In April I received a notice in the mail that I was eligible for a "luxurious" vacation to Ft Lauderdale, Orlando and a cruise to the Bahamas. I paid all money due for the trip by the end of April (this included adding another passenger & upgrading the cruise room to one with a porthole). The total cost came to $1500.
I booked the vacation for the first week in July. We arrived in Ft Lauderdale, and found the accomodations consistant with a Ramada hotel in a land-locked location. The shocker came the day of the cruise.
After waiting in a 3-hour cattle call to board the ship, I was horrified upon reaching the room. The accomodations were anything but "luxurious". The porthole was located behind a mounted tv in the corner of the room. There was a strategically placed lawn chair in this space, where one could stand and look out the porthole (watch your head when getting down, you will hit it on the tv)!
We then went to see if we could switch rooms, and all they could tell us was to wait until after the ship left port, and they would see what was available. They admitted they over-booked all the rooms to make sure they were carrying "capacity" on the boat. We were still hopeful that other amenities might make up for the dingy, rusty, cramped, musty room.
We went to the restaurant deck and were horrified by the "buffet".instead of an all-you-can-eat meal, it looked like an all-you-can-stomach meal. There were gnats swarming the food, it smelled like someone had died under the table days ago, and even the "cold" foods were under heat lamps.
THE POOL&this is when I truly lost all hope. The pool was the length of an SUV, and in that space, it went from 3 to 6 feet. People were elbow to elbow on this boat, there was no place to stand, nowhere to sit and barely a spot to breathe.
After speaking with some other displeased people on the boat, we decided to disembark before the boat left port. We returned the Ramada in Ft Lauderdale, where we were informed there were no refunds, but we would be allowed to stay at the hotel.
The next day, on Monday, July 4th, we met with the Welcome Center Manager. We weren't asking for much, maybe for them to comp the room tax, or some food vouchers, but we definitely wanted some sort of compensation. We were told simply "no", and sent away.
We called the manager a few hours later to see if we could possibly "upgrade" to the beach-front location in Pompano Beach. The manager said this would be a possibility if only we first checked out, and agreed to take the new room IN LIEU OF THE CRUISE.
Well, at this point, it's a holiday, we DID NOT EVER INTEND to get on that boat again... So we acquiesced. HOWEVER, the manager pulled out one last underhanded, unethical business practice. We had checked out, it was a holiday, and she said the only way we could transfer to the other hotel was if I signed a piece of paper saying I was "satisfied" with my vacation.
She made it clear we would have nowhere to stay unless I signed. She also made it clear that since it was a holiday, I was stuck—so, I might as well sign. I asked what would happen if I just left this trip all together, because I DID NOT want to sign... And she replied, "Why would you do that, we already have your money".
So, I asked if I could write an addendum on the piece of paper, because I at very least, wanted to have it in writing that I wanted AT LEAST the monies back for the porthole.
By the 5th day of the vacation, after the timeshare presentation and the debacle we'll call a "cruise", we were tired of fighting and crying. We decided not to go to Orlando. Here's the math on this "luxurious, " "relaxing" getaway: I paid $1500 for a 5 night Ramada stay. The first room in Lauderdale for 3 nights would have cost someone off the street about $56/night. The second room in Pompano Beach for 2 nights would have cost someone off the street about $71/night. We also ate about 10 buffet meals, we'll put that cost at around $200 (very generous figure). I paid all taxes and gratuities on afore mentioned items.
The Bottom Line: I paid $1500 for this package, and received approx $510 worth of goods/services. I feel what I was promised by Ramada Plaza Resorts was not delivered.in my opinion, they use deceptive, underhanded and unethical business practices.
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