Carnival Cast Your Crew Contest- To good to be true!

[serenity now]

Yes, I won, and I'm really happy but just thought anyone with sour grapes might want to know it's not quite the deal I thought I was going to get.

 

If I decided to take 20 people, it would be based of quad occupancy. Hello! What are we supposed to do, the old college dorm trick where you put a sock on the door?;)

 

Also, the grand prize winner is required to pay income taxes on the price of the prize which is $15,000. Yep, Uncle Sam wants his cut of my prize. At my tax bracket I would end up paying 20%, or $3,000.

 

Honestly I can't believe that you should have to pay taxes on a non-monetary prize. My dh brought up that when Oprah gave away free cars to all of her auidence about a year ago some of the people couldn't even accept the cars because they had to pay something like $7000 to get a $20,000 car. Just seems pretty crappy to me that you can't even win a prize--not even cash, but a prize---without having to give the government a cut.

 

Now, don't get me wrong I love my friends and family but I wasn't exactly figuring paying $3000 for them to go on a cruise into my yearly budget. Well, at least I live in Florida so I wouldn't have to pay state taxes too.:p

 

Then, of course, the port fees and taxes aren't included in the prize. I expected this anyway so that wasn't too much of a disapointment.

 

So, now I'm left wondering if I just go with my dh will they only tax us for winning one room, because I would totally be willing to pay a little to go on the cruise. I'm going to have to give them a call.

 

By the way, anyone who wants to rip me to shreds for being cheap, feel free. I know I am! I'm only 23 and my dh is currently an intern making $500 a month. We're trying to save up to buy a house next year when he finishes his internship, but for right now we're living on a nurse's salary (and good god don't let me get started on how underpaid we are, that would require at least another 1000 word essay;) ).

 

Anyway, I guess I'm just bitchin for the sake of bitchin. I know I have NO reason to complain about winning something since there are plenty of others out there who would have loved to win--- but they didn't and I did so Nanny Nanny BOO BOO:p Just kidding, I couldn't help myself! Have a nice day everyone! I hope I didn't piss anyone off too much!

[ccamp]

Congrats on your win!! I guess you will need to pass the hat!

[GoinCruisin]

It's a shame you didn't read the info ahead of time :( That was all spelled out before you entered (said based on 5 cabins, you pay taxes, port fees, air, etc. plus you are responsible for the income taxes) It pays to read the terms and conditions sometimes ;) Anytime you win something of value, you can rest assured you are going to have to pay taxes on it... people refuse nice prizes all the time because of it. I guess you could decline?? Or, just go with the 2 of you... smaller taxes. But I wonder how they would do that, since the whole contest revolved around taking your friends/family... and I'm sure they are going to want to do a story on it (as well as AMC possibly??) Perhaps ask your friends/family to kick in on the expense... I'd really hate to see the prize go to waste, just because the contest wasn't understood... talk to your family and see wht they say. Either way, good luck with your decision.

[hstrybuf]

Congratulations on your win! I didn't enter and now I can say I'm glad I didn't. That fine print can really get you!

[Hawaii697]

I'd divy up the amount of persons going to contribute to your taxes. :D Just a thought.

[GoinCruisin]

Congratulations on your win! I didn't enter and now I can say I'm glad I didn't. That fine print can really get you!

 

LOL Deb, it wasn't fine print :D It was in the terms and conditions... and you had to check a little box saying that you acknowledged the T&C's...

[hstrybuf]

LOL Deb, it wasn't fine print :D It was in the terms and conditions... and you had to check a little box saying that you acknowledged the T&C's...

 

And we all know that many people never read the T&C when they sign up for something. Case in point, CC. You can tell some people here have never read those or we'd have fewer problems. ;)

[LHP]

We are still glad you won!! We do understand the "down side"...and there always is one.

 

The good news is that if you have a few couples who want to pay $300.00 apiece ($600.00 per cabin) and go with you, it would be a very inexpensive (although not free) way for them to cruise for a week.

 

Just a word of caution if you are going to extend that offer to some friends...take this advice from an old wise woman...tell your friends that it is "money up front" ~$300.00 each~ NO refunds, if they change their minds. Get the money BEFORE you commit any names to Carnival.

 

Again, while it isn't free....it is a very inexpensive way to cruise AND you get the honor of knowing YOU WON based on excellent writing skills and not dumb luck!!

[GoinCruisin]

We are still glad you won!! We do understand the "down side"...and there always is one.

 

The good news is that if you have a few couples who want to pay $300.00 apiece ($600.00 per cabin) and go with you, it would be a very inexpensive (although not free) way for them to cruise for a week.

 

Just a word of caution if you are going to extend that offer to some friends...take this advice from an old wise woman...tell your friends that it is "money up front" ~$300.00 each~ NO refunds, if they change their minds. Get the money BEFORE you commit any names to Carnival.

 

Again, while it isn't free....it is a very inexpensive way to cruise AND you get the honor of knowing YOU WON based on excellent writing skills and not dumb luck!!

 

I think that is the best way to go... have them pitch in so you don't take the hit. If you guys live in Florida, I'm guessing you won't need airfare? With $300pp, plus port charges and taxes, it's probably going to end up being what they could get a cruise for if they booked on their own... but they'd be with friends...

[Hawaii697]

I think that is the best way to go... have them pitch in so you don't take the hit. If you guys live in Florida, I'm guessing you won't need airfare? With $300pp, plus port charges and taxes, it's probably going to end up being what they could get a cruise for if they booked on their own... but they'd be with friends...

 

Now why didn't I think of that earlier!!! :rolleyes:

[tkportersat]

I agree with the others, definitely get your friends/family to contribute. For most of them it would still be less than what it would cost to go on their own.....Good luck, I hope it all works out!!

[truecruiser]

It's a shame you didn't read the info ahead of time :( That was all spelled out before you entered (said based on 5 cabins, you pay taxes, port fees, air, etc. plus you are responsible for the income taxes) It pays to read the terms and conditions sometimes ;) Anytime you win something of value, you can rest assured you are going to have to pay taxes on it... people refuse nice prizes all the time because of it.

Yes. It was. I saw it, still wanted to win. figured i'd cross that bridge if it ever came to it (sadly it did not). GC -- on another note, as a resident of this site, can you help me yet again???? i cannot get my text to separate into lines or paragraphs. it never, ever works for me. when i type it, it looks fromatted properly, then when i preview it, it all comes together as one paragraph. i have been having problems w/ my computer ( i keep having to sign on and off and i can rarely get the italics and/or icons to work). is this a computer problem or is there a function in the "reply" section i need to hit?

[GoinCruisin]

Yes. It was. I saw it, still wanted to win. figured i'd cross that bridge if it ever came to it (sadly it did not). GC -- on another note, as a resident of this site, can you help me yet again???? i cannot get my text to separate into lines or paragraphs. it never, ever works for me. when i type it, it looks fromatted properly, then when i preview it, it all comes together as one paragraph. i have been having problems w/ my computer ( i keep having to sign on and off and i can rarely get the italics and/or icons to work). is this a computer problem or is there a function in the "reply" section i need to hit?

 

Hmm, that is weird!! Have you made sure that you are using "enhanced editing" in your User CP?? I don't think you can manually do it with a <br>... so I don't know what to tell you... I know that is very frustrating!! You might want to see if anyone over on the "Help" board is having the same problem???

[truecruiser]

thanks. i'll figure this out some way (driving me crazy!)

[DarkJedi]

We are still glad you won!! We do understand the "down side"...and there always is one.

 

The good news is that if you have a few couples who want to pay $300.00 apiece ($600.00 per cabin) and go with you, it would be a very inexpensive (although not free) way for them to cruise for a week.

 

Just a word of caution if you are going to extend that offer to some friends...take this advice from an old wise woman...tell your friends that it is "money up front" ~$300.00 each~ NO refunds, if they change their minds. Get the money BEFORE you commit any names to Carnival.

 

Again, while it isn't free....it is a very inexpensive way to cruise AND you get the honor of knowing YOU WON based on excellent writing skills and not dumb luck!!

 

I would definately make anyone who was going to go pay a portion of the taxes and fees, unless you were just making it a gift to someone special. You may also want to talk to a tax attorney, they can point out some lovely little clauses to help for things like this.

 

And remember, you can always invite friends to pitch in for a bunk. Swing it right and your cabin will still be free.

 

And everyone at CC is always saying how great a group of friends that we all are :D

[PlanoDebbie]

If I had won, I'd probably be asking everyone wanting to go along with me to kick in at least $250 apiece so that I would at least break even. What a bummer. At $250, it would be a bargain! I'll pay $250 if you take me. :-)

[suzy1212]

Winning large prizes always comes with a price, but it's worth it to me. I've won lots of things, the biggest was a Mustang GT.

 

That cost me $1600 in tax, title, and license, and whatever the income taxes came to. I didn't figure my taxes without the car, so I don't know how much extra it added.

 

I've won two trips. One to LA and one to New York. In both cases I wasn't the first choice. The winners both turned them down and I was picked second. I guess a lot of people enter contests never expecting to win.

[Corsair41]

Congrats on your good fortune! (sorry to hear about the taxes, tho)

Hope you and yours have the experience of a lifetime!

[silentbob007]

No sour grapes. Congrats.

[mac4cruise]

I would definately make anyone who was going to go pay a portion of the taxes and fees, unless you were just making it a gift to someone special. You may also want to talk to a tax attorney, they can point out some lovely little clauses to help for things like this.

 

And remember, you can always invite friends to pitch in for a bunk. Swing it right and your cabin will still be free.

 

And everyone at CC is always saying how great a group of friends that we all are :D

 

I would go for that deal in a minute you would get your cruise for free and all of your friends would have a great party cruise and they would have a cruise for next to nothing. All that they would have to do is come up with your expenses inclunding the extra taxes. I mean $3,000 divided by 20 is only is only $150 pp thats a pretty cheap cruise

[GoinCruisin]

I would go for that deal in a minute you would get your cruise for free and all of your friends would have a great party cruise and they would have a cruise for next to nothing. All that they would have to do is come up with your expenses inclunding the extra taxes. I mean $3,000 divided by 20 is only is only $150 pp thats a pretty cheap cruise

 

They do still have to pay port charges and taxes... but even so, I would think that wouldn't be more than about $200pp or so?? still not a terrible price. I would probably go with fewer people and have them pay more... I know most of my friends and family wouldn't go for sleeping 4 to a cabin, LOL! I'd first talk to my accountant and see how much of that $15K I could absorb, have him come up with a figure, divide it by 10... have 10 friends pay that, and then they would be responsible for the port charges/taxes... still not a bad amount to spend for a week with friends :D

[deborahjo]

serenity now---I think I am your long lost sister. I will pay the 200 pp to go with you. Just let me know...

[Ship Addict]

My family will take a cabin for 4 -- just let us know!! :)

[serenity now]

Although I really would love to take you all with me:) I think I'm probably going to extend this offer to my closest friends and family. I have until dec 20th to make my final decision and I still have some investigation to do on how we can best benefit from this all. I am concerned that this might bump us into the 25% tax bracket which would make it expensive for friends to pay the difference in taxes. Another thing that influences the decision is that my dh and I and a large part of my and my dh's family have already paid full price to go on a cruise on Dec 9th so they may not have expendable income to go on another cruise so soon.

 

By the way, I did read the fine print when I entered but I never imagined I would win. Actually, when I read my essay to my dh he laughed and said "you'll never win." I guess you never can tell with these things, but don't worry, I won't let the prize go to waste! When I get back I promise to write the longest review EVER so you all can enjoy it with me.

 

Well, no matter what happens, it's been a lot of fun already and I feel very grateful to Carnival for chosing me.

 

Thanks to everyone who has offered advice and I am definitely going to try to take it! Lotsa Love!

[scotts82705]

Man you must have had some essay!!! I entered, as well as my sister. But we did not win, not even the dvd pack. When did they announce the winner? I think it is worth it if you take more, split the toatl with everyone, and then put some aside for your taxes. It will be worth it to take your family. I know I would have loved to spend them days with my sisters.