Carnival Vacation Club

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IndyCruiser

Guest
If you are sailing on the Conquest you will be bombarded by sales people pushing the "Vacation Club".
In a nutshell you buy points from $3,495 =14,000 points to $9,995. = 40,000 points.
These points are then used to book future cruises. As a member you can also stay at various resorts for $299. per week, and members are given free companion airfare certificates.

For some reason this thing is only being marketed on two Carnival ships at this time. I just got off the Conquest and after studying the program and contract here are my observations.
1) Carnival makes it very clear they are not connected to company selling this program.
2) The specific point value is not listed anywhere in contract, furthermore a clause in the contract states point values can be changed at any time for any reason.
3) Stays at resorts are based on availability. Good luck!
4) Free companion airfare certificates as I see them are worthless. Even our local grocery store gives them away.

If this were a legitimate program, why play games with converting my dollars to points so they can play with the "exchange" rates.

Some people will think this is a great package, but I suspect these are the same folks who believe timeshares are a great vation value.

The only benefit I can see from this program is giving priority embarkation to members.

P.S. If after buying in to this program you have, by law three days after your cruise to cancel contract.
 
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djchrissocal

Guest
You are correct - the Carnival Vacation Club is simply a timeshare program.

Simply put, it is cheaper to call your travel agent and book a cruise than it is to buy points from the Carnival Vacation Club program and buy cruises with your points.

My first mistake was that I signed up. My second mistake was that I didn't do my homework right when I got off the ship. Had I done my homework, I would have realized that the rate I'm paying with this program is 10%-25% HIGHER than had I simply booked directly with my travel agent.

This is of course not what I was promised when I signed up. I was promised that I would get more than my money's worth in cruises alone - that I would have enough points for 4-5 cruises just like the one I was on right now. In actuality, with the points I purchased, I could barely get 3 cruises, which is just about what I could get had I just called my travel agent and paid them. I should have never trusted what I was told, only what I signed...which were 2 totally different things.

The explaination from the Carnival Vacation Club people was that I'm getting a great deal on cruises AND my membership comes with so much more...which is what I'm paying for. Like you say, the so much more is companion airfare tickets, cheap resort stays, discount hotel rates. Upon examination, those deals aren't too good either, since you have to book through the Vacation Club and therefore cannot shop around for the best deal.

My advice: DON'T DO IT.

In addition to the crappy value and the fact that you're tying your money up, the attitude from the Carnival Vacation Club people...the regulars and the supervisors...is "look in your contract, you agreed to it, you could have cancelled within 3 days of your return". I wish I had.

Chris
 
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jimlinalf

Guest
time share , time share, and love that "can change the points at anytime". sounds like the old air mileage game,,,, get almost enough and they change the rules of the game.

Jim
 
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coffeecups

Guest
I think that people like myself who are going on the conquest in the future need to make a copy of the post by djchrissocal and tape it to the door of the sales agents. Also, we really need to contact Carnival and get rid of these pests. They do take away from a good cruise. It's bad enough with all the other advertising that carnival does without having to constantly hear about that carnival club (of which has NO connection to carnival). I guess my only consolation is that they stay away from the lido deck.


happy cruising

coffeecups
 
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lainie

Guest
I was just on the Conquest and did a STUPID thing. I signed up for it. I did however cancel in the right time frame but it is going to take them 4-6 WEEKS to refund the fees to my credit card. I am SO SORRY I did this and am angry that they are keeping my money for so long! Lesson learned. I wish Carnival had a cruise only progam like some of the other lines do - a flat rate kind of deal that you pay and use for cruises over the next 5 years. Forget the land vacation thing -- I want to be SAILING!
 
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Giles612

Guest
lainie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> wish Carnival had a cruise only progam like some
> of the other lines do - a flat rate kind of deal
> that you pay and use for cruises over the next 5
> years.

I thought Carnival did have a program like that, did they stop doing it?
 
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lainie

Guest
I have no knowledge that CCL did this in the past, but at any rate, they don't do it now.
 
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turkeyman

Guest
When we were on Conquest back in January, yes, were bombarded with the Vacation Club. My wife signed us up for an "interview" and I told her she'd better cancel it, cause I wasn't going. Daddy always said that if something sounded too good to be true, don't take the initial "bite." Well, after reading the above posts, I'm glad I played along with my hunch.

I too, wish Carnival would come along with a plan for cruising also. Right now they're booking as fast as they can and don't seem to be marketing specials like they were last year. The old "demand is bigger than the supply" won't last forever, so, they'll be coming out with some new promotional wares. I haven't heard a word from my TA since my cruise. The previous times, they called and asked if everything went all right, did I have a good time, etc. Not this time. The cruises are selling by themself.

I'll call them one day.................
 
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latool

Guest
I know this is probably going to stir things up but I have to disagree with you on the vacation club. We bought the vacation club on the Conquest last September, the $7,500 package. It has worked very well for us. We used it to book a cruise on the Destiny last January. The price for the cruise was about $100.00 more than I could have got thru a travel agent. I checked everywhere and online. We booked a 8c balcony room and we're upgraded to a cat 9 corner room. You probably could have gotten 20 people on our balcony. The room was also very large. The part I liked best was getting on and off the ship. When we got to the terminal we we're instruted to go directly to the Skipper Club. We we're in our room in maybe 5 minutes. When we left we we're told to keep our baggage in the room and go meet at the infirmary at 7:00. We we're thru customs and in a taxi maybe 15 minutes later. We we're on a plane headed home by 10:00. Well worth the extra $100 dollars we paid. I know from past cruises that there we're people still getting off the ship. We just book the Conquest again for May and we'll see what happens. We still have enough points for 1 or 2 more cruises, depending on what cabins we book. What I also like is, I own my own business. Money is so up and down. This way I don't have to think about it. I'm already paid up. All I have to do is pick up the phone and tell them where and when I want to go. I'm thinking about buying again on this cruise. As far as the flight vouchers, I haven't used them and don't really think they are worth much. There is something about having to stay overnight at a hotel the day you use them. Haven't really checked into them. The private party, chocolat covered cherries in your room and the private concierge I could care less about. Ijust like getting on and off without the wait.

Jubilee 9/03
Elation 5/04
Conquest 9/04
Destiny 1/05
Conquest 5/05
 
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lainie

Guest
Glad it works for you. It's just that for me I have no use for the land vacations portion of it so on that point, for me, it is not worth it. Plus it is not Carnival, it's some other company. Also the contract is really long and ugly for a little vacation club plan.

Enjoy your membership, it's just not for me.....
 
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coffeecups

Guest
It's probably true for most people on this board. They/we are CRUISE addicts. We care more about the crusising than about land vacations. However, like the previous poster said, we are glad someone found the vacation worthwhile. It wouldn't be good for my wife and me because we really don't travel much, maybe one vacation per year. I also don't trust companies that hide behind another comapny's name. But glad it worked out for someone!!!


coffeecups
 


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