Review of Eclipse to Alaska in late August

[Northern Aurora]

On 9/11/2019 at 6:47 AM, Guindalf said:

.........Little did we know of the horrors that were about to transpire! For now, let's just say I will NEVER use Expedia again!

 

If anyone's interested in the full story, I'll be glad to fill you in.

 

......

 

 

I am also interested in hearing the rest of the story.  But a thank you to both "friendswithdave" and "Guindalf" for their concise but helpful reviews.

[Langley Cruisers]

OP, thank you for the review. We were on Eclipse earlier this year in April for the repo from San Diego to Vancouver, loved it.

 

Your wife seemed to have a bit of trouble this trip - wondering if she is all right now? Just curious, and I care. 🙂
 

[Guindalf]

OK, story coming, but first, some observations from the MDR, one at dinner, one lunch and one, breakfast.

 

We only ate in the MDR twice as we had a large amount of OBC and purchased the five meal specialty dining plan to use a small amount of it up. Sitting across from us on the second visit was a mother and daughter, both very attractive and could have been sisters. They were finishing their starters using plastic utensils and on paper plates.

 

It was hard to distinguish what the waiter brought for their main course, which looked like some kind of veggie/ratatouille dish, served on paper plates and covered with foil. There were several plates of what could have been cous-cous, but being nosey, I had to ask. Of course, it was special diet and the mother told me it was kosher vegan!

 

Then one dayat lunch, the brother and sister sitting across from us were obviously Indian (Asian, not native American!). Again, we struck up a conversation with them and they had ordered an authentic Indian meal. Now, I grew up in England and I absolutely love curry, so they shared a couple of their dishes with us, which were amazing! Apparently, they were prepared by the ship's Indian chefs and were something special.

 

Finally at breakfast also in the MDR, towards the end of the cruise (may even have been the last morning), an English couple sitting near us had ordered the Eggs Benedict, which must be one of the best breakfast items available. The wife called the waiter over, claiming the eggs were raw and demanding a new plate with the eggs 'cooked'. I looked over and the eggs were perfectly cooked, as they had been every time we ordered the dish throughout the cruise! I can only assume that this was the first time they'd ordered Benedict and didn't realize that the eggs should run when cut into! I have to admit to laughing silently and admiring the resolve of the waiter and the Maitre 'D, both of whom addressed the issue without even saying a word!

 

Expedia story coming tomorrow.

[Guindalf]

The Expedia story...

 

The TL:DR recap is in the last paragraph for those who don't want to read a book!

 

I booked independently of the cruise, which was considerably cheaper than trying to book through Choice Air, plus I got to pick my travel times. My booking was made way back in February. Flight times were 4:00 PM from Atlanta, traveling via LAX to Vancouver. Return was 11:00AM from Vancouver with a stop in Toronto.

 

The fun started several weeks ago, when I got an email changing the outbound flight to 4:20. No big deal. A few days later, I got an email saying my return flight had changed to 8:00AM and they had confirmed it for me, so no need to contact them! Of course I was pushing an 11:00 flight and there would be no way I could make an 8:00AM flight, so I immediately called and told them the time was not acceptable and they had to change it. After much sweating and discussions, the flight was changed to 1:10PM, stopping in Seattle, and I received another change email confirming the same. No worries, right? Wrong!

 

The fare was what Expedia calls a 'Hacker Fare', which means they are two one-way flights, in order to obtain the best price. They were actually flying with WestJet, a partner of Delta Airlines.

 

Twenty four hours before we were to fly, I tried to check in. I wqs unsuccessful and the message I got when it failed was to contact an agent at the airport, which I did. The flight out was late. We sat on the runway in Atlanta for just about an hour while two storms rolled through. No-one to blame and we had a two hour layover in LAX, so we were still ok. When we got to LA, the next flight was delayed an hour, so although we didn't get to the hotel until the wee hours, there was no panic and all was ok. 

 

Then we come to the return. We had plenty of time to check in for our return flights, so we had breakfast in the MDR before braving disembarkation, which was a breeze. A cab ride later and we were at the airport by 10:00AM, plenty of time for a 1:10 flight. We went to the check-in desk (it also failed online) for WestJet and after a 20 minute wait, we were at the counter, only to be told that this was a Delta flight and we had to make our way to the Delta check-in desk, which we did. Another 20 minute wait and we were in front of the Delta agent, who weighed our two bags and charged us $30 CAD each for them. Then, something went wrong and she was unable to issue the tickets, saying something about the booking wasn't completed properly and we had to contact Expedia. So off we went to find  seat and call.

 

I got through to Expedia and spoke to an agent who decided the best thing to do was blame the airline! Once I had convinced him that they told me to contact the TA, he went to great lengths to explain every step in insane detail every time he put me on hold. I told him I needed it to be resolved and didn't need to waste the time for infinite detail every time he did something. He did offer me a $100 coupon for future travel as compensation, but as I pointed out, it was useless as I would not be using Expedia again. I asked for it to be credited as cash and he told me that wasn't possible.  He put me on hold and the next thing I knew, there was a supervisor on the line. After over an hour on the phone, she eventually got the tickets issued and told us to go ahead and check in, which we did. The new agent weighed our bags and told us it would be $50 per bag. I told her it should be $30 and we had already paid. She told me the other charges would drop off, and accepted my $30 explanation. We boarded the plane, thinking our nightmare was over, which as far as Expedia was concerned, it was.

 

We sat on the runway a while, which was a little concerning as we only had 45 minutes in Seattle to board the aircraft for the final leg. The flight was going to take 28 minutes and the schedule had allowed 75, so even with the 30 minute delay (which was because the ground crew's scanning gun was broken and they had to even out the weight of the checked baggage), we still had plenty of time to make the connection.By the time we took off, we would have something over 30 minutes to make the flight, so even though we were a little concerned, we should still be ok. As we were landing, the aircraft suddenly increased in speed and took off again - an aborted landing! The Captain came on the intercom and said there was no problem and we'd be on the ground in 15 minutes. When we eventually did land, we had just 15 minutes until our next plane was due to take off!

 

I am unable to run due to neuropathy in my feet and hands, so my DW went on ahead and made it to the gate, telling the staff that I was coming. We just made it and we were the last people to board. We had accepted that our bags probably didn't make it, but we were happy to be on the way home!

 

When we arrived in Atlanta, we went to baggage claim to wait until the checked bags had been sent to the carousel before putting in our claim for the lost luggage and, much to our surprise, the bags had made it!

 

So, to recap: Expedia had changed our flights several times, resulting in the booking not being completely correct, leaving us stranded in Vancouver without a confirmed flight (but confirmed by Expedia!). We were unable to check in both ways and had to do this at the airport. We were told it was because it was an international flight. Expedia managed to screw up the booking, making ticketing impossible, so we had to call and spend over an hour getting seats on the plane for our return! Add to that the often-encountered delays and an aborted landing, we eventually made it home!

 

Thanks for reading, if indeed you made it this far! Take this as a warning to be sure of with whom you're booking your flights or, in fact, any travel. 

 

[friendswithdave]

On 9/14/2019 at 11:11 PM, Langley Cruisers said:

OP, thank you for the review. We were on Eclipse earlier this year in April for the repo from San Diego to Vancouver, loved it.

 

Your wife seemed to have a bit of trouble this trip - wondering if she is all right now? Just curious, and I care. 🙂
 

Yes, wife is fine. She has a sensitive stomach that doesn't respond well to rich foods and she is also sensitive to ship motion. There was some of both, so she retired a little early a few nights. Thanks so much for asking and commenting on the review. We've never been on a repo but hope to one day.

[friendswithdave]

Guindolf, maybe the PM system does not work, it wouldn't allow me to PM you. Our next cruise will be Dec 15 out of Ft Lauderdale on a ship to be determined, likely HAL or Princess. We will be cruising with old friends for the first time in over 20 years. 

[Guindalf]

Shoot me an email and we can talk from there. I don't make a habit of this...

 

gand at post dot com