Trying to re-re-schedule a trip - and it's challenging...!

[DandyDon]

I missed my August BD trip last year, just messed around not looking for solutions to all the caca, finally planned a November trip - then had to cancel it as they were desperate for cotton harvest help, enough to let me drive a massive rig at high speeds thru dark nights near other machines in the fields and over dirt roads. I still have nightmares about almost missing the bridge that last night in the dust! Anyway, I had the liberal American Air vacation insurance and they eventually paid, while I rebooked for December. I had to cancel that one next for a funeral I wouldn't miss for anything, and TravelSafe paid on that one. They wanted a copy of the certificate but settled for the obituary along with a dozen pages of other copies. So I punted, not wanting to brave the winter storms there, and I had a March family trip to the wilds of Big Bend NP to plan.

I'm not doing my usual June trip with the family as the kids are doing a cruise this time - borrrring, so I am looking at going in May or early June I think. I worry too much I know, but I want to be at home with access to all resources in case they run into any problems on their end of June voyage & stops. We usually do a Memorial Day weekend campout, but I might skip that one. After herding 4 teenagers including 3 Chinese city kids in the badlands last month, they may not be up to camping for a while either. Someone suggested I go the same week as their sailing adventure so I can meet them in Coz, but the girls have a cooking class scheduled and not much time for anything else, so I don't see it.

So here are my challenges, mostly with the airlines enjoying record profits from cheap fuel, outrageous bag fees, downsizing layoffs, etc...

1: I have to leave from Lubbock, and the choices are limited now. Southwest still doesn't offer flights from here, so it's "this airline or that one?" And I want to use United in spite of it being a poor replacement for Continental as I have some residual value in my canceled ticket I can use if I hurry. I could drive a little further for Amarillo but rather not, and I am not interested in driving 300 miles to DFW and back at the end.

2: I don't want to spend all day on flights there or back, with long layovers between my planes ilot: as they so often include on their lowest bids - or worse, overnight at a connecting airport. Half of their LBB-CZM itineraries connect in Denver now too, and I want to avoid those. The LBB-DEN flight is about the same 1-1/2 hours as LBB-IAH, but the CZM-DEN flight is almost twice as long as the CZM-IAH plane ride! I don't want to spend 4+ hours on a plane unless there's a Lei and an "Aloha" at the end.

3: And I need to visit my Cancun dentist for new plates, saving enough there to pay for the rest of the trip. That means flying into Cancun on one of the few dates they will get me there by 1pm without jacking the fare an extra couple hundred bucks, bus into town, taxi to Malecon Americas mall - unless I can get the bus driver to let me out at the mall like their office suggested I could. As much as I bag drag with me on trips, if it's far from Tulum Ave to the Sear's store and inside to the mall - following directions from the nice office girl, I might need a taxi to haul me across the parking lot. :silly: Taking care of business there won't go fast, but she did offer to pay for my cab to the bus station - then it's 1-1/4 hours to PDC, hopefully catching a 7pm ferry, unloading at the Coz pier by 8pm, then taxi to a hotel to be selected in the planning process. Last time I did this, I caught the 9pm ferry (they don't have one at 9pm now do they?), still made the 8am boat the next morning, but no time to fill my pony and sure enough - stressed from all the travels & such, I fumbled with gear & camera so much on the first dive that I did my second of 2 LOA incidents of my sport career, without my bailout bottle, and a lovely 60 foot CESA with enough air to fill my BC and blow my Dive Alert. This time I may shoot for an afternoon boat?

4: At the end of my week, I could catch the 6am ferry to PDC - ugh! I did a 5am boat escaping the last Cat-5 hurricane once, which missed the island after all but it was the way to bet, but they don't have that one anymore either, do they? With a 6am boat, I could probably make the 7:40am bus if the tricycle porters are there ok (Lookie! The 5:18am bus is on sale for 12 Pesos less! :depressed, be in Cancun by 9am - hopefully talking the diver into letting me off at the mall again, but we know how things go at dentist offices. I don't think I could get & out in time to get to the airport for a 2pm flight on the rare date they offer one for a reasonable price. I'd have to skip the airport bus and pay for a cab direct to the terminal, but they want you there 2 hours before flight time don't they? Too close to hope I think.

I think I'll eat breakfast, take the 9am boat, the 10:40am bus, get to Cancun by noon, and still have time for a taxi if needed, lunch, and be at the office by 1pm - brushing my teeth there while waiting. If I have to overnight somewhere on the way home, I think there - rather than at PDC and an earlier bus north as I just don't want to count on getting in & out of the office no matter how early I arrive in time to be at the airport by noon, or worse overnighting with 150# of luggage at a Houston airport. Keep in mind I have to find food and bathrooms over the entire two day round trip.

I am half sharing this so as to organize my ideas where I can see them, but will still share it in case anyone has any good ideas?

 

[Dave Dillehay]

Dear Dandy,

Sounds like a real mess. Check into United from Austin through Houston. Sometimes the fare is half what it is from Houston (crazy huh). I have driven from Houston to Austin just to save $400.

Dave Dillehay
Aldora Divers

 

[judydivescoz]

Very complicated Don. I would just add at least a day on to the begining of your trip to deal with your dentist and to relax a bit before you start diving. What's the rush? Maybe also add a day on to the end and have a more relaxing end to your trip and accommodate your Dental appointment without worry. This also may be a good time to consider the amount of stuff you drag down. Traveling lighter makes it so much easier. Even I can get it down to 1 dive bag and a carryon with a backpack.

 

[cvchief]

All that running around, consider my van guy. You could arrange for him to get you at the airport and take you for all your crap and then to Playa. Same thing on the way back. And you can leave you sink, coffee maker, vacuum bottle, carburetor rebuilt kits and rented mule in the van while you have your chompers adjusted. Then you can just RELAX while they take a jackhammer to you face. :shocked2:

And they do say 2 hours I think, but phsaw on that. I think 1 hour is the REAL time. Once I was running close and hit CUN at 56 minutes. They gave me the stink eye, but that was all.

 

[DandyDon]

Dear Dandy,

Sounds like a real mess. Check into United from Austin through Houston. Sometimes the fare is half what it is from Houston (crazy huh). I have driven from Houston to Austin just to save $400.

If I don't want to drive 100 miles to Amarillo or 300 to DFW, then 400 to Austin is out of the question. I'm up on the Central Plains between Lubbock & Amarillo. Texas almost gave us away in the Compromise of 1850 when we joined the Union. See the red star...

​

Very complicated Don. I would just add at least a day on to the begining of your trip to deal with your dentist and to relax a bit before you start diving. What's the rush? Maybe also add a day on to the end and have a more relaxing end to your trip and accommodate your Dental appointment without worry. This also may be a good time to consider the amount of stuff you drag down. Traveling lighter makes it so much easier. Even I can get it down to 1 dive bag and a carryon with a backpack.

Yes, well - not planning a morning dive the first day in Coz is like adding a day, and I did add a night on the end. Any more no-plans time would be boring. Cutting back on my bag of toys would be too.

All that running around, consider my van guy. You could arrange for him to get you at the airport and take you for all your crap and then to Playa. Same thing on the way back. And you can leave you sink, coffee maker, vacuum bottle, carburetor rebuilt kits and rented mule in the van while you have your chompers adjusted. Then you can just RELAX while they take a jackhammer to you face. :shocked2:

And they do say 2 hours I think, but phsaw on that. I think 1 hour is the REAL time. Once I was running close and hit CUN at 56 minutes. They gave me the stink eye, but that was all.

I think my 4 mainland bus trips total 250 Pesos, and that my logistics are designed to work. I doubt he'd want to do all that for anything close, and I'm too cheap for luxuries. How much do you think he'd want for all of that?

 

[cvchief]

I think my 4 mainland bus trips total 250 Pesos, and that my logistics are designed to work. I doubt he'd want to do all that for anything close, and I'm too cheap for luxuries. How much do you think he'd want for all of that?

Well, a good bit more than 250 pesos. It would depend on the waiting time. Without waiting, probably between 50 and 65 I would guess a trip plus tip. I guess where does luxury begin? You could walk between Playa and Cancun too? I would NOT want to haul all you #$%#$% on and off a bus and drag it around especially with my face #$%#$% up from dentistry, so I wouldn't call it a luxury. I would call the bus under those conditions a hardship.

 

[DandyDon]

Ok, well - I'm not getting worked on. Just some new equipment fitted...

I'm booked for Memorial Day week. Our Chinese girl goes home that weekend so the kids are staying home to see her off. The danged air fares were moving targets as usual - but Tuesdays seem to be the best day to shop, I kept rerunning Matrix on half a dozen tabs, rejecting overnight flight plans, selecting United only - gawd but I miss Continental, trying various date pairs, restricting to United only again once that box opened, insisting on arriving & departing in the 11-2 time bracket, avoiding the DEN connections, and got it down to 5/26-6/3 with a 4 hour layover or 5/27-6/4 with a two hour connection - same fares, so I went with the latter.


Orbitz had previously said I'd need to rebook with them, but this time they gave me the locator number and United's phone number?! Ok, so the airline lady wherever she is was challenging to understand, her calling my origin airport LOObuck was getting on my nerves, but she waived a $50 penalty for my having originally booked thru Orbitz, applied my ticket, charged me $250 exchange penalty, and is mailing me a $41 leftover credit voucher. I wish I could use it on baggage fees but it's only good on fares, so I may give it away later in the year.

All this is tiring & frustrating at times even with all of my experience, but the nice girl at the dentist office kept sending me such nice emails. That did help. I even asked for a discount from the dentist for being a repeat customer and he knocked off $200! :banana: I'd found a nice deal at Hotel Coz earlier but not for this week. I always try to book direct with the hotel if their site can offer as low of a price as Kayak finds on all of their booking sites, but oddly - direct with the hotel is often higher. Poor hotels have to pay so much to the booking sites and I guess their contracts force them to post higher prices on their home pages? After so many booking site mergers, Kayak has added some new ones - but some have very limited listings, like Cheap Caribbean only had 7 hotels on the island, Hotel.com had none, Expedia wouldn't open, etc.

Lots of different prices on some hotels, and a new one called Roomer offered some of the best - waiting until I'd already selected and filled in all the boxes before actually updating inventory and telling me too late. I finally punted, went downtown & cheap with Suites Colonial - and paid a couple dollars more a night to avoid some of the cheaper sites I grew to distrust. Oh there are several cheaper ones, even hostels listed there now, but this is a nice medium choice for me I think.

I don't think I have ever actually stayed downtown so this will be a new experience. I so hate the new Google Maps, but I have some paper maps I can use. Let's see, what's left to book? Trip insurance (DAN is always up to date), Cancun hotel, diving, and I might even work up the courage to rent cars for ground travels - altho I doubt that as that adds hassle time, and getting lost in Cancun with my poor Spanish can be frightening, I remember! I wonder how many Pesos I should order? I'd have to go to LOObuck to pick those up, so I may wait and use the ATMs.

I think I will print out some ferry & bus schedules. They seem to run so often, but a quick glance at one might come in hand. I remember one time when we rushed to the Cozumel dock only to find out the next one didn't leave for 1-1/2 hours!

 

[Ron Lee]

Check the bottom for bus and ferry schedule/websites.

www.tinyurl.com/7m3r6

ADO bus is not a time limiter nor is the ferry with Barcos Caribe filling in the schedule gaps.

 

[njones259]

The Colonial is decent the only problem I had there was when the bar was next door and played loud music 11:00 to 3:00 AM. Sounded like they were in my room. Hope you have a great trip.

 

[gopbroek]

Not sure if it would be cheaper than CVchief's van guy but how about Easyway rent a car, they have locations at both ends? They are at the entrance to CUN airport and in Playa about a block and a half from the ADO station. Not sure if they charge extra to one way drop in Playa but last year they had free drop charges from Playa to the airport. Personally if the cost was anywhere close I would go with the van with the driver watching my stuff as opposed locking it in the trunk while having my face ‘jack-hammered’.
The new ferry, Barcos Caribe, being the ‘new kid on the block’, is offering an expanded schedule as opposed to the Waterjet / Ultramar duopoly which looks like it makes bag drag connections a little easier. The last ferry from play now leaves at 23:00 and the first ferry in the AM departs at 06:30. This means that most likely a person can make Cozumel with an evening arrival into CUN but if they get in after 9 PM and can’t make the 23:00 they could grab a basic room in Playa overnight and then take the early ferry over and be in Cozumel at about 7:15, which if they are set up and leave their luggage at the dive shop, allows them to make the morning dive.
FYI I have stayed at Suites Colonial and liked it. I found my rooms, so far, very quiet and clean plus the breakfast buffet at CM is great.