Is the Free Cruise Vacation a Phone Scam?




timeshare
Photo Credit: Grace Garcia

I could make this the shortest blog post I have ever written by answering the question, "Is the Free Cruise Vacation a Phone Scam?" with a simple "Yes" and leaving it at that. For those of my readers who need more explanation and have not heard this before: There is no such thing as a free lunch.

I know, I know, what about Obama-phones, Obamacare, Obama-money, and other Obama-freebies? Again, There is no such thing as a free lunch and all of us will one day have to pay the bill.

Which brings me to the free vacation scam.

A few months back my wife was shopping at a nearby mall when she filled out her name and number to enter a drawing to win a car. Supposedly, there was no fee to enter the contest. But as I explained above, "There is no such thing as a free lunch." Somewhere down the line you will pay for that free drawing.

Today, she got a phone call announcing that she won a free 11-day vacation package. Whenever my wife wins a free vacation or cruise she hands the phone over to me to vet the deal. The free vacation included 5-days-and-4 nights in Orlando Florida, with two tickets to a theme park of my choice. A $500 dollar Orlando fun pack, providing two-for-one-restaurant coupons and numerous attraction and shopping discounts. 

Then, the pitch continues, we're off to the beautiful beaches of Daytona or Cocoa Beach, Florida for a 3-days-2-nights stay right on the Ocean!

And before we can catch our breath we are told that we will head down to either Ft Lauderdale Beach or Miami Beach Florida, our choice, where we'll spend 3-days-and-2-nights or, for those who like topless beaches, we can stay instead at Miami's South Beach (which beach, by the way, I wrote about in my 2006 article Top Ten Topless Beaches 2006).

And all of this is topped off with a 3-,4- or 7-day cruise to a Caribbean island of our choice.

All we have to do is spend about 90 minutes during each hotel stay and participate in a marketing study. Let me translate that: all we have to do is spend an hour-an-a-half at each venue for a chance to buy a time-share for that venue. That's the rub. For most people, for the great majority of people, a timeshare is a waste of money.

For my family some timeshares are worth the money because we go every year, sometimes twice, with 12 to 14 people. Hotel rooms for a group that size would cost a small fortune, but as I mentioned in articles about our vacations in Disney World, Mexico, and Bahamas, we save thousands of dollars on hotel rooms each year by using our timeshare points.

As for the so-called free promotion vacation package, spending such a short time, only a few days, at each vacation spot instead of a decent 2-week stay is not worth my time packing and unpacking and enduring a 90 minute timeshare presentation.

Want a cheap but luxurious hotel stay? Go to sites like VRBO and rent someone's existing timeshare.



### End of my article ###

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