We knew what we were getting into after we received the "you won a Free cruise" phone call. But we still decided to listen to the hour long program and the pitch for us to buy the vacation program.
The pitch was not hard core which we appreciated and for what it is worth, if you are avid travelers and vacation ALOT - this may be a good idea. Think of it like the Costco of Vacations. However we were not financially able to plop down money or take on more monthly payments so we politley said no to all of their offers.
But we still were getting a free cruise - so I was excited about that. Until I get on the phone at reservation time only to find out that NOTHING is free. We were aware of the taxes and fees that we would have to pay - and that was cool. But unless you want a cabin with bunk beds, and you are OK with traveling when they tell you and you are ok with paying for a hotel the night before cruise and night after cruise returns and paying for transfers to and from port and hotel... All which adds up to alomost an additional $250 pp... Then this is the incentive for you.
I ended up canceling our free voucher for a cruise knowing that I could book a cruise for less than $250 a person and fly as cheap as $100 roundtrip and PICK the dates and flights that work best for me.
Not too mention I spent over an hour on the phone with the reservation people... 25 minutes on hold waiting for a representative and another 45 minutes of them trying to get reservations.
Bottom line - take it with a grain of salt... They will try to make it as inconvenient as possible so you will make upgrades and forget that you are slowly but surely spending almost a $800-$1000 on your so-called FREE cruise!
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