OK peeps sorry about the delay ..... work etc etc
This is our take on the whole deal ..... READY !
Our holiday started with a less than pleasant airport check-in experience. We were handed a letter at the desk saying that there had been a change to our plane. The girl at the desk was very miserable and calmly announced that we had 3 kgs of excess baggage to pay for. This cost us £24 and until we’d paid for it we wouldn’t get our boarding cards. At no point did she ask us if we wanted to remove anything from our cases.
The plane was very cramped and everyone was complaining that their knees were touching the seats in front of them. It was also dirty. We had to stop at Gander in Canada for refuelling. We booked Santa Maria solely because it had a direct flight. Once we landed we waited 1 and a half hours in the blazing sunshine to get into Cuba, due to power cuts crashing the computer at the immigration desks. Once Thomas Cook took over things went smoothly and we were soon in our room.
We found out once we arrived in Cuba that the plane hadn’t been big enough for all the passengers and 80 people didn’t manage to board at all. We heard they were delayed overnight and given £70 compensation. They then had to pay for their own transport to Heathrow, where they had a flight to Madrid, then to Havana. They were offered an overnight stay in Havana with free entry to the Tropicana show, or they could travel straight to Santa Maria by Coach. Had this been offered at check-in, they may have had 80 happy volunteers!
We then had a lovely 2 weeks, the food wasn’t as good as we had at Playa Pesquero or the Iberostar Daquiri but we figured we’d been spoilt there. Someone needs to teach them how to make Pizza, or they should stop trying.
Homeward bound we left for the airport in the 1st batch of coaches and pulled out of the hotel grounds at 11.50 am. We were one of the 1st to check our cases in and get through to the departure lounge. Eventually the lounge was over occupied and there weren’t enough seats for all 300+ people. The incoming flight landed at 3.30 pm, just over half an hour late. Not bad we thought as we weren’t due to fly until 4.55pm. Within a few minutes people were looking at the plane and pointing at something the opposite side to which we could see, just to the right of the front steps. This turned out to be an emergency slide and we knew we wouldn’t be leaving on time now. The whole of the airport was buzzing with what on earth happened and would we still be able to go home. (We found out later that one of the aircrew accidentally set if off.) It was hours before anybody came to tell us what was happening.
A Cuban man came and spoke to us twice. He told us a plane was coming from somewhere else to take 80 passengers, 140 or so would be able to go on the existing plane and they would need 42 volunteers to stay. It was about 3 hours before we saw a Thomas Cook representative…….not a soul from the Excel crew. The rep told us less than we already knew, a few passengers told him what the man had told us and he said he would go off and check. He came back to say there was no plane coming from elsewhere and they were waiting for an engineer to fix the door. Some 5 hours after it had been deployed, we watched the slide being detached from the plane. The rep reappeared and told us that the door had been resealed but only 180 people would be able to fly home, due to Health and Safety rules regarding the out of action emergency exit. They asked for 144 volunteers to stay in Cuba and go back to the same hotel. After some time, he came back and asked for more volunteers. He re-appeared again to announce, unfortunately all of us would have to go back to the hotels. The Excel crew made an appearance to hand out small cups of water and then vanished. Where was the Captain/Pilot and why didn’t he speak to us??
In order for us to leave the airport, we all had to have our Tourist Cards back. The elderly, people with special needs and families with young children were asked to go back into the check-in area to collect their cards 1st. The Immigration staff then came through to the departure lounge and we were lucky (we thought) to be the 1st of the rest to get our cards back. We rushed through to the check-in area to find all the others still waiting. Immigration wouldn’t let anyone out until we ALL had our cards back. So the people who needed to sit down the most, had been standing the longest! When we were finally allowed out to reclaim our suitcases it was chucking it down with rain. I went to claim our cases whilst my wife sought shelter outside. Whilst she was waiting the rep reappeared to announce there was a flight from Havana to Gatwick at 3.30 am and to go to a certain coach if we wanted to take it. Armed with our cases we made our way to the Havana coach, it was full. We were then told there were 2 other coaches to Havana. The rep then announced the flight was via Madrid. We made our way in the pouring rain to the other end of the airport and saw our Rep from the hotel, Yasmin. My wife went over to Yasmin to ask advice, we decided to forget Havana and go to get a nights sleep back at the Melia. The next problem was that all the coaches appeared to be full. We made our way back to the side of the airport to seek shelter from the rain, we were drenched now. The male rep came over and told us there were more coaches the other side of the airport, so we ventured out again. The 1st coach was full, as was the 2nd. Yasmin appeared and got us onto a small mini-bus, the poor girl was being run ragged but still remained calm and helping people out. We were finally out of the rain. We waited for all the seats to be taken on our mini-bus, some people had to put their cases on a coach and get in with us and then we finally moved and got in a queue the 1st coach. Once the reps felt everyone was on a coach we set-off for the Melia.
We drove back into the Melia grounds at 11.50 pm, exactly 12 hours after we had left that morning. The buffet restaurant had been opened as we had only been given Pringles, a soft drink and water at the airport. Once we’d eaten we were given a room key and taken to our room. We put the aircon on and went back to the bar, for a well needed drink. My wife said Cuba Libre had never tasted so good. We met a Canadian at the bar who said he’d heard some Brits never got home. We replied, we’re those Brits! We saw the rep who said we needed to be back at reception, ready to leave at 8 am.
Back at reception after some sleep and a shower for 8 am, we were handed a letter stating our flight should be leaving at 1 pm. We would be boarding the coaches at 10pm, so we went off for some breakfast.
Back at the airport, check-in not too bad. The cases were taken quickly and we were told to keep our original seats. 12.50 pm and the Excel Crew arrived, so much for a 1 pm flight!
At last boarding started, rows 1 to 5 and 20 to the end boarded 1st. We were row 8. The seats in rows 6 to 19 were taped off and we had to be seated elsewhere due to the out of action emergency exit.
The Captain finally spoke to us on board the aircraft. He said there had been a Technical problem with the plane and the problem today was getting food for the flight. Once they had the food, there was no transport to deliver it to the airport.
We eventually took off at 3.15 pm, 1 hour and 40 minutes shy of 24 hours!
The final insult for us, was the fact the sound wasn’t working for many of the seats in row 1-5 and those that did have sound couldn’t see the screen. We had an 8 hours flight with no entertainment. We heard that they were running out of meals at the back of the plane and witnessed the Excel crew robbing milk and cups from what looked like old meals. We actually felt sorry for the Crew by this point.
We finally landed in the UK at 4.20 am and we couldn’t wait to get home. We have been back for a week and there has been no apology letter from either Excel or Thomas Cook. This leaves us very disappointed. We were treated very badly and we expected better. Needless to say, we shall be writing to them both.
Nige & Mia the wife
