Royal Seas Cruises? Possible Scam?

Have any of you ever heard of Royal Seas Cruises? They called my house today and were promoting this so called "free cruise" where you just have to pay port fees, which was $65 per person. They take you on a free cruise to the Bahamas for 3 days. I would have had to pay today and could use the cruise in 18 months. I thought it sounded like a scam after looking up the name of the ship. They said we would be sailing on the Grand Celebration, which looked like a carnival ship. I asked them if they were part of carnival and she said no, they were part of Royal Sea Cruises. So I go to the website and they have no prices listed. They are using the picture of one of Carnivals first ships. I was also thinking that we sailed on the Glory in 2015 for $299 a person for 7 days. A measly 3 day cruise to the bahamas doesn't seem like much of a cruise for $65 in what they were calling port taxes. In 18 months, they could take my money and run and also earn a lot of interest setting on my port fees which makes it not sound so free. She was promoting tax and duty free, which might be great for the cruise lines. I also told her that we still have to pay tax and duty fees when re-entering the United States so whats free on the ship is not free for the consumer and customer. Please discuss and enlighten me.

Here is the Grand Celebration I found on Wikipedia, which is a Carnival Ship.

Scam! Yes don't go near them....

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The only point in your "expose" I might disagree with is the scam company earning a lot of interest on your $65.

No, it is NOT a scam. :confused: Its a real cruiseline that use to be known as Celebration cruise line Im pretty sure. The reason it looks like an old Carnival ship is because it IS an old Holiday class ship that use to be named Celebration under the Carnival brand.

What they want you to do is attend a high pressure sales meeting for timeshare and in return, they offer you this "free" cruise. By the time they get you with add ons it is cheaper to just go through the cruiseline directly which you use to could do even though there are no prices listed on their website.

This is not a scam though. They are not really committing fraud here or swindling anyone. If you pay them 65.00 per person, you WILL get a "free" cruise, after attending a 3 - 4 hour very high pressured sales meeting for timeshares.

So the Grand Celebration is the old Carnival Celebration (still has the CCL funnel)... it offers 3 night cruises from port of Palm Beach to Bahamas. It was just purchased yesterday from the old CEO of Norwegian Cruises, this might be the new name they will operate under.

There are many agencies which bundle cruises on the ship and sell for cheap. It has been running for many years from Palm Beach. The ship is not too bad, sailed in her 2 years ago. Fun weekend getaway.

Here was their old ship, a converted ferry. It ran aground and sunk and got major damage a couple years ago.

The only point in your "expose" I might disagree with is the scam company earning a lot of interest on your $65.

:D I know what you are saying there, lol. I am thinking in terms of collectively when thousands of people let a company hold their money for an extended period of time, the company will earn a lot of interest. That's how banks become rich.

Run! You can pick up a super cheap cruise out of Florida on any number of cruiselines and not need to deal with these people.

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Scam or no scam, sometimes you get what you pay for. Do you really want to spend your vacation with people who spend $69.00 for a three day trip. happy cruising

Not scam, they do exist, I think they want you to get air fair only through them, this is how they make money. I'm sure if you Google the name, you will read plenty of complaints.

I just saw a tv add for them last night $99, I don't remember for how many days. I didn't think it seemed legit.

Usually we don't have our landline bell on, but one time I was expecting an important call, and one caller (among the many sales calls:mad:) was one of those "you won a free cruise." So I got the name of the cruise line and the ship and then googled. It was a rust bucket ship and undoubtedly as others have said, by the time you pay for things (like airfare that you have to buy through them or get your cruise ticket COD via Fed X==that's a known scam), you might as well buy a legitimate cruise on a ship you want to sail on

As many consumer groups say, if you're told you won a contest that you didn't even enter, there's a chance it's a scam.

From last summer.

http://www.knoe.com/content/news/BBB-Scam-of-the-Week-Royal-Seas-Cruises-389492702.html

From last summer.

 

 

 

http://www.knoe.com/content/news/BBB-Scam-of-the-Week-Royal-Seas-Cruises-389492702.html

My point exactly, run don't walk as fast as you can from these people! I repeat scam...

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I got a cruise "comped" to me from a casino as a points reward type thing. It really was totally free for the ship tickets and port fees for 2 people for 6 days/5 nights. I then had to pay 700.00 for ship bill at end of trip, about 700.00 spending money, then about 300.00 for one night motel and gas to get there and back. Only other expense was 60.00 to park for week.

I don't understand your post, AF. Was this on Royal Seas? Was the $700 legit charges or are you warning folks about a scam?

Registered online for this supposed cruise and kept getting calls from an 888 number....when i finally picked up .a lady was on the other line talking about the free cruise but i had to pay port fees today or it would be invalid. She askes what the number was on the mailed cruise brochure and whom i was going with. I told her i registered all that info online. She started getting more aggressive saying the cruise would be cancelled if i did not pay today, i told her i want to pay online and dont trust giving credit card info over the phone. More aggression and i told her to SHUT UP and ended the call. Only Spammers are aggressive toward customers.

Run!!!!!

Check them out on "Rip Off Reports". No one has much nice to say about this promotion. They are a real cruise line that sails out our local area. You can buy passage on this ship cheap anytime you want. But it is not a cruise like you would get on Princess, RCCL or many of the major cruise lines. Most locals here stay away. It is known to be a big party cruise with lots of drunks, fighting and I've been told some inappropriate behavior. Never sailed them myself but their reputation is enough to keep me away even though I live about 10 miles from port.

You can sail on a real cruise ship for the price these scam artists will eventually get out of you for supposed fees, and port taxes. RUN... and book a real cruise for less or same money

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"Scam" implies they are gong to take your money and give you nothing in return. This is not the case. You do get the cruise, but must attend a presentation. Similar to a timeshare which thousands attend and some actually like. I personally have no interest but it is a legitimate business. You can also book direct with the cruise line and pay the regular fares (which are still pretty cheap) in order to skip the presentation. I have no interest in a 3 day cruise on a ship built in the late 1980's and I definitely do not want to be on a ship with folks who paid those incredibly cheap fares, but it is not a scam.

"Scam" implies they are gong to take your money and give you nothing in return. This is not the case. You do get the cruise, but must attend a presentation. Similar to a timeshare which thousands attend and some actually like. I personally have no interest but it is a legitimate business. You can also book direct with the cruise line and pay the regular fares (which are still pretty cheap) in order to skip the presentation. I have no interest in a 3 day cruise on a ship built in the late 1980's and I definitely do not want to be on a ship with folks who paid those incredibly cheap fares, but it is not a scam.

No matter how you put it, these folks are Scam artists. To the OP please read the reviews and check similar length cruises from cruiselines like RCCL and see what you will get for the same money as the "so called free cruise"

To the OP, if you had to look up Royal Seas Cruises because they had not been previously mentioned on CC, that should be a blazing red flag that something isn't quite right.

These "free cruise certificates" - or their electronic form - are given out by vacation and time share sellers as incentives to listen to their sales presentations. They buy them in bulk. Once a customer pays the $100 or so to "register" the certificate they get a commission.

Because it is "free", to fill up unsold cabins, the customer doesn't get to pick the sailing date. You will have to do so by telephone and must expect to spend at least a half hour on the line. Some have complained that when they do call to book a cruise they must immediately consent to the sailing date of the cruise line's choosing. Better have a calendar and approved vacation time already lined up. You will also pay port charges and taxes. Too many hoops for me to jump through.

If it's too good to be true that you can get 3-day cruise vacation for only $69 then it is. As with many things in life you get what you pay for. Imagine the type of cabin and kind of food you can expect at that price.

If money is tight you will be far better off searching for a deal on a mainstream cruise line that doesn't have to resort to these tactics to fill their ships. You will pick the sailing date of your choosing and have some control over your cabin category.

Their latest TV commercial states they were voted one of the Top 10 cruises (or cruise lines?) by Cruise Critic. Any verification of that? If it's not true, then that's false advertising, verging on fraud.

Their latest TV commercial states they were voted one of the Top 10 cruises (or cruise lines?) by Cruise Critic. Any verification of that? If it's not true, then that's false advertising, verging on fraud.

If they said that then I have searched both Cruise Critic and the Internet and can not verify that claim. Bald face lie, seems appropriate if they actually make that claim.