You've won a FREE Cruise

[Smooth Sailing]

Has anyone out there ever received an offer similar to this and accepted?? What did you have to do, what did you really get, and how much did it really end up costing you??

[Heidict]

I guess you would really have to read the fine print to see what it would cost you. It's hard to say without knowing the company or deal that you are referring to. Is it a time share sales thing? At the least you would probably have to pay taxes and fees.

 

BTW- My husband and I went to Hill Country last year on vacation and fell in love with it. Beautiful, wish we could move there.

 

Heidi

[Smooth Sailing]

Hi Heidi

 

We love Conneticutt - my daughter recently received her PhD from UConn. We are located in Bandera County.

I'm not referring to any deal in particular - just want to hear from those that actually accepted something similar to this.

[Trevoli]

Don't want to rain on your parade, but I'd be very surprised if your 'free' cruise were really free.

 

The last time I got a 'free' cruise, the port charges were outrageous.

 

Also, you generally get a few dates to pick from, so unless you are ultra-flexible, it rarely fits your schedule.

 

Certainly, it's worth exploring, but I'd go over the fine print very carefully, and ask a lot of questions.

 

T

[cruzincurt]

My guess is that they will send you a 1099 at tax time with a value of full brochure published fare. You get to pay tax on that which actually might be higher than if you just booked the cruise yourself. Depends on your tax bracket.

[tomc]

From all I've heard: RUN, do not walk, in the opposite direction. If you are unable to run, call a taxi and have the cabbie drive as fast as he can in the opposite direction.

[teegeezfun]

sales pitch. we occasionally get these offers from time shares in orlando that offer 2 or free nights in orlands and a 3 or 4 day cruise. all we have to do is spend 23 out or 24 hours per day of the trip sitting in time share presentations.

[kitty9]

One of the national news magazine TV shows did a story on these supposed free cruises. They were a sham. The ship was a very old dilapitated boat with no amenities and very bad food. You cruised to Bermuda and then had to sit through hours of sales pitches.

[mcboo]

Did you enter a contest where a free cruise was the prize?

This sounds like the oldest gimmick going to sell time-shares or worse yet to take your money and run. I am sure they will try to get "administrative fees" out of you and will want your credit card number to lock in this wonderful "prize".

Be very careful this has scam written all over it.

Just my opinion.

mcboo

[momofmeg]

Yep supposably we "won" this vacation many years ago. We were set up with an appointment. Te first question asked was a credit card number for "ID". Idiot hubby was about to pull out his card and give it to them when I yelled "NO" and said "this is a scam-let's leave."

 

We did leave but hubby argued over and over that I had over reacted and he just left because I "embarrassed" him. I still think I did the right thing.

[FreesiaE]

You for sure did the right thing! Better for your hubby to be embarassed than to lose upwards of $1000 on "fees"! Unless you really win a cruise through a game show, cruise line website, church raffle, etc, I would be VERY LEERY. Wouldn't you wonder how you won a contest you didn't enter?

[Phoenix cruiser]

My grandparents "won" the contest they never entered and gave the caller their credit card number, then told us it would be a present for my wife and I. When we looked into it we found you took the equivalent of a 3rd world ferry to Nassau where you were put up in a 1920s version of Motel 6 and asked to go to numerous time share presentations. Thankfully we called the credit card company and got the charges cancelled before it was too late.

[StephenJohnson]

They vary. Some (most, probably) are outright scams - either bogus or vastly overpriced crapola excursions - nominally "free" but packed with service charges ;)

 

Some free cruises, however, are exactly that - often a three (or less) night cruise on a bargain line with contra-coastal residency restrictions - you have to be an west coaster for a Florida based cruise, for example, and highly limited sailing dates. These are sometimes given out with timeshare presentations or as promotions with new cars, or even test drives in some cases.

 

The promoters in those cases are betting on the "come" - that few people will actually fly cross country for a three night cheapo cruise avilable only on Dec.5 or April 19.

 

Fwiw, just wanted to clarify.

[CaptData]

I "win" this every six months. There is a "check" in there worth about $1600.00 (US). If you read everything, you pay for all transportation to and from the hotel (by the way a cruise is transportation). They ask for your credit card then book you on dates they chose. When you get there you sit throught very high pressure sales pitch for a time share. You can say no but they keep at you the whole time you are there. After the cruise you are suppose to return to them and do it again. No thank you ma'am.

[momofmeg]

You for sure did the right thing! Better for your hubby to be embarassed than to lose upwards of $1000 on "fees"! Unless you really win a cruise through a game show, cruise line website, church raffle, etc, I would be VERY LEERY. Wouldn't you wonder how you won a contest you didn't enter?

 

Well it went like this. "We are doing a special promotion and are giving away a special 4 day vacation to Cancun to people just for coming and listening to our sales talk."

 

So we went figuring we had nothing to lose but time and probally being pressured to buy something we did not want. Problem was before she could even go into the "pitch" she wanted a credit card and driving license # for "ID".

[Hapinowagain2]

Time Share - Time Share - Time Share!!!!! Beware

[Smooth Sailing]

We have no intention of ever making any kind of response to this offer - I'm 59 years old and know a scam when I see one - just wanted to know if anyone had ever gotten anything positive from an offer like this - we also get this offer every few months - you all have told me exactly what I expected - run as far as you can - how can these con artists try to pull this off - I guess if 1 out of 1000 people go for it and if they send this to a million people ???

[CaptData]

What did P.T. say "A sucker is born every mintute."

[jakedoc]

We won a cruise from O2cruise website last year. When they called and said I won I replied -Right, what's the catch? I forgot all about signing up for a sweepstakes on their site about a month before. They answered there were no "catches" and said the only requirement was to meet the ship( Celebrity Galaxy) in one week. Luckily my wife's and my job are flexible for vacation time and we met the ship in San Juan and had a wonderful week in the Southern Carribean -no suprises or charges. They also gave us money for the flights. My wife was somewhat skeptical until we got into our room.(nice outside room). She kept on saying we probably either had to sleep in crew quarters or didn't have a berth at all. It all worked out great. I'd be very cautious if it wasn't from a known source.

[cruisinjudy]

We won a free cruise in a travel agent drawing at a cruise show. Available times were limited and it was a guarantee, so we ended up with an inside cabin, but it was great.We did have to provide our own travel arrangements to the ship. We were told it had no monetary value, so no taxes owed.

[tomc]

You're lucky. I couldn't win a Gospel tract at a Pentecostal revival.

[Charlene]

You know what they always say, "If it sounds to go to be true, it usually is"

[Smooth Sailing]

I just got another one today - I must be on the STUPID list. This one is from Remada Plaza Resorts - 3 nights of "Gold Key" Award winning accommodations in Sun-Kissed South Florida - Round Trip Cruise aboard Carnival or Imperial Majesty Cruise Line - 2 nights of "Gold Key" Award winning accommodations in Magical Orlando, Florida - 7 days Alamo Rent-A- Car - 2 nights EXCITING Las Vegas - 3 nights Romantic Puerto Vallarta - Call Toll Free - Value $1600.00 - How can I resist?? Has anyone checked out Imperial Majesty Cruise Line - the Regal Empress - what a deal.

[ArkansasFish]

We got comped a free 5 night trip by a casino. The tickets, taxed and port charges were paid for but we had to get to the port and pay the ship bill. They did not report this as income but the value per person was probobly less than the amount they have to report.

[lougee1043]

My guess is that they will send you a 1099 at tax time with a value of full brochure published fare. You get to pay tax on that which actually might be higher than if you just booked the cruise yourself. Depends on your tax bracket.

you are right in the case of a legit drawing win you get a 1099 for the full value of the item- you can dispute that on your income tax return by submitting written bids for the very same item and then you pay on the lower amounts---i know because i did that ----won a bunch of stuff in a drawing at a home improvement show ---first i refused to accept the items that i didnt want or that i thought i would have trouble selling- took the rest -sold some and used that cash to pay for the tax bill ---and disputed one item by presenting lower quotes