# [2014 - Finerman v. MVW] 2018 SETTLEMENT in Class Action involving DC Points/Cruises



## FractionalTraveler (Oct 2, 2014)

Not sure if this has been posted already but MVCI is being sued for its overinflating of Cruise fees collected from its Explorer Destination Club Cruises.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...Pg5RN9_MgEcuMG7wfqlaxsA&bvm=bv.76477589,d.cWc


The Marriott class action lawsuit claims:

“Defendants engage in a common course of conduct and practice of creating, inflating and collecting deceptively inflated government fees and port fees in booking cruises for members of Marriott Vacation Club. While members use points in booking cruises, defendants charge members of the Marriott Vacation Club cash for certain other fees such as government fees and port fees which they deceptively create or inflate and then retain these sums.”

I always thought it was a rip off anyways from a value perspective.

FT


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## Cobra1950 (Oct 2, 2014)

Interesting.  As I posted on this site last year, I booked a Caribbean trip for this past January on Princess leaving from Ft. Lauderdale.  Based on the overcharging by Marriott on the "Port Fees and taxes" on that trip I did not book another trip with them for 2015 on Princess for the Greek Islands, what they wanted destroyed any value in using VCPoints in the transaction, I booked direct with Princess.
    As well we just got back from 2 weeks in Alaska with Princess (including a week in their wilderness hotels) booked directly with Princess and had a great time, did not bother to even check with Marriott on this one.
    Not sure if this lawsuit will go anywhere but good to see it, I think the concept Marriott had was ok, but the extra charges they piled on were killers.  When I complained to Marriott and to the 3rd party booking group they use for boats, I go no reaction at all, except the sense that the parties I was talking to expressed no surprise at all in my comments.


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## Passepartout (Oct 2, 2014)

Whether Marriott, RCI, or II, we've been telling people for years that using timeshares for cruises is a lousy use of your MF dollars. They all inflate the cruise cost to 'brochure price' or higher, then add port charges and taxes in cash, then give a small percentage of the cost of your exchange as a 'discount.'

Ludicrous! 

Use timeshares for timeshare vacations, and cash to book cruises, either through a discounter, or as above, directly through the cruise lines.

Over the years, many people have come back with, "But if I don't use these points for a cruise, I'll just lose them." To which I say, "You own too many points."

Jim


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## SueDonJ (Oct 2, 2014)

Will be interesting to watch ...  Thanks, FT!


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## BocaBoy (Oct 3, 2014)

I was quite surprised by a report a few weeks ago on TUG about the dollar amount of taxes and port fees they were charged when booking a cruise with DC points, and I posted on the subject.  The number reported just did not seem credible to me based on my over 200 nights on cruises (ranging form 3 days to 62 days) over the years.  This could be the reason.  I am very surprised that MVCI would do this, because some of the large cruise lines got caught doing this a few years ago and are now much more careful to charge taxes and fees only in the amount they actually pay to the authorities for those items.


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## tschwa2 (Oct 3, 2014)

II, RCI, ,SFX, DAE and I believe Platinum Interchange, Trading Places and VRIety use ICE.  In fact I just looked them up and Marriott Vacations is listed as a "global business partner" http://www.iceenterprise.com/about/alliances.jsp

It would be awesome if the lawsuit brought down the Mandatory fees for cruise exchanges for all the exchange companies but to balance it out they would probably just raise the points required or call it an exchange fee or some other term but charge just as much.  It is a moneymaker for the fulfillment company and they are going to want the same amount even if they call it something else.


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## dioxide45 (Oct 3, 2014)

tschwa2 said:


> II, RCI, ,SFX, DAE and I believe Platinum Interchange, Trading Places and VRIety use ICE.  In fact I just looked them up and Marriott Vacations is listed as a "global business partner" http://www.iceenterprise.com/about/alliances.jsp
> 
> It would be awesome if the lawsuit brought down the Mandatory fees for cruise exchanges for all the exchange companies but to balance it out they would probably just raise the points required or call it an exchange fee or some other term but charge just as much.  It is a moneymaker for the fulfillment company and they are going to want the same amount even if they call it something else.



I am surprised that ICE wasn't also named in the lawsuit. I do agree though that if the inflated fees are made to go down to the actual taxes and fees that are paid the cruise line, the number of DC points will just go up.


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## Cobra1950 (Oct 4, 2014)

True, if the port and Taxes fee gouging by Marriott is ended by a court, the number of VCPoints will likely increase, but overall their business will drop as that is a harder economic fact to ignore by TS owners when they look at what points they are getting for their week and looking at what weeks they can get for the same points demanded.
   Any new potential points customer if they look at the values they can get will discount the merit of buying new/additional points.  Or of course they could just read TUG!!


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## Wally3433 (Oct 4, 2014)

We all know that booking a cruise through a hotel company does not make sense, but who cares if the lawsuit has merit.  Just glad somebody has the time and money to do something about it when they get ripped off.

Hope they win.


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## kds4 (Oct 4, 2014)

FractionalTraveler said:


> Not sure if this has been posted already but MVCI is being sued for its overinflating of Cruise fees collected from its Explorer Destination Club Cruises.
> 
> http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...Pg5RN9_MgEcuMG7wfqlaxsA&bvm=bv.76477589,d.cWc
> 
> ...



So, I spoke to the Marriott/ICE Cruise Desk today about booking a hypothetical cruise. When we got to the part about the out of pocket costs for port charges, taxes, and fees, the conversation became interesting. Of course, the price quoted for these out of pocket costs was much higher than what is posted on the cruise line website. When I pointed this out and asked for an explanation of the discrepancy, I was told the following:

The representative knew the exact amount being quoted on the cruise line website as he asked "Is XXX cruise line quoting $XXX.XX for the port charges, taxes, and fees?" When I told him they were, he advised that the difference between what the cruise line was charging and what Marriott/ICE was charging was a 'Pass Through' fee. When I asked for an explanation, he stated that the cruise line builds into the fare certain fees and expenses that are not billed as part of the 'port charges, taxes, and fees'.

The representative stated that Marriott has decided not to pay this fee when purchasing tickets using owner's DC points and instead 'pass it through' to the owners. In this case, it was $159 per person over and above the cruise line quoted port charges, taxes, and fees. I asked for confirmation that what he meant was that if I purchased my ticket from the cruise line or another cash based source this fee was in the quoted fare, but that if I wanted to use DC points, this fee was deducted from the cost of the fare paid by Marriott and I have to pay it. I was told that this is how Marriott has decided to do it. (Sort of like, another kind of skim.)

So, if you are considering using points to purchase a cruise, on this itinerary I would be trading my points for a value of $159/PP less than the best quoted cruise line fare for the same cabin class (making exchanging DC points toward a cruise worth even less than they already appeared to be when comparing prices on cruise line websites).

Of course, whether the representative was accurate that this fee is already built into all quoted cruise line fares, or they were just quoting some Marriott script to defend an artificial fee that exists only in the Marriott world for additional profit (and is subject to pending litigation) remains to be seen.


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## FractionalTraveler (Oct 4, 2014)

Cool.  My bet is that they will either loose the suit or as remediation have to disclose to DC cruise purchasers that certain fees are being charged above and beyond the mandated government and port fees.  I still think this will be OK for some as they will still use the points regardless for these things.

FT


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## BocaBoy (Oct 4, 2014)

FractionalTraveler said:


> Cool.  My bet is that they will either loose the suit or as remediation have to disclose to DC cruise purchasers that certain fees are being charged above and beyond the mandated government and port fees.  I still think this will be OK for some as they will still use the points regardless for these things.
> 
> FT



i agree.  The remedy will be all about disclosure (don't call it a port charge or tax if it is not) and such transparency is important.  When the cruise lines got caught doing a similar thing a few years ago and lowered their charges for port taxes and fees, cruise fares did not generally go up because of the competitive pressures.  That would exist here also to some extent, but perhaps less so because many DC members may not accurately price the value of their points, or realize that there is a way to monetize them (e.g., renting the points).


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## windje2000 (Apr 4, 2018)

Read this

https://topclassactions.com/lawsuit...ion-club-cruise-fees-class-action-settlement/

_[Threads merged.]_


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## ilene13 (Apr 4, 2018)

I received the card about this.  We did a Baltic cruise last summer using points.  I am just debating which benefit I want to ask for.  Any thoughts?


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## SueDonJ (Apr 4, 2018)

FYI, from the link:


> ... Who's Eligible - Class Members of the Marriott Vacation Club settlement include anyone in the United States who, from Jan. 1, 2010 to Feb. 23, 2018, were members of the Marriott Club Destinations Exchange Program and booked a cruise through International Cruise & Excursion Gallery Inc. ...


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## NboroGirl (Apr 4, 2018)

ilene13 said:


> I received the card about this.  We did a Baltic cruise last summer using points.  I am just debating which benefit I want to ask for.  Any thoughts?



I'm wondering the same thing. I think I'll take the 50% cash because I don't plan on taking another cruise in the near future.  (If I'm understanding that correctly?)


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## bizaro86 (Apr 4, 2018)

I'd be curious what $/point value they use to calculate the points option.


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## NboroGirl (Apr 4, 2018)

One of the first things you need to do when filing a claim is enter your "Exchange Program Owner Number".  Is this my  Interval ID or my MVC ID?  I put my timeshare weeks into a trust, and when I did this I got two new MVC Owner IDs, one for the trust and one for me individually. I don't remember if this happened before I booked the cruise or after (or is it when I took the cruise?)   If I have to enter the new MVC ID I wonder if they would reject my claim because it is different than when I took/booked the cruise.  I still have the old number saved, so I know what it is.


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## dioxide45 (Apr 4, 2018)

NboroGirl said:


> One of the first things you need to do when filing a claim is enter your "Exchange Program Owner Number".  Is this my  Interval ID or my MVC ID?  I put my timeshare weeks into a trust, and when I did this I got two new MVC Owner IDs, one for the trust and one for me individually. I don't remember if this happened before I booked the cruise or after (or is it when I took the cruise?)   If I have to enter the new MVC ID I wonder if they would reject my claim because it is different than when I took/booked the cruise.  I still have the old number saved, so I know what it is.


Perhaps use the one you had when the cruise was booked? Who knows. This is an odd situation that I am not sure anyone would be able to answer.


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## ilene13 (Apr 4, 2018)

I was going to call the chairman’s level desk and ask


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## NboroGirl (Apr 4, 2018)

dioxide45 said:


> Perhaps use the one you had when the cruise was booked? Who knows. This is an odd situation that I am not sure anyone would be able to answer.



If only I can remember which number I had when I booked the cruise.  I remember when I booked the cruise and of course, when I sailed, but I don't remember exactly when I got my new number. I know it was AROUND that time but...


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## NboroGirl (Apr 12, 2018)

NboroGirl said:


> One of the first things you need to do when filing a claim is enter your "Exchange Program Owner Number".  Is this my  Interval ID or my MVC ID?  I put my timeshare weeks into a trust, and when I did this I got two new MVC Owner IDs, one for the trust and one for me individually. I don't remember if this happened before I booked the cruise or after (or is it when I took the cruise?)   If I have to enter the new MVC ID I wonder if they would reject my claim because it is different than when I took/booked the cruise.  I still have the old number saved, so I know what it is.



I sent an email to info@cruisefaresettlement.com and explained my dilemma but didn't hear anything back for about a week, so I went ahead and filed a claim using my most recent MVC Owner ID Number.  After that I received a reply stating I should use the number I had when I booked the cruise, and if I didn't remember what it was, to reply to that email with my name and address and they would send it to me, so I did.

The reply I received back telling me the number to use was a number I had no knowledge of.  It wasn't an II number or an MVC number.  They called it an Exchange Program Owner Number, and it looked like this : MVC####VGA where #= a digit.  Where did this number come from and how would I have known to use it when I've never seen it before?


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## sgiersch (May 26, 2018)

I KNEW there was something wrong with the "port fees and government taxes" charge that ICE was charging for cruises. When booking a cruise through ICE, I simultaneously compared a quote on the same ship, same cruise date, same cabin directly from the cruise line, and came up with a number less than half what ICE was charging. This happened twice, once in 2012 and once in 2015. Both times, because I was an MVC employee at the time, I reported it up through management, and made sure it got back to the person in charge of the ICE relationship at MVC. In neither case was there any response. I was upset because I was a member of the sales team and ICE's fees were severely undermining the value of the cruise program, and thus the value of the product. I know that Tuggers probably find it hard to believe but the MVC sales organization team members are the biggest advocates of ensuring that the product value proposition is a good one, because the better the value proposition the better the value. As is obvious from both this situation and from what has happened to maintenance fees, their voice has been drowned out by greed elsewhere in the organization.
I'm going to put in my claim, but from my perspective, what happened was neither a mistake nor an oversight.


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## brianfox (May 29, 2018)

sgiersch said:


> ...because I was an MVC employee at the time, I reported it up through management, and made sure it got back to the person in charge of the ICE relationship at MVC. In neither case was there any response.
> I'm going to put in my claim, but from my perspective, what happened was neither a mistake nor an oversight.



Be careful. Ethical employees threaten to give MVC a good name...

I find it ironic that one settlement option is a gift card to book another cruise through ICE.  I wonder what the ICE markup will be for that cruise...


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## NboroGirl (Aug 27, 2018)

NboroGirl said:


> I sent an email to info@cruisefaresettlement.com and explained my dilemma but didn't hear anything back for about a week, so I went ahead and filed a claim using my most recent MVC Owner ID Number.  After that I received a reply stating I should use the number I had when I booked the cruise, and if I didn't remember what it was, to reply to that email with my name and address and they would send it to me, so I did.
> 
> The reply I received back telling me the number to use was a number I had no knowledge of.  It wasn't an II number or an MVC number.  They called it an Exchange Program Owner Number, and it looked like this : MVC####VGA where #= a digit.  Where did this number come from and how would I have known to use it when I've never seen it before?



Does anyone have any updates on this?  Have you gotten your award yet?  I had questions on what to enter for "Exchange Program Owner Number". I filled out the request using my MVC Owner ID, but after that I received a response back from info@cruisefaresettlement.com saying my Exchange Program Owner Number was something else (see above), an ID I've never seen before, so I refiled the claim.  I have no idea if either claim will be honored.


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## NboroGirl (Nov 19, 2018)

I finally got my $245 settlement check in the mail today.  Woohoo!


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## BobG7734 (Nov 19, 2018)

NboroGirl said:


> I finally got my $245 settlement check in the mail today.  Woohoo!


Got mine today also!!!!


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## Luvtoride (Nov 19, 2018)

I got a check today as well.  I was shocked to see the amount...$787!  A real check, not a gift card to book another cruise, no restrictive endorsement tricks, etc.  We had booked a MVC Owners cruise which we took 2 years ago on RCI Harmony of the Seas.  It was the maiden US voyage out of Ft. Lauderdale.  I remember at the time thinking the port and tax charges paid in addition to the DC points seemed like a lot, but I would have never expected a settlement amount this large.  
How do we contact Fineman to thank him for bringing this class action suit?  
I hope MVC and it’s cruise company have learnt their lesson!  



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## ilene13 (Nov 19, 2018)

I received my reward today, 890 DP.


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