I purchased my vacation package in Feb. 2004 after receiving the brochure in the mail. It sounded like a great deal and I was told by the sales person that I would only have to take a tour of the hotel and give my opinion/comments in order to get this great deal. Well that was the first lie!
They pressured me into making the first payment that day, $698, because they said I would be unable to recieve this great offer after that first initial phonecall. I thought it sounded good so I purchased the vacation with a year and a half extention. I didn't go to book the vacation until this May.
When I went to book the vacation the lady on the phone then tells me that the hotel that the vacation package offers is not really on the beach (which they fail to mention when you book the initial vacation) and asks me if I want to upgrade to the Beachcomber Resort on the beach. (Pompano Beach - not Ft. Lauderdale) I looked at the Beachcomber website and it looked very nice, so I did the upgrade. ($165 dollars) She also talked me into upgrading my cruise room to an outside cabin ($90 dollars). (I am such a sucker) All that gave me was an ocean view and a little bit bigger cabin.
After getting off the phone with her I decided to get on the internet and look up their website (not thinking anything of it). That's when I stumbled across this website and started reading all these reports. I was freaking out because I had booked this vacation over a year before this and there was no way I was going to be able to get a refund. That's when I found out that they make you go on a TIME SHARE TOUR and not a survey of the hotel, like I was initially told.
I decided to just go on the vacation and try to make the best of it, since I didn't think I would be able to get my money back. I went with two girlfriends of mine. I had originally set my dates for July 25th, but had to push the dates back to Aug. 8th. Since I did not change my dates before a month prior to my travel date they were going to charge me a $200 cancellation fee.
Well I had to change the dates and pay the $200 dollar fee, but the guy I talked to gave me 2 extra days of vacation which was nice. (I found out later that he wasn't supposed to do that, but I got lucky.) That just goes to show that their employees are not consistant and honest. When I changed the dates they told me there were no vacancies at the Beachcomber Resort which I had upgraded to. They said that they would put me up at the Ramada Ocean Beach Resort instead and that it was the same level of quality (BIG, BIG LIE!)
When we got to Ft. Lauderdale to the Ocean Beach Resort, it was very far from a resort. It was more like a 1 or 2 star roach motel. Definitely not an upgrade! I called and complained and they said they had some vacancies at the Beachcomber for the days after we got back from our cruise.
At the time share tour I was kept there 3 hrs. And was told I only had to be there 2. They just wouldn't take NO for an answer. They kept lowering the price and trying to show me more properties. The price started out at around $20,000, I eventually got them down to around $5,000 because I kept saying NO! After that they finally let me go.
The cruise was not bad, but it was no Carnival cruise that they try to advertise to get you to buy the vacation. My friends and I had never been on a cruise before. But from the looks of the motel we were put up in, we told ourselves we would not have high expectations for the cruise so that we couldn't be too disappointed. It is an old ship, but everyone was nice and the service was good, so we had a good experience. We know that there are nicer cruise ships out there!
When we got back to Ft. Lauderdale we did stay at the Beachcomber that I was originally promised. This was like a 4 or 5 star hotel compared to what we stayed in before. I WAS FURIOUS! I called to try to get some of my money back for the upgrade since the Ramada Ocean Beach was no where near an upgrade! The lady told me that there was only a $10 dollar difference in price and she would only refund me that amount. (That was a lie because I called the Ramada Ocean Beach and there was really about a $50 dollar difference in price).
The Beachcomber Resort was very nice with a friendly staff. (I would totally recommend this hotel.) I just can't beieve that they do business with Ramada Plaza Resorts and attach their name to theirs. Once we were in Orlando the Amerihost was not that bad. It was a lot nicer than the Ramada Ocean Beach!
Basically the advice that I would give to those of you stuck going on the vacation would be
1. Either stay at the original hotel on your vacation package and drive to the beach everyday (which is about 10 min from that hotel), or upgrade to the Beachcomber (very nice) to be right on the beach. Don't let them put you at the Ramada Ocean Beach Resort.
2. Know before hand that the vacation package does not pay for hotel taxes!!! You will have to pay about $12-$15 dollars a day. They will not tell you about those charges, but they say it is in your vacation package supposedly. You also have to pay a $20 gratuity for the cruise.
3. When you go on your timeshare tour if you are interested in this and maybe want to purchase one, don't give in to the initial price, they will continue to come down on the price if you keep saying no. If you are not at all interested from the beginning, be upfront and just tell them that you are not interested and you will by no circumstance buy a timeshare. Let them know you are just there to get your vouchers for the cruise and hotel. Hopefully they will not keep you there longer than you have to be.
4. When on the cruise they will offer you an island excursion tour in the Bahamas with snorkling for $60 dollars. It was fun, but you can go and find your own tours from people on the island for cheaper than that. Some people we talked to when we got back on the boat had gone off on their own and found a booze cruise that was $50 dollars. It included snorkling, lunch, and an island excursion, (just like our tour), but they also got all the free alcohol that they wanted. We got ripped off once again.
5. Lastly, I had a good time on this vacation because I made the best of it and had a fun group of people with me. I was not going to let the fact that I knew I had been ripped off ruin my vacation. We snuck alcohol on the cruise so that we didn't have to pay for that. (Saved us A LOT of money) HA HA!
If you can get your money back DO IT! If it is too late for that then take the vacation and make the best of it.
If you want a vacation package similar to this one, do your own research and I guarantee that you can build a vacation for cheaper than this one. There are also nicer beaches in Florida than Pompano and Ft. Lauderdale!
I hope that my story has been of some help for those of you who are stuck with this vacation!
My vacation was about $2050 dollars after adding a person, upgrade, and cancellation fee. Taxes were $90 dollars. $60 dollar gratuity on cruise. (3 people) Island Excursion $180. (3 people) Spending Money (Disney World, Universal Studios) etc. You get the point!!! Not a cheap vacation! I know it can be done a lot cheaper!
I hope that the word gets out about this company and they can stop ripping people off. Good Luck to everyone trying to fight them!
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