Cruise remains one of the top trends in the travel industry today. What’s not there for it to be so popular, after all, cruises highlight multiple destinations and offer a multitude of activities onboard each ship. It is also a great way to get away from every day stresses in life and enjoy a vacation that you so much deserve. When you go away for cruising on your next travel vacation, you can make use of a vessel finder like marinetraffic24.com to monitor and check the position and location of your cruise ship online at your convenience. They have a collection of equipment that is used to track vessels of different types and you’ll be able to see your ship already on a live map.
We know that a cruise trip is supposed to be relaxing, and while these grand vacations are so alluring in its self, it is not so resistant when it comes to scams. Before packing for your dream trip of a lifetime, let us first give you some of the most common scams that you have to be aware of when going on a cruise.
- The “Free Cruise” Scam.This type of scam had been around for a long time and is one of the most basic scams you’ll see anywhere today. Scammers, most often than not, will announce to its recipient that they won a cruise in the Bahamas and that they have to book for it as soon as possible as it comes for a limited time only; others will even call you and make you believe that they are part of the cruise lines they are representing even though they are just travel-sellers; and many will print a letter with the most persuasive words, with letters printed at bright colors and with “urgent” stamped all over it informing you that you are one of the luckiest recipients of an all-expense-paid cruise. There no such thing as free in life today- especially on vacation. What you might actually get on this kind of scam are constant pressure to upgrade your ship and land arrangements; additional fees and taxes including both by the government and the cruise line; and a requirement to go on a presentation that may go on for four or five hours pressuring you with their sales tactics. Travelers who received this kind of offer should be vigilant and smart before putting their money down for booking this offer. Do your assignment and research, ask questions, and don’t ever give your credit card information to an unknown source. It is also much better if you would book your cruise through a reputable cruise line or travel agent.
- Scams in the port of call.When you go on a cruise, it’s most likely that you will end up as a victim of a scam in one of your ports of callwith or without your knowledge. Cruise passengers are easy targets for scammers and thieves in ports of call as they are in and out of the location for only a few hours and have a limited time to spend on even reporting crimes that happen to them. Most of the scams that you are likely to encounter in your port of call include getting short-changed or getting double-charge for merchandise in the local stores; there are strangers who will offer to do you a favor like taking a picture of you and then ends up running off with your camera or phone or a street vendor who will aggressively tie you a bracelet and insist that you pay them for it; there are those who will distract you while their partner tries to pick-pocket you; and there are also those who will offer you a last-minute sightseeing tour and after you agree on a price and halfway to your destination, your driver will tell you that what you’ve paid is not enough to reach your destination and you need to pay extra for it. To avoid these kinds of scams, you can prepare in advance and book your shore excursion and sightseeing tours with the cruise line or with reputable travel agents online.
- Online scam.This type of scam can easily compromise your privacy, identity and your files. Online scams are usually done through email wherethose who hacked the cruise line’s or operator’s data get the names of their prospective clients and sent them an email that contains malware.
- Fake list prices.Who wouldn’t want to book for a cruise that has a 50% or 75% in their offer? You would grab it, right? After all, it’s not always that a big discount is being offered in the market and your hands are getting itchy to snag that once in a blue moon offer. But wait, could this sale be too good to be true? A discount like this that you often see in the brochures and the marketing promo of cruise lines can be sometimes misleading. Do some asking first, as promises of huge discounts might come with hidden charges that they do not include with their sales promotion. Some examples of fake list prices include a discount off brochure fare, the buy one get one promotion, and free airfare and hotel accommodation included in your cruise fare.
- Bad sightseeing tour.Though it may not quite pass as cruise scam, many port visitors or tourists are often annoyed and dismayed when they disembark on a port of call and went to go sightseeing. Many visitors would book for a sightseeing tour in a destination because it looks good in a brochure and the inclusions are appealing as well, but once they are in the place, they would not be able to fully enjoy the inclusions of the tour because of the excuses they get from their tour operator.
