Anyone taken 4 night promotional cruise - Carnival out of FL

[Wishing on a star]

We have a 'free' promotional cruise...
(pay port charges and fees, plus add our son)
It is Bahamas or Cozumel...
4 night cruise on Carnival.

It is to be booked thru Vacation Tour and Travel Agency, Little Rock AR.

Has anybody done this?

Can we book this cruise, and the switch to Carnival as our travel agent, so that adding our son, and any other upgrades, would be done directly thru Carnival?????

Thanks for any thoughts!

 

[doxdogy]

What cruise line? You can head to cruisecritic.com and see if there are any reviews.

 

[GJM]

I just got a postcard in the mail for Carnival or Royal Caribbean out of Charleston or Ft. Lauderdale -

Would also love to hear -

 

[Seahunt]

It is to be booked thru Vacation Tour and Travel Agency, Little Rock AR.

You might just want to google them first - I found consumer complaints like these

the 4 day cruise for 2 is only valid on certain days out of certain ports. If you plan to leave out of Galveston or any other busier port the cruise is not free. If you plan to cruise any time other than Jan - Feb the cruise is not free, they will charge you an arm and a leg in port upgrade, and prime time upgrade fees. I even specificaly asked if I was going to have to pay any more money to them after the package was purchased and was told nothing else would be due except the taxes.

Our "free" cruise was going to cost us almost 1000 to go on. By the time you learn that everything they told you on the phone was a lie you are past your refund date, and have just lost all the money you put into it. STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY!!!!!

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/travel/vacation_tour_and_travel.html

I had a horrible experience with Vacation Tour & Travel Agency out of Conway, AR! The lady that sold me the Getaway didn't mention the huge taxes and fees that were to be paid per person for the cruise. After the paperwork came, I sent my items back and asked for a refund. A man by the name of Spencer called and told me that as a way to keep me, he would extend my time to take the cruise and knock off another $100. I asked him to please contact me when I got off work. He called back within 10 minutes and informed me that I wouldn't get a dime back because I was over my 15 day time period. I tried to give him dates and explain that I was not over the time limit and he began YELLING at me!!! wow! I told him that I had called a representative a week before because my time limit was getting close and to please check the call records. He quickly told me he already had and there was no record of my call. He called me a LIAR! When I asked to speak to his manager, he said "I am the manager!" Later on in the conversation, he placed me on hold forever and told me the owner said there was nothing they could do. I asked to speak to that person and he wouldn't let me. Finally when I demanded to speak to someone else, he said he had a supervisor and finally put her on the phone. She told me I was only 7 days into the time period and gave me a refund! Definitely learned a lesson!!!

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/bluegreen-resorts-c51289.html

Also the BBB rating is a D- with 62 complaints filed (BTW the Conway address and the Little Rock address are both listed for this company).

http://www.bbb.org/arkansas/busines...vacation-tour-and-travel-in-conway-ar-4000413

JMHO - just be aware in advance you might have problems

 

[usnuzuloose]

Yes I have done them, never had an issue. It should already be linked with a travel agent. There are black out dates. I worked with mine and paid for an upgrade to an ocean view cabin and then I was no longer in a black out date. Go enjoy it. Paying taxes and port fees not bad for 4 days. I also go on the cruise critic board as well. There is alot of info. What cruise line is it for? Jo

 

[eh24fan]

by the time you pay the fees and jump through the hoops, chances are you could have taken a longer cruise for less if you watch the rates...

 

[Wishing on a star]

I just wanted to say Thank You to you, Seahunt, for the excellent info!!!

Yes, we are seeing all of this now.
While some of these offers might be legit (while, none are 'free' of course) This particular one seems to be a complete fraud. Like, since when is a 'promotion' a lot MORE than full rack rates! If anyone sees an offer thru this Vacation Tours and Travel... RUN!!!!

At least, now we know!!!!

GJM,
Yours might not be a bad deal.
Look for the issuing travel agent 'seller of travel' and do some good online research.

Be aware that there will probably be extensive black-out dates...
So ask about that first.

Then, after looking online for scheduled cruises that should be available to you, when you call back, the first thing you need to do is ask to book the exact 'free' offer (NO UPGRADES OR ADDITIONAL PASSENGERS) and see what happens.

THEN, ask to upgrade to a minimum Ocean View... etc... and note what happens to the quotes.

Good Luck - if it is an acceptable/economical deal...
Just be aware that there is a lot of fraud out there.