Here's How to Get $500+ from the Caribbean Cruise Robocall Settlement

If you received a telemarketing call a few years ago offering a “free cruise” in exchange for taking a brief survey, pretty soon you could find yourself $500 (per call) richer.

How, you ask?

Caribbean Cruise Line and co-defendants Vacation Ownership Marketing Tours and The Berkeley Group have agreed to pay between $56 million and $76 million to settle a class action lawsuit. The lawsuit claimed the companies, on top of violating the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), profited off “millions of unwanted and illegal robocalls” placed to consumers between August 2011 and August 2012. According to legal experts, the settlement is the largest ever to come out of a TCPA lawsuit.

Awesome. What Do I Have to Do to Claim My Money?

First things first:

The deadline to file a claim for this settlement is February 1, 2017. You can visit the official settlement website—https://www.freecruisecallclassaction.net/Home.aspx—and in the top left corner of the page click “File a Claim.”

[Note: The Free Cruise Call Class Action settlement website is no longer live.]

It may not be a free, no-strings-attached cruise vacation, but cold hard cash in your pocket is also nice.

How Many People Could Be Eligible for a Piece of the Settlement?

The attorneys who filed the lawsuit have records listing 900,000 people who received one of the robocalls over which the suit was filed – and they believe even more could be eligible to claim a piece of the settlement.

How Do I Know If I’m Included in the Settlement?

If you fit any of the below criteria, you may be eligible for a piece of the pie:

What Else Do I Need to Know?

According to reports, if you received three calls or fewer and your phone number can be found in the defendants’ records, it is automatically presumed that you received three calls. In this scenario, you could receive up to $1,500.

If you believe you received more than three calls, you may be able to file a claim for each one.

To learn more, check out the Frequently Asked Questions section on the official settlement website.