Time-share presentation onboard?

[Sunshine91]

Has anyone ever heard of attendance at a mandatory real estate presentation onboard as part of a discounted cruise fare?

Good friends of ours (never cruised) have been offered a family reunion cruise paid for by his mother. She's offered it to all of the siblings/spouses & grandkids for the week just before Christmas (non-HAL). I checked that cruiselines website & can find no mention that this particular voyage is a charter or that this real estate presentation is required for everyone onboard. It seems like a normal Caribbean sailing on a mainstream line.

I'm guessing that what mom is offering to pay for is one of those junk faxes you get that says "cruise for a week for $99" or something ridiculous like that.

Has anyone ever done one of these trips, or know anyone who has? If you think I'm wrong, what might mom be offering? Our friends have 2 school age kids (whom they haven't told yet, pending a final decision). They are extremely ambivalent about the whole thing.

I told them I'd try to do some research to see what I could find & would post the question here. Thanks much.

[tomc]

Run the other way, FAST!

[albertiger]

sounds like the r*m*d* deal in conjunction with the "fun ships"?? i get this every few months, dont take the bait-its more complicated than it seems!:eek:

[hammybee]

Definitely a Fun Ship thing.

[tomc]

albertiger... Just to go OT very quickly. I see you're in Bpt CT. I used to work at WICC and what is now Star99, but it's been a whole bunch of decades.

[kryos]

Has anyone ever heard of attendance at a mandatory real estate presentation onboard as part of a discounted cruise fare?

HAL would probably never allow this sort of thing onboard one of their cruises. Sounds like a real estate development firm is picking up some of the fare for everyone who agrees to attend their presentation.

 

I know people who have gone to these presentations on land. It's a scam. They promise a free gift for attendance ... one of several possible gifts that you are "guaranteed" to receive. Some of the "gifts" are very nice ... a weekend at a resort, a color TV, etc. ... but then there is always one "dud" ... a disposable camera or some such token. If you bite at the real estate presentation and sign on the dotted line, you generally will get one of the nice gifts. If you don't, guess what? You are the proud owner of a new disposable camera ... worth what? Maybe $3.95 or so? You spent far more for gas to get to the presentation than the gift is worth.

 

I hear these time share presentations are very, very high pressure sales affairs. I can only imagine that they would be even worse on a cruise ship, where they have you as a captive audience for the entire duration of the cruise. If they don't get you to bite in the first presentation, they will bombard you with literature, offers, etc., each of the subsequent days you are onboard.

 

Believe me, if they are doing this, it is only because they know from experience that a large percentage of the people will buy. They know they will make far more money on the deal than what they put out to cover the cruise fare of the attendees.

 

Personally, I'd rather just book a cruise with a fare I can afford, and ditch the time share people and their "deal" that could wind up being the most expensive cruise I ever went on.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Krazy Kruizers]

I wouldn't touch that for anything in the world.

 

Could be a lot of hidden costs in there as well.

[sarplum]

We almost got hooked on one of those "deals" by some fly-by-night TA.

We received a perk for a free 3 or 4 day cruise for attending a spiel for

a vacation club. The perk referred us to a TA who demanded $ 50.00

for their service plus the "usual" add-ons. These fees were so high that we

decided to check with one of the big TA's in the net. It turned out that

their fees were lower than our "free" cruise. But this had a happy ending, it turned us on to cruising and to realize that fees were not high as feared.

We picked HAL because I had shipped cargo with HAL and always liked them.

We have gone on the Odam and the Z dam and will go on the Veendam

on Dec. 9th. So the shady TA did us a favoir.

[shonuf]

Got an unsolicited phone call the other day offering DH and I a "Free 3day, 2 night vacation to such places as Jamaica...........etc." First let me say all of our phone numbers are on the national do not call list and normally that's the first thing I tell such callers. But on this particular day I was feeling a little peckish and so I let the woman talk. First I told her the vacation sure would be appreciated as I was going through bankruptcy and needed a break. When she asked if I was married, I told her I used to be til he left me for his secretary. (None of the above is true :eek: ) DH was on the couch listening to all this. By the time I got through with her she had backed off the sales pitch and she would be calling me back. ;) When I tried to pin her down as to when I'd get my trip she was very non-commital.

 

Ready to start packing.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Susan, that is a good one, I might have to try doing that;) I usually just hang up the phone. Speaking of do not call list have you noticed the new thing "Would you like to take a survey?" Ya just know that survey is another way to switch it to a sales call but is not violating the DO NOT CALL list.

[jhannah]

That's why I always tell them I don't do phone surveys.

 

Sunshine91, I fully agree with the others. Stay away from this.

[hammybee]

I think there are sales people for The Club Carnival or whatever they call it, onboard many fun ships. They are there to sell pre-paid cruises, like pre-paid vacations. If you check out the Carnival board, it's all there. Some buyers like it and believe they have saved money and recieved perks while others do not.

 

I am not a personal fan of timeshares but used to take advantage of many, perhaps too many, presentations in exchange for the benefit of discount lodging. When I used to do this, I only went for the premeir timeshares offered by the major hotel brands.

 

We gave them an hour in exchange for 2-3 nights at a great resort, at a great price. And all we had to do was say " no thank you". We ignored the follow-up calls. Yeah, we felt a little cheesy but as others have said, they know the game and if it were not overall profitable to them, they would not make the offers they do. We figured the room we had was probably going to be vacant anyway and the pittance we paid helped them to pay the staff. We can rationalize anything.

[Alexborngal]

Has anyone ever heard of attendance at a mandatory real estate presentation onboard as part of a discounted cruise fare?

Good friends of ours (never cruised) have been offered a family reunion cruise paid for by his mother. She's offered it to all of the siblings/spouses & grandkids for the week just before Christmas (non-HAL). I checked that cruiselines website & can find no mention that this particular voyage is a charter or that this real estate presentation is required for everyone onboard. It seems like a normal Caribbean sailing on a mainstream line.

I'm guessing that what mom is offering to pay for is one of those junk faxes you get that says "cruise for a week for $99" or something ridiculous like that.

Has anyone ever done one of these trips, or know anyone who has? If you think I'm wrong, what might mom be offering? Our friends have 2 school age kids (whom they haven't told yet, pending a final decision). They are extremely ambivalent about the whole thing.

I told them I'd try to do some research to see what I could find & would post the question here. Thanks much.

 

That's very dangerous. I was in an office last week and there was the fax you mentioned "cruise for $99" posted on the wall with FRAUD written across it.

 

I used to work for an attorney who represented travel agencies and was horrified at the stories they told us about charletans in the industry. Things like getting your airline tickets but when you showed up for your flight the tickets were worthless because the agency hadn't sent the money in to the airline and to add insult to injury, the agency had closed down. Saw a post that people had paid for a suite on HAL, had the proof of payment, but at embarkation they were told their reservation had been cancelled by their travel agency. When they were able to reach their agent she said their reservation had not been cancelled by her. HAL had sold the suite to someone else and offered the only cabin left - an inside cabin. The people accepted it as they wanted to go on the cruise. Once they got on the ship payment for the inside was demanded. They refused to pay and were escorted off the ship.

 

Best advice I can give is to call the cruise line, check on the cruise and on the agency selling the cruise. They know everyone who is selling cabins.

 

A few months ago I got an email from a company offering a HAL cruise at a very good price but couldn't find that itinerary through HAL's web page. I called HAL and found out that indeed it was a charter, that I could only book through that company as they took over the whole ship. But, most important of all, HAL knew exactly what was going on and told me. Your mom needs to get specific details from the horse's mouth - the cruise line.

 

Good luck.

[Sunshine91]

Thanks for your input & for sharing your own stories.

I'm sorry if my initial post wasn't clear enough. The cruise offered was not on HAL. It's not on Carnival either, although it IS on one of the lines in the CCL family. Somehow I don't think the real estate presentation is related to the cruiseline. Who knows - there could be these "incentive" type cruisers on HAL too. What's to prevent a real estate developer from purchasing a block of cabins on any dam ship?

Also, I was looking for information for friends. HIS mother was offering the cruise to her grown kids, their spouses & the grandkids (not my mom, she knows better). This mom is notoriously, well, frugal? I realize onboard costs would not be included but hadn't thought about other costs like taxes & port fees.

Again, thanks much. I'll pass along all of this to my friends. :)

[newmexicoNita]

What's the old saying: when it seems to good to be true; it is? I haven't heard of this on cruise ships, but the 3 day, 2 night vacation or whatever is always a set up. Either it's a Time Share or a vacation club of some kind. BTW, I am not opposed to time shares: we have a wonderful one with Hilton Grand Vacations. What I am opposed to this kind of marketing. NMnita

[twinkletoes4445]

Got an unsolicited phone call the other day offering DH and I a "Free 3day, 2 night vacation to such places as Jamaica...........etc." First let me say all of our phone numbers are on the national do not call list and normally that's the first thing I tell such callers. But on this particular day I was feeling a little peckish and so I let the woman talk. First I told her the vacation sure would be appreciated as I was going through bankruptcy and needed a break. When she asked if I was married, I told her I used to be til he left me for his secretary. (None of the above is true :eek: ) DH was on the couch listening to all this. By the time I got through with her she had backed off the sales pitch and she would be calling me back. ;) When I tried to pin her down as to when I'd get my trip she was very non-commital.

 

Ready to start packing.

 

That is good, really good! :)