That was a rough one

[Exterous]

Most of our travel generally goes well but this last tip...ooof. Had several somewhat rough events happen - none of them weather related oddly enough given the storms lately. Flight down to our cruise had a mechanical delay forcing us to miss our connection and wait on standby for 9 hours at the connecting airport for some shitty middle seats down to Ft. Lauderdale. Thankfully we always fly down a day early for just such an occasion. Then, on Gran Cayman, we had rented a car for the day to explore the island. Arrived at National - certainly not some fly by night operation - only to find the place still closed at 8:05am (Supposed to open at 8am). Called the location, called National main number who also couldn't get a hold of anyone and waited around till 9:20am. None of the other places (which all opened by ~8:10am) had any cars available for the day. Took a cab to the cruise port and settled on drinking for the day after some failed attempts to find alternative activities.

Flying back home yesterday a different plan suffered a mechanical issue causing us to miss our connection again and were stuck with an 14 hour overnight in Baltimore. Amusingly enough, Southwest sent me a survey about our flight for the first time in years. It will not be a good one.

Certainly didn't ruin the vacation but there's also a few hours of time dealing with a few companies to get compensation and reimbursements straightened out

 

[purbeast0]

You were on Grand Cayman for a day and all you did was sit and drink at the cruise port?

 

[brianmanahan]

ugh, that sucks. i'm waiting a few more years until things get back to normal to start traveling again.

 

[Charmonium]

Well, I'm happy no one in Grand Cayman had any issues with those 2 suitcases full cash. But for the residents there, that's just another day in paradise. Hehehe

 

[Exterous]

You were on Grand Cayman for a day and all you did was sit and drink at the cruise port?

I mean that was plan D or E by that point. None of the ~10 rental car agencies had an available vehicle (They were all in the same place so I just walked from door to door. Hertz said they were fully booked until May 1st). Even the independent tour operators were full by the time we got back to the port and nary a cab to find again. We weren't prepared with local currency given our plan, the bus didn't want to take US $ and the first 2 ATMs we came across weren't working. I think it was around noon we decided to just give up and start drinking. We weren't the only ones who ran into some issues. Several people returned to the ship early - they had been planning on getting another tour once their first was done but didn't end up with any options. And a few people almost got stuck there after they struggled to get a cab or bus back from a beach

ugh, that sucks. i'm waiting a few more years until things get back to normal to start traveling again.

Our 5 trips last year went just fine without any real issues. Chances are you'd be fine. I mean even this trip wasn't ruined by any of these issues.

 

[purbeast0]

I mean that was plan D or E by that point. None of the ~10 rental car agencies had an available vehicle (They were all in the same place so I just walked from door to door. Hertz said they were fully booked until May 1st). Even the independent tour operators were full by the time we got back to the port and nary a cab to find again. We weren't prepared with local currency given our plan, the bus didn't want to take US $ and the first 2 ATMs we came across weren't working. I think it was around noon we decided to just give up and start drinking. We weren't the only ones who ran into some issues. Several people returned to the ship early - they had been planning on getting another tour once their first was done but didn't end up with any options. And a few people almost got stuck there after they struggled to get a cab or bus back from a beach

Don't they organize activities from the ship?

Scuba dive?

Trip to Stingray City sandbar?

Trip to some restaurant/bar on 7 mile beach?

I remember seeing the cruise cattle being herded around one time when we were at a place in GC. It was comical to see how they do that shit. The people get to spend like an hour there and trash the place then the people from the buses basically blow a horn and everyone is herded back up onto the bus.

I also know Hertz is lying because I'm looking at a rental for mid-april right now and they have availability lol. However, prices are expensive as shit right now for rentals and that is a reason I may not even go to GC. Something about spending over $1k for a rental for 6 days grinds my gears.

 

[Exterous]

Don't they organize activities from the ship?

Scuba dive?

Trip to Stingray City sandbar?

Trip to some restaurant/bar on 7 mile beach?

I remember seeing the cruise cattle being herded around one time when we were at a place in GC. It was comical to see how they do that shit. The people get to spend like an hour there and trash the place then the people from the buses basically blow a horn and everyone is herded back up onto the bus.

I also know Hertz is lying because I'm looking at a rental for mid-april right now and they have availability lol. However, prices are expensive as shit right now for rentals and that is a reason I may not even go to GC. Something about spending over $1k for a rental for 6 days grinds my gears.

Eh maybe he was trying to make me feel better or something. I'm sure if they had a free car for the day they would have rented it to me at exorbitant prices

And they do organize trips from the ship but those were all full. We usually try to avoid those anyway since those tend to cater to the lowest common denominator of cruise passenger and\or tend to be packed like sardine cans