3/2 Return to Quito

A sad morning – we’re up and out; credit card imprinted, email list picked up, breakfasted and in the Discovery Lounge at 8:15. Team Zodiac along with Maggs & Barb make it on the 2nd to last zodiac and waved goodbye to the little ship we called our home for the last week. Some were happy to go, others not, and it was a quiet ride.

Once on the pier, the queue –or a better description would be the “mob mentality” – began. We were waiting for the buses – obviously scheduled for 9 am. As the 2nd to last zodiac, we arrived around 8:50, so the first group had been waiting in the growing heat and humidity for a while. The first bus arrived and Ed, Cathy, Maggi and Richard managed to hop on board and stand in the back for the 5 minute ride.

It’s now 9:15 and we’re at the little open air terminal for a 12:15 flight. Huh? 3 hours here? We’re told that we will get our boarding passes in about 45 minutes and then be taken to the lounge. Ok, no big deal then, there were some little shopping stands to while away the time and – thankfully – it was overcast. So no blaring sun to make it unbearable. And that’s a good thing, because of the rain overnight, the airport waiting area (which is all open air with benches) was flooded with at least 2” of water in some spots. Oops! There were people pushing the water out the doors with squeegees and brooms and also scooping it up and dumping it into buckets.

10:00 comes. 10:00 goes. We’re all getting hotter and limper in the humid heat. 10:30 comes – a little activity, but not much. Finally at 10:45, the boarding passes arrive. We queue, organized by the deck on which your cabin was located, and get our passes. Now to the lounge right? Where there’s air conditioning? And there are reportedly beverages? Uh, no. But we were told we’d be taken there in a few minutes. At 11:00 we were lined up and led to Security, only to be turned back by the Security/passport control guys. Finally, around 11:30 we were allowed through to the gate area – a big holding pen with benches, ceiling fans and little breeze.

So, what’s up? We see people coming from the Lounge to other flights. One of the naturalists had said the lounge was shut down this week for some reason, but he didn’t know why. A little investigation and we soon found out from the employee manning the lounge that – no – the lounge was indeed open, but we weren’t allowed in because Celebrity had not renewed the contract which had expired last week. Reportedly, they did not renew, are you ready for this? Because it was too expensive. WARNING>>>>>here comes a rant!

TOO EXPENSIVE? Please, please tell me you are kidding me and someone just made a big mistake. Because, here you have a group of people who have just spent a whole heck of a lot of money to go on an admittedly fantastic trip – but one that was more than pricey – and you won’t pay for them to use a VIP lounge? And you don’t tell your staff, who are just as confused as the passengers, because they kept telling us that we’re going to the lounge! And you have it written – yes – in writing – in your own cruise documents that the passengers will have access to the lounge in the airport? This is Celebrity (well RCL) at their finest. They expect the passenger to pay full dollar for their services, and they then feel they have the right to nickel and dime that passenger! And it only gets worse! (Oh, please don’t get me started on the condition of the Galaxy! One of our favorite ships, btw, but it is bordering on the disgusting due to lack of maintenance – I found it hard to sit on the couch it was in such icky shape – and let’s not even talk about the stateroom door that was held together with masking tape!)

Ok, so finally, the tires, hotel and thirsty hordes get on the plane – at least its got the air blasting so there’s some relief there. We get underway to basic airplane food – ok – no biggie – it’s food – whatever – but wait – for beverage service, no wine. What? The plane round-trip’s with only Celebrity people on Sunday – are you trying to tell me that those 90+ passengers that just came over this morning (big emphasis on MORNING!) drank all the wine? On their 9 am flight? I think not. Then to add insult to injury, we land in Quito and there is no one there in baggage claim to meet us with instructions. The documents handed out when we left weren’t exactly clear and a good number of us thought Celebrity handled the bags. We didn’t think we had to claim them or anything. Well, as it turns out (after we had to go outside, search down the Celebrity representative and ask), we did have to get our bags, then leave them to the side for transfer to the bus.

So we are really feeling appreciated now! Cruise is over, sayonara baby! On to the next whales who are already on their first excursion! Not a very pleasant taste to leave in your mouth – it really did put a damper on the excitement and value of the trip. Fortunately, the rest of the evening went well (with only a little misunderstanding). We got the first bus back to the hotel – and had the option to go to the market to shop – for an hour. Not even worth thinking about it – so we headed back to the hotel to get organized, repack our bags and relax a big before dinner. (Here’s the misunderstanding part – not very good information on the dinner service. We did get to choose our meal as usual, but we were told dinner was at 7 or 7:30. Huh? We questioned it, but that’s what was said. We just figured the farewell dinner was like the welcome dinner, we all show up en masse, share tables, etc. It wasn’t. We could go anytime we wanted between 7 and 11, with as many or as few friends as we wanted. This from the maitre’d at the restaurant! Wish we would have know that earlier – then we wouldn’t feel bad about telling Myrna and David dinner was at 7 and having them rush. Just another little irritant.)

The dinner itself was great – no complaints there. Food was excellent, huge pieces of beef or fish, both with wonderful sauces. Wine and beer flowed, we took pictures with the Richmond contingent at another table, Pedro and Eliana too, then said goodbye to all. Headed to our respective rooms for a good night’s sleep on dry land (although moth Maggi and Cathy were still moving with the ship – the last two nights were really amazing!!!).