fiance came home and I told him the whole story. We both agreed that I should call back and cancel. I called back right away and asked to cancel and the guy, Vinny, who sold me the package over the phone said that my credit card info already went through and that I would have to wait a full 14 days in order to cancel. He said to call him back after 14 days and request him to cancel. I've been calling them non stop ever since that 14 day mark and they continue to be rude and decline my request. They say their only option for me is to either refund only partial amounts of my payment or I'm allowed to transfer my vacation package to a family or friend. It is now November 22, 2011 and I'm still trying to cancel my package which I will NOT give up on especially before the 30 day mark. I've spoke with people such as Monique, Shantel, Sirius, David, Vinny, Dan, and a few others. I've never dealt with such a rude, careless, evil business (if that's what you want to call them) in my entire life! I like to consider myself a very easy going and friendly person, but after dealing with these people, my goal is to never stop spreading the word to EVERYONE I know and meet about what a horrible business this company truly is. I hope no one has to go through with what I'm going through now. =*(

I'm so sorry you are having so much trouble with this Co. I also got a call from them, not only were they giving me a free cruise but they also added some days in Fl for 4 people with meals for 2 of us and the other 2 had to buy there own meals..I told them no thanks add that was it. no preasure, but I have recieved around 4 phone calls from them since then.

Maybe it would help if you were to call your credit card co. and explane all this to them. Maybe they can stop payment. Good luck in what ever you do.

In mid-October 2011, I was called SEVERAL times by the same number without answering but I finally answered. It was a recorded survey message about a chance to win a free cruise if I answered a few questions. I was just curious to see what questions they would be and none of them were person, so I decided to answer them. I'm usually not one to fall for these scams or believe in something that's "too good to be true" but the questions were ones like "are you male or female" "have a you taken a vacation outside of the usa before" etc...I decide to answer them thinking "what the heck...won't hurt to at least hear about the "free" cruise. after taking the survey they said they would reward me with my free cruise within a couple weeks. They called back the next week but I decided to ignore them. They continuously called day after day...leaving an automated voicemail every time. Finally I called back on November 3, 2011 around 7:30pm saying "fine, tell me about this so called free cruise" After listening to their long 20 min scripted speeches about the free Caribbean Cruise Vacation Package I decided this was probably a waste of my time and that we can NOT afford this cruise right now as my fiance and I are getting married in a couple months and have just bought a house together. They became very rude and pushy on the phone and decided to not take no as an answer. I felt very pressured, uncomfortable, and harassed over the phone! =( They spoke very quickly giving me many reasons why I shouldn't miss out on this opportunity. I then told them I would like to at least wait for my fiance to get home from work so that I could discuss this matter with him first and then make a decision. (but really I just wanted to get them off the phone and make them think I would call back) They responded by saying this was a one time deal and I'll only get the promotion if I made the purchase at that moment. I asked many questions about the vacation package over the phone and everything seemed legit even though I still didn't trust these people since I've never heard of this company in my life. After many tries of reasoning with this sales person, I just gave in. I figured it was just $129 (port fees etc) and I could just cancel it if my fiance and I decide right away we can't do it. So I gave my credit card info. What a huge mistake...they led me into other fees and a bigger vacation package totaling $598 charged to my visa credit card going to hotels that I was told were great but after looking them up online I found out they were probably wrong. My fiance came home and I told him the whole story. We both agreed that I should call back and cancel. I called back right away and asked to cancel and the guy, Vinny, who sold me the package over the phone said that my credit card info already went through and that I would have to wait a full 14 days in order to cancel. He said to call him back after 14 days and request him to cancel. I've been calling them non stop ever since that 14 day mark and they continue to be rude and decline my request. They say their only option for me is to either refund only partial amounts of my payment or I'm allowed to transfer my vacation package to a family or friend. It is now November 22, 2011 and I'm still trying to cancel my package which I will NOT give up on especially before the 30 day mark. I've spoke with people such as Monique, Shantel, Sirius, David, Vinny, Dan, and a few others. I've never dealt with such a rude, careless, evil business (if that's what you want to call them) in my entire life! I like to consider myself a very easy going and friendly person, but after dealing with these people, my goal is to never stop spreading the word to EVERYONE I know and meet about what a horrible business this company truly is. I hope no one has to go through with what I'm going through now. =*(

Things to live by:

1) not many win free cruises;

2) If it's too good to be true . . . . ;

3) There ain't no free ride;

4) If it's "free" why do they need my credit card number?

Long story short, pass big time on this one.......

Definitely call your CC company and tell them it was fraud as that makes it a whole lot more serious to them than disputing it.

Call your credit card company and put the charge in dispute. Now. Immediately. And then send them a letter doing the same thing. If it hasn't been 60 days since the charge, there shouldn't be a problem.

We actually went on one of these cruises in October 2010. While we overheard several of the people onboard the ship were required to attend timeshare pitches we were not. We had been on approx. a dozen "real" cruises previously and had very low expectations but we had a trip planned to FL and figured we could spend a few days doing this.

While its certainly not quite like other cruising (very short duration, smaller ship, very limited activities), for the price it was actually much better then we had been expecting. In fact if I had the opportunity and had an extra few days in FL planned I would gladly go on it again.

As I mentioned though, we overheard others who had to "unexpectedly" go to timeshare pitches or were charged higher rates. They did try to talk us into paying more in order to upgrade our room, but they weren't pushy about it when we said the standard room would be fine. BTW - the standard room was quite small and was bunk beds but for $59 what else would you expect.