Received a post card for 8 day and 7 nights for carnival grand opening in seattle area. Call 1-877-830-3538. Card says not a time share of land sale offer. It does say not affiliated with Carnival. They must be getting smarter. If you call withing 48 hrs you get 2 free round trip air fares from any major airport in conus. US Airlines insinuated. Never did call. Anyone else receive the same offer? No return address that I can see.

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is (too good to be true).

Arghhh - this is really tempting. My husband is a stonewall no machine so I know we could get through the 90 minutes... I don't think 250-350 per person is too bad for a cruise if it includes airfare (especially in the midwest) - which according to my nifty post card is included. Has anyone actually taken the cruise???

Beware of a postcard telling you that you have been selected to receive a free complamentary Cruise for two all expense paid. Value $1,100.00. Don't call it is a "SCAM"

received one of these and traced it back to a "Choice Resorts" selling of all things time-shares which is how they filed their business license before 2007. did a google for the address on the card and pulled a legal dispute over copyright infringement still in the works (same address), Choice resorts is the trademark of an apparently unrelated hotel chain being used as a business name by this sales group.
Yeah, I'd just throw the thing away and ignore them especially if they're using someone else's name on their door and being dragged to court over it. besides they lied about the time share thing, or maybe they switched to selling those new overpriced highrise condos springing up all over vegas. ok so those aren't timeshares or land sales but it's still going to be a high pressure real estate sales pitch anyway

Well I'm schedule to go sit for 90 minutes.  If my wife doesn't flip on me and kill me.  But I just got off the phone with them after grilling them. It really sounds like a free discounted Cruise, for putting up with thier hard selling lecture.  You pay taxes, Port Fees, a Surcharge (activation fee) and a Deposit.  you get the Deposit Back. This guy is telling me that it all comes out to between $250 and $350 dollars per person.  Which is a Good Deal.  It is a room with a window.  However, it's not really free.  The thing is, the wife and I are kind of in the market for a cruise.

Has anyone recently gone on the cruise and is it worth the 90 minute presentation?

Count me in as another recipient of this scam. The variation on mine is that if I call within 48 hours, I will get a $300 voucher for Wal-Mart or Target. The number on mine is 877-491-5141 out of Tampa.
Kimberly, please post what happened with your appointment. I'm somewhat curious.
In the past I have sat through time-share presentations to get a free gift but I am now finding my time is not worth the discomfort of sitting through these high pressure sales events to get whatever.

I received the same postcard, very skeptical made the 90 minute appointment, so we will see!  Has anyone actually booked this cruise and how much did it end up costing?  Port fees and taxes are one thing, but the rest is crazy!

Hi, I got the same card and the seminar is Sat...I am afraid to go now after reading this.

Same scam is still being perpetuated here in 2011. Must be a big loophole.

Got my card today and they've upped the ante b/c my card included TWO FREE AIRLINE TICKETS plus the 8 DAY COMPLIMENTARY CRUISE.  I have to attend a 90 minute lecture in D.C. and the cruise leaves from Balt., MD. OR, I can use the "free" airline tickets to fly to another port.  IT sounds SO GOOD...

got my card today! times must be tough, they dropped the gas voucher down to $150. no logos of royal caribbean or carnival on this one. the phone number is 1-888-596-0555 now, not 1-877-444-8111. i did a google search on 15 paradise plaza, sarasota and came up with "the ups store #0089" which happens to be in the paradise plaza shopping mall on versailles street. sure enough google maps street view shows the ups store! oh and they have a "first class presort u.s. postage paid tampa fl permit no. 430", if that helps with the mail fraud.

7/7/2009...Sarasota, FL.  PACK YOUR BAGS....cruise on Carnival or Royal Caribbean..........call 1-888-596-0555.  Address 15 Paradise Plaza,#310,
Sarasota, FL 34239.   Will drive by, take photo....and.......then send card to Better Business Bureau or Consumer Fraud.

WE (yes thats you and me) need to take all these scams we get from snail mail and keep sending them to our trusty POST MASTER under fraud. BECAUSE postal inspectors base mail faud investigation on the number, substance and pattern of complaints received from the public. (I just read it off their PS form 8165)   so WE need to stop these scams together. and perhaps 'they' will get big fines or ???.  my one complaint is going in their trash.
I did a reverse lookup on the 8774448111 # and nothing came back. and NO I will not call to give them my number to sell!
Come on if we have time to search it up on the net then we have the time to try to stop this crap.

Thanks for the post, got the same bait card in the mail today.
Lenny in Rockledge, fl

The quick and dirty:  Got the free 7-day cruise & $300 gas postcard today but am very wary of "too good to be true" as well.  Out of curiosity, I called the 877-444-8111 number and was told I could make a reservation for a 60-90 minute travel presentation at Springhill Suites hotel in Sarasota, FL (941-358-3385).  The person at the toll free number will not/cannot answer any questions about the seminar.

I called the hotel and asked them if there was a travel seminar at their hotel. Answer: "Yes, Pulaski Travel has been renting one of our conference rooms for about two months". I politely asked if I could speak to someone from Pulaski.  Greg from Pulaski Travel (based out of NY) came on the line and answered my wary questions about the "free" cruise.  He said it was their way of promoting their travel business and all we would be responsible for was taxes and port charges ($91/person).  It would be an inside room and travel would be good for up to a year.  Any further attempts to request information he politely side-stepped my questions telling me there was too much information to discuss over the phone and to I would have to attend the seminar.

Then I found this post with a 20 second Google search.  Nuff said-->I'll book my own cruise.  Be careful out there!

thanks for the post. just received their postcard in the mail today. i checked address in google and found this site with you post as the last one. postcard is now going in the "circular" file.

thanks!

Attended one of their presentations yesterday. Very unprofessional and disjointed.  Their opening price was $9995.00 but in one-on-one, came down to $2940. We declined and were given the certificate for 8 day 7 night cruise which their post card stated was Carnival or Royal Caribbean, neither of which was named in the ceretificate.  

When I made the reservation on the phone I specifically asked it there was going to be solicitation of a membership or time share and I was assured there would not be.  I was told by Laura that the only charge would be for the cruise port taxes when we took the cruise. Lie, lie, lie.

Not only did the certificate require port taxes, but a $50.00 activation fee, a $4.95 processing fee, and a $99 travel agency fee, all per person.  This outfit seems very fly by night.  

After I got home I searched the net for cruise deals and other condo and hotel room deals (mentioned in their presentation) which I found readily available at much better prices.

They claimed that your membership includes a web site your friends could go to and book travel on which they paid a commission.  I asked how they could do that without being a licensed travel agent, which the associate could not answer.

Bottom line, this seems to be a rip off.  Anybody who can navigate the internet can find deals as good or better than these bozos are offering.  Stay far, far away.

My husband and I received one of the postcards today.  I called the number and it is a travel agency called "A License to Travel" located in Sarasota, FL.  The requirement is that you make a reservation and go in for a presentation of their services and they ask you about your travel preferences.  No doubt, there is a "Club" they want you to join which means they get some of your money and you get very little in exchange.

Got the postcard today. In the trash it went!

YES, I REC'D THE CARD ALSO. I CALLED THE CRUISE LINE DIRECT & THIS IS DEFINITELY NOT AFFLIATED WITH THEM....SCAM IN DEED...HIGH PRESSURE SALES PROBALLY & THEN YOU WILL GET CARNIVAL TICKETS (I HAVE BEEN ON CARNIVAL-NOT WORTH THE SALES SPEECH)

Got the same post card.  Too good to be true.  Must be a scam or high pressure sell.  Beware!

These people are scam artists. Their address turns out to be a mail drop. They identify themselves as "Event Planners." Not registered with state of Florida.

I got the card, too, only mine is for an EIGHT day, SEVEN night cruise on Royal Caribbean or Carnival.  Retail value up to $1400.00 and mine is from the same Sarasota address.  AND if I call within 48 hours, I will also receive a $300 gas voucher.  Must say it is tempting, but then that's the whole point.  Guess I'll stop my packing now.

My card was from Sarasota, FL. Same wording as the Las Vegas ones, I think. Just another rip-off, I figure. Retrun address is:
15 Paradise Plaza #310
Sarasota, FL 34239
I seem to recall that there's one of those mail drop franchises at that location so it's most likely just a post office box.

mm

You, the webmaster, You should not have edited out the Names and Address of the Scam Artists.
The Rest of the people should Know who they are.

Folks, all of this started with receiving a beautiful card in the mail which read:
Congratulations, pack your bags! In celebration of our Grand Opening in your area, You have been selected to receive a COMPLIMENTARY CRUISE for TWO(2)for FIVE (5) days and FOUR (4) nights. All meals, on board activities and entertainment are included. There are over 4 different ports of departure and many destinations to choose from. Retail Value UP to $1,400.00.
WOW!!! YOU think, how nice.
So you proceed to call TOLL FREE 1-877-444-8111,
They tell you, how they have been trying to call you.
During the course of this PHONE CALL, your told how to receive your Complimentary Cruise.
So you go and take your Wife with you as REQUESTED to a HolidayINN. And DURING the check in you have to fill out a QUESTIONER, asking how much money you make......?????
Then you sit and listen aboutTRAVEL PACKAGES, and how ;you need to come up with $900.00 Too well over $1,000.00 to JOIN a TRAVEL CLUB. He.He. He.
Now at the end of the HIGH PRESSURE CraP.
YOU get handed the COMPLIMENTARY Certificate with a Activation # printed on it. ????
"BUT", you will need to send a Payment of $99.00 along with it to a Place IN Daytona, Beach, Fl, 32114.
Well at this point: I knew it was the old Bait and Switch Scam.
SOOO.....Being like George Carlin, bless his dead Sole, I decided to INVESTIGATE,THESE PEOPLE.
What I found is ...... each party involved in this SCAM, dosen't want to admit any involvement in the others' involvement...HE..He...He...
But because of a little Loop Hole in the Law in the State Of Florida. Tourise industry, each of these shady Folks, can DUPE the Public into thinking that the Cruise Industry is involved with these Scams.
Which they ARE NOT, and by what these sorry a**'s are doing CAN ONLY HURT the Cruise Companies.
Now since they use the Logo of Royal CAribbean on their mail out card to bait with.
I believe they can be sued for Fraud and CopyRight infringement.
But that will be another Adventure.
By the way all of the other's concerned in the SCAM, denies any involvement with each other.
Bottom Line:
If, you go along with the SCAM, YOU will end up with a Cruise all right, But costing a LOT  MORE MONEY , had you just gone on line and Contacted Royal Caribbean and Booked it yourself.
This "TRAVEL CRAP,SCAM"...... Is needless to say a waste of Time.
So Enjoy,
Now You KNOW.

I just got the card, Royal Caribbean out of Ft Lauderdale, to St Thomas.  Actually a pretty nice cruise, I've done it before.
If a person has to endure an hr or so of condo sale gab it might be worth it, has anyone here actually taken the cruise?
Judie

Ops, didn't mean to say Nashua -- meant to say NASSAU, BAHAMAS... although Nashua is a better town