Caribbean Cruise Line onboard the SS (MS) Bahamas Celebration is a Hoax
Recently I was contacted by a survey firm, and the reward for the survey was a free cruise. I know, this sounds oddly like a too good to be true story, and I should have realized this as soon as it happened, but the lesson was yet to be learnt.
After completing this quick survey, I gave them my email address where they forwarded me a sample voucher of the free cruise: all things ok so far. I was told that I would be contacted within 72hrs with further details on the cruise and thanked for my time.
So, about 4 days later or so, I got a call from this firm Caribbean Cruise Lines. Again, I should have suspected something was odd when first off, when I was talking with this guy, he would sometimes, right in the middle of me explaining something he asked me the question to, go talk to somebody else, and I would have to repeat myself.
Ok, I can handle that. I asked him all the questions in the world, hummed and hawed, and was told that this offer wouldn’t be available to me in the future, and that I couldn’t think about it and phone them back, I had to put the money down, they quoted me $59.00 for the first two passengers to reserve, and for two it was $118.00 total. They put a limit saying I must have at least 2 passengers, and no more than 4. Ohhhk, this was all fair, I guess, since I was planning on doing this anyways. The money, I was told, was to pay for the port taxes and to reserve a space on the vessel, and also that I had three days to get my money back. Ok, whatever, they didn’t stipulate this when I was told it was going to be a free cruise. The odd thing, I felt, was that I had to put the money down right then and there. I looked on their webpage: http://caribbeancl.com/index-3.html (www.caribbeancl.com) and ok, they claimed Carmen Electra was their spokes person. Does that make things legitimate then? Shame on Miss. Electra.
I viewed the page, looked at the privacy policy and checked out everything, things seemed to be official. One line I clearly missed “5. Recipient is responsible for actual port charges and government taxes of $59 per person at time of booking. These charges are non-refundable. “ – now started the fun.
So, I put down the money, and they took my visa and address and email and phone number and told me that I would receive my package within three days, and also that I’d get an email with more information on how to book my seat. They told me that there was no black-out dates, except between a few weeks in April that were of no concern to me since I would be using it within a month or so (February).
Three days later, I hadn’t received even a confirmation email, no nothing, so I phoned the number they had given me and tried to see what I could get. They told me when I told them the time I wanted to go, without any hesitation, that the dates I wanted to go were not available for the price class of room I won, and paid for already (not much of a free winning is it?). My only options for the time would be to upgrade for $350.00 to either a better room, or a 4 day cruise package… Right.
I was now getting mad, and disturbed, which further elevated my previous skepticism about this company or ‘sweet deal’ as they kept trying to tell me.
I asked for my refund “please”. They told me the only way to get my money was to a) resell the package to a friend, or b) they could extend the voucher for another 24 months, so I’d have 3 years to give them $350.00.
Needless to say, I didn’t approve of either of these options, was furious at the scam that I had been dragged through, but glad that I wasn’t out the full $500.00 it would have taken me for this FREE CRUISE package. I am hoping that what I write here today will open any one’s eyes up to similar situations, or even other deals that this company tries to offer. I suspect they get enough suckers like me to employ about 6 people, for I was in contact with probably all of them.
By the way, it has been about a week now, and I still haven’t received this package they promised me would be emailed as well as mailed to me.
NEW INFORMATION.
This may or may not be related, but I’ve been getting calls from an unknown number, when I answer, they hang up and call me repeatedly. So, I did a bit of research and found that this company has a history, and its from a Imperial Majesty Cruise Lines, so I thought I’d link you all to this website that explains a bit more: 19543510087 .
God these guys are annoying. Just keep feeding the fire.