So momma and I were relaxing, sitting on a bench outside of the Radisson waiting for our ride:
Did he say ride? Or did he say shuttle? I said ride, my friends, remember that. lol
Sooooooooooooo. Brother Tom and I, after reading some of the horror stories about the Radisson shuttle and wait times and such, decided in our infinite wisdom to call a transportation service (ie TAXI) to get us to the port. Why when the shuttle is free you ask?
Well, for one we wanted to avoid the hassle and lines of waiting for a shuttle. Second, the shuttle doesnt start running until 10, and we wanted to be at the port at 10. Why? We're asking ourselves that same question now, it was not necessary at all as we weren't looking to upgrade, but I digress...
So, at the recommendation of someone from the board who is in the area (thats all I'm saying lol) and DOES give great info and advice, we called this company.
Ok so for all 8 of us it was supposed to be $40 total. $2o per family, and we thought well worth it to not have to deal with drama.
Well friends, it seems the drama gods were a little bored that day, and must have said to themselves "What kind of shenanigans can we conjure up for our buddies Mike and Tom today?"
ok, here we go. lol. We called a private company, a Taxi, to take us from point a to point b, and we were being quoted a fee for that service.
Because we were a group of 8, rather than send taxi's they sent a shuttle bus. Ok, fine by us. The Driver arrived at about 9:50 for our scheduled 9:45 pick up. Again, no biggie. We're easy like Sunday mornin', no sweat.
So, the driver comes out and says "Parker family?".."Yes"..."to the Disney Wonder, correct?"..."Yes".
And we load our bags in the back and all board the bus.
The driver shuts the doors and has to wait a minute for cars in front of him to move. No problem, we're on our way to our great cruise and we're all smiling, see? lol
Those smiles didn't last very long.
Suddenly a woman and her husband knock on the bus door. The driver opens the door and the woman says "Disney Wonder, right?" and starts to climb on as her husband takes her suitcase. The driver says "No ma'am, this is a private charter, not the shuttle, that should be here shortly" and shuts the door. The woman storms off to the "radisson guy with the clipboard" and I see him shaking his head no as the woman seems to be arguing with him. Meanwhile we are waiting for a clear path so we can leave. As it opens up, the driver starts moving and is flagged down frantically by the "radisson guy". The driver gets out....ok, we are all loaded, ready to go, and now WE are the ones blocking traffic. I look at my brother and literally say "Dude, W.T.F?" next thing we know, the driver is opening the back, throwing their suitcases in and here they come on the bus.
Let's stop for a moment here. We ARE easy going guys, and there WAS room left on the bus. Remember those 2 things.
Ok, so now we are delayed a good 10 minutes because of all of this. I do believe my dw's words to me later on were that "Debbie and I could see the steam coming our of both of you two's ears at that point"
Ok, the driver gets in, shuts the door and says "Ok, here we go"...
Ok, wait a second, back up the truck (literally lol). What???
So, we engage the couple, well we try. We ask "So, what is he charging you two for the ride?". We get a response from the woman of "Charge? what charge? We're riding to the ship from the hotel, I have no idea what you are talking about" and then proceeds to turn and look out the window.
EXCUSE ME?????????????????????????
We try again. "Well maam, this is a taxi, we called it, for our family, and now you are in it too. This isn't a shuttle, and it doesnt say Radsisson on the side so why would you get in?"
We get "Well this is MY shuttle, I don't know what you are getting at about taxis and such, this is a shuttle."
"No maam, it's not. It's a taxi, that we called. And if we had not called it for our family it wouldn't have been there and you would still be waiting, and so would WE, for the shuttle. BUT, there is plenty of room, and we do not mind sharing the taxi and the fare, so I ask again what is he charging you for the ride?"
Again we get "I dont have to pay a fare, I am taking a shuttle from my hotel to my cruise ship. We've never done this cruising thing before, so I don't know what you mean."
ok, now I start to feel bad (my mistake) and calmly explain again. "Maam. I know the Radisson has shuttles, but this is not one of them. This is a taxi. The only reason they sent a bus is because there is 8 of us. We didn't mean to be rude, but this is the same as jumping in a taxi with someone, do you understand?"
TRUST ME, that was the MOST patience I had at the moment and I felt I at least TRIED to remedy the situation and also apologize.
Mind you, the taxi driver was SILENT the entire time.
My (in my opinion) apology and willingness to work the situation out was met with "Well the Radisson is paying for my shuttle, we stayed there last night, and this gentleman (pointing to the driver) isn't charging us a thing, I guess Radisson is paying him. I really don't know, and honestly could care less."
Ever have one of those moments where you wish the entire world would just explode in one giant massive fireball? Maybe it's just me.
Ok, we tried. Now we arrive at the cruise terminal, from the pics you can see that my brother Tom and I are "extra fluffy" lol. So, the driver jumps out and heads back to the back and starts taking out luggage. Tom and I simply stand up. We give looks to the rest of the family and they sit lol. The couple is standing but Tom and I are in the aisle. They aren't going anywhere. They comment "Excuse us" and Tom says "Oh we're just waiting for the driver, it will just be a minute."
The driver comes back around, sees both Mine and Tom's faces and says "Well gentleman, there appears to have been a mixup" So quickly interrupting I say "Well no, the mixup was yours when this went from being a taxi to a radisson shuttle"
Tom pipes in, "So since this is now a radisson shuttle, and we all stayed at the radisson, we will pay exactly the same fare as this couple for every 2 people we have." and he turns to the couple and says "And what were you being charged again for the ride?" and they answer "Nothing" to which tom and I both say in stereo "EXACTLY" and the driver looks perplexed for a second so I add "Radisson will be paying you for us as well as these people it seems". And then the driver quickly pulls Tom aside outside the bus and says "Sorry for the mixup Mr. Parker, there will be no charge today, this one is on me."
YOU THINK??????????????????????
Ok, lets make a few points clear (oh it gets better just wait) lol.
1, we called a private cab that we were paying for. 2, someone jumped in, causing us a delay. 3, when they were explained the situation we offered to make it all nice-nice lol. 4, they couldnt care less what the real deal was, and played stupid (yes played, you'll see). 5, the taxi driver didnt have the...guts...lol to simply inform them that no, this wasn't their ride, and leave it at that. 6, we have NO IDEA what the "radisson guy" with the clipboard thought he was doing or WHY the taxi driver would listen to/accomodate him without AT LEAST talking to us about it, at which point we would have said fine, but it never was even put before us. And finally, we were NOT looking for a free ride, we were just simply amazed at the woman for jumping in or cab, the driver allowing it to happen, and everyone pretending like nothing had just happened. You all following me here?
So let me ask, Are we wrong somehow here? Would you jump into someone's elses taxi? and if you didnt realize it, and then were told you did would you blow the people off? I mean none of it made sense. We took happy limo from the airport to the hotel, I wouldnt expect the guy to take other people that were going to the radisson just because we had room. Would you? And this (regardless of the vehicle type) is the same type of situation. The biggest thing that bothers me is the downright sense on entitlement, despite the facts, that this woman had. We were going to the ship, and therefore so was she. Didnt matter that it was our taxi, she was getting in. lol Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
ok, so now I'm getting worked up typing it just like I did that day, so I'll do what I had to that day......buddha pose.......ohmmmmmmm....deep breaths....ok all better.
In all of this, it was a miracle but I did manage to snap some pics during the ride:
Ok, so we're finally off the taxi/shuttle bus and we're curbside with our luggage and our new "friends"...AWKWARD! lol, well not for us but they didn't say a word.
Moving on, for now. The porters took our bags, gave us a quick talk, then it was time to make our way inside. Finally! Woohoo!
Ready for MORE!!!
"We've met the enemy and they are us."
