Is this a scam? I’ve won a seven-day cruise! (Or have I?)

by Christopher Elliott on September 14, 2011

Henry Baumgaertel won a free cruise. At least that what the letter he received a few weeks ago claimed.

All he had to do was attend a presentation. No strings attached.

“Usually we toss those in the waste basket,” he told me.

But not this one. It had the Carnival logo on it, which made him think it was legit.

We were told yes we had won, but we had to go listen to a presentation. It was only 45 minutes, there was no obligation to buy, and it wasn’t a time share.

The Baumgaertels attended the seminar, which was for a travel club. After it ended, they said they weren’t interested in a membership — they just wanted their free cruise.

After a blitz of offers and questions they took ‘no’ for our answer and gave us our award sheet. We filled it out and mailed it.

They sent it to PO Box in Orange City, Fla., which is only a few miles from where I live, by way of full disclosure. A quick online search takes me to this page.

A few weeks later, they received vouchers for a cruise. They needed to be filled out and sent to yet another address. This led them to a company called Eagles Choice, which is based in Woodbridge, Va.

The terms on the “free” offer are troubling to Baumgaertel. There are fees and surcharges and two-for-one offers that he can’t quite decipher. He hasn’t taken the bait — yet.

“My question is: Is this too good to be true?”

Not a scam

This offer may indeed be legit and legal, but it almost certainly will not be free for Baumgaertel and his wife. I think everything hinges on how you define “free.” From what I can see, these companies are asking him to pay something to get his “free” trip. That kind of pricing is not consistent with the actions of a reputable company.

The case for a scam

You mean, apart from the copious fine print, the runaround that this couple has been given, and questionable-looking websites? Uh, just that the online reviews of Eagles Choice are less than flattering.

Let’s help settle this for Baumgaertel. What say you?

Tagged as: Cruise, Free, Scam

  • Anonymous

    Total scam. If you have to pay ANYTHING up front, walk away. If you have to sit through a presentation, walk away.

  • BillC

    Throw these things in the trash immediately. Don’t waste your time on this.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_SYR4YYOAPY4X3UUYLPCADARF3Q emanon256

    I got a similar card in the mail last week.  It was one of the best looking free cruise offers I have ever seen with the carnival logo as well.  Then I noticed the sample itinerary on it said that on day one we would leave LA and on day two we would arrive in the Bahamas.  Must be one of those fancy new flying boats.  It went to the trash.   Even without that odd itinerary glitch, it still would have gone in the trash.  There is no such thing as a free lunch/cruise/airfare/…

  • http://alexspeaks.com Alex Humphrey

    I’ve had friends get those trips and sometimes they are legit but most of the time they are really shady

  • Anthony A

    I got the same mailing and I did take a second look because of the Carnival logo.

    Chris – can you reach out to someone at Carnival and ask them about their participation in this program? I would hope they would not want to be involved with these types of companies. Maybe the logo was used without their permission?

  • http://twitter.com/reimero Joe Reimers

    Not *exactly* a scam, but there are numerous hidden fees and, while possible, it’s difficult to collect.  If you follow every detail to the letter and pay every fee on time, you get to cruise.  But it’s definitely not entirely on the up-and-up.  Any crossed wires anywhere, and you’re out of luck.

  • Bill

    Why does he need help?  He attended the seminar, didn’t spend money.  What do you expect from scammers like this?  Just stay away from them, and don’t expect anything.

  • Guest

    By LA, did it perhaps mean Louisiana?

  • Billgoco

    LA could have meant “Lower Alabama”. perhaps it left from Mobile…

  • Dave

    Free means free.  Period.  If there is no disclaimer on the initial mailing, then as far as I’m concerned (which doesn’t mean a judge would agree) the company is guilty of false advertising at best, fraud at worst.

    BTW, I don’t agree that advertisements should be subject to a different standard from anything else.  They should be completely accurate and mean what they say.  (That said, I also think that anyone who believes everything in an advertisement is a complete fool, because the law does seem to allow exceptions.)

    If there was a disclaimer in the original mailing, of course, then the company is off the hook (I also expect people to read fine print, instead of complaining about being stuck by the terms and conditions — providing they’re written in plain language and are as brief as is reasonable).

    If, in fact, there was no disclaimer, and I had gone through the required waste-of-time presentation, I like to think I’d be reporting the company to every appropriate agency.  This kind of thing really does need to be stopped.

    For the Baumgaertels, I can only suggest they think hard about whether they want to do this.  I’m willing to bet the fees come close to what the cost of the cruise would have been without going through all the nonsense.

  • Dave

    Free means free.  Period.  If there is no disclaimer on the initial mailing, then as far as I’m concerned (which doesn’t mean a judge would agree) the company is guilty of false advertising at best, fraud at worst.

    BTW, I don’t agree that advertisements should be subject to a different standard from anything else.  They should be completely accurate and mean what they say.  (That said, I also think that anyone who believes everything in an advertisement is a complete fool, because the law does seem to allow exceptions.)

    If there was a disclaimer in the original mailing, of course, then the company is off the hook (I also expect people to read fine print, instead of complaining about being stuck by the terms and conditions — providing they’re written in plain language and are as brief as is reasonable).

    If, in fact, there was no disclaimer, and I had gone through the required waste-of-time presentation, I like to think I’d be reporting the company to every appropriate agency.  This kind of thing really does need to be stopped.

    For the Baumgaertels, I can only suggest they think hard about whether they want to do this.  I’m willing to bet the fees come close to what the cost of the cruise would have been without going through all the nonsense.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1556838763 Nancy Marine Dickinson

    I never respond to anything like this.  I learned a long time, free doesn’t mean free.  No business in the world will give away a “free” anything for just sitting in a room listening to their sales pitch for 90 minutes.

    Things like this make it to the round file fairly quickly.  For so long as there are people looking for something for nothing, there will be e-mails like this sent to Chris on a regular basis.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_SYR4YYOAPY4X3UUYLPCADARF3Q emanon256

    It spelled out “Los Angeles, CA”

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_V4OUPLCINOL723CGHVR53CQ72Y Kevin

    Well… he *was* promised a *free* cruise for attending. Whether he suspected it was a scam or not, to deliver anything other than a *free* cruise means he was scammed. True, he doesn’t have money to recover, and time can’t be recovered, but I think he’s within his rights to demand they hold up their end of the contract with a truly free cruise.

  • Sadie Cee

    Please tell the OP to run, not walk, away from this.  SCAM!  Could write loads more, but I will refrain.

  • Anonymous

    I’m curious about this, too. While I don’t like Carnival at all, I think they’d think twice about allowing their logo to be involved in such a scam.

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