Beware of the Ramada "Vacation..." (AKA Stress-cation)
About 3 months ago, I recieved a letter telling me that I had been selected to go on a cruise, valued at thousands of dollars. I had to call a number to claim my prize. I have always wanted to go on a cruise, so I called and was informed that they were offering Florida Vacations at an incredible rate — only $698 per person. This included three nights at a fabulous South Florida resort, two nights aboard a magnificent cruise ship to the Bahamas, two nights in Orlando, Florida, one-day passes to Disney Wold, a rental car, airline discounts, and vouchers to use at 14 different hotels around the country for two-night getaways. The man on the phone told me I had to decide then and there, and that this vacation package was valued at thousands more than what I would pay. When asked what the catch was, he said there was not catch, they just want people to see their "brand new resort." My husband was not around to discuss this with, and so I finally agreed.
However, he was upset that I had spent so much money, and we agreed to cancel it. Ramada called us back as soon as they recieved the cancellation form and told us that they would give us 2-for-1 airfare, $400 off the original price, and meal vouchers to cover every meal on the trip. Since this put the entire vacation price, including travel, to $1300, we decided to go for it.
The first thing that happened was that our "2-for-1 airfare" wasn't usable. You have to get it through this voucher company and you have to send in the voucher at a minumum of 50 days before intended travel. We didn't even recieve the voucher until past this time, and the voucher company informed us there was nothing they could do. Airline prices were high by this point, and we had to drive — I put nearly 3,000 miles on my car.
When we arrived at the "Welcome Center" at the "resort" (which is on a highway and nowhere near the beach) where we were supposed to stay, we were given only one voucher — and instead of putting us at the Ramada Resort, they put us at the Wyndham Airport hotel which was decent but not in walking distance of anything, had a window facing the highway, and was not really the resort experience I was expecting. THEN we were informed that to recieve our cruise voucher, WE HAD TO GO TO A TIMESHARE PRESENTATION! On our papers given to us in the mail, it mentioned a resort tour, but I assumed this meant we we would tour the resort we were staying at.By the way, the vouchers didn't cover the cost at dinner or breakfast at that particular hotel despite the fact that we were told it would cover all but tax and gratuity.
The Resort Tour wasted our entire day. It took over an hour to get to — it was on Palm Beach! — and began at one o'clock. We did not leave the resort until after five o'clock and spent the entire day being solicited to buy a timeshare, after we had made it very clear that we had no desire to do this. So the "two-hour resort tour" listed in our itinerary turned into an all day affair. When we got into the car at 5:15pm it was rush-hour and we didn't get back to the hotel until 6:45. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT WE HAD TO GIVE UP OUR ENTIRE PRECIOUS DAY OF VACATION IN ORDER TO GET A VOUCHER FOR A CRUISE WE HAD ALREADY PAID FOR?
The next day was our cruise — the thing I had been looking forward to for months. My brother works for a wonderful cruise line and so I know what is standard. This cruise was sub-standard. First of all, every single person i met on the cruise had been tricked into a timeshare presentation. What kind of cruise line has to trick people to get them on the boat? Secondly the pool was about the size of a small car, and it wasn't filled up all the way. The hot tubs were lukewarm, and the welcome buffet was tasteless. Our room had 2 single beds — very romantic for a married couple, huh? The ship was from the 1950s and looked like it had seen no renovations. I was expecting something at least on the level of a Carnival Cruise, for the money I paid. This was a complete rip-off. On top of it, the shore excusion manager lied to us when we asked her what there was to do in the Bahamas — she told us that there were not public beaches, and the shore excusions were the only worthwhile thing to do — and when we found out this was false and demanded a refund she refused until we caused a major scene in front of the other customers. She grabbed the tickets our of our hands and said "There are always two people on this boat who demand a refund... Congratulations on being the first." For the record, we spent $16 on round-trip taxi-fare and had an amazing time on a gorgeous public beach.
The final straw came on Day Six, when we drove to Orlando. We had to wait nearly an hour at the Welcome Center, rather than just checking into the hotel like a normal stress-free vacation goer would. We were then told that we did NOT get tickets to Disney, because when the price of our reservation changed, we gave up those tickets and our 14 get-away weekends. No one had made this clear to me. Since there is absolutely nothing to do in Orlando aside from theme parks and I was not about to spend any more money on Disney Tickets, and the man I talked to was no help, we decided to forgo the rest of our trip and drive home. He actually told me that I could get free tickets if I sat through another Timeshare presentation. I wouldn't go through that torture for $1000.
That was yesterday, and I'm home today and looked up the prices on the internet of everything that I paid for. Here they are:
3 nights at the Airport Wyndham, Fort Lauderdale: $400 (As listed on the Wyndham Website)
Imperial Majesty Cruise per person in the worst staterooms, which we stayed in: $179 (www.2nightcruise.com)
The nights at Amerihost in Orlando which we didn't use: $80 at peak season (As listed at www.orbitz.com, and that includes taxes, which our package didn't, so it is really only about $71 per night.)
Total cost of my vacation had I booked it myself: $900
Amount I paid to Ramada: $996
I feel totally cheated. I can't get my spring break back. This was not a deal.in fact, I lost money, I spent 40 hours in a car, and I spent an entire day at a timeshare presentation.
THIS IS A SHAM! Book your vacation on your own, or look for deals through reuputable cruise comanies such as Carnival or Royal Carribbean. Most likely it will be cheaper, and a million times more enjoyable. Vacations should never be used as a tool to pressure you into buying a timeshare unless the vacation is truly free.
Gretchen
Fairfax, Virginia
U.S.A.
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