Insane trip report

glenpreece

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Oct 21, 2008
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Just returned home from the most nerve wracking insane trip WDW I've ever had.

The week started off fine, got to see some people I used to work with Sunday afternoon. Liked the Caribbean Beach resort until the bus system became very annoying. NEVER AGAIN. Kevin arrived from France as planned and we had a great couple of days.

Until Tuesday night when he had his bag stolen while we were at DTD for dinner at Earl. We reported it to Guest Relations (luckily there was a french speaking CM who helped Kevin and I) and we searched all over DTD in the garbage's etc. After hours of phone calls to Kevin's credit cards and locating the French consulate (in Miami) and calling the emergency line we made it back to CBR at about 1:00am.

Kevin's passport and everything was in his bag plus our safe key. I had to get the night duty manager to come open our safe so we could leave at the crack of dawn for Miami. Angie helped find us a way to Miami. This was a chore and they didn't even want to come until morning. I MADE them come and explained what happened.

Got up a couple hours later called for the "shuttle" to take to Miami which was over loaded and late. We left WDW at 7:30am and didn't get to the consulate until about 2pm. Thank God we called them and they knew we were coming etc. The "shuttle" we took was for Latin folks going from Orlando to Miami and took AGES. I was nearly jumping out of my skin as we meandered around Miami dropping people off. Needless to say this whole time I was a basket case and crying off an on the whole time and it wasn't even my passport!!!

After having to go get new passport photos taken and a big song and dance they gave Kevin a temporary passport, good enough to get him home. Ok all set but no way back to Orlando. So with Angie's help she helped us find a Greyhound bus that would take us. So we cabbed it from downtown Miami to the greyhound beside the airport. Not a nice place to be.

Since we were supposed to be going on the cruise the next day we now had to find somewhere to stay for the next 3 nights. Angie got us a room at Pop so that was taken care of. I called my insurance co and of course loss of travel documents/stolen id is not a valid reason to claim so we were out the money for the cruise. Oh well not too big of a deal just glad Kevin was going to be able to make it home. So we got on the greyhound that was late and we were off to Orlando.

After a few stops we made it to West Palm Beach where they did an immigration check. And to make it worse they didn't like Kevin's new passport and couldn't seem to understand that he lost his and this was a new one that's why there was no stamp in it from when he arrived. Kevin was nearly convulsing at this point. Then to make things worse my passport hadn't been stamped since last year so they thought I had been in the USA since March 2009!!!! I wanted to die!!!! Finally after about half an hour they finally got a hold of someone who verified Kevin's situation and then afte another wait they figured out I had cleared custom's in Toronto!!!

I was seriously ready to just scream at this point. We finally made it to Orlando at about 2am and then took a cab back to CBR. We slept for a few hours and then officially cancelled our cruise. Kevin had to retun some stuff he bought so he had some money for food. Luckily we were having bfast at the castle (prepaid for). We had our luggage moved to pop and headed to MK for a nice day filled with Princesses and Duffy.

We checked into Pop later on in the afternoon and spoke to a manager who "just had his wallet stolen" and knew what we were going through. He offered us help and gave us a $100 room credit so we could get some food etc. He than said he would call CBR and ask what else they could do for us/had been done for us.

We checked with him later and he hadn't heard back from CBR saying they knew nothing about what had happened. Each day I called the lost and found and nothing turned up and nobody seemed to care either (surprise?? No) I paid to have Kevin's tix replaced and extended even though we had been told he could have comped tix but now apparently not.

I called around and found out that nobody from Pop had called CBR about us and that yes they knew what had happened but now that we were at Pop that we were their guest no CBR's and it was up to them to deal with us. Ok fine so i went down to the front desk confronted Ryan who just happened to be on the phone with CBR right then and found out that they wouldn't help us out anymore unless it was computer access or forms to fill out etc. That we would receive no furthur financial compensation. Ok that would have been nice to know YESTERDAY so we could've found a western union and got some money. He called us later to say we should file a police report and a guest claims report. Uh WE DID THAT at DTD the night it happened. If he had talked to them he would've known that.

So anyways to top it all off the people I used to work with (Angie, etc) wanted me to ditch Kevin and go on the cruise anyways!!!!!!! They kept guilt tripping my about it until they left for the cruise. I was totally disgusted by this. And over the remainder of the trip couldn't believe how many people thought it was some sort of miracle that I stuck with Kevin and didn't ditch him to go on the cruise!!!!! Honestly it didn't occur to me once to do that. Serio0usly that is terrible and I can't even imagine why people would even consider it.

Ok I am done ranting, sorry I just really needed to get that all out. I plan on writing Guest Relations and saying how great Laurent was helping us. I stopped in Sunday night at DTD to thank him again and tell him what had happened. CM's like him are now few and far between.

Oh and yeah the parks were really busy and I was not feeling the chrtistmas spirit at all LOL. We still had a good time and we will def be friends for a very long time :)
 
OMG, wow!! I can't imagine how stressful it must have been for you guys! I'm really sorry the trip wasn't magical and turned into a nightmare. I hope you were able to get some enjoyment from it!!
 
Thanks :) Yes we did end up having a good time regardless of all the stress and mishaps. And as people have said we will laugh about it one day. It is so weird not to be with him now. I miss him.
 

I'm so sorry all this happened to you. Maybe next time, leave the passport in the room safe.
 
Yes I always do leave my passport in the room safe, but in France you don't do that. You must keep it on you at all times hence why kevin was so used to carrying it around and not leaving it in the room.
 
Ugh, how awful! Glad you were still able to enjoy some of your trip & didn't let this incident completely ruin it for you.

I know how scary & stressful it is to have your bag stolen in another country. My friend's bag (with her passport in it) got stolen when we were in London - on our second day of 6-WEEKS of traveling all over Europe. We were at an internet cafe when her bag got stolen; the employees asked if we wanted to call the police but she was so upset she just wanted to go back to the hotel & figure out how to get a new passport since we were supposed to go on to France in a couple of days. Thankfully the hotel concierge & manager were really nice & helpful. It was late on a Saturday night so the US embassy was closed until Monday. Problem was we were booked on the train to Paris on Monday. They told us to go to the local police station & file a police report, and the police would give her a temporary document to allow her to enter France. Then we could go to the embassy in Paris on Monday to get her a new real passport. They also allowed us to use the phone for free to call her bank, since her debit card had been in her bag too.

Then miracle of miracles, we got a call from her work. A woman had found her bag on the street near the cafe where it was stolen. Her camera, debit card, & cash were gone but her passport and everything else was still there. She'd had her business card in her wallet, so the woman called the number & explained she'd found P's bag w/ her passport in it & wanted to return it to her. We got the woman's information & met up with her the next day to get the bag. We tried to give her some money, at least to cover the calls she'd made to the US, but she refused. Just goes to show there are still good people out there, and someone was definitely smiling on us that day!
 
aww that's great :) whoever took kevin's bag must've just wanted the cash because they never attempted to use his credit cards.
 
That's insano!! I am glad you were able to get the temp passport, etc. Maybe I misread but if the cruise left the next day why couldn't you go on the cruise??

I wonder if those Immigration guys realize Canadian's don't usually get their passports stamped entering the USA. The only time my Canadian passport is *ever* stamped going to the USA is when I go on business and the stamp is like a VISA to indicate I am there and able to go about on my usual business trip.

Look at it this way -- it's a trip you will never forget and hopefully your bond is stronger :)
 
Wow, what an experience. I'm glad you had a good time with each other despite the chaos.

I agree with Missy though, why couldn't you have both gone on the cruise? It sounded like you were back in time.
 
Oh yes we were back in time but the temporary passport was sufficent for him to leave the USA and return home but not re-enter the USA. Since on the cruise you leave the USA and go to the Bahamas he would not have been able to re-enter to the USA in order to fly home on Sunday.
 
Just don't get off the ship.
You never need you passports if you don't leave the ship.
IMO Not seeing the Bahamas is no great loss.
 
Just don't get off the ship.
You never need you passports if you don't leave the ship.
IMO Not seeing the Bahamas is no great loss.

This is what I was thinking. But, since they allow easy on-off access at Castaway Cay I'm guessing that they record everyone as entering the Bahamas and then needing to re-enter the US. It's a sad loss, but, I'm sure you'll both get to do a cruise again sometime and it's nice that you didn't just ditch him.
 
This is what I was thinking. But, since they allow easy on-off access at Castaway Cay I'm guessing that they record everyone as entering the Bahamas and then needing to re-enter the US. It's a sad loss, but, I'm sure you'll both get to do a cruise again sometime and it's nice that you didn't just ditch him.
exactly. they consider you as leaving the USA regardless if you left the ship or not. and yes we will be doing a cruise together next year hopefully :)
 



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