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The Free Cruise



We've seen spokesmodel

Carmen Electra touting free cruises on TV, received the award booklet mailing

(with its official-looking stamps of approval from The Islands of the Bahamas,

Alamo and Our Lucaya Beach & Golf Resort) and discovered the offer while browsing the

Web. We're told that collecting our free cruise is easy: Call an 800 number,

or fill out a form, and it's time for two nights of zero-cost cruising.





Naturally, "scam" might be the first thing that comes to mind with such

an offer. And it quickly becomes apparent that the * means it's not actually

free. It'll cost you a minimum of $59 per person for government fees and port

taxes. There's nothing necessarily untoward here; the government taxes and fees

are clearly stated, and $59 per person for a two-night Bahamas cruise -- which includes

accommodations, all meals, entertainment and a call at Grand Bahama Island --

still seems like a decent deal for a quick getaway.



Still, people have

had serious complaints when trying to book the offer, ranging from confusion

about which company is making the offer (Caribbean Cruise Lines, which sends the

deal, or Celebration Cruise Line,

which operates the ships) to forced timeshare pitches and misleading pricing.

Cruise Critic did some research, including attempting to book a cruise, to help

you determine whether the offer is a scam or a good deal.



First, a bit

of background:



Who is Caribbean Cruise Line,

Anyway?



Let's clear up a key point of confusion right away.

Celebration Cruise Line is the actual name of the line on which you'll be

sailing. Caribbean Cruise Line is not a cruise line at all, but the name

of a wholesaler that's touting the free cruise. But, the difference between line

and wholesaler seems to be blurry at best, with many, many complaints on sites

like Cruise Critic, complaintsboard.com and ripoffreport.com conflating line and

seller. It doesn't help that each has a telegenic spokesmodel -- Daisy Fuentes

for Celebration and Carmen Electra for Caribbean.



As a travel

wholesaler, Caribbean Cruise Line is licensed and bonded in the State of

Florida, "Fla. Seller of Travel Reg. No. ST-37425." (Though, there are timeshare

marketing outposts in locations where the company is registered; for instance,

in New Jersey, it's registered by the New Jersey Real Estate Commission.)

Regardless of the official license, the charges against Caribbean Cruise Lines

have been fast and furious -- consumers have had difficulties getting refunds,

been subjected to aggressive sales tactics, discovered that salespeople had

misrepresented cabin locations -- and many equate the two companies or confuse

one for the other.



Angelina from Pennsylvania, who booked an

extended-stay vacation after seeing Carmen Electra touting the cruise on TV,

told us a horror story, which included more than five hours of timeshare

presentations that they were not told they'd have to attend. "You have to go, or

you will not be allowed to get on the cruise ship if you don't," said Angelina.





Florida's Division of Consumer Services has record of at least 40

complaints, the content of which we've yet to receive in the form of a public

record request. Moreover, the Better Business Bureau gives Caribbean Cruise Line

and "F" -- and the BBB has documented 459 complaints filed against business, 396

of which have been considered resolved. Still, according to a spokesperson at

the Florida Attorney General's Office, the body responsible for responding in

earnest to those consumer complaints, no official investigation has been opened

or closed on Caribbean Cruise Line.



Celebration Cruise Line, meanwhile,

debuted in March 2009 as the newest player in the bustling South Florida cruise

market. The line offers two-night budget cruises out of Palm Beach to the

Bahamas aboard its recently converted ferry, Bahamas Celebration. It's the first

cruise line to offer multiday sailings out of the Florida port since 1996,

according to the port authority.



Celebration Cruise Line is filling the

void left by Imperial Majesty Cruise Line, a similarly budget-minded,

first-timer offering -- and one that also relied on the free cruise timeshare

pitch to help fill its only ship. IMCL ceased operations in March 2009. (In

fact, Celebration's parent company is Fort Lauderdale-based Celebration Cruise

Holdings, which previously owned Regal Empress and chartered it out to Imperial

Majesty Cruise Line. Read more about the connection between IMCL and

CCL.)



Collecting Our Free Cruise: What

Happened When We Called?



I grabbed the awards booklet that came

in the mail from Caribbean Cruise Line and called to go through the process.

Here's what I found:



I

reached Jerry Porter, who told me the conversation was being recorded to make

sure he didn't "promise me a trip around the world on the Queen Mary." Jerry

went on to clearly state that I would be responsible for the payment upfront at

the time of the call and that I'd have to book now or lose out on this

exceptional offer. He asked me if I had my credit card handy. Expecting my total

to be $118, port and government fees for two people, it was actually $217 --

Jerry had, by default, tried to sell me an upgraded oceanview cabin

instead of the cheapest cabin available. Jerry didn't tell me until I asked, but

there is also a $10 per person, per day, fee for gratuities, which is

automatically added to your onboard bill. It's a standard practice for cruise

lines, but it's not something that first-timers would necessarily know.





After my second

question, I was transferred to the supervisor. No one was particularly

rude, but the sales people stayed strictly on script. I had additional questions

and was given the number for the corporate office -- or, rather, "Travel

Services," a fulfillment center.



A woman who answered the phone and identified herself

as Tanesha provided information about Celebration Cruise Line and

Caribbean Cruise Line, stating that the companies were one and the same. She

said that the promotional department, Caribbean Cruise Line, handles the free

cruise giveaways and the extended-stay vacation packages, and the cruise line,

Celebration Cruise Line, sells cruises and cruise-stay packages.



Again,

according to Celebration Cruise Line spokesman Glenn Ryserson, there is no

connection; they are two separate businesses.



I tried calling a different free cruise 800 number I

found on the Internet. The drill was the same. On the second attempt, additional

questions were met with a curt, "We're instructed to send you to the Web site,"

and then they hung up on me.



For the next week, I received at least three phone

calls a day from the wholesalers. When I picked up, I heard a recorded message

touting Caribbean Cruise Line.



Booking Directly

Through the Line: A Different Tune



Attempting to book directly

through the line was a different story. I was quoted $199 per person for an

oceanview cabin. With port and government fees and auto-gratuities, which are

collected onboard, the total came to $269.92 per person. (A number of readers on

the Cruise Critic message boards have noted that they've had to pay the fuel

surcharge as recently as April. It's $9 per person, per day. I asked the sales

woman directly, but was told there were no fuel surcharges. Ryerson confirmed

that the company's policy was currently not to charge surcharges.)





That's $540 total -- quite a bit more than the $217 I was quoted by the

wholesaler.



More Hidden Costs from the Free

Cruise Offer? The Timeshare Pitch



OK, so there's a savings

potential, to be sure. But, there's yet another potential catch. On the back of

the mailing, we spotted this statement: "Promotion requires the attendance at a

presentation on the sale of independent vacation ownership resorts." The fine

print continues, clarifying the company's intent: "The advertising material is

being used for the purpose of soliciting sales of a vacation ownership plan." In

other words, the "free cruise" is the lure to get you to buy a timeshare.





And yet, on the two separate calls made to two different 800 numbers --

one received in the mail and one found online -- I was told that, in booking the

cruise-only portion, I would not have to attend a timeshare presentation.





At least a few Cruise Critic members have posted slightly different

stories. "I received my cruise confirmation from Celebration in the mail

yesterday for our April 24 sailing. Of course it says we must go to Fort Lauderdale to pick up our

vouchers prior to boarding in Palm Beach," writes member TracyESQ on the

message boards. Others have confirmed that the post-payment booking packet that

arrives in the mail directs passengers to a "welcome center," rather than to the

Palm Beach pier (or an online location) to pick up their boarding passes.





To confuse matters, some readers have noted that, after calling the

cruise line directly, they were told to proceed right to the pier and bypass the

"welcome center." Definitely follow the instructions of the wholesaler, says

Celebration's Vice President-Marketing Glenn Ryerson, an official spokesman for

the line -- again, the real name of which is Celebration Cruise Line, not

Caribbean Cruise Line. "We wouldn't want you to come to the pier and be unable

to board."



In a telephone conversation, Ryerson aimed to distinguish

Celebration Cruise Line from Caribbean Cruise Line. Ryerson tells Cruise Critic,

"There is no free cruise offer from Celebration Cruise Line and never has been.

A few wholesale companies may be promoting it as part of a package, the same as

with most other cruise lines."



So what does the line say about how

Caribbean conducts business? "I know that they do go up there with a taxes-only

cruise with the goal of selling a bigger package."



And those wholesalers

are very important to Celebration. Ryerson mentions that that some 30 percent of

passengers get onboard by way of wholesalers like Caribbean Cruise Line.





"What we do with every customer on the ship, whether they come through a

wholesaler or directly through us -- we don't care how they get on the ship --

we only care once they get onboard that the experience is a very positive one,

and 98 percent of the comments are positive. We haven't had the need to talk to

any business partners. From what I understand, these people are getting on the

ship for taxes only, and they would have never experienced a cruise otherwise.

The salespeople are earning commissions, and some of the people might be a

little more aggressive, but I definitely don't think they're disreputable in any

way."



But does the cruise line have rules that wholesalers must follow

when selling the brand?



"The only guideline for selling the cruises is

that if someone is promised a completely difference experience than was actually

experienced -- then we have a problem but there have not been any red flags

from our standpoint, and people are getting as much, if not more, than they

expected."



For its part, Celebration Cruise Line is accredited by the

Better Business Bureau, and has a rating of A-. Yet, the line is not without its own unusual

business practices, such as its fuel surcharge policy. The line reserves the

right to reinstate fuel surcharges of $9 per person, per day, if the price of

crude exceeds $40 per barrel -- a price at which oil hasn't been close to in

years. All other mainstream lines put the threshold at $65 or $70. And, it seems

that passengers have actually been paying the fuel fees in the recent past,

perhaps unknowingly. According to Ryerson, the line now "rolls everything into

the cost into the cruise, while we had, in the past, had a separate fuel

surcharge."



The Take Away



What we

can say at this point is this: Do your research as to the product being sold,

sight unseen. Read reviews of the ship on sites like Cruise Critic. Understand

that the ship is a converted Baltic ferry, this is a mass-market cruise

experience, and you will likely get a small inside cabin, perhaps set up with

bunk beds, if you pay the minimum $59 per person. It must be said that companies

like Caribbean Cruise Line have successfully booked thousands of cabins for

Celebration. Many passengers have shared their stories on Cruise Critic's Celebration Cruise

Line forum.



The Web site for the Florida Attorney General also

offers sound advice. Before deciding on any vacation certificate arrangement,

you should always call the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer

Services at 1-800-435-7352 to determine whether the company is registered, how

long it has been in business and whether there are any complaints against it.

Further, "Do not give your credit card number to anyone over the telephone

unless you initiated the call and are sure that the company's offer is

legitimate."



In terms of consumer protection, Florida statute says that

you have a right to cancel your purchase and receive a refund within 30 days of

the date of purchase or receipt of the vacation certificate, whichever occurs

later. You may also have the right to cancel at anytime if the accommodations or

facilities are not available pursuant to a request for use provided in the

contract if certain statutory terms and conditions are met. You must advise the

seller in writing of your wish to cancel, and include the certificate. The

seller has 30 days from the time of receipt of your notice of cancellation to

send you a full refund.



Still, you may have to fight for the refund, as

one Cruise Critic reader points out. "After lots of phone calls and arguing,"

Evaluator posts, "we got a full refund from Caribbean Cruise Lines ....

We have been on too many good cruises with Royal Caribbean to take a

chance on this company at this time. Maybe later, after the Bahamas Celebration

has been operating out of Palm Beach for a much longer time, we would

reconsider. And then we would only book direct with Celebration. Good luck to

those that choose this line."