we had three nice vacations with Carnival  2005/8 .

In 2009 my wife who was ( and is ) suffering from ill health was called by this coy " out of the blue " under some persuasion  paid the deposit for a Bahamas cruise as a suprise for us both .

 Once I learned what she had done , knowing she was unfit to travel I wrote to the company ( twice ) asking them for a refund and never heard back

I just came across their confirmation letter to my wife in some old correspondence and tried the password etc , which did not work .

I checked the Web and see from other folks that we too had booked a  somewhat illusory cruise  

I suppose this matter is now a cold case ?

B.

Please beware of such an email.  This is totally and obviously a scam.

Dear Sir/Madam,

We invite you to the cruise Florida event 2011 that will be taking place in Miami Florida USA from December 20th to December 30th.All attendance can come with four (4) members of he/she family,You can arrive at Miami Florida 3 days before the start date prior to your travel visa.

The Organizer is responsible for the Travel ticket and other document you will need in obtaining a tourist visa.You shall be given a free Accommodation plus a free ride to cruise around the city of Florida the free ride is available to those with a driving license.This Event is organized by The Marseilles Miami beach Hotel.

The 1st day of the event all attended person's shall take a free tour at the Art Deco beach starting from 8am - 12pm after then all attendance shall move to the hotel and have free lunch and after then they shall move to the Marseilles hotel Theater hall for those with entertainment needs.

The 2nd day of the event all attendance shall be given a free ticket to cruise on a yacht to Bahamas beach where they will have fun for 3 days at the natural beauty of Bahamas.

The 5th day they shall move back from Bahamas to the Florida beach where they will be celebrating Christmas day,stars from Hollywood will be there to celebrate the Christmas day all attendance is require to wear a costume.


The 6th day of the event MTV will be organizing a Dance Competition  at the Marseilles hotel theater hall and any attenders who is interested can participate in the dance Competition  the dance competition is a 3 days Competition  which will be shown on MTV and other top Tv channels.The winner of the dance Competition  will be awarded a cash prize of $5,000.00 (Five Thousand United States Dollars).

The Last day (December 30th) they will be celebration of a New year at the Delray Beach, Florida Annual NEW YEARS EVE PARTY (DECEMBER 31st) it will take place at Cocoa Beach, Florida 401 MEADE AVE on that day they will be a lot of fun because top Hollywood models will be there to celebrate the New Year Festival and the organizer shall give at special gifts to all international attenders.

Now if you are interested kindly contact our registration office Via email:reg.cruise@rediffmail.com for registration purposes.

Please note:You shall be responsible for the registration fee, the fee most be received before registration process can be completed.All interested applicants should contact the the registration office as early as they can because they are limited spaces of attenders.

We look forward in welcoming you to Miami!

Kind Regards
Alan Dave
Information Manager
www.floridabahamascruisevacations.com
The Marseilles Miami Beach Hotel
Address:Art Deco 1741 Collins Ave

Proudly Sponsor by the United States government for travel and tourism Industries.

1. "You idiots who RIGHT this..." it's WRITE
2. "NEGITIVE" is NEGATIVE
3.  "THERE site " is "THEIR"

too many more to note.

It is a scam. Saying otherwise makes you an accessory.
If you respond to this email in any other than professionally, then it reinforces your involvement.

I recently attended a home show in Toronto and received a call a few days later from Florida Bahamas Cruise Vacations. They told me I was one of the 120 people out of 1000 to receive their promotional offer. They explained the trip details and cost - which was $598. I repeatedly asked if this was any type of scam or hidden fees and they assured me that was not the case. After foolishly accepting their offer and giving them my credit card number I googled the number they gave me - 1-888-582-8228. Every result that came up began with SCAM. I CAN ASSURE YOU THIS IS A SCAM. I IMMEDIATELY CALLED MY CREDIT CARD COMPANY AND CANCELLED MY CARD - IF YOU HAVE ACCEPTED THEIR OFFER DO THE SAME ASAP! DO NO BOTHER TRYING TO CONTACT THE NUMBER THEY GAVE YOU. THEY WILL GIVE YOU THE RUN AROUND. THE ONLY SAFE SOLUTION IS TO CANCEL YOUR CARD (YOU WILL NOT BE CHARGED ANY FEES). I am normaly a very cautious and skeptical person when it comes to matters such as this. They called around 9:30 p.m. and caught me off guard - I was on 4 hours sleep and finished a day of teaching Kindergarten = exhausted and not able to use my best judgement. I hope this advice can help anyone else who might have fallen for the same offer I did.

My father had told me it was a scam, but I don't have a credit card, I told them that and I said I could use a family members. Can I call them back with it!

The package from Florida-Bahamas Cruise Vacations sounds fantastic, but if you log into their website to confirm the existence of the company there are not phone numbers or contact information, not even a way to conduct/pay the transaction online.
I got their call a few minutes ago and i hesitated to provide my private info over the phone. I still wonder if it is a real company.
Is there anybody who took the deal and enjoyed the vacation package?...It will be good to see more of those comments.. we cannot judge and call it an scan just because it is difficult to get the money back, it happens with most purchases made with visa (often, the bank itself refuses to reverse the payment because it is a lost of money for themselves)

I have been getting calls all day with different  numbers and last weekend  I went to a car show and fillies out a few ballots

So did you end up taking the vacation? How was it after all?

your an idiot it stated right on my registry ticket "THIS IS NOT A LOTTERY OR CONTEST"

This is a scam, and I feel unbelieveably dumb for falling for it. Innocently enough, I entered my name into a draw two days ago for a chance to "win" a trip. They call you telling you that you've been selected, and smooth talk you into the free trip, which ends up being not-so-free. I was debating whether or not to do it, so I asked if they could call me back so I could call my boyfriend. The guy offered to three way him for me, and I thought that was perfect since I didn't know how to on my cell. My boyfriend was like "that sounds great, but" and all of a sudden they disconnected him and told me how he sure seemed up for it, as they sensed he was about to object. Luckily for me, my credit card was almost maxed out so they could only put $149 hold on it. So after I got off the phone, super pumped for my trip, I google it and the first thing that pops up is SCAM?!?! That got me feeling real good. I went talked to my bank today, and they told me they could not reverse it since I had given them my CC # so I called their customer service # and it took only half hour to get it completely reversed. You have to be stern though, they try to discount the trip three hundred dollars first, but I was persistent enought that they passed me onto the manager. He too offered the discounts, saying he could not reverse the charge. That's when I brought up the Alberta Consumer Protection Act.. and then he gladly reversed it. It was quite the hassle, but at least I learned to not be so stupid next time!

His real name ids Monsuire, and he want's your CC#

hey Chisty do u know Jenny! she said its not a scam to And were going on  this vacation with Vinny and Tom!

PS- notice theres noone from FLORIDA getting this offer? Probably because they can't use their bogus "out side of florida" line and people would riot for refunds down there.

I entered a drawing a bonnaroo this last weekend for a chance for a free trip to the bahamas or mexico.
I shouldn't have even bothered considering it was two girls walking around the grounds, and not even verified vendors with a booth. That alone was a little red flag.
Today i recieved 3 calls. One I missed with a MS area code that I could NOT call back, one private and one from the number that's been mentioned several times here.
Another red flag- I don't win anything. Especially out of 80,000 people.
They gave me the same crap they've given everyone else here, and wanted my information, when I told them i'd pass the oh-so-sweet and "legit" rep got very pissed very fast and ended up hanging up on me when he realized I wasn't a gullible idiot he could convince.
I called back the 800 number on the floridabahamasvacations.com and told them I'd be chosen for a package, testing them I asked them the name of their website. She didn't give me the florida bahamas one like the last guy did, this one was bahamascelebration.com like one other person here said. I hungup and did this again and got ANOTHER website address book4florida.com. Hmm...why so many websites from the same 800 number?
I then told the woman to take my number off of their list. She asked for my number then first and last name. I told her I wouldn't give her my name, and she said she couldn't do it without it. I told her to make one up, since their company seems to be good at coming up with b***s***. She said something about it "going against her integrity" and thats when I told her she and her coworkers had none of the said integrity to be going against with this oporation. She hungup.

Do you happen to have their mailing address?

I hope it works out ok for you, because on top of the $600 they initially charge you, there's another $129 per person due right before your trip, then on top of that there's undisclosed daily fees for crude oil or something about the boat, plus only pop as a drink is included in their "deal".
So for two people, $860 plus airfare, plus the fees they don't disclose, is that really a deal at all?

So I called to cancel today again!  24 hours after I got scammed.  Same deal, I got the run around.  She basically made me feel stupid for authorizing this trip.  Said, if you didn't want it, why did you give them your credit card #.  

I stated the law from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Act.  They proceeded to tell me that because I am not in Florida, I don't fall under those rules.  Well then I stated the laws of my province, and they were like...umm..oh, yeah we know that.  So then I say, well then you should have no problem canceling this and honouring my request.  They said, yes you have the right to make a complaint, but we don't have to honour it.  That's ridiculous!  You are bound by law to honour the refund if requested.

So they sent me to another woman that tried to cut the price down even more.  $299 for the  entire package.  I got them to outline what was included in the package and the overall breakdown of the prices.  It came up to about $1300.  But you still had to pay the extra fees.  But what was promised to me was a "dream vacation" package worth $5000.  So if they were willing to honour and let me book my own vacation that would be worth $5000, I would take it.  If not, cancel it.

They then proceeded to transfer me to a manager.  She said confirmed everything the other woman said while reiterating my words.  I agreed and said, that's it, I just want to cancel.  She proceeded to offer me a reservation worth $99, the rest to be paid at a later date.  What the point of having that there?  If I want to book a vacation at a later date, I will do so later.  There's no point for $100 to sit there.  I knew for sure they were trying to keep as much money as they could.  

I said, thank you for explaining me and trying to be a good customer service representative, but I still want to cancel.  

So I got a confirmation # of cancellation.  They said that they record their phones, but who knows.  Just to be safe, when dealing with them, I recommend that you record the phone call for yourself.  At least you have evidence that the transaction was cancelled and that they can't put anymore charges on your card.

They said it will be credited to my account in 3-5 business days.  I also contacted my credit card company with the new information.  They will help me verify the company has honoured the refund.  If not, the credit card company will deal with it.  It helps that I have hard evidence :)

I will repost to confirm when I get my refund

Thank you Lauren for your post.

I'm in the same boat as all of you.  
The same day I paid them, I checked out these forums and realized my mistake.  I immediately called my credit card company to block any other charges from them.  They told me to talk to the company to get a refund first.  

Florida Bahamas Cruise Vacations said that I had won a cruise "dream vacation" worth $2500/person for 2 people.  So $5000.  But the reservation cost was $299 per person.  So listening to them go on and on, I was excited.  As I'm looking at what was being offered.  It is a far cry from the $2500 "dream vacation!"  And shouldn't it be worth $2800 since I had to pay 299 already?  And they still want flight and dock fees?  RIDICULOUS!

I tried to call them about an hour after I booked it and cancel.  I gave them a reason that I was having financial troubles and couldn't commit to it at the moment.  That at a later date perhaps I could look into actually booking a vacation.  So they offered to cut my cost initial cost in half and move the date to book another 6 months.  But when or if you decide to go on the vacation, you still owe that amount of money before the expiry date is up.

My credit card company said that if they don't keep the agreement of sending me the package within 3 business days, then they'll be able just to go through a process of canceling the charges.  I doubt I'll receive a package within 3 business days.  I live in Canada.  Also in terms of that refund, it hasn't transferred yet.  The 600 comes right out, the 300 back, now takes awhile.  Making me less and less happy about this situation.

Tomorrow I will call again, and probably to be run around for a few hours.  The Florida law states that you have 30 days to cancel in writing.  Another person posted above and said that because he lived in NY that he only had 3 days.  But what Lauren said is absolutely true.  The company is a Florida based company and must abide by those rules.  If they come at me with that, in the province of Ontario, the  law states I have 15 days to cancel my purchase under any circumstance.  All you need is return their package and write a letter to them stating you no longer want the service.  If they fail to comply, you have full capability to sue them for costs and restitutions.

In the Consumer Protection Act it says: "If the supplier fails to meet these duties, the consumer may sue them for restitution and damages in relation to the default [CPA s.96(6)]. Additionally, if the supplier is prosecuted and convicted for failure to comply with these duties, the provincial offences court may order restitution" [CPA 116(1)(b)(viii), 117: see Part B, Ch.9: "Prosecutions"].

I'm sure this is similar in the Florida State Law as well.  I just have to double check that.

that is deff a scam!!!!

Full refund. Just showed up on my account today exactly 3 days after I called. So happy and relieved.

Oh and SJB I did this all before I received my online package. They tried to get me to wait until I could view it on tuesday but I refused so just call now and cancel. Also they tried to offer me half my money back and still keep the package but I refused that also. Visa told me the are fully capable and by law required to give me my full refund within 30 days of my purchase.

So called this morning was put on the run around with some polite but annoying guy named Phil. Requested cancellation AND refund because Visa said they wold give me a cancellation number but that doesn't mean they will refund my money. Finally talked to a rude manager named Tara and she stated in our phone converstaion that they will be refunding me for the full $598 USD and that the credit should appear within 3-5 business days. She also said that they would be sending me a post-card in 7-10 business days to confirm that I am being refunded my full amount. Wether I believe her or not is another story. She sounded pretty pissed about it and maybe it showed up that I had called Visa multiple times (very nice and knowledgeable(sp?) people) and that's why they gave me my refund so fast or maybe because I called first thing in the morning? All in all took exactly half an hour for her to tell me I was getting a full refund. However I'm not sure what exactly will be on this post-card and Visa also told me after I had gotten off the phone with Tara that for written confirmation to be valid it has to include my full name and credit card number. We'll see, fingers crossed. I'll keep you posted.

I'm in the same boat but I called my Visa company the same day and the guy said people have been sucessful in getting their money back and that we're totally within out rights because they as a Florida based company have to follow Florida law but I must get a confirmation email stating that they are refunding me the total amount. So I'll be calling tommorow or tuesday to cancel and will definitley update but my Visa guy said it has happened before and the money has been refunded but not to just get a cancellation number but an email because then if they don't refund it Visa can use the email as written proof.

All these positive response make me laugh.  I am not to sure what other people were being told, BUT I was told a free vacation, not a $598 vacation.  This price may be legite, I am not contesting that or the fact that it is very cheap, but free means free.  If you say you just won a $598 trip than say it that way, don't f*** with people.

Mrs. Murphy, sounds like you must work for these people, a vested interest perhaps.  100% scam.  FREE vacation should be exactly that--FREE. Not $600

So same old story that all of you are talking about happend to me and I feel so dumb. Went to a bridal show and entered a door prize and yes I Got the call that I had won. I thought it was pretty legit because they had all the info that I had put on the card as well as my finance' name. After I gave them my card they said it was going to be 24 hours till I can look online to see all the details, I couldn't get on. I called back, "well it's going to be 48 hours". 48 hours later, can't get on. "Well it's going to be 72 hours"... Guess what... So I'm really scared because I'm reading all of this from you guys and I'm freaking out! I'm a student, who is trying to pay for my education and a wedding and honestly if I just lost 600 dollars first off I"m going to cry, then get pretty angry. I'll let you know if I get the money back because when I talked to them they said that I had 30 days to cancelle it and it's only been a week so I'll let you know if I do get my money back or if i'm just getting the run around...

While there are other people on here that are saying in true terms this is not a "scam" they are completely incorrect. I got a call too and unfortunately my fiance was mislead (dumb on his part) and decided to go with it after they told him we could get a full refund (lie). I know this is a scam because if you search various government websites, they define this as a scam themselves. The same exact situation is described by the ftc and attorney general of florida and they have had to contact these companies various times to get money back to consumers.

If the government is filing suits against these customers hundreds of times, then you can legitimately say this IS a scam. I feel awful for the people that have fallen for this and am glad that our credit card company said that they will work with us on this issue and get our money back. We are both young and naive and will learn from our mistakes.

has anyone gotten their money back

Please tell me you are kidding.  You can't spell, you make no sense and I can hear you yelling while smoking in a trailer somewhere.  People that make threats are all talk, no substance.