Review Detail

I was extremely upset after going on the Freewinds. I had been donating a huge amount of time assisting an OT (2 yrs domestic help with the care of his wife so he could do his bridge) and so in exchange he purchased a trip for me. I was told I would not need any extra money, just go and have a great time. I had my basic necessity money so I thought all would be okay. Wrong. The stay was a nightmare from the minute I got there.. I would like to warn everyone not to EVER get on the ship without a secret stash of money. The only way to make it through this adventure is to dole out the money very slowly over time. And don't expect to just take the course you purchased, because when you are done with it you will be requested to take more courses and made to feel less if you are not in course instead of out sunbathing on the deck. It is definitely no pleasure trip, it is just a course room on a boat. Rarely is there anyone in the pool or laughing and fun anywhere. The whole time one is there it is a lock in reg cycle with the IAS or staff. And even after a one on one with a SO member about the course, before he let me leave his office he was pressuring me to donate $400 for a book to go to the library. I just wanted some sorely needed enhancement! I could have stayed home for free if I was just going to stay in a room and read a book! I had no idea of how many people on board would be asking for donations, or I would never ever have gone! Even the presenter comes up to us at 10 at night while we are out playing cards on the deck to request we purchase a set of books from him. It is not that I don't believe in the cause to help the group, however, when I say I have nothing to give I mean it and I hate being pressured to donate. I was asked by so many different people to purchase this or donate to that or to come to this fund raising event. Very uncomfortable. It was so bad that on the 2nd fundraiser I hid in the cabin. The Sea Org girl assigned to me came to my cabin. I did not invite her in. I was quiet and didn't answer the door. Yet she came right in and insisted I go to the fundraiser. Total invasion of privacy and freedom of will. I hated it! By the end of the week I was a little pressure cooker. Another Sea Org member comes up to me and says he wants to talk to me. I told him why? if it is about donating I have already said I just don't have anything right now and I DON'T want to discuss it. He said, no, he just wanted to get to know me and my situation. I went with him. Pretty soon, he is into, I just don't understand, How can you call yourself a Scientologist if you don't have an IAS Membership? Even after I told him I was a single parent for a long time without any support and also recently donating time without pay. He was all about well you aren't even a Scientologist and shouldn't have even been let on the boat and all up in my face! what a total manipulator. Everyone else was hitting me light and I could tell they had been speaking to him and he was the big guns, they can't believe one got away without donating, oh no!! I told him that I have donated more time to Scientology and applied tech in my life more than most OT's I know! He said nope, not counted as a Scientologist unless you are a paying Member. Wow. Certainly NEVER remember reading that from LRH. The other reason it did not go well for me was because the presenter of my seminar was not even there when I arrived. So they put me in with another seminar which was already 2 days in. Then my presenter shows up and so instead of finishing this seminar they shuffle me back to the original course. 1st day was just a few hours of basic ethics definitions, 2nd day was doing exchange by dynamics with a person not even signed up for the course and who knew nothing about the process and then seminar over! I felt very cheated. I didn't get a full seminar from either one. So when I went to check out I was asked when was I coming back? I said, "not until I am made to which I imagine won't be until I get to OT7 or 8." They didn't like that answer. I told them what had happened and then they asked if they could make things better. I told them no, not now, I don't have time, I had to get back to work and they said no I could not go and refused to give me back my passport. They did however mend the wrong doing by giving me some one on one attention with the information that was lacking from both seminars. However now I was charged extra expenses on the boat and also another $250 for new plane fare and they refused to comp me, which would have been the right thing to do since the host of the seminar didn't even show up for 2 days!