Carnival Vacation Club BEWARE

[The Carnival Cruiser]

The Carnival Vacation Club beware. Its not cracked up to be what they are selling. They get your money up front and then let you down or get the run around. We are part of a group that booked 8 cabins and the no vacation club members got bumped up. The vacation club members (us) get left on level five all the others got bumped to level 8. I guess once they have you, the honeymoon is over. We have booked two cruises through them and never have been bumped up. THe sales pitch is they will bump you up to the best cabin available when they can. The problem is you never get bumped up. Almost a bait and switch type of action. I hate being sold something to find out its not exactly like they say. The really bad part is the run around you get when you ask them. The Carnival Vacation club is not part of Carnival we found out. Its a company called Solutions at Sea. You call them and ask about upgrades and they point the finger at Carnival. You call Carnival and they point at Solutions at Sea. Very disturbing action by these two groups. I believe they keep Bumping cabins up within three days of sailing. I will keep you posted on what happens. Anyone want too take bets?

 

Buyer beware.:mad:

 

Chris Reynolds

2/12/2006 spirit

[sobore]

Thanks for the info, my cousins golf group booked on Carnival. I'll have to find out if it was thru vaction club.

[cheshyrkat]

I have heard a lot of complaints about the Vacation club. Some seem to like it but the complaints are pretty strong. I personally don't like things like that so I never even considered joining.

[big_duck]

I don't know anything about CVC and I don't care, I don't like their lack of openness about their product so I won't have anything to do with them.

 

That being said, I have a couple of questions:

 

1. Did you book a specific cabin or a guarantee? (I suspect the former)

 

2. Did the other people book a specific cabin or a guarantee (I suspect the latter).

[LHP]

any company that uses what I consider high pressure tactics (ie you must buy this while you are on the ship). And I have listed the downside of this particular venture on these boards since we were introduced to it on the Spirit.

 

However, simply not receiving an upgrade alone may not be sufficient reasons to completely discount this service.

 

What you need to ask yourself is .... am I getting this cruise cheaper than any other avenue I would have had at my disposal? Did you still get the companion airfare, discount land vacations, Skippers Club and VIP parties?

 

This would never interest me, because we get Interline rates and information we have gotten so far is that they could not save us money.

 

My husband travels every month and is suppose to get automatic upgrades from everything from airlines, to car rentals to hotels. Sometimes he does and sometimes he doesn't.

 

Personally, we knew all the facts before we made our decision to decline. We knew that Carnival did not own this company. They are merely buying Carnival's name and office space on their ships. We also knew that the points for a cruise can be changed by them at any time. That (coupled with the fact that you had to buy while on board) made it a product that I wasn't interested in.

 

Unless they have not delivered something that they put in writing, it goes back to buyer beware.

[The Carnival Cruiser]

The others in the group were given three category upgrades at booking. THey have known there cabin since booking. We booked staterooms also and because we were Vacation club members were suppose to get upgraded to the best available. We did not get anything. Not even the three category upgrade.

 

If you look at the price per point and no upgrade it costs me more to get my cabins per person then if we paid cash. The air vouchers they give you for a two for one is more expensive then flying 2 coach booked 21 days in advance. We have tried two times to book a land vacation on the club and with plenty of notice and we were told no space available. You call the resorts direct and they have rooms.

 

Still a bad value.

[The Carnival Cruiser]

If you look at the price per point and no upgrade it costs me more to get my cabins per person then if we paid cash. The air vouchers they give you for a two for one is more expensive then flying 2 coach booked 21 days in advance. We have tried two times to book a land vacation on the club and with plenty of notice and we were told no space available. You call the resorts direct and they have rooms.

[jimc_usa]

 

My husband travels every month and is suppose to get automatic upgrades from everything from airlines, to car rentals to hotels. Sometimes he does and sometimes he doesn't. /QUOTE]

 

I travel every week and there is NO automatic upgrades with any Airline , hotel or car rental comapny I deal with!

Having said that I get upgraded with the Airline about 90-95% of the time.

With the hotel I generally get the best room they have(but no guarentees), and again I generally can request any vehicle on the car lot but again no guarantees.

[number1cruiser]

Myself and my DH are members of the Vacation Club. I have posted in the past that we have had a good experince with the Club. We have been upgraded on every cruise that we have booked with them. We always book a GTY cabin in what we would be happy with with no upgrade. On the 3 cruises that we have book through them we got the following upgrades.

 

Booked a bottom floor inside got upgraded 4 decks inside

Booked a Balcony middeck got upgraded to a Penthouse Suite (Alaska)

Booked a bottom floor inside, got a outside bottom floor.

 

We enjoy the perks that come with the club, however with the new perks that Carnival is putting in place for there Platinum Members the Club is going to have to make some changes to stay a step ahead.

 

Number1cruiser

[LHP]

then maybe you are flying the wrong airline.

 

Hubby traveled every week last year (thankfully reduced to once a month this year) and is a Platinum member of Delta.

 

Their site confirms these are things that can happen (I never said it was guaranteed)...I said he is SUPPOSE TO GET.

 

 

2005 Program Benefits General

 

Medallion Platinum

Award Travel Opportunities

Profile

Online Statements

Exclusive Partner Offers

E-mail Programs

Unlimited Complimentary Domestic Upgrades2

Upgrade Confirmation2(Y fares) At booking

Upgrade Confirmation At Booking

Unlimited Complimentary Companion Upgrades2

(Y, B, M, H, Q, & K fares)

Priority Boarding

Preferred Seating

Priority Waitlist

Special Member Services Desk

Special Check-In Privileges

(where available)

Crown Room Club3 Membership Complimentary

Mileage Bonus 100%

SkyTeam Benefits Elite Plus

Frequent Traveler Security Line Access (where available)

Same-day Confirmed Fee Waiver

Same-day Airport Standby Option

Platinum Systemwide Upgrade Certificates

Access to International Airport Lounges

Priority Baggage Handling

 

 

This is the same way with the upgrades with CVC. They are suppose to be available but sometimes they happen and sometimes they don't. Just like I said.

[serene56]

The others in the group were given three category upgrades at booking. THey have known there cabin since booking. We booked staterooms also and because we were Vacation club members were suppose to get upgraded to the best available. We did not get anything. Not even the three category upgrade. me more to get my cabins per person then if we paid cash. Still a bad value.

 

When you booked you booked with a certain agent? and your friends booked with a different agent?

Sounds like your friend booked while carnival was having a sale. Book and get upgraded right then and there... We did that for the Destiny come Sept.

 

Your agent booked you into direct cabins instead of booking you guarantee? people in set cabins rarely get upgraded it at all. Its the guarantee that gets upgraded first. YOur agent should have told you that.

[Astronomer]

Yep, never ever buy anything that "has" to be bought today. I love car salesmen that tell me this deal is only good for today and tomorrow the price will be a lot higher, I always reply with:

"So you are saying when I come out to buy a car tomorrow don’t even consider you or your lot at all, got it, I wont come by tomorrow which is when I plan to buy a car"

[The Carnival Cruiser]

My wife booked all the cabins at the same time. We were told that because they are paying cash they would get an immediate upgrade of three categories. We had to wait for the best available cabin when they started making upgrades for people.

 

My point is that if the CVC has no pull in getting you upgraded when your using your points it is not worth joining the club. We are the only ones without an upgrade and when you convert your points into dollars we paid more for a lower categorie then the ones that paid cash and got bumped up 3 levels.

[Wennfred]

We are part of a group that booked 8 cabins and the no vacation club members got bumped up.

 

Im a member, this past Oct on the Pride when I booked using my points, I crossed booked 2 other couples that we wanted to seat with during dinner, I booked a CAT. 1A and they booked their Cat 4a, we were all given Cat 6a with french doors and our cabins were side by side.

 

Because they were my friends they were also invited to the VIP Parties if they wanted to go, also got to use the VIP disembark with me.

 

I've used CVC twice and its truely amazing how they take care of you. Its totally fun and I truely enjoy it. One of the cool things I enjoy about it is, I get to log on to the Members Website and just use points, Since my cruises are already prepaid I dont have to worry about money for the next few years. Only draw back is you have to come up with the money up front, they are now coming with a payment plan so you can pay as you go.

 

I got the Silver Membership plan and will buy another one this March on the Valor.

 

See ya all at the Party.

 

Fred

[LynnA]

We are on our third vacation package and we love it. You don't save that much but you do get on and off the ship much faster, usually about 10 minutes. I also like the upgrades on cabins. Its not guaranteed but it has happened on every cruise except one. When this happens you do save alot of money on the cruise. We have been upgraded from cat 8 to a corner room cat 9 on the Destiny. On the Elation we were upgraded to a cat 12 suite from a cat 8. On the Conquest we went from a 8A to 8E. Thats where you get your savings. I also like the idea of being paid up ahead of time. My business is up and down so when we get ready to cruise all I have to do is pick up the phone and book, already paid for. Just book again today, see what happens.

[b8tzm]

I experienced the pressure of these people. They can be defined as the following:

 

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

 

shyster

 

SYLLABICATION: shy·ster

PRONUNCIATION: shstr

NOUN: Slang An unethical, unscrupulous practitioner, especially of law.

ETYMOLOGY: Probably alteration of German Scheisser, son of a bitch, bastard, from scheissen, to defecate, from Middle High German schzen, from Old High German skzzan. See skei- in Appendix I.

OTHER FORMS: shyster·ism —NOUN

 

WORD HISTORY: Calling someone a shyster might be considered libellous; knowing its probable origin adds insult to injury. According to Gerald L. Cohen, a student of the word, shyster is derived from the German term scheisser, meaning literally “one who defecates,” from the verb scheissen, “to defecate,” with the English suffix –ster, “one who does,” substituted for the German suffix –er, meaning the same thing. Sheisser, which is chiefly a pejorative term, is the German equivalent of our English terms bastard and son of a bitch. Sheisser is generally thought to have been borrowed directly into English as the word shicer, which, among other things, is an Australian English term for an unproductive mine or claim, a sense that is also recorded for the word shyster.

[derf5585]

Welcome To Carnival Vacation Club

from

http://www.carnivalvacationclub.com/login.jsp?pid=822256

 

Cruise line timeshare firm plans 500 hires

from

http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2004/09/06/story3.html

 

Re: Carnival Vacation Club - bad deal

from

http://www.aboutmytalk.com/t182685/s&.html

[bajohnsons]

I feel I must chime in here. I attended one of the CVC presentations. I felt no pressure at all. I thought my salesman was very clear in saying that essentially you are pre-paying for cruises and for the use of your up front money, they give you certain perks, which have been discussed elsewhere. No hard sell, no outlandish promises were made to me. I did sign up as a result. When I got home I checked a number of web sites where I had always gotten very good prices on cruises and compared them to CVC. Some were higher on CVC but just as many were definitely lower. I can't account for the discrepancy, but I didn't cherry pick price comparisons, just chose cruises I would be interested in at the times I can get away. As with all cruise booking, shopping for the lower price is obvious. Bottom line is, you can save money with CVC, it's just not guaranteed. As for many of these complaints, it's clear to me that some of the buyers simply didn't read the contract or understand what was in there. It's ALWAYS buyer beware.

[The Carnival Cruiser]

Still waiting on CVC or Carnival

[Wennfred]

Still waiting on CVC or Carnival

 

Not sure what youre waiting for the Upgrade system is not a guarantee thing.

[artemese]

Oops!!

[artemese]

The Carnival Vacation Club beware. Its not cracked up to be what they are selling. They get your money up front and then let you down or get the run around.

Buyer beware.:mad:

 

Chris Reynolds

2/12/2006 spirit

 

hate to hear about your luck... but i have known many people who got wonderul upgrades... this last week i was on the conquest and several (about 6 or 7) couples who had already been in the vacation club renewed there membership,,,,, so i can't see how they can be that bad.... have you ever been in it?? if not i don't see how you can be sure they are that bad... i would say if they have lots of repeat members they must be getting something out of it wouldn't you say?

[mpsoerensen]

I think Carnival should be ashamed for being associated with the Carnival Vacation Club.

 

I bought a Bronze membership, on the assurance that would give us enough points for another Mexican Riviera cruise, just like the one we were on.

 

Well - not quite what we got! When we tried to use the points, we ended up with a much worse room (no balcony, just a porthole), and still had to pay $800 more for "points" - grand total, this cruise is costing us well over $1,000 more than what we would have paid, had we just paid for it regularly.

 

What about the extras? Good luck using any of them - the airfare "certificates" are "buy-one, get one free", but are severely restricted. No use over the holidays, for example. They are worthless, just another part of the scam.

 

The "free land-based vacation" is another scam - either you get to go to a timeshare in Minnesota in January, or you have to sit through a time-share pitch.

 

All told, this was a scam - stay away from it, cancel it if you bought it recently, dispute it with your credit card company, but get out. You are being ripped off.

 

(this will be my last cruise with Carnival - I don't do repeat business with hucksters and scam-artists).

 

Too bad a good concept got turned into something really bad.

[truecruiser]

The others in the group were given three category upgrades at booking. THey have known there cabin since booking. We booked staterooms also and because we were Vacation club members were suppose to get upgraded to the best available. We did not get anything. Not even the three category upgrade...

 

right off the bat, the first thing that came to mind when i read your first sentence was that the booking rep must have been able to use a fare code on their sailings which bumped them up 3 deks. there have been a lot of them (fare codes) available lately.

 

now, i don't know what kind of discounts you get w/ CVC, but, i know you are not generally allowed to combine offers. so, isn't it possible that this is what happened, and NOT that they are trying to screw you?

[NYCFOD]

I bought a membership of a different vacation club (Accor Pacific Vacation Club). I don't think it represents good value for money. You can usually book the same accommodation (or in this case a cruise) for less than the club offers. Also if your financial or family circumstances change, you'll be lucky to get a firesale price for your membership. If you are interested in buying into any of the vacation clubs, look for resales on the internet first. I don't know if anyone out there is selling their CVC membershipss, but I would not be surprised if they are. Don't forget that the purchase price includes a very, very generous commission for the sales representative.