Beware of "free cruise certificates" from casino

[pequita]

Just got off the Glory a week ago and on the last night a received a certificate for a free inside room for select sailings. I called Carnival today and tried to use it. I am not picky about my ship or where it sails out of. I am very flexible and cruise just to go and get away.

 

Boy, was I surprised when the representative said none of my sailing where available in Sept 2017 out of Florida or New Orleans. So I asked her to find me anything from September thu December and she said nothing was available.

 

 

In other words the certificate is basically useless. Funny thing is that I cruise the most in September thru November because school is back and most people do not want to cruise during hurricane season. I can always get a last minute unreal deal during this time frame.

 

 

So if you get one of these certificates, don't get too excited. Mine was worthless.

[Cruisegirl6]

We have gotten a couple of those also only to have to use them within 90 days from that sailing...we always have to waste it because we always have other trips such as land trips already booked up and paid for, yes its a waste for sure.

[cccer]

We got one last year and booked a cruise between Christmas and New Years which is a peak time. There were quite a few options available for dates and ports. Might be a timing thing.

[Keys2Heaven]

Most likely nothing available since everyone else with free inside room certificates booked ahead of you. :)

 

Just got off the Glory a week ago and on the last night a received a certificate for a free inside room for select sailings. I called Carnival today and tried to use it. I am not picky about my ship or where it sails out of. I am very flexible and cruise just to go and get away.

 

Boy, was I surprised when the representative said none of my sailing where available in Sept 2017 out of Florida or New Orleans. So I asked her to find me anything from September thu December and she said nothing was available.

 

 

In other words the certificate is basically useless. Funny thing is that I cruise the most in September thru November because school is back and most people do not want to cruise during hurricane season. I can always get a last minute unreal deal during this time frame.

 

 

So if you get one of these certificates, don't get too excited. Mine was worthless.

[SadieN]

Did you ask what was available without giving them any months?

[nol4am]

Last year, there was never a problem using the free certificates but this year it all changed it seems Carnival is doing this more often now to prevent free cruises. They can say they give it to you but doesn't mean that there is anything available for you to use it on it happened to us and we are very flexible.

[imaboo]

Received a bounce back certificate from our Vista cruise (got home Feb 5) and was able to use it to book a short cruise at the end of May. It stated that I had to book within two weeks and sail within 6 months. Try logging in to your Carnival account and see what's offered yourself. That's what I did.:)

[AdGuyMG]

Just got off the Glory a week ago and on the last night a received a certificate for a free inside room for select sailings. I called Carnival today and tried to use it. I am not picky about my ship or where it sails out of. I am very flexible and cruise just to go and get away.

 

Boy, was I surprised when the representative said none of my sailing where available in Sept 2017 out of Florida or New Orleans. So I asked her to find me anything from September thu December and she said nothing was available.

 

Was this a Casino Bounce Back Offer?

 

If so, that offer requires you book within 2 weeks of getting back from the cruise you received it on and the future cruise can be no further than 6 months out. So you have to cruise by the end of July. That's what they mean by select. The terms and conditions should be on the certificate.

 

You have to be more f l e x i b l e than September - December.

[kassimer1]

its free people, take what they offer, you are to picky if you cant choose one of the dozens of cruises. we have one coming up in april. we have done multiple free cruise and have enjoyed everyone.

[tonit964]

Just got off the Glory a week ago and on the last night a received a certificate for a free inside room for select sailings. I called Carnival today and tried to use it. I am not picky about my ship or where it sails out of. I am very flexible and cruise just to go and get away.

 

Boy, was I surprised when the representative said none of my sailing where available in Sept 2017 out of Florida or New Orleans. So I asked her to find me anything from September thu December and she said nothing was available.

 

 

In other words the certificate is basically useless. Funny thing is that I cruise the most in September thru November because school is back and most people do not want to cruise during hurricane season. I can always get a last minute unreal deal during this time frame.

 

 

So if you get one of these certificates, don't get too excited. Mine was worthless.

 

 

 

My hubby got one on our Alaska cruise in August and we were able to apply it for our already booked November Thanksgiving cruise three months later.

 

 

The certificate is not useless but you do have a certain timeframe to sail, which is very close to the one you just took. It definitely would not still be valid in September.

 

 

They are worth it, but you have to be able to cruise again soon.

[mcarney]

Most likely nothing available since everyone else with free inside room certificates booked ahead of you. :)

 

That's very possible ... When we've gotten free interiors, we couldn't find any cruises to work for us ... Then my pvp looked for OV, and we were able to find more dates to chose from

[Domergirl]

We've used these quite a bit. The sailings are very limited, and I'm not at all surprised that they didn't have anything for you that far in advance. Why discount a cruise that still has plenty of time to sell? If you were looking for a cruise in say, May or June, you'd likely have had choices. We got one in September, and sailed in December using the freebie. It's a very "your mileage may vary" offer...but when it works...it's great!!!

 

 

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[Hoosierpop]

We got one in December. There were literally no bookings available during the time frame in the letter through the day the offer expired. And I called every day. It became a joke after awhile.

 

Luckily, I've been getting the premier offers so didn't have the need for the free one.

 

But it was a useless offer.

 

 

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[suz1450]

I got one in Sept 15used it on a 10 day cruise in January 16, got another certificate on that cruise & used it on a 7 day Southern Caribbean cruise in June 16. I am hoping to get another one on my cruise this June that my husband & I can use in Oct/Nov. I just called my pvp and he called me back with a list of cruises.

 

 

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[CruisingSoon88]

My husband and I both received bounce back offers at the end of our December cruise. I called the day after we got off the ship. I did not ask her to limit the month as our schedule was very flexible. She informed me that there were NO cruises available. Not on any ship, any date, period. This was even with 2 offers. I asked her why the casino would give an offer that they could not honor. She said that they only give the casino so many cruises to give away. Since almost all sailings are selling out pretty far in advance, there are none left to give away. She said that she had heard that the program was going to be discontinued because they simply didn't have the inventory available to honor the cruises.

 

Now I know that this may not be true in any way. I'm simply stating what the girl in the casino dept. told me. Regardless, mine and my husband's bounce back offers were not honored.

[Port of Tampa]

I have been using them for years and love them...we upgrade to balcony or suite for nominal fees. And yes you were outside the six month window. I recommend you call back and see what is available within the next six months. I will be hopefully receiving another bounceback offer next week!

 

 

Cheers, good luck and happy cruising.

[bnorris10]

I would say its not useless if you are not able to use it when you want to ... That is not the cruise line's fault if they have something available then it was good that they at least offered

 

 

 

Now for the one who said there was nothing available at all well that would be a bit disappointing and I might would see if there was something they could do like maybe some OBC or something on your next cruise

[njoyndride]

Both DH and I received a BB offer on our January Vista sailing. His was a free balcony and mine a free interior. I called our PVP and using his there were only four sailings offered, none of which were appealing. We went ahead and booked Dream in April using a different Casino offer however when I checked my offers online I found many sailings (including the April Dream) available for my interior BB offer. We upgraded to a balcony from the interior offer for $160pp.

[hishorselover]

My sister got one of these a few years ago. We used it sail the Southern Caribbean cruise on Valor. We had no issue with getting the dates we desired. We upgraded to a balcony room and only paid the difference.

[d12j28]

We got one from our January Splendor cruise. There were a ton of options right up until the end of June. You need to book within 2 weeks of the offer and it goes out 6 months. I will say I spent a few days looking before booking and options were dropping fast.

[CheckersMidwest]

Maybe it just wasn't available for the ports you tried. We live so far away that we have to fly to port, so any port will do. we used a free cruise certificate out of Galveston, but had a lot of options to choose from.

[chichigirl]

On our October 2016 sailing my husband and I both received a few sailing for up to 14 day cruise had to be booked within 2 weeks and sailing had to take place within 6 months. I booked the week after we got back, booked myself in 1 cabin with daughter-in-law and granddaughter, booked my husband in his cabin with son, and 3 other grandkids and only had to pay for the grandkids, all 4 adults sailed free just had to pay tax and port chgs. Sailed a 4 day from NO January 26th, this was the only sailing that worked for all of us, but many other sailings were available had my husband and I gone alone, but this made a great xmas gift for the grandkids. Plus my husband and my self got free drinks in the casino from day 1, saved a bundle. Sorry to hear you may be experiencing a terrible timing issue. Keep checking back.

[Micahs Grandad]

Sometimes things are worth what you paid for them

[angiem0217]

Keep checking back and look for OV. There is limited availability but they should have something available. You should be able to see what's available when you log in with your VIFP number. Don't limit yourself to certain months. You usually have to sail within 6 months

 

 

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[mollyn2003]

Do these offers and certs only come from playing in the casinos?