Complaint Review: Vacationexpress.com - Internet

On January 14th, my husband and I used vacationexpress.com to book a six-day family vacation to Great Parnassus Resort & Spa in Cancun, Mexico.  Our flight was a charter flight with Interjet Air scheduled for February 14^th at 9 am from Newark Airport arriving at 11:30 am in Cancun, Mexico. The return Flight was scheduled for departure at 5pm on February 20^th to arrive at 9:45 pm. This trip sounded great. It appeared to be the perfect flight and the place looked great. It offered a kids club and a water park.

On January 30^th, 2 weeks before the vacation, I received an email from Vacation Express stating the flight had been rescheduled to leave at 6:00 am and arriving at Mexico at 9:45 am.  The return flight was rescheduled to leave at 11:45 pm arriving at 4:00 am the next day (February 21^st).  Have I mentioned I was traveling with three young children; one of them only 3 years old. This is where the nightmare started. I tried to contact Vacation express and was informed that Vacation Express was under contract with Interjet airlines and there was nothing that they can do about the change in flight times.  We were offered a $50.00 credit per person for Interjet future travel. This is something I most likely will never use.  i was also assured that our rooms would be ready for us with early check in, and that check out would be moved to 7:00pm and that we would not be charged for a late check out. (All Lies)

When we arrived at the airport on the scheduled day of departure, I was told by the airline representative that Vacation Express knew all along about the flight itinerary, and that this was the original time that the flights were booked for.  Basically we were deceived all long by Vacation Express regarding the flight times from the start. They just wanted to make sure to sell their packages.

Upon arriving at the hotel “Great Parnassus Resort & Spa” at about 10 am exhausted from the early flight with our kids, we had to wait in line to check in.  We were informed that our room would not be ready until after 3:00 pm.  We were told that we could use the facility to have breakfast/lunch, the hospitality room to change into summer clothes, and enjoy their pool/beach area.  Our luggage was crammed with everyone else’s making impossible to get our clothes to change.  The only place to eat was Magnus Buffet; it was an international type of buffet resembling a high school or college cafeteria, with a pasta station, Chinese food, Mexican etc. The rest of the food was just left out in the open. In the heat, as there was no AC inside. There was absolutely no selection and the food looked old and disgusting. All drinks were served from a fountain type machine and there was nothing bottled. Cups were about 5 oz. and plastic only. The food area looked like those tables and chairs you rent for an outdoor party. We ended up basically eating a salad and bread. Just to satisfy our stomachs, and hoped for a better dinner menu at the restaurants.

At 3:00pm our rooms were still not ready.  About ½ hr. later, we found out that our room was ready and we followed the bellboy with our luggage. Upon entering the room, we found it to be dark and the room smelled musty and old. It was not exactly the family room with a king size bed and 2 bunk beds which I requested.  This room looked nothing like the pictures I saw of the resort. We received a room with 2 double beds instead of a king bed and we were informed a king bed would not be available for the next 3 days.

 Once again, no apology was made, they gave us a just take it or leave policy. The walls were all cracked, beds were hard, and you could feel the mattress springs. The beds smelled of cigarette smoke, (we are nonsmokers). The bathroom was falling apart. The bathroom had a sewage smell and bad plumbing, broken faucets, and a slippery tub where I fell with my 3 year old and my 12 year old fell on separate occasion. The water pressure was always too hot or too cold. It would switch from scalding hot to freezing cold while showering.

 Finally we unpacked and tried to make things better we thought that it could not get any worse. How wrong I was. For dinner we decided to go to Big Ben Steak House.  We were told that there would be a 40-minute wait. We were not seated until 1 ½ hours later. The steaks came tasting like rubber and were overcooked. The plate had one tablespoon of cold hard mashed potatoes 2 pieces of carrots and 1 cherry tomato. Really? Who are they feeding? The service was extremely slow. They would not allow us to take any left overs to go, and they basically had horrible service from the hostess or the waiters.

They couldn’t wait for us to leave. That evening an hour later, I started feeling very sick – low and behold I vomited all night. I got sick maybe 5 times or more. Food poison was to blame.  I was not the only one to get ill. We discovered other families and their kids along with some adults had the same problem. For the next 2 days I could not eat at all. Not a great start for a vacation. Oh but it only got worse.

In the morning, of the following day I was feeling better. I decided to take my 3 year old son to the water park. I find out that anyone over the age of 12 is not allowed on the water slides or boat. I was not allowed to accompany my son. How did they expect my son to go on the slide? All on his own? Pool rules were ridiculous. There was no lifeguard on duty, and parents were just standing around or sitting on the floor. Some brought over plastic chairs to sit on. So I decided instead to check out the Children’s Club.

I found out there was only one child there. There was no supervision and I heard from other families that all the staff does is sit your kids down in front of a TV or give them crayons and paper to draw. I can do more than that myself. So that was a no go.  We then proceeded to go to the beach. The beach was a long walk from the water park. They were totally on opposite ends of the resort. The beach was ok, but it looked more like going to the Coney Island beach in Brooklyn, NY. There were birds that resembled crows which were constantly bothering people by sitting on the lounge chairs and trying to steal food or snacks from wherever they could find it.

On the second day, my 3-year-old son developed a 104 degree fever and started to also vomit and cry. So here we go again.  I called the Doctor Service for my son only to find out that there is an additional fee to see the doctor and for medication. I did not see the doctor until the next day, since they had to call the doctor in from another location.  I was charged an additional $155.00 for the doctor and the medication. My son did get better 3 days later, but that kept me in the room on vacation taking turns with my husband for the next 3 days. 

There were other events that happened during our trip to make things worse. My daughter got stuck in the elevator on the 2^nd day.  The elevator door just opened between floors and she had to climb out to get out.  On a separate occasion I also got stuck in the elevator along with 6 other people, one being an 8-year-old kid without his parents. The elevator had no airshaft, no microphone and nothing basically worked inside to get the staffs attention to get us out except for our scream, which did not even help. Thank g-d I had my phone on me and was able to make an international call to my husband and asked him to call concierge and inform them that there were 7 of us stuck in an elevator with no air and it felt like a sauna inside. We were stuck for about ½ hr. and finally once they were able to pry the doors open, they pulled us out one by one without even offering an apology or any compensation. 

Wi-Fi was offered at $15.00 a day. Once I purchased it, I found out it only worked in the front lobby and hallway of the hotel.  I got the 5-day package and could hardly any use of it.

The hotel itself was loud, dark and gloomy. Our room was on the even side of the floor and the windows faced the Iberostar hotel’s air conditioning unit which sounded like you were on top of a plane engine 24/7. If we left the balcony door open, we could not hear each other speaking inside the room. The other side (even #s) where are friends stayed faced the garbage dumpsters and it smelled.

Room service was very slow and once any kind of food came it was old, moldy cold and smelled like vomit.

Housekeeping only made up the beds and gave clean towels. The floors were full of sand and were very dusty.

The staff at the front desk, each time we would approach them with a question or a request were very rude and demanding. They either ignored us or had a smart remark.

Our check out time as promised by the travel agent was 7:00pm.  We came down to check out at 6 pm. We were charged an additional $50 for the late check out. We tried to explain to the manager of the resort that Vacation Express has informed us that the hotel would late us stay late and have a free late check out. Their response was pay now and takes it up with your travel agent. Tired calling the travel agency and after being on hold via international call that i was paying for for 1/2 hour, i was hung up on by the representative.  They told us if we refused to pay, they would call security. There was no compromising with them, the manager just walked away and told the attendant to take the next customer until I decide to pay. They told us our luggage would not be given to us unless we paid the late checkout fee and got a check out receipt.

Basically this was a vacation from hell. Would Never recoommend this hotel or Vacationexpress.com to anyone - not even my worst enemy.