Signature Vacations - We

Signature Vacations - We’re writing regarding our recent trip (December 27 to January 3) to the Brisas del Caribe hotel in Varadero, Cuba. It’s difficult to express how dissatisfied we are, but we’ll try, giving only a small portion of the issues I surfed for Signature Vacations, and saw a complaint on your site. I’ve cut and pasted a letter based on our experience. I just got off the phone with them and they said “go ahead and sue”, so I’m going to. January 18, 2004 SIGNATURE VACATIONS Inc.

160 Bloor Street East, Suite 400

Toronto, ON

M4W 1B9 Attention: Customer Service Department Ladies and Gentlemen: We’re writing regarding our recent trip (December 27 to January 3) to the Brisas del Caribe hotel in Varadero, Cuba. It’s difficult to express how dissatisfied we are, but we’ll try, giving only a small portion of the issues. We started out with high hopes, based on the trip four of our group took to Holguin last year, but the disappointment started nearly immediately. Shortly after the plane took off, the flight attendant announced that the beverage service would start shortly, and that, among other things, we could buy water. Even in this age of cutbacks, this seems excessive, but this turned out to be one of the most minor problems. The bus trip to the hotel was fine (although the driver displayed a large sign that said “Don’t forget my tip”), but we experienced disappointment and frustration at every turn when we arrived, at about 1:00 a.m, on Sunday, Dec 28.

We had requested through our travel agent well in advance and sent two e-mails to Estela Arenosa Reyes at the resort, to try to ensure that we had rooms close together. We received a reply to the first e-mail asking us to contact them two weeks prior to our arrival. We never received a reply to the second e-mail. Two of the rooms we were given were fairly close together, but the third was far away and we had to request a change. The changed room was the worst of the three, and its balcony opened onto a service area. The hum from machinery was so loud we couldn’t leave the door open at all. We were told that we might be able to move on Tuesday, but we went to Havana that day, and by Wednesday, we had simply given up. As the meal on the plane was very light, we went to the 24 hour restaurant, at about 2:00 a.m. Only about 4 of 12 tables were occupied, but the lone staff member made sure to tell us how busy he was, about 10 times. He took orders from all six of us, but only brought food for 4. It took a long time to get that, and it was ice cold. We reordered and eventually got 2 more meals, but never did get our drinks. The next morning (still Sunday), we went to the “information meeting” at 9:45am put on by your representative, Tania. This got off to a pretty good start, but it soon became apparent that she was there to sell us extra trips, not to provide information. She did offer to book the 2 trips included free with the hotel, the Canimar River trip and Sunset Catamaran cruise. She suggested Friday would be the best day, for the entire group. We went along with this, and assumed we had been booked. When Friday came around, the bus tour guide asked for tickets.

We didn’t have any, so we checked with the front desk, and were told that we were on standby. We also asked about the Sunset cruise and were told we didn’t have tickets for that either. We did get on the river tour, but regretted that we had. It was overly long and boring, and included a long stopover at a tourist trap – none of which Tania had told us about. It was basically a waste of almost five hours of our time. We tried to get on the Sunset Cruise but the bus was late arriving, and we were turned away, as it was full. Right after the Sunday morning meeting, we went to the area to book the a la carte restaurants, right when it opened. We were about the third group in the line, but when we got to the front, we were told that there was nearly nothing left. We booked for Thursday and Friday, but could not get into the 3rd restaurant at all. Our group of six was not allowed to sit at one table the first night, even though empty tables existed and we were being served by the same server. Our reservation was for 8:30pm and by this time, most of the buffet appetizer plates were empty. One bowl contained 1 &#189 crackers! The second night, our reservation was not until 9:00 p.m. and by that time, they were out of the two items which had been suggested as “don’t miss” – the shrimp cocktail and Baked Alaska. We could go on for about 20 pages, but in an effort to be brief, a non-exhaustive list of complaints follows (some photos are enclosed as well): Tania provided very limited information – she seemed interested only in sales of extras.

The rooms and hallways were very shabby. One safe did not work at all, one room had repeated electrical problems, two had a broken telephones, two had peeling paint in bathtubs, plumbing didn’t work properly, etc. The beds were of poor quality. Piece of walls had fallen off, with no sign of any repair attempts. One outside wall had been repainted, but the painter simply stopped in a random pattern when he encountered some vines.

The food was dreadful – much worse than we had been led to believe. We’re not very fussy, but there were very limited choices, and what was there was poorly cooked, poorly presented and invariably greasy. On three occasions, the only meat at breakfast was what appeared to be cut-up hot dogs. There was a very small, one person grill, with big lineups for terrible food. The New Year’s Eva “Gala” dinner was a joke. It was essentially the same terrible buffet, supplemented with a few shrimp with heads on ( the only other time we saw any shrimp was at the one a la carte, with heads on as well), and possibly the worst lobsters ever cooked – what a disappointment. Last year, at Playa Pesquero near Holguin, we could have shrimp and/or lobster every day, and it was properly cooked.

Service at meals was terrible. It was very difficult to find a clean table at most meals, and impossible to find clean glasses or cutlery. In 5 times at the breakfast buffet, we were never offered a second cup of coffee and had to take a pot ourselves to get a first cup, twice.

We witnessed staff eating and drinking on the job, all the time – this included so-called security guards. We saw staff members pocketing butter, which was hard to get. We talked to a couple who had bought 2 bottles of wine from a bartender – cash went in his pocket. Another fellow traveler reported that he had planned to leave his two young children at the kid’s program, but when he arrived, the woman was drinking and never opened up.

Despite the brochure’s claim of International brands and International beer, the only international drinks were 2 Scotches, and 1 or 2 others. The only International beer we saw was Corona, available only in the gift shop, at an extra cost. Bottled water was also at extra cost. Liquors were very limited, Cuban brands only.

Many drinks were very limited or unavailable. At various times, the coffee makers and soda dispensers were broken. Champagne was limited to 6 bottles per day for the whole complex and was rarely available. Mohitos were often unavailable, and staff refused to make Banana Daiquiris with real bananas.

The brochure says that watersports were available. The Water Sport Centre usually had 4 – 5 staff sitting around doing nothing. Quantities of equipment were extremely limited – e.g. 4 paddleboats. We weren’t allowed to take a Hobie Cat on our own, but booked twice, only to be told it was too windy when we got there – note that there were many boats on the ocean at those times. The banana boat rides were a joke. The sign listed one hour of availability, 2 days per week. One day they were closed, and on the other, we had taken a trip to Havana. Your brochure does have the disclaimer “†Time restrictions may apply”, but a total of 2 hours per week is ridiculous The sign also said there was waterskiing on a similarly limited basis, but it never happened. There was no evidence of snorkeling as claimed in the brochure. Tania’s solution was to sell us a snorkeling tour for $30 U.S.

We took the “Havana Special” tour recommended by Tania. This wasn’t too bad, but we were misled about the hotel for changing, etc. Tania simply said that not every couple got their own room, but when we arrived, the poor tour guide had to break the news that it was 8 to a room. One lady decided that it would be easier to pay a maid to use the public washroom to change. The tour guide assured us that there were no bad seats at the Tropicana, but we discovered that he was wrong. We were one row from the back and could see nearly nothing.

Chairs at the beach and pool were very limited, with many broken.

The return flight left 3 hours late, and we got no notice of this until we went to the lobby to board the bus. The pilot apologized and said it was due to snow that had come 3 days earlier! If you can’t take steps to catch up in that time, the least that could have been done was to notify us, and provide us with a place to stay – the bus didn’t leave until after 11:00pm, and we had to check out of the rooms 11 hours earlier.

We could go on, but we assume you now have some understanding of our displeasure. We are now asking for compensation, preferably in cash, but we would accept a credit for a future vacation. Our group paid over $12,000 and came home feeling like we had never really been on vacation. We go on vacation at least once per year and would not like to eliminate you from our choices. Please respond to at least one of us at the address(es) below. Thank you. Sincerely, Linda and Rob H

Winnipeg, MB, R3N 1K4 Barb and Jim H

Winnipeg, MB, R3P 0E8 Susan and Graham T

Winnipeg, MB, R3Y 1E2 Cc Pat Rachey, General Manager, Central Canada cc Lois Edwards, Travel Bug

Graham T Click this link to e-mail the above consumer: //

Comment On This

Just returned on Apr 14th 08 from Punta Cana DR. The resort was very good and very clean but the service was at times lacking but that is not my major complaint. My complaint was not with the resort itself but with Signature Vacations. It started with our bookings. We booked for five couples, one in one province and 4 in another to go to the same resort. At the time of booking we were told that 0ne couple would arrive a day and a half ahead of the four from the other province due to flight schedules. We agreed and then booked. All things were set vacation plans made we were ready to go. One month prior change #1 the group of four was rescheduled now going one day later (now 2 1/2 days apart) OK not two bad only two nights different and with our flight times we could spend our last day with the prior to heading to the airport as our departure flight was in the evening from Punta Cana Change #2 our flight down (single couple) was then moved earlier to make the time now 3 days apart in a 7 day vacation. Now the bombshell change #3 the departure day was then changed from an evening flight to a 0810 pickup at the hotel losing another day.

That takes care of the booking portion.

Arrival Punta Cana: Aircraft offloaded people herded like cattle to the front of the airport with no Signature Vacation rep to be found. After some time I found the appropriate bus and arrived at the hotel. Checked in and made our way to the room 4 hours later as it was not ready. Signature briefing was 24hrs later which consisted of a blue binder which was followed by one hour of advertising. One thing was taken from the brief ensure you consult the blue binder for departure information as not to miss the flight. Two days prior to departure Change #4 as noted in this blue binder we were to check out at 0540 and depart hotel at now 0640 for a flight that was moved up by 2 hrs. A call was made to reconfirm that this was correct only to get the nasty answer of check the binder good bye. All passengers arrived at the lobby at 0540 waited for the 0640 bus which did not show till 0800. At 0730 I became concerned and attempted to contact Max the signature vacation rep to no avail. No answer on his cell it went to answer machine. No answer at the office and no answer at the 24hr emergency number. We thought we all were going to be left high and dry. A bus did manage to show at 0800 at our original departure time. I confronted the transfer rep from signature who told us we were mistaken as was shown on his clipboard.

We had absolutely no direction or help from signature on arrival and even less on departure. Our flight in the end left at 1205 the planed departure time upon arrival this is my first and last time traveling with Signature Vacations and I will ensure you the word will be passed to all my travelling friends.