DME Question

[pwcarlson]

We are staying at CSR. Our plan is to have breakfast at Boma the morning we leave. Our plane isn't until 6:30 pm so I figure we need to take the 3:30 bus.
If we decide to stay until 3:30 at AKL can we take the bus from there? Or do we need to go back to CSR for pick up. No big deal if we do. We will probably have plenty of time. Just there to eat, snoop around and watch the animals for a while. And to soak up some last minute sunshine.

I can't remember if I need to show a ticket to get on the shuttle to the airport after dropping off my luggage in the morning of our return or not.

Thanks for any insight.

 

[helenk]

We are staying at CSR. Our plan is to have breakfast at Boma the morning we leave. Our plane isn't until 6:30 pm so I figure we need to take the 3:30 bus.
If we decide to stay until 3:30 at AKL can we take the bus from there? Or do we need to go back to CSR for pick up. No big deal if we do. We will probably have plenty of time. Just there to eat, snoop around and watch the animals for a while. And to soak up some last minute sunshine.

I can't remember if I need to show a ticket to get on the shuttle to the airport after dropping off my luggage in the morning of our return or not.

Thanks for any insight.

You will need to return to the CSR, you hand your letter for your DME reservation to the bus driver when you board the bus. Your reservation is based on the resort you were staying in. Besides wouldn't you have carry on luggage? What would you do with that luggage?

 

[LisaS]

We are staying at CSR. ...
If we decide to stay until 3:30 at AKL can we take the bus from there? Or do we need to go back to CSR for pick up.

When you book a DME reservation, they expect to pick you up at the designated resort. They schedule buses based on the number of passengers being picked up at each stop.

For example, whenever we've stayed at AKL the DME bus picked up just a few people at AKL but then stopped at POP before heading to the airport and filled the bus to capacity at that stop. If the driver had allowed unscheduled guests on the bus at AKL, it's possible there wouldn't have been enough seats for those boarding at POP.

The other problem is that the drivers have a list of the guests boarding at each stop. If they expect your family to board at CSR the driver may actually wait 5 minutes for you to show up before giving up on you, holding up other passengers.

I don't know if you can call DME directly and set up your return reservation for AKL instead of CSR. I don't think you can but you could try calling and asking. If you do that, then you would be locked in to boarding at AKL instead of CSR.

As helenk mentioned, what about your carry on luggage? Most people store it with Bell Services after checking out of their room and then retrieve it prior to heading to the DME stop at the resort.