- in MLM Network Marketing , Reviews , Travel by Derek Marshall
InCruises Review – A Pyramid Scheme Or a Dream Travel Business?
Thank you for seeking out my InCruises Review!.
The number of cruise passengers has increased from 17.2 million in 2009 to 30 Million in 2019 and was set for an estimated 32 Million in 2020.
Chances are you have been on social media or seen in some Facebook group some people making claims that are almost too good to be true about belonging to a club that gets them half price cruises.
I chose to completely ignore those messages until curiosity got the better of me which has lead to this detailed Review Of InCruises.
Before I get started...
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Are you read to find out all you can about InCruises and what they have on offer?
Yes?.
Then keep reading!
InCruises Review
Product Name: InCruises Review
Founder(s): Michael Hutchison
Product Type: MLM Opportunity in the Travel Industry specializing in cruises.
Price: One Off US$195 and then an Annual fee of US$95
Best For: Experienced Network marketers.
Summary: InCruises look and the surface to be a great exciting opportunity and travel membership club where you can get great discounts on cruises but scratching below the surface there are more than a few concerns and things you need to be aware of.
Read on to find out about those concerns.
Rating: 35/100
Recommended: No
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What Is InCruises?
InCruises is as the name indicates and you can easily guess related to the cruise line industry. They are the first cruise membership club in the world and offer members the possibility of earning Cruise Dollars which, you as a member can use to get a discount on your Cruise holidays and dream cruise.
Membership fee is US$100 per month making them a travel membership program.
They also have a Multi Level Marketing business opportunity attached to them, which is probably what you are more interested in.
As a business they were founded in 2016 and headquartered in Miami, Florida.
InCruises is a cruise membership Multi-Level-Marketing company launched in 2016 with its headquarters in Miami, Florida.
Check out this short 3-minute video to fully understand what InCruises is about.
That right there was the CEO and founder Michael Hutchison detailing his company and the business opportunity.
Who Is Michael Hutchison?
Michael Hutchison is the CEO and founder of InCruisies. Digging around I found that he is connected to other network marketing businesses and has his own fair share of startups that have failed.
Other than that there is very little to be found about him anywhere online.
InCruises Lawsuit
If you genuinely interested in getting involved with any MLM opportunity doing your homework and investigating if there are any legal action taken against the company be it past, present or ongoing.
Lawsuits are very common in the industry and that last thing you want to do is spend your hard earn money on a business that goes bankrupt due to a sizeable lawsuit or ordered to close business for what ever reason.
I can tell you that there is currently at the time of creating this review no legal action taken against InCruises be it past or present.
How Does InCruises Work?
The curiosity got the better of me when I decided to respond to one of the messages that popped up in my newsfeed - you the type "comment below". I did and accepted the friend request and messages and call from the InCruises member who was encouraging me to join them.
After a very clear and detailed explanation I have to say I was tempted!.
Very tempted!.
They offer bonuses, rewards, cruise discounts. The possibility of going on a cruise holiday for a massive discount and earn both rewards, bonuses and real money through their opportunity is tempting even for the most sceptical and reserved of us.
They have a really smart way of reducing their marketing costs which is by permitting everyday people like you and I to join their program and promote membership to InCruises and get people into their MLM opportunity.
Those members that are recruited earn my recruiting and travelling which sounds to me like an awesome win-win situation.
If you are tempted to become an InCruises Partner I can see why!.
....In reality the only winners are those that are upline at the very top. That is just how MLM's work. You only have the illusion of moving up in the “pyramid” whereas in reality your position in the “scheme” does not move as your team is built below you. If you are successful you stay where you are, all that changes is your title.
The cost of a 7-night cruise with InCruises for 2 guests is US$1,600 and at the cheapest US$1,300. If you complete one whole year as an InCruises member you can end up getting that for nothing.
A week long cruise from Denmark To France has an average price of US$3,200 and US$1,700 at the cheapest. This you can get for only US$1,200 as a member of InCruises.
As well as accessible from their website they have an app for both apple and android devices which you can get from the following links:
InCruises Products
Every MLM is obliged to have some kind of product attached to their opportunity otherwise it is really just a money sharing program.
InCruises has only one product which is their travel subscription cruise membership program. Your job, if you decide to take up their opportunity is to sell cruise memberships.
Becoming an InCruise partner gives you the right to recruit others into the InCruises Partners program and earn free cruises and, possible a reasonable income. It is stated in the InCruises FAQ that they do not pay you for recruitment of partners into their program.
Cruise Membership
Cruise Membership costs US$100 and allows you to get discounts for each member that you bring in to their MLM program. The US$100 fee gets you US$200 in their own currency which they call Cruise Dollars, which I'll detail later.
With your membership you can:
- 1. Use 50% of the Cruise Dollars to pay for a Global Destination Cruise.
- 2. Get an Executive Dream Cruise using your Cruise Dollars accumulated from bringing in new partners to their opportunity.
InCruises is not a unique as far as travel opportunities go in the world of network marketing. Other such travel MLM opportunities are:
Each of those opportunities claim to be unique and one of a kind. The reality is they are all selling similar products in the travel industry.
Recommended: Learn How To Increase Your MLM Sales
Can You Make Money With InCruises?
Yes,
Absolutely you can make money with InCruises but the reality is you are not likely to earn enough for it to be worth your while.
As I brushed upon earlier one of the problems with network marketing opportunities, regardless of which one and which industry they operate in is the closed loop system that often happens.
Closed loop systems lead to few organic sales and effectively become "Pyramid Schemes" with products attached to them. The money only moves in one direction and that is upwards to those that are either gifted network marketers or those that got in early.
To succeed with this type of business and business model you have to be the extroverted type and comfortable knowing that in order for you to make US$100 somebody, somewhere is loosing US$100.
This is the same for US$100 as it is for US$1 Million. For every 6 or 7 figure earners there is the same amount lost below them in their downline. This is just how MLM's work.
Can you think of InCruises as a Passive Residual Income?
No, not really. Sure if you are one of those gifted and experienced network marketers you might just be able to get a decent semi-passive income.
Due to work being involved in getting membership sales and getting people into the opportunity it cannot be described as a passive income.
It will take a lot of effort and strong campaigning on social media and possibly paid advertising also to succeed.
You will need to be beating the social media drum on a daily basis, follow up on any leads that you gate and have various team meeting for those that are interested and those that bring into their Partnership Offer and become members.
When you have membership sales you job does not end there.
You still need to inspire motivate and if needed teach your team and help them to generate sales.
In all, network marketing is really hard work and requires a great deal of skill in both direct sales and team management. It all amounts to a lot of work to earn your cruise cash and cruise bucks.
Why Do Members Love InCruises?
There are many reasons as per why members love InCruises the main reasons are:
- 1. They are a fully licenced member of the CLIA - Cruise Lines International Association.
- 2. They find discounted rates on cruises for families.
- 3. They have a high level of customer satisfaction and are very well reviewed.
- 4. Members stress less about how they are going to pay for the cruise.
- 5. Membership is affordable.
Let's be honest here the travel niche is a very cool, hip and fun one to be involved in and to talk about and cruises? well who doesn't dream of going on a cruise at least once in their lives.
How To Make Money With InCruises
With InCruises you have only 3 ways in which you can make money which are:
- 1. Recruitment of others to join your partner team.
- 2. Selling membership to their travel club.
- 3. Bonuses and incentives.
This is the fairly standard 3 ways in which you can earn from any Multilevel Marketing opportunity, the sale of affiliate membership, the selling of products and incentives for achieving certain targets and levels.
What Is The Cost Of Joining InCruises
It is not expensive to join InCruises US$100 is all that it will cost you. Keep in mind that this is a monthly membership fee. Effectively it is a travel subscription club that you are joining with the rights to sell membership yourself.
For the US$100 monthly fee you earn 200 Cruise Bucks / Cruise Dollars which at the heart of it is just a gimmicky and catchy name for the points system they use.
You can use those points obtained to get a cruise ticket discounts. You also have an additional annual fee of US$95 to remain as an active member.
Watch this short video for a detailed explanation.
The InCruises Compensation Plan
A big dislike that I have for MLM opportunities is their rather confusing and complicated compensations plans which often leave the affiliate members and distributors confused as how they will be paid and for what!.
InCruises does not break the mold here at all. When I said there were 3 ways of making money with them, I was oversimplifying, they in fact have 6 ways in which you can earn money with them.
I'll explain those in a simple and as understandable manner as I can.
1. Affiliate Recruitment
For bringing in new members you can earn from US$50 to US$150. The amount earned depends on how many you have recruited.
For recruitment purposes the InCruises Compensation plan adopts the Unilevel Compensation Structure.
In the unilevel compensation structure (as seen above) you are placed at the top with your direct level 1 recruits placed immediately below you. Your level 2 recruits are placed below your level 1 recruits and are your level 1's own direct recruits (but your level 2).
This model can in theory continue infinitely deep and infinitely wide.
2. Pass Up Residual Commissions Qualification
You can earn pass up residual commissions for ever sale that one of your recruits, be they a direct or indirect recruit several levels deep.
To qualify for those residual commissions you are required to maintain a minimum of 5 active memberships and have one team member repeat that feat. That is not as easy as it sounds and equates to you having a team 10 strong to qualify.
3. Rank Bonus
You can earn bonus when you reach a certain rank or “promotion” which ranges from US$300 for reaching the rank of Marketing Manager to US$55,000 for making it all the way up to executive director.
Note: You are not really promoted and you don't make it “all the up to” any rank or position at all. Where you are in the “scheme” does not and will not ever change.
Your position is set in stone - literally. You stay exactly where you are with your team being build below you with only your title changing as you achieve certain recruitment and sales targets within your team.
It is only an illusion that you are changing position and getting “promoted”. This is the same regardless of which MLM opportunity.
Very few, if any of the MLM zombies will tell you this. I doubt that any know it themselves.
4. Producer Bonus
When you sell 3 travel subscriptions in a single month you will earn 100 cruise dollars. There is no information available regarding extra sales made and bonuses for selling more.
It looks like the bonus is set at 3.
5. Travel Rewards
You can earn a 50% cruise ticket discounts when you manage to recruit 7 new members in a 2-month period. If you can double that and recruit 14 new members in the same time frame you will get a free dream cruise.
6. Bonus Pool
The InCruises bonus pool consists of a 5% of total sales volume on an ongoing monthly basis and distributes it equally to all qualifying members.
It is not clear who the qualifying members are and what the requirements for qualification to the bonus pool is.
You can see easily why I broke the InCruises compensation Plan down to 3 ways of earning - they all boil down to recruitment, selling their travel subscription membership and bonuses.
Watch the short video below for a clear explanation of the compensation plan. In this article I talk in more detail about the InCruises Compensation Plan.
Is InCruises A Pyramid Scheme?
This is not a straight and easy yes/no answer as what defines a pyramid scheme varies from country to country and state to state in the US.
Due to having no physical product it is easy to understand why some people would label them as a pyramid scheme.
But,
It is entirely possible within the confines of the law for network marketing opportunity to operate and not have a physical product.
Service industries like insurance companies and the financial sector operate using an MLM structure yet have no physical product.
Still,
InCruises has no service as they are not a travel agency. Their product is membership to a discount travel club that permits members to get lower price travel cruises.
They are a membership club. That right here draws them in to a possible compliance issue regarding anti-pyramid scheme laws.
A Pyramid Scheme simply circulates money amongst its members. It does not create wealth. #MLM #PyramidScheme
And then you have to take into consideration that members are paid for recruitment which is another compliance issue.
In my opinion and experience of having reviewed 300+ MLM opportunities and studied their compensation plans and understand the legal aspect and technicalities, InCruises are certainly floating their boat in Pyramid scheme waters.
My own best judgement advises you to be cautious here for this reason. Your own best judgement will probably tell you similar.
Is InCruises A Scam?
In my opinion InCruises is not a scam, but they are they may have some compliance issues regarding anti-pyramid schemes. This is something best left for the lawyers to discuss.
They are a simple travel membership club that offer discount global cruises. They are clear about what is required of a Partner/Member, what you get for your monthly payments and what the cruise cost is before you book cruises.
In all, there are really just a travel subscription club.
To be clear, despite not calling InCruises out as a scam I am not about to tell you they are 100% legit either due to certain issues.
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How Do You Market InCruises MLM?
Given that you might want to get involved with InCruises as a business opportunity and promote cruise vacations to earn some extra money, cruise cash/cruise bucks or just earn yourself good cruise ticket discounts.
InCruises themselves recommend that you get started with Facebook, Instagram and other social media that you are involved with.
They have their own Facebook marketing tool that you can use. You can pay for Google Ads, ads on Facebook or any other relevant and effective form of paid media.
When you get started you have 5 invitations. When you get someone to join you get an additional 5.
Due to getting your own referral link you can promote this opportunity in the same way as an affiliate marketing business and build up your own website focused on the topic of travel and cruise vacation, generating free organic traffic from search engines.
This Program will teach you how to do that effectively.
What I Liked About InCruises
The following is what I liked about InCruises.
They Have A Unique And Targeted Product.
Most network marketing opportunities are focused around something generic with the vast majority selling all kinds of lotions and potions related to the health and wellness industry and despite there being fairly ample competition from other travel based MLM's InCruises are coming at you with a unique focused angle of cruise vacations and cruise memberships.
If You Don't Need To Promote InCruises As A Business.
You have no obligation to take part in the business opportunity side of the business or their partnership offer. You can just simply be an ordinary member of their cruise travel club and enjoy the travel discounts.
They Have An Easy Cancellation Policy.
It is not difficult at all to cancel your membership at all. They make it super simple. You just need to reach out and contact them by email. Just email them at Support@Incruises.com.
Must Read: Multi-Level Marketing Vs Affiliate Marketing
What I Did Not Like About InCruises
There are something that I was not to happy to with InCruises about, which were:
Membership Is Expensive
Let's face it your discount is not exactly a discount - you pay for it. To get your lower price discount cruise you are paying for that discount through your membership fees which are US$100 every month - and needing to be a member for a year to qualify means your discount is costing you US$1,200.
Ouch! That is expensive!.
They Are Poorly Rated By The Better Business Bureau.
Unaccredited and rated at a deplorable F by the BBB is enough to make me run a mile from them.
They Are Not Affiliated Or Members of Any Professional Organization.
Seriously, who are these guys!
They are not members of the Direct sellers Association or any professional travel industry body such as ATOL, ABTA, US Travel Association or CLIA or anything!.
Membership Is By Invitation Only
Why can't you just join on your own free will and need to find a sponsor or someone to invite you?.
This rather obscure rule could end up in you loosing many would be membership sales.
They Have Some Red Flags Regarding Pyramid Scheme Issues.
Casting back to the pyramid scheme issues that I mentioned earlier and the legal context of which they have issues with.
The image below, which is used by many authorities to determine what a constitutes and qualifies as and can be classified as a pyramid scheme.
The problem, in my opinion, none of the 4 mandates mentioned below are absent.
What Do I Think About InCruises?
InCruises offers a unique and exciting opportunity in the travel industry to promote cruise discounts. Something that no other network marketing company has.
There is that excitement and appeal to getting great discounts on cruises as well as the potential of earning money by getting others to join the opportunity.
The question is will you earn enough to solve your financial worries?. Probably not!.
Sure you might do well and get enough people to join and achieve a certain rank but that is highly improbably as the market for cruises is not that large. Not everyone want to go on a cruise and unlike regular holidays it is usually a rare thing that is done once in a lifetime or twice at most.
Ask yourself the question how many people do you know that have been on a cruise and how often do they go on one?.
Statistically speaking it is a very small fraction of the travel industry.
In 1,000 reviews I have never seen a corporate bio that has more questions that answers.
I do believe I have proven beyond all reasonable doubt that R Network is a scam.
Please take 5 mins and file a complaint here with the FTC and shut these guys down before they properly get off the ground.
My thoughts?
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