Two Sides to a Bargain Vacation

Some of my readers already know that my husband, Ken, and I just returned from our bargain vacation. We have sat through many timeshare presentations in our time; some for a free meal, some for a weekend stay at a vacation spot, some for gift certificates and still some for all the above. This, however, was our first presentation that would reward us with a cruise, free car rental, meals and a four stay at a hotel in Fort Lauderdale.

Of course, trips like this one, aren’t free. We had to pay for the joy of our first-time cruise to and from the Bahamas with a one day visit on the island. It was a modest amount. It gets even better; we added several hundred dollars more to stay longer on the island. 

They said, overnight stays in the Bahamas require passports. The day trip did not. At least that was how I understood it. So once our deal was confirmed we planned on getting our passports. To make a long story short, we had no idea how expensive or involved the process was. By the time the trip approached we were scrambling to get them on time. Ken’s was being processed while I was still waiting for a legal birth certificate. Funny, I went 63 years and didn’t know my birth certificate wasn’t legal.

To make a long story, longer, by this time we were a month away from our trip. We received a call that our ship was dry-docked. There would have to be changes to our trip. To compensate we got to keep our prolonged cruise with all things promised for another time within the next year. We would still receive their original offer of one day on the island by booking us on another ship.

Sounded good to me. I always try to be positive. Why ask for a refund when we were that close? Right? Besides, I told the woman, we would save a lot by not having to get my passport. I told her I could put that money toward the trip. The woman agreed.

That was that. Our modified trip was still on, with our dream trip still there anytime we wanted, it within the next year. All we had to do was wait for our itinerary and book our airfare.

Airfare came first since we called and were told the itinerary would be sent within three weeks of the trip. We had seen a good offer for airfare and didn’t want to wait to book it.

Three weeks passed with no itinerary. I remember calling the day after Christmas to find out where it was. The representative told me it was sent on December 16. We were asked to call back the following Friday if we did not receive it.

Slow mail? I think not. We still did not receive it, so we called back that Friday, relieved when the representative had us write down all the information we needed. We were set for a great vacation.

Attitude is everything. Nothing was going to ruin our vacation. We were celebrating 20 years of marriage. It was going to be special.

The flight went well and we arrived at Fort Lauderdale airport on time. The first problem occurred when we went for our rental car. A long, long line greeted us. We took the kiosk check in, but there were problems. The machine would not take our credit card. Though the car rental was included we still had to pay taxes and fees.  But unfortunately they didn’t tell us we had to pay for the car up front and we’d be reimbursed after our trip. 

Ah, the price of a timeshare presentation. We learned if we didn’t attend the presentation they would not pay as promised. Okay, we understood that. However, we had only so much money for this trip. Worse, they didn’t accept either of the credit cards we had money on, because our name and numbers were not embossed on those cards.

Sorry, there is no way to make this nightmare shorter. 

We finally rented a car ourselves and used nearly half the money we had saved for our trip. We’d make it work. Somehow. This was a low budget trip.

When we got to the timeshare visitor’s check-in we learned I had misunderstood the part about the passport. I could get on the ship without the passport, but not without a birth certificate. That was at home. When we finally got the actual printed itinerary we saw that information noted there. I guess the representative who read our instructions thought we knew that. We are not seasoned travelers.

We vowed to make the most of the trip. They promised they would pay the extra days for our room if we went through the timeshare presentation as promised. After all, it was only a 90 minute presentation. They corrected us on that misconception, they were providing lunch which added an extra 30 minutes. So, what’s two hours in the scheme of things?

The presentation was typical timeshare. Longer than two hours and it was a hard sale. The worst part was telling them first, that we couldn’t afford the buy, and second, that we didn’t know how many more years I’d be able to travel due to my health issues. This was something I didn’t want to discuss, but we were desperate to end the attack of salesmen from every front.

Finally, after nearly four hours of torment, we were able to leave, knowing we had earned every bit of the rest of our vacation. We were worn but no physical scars from the experience. We had lived to tell about it, which is what I’m doing.

I can honestly say the only timeshare presentation we ever actually ever enjoyed was one where we made up identities for ourselves and our guests. I am, after all, a writer. Thankfully, I will spare you that sordid story of that fun day.

We left vowing we’d never, ever sit through another timeshare presentation. Nope. Nada. Never!

The rest of the week was wonderful, but after everything we went through we decided we’d ask for a refund for the “real” trip we’d planned. We were not going to sit through another timeshare presentation to earn that trip, too. 

Yesterday morning we did just that. It was almost too easy. We made our request in writing and are waiting to hear back from them, and praying they will return our money.

However, there is a lesson to be learned. While you can get some bargain vacations by sitting through a high pressure timeshare presentation, there are other ways to have an affordable vacation. One is to get on the Internet often and search for them, making certain there is no fine print about sitting through a 90/120 or 4 hour presentation.

Another way is to watch commercials on television. We usually fast forward or mute those. But last night we actually caught one for a seven day six night cruise for less than we paid for our bargain cruise. Okay, we didn’t catch the part about where the cruise started or went, maybe nowhere. Maybe it just took you out onto the wide, blue ocean where you could enjoy everything the ship had to offer. 

Not that we’d know what a ship has to offer. But maybe. . . someday. 

Novels by Pam Garlick: