Detour Cancun

This year’s timeshare was booked to Cancun a year ago with a 2-bedroom at the Royal Sands and a 1-bedroom unit at the Royal Islander. Since the Hoangs couldn’t come due to Sandy’s pregnancy, the Chows had the 2-bedroom unit with mom. Tom and I had the 1-bedroom. The good thing is even though we are at two different resorts, both are owned and operated by same company, so there is a shuttle that runs among all four sister resorts nearby.

But before I get to enjoy the break, this was a rough one, way too too too stressful. I booked Tom and my ticket using miles. Our flight departed from LAX to Phoenix, and then onto Cancun. We got on the plane ok in LAX, at least I thought so at the time….

When we got to Phoenix and ready to board our connection to Cancun, Tom was denied from boarding, because a corner of his passport was not totally pristine! Apparently someone was banded from entering Cancun because his/her passport was not in good condition. And US Airways totally over reacted and denied anyone’s passport that wasn’t in pristine condition. On the same flight, another guy was turned away. Since this was a Saturday, and the passport office was not opened, this meant Tom had to fly back to LA, waited for the US Department of States to open on Monday, stood in line and paid exorbitant fee to get a new passport in one day, then re-boarded another flight to get to Cancun. I was definitely fuming but nothing I could do. I could either (1) flew back with Tom and waited for new passport and flew back out on Tuesday or (2) went ahead to meet up with the Chows and tried to salvage the remaining vacation days. I chose option 2.

I know I should write a complain letter about this. I still have all the documentation and paperwork with me. The only reason I didn’t insist on it because the night before we scheduled to fly, I checked Tom and I in online. While I typed in his passport information, I realized his passport was due to expire in September. Well, normally, a foreign wouldn’t allow someone to enter unless the passport has at least 6 months left before expiration. I was taking a chance we wouldn’t be turned around at the airport. We did, but not for the reason I expected. It was really very ridiculous.

When I finally arrived to Cancun by myself on Saturday evening, I tried to collect Tom and my luggage. Tom didn’t want to take his luggage home back and forth again. I figured he would meet me in couple days in Cancun anyway. Well, that was when I discovered that the LAX US Airways agent tagged his bag with someone else’s itinerary. And trust me; talking to the Mexican airport luggage agent was useless. He said “Your luggage tag said it went to Harrisburg, PA and it did, so what was wrong??? No bag to come here, cannot file claim.” My Spanish is nada. His English is nada. So nada happened!!!

I called US and since we didn’t fall into the lost luggage due to correct tagging routine procedure, no one really knows how to deal with this, meaning no ones know what claim to file. I finally got a supervisor and told her to call the Harrisburg airport and see if they could locate Tom’s bag. After another two hours, we found it….sitting nicely in Harrisburg while I sat in Cancun. They said they would reroute it first thing in the morning. Of course first thing in the morning ended up to be two days later, after a few more calls with another local Cancun luggage agent who kept telling me (1) no bag, (2) you have to pay for delivery to the hotel, (3) no bag…. Finally on Monday night, Tom’s luggage arrived at our door at the Royal Islander.

So that is how my 1-week vacation to Cancun started with the first 3 days spent on tracking down my husband and his luggage. Lesson learned: DO NOT TRUST ANYONE when it comes to travel, inspect and reinspect.