Apple Vacations Reviews

After all of that the first representative said that kids are not exactly free. What does that even mean? What does free mean to Apple? I spent 30 min with the first representative and did not get any questions answered reasonably. Then I called back one more time. I spoke to another representative who was nice and more knowledgeable but still unable to answer questions about the kids stay free promotion. I then asked to speak to a higher ranking rep and was connected to Ruth after 1 hour on hold. She was also unable to answer any questions and was very rude.

As a customer trying to book a trip for 9 people, I am disappointed in the way Apple falsely advertises promotions that are either not available or that no one from Apple has any knowledge of. You can listen to the customer service recordings from March 8 around 3:00 central time and hear what I was told. Thank you for your time. I will post my concerns on Google reviews as well.

I just spoke with another representative about about a hour ago - on the line holding with her about 30 min. She located the account and indicated she would call me back. She called back only to tell me that it was another dept that needed to help me. I called back and the other representative claim he cannot locate the reservation at all to hold on and an hour later - I give up. What is wrong with this company - it really should just go out of business... Really. Please use Bookit or Caribbean.com. Runaway from Apple. Save yourself a headache and your money.

Now Apple is telling us we have to pay $400 more than the published booking price to add a person to any room. We have called several different times and been told different stories. Bottom line they lied to us at booking so we paid extra for extra space in each room, that we know cannot use. This is a very unethical company that promises whatever it takes to get your business, once they have your money they do not stand by their word. I have traveled to Mexico several times for business, and with Funjet. I have never received this lack of customer service from any other agent.

Apple Vacations is a joke. I would never. Ever. Take a vacation through them. The stress and aggravations they caused my family and I on the first day set and unpleasant mood for following day or two. If someone offered me a free trip through them, I would say, "No thank you." That is how strongly I feel about them. We talked to other people who have used them before and they said they are always disorganized and are never reliable. If you choose to book a vacation through them, good luck god bless, I hope you do not have an experience like we had. Though I feel like if you are looking for a stress free relaxing vacation through them, it's like trying to find a toothpick in a hay pile.

Our all-included food choices were limited by a single place. Unlike other all inclusive resorts we stayed in, this one required a check-in at the front. So, we had to stand in a line for about 10 minutes before getting a table. The food choices were limited and sub-par. Anyway, the very day we arrived, we decided to seek Apple Vacation's help in moving up to our usual Iberostar resort. Called them and got the messages honestly warning us that the wait time would be 290 minutes. Yes, it's two hundred and ninety minutes.

Pro tip here: if you find yourself dealing with Apple Vacations and you are trying to reach a customer rep, don't bother with the "existing reservation" option. Just go with the "new reservation" - it has far shorter line and you will just give them your booking number. Anyway, we resumed our quest the next day. Cornered the Apple rep at the resort. And he just outright told us that he couldn't help us, since we didn't pay money to him. So, we tried calling the Apple Vacations customer service again. The wait time was 60 minutes for the new reservation this time around.

Finally, got through, did some blah blah blah with a rep. Were told to go pound the sand, insisted on changing the resorts, were told to talk to the hotel manager, waited 2 more hours to find this manager (who, by the way, turned out to be the most helpful in this whole nightmare of a vacation), got a letter from him saying that he's Ok with us leaving.

Now armed with this absolution letter, back to the Apple Vacations rep, he spent another 2 hours getting through to his office. Finally, we had to pay $2.5K extra to switch the resorts. But you know what, it was worth it all in the end. We were able to get a vacation, at least. And we learnt an invaluable lesson - NEVER EVER to have any business with Apple Vacations. They will take your money, but good luck clawing it back from them even if you're sold a lie.

All our questions about safety of swimming and any water probes for bacterial range taken were ether ignored or answered like "this is ocean, its big and changes too fast". My mom had a leg injury (torn tendon), so the whole idea of taking vacation was to get the benefit of seawater healing properties, not to be at the pool. We asked if the hotel can accommodate some kind of transportation for her (she was using crutches) to the closest clean beach about 1 mile away but were told that if something happens an insurance is not going to cover it, so no.

To be fair, I have to mention that hotel manager was nice with us and tried to make us happier with the stay by providing a 25 min massage for our family. Apple Vacations from their side did nothing! No refund if we were to leave the first morning, no discount, no change of the hotels without a huge additional fee, not even the opportunity to talk to the manager (we were told he is not at work at the moment for a few hours until we stopped trying to reach him).

We went to eat and was back sitting in front of the Apple Reception area at 10:15 am. By 10:35 am we went up front to the main lobby to await our shuttle. By 11:00 am, my husband went back to the Apple Reps who told them our pick up time was 10:20 am - not 10:50 am. I am not sure how there was a mix up between the two times 10:20 and 10:50, but there was. Needless to say, we missed our shuttle because we were sitting in front of Apple Reps and not in the front lobby. Why would the shuttle driver not call the Apple Reps??? All they had to do was simply call out our names! There were two Apple Reps assisting my husband when I walked back there. One was on the phone speaking to shuttle services while the other, Giovanni was being very unprofessional.

The conversation did get heated and Giovanni told my husband that we would be responsible for a taxi back to the airport. Giovanni looked right at me and told me that he personally told me 10:20 am. This immediately struck a nerve with me as I had never seen this individual before. I specifically remember the very nice gentleman that was on the phone from the day prior. I am sorry I do not remember his name and wished I had wrote it down as Apple needs more Reps like him. Both my husband and I walked off. I asked the front desk to call me a taxi. Due to us having 6 people, this was going to cost $107 dollars. Both Apple Reps walked up to the front lobby and the nicer gentleman was still on the phone and advised my husband that they may have found another shuttle to take us.

I walked over to both Apple Reps and asked if I needed to cancel the taxi. While the nice Apple Rep was still on the phone, I told Giovanni that this is ridiculous that the times would get mixed up like this. Giovanni raised his voice and again told me he personally told me 10:20 am. I denied our alleged prior encounter and I yelled back and asked if he was calling me a liar. Giovanni became hostile to say the least and caused a scene and started yelling at his co-worker to "get off the phone immediately and do NOT help these people". He kept yelling at his co worker to hang up the phone. My mother had to walk away with our three children because of Giovanni becoming very agitated and unprofessional.

I will admit that I yelled back at him because he WILL NOT speak to me in that manner. I am his customer and for him to be that disrespectful to both my husband and I in front of a lobby full of vacationers is unheard of. The nice Apple Rep did confirm that there unfortunately was no shuttle available and that we would be responsible for the taxi. He did confirm that I could pay the taxi driver with a credit card and for me to contact Apple to seek reimbursement.

The taxi drove us to the airport and when I handed him my credit card he told me he did not accept credit cards! I found an ATM but unfortunately the ATM did not provide US Dollars and gave me $200 pesos. I had to find another ATM on the other side of the airport. By time I was charged two ATM transaction fees $15.00 each, plus $2.50 each from my bank and got out the $100. Luckily we made our flight but not without a lot of stress and my kids getting all upset and overwhelmed thinking we were going to be stranded in Mexico.

I contacted Apple and wrote them the same review as above and there was NO apology for Giovanni. Apple responded that they needed to see my receipt from the taxi driver... Obtaining a receipt was the last thing on my mind when we were already late getting to the airport and me trying to find an ATM with US dollars. Needless to say, I never heard back from Apple. Apple Vacations has lost our business after 15 years. I am not worried about the taxi reimbursement but to not even get an apology for being yelled and screamed at by one of their Representatives in front of little children is insane.

When I was booking this vacation with a live Apple representative, I mentioned the countless complaints I had read on all the review sites. The Apple rep assured me that if there any issues to call them and they would take care of the problem. After sitting on the phone for 45 minutes an option finally came to leave my name, number and booking reference number. The message said, "We are busy helping others at this time, we will have someone call you. Please leave your number." So I left my number and the recording even read my number back to me. I am still waiting to hear from Apple. I also repeated this process the next day with the same response... NOTHING!!! I will not book another vacation with Apple. I will recommend others to NOT even attempt to book their vacation with Apple. They truly are dishonest and a total waste of money. STAY AWAY FROM APPLE VACATIONS.

When we finally arrived in Punta Cana at 3:30 pm we went through immigration and customs and were the first to arrive on our bus to take us the resort. We were on the correct bus and were told to get on the bus by an Apple representative; I believe it was bus #21. We waited on the bus for nearly 2 hours to get to the resort due to the fact that we were waiting for 1 more couple to arrive. The bus had at least 30 people on it who were VERY eager to get to their destination. The Apple Representative was an ** woman who was EXTREMELY rude and disrespectful and kept saying... “This is not my fault, there was a plane that was delayed and we know about it. You think we weren’t waiting for you guys as well?”

One of the other passengers said to her; “This is money that we are wasting by not being on our vacation and sitting here on this bus!” She said back to him, “You think I like waiting for planes to arrive all day? WE WERE WAITING FOR YOU THIS MORNING!” It was as if we caused her some inconvenience by our plane being delayed yet she was still getting paid. The bus driver was very friendly and kept trying to get the woman to let us leave and get to the resort since we were only waiting for 2 people who may or may not show up. Needless to say after 2 hours of waiting she FINALLY let us leave and the other couple we were “waiting for” never showed up to the bus. We had asked our representative before we finalized booking if we should take an upgraded form of transportation since we had upgraded everything else and she reassured us that Secrets was the first stop and we did not need to upgrade.

Secrets was the first stop but by the time we arrived at the resort it was 6:30 pm. We should have been to the resort by 2:00 pm at the latest. We missed an entire day of our vacation which is extremely disappointing. I cannot get over how rude the Apple Representative was that would not let us leave; if this situation occurs they should have let us leave and found another form of transportation for the other couple.

We ended up running into the other couple that was supposed to be on our bus they were told to get on bus #27 and when they called roll call on their bus they did not say their names but they were told, “Oh it's fine... we will take you there.” It seems like there was a lot of miscommunication and lack of organization. When the lady finally let us leave she again said in a very nasty tone, “THIS IS NOT MY FAULT…” I replied back to her and said... "Yes it is your fault; we could have left 2 hours ago..." this is not OUR fault. Extremely frustrating after traveling since 5 am.

When we arrived to the resort we were taken to our room. We upgraded to “preferred” and were actually put in room 4132 which was not in the preferred section of the resort and were in perfect view of everyone walking from the beach to the pool/restaurants. There also was not much view of the beach since there were tall shrubs everywhere. We were also told that there would be a Jacuzzi but this was not like the ones in the preferred area. This was actually a Jacuzzi bathtub on the balcony.

On the first night we went to the Mexican restaurant; the food on a scale of 1-5 (5 being the best) I would rate it at a 2. I ordered a chicken quesadilla and it looked as though they put a soft tortilla shell in the microwave with some cheese and called it a quesadilla. My fiancé had the fajitas which he said were decent but definitely not a good impression of the first meal. We tried to order some tequila shots which took 20 mins to get to us and were in wine glasses which was very strange. We walked down to the beach our first night and were disappointed to see and smell all of the seaweed that covered the beach and made it hard to even get to the water without stepping in it. Although it was later in the evening we were bombarded by the panhandler which was very aggravating.

Since we were not happy with the room we asked to move rooms which they did accommodate and moved our room to room 2393 the following day at 5:00 pm. We had to check in with the preferred lounge several times throughout the day to see if our room was ready. When we got to our new room our butler Martin showed us into the room and there was water all over the floor as if someone with wet bathing suit had just walked through and the TV was on which was very strange.

After Martin left us in our new room we noticed the air conditioning was making an awful noise from the fan blade being loose; when the janitor came up to mop up the water on the floor there we asked him to call maintenance to get the AC fixed. We waited in our room for maintenance to come up to fix the AC which a couple hours later was fixed. Not sure if they thought we were someone else/what the confusion was but there was a “happy anniversary sign” on our door but it was not our anniversary... we didn’t say anything but it was just odd that it was on our door.

The next day we noticed the refrigerator was not cold at all; we called the preferred lounge to send someone up to fix it. It was not until the next day that it was fixed. We were exploring the resort and asked a woman a question in regards to what to do with the “key” that was given to us that was to unlock coupons... she couldn’t believe we were had not gone our “welcome breakfast” yet and turned on the charm and friendliness to get us set up. She took us to the main lobby to meet with our Apple Rep Katie. We got set up for the cigar tour for the following day at 9:00 am which did not make the lady who took us there very happy because she wanted to schedule our welcome breakfast for the following day at 8:00 am.

It wasn’t until she walked us back to our room that we realized this was not a “welcome breakfast” and she wasn’t being friendly “just because” she wanted to make sure we got sucked in like all the others she was touring around for the “packages/timeshares/memberships.” I have been on a cruise to the Bahamas and then to Disney but in order to get our Disney tickets “FOR FREE” you had to sit through a “short” meeting which turns into another 3-4 hours of vacation time lost because they’re trying to suck you into their timeshare.

This left a VERY bad taste in my mouth since we had already missed a day due to airline delays/bus issues. We paid a lot of money for this trip and weren’t there to get conned/get anything free/especially the “spa” – that she gave us “free spa coupons to get us sucked into going to this breakfast; which I will say we did NOT attend. We watched people all week and talked to several members who we had to literally try to hold composure as they told us what a “great DEAL” they got... and how they can bring their whole family etc. etc. It’s dirty math... my fiancé is an accountant and when we told people what we paid for the trip they gasped but then proceeded to tell us how much they pay a month... and it literally made ZERO sense. It is NOT a “welcome breakfast” it’s “let’s pray on IDIOTS to give us all of their money and waste their precious vacation time SALES PLOY.”

On the 2nd day at 3:30 pm I ordered room service; the hamburger was completely pink in the middle and the hot dog and fries were cold and very old. Before dinner I called and asked them to come up and take the plates since they had been sitting in our room for several hours. We got back from dinner at 8:30 pm- the plates were still on the table and the turndown service had not come to our room yet. I set the plates outside of our room on the floor to get them out of site. The cleaning lady came after 9 pm and knocked on the door to turn down the room but we were already in bed and asked her not to come in. When we walked of our room the following day at 7:00 am the plates of food were still on the floor next do the door. (Pretty gross since they had been sitting there since 5:30 pm the day before).

Food Ratings: Scale 1-5 (5 being the best) (Tipping there were a lot of people around us tipping- we did not expect this but did want to tip for good service- we did not have single dollar bills and asked in the preferred club and bar if they had change but they did not which would definitely be hurting the employees if there is not a place to get change and you don’t expect to tip- wondering if we had tipped more often if our service would have been different- it was as if the employees expected the tips which we did not expect).

Breakfast Buffett on the beach – 3. Oceana- 3 (lobster was very tough). Seaside Grille Breakfast- 2 (went there twice- ordered the croissant with ham/cheese- croissant was burnt black and the ham/egg/cheese was freezing cold as if it was premade and not warmed up). Seaside Grille Dinner- Salmon & Ribeye – 5 (best meal). Himitsu- Hibatchi dinner -4 (2nd best dinner we had). Portofino – 2 “special dinner” ordered ahead of time lobster was covered in spicy powder of some sort- courses were coming out fast but just too out of the ordinary it was as if they had to get rid of certain food before it went bad so they call it a “special menu”.

Scores Night Bar (we did not eat there/drink there but could barely stand the smell when we walked in on 2 separate occasions- smelled EXTREMELY musty like they had a flood and did not properly clean it up... almost gagged at the strong odor). Alcohol: I personally am not a big “drinker” but my fiancé does drink- it was odd that we ordered a lot of drinks at the preferred pool and even went into the preferred lounge to get top shelf liquor and did not feel any effects of the alcohol our entire trip. In the preferred lounge we ordered Don Julio and they ran out- they also ran out of Grey Goose Vodka- when paying for preferred having to walk inside from the pool to the preferred lounge to get top shelf liquor is very inconvenient but we did it numerous times- would have thought the bartender would have offered to have the top shelf taken outside so we did not have to walk in every time.

When they ran out of Don Julio the bartender said they were out but getting more and to come back in a couple minutes. They did not have it restocked for 4 hours. In an effort to try anything to part/have a good time we of course tried the very highly recommended/baby maker/ knock you off your socks/ hyped up drink... mamajuana. I think this is another scam/con- we were “WARNED” by Katie that people fall off chairs get so messed up/you have to wait a half hr between each shot because it really sneaks up on you... we took several shots in 1 day and felt absolutely nothing...

Night Life: Not much nightlife/instructions from our Apple rep or butler in regards to what was going on/what to do at night. We saw a couple shows but were not very impressed. Did not receive the paper that was supposed to be under our door every night to tell us what was going on/where to go what to do etc. Beach: We were told the panhandlers cannot come up to the 2nd row of chairs in the preferred area- the most certainly did- they would not leave you alone the entire day. Security seemed lax until the 3rd day so we did spend much time at the beach because even going into the water you weren’t only dodging the annoying people trying to throw monkeys on your shoulder but also the incredible amounts of seaweed. I know the seaweed is out of their control but we will be asking when booking our next trip if seaweed is in “bloom.”

Last Room Issue: As we were packing up to leave there was HUGE cockroach right were our suitcases were sitting on the floor- it was at least 3 inches long on its back and still alive. Trip Home: Picked up late from the resort- were supposed to depart at 8:30- got picked up a little before 9 am. Plane was supposed to board at 11:00 am- did not board until 12:00 pm. Seats on the plane did not match the tickets which was making passengers freak out. It was still the very old plane that we took to get there- it literally had a projector screen so it had to be from the 1970’s. We were in Row 1 in first class. The flight attendants were worse than on the way there- shortly after takeoff they heated up some fried chicken which smelled and proceeded to eat it and lick their fingers- I watched the entire thing from my seat.

Our overhead bin was full due to the fact that the flight attendants had their bags there which they took out midflight and were searching for something. Very unprofessional – one of them had a HUGE hole and run in her tights she also had what looked like dreadlocks and long dirty looking hair. Not attentive at all- had to ask 2 hrs into the flight for a drink and for them to take my snack box trash which had been sitting there for over an hour.

When we arrived to the airport and went through customs and were going through security to get our carry-on bags re-checked to enter the US the entire group of flight attendants cut in front of me and separated my fiancé and me. The security guard even asked them to step to the back of the line but they did not care and threw their bags on to the belt and proceeded- it was very rude and unprofessional. Didn’t apologize or say excuse me. My bag was literally going through the belt and the entire crew stepped in front of me and proceeded on. I could have screamed. I was so frustrated at that point! I know this email is EXTREMELY long – I tried to call and speak with someone but was told this had to be in writing. I would still like to speak with someone because I am very disappointed in the trip and the amount of money we paid for the lack of service/quality of food/drinks/airline. We will not be returning to Punta Cana.

As I told him that was not true and we were on time and he was the one to schedule us so early without any reason and that he himself did not take an effort to come to work to make sure his customers are picked up, he started yelling at me. He would talk over me and yelled into my face that this is not US, that we are in Mexico. As I asked for his name, he took his badge and put it almost into my face, saying: "Here... Write it down". That was the most aggressive, offensive behavior I ever was subjected too. The young man has a attitude issue, not a single skill of dealing with customers, and no desire ever to try to learn. My goodness. We are planning to contact the whoever is in charge of Apple Vacations and report the name of the person. He should not be working in customer service. We will tell everybody not to use this company because anybody could be on my place and get treated like that.

You will have to go to the NOW Larimar side to use Restaurants, Theatre, Dance Club, Sports Club, Bars, Casino, Coffee Shop/Snack Bar, Spa, Fitness Center, Salon, Tennis Courts & Business Center. There are also 6 buildings that face the NOW Larimar side. The latest reviews also state people are getting very sick during their stays. After talking to three different representatives we were told they could assign the Secrets Cap Cana Adult Only resort if we were willing to pay an additional $1,478.00 per person. There were no managers available at the time to waive the fee or do a complimentary swap as one of the reps told us. We couldn't decline going because the cancellation fees were the cost of the trip. We were told to talk to management upon arrival tomorrow and everything would be worked out then.

On November 25 at 15:15 - 17:45 We spoke with Secrets Royal Beach management and they got Apple Vacations Representative involved along with Secrets Cap Cana Management plus Apple Vacations Management. After all that was said and done they still wanted the $1,478.00 per person to move us to Secrets Cap Cana. Secrets Royal Beach did not want to return the initial payment nor work with Secrets Cap Cana to make this complimentary swap happen. They just wanted to keep the money and get more. Secrets Royal Beach did offer to give us Preferred status only. This allows you to enjoy a couple special areas and restaurant for breakfast or lunch. Plus give you candy and chips in your room. They gave us a pool view room but not the Preferred room you would normally get. We told all parties we weren't happy about this and we were filing a complaint because we didn't pay for a vacation to be around children all the time!

We didn't get a 6 Golden Apple Adult ONLY inclusive resort. Room was spacious but boring. The deck has only 2 little chairs and a nice hot tub but no privacy shade to enjoy it. The bathroom needs help because there is mold in the shower area and tiles are in need of repair. The wood is worn from the weather. When opening the refrigerator door your waters on the door will continually tumble out onto the floor. Remember to shake your clothes when packing so the cockroaches don't follow you home. We told management and they said, "They exterminate but this is a tropical climate so we're used to it."

Butler was nowhere to be found when needed after check in is done. One day he said there was a special table for us set up for dinner at Portofino, the manager told us he never even called. Our fruit and champagne were delivered at the wrong time, twice for our turndown service only to have to go find the ice machine to keep it chilled. The fruit had to be tossed because it was warm already. Housekeeping and Room Bar Service were terrible. They can't do the simplest job by replacing what has been used! Everyday we had to go talk to someone because they didn't do the job they were paid to do. If you use shampoo, sunblock or wash clothes it is easy to replace it. If you drink 2 waters or 2 sodas replace them. If you eat the candy and chips replace them.

Restaurants: Service is terrible and slow. Workers have no motivation and lack work ethic. They forget about you when they have to many guests to take care of. Especially refilling drinks. Food is not delivered hot nor kept hot. Can only get different salad dressings at buffet. Restaurants only offer vinaigrette or balsamic. Seaside - Had several meals here. Steaks were ordered well no pink to only come to us blood raw in the center. When sent back they came back charred black and not able to eat at all. Management will say they are sorry is the typical answer. Pastry basket in the morning is not fresh at all. Himitsu - 1 out of 3 times we did this fish was offered as an option. Otherwise you will only get chicken, beef and shrimp. Portions are very small.

Portofino - Pizza and Pasta is good when hot. Not kept at good temp though. Oceana - Steaks were ordered well no pink to only come back raw in the center. Sent back and was ok upon return. Creme Brulee tasted like the lighter fluid used keep flame going while bought to the table. Lobster Bisque there is a tiny piece of lobster the size of your thumbnail. There is no lobster. Buffet - Food is cold not hot like it should be kept. It is not kept up and sloppy messes everywhere. The best solution is to have the chef prepare something for you. Look for Alejandro he will keep your drinks filled.

Entertainment Staff: Awful, boring and terrible rolled into one. The shows aren't good. The singers use iPod but still miss the words and sing off key. Very disorganized when rains to set up in the lobby to continue the show. The fire show was the best but the children running around and not enough seats to accommodate all the guests is the downfall. Got talent show is the worst for if guests don't do anything they have the staff sing over and over. Preferred club and Lobby: Not that clean and you will find cockroaches here too especially by the Food area of the Preferred Lounge. Other guests were killing them with the shoes they were wearing.

Pools: Main pool bar ran out of bottled water for two days. Had to go back to other bar or room to get it. Tiles are coming off and very dirty. The water is ice cold as well. Preferred area is very small and you can hear the kids from over the wall. Beach: Awful not like pictures at all. There is tons of seaweed everywhere. Then every few minutes you have to deal with children and vendors on top of that even in the preferred area. On December 1st the seaweed on the beach was finally all cleaned up. It was a beautiful sight to see and you could enjoy the water. This only lasted for a day. The other resorts down the beach keep their properties up much better and cleaner.

December 3 we were locked out of our room because check in didn't set the correct check out date. Upon checkout when we reached the front desk, we were told there were $42.05 US Dollars in charges for phone calls placed from our room. I explained we were told the calls were complimentary and shown how to dial out by the front desk when we checked in plus the website said they were complimentary as well. Had to argue with management regarding this and eventually was told they wouldn't charge us.

In the end my husband was sick everyday during this trip with an upset stomach, loose stools, diarrhea and skin rashes. I had things on and off plus the skin rash as well. On December 2nd my husband was offered Gatorade from management. We told them we have been using plenty of water already. It took almost two weeks after our return home to get him well and the rashes to subside. We did write a formal complaint and requested a full refund. We did get a response back stating they would offer us a $125.00 per person voucher from Apple Vacations and have to sign an NDA. Secrets Royal Beach felt the staff did the job well and said they forgave $400.00 plus dollars in phone calls not $42.05 that we were told and they weren't going to give anything else in return.

On January 18th, 2018 we wrote Apple Vacations, AM Resorts & Secrets Resorts an Appeal to reach out the CEO and other upper management staff to do the right thing and issue us our refund for not giving us what we paid for. We told them we weren't happy with the response and felt we were cheated by the company. We continually tried to work with Apple and Secrets from the day before we left to the day we were coming back as problems happened during this trip.

Today is March 13th, 2018 and we still haven't heard back and they have decided to keep our money! We feel you future travelers should gain the knowledge from our loss and experience with these companies. They aren't going to give you what you paid for and saying they can change things because it is cheaper for them is no excuse. If you book a true ADULT ONLY RESORT you should get it. We weren't given it. They wanted more money. Do yourselves a favor and look elsewhere for better service and cleaner beaches. Even if you have to pay more. The Resort wasn't even on par with a local Ramada and Holiday Inn Express by our home. We would suggest you spend a little more and go to a Sandals Resort. You will truly receive the service and ADULT ONLY you want and expect from a 6 Star resort.

On the second page item #3 read. "Roundtrip transfers are included for passengers (air, land, package) arriving to Punta Cana and La Romana airports, traveling on any charter airline, and staying in either the Punta Cana or La Romana hotel areas Reservation must be made with Apple Vacations. All other passengers (air, land, package) arriving in Punta Cana and staying in the La Romana (and vice versa) must purchase the roundtrip Punta Cana - La Romana optional transfer. Transfers are not included for Air only passengers. Transfers are not included for scheduled air passengers (air, land, package) arriving in Punta Cana or La Romana and staying in either Puerto Plata, Santo Domingo, Santiago or Samana. Optional transfers are available for Santo Domingo Transfers are not available for Puerto Plata or Samana."

They used this Item 3 to make us pay extra for transfers, even though the first page indicated the transfers were included (remember the bold writing at the top). As if that wasn't enough, we were at the airport waiting for our flight back when my husband realized he had forgotten his Apple Watch charging in the resort room. We couldn't get in touch with family who was still there so we decided to call Apple Vacations because we knew they should be able to communicate with the staff better. The response we received back from our rep was 'I'm not on site, you will have to call the resort directly.' She didn't even attempt to assist. Customer Service Sucks... Save yourself some time and heartache and choose someone else.

So basically after 6 pm it was a senior citizen's retirement resort. Take your meds, soak your teeth and go to bed! My 30th anniversary was completely ruined. Had to pay and eat out 3 times. We needed a good meal, the steak from the steakhouse was all gristle. Couldn't eat it. Spoke to Apple Vacations rep while there and was told they couldn't help me. Wow! So I was ripped off of 3 thousand 4 hundred dollars.

I cruise which I love. Food is 5 star products and prepared by a real chef. So my 1st all inclusive vacation and it was this bad. Not good. Bad business in my opinion since my husband and I vacation 3x a year. Potentially lost a very good customer who has a group of friends that vacation together. A group of 10 couples! Hopefully Apple will respond back to me and straighten this matter out!

At our hotel, we were informed by the local representative that Apple Vacations said it was our responsibility to deal directly with the airline and there was nothing they could do. We were in a foreign country, without cell service and dependent on WiFi to make calls. Once United canceled our flight, we attempted to reschedule and add a different flight, but no options were available for days. We were stranded in a foreign country for 3 extra days due to this cancellation and were forced to pay for additional days at our hotel, costing over $300.

We finally had to book new return flights through a different airline in order to get back to our home state and a rental car to drive the remaining distance, that cost us an additional $1300. After finally getting home four days late, I called Apple and spoke with Laticia, a customer care employee. She stated that she could only offer an apology that they never responded to the email request and did not offer an explanation as to why the proper email for customer care was listed on their website or travel documents. Furthermore, she was noncommittal about how long we would have to wait to receive the refund for our flight that United had already stated would be sent within 21 days.

TRIED TO REACH APPLE REPRESENTATIVE FOR 2 DAYS. Still no return call. The bathrooms are outdated tubs need repair. When you shower the water doesn't run out so you are standing in a puddle of water. Housekeeping could not repair it. Bed Linen and towels were dingy, closets smelled like mildew and housekeeping had to be asked daily for towels and shower caps. Never received the Ocean View room that I paid for. Very disappointed in my first and last APPLE VACATION.

Punta Cana (VIK). Our flight getting there was really late and our flight coming home was super early! I researched prices etc then called to book when I was ready and they changed the flight completely! They should have made it clear! To make it even worse, Stanley the transportation person arranged our pick up at 3:20am for a 7am flight!!! We were the first people at the airport. Nothing was open, and we sat there for 3 hours.

The resort was mediocre in general. The pools were nice. The beach was nice but it was so overcrowded. The service was hit or miss. The liquor is cheap and watered down. The rooms were basic but clean. The food is awful! You will eat but don't expect your taste buds to go on a journey, it was mostly disgusting buffet food. They did not have Dominican food at a Dominican resort??? They had Mexican and Italian. The Italian place had very sweet disgusting marinara and the wine was awful. You will get pestered to buy things constantly, it was annoying.

When we arrived at our resort, we had terrible problems with the rooms, getting towels at the pools, my birthday celebration was to have balloons and decorate my room (they put 4 balloons on a bed in my friend's room not mine and on the wrong day) and the worst part was we scheduled with the Apple representative an excursion to into Cancun which was a 45 minute drive each way and after waiting in the lobby for over an hour and driving 45 minutes when we arrived we were told that the excursion was cancelled due to choppy water and that the Apple rep was informed via email that morning!!! We were furious!!! Then we had to drive the 45 minutes back to our resort!!! We spent half of our day trying to go on the excursion when the Apple rep was told about this early that morning. We were not happy with the Paradisus or Apple Vacations.

According to our itinerary "FERRY TRANSFER TO COZUMEL FOR PASSENGERS ARRIVING IN CUN - Passengers flying an APPLE CHARTER into Cancun and reserving a hotel in Cozumel may purchase an OPTIONAL transfer that provides roundtrip transportation between Cancun Airport-Playa del Carmen, roundtrip ferry transport to/from Cozumel and roundtrip transportation between ferry dock and Cozumel hotel." The cost on this was $90/person.

When we arrived at the Cancun airport an Amstar representative (Apple Vacations counterpart) could not locate our reservation. After about 45 minutes of going back and forth they found our reservation and the paid transfer information. They put us on a shuttle to Playa del Carmen and dropped us off at the ferry. At which time we were told we needed to purchase the round trip ferry ticket. Again we showed them that we paid for the optional round trip transportation but were tired of arguing so we simply paid the ferry fees. Once we arrived in Cozumel we had to then pay for the taxi to the hotel. Once again we showed the Amstar representative that we paid for round trip transportation and the exact wording (stated above) describing what round trip entailed. Without any success we got into the taxi and paid the taxi fare out of pocket.

Once we got to the hotel we didn’t have any issues until it was the day before our departure. We were now told that we have purchased round trip transportation which means that they will pay for the taxi to the ferry and then ferry back to Playa del Carmen and we will be responsible for finding our own ride to the Cancun airport. After several attempts to work with the Amstar representative at the resort we placed an international call and contacted the Apple Vacations representative state side (Bridgeet).

After 30 minutes with Bridgeet telling us that round trip is considered a van ride to Playa del Carmen, we pay the ferry and taxi to the hotel on the way there and then on the way back Apple Vacations would pay the taxi and ferry back to Playa del Carmen and we need to find our own transportation from Playa del Carmen to the Cancun airport I asked to speak to a manager. After being on hold for 20 minutes Matt came on the line. He explained that round trip doesn’t include the van rides from the airport in Cancun to Playa del Carmen and back (BTW the van took us to Playa earlier that week). It’s just the ferry to the island and the taxi to the hotel and back. Keep in mind we have now had 6 versions of what our $180 paid for and the definition of round trip.

I once again reiterated what our documents from Apple Vacation stated as the description of round trip meant and it was not what we have been explained by any of the Apple Vacation or Amstar representatives. Matt tried to ask Amstar to work with us and they denied it. After being put on hold again for another 15 minutes he came back and said his manager approved for Apple Vacations to pay for our transportation from Playa del Carmen to Cancun. They would send an email to Amstar which we asked to be copied on and were not. So we were not sure what to expect the next morning.

The next morning we paid for our own taxi and ferry to get to Playa del Carmen and we were met by an Amstar representative- Fernando who was our contact on our arrival to Playa. Fernando looked at our documentation and stated that what we have been trying to explain is truly right and that Apple Vacations representatives were wrong. Our documentation states that round trip includes van transportation, ferry, and taxi on the arrival and departure legs of our trip. He stated that he would try to get us reimbursement. I am not holding my breath on that.

When a customer pays for round trip flight on an airline and there is a layover you don’t get to just fly the first leg of the trip and then have to figure out the second leg on your own. Round trip means to and from a destination. However, the definition by the Apple Vacation representatives is not what is promoted on their website or itinerary. Their marketing communications are false and misleading. In total we spent a half day of our vacation working with various Apple/Amstar representatives trying understand what our $180 was paying for and working to find a solution to being stranded in a foreign country where you don’t speak their language. The purpose of working through a travel agency is so you don’t have to worry about these issues.

I would not recommend using Apple Vacations not only due to their false advertising, but to their poor customer service. There was no sense of urgency or apathy from the agents. They were argumentative and wanted to prove that we are wrong. Apparently more training is needed for their agents to understand what they are promoting and overall customer service skills.

So, Apple is scarce when you need help, but holy moly do they bug the crap out of you to sell you excursions - under the guise of you need to check in for your return transportation. Called and woke us up at 8:00 am to ask why we missed the welcome meeting the day of arrival. Because we've been to Mexico 50 times and want to spend time on the beach not in the lobby talking to an Apple Rep. Woke our friends up at 6:00 am for the same thing?? Hubby wasted an hour of his vacation waiting in line to confirm our departure information. Hubby asked why Apple thought it was okay to call vacationers so early.

The Apple rep gets all pathetic and says he's just doing his job. Bull. Rep says we need to check in the day before departure to confirm. We blew that off because we went on vacation to enjoy ourselves, not go to meetings. HEY APPLE, post the information. If someone misses the bus, that's their problem. We've used Apple for years, but this past trip will be our last. They've really gone downhill and have become so unscrupulous and ANNOYING. Read their Glassdoor reviews. Unhappy employees...

The rate online today is $1449 per person excluding airfare... $2359 per person including airfare. Simple math shows the airfare is $910 per person and yet we received a $245 credit per person when airfare was cancelled. In order to receive the reduced rate, we had to change our room selection from ocean front to ocean view... We'll probably arrive and have a mirror in the corner of the deck so you can see a reflection of the ocean! Apple Vacations is an absolute rip off! BEWARE!

The first call I talked to Alfonzo who was very nice and was trying to get our group together at a new resort. He sent out an email and promised he would call back the next day between 3-4 and that didn't happen!! I had to call again and wait another hour on hold and was told that they still hadn't received a response from the resort. I asked to speak to a manager and was put on hold for another 20 minutes. Then I was told he would call me because he wasn't at his desk. Never received a call, however I did receive an email from management stating the same thing that hadn't received a response yet.

Day number 3 I was on hold for an 1 1/2 and finally someone answered and I have them my booking number only to get disconnected on their end. Now you would think they would call me back seeing how I told her I had been on hold for 1 1/2 and it wasn't my fault we got disconnected, but of course that didn't happen. After losing it and pulling it back together, I sit here for the 4th time waiting for a representative!! Unbelievable experience, short of a nightmare!!

Now the flight issue. I have an extreme phobia of flying on the left side of the plane and they agreed to accommodate but 30 hours of phone calls later and they are yelling at me, saying I don't get to pick my seat and that I will get to deal with my return flight in the middle of my vacation. Now I have to spend my vacation time dealing with this just to ensure I can select my seat for the return flight. On top of it I'm being told a different answer from everyone I speak to and was literally yelled at by their agent Dave (who is a supervisor). He said he had the right to yell at me because I was raising my voice. So in summary if you want to give a lot of money to be treated poorly then book away. If not, I highly recommend avoiding Apple Vacations. Happy traveling!

We were in a foreign country with language barriers, he was our go to guy, and he was not helping us. We insisted he call Apple so we could talk to them, but he told us he could not get through, and wouldn't even try. It felt like a scam all over. He gave us numbers to call Apple that wouldn't work, and refused to call for us, telling us his cell phone couldn't reach them. He refused to give us our money back for the tickets we had paid for.

Frustrated, we bought another ticket through the hotel concierge and went to the show. The show was amazing and we would recommend going to it, but just not schedule a trip ever again with Apple Vacations. Our daughter will never use them again as well, nor my sister and her husband, who had the exact same thing happen to them. It ruined a day of our vacation arguing with Miguel over this.

She said they will pick us up at 10:50 am and no later. I pleaded with her to change our pick up time but she would not. I asked her to call someone at Apple that could approve the pick up time change but she would not call anyone. She was very arrogant about my request. Our day of departure was Friday October 14th. She said come back to the Apple desk Thursday and she would see what she could do. I agreed. I went back to the Apple desk Thursday. Ksenja was not there but I was helped by a man named Hector. He very politely changed the time. I walked back to my room which is about a ten minute walk. It's a large resort. As soon as I got there my wife said Hector called and said he could not change the time. I went back to the Apple desk and no one was there.

I went to the Apple desk the next day before our scheduled time to leave. Hector and Ksenja were both there. Hector apologized and seemed sincere. Ksenja did not seem sincere. She said it was out of her control. Of course she would not even make a phone call to ask for approval. Friend of ours were leaving the next day (Saturday) on a flight to Cleveland. Saturday is much busier at Cancun airport than Friday. Their pick up time from Apple was exactly 3 hours and 20 minutes prior to their flight schedule. Our pick up time was exactly 4 hours and 34 minutes prior to our time.

Another couple was on the same bus as we were on. Their flight time was 2:15 pm, 1 hour and 9 minutes prior to our time. My return time is important to me because I don't want to spend my last vacation night packing or going to bed earlier. This was the 8th time we used Apple vacations for our 9 trips to the Grand Palladium. Because of Ksenja's arrogance and not caring attitude we will never use Apple Vacations again.

Once arriving in Punta Cana we were escorted to our hotel. It was less than clean and we were asked to attend a meeting after we unpacked. We did not attend our meeting until the next day which was a sales meeting to try and get us to "Buy in" to the resort. Our resort was not an all inclusive. It had several things that you had to pay an "UP CHARGE" for which was not told to us in the beginning. Also the resort was a party resort which we were looking for a more quiet venue. To top it off my mom got salmonella from one of the restaurants and we had to go home two days early... Not the vacation we were looking for and paid all of that money too... NEVER AGAIN.

They blamed it on the airlines stating it's their policy. When does Apple take responsibility for spelling errors and arbitrary seat assignments. It's the don't ask don't tell policy that was employed. Several calls later, the response was "it's not our fault", how about 40 dollars for your inconvenience. This vacation cost over 20,000 dollars. Not only will we never ever use Apple Vacation again, we frequently travel with friends who we will also discourage from ever using their services. We have been a repeat customer with Apple and have probably spent over 100,000 dollars in the last 4 years.

The 400 additional dollars they charged and refused to acknowledge as their error shows us they are not the least bit interested in customer service just their bottom line. Keep the 40 bucks and invest it in better training your staff. Did I mention that we spoke to 10 different people and every single one had a different spin on the Apple policy. We will continue to vacation in Punta Cana each year, but will certainly know better than to ever engage the services of Apple Vacation.

At the resort, the check-in clerk did not have my reservations and implied that she didn't have any rooms. The "NEW" 6 Golden Apple Secrets Resort, was actually an old InterContinental Resort that they were refurbishing. Most of the restaurants were not open because it was "off season". One could not use the beach because of the tides. They oftentimes ran out of alcohol. The walkways were crumbling. The attitude of many staff members was poor, if not rude. I called Apple immediately, informed them of the situation... that this was NOT what I paid for and requested to be moved to a different property... the rep said she would work on it. I called the next day and got the same reply. I called again on the following day and got the same reply. I've purchased many vacations from Apple over the years and this is the first time I've felt the need to ask for their help in rectifying a bad situation. They did absolutely nothing!

Original Review: June 24, 2016

Apple Vacations doesn't fix their mistakes! First mistake: misspelling one of our last names. They said several times it would be fixed; we ended up having to pay $50.50 to have the airlines fix the ticket. Second mistake: giving the transport company the wrong arrival date leaving us stranded at the airport for 3 hours where we had to try and find someone that spoke English to help us. (You cannot contact Apple Vacations once you are out of the US and the number that was given to contact someone in Panama did not work.)

Third issue: no detailed itinerary or vouchers. It is hard to take a taxi, when your ride doesn't show up, if you don't know which Marriott you are going to. Everyone kept asking to see our vouchers. We finally got a hold of our daughter through wifi and FaceTime audio in the US to contact Apple Vacations to figure out where we were suppose to be and to make sure there were no other issues.

Once we arrived at the hotel, the company Aventuras 2000 took over and we had an AMAZING vacation in Panama. Apple Vacations did not reimburse us for $50.50 or apologize for their mistakes. However, they did book us in some wonderful all inclusive locations and arrange wonderful excursions. Too bad that they don't fix their mistakes and cannot be contacted once you are out of the US. All in all, we looked at the mishap with a sense of humor and have made the decision to learn Spanish. We won't be using Apple Vacations again. Panama is a really awesome place to visit!

Insurance threw it back on apple and Apple has been no help. Have been giving me the run around and every excuse in the world not to reimburse for night missed.. I'm a business owner and realize this is no way to do business. Once I booked and they got their money, you are on your own, no help whatsoever.. No giving up on this. Sure that's what they are hoping.. I recommend anyone to never book a trip through Apple... And not to bother with the insurance they push.. If anything happens during trip, they are no help.. Will not return calls or anything, and if you do get ahold of them, they treat you like you are a total idiot.. Bad Business and will never get mine again!!! Total Joke.

Oh by the way don't think you can use email either. "trip@applevacations.com" also only gets non delivered errors in Mexico. Wow what a waste of time and energy. Well to make matters even more unbelievable when trying to communicate using the email from home and getting the automatic response that someone will respond within 24-36 hours. That is a real laughter. Let's try 24-36 days and I have still not got a response. I think they think they will teach you patience or just wear you out and you will forget about it.

While signing up for the Xcaret trip I asked if the insurance was optional because the form seem to indicate it was but did not make clear provisions to decline. I was told it was included in the price. I asked again if the insurance was optional and was told all excursion companies that Apple used carried insurance. Well of course they do because Apple takes a fat cut out of the premium without disclosing to the customer just what coverage they are getting.

After signing up for the Xcaret excursion, I had lunch and thought about it. The excursion was two days away so I went back to the Apple onsite representative and asked again if the insurance was optional. When I got another song and dance I told her it was a yes or no question. She relented and said it was optional. I asked for cancellation and refund on the insurance portion only. She said she would take care of it. The next day she said it was done.

Upon returning from my trip I contacted Apple to tell them the credit was not showing on my account. That was over 8 weeks ago and the refund has not shown up on my credit card even though I contacted Apple several times about the subject. I kept getting the story that someone was working on it although no one contacted me or resolved the issue. The only person I was able to contact was the person who originally booked my trip. She is the one who keeps telling me that she can't do anything about it but promised me she had forward all the information to someone who could. I understand division of labor. I don't understand why no one with responsibility has contacted me or resolved the issue. It is a big shame because otherwise the trip was as promised.

But now I don't trust Apple and won't use them again. They put profits above the customer. The insurance markup is a big profit source for them and a poor value for the customer. No information is provided about what is covered and the customer might already have some coverage depending upon the credit card used. Avoid the excursion insurance. Better yet, avoid Apple Travel.

At the airport I discovered that my bags are not included in the ticket price and each bag is $25 (we had 3 bags, so totaling both ways it is $159), however all my friends (9 of them) had their bags included. All of them got an ocean view for the same price as mine, however my windows were facing to the wall. I tried to call Irina from the airport when I discover my bags are not included, but she didn't pick up. I am under tremendous stress. I am very disappointed with the way Irina handled the situation, from booking my friends over me and not letting me know about my bags.

We chose the GR Solaris, Cancun. We needed ocean view, balcony and quiet area. We had looked at all of the photos and loved the property & pools. We received the quote and I asked repeated everything over and over. We were clear on everything about the resort, name of it, location & views & balcony. We booked flights & resort. Done! So excited. we made sure to arrive as early as possible on Sunday Oct 11th in order to have a full day. Once we landed is when our issues. Flight was perfect, picking up luggage & customs was not an issue. We walked out the front door at 9:30 am looking for the flowered shirts... we were one of the first couples to the stand to get our package. Once we did, we waited for almost an hour for transportation. We were put on one van, loaded luggage then asked to get off and put in a car. The ride over was pleasant and not far.

As we arrived, the resort didn't look at all as it did when we looked at it online. We went on in and began checking in... as we were looking around, my husband & I knew right away this was NOT the resort we requested. We booked the GR Solaris. Plain & simple! Yet somehow we were booked & taken to the GR Caribe by Solaris (which I NEVER even saw as an option while searching). I immediately brought it to the front desk clerk's attention. He assured me this was a great resort and wanted to show me the room. I asked to speak to a representative from Apple Vacation. They called for me and gave me the phone. The man spoke very poor English so I asked to speak to someone else. There was no one else. I began trying to call the numbers I had called once before but was unable to connect from there. We left all the luggage at the front and allowed them to show us around.

The hotel was very dated, under some construction, nothing at all like anything we would ever choose. Pool was small & everything was very inconvenient. The long hall ways to the rooms were open to the outside. The room was on the end with view of the roof, next to the speakers at the pool with a very loud announcer, there was large space under the door and the balcony again looked at the roof. This was NOT going to work. Again I stressed this is not the correct resort, it was switched during booking. They tried showing us one more room which was the same telling us this was a great resort that the GR Solaris is a downgrade from this one.

Again I insisted to speak to the Apple Representative to straighten this out and move us. I finally did get to speak to someone that informed me we could meet them at the GR Royal Solaris at 4:00 to get us moved. At this point it is 12:00. WE have now wasted 2 hrs of our day, now we are told we have to wait another 4 hrs for help. We had lunch and waited until 4:00. We went to the area we were told to meet at. The rep was late. He then informed us he didn't know why I was told to come there that there is nothing that can be done on a Sunday. Reservations is closed on Sundays.

At this point I am in tears, exhausted and frustrated. My husband's appointment was at 9 am the following morning. We could not wait to take care of this the next day after. It took the rep an hour to find someone to help us. By 6:00 I was ready to cancel our reservation & call the credit card company to cancel all payment to APPLE VACATIONS!

Finally there was a very kind woman I believe to be the manager at the Royal Solaris that began making calls for us. Somehow she was able to do exactly what we had been trying to do since 10:30 am... she had arranged for us to be transferred to the hotel resort we knew we had booked! The GR Solaris! We finally arrived about 7 pm. Our entire first day in Cancun was spent in the lobby of 2 hotels trying to get to the one we knew we booked. I am not sure how it happened. Maybe by accident while booking or maybe it was done after the fact. I know we received the confirmation showing GR Caribe by Solaris... who would know it wasn't GR Solaris... like when you book a Hilton and it shows Hilton Garden Inn on the booking.

Once we arrived at the GR SOLARIS (which by the way was a total UPGRADE times 100 from The Caribe not a down grade as they kept trying to convince us of), it was beautiful. By this time we were too exhausted to do anything more than have dinner and get some rest. The staff was very kind and helpful here. During all of this, I NEVER heard back from one APPLE Representative. Still have not. I will add when someone books vacations through your company and travel to another country they should be able to contact someone they can communicate with.

We actually ended up extending our stay by 2 days but I can assure you after all of the trouble we had I booked directly with the hotel. I could not chance another mess up. I must say I was referred by a friend but I cannot do the same. This has been an experience I wouldn't want any of my friends to have. Maybe this information can help provide better service in the future.

When I wrote a detailed email upon return to voice my concerns, I got a form letter back 8 weeks later and a $100 per person voucher to use on a future booking. There was no acknowledgement of the misinformation they had given me. So I told them I'd have to voice my concerns online. So there you have it. Travelers beware!

And while we're there the waterpark is remodeling nation let me know then I won't book that hotel. The reason I book that hotel because they have a waterpark for my friends' kid and my son. So sad and this hotel is so brand-new. They don't have palm tree not much shade to cover the sun and the bad thing is they don't have show in the hotel. After we play at the pool 7 o'clock we go to dinners. Nothing to do because they don't have show. They don't have activity. The service at the steakhouse in Royalton Riviera Cancun is very bad. We have 10 people we went for dinner. We got the waiter the whole time he don't smile. He treats us not good. We asked for A1 sauce he say they don't have. It is a steakhouse it doesn't make sense.

At the end we talk to the waiter. We say "You need to smile a little". He answer he is tired. "Today is very busy day". This is not the answer. When you serve people you need to smile. I don't know we so upset about the hotel. I never will recommend this hotel to nobody. The reason I picked this hotel because Apple Vacations recommend. I don't understand why they say is a good hotel. I don't know. They just want to make commission because the hotel is new. Doesn't have customer yet. Do not pick this hotel.

After 20 minutes, I went back to the Amstar Guy, he asked what did we need, as he had not meet us. He also told us due to the sinkhole, all flights are delayed so we were okay and not going to miss our flight home. The Amstar Guy and girl and Bellman began talking to each other in Spanish, which I don't know. The Amstar girl asked us twice, are we sure we were to go back today? I stated yes and show her my flight information. The Amstar Guy stated, "I will be right back." I stated "No, I am coming with you."

Within 3 to 5 minutes, a van was there at the resort to pick us up. The driver did the best he could to get us to the hotel, but they had him stop and pick up another couple on the way. The couple had not been called for early pick-up; therefore, they had to pack. As we were heading to the airport, we saw our flight taking off. We were meet by an Amstar Guy. He asked the guy at the counter of the airport to confirm our flight was gone. (We were told more lies because no flights were delayed).

The Amstar Guy stated we had 2 options: a plane going to Phoenix was leaving now, which we had to run to then didn't know how much a layover then leaving to go to NC and would be home by 6:00 am or we could sit in the Cancun airport until late then take flight going to Florida then stay the entire night in the Florida airport then leave there for NC at 6:00 am. I am very upset the way Amstar treated us. If he would had done his job, we would not have missed our flight. Who do I need to speak to regarding this matter?

The beaches are filled with seaweed and many staff members are in the waters trying to clean it out by hand. Bulldozer, forklifts are on the beach as you're trying to sunbath picking up the seaweed. The diesel fumes are beautiful as you're sucking them in. The pools are over packed never to find a blessed chair or anywhere to sit and the water is like being in a hot tub - not refreshing at all. Beaches are less than desirable. As you walk along the beach and pool area it smells like a backed up sewer. With the air not working in the rooms, you try to migrate to somewhere on the resort to cool down only to find no relief. They have ceiling fans all over but won't turn them on until you continuously ask, it took 3 days! The lack management in this hotel leaves a lot to be desired.

Apple vacations was our booking agents. They are a bunch of liars, do not book with them! There is no such thing as 2 double beds ocean front at this resort. That's what we paid Apple for. I have lots of pictures and videos to post. Coming soon, so keep posted! Also the sporadic power outages DURING THE NIGHT AND ALL DAY LONG... which when they do, go out - there is no running water, toilets don't flush and you die from the heat. There are NO back up generators! Also the sand on the so called beach is not sand, it's ground rock and construction debris such as cement. It hurts your feet and everything. Sandals, clothing, body has a white powdery dust all over it.

So many things went wrong on this vacation! My belongings stolen, being escorted from a buffet for having on a cover up because they have a no bikini policy (which I DIDN'T HAVE ON), drinks being snatched out of our hands, etc. I called Apple Vacations travel agency to complain about my very recent trip after returning home and was told that all my documents said "Southwest Vacations" not "Apple Vacations." Really? Then was told that no one else they sent to ClubHotel Riu Negril, Jamaica has ever had a problem.

I was also told to write a letter explaining the situation and Apple Vacations would address the letter to the appropriate department, which I really doubt that to be the truth and these are my reasons: 1. I was put on speaker without my knowledge; 2. Told my one o'clock appointments is here; 3. Passed to another representative who stated she overheard my complaints; 4. Then told she had someone in front of her and would call me back! I just think that was very unprofessional! I wasn't even aware that I was being put on speaker in the first place! Everyone in that agency could hear my conversation and yet no one took the time to address the situation. I just feel my complaints wasn't important but my money was! Apple Vacation travel agency paid me more attention before I paid for my vacation!

First I couldn't get through, then after many phone calls, I finally obtained the correct number. I was transferred, transferred, transferred by Apple. When I asked Apple why they promised king beds on our confirmation from them, they said, and I quote "we don't sell beds. We only sell views." Say what? Due to constraints on how much I can type, let me say, book your own vacation, but at the very least don't use Apple Vacations. Nightmare.

When I went to the Concierge on Saturday I was told that it would be Monday. I double checked on Sunday and again was told Monday. Went to the concierge on Monday and then they tell me Tuesday. On Tuesday we get a new room but with 2 double beds again. These beds were like sleeping on a rock. I have an injury so that did not help matters at all. I was in pain the entire trip. Each day there was a different concierge and apparently they did not make any notes regarding our request. I had to explain the entire request over and over every day.

We were also told that the private platinum pool was adults only. There were children everywhere. Splashing us and throwing balls near us. There was not any international beer (it says international drinks included). There was not any Corona (Domestic beer). What kind of resort in Mexico does not have Corona? Getting a drink from the butler on the beach or at the pool was very difficult. They took forever to make it around to the guests. If you saw them once every couple of hours you were lucky. Getting refills with the meals was not very easy either. I do not think they have enough staff for the size of resort they are running. The food was cold every day. Good but cold. There were so many rocks in the water that you could not go in. In fact my wife cut her foot so bad that any deeper she would have needed stitches.

This is our 3rd trip through Apple. We have had a problem every time. From broken air-conditioning to ants everywhere in our room. Not as much trouble as this trip but trouble none the less. We are seriously considering booking with a different company, other than Apple. We plan to book a trip every year and was thinking of booking another trip this year. Now we have to decide who we will book with. With that being said, we would not recommend the Grand Sunset to anyone nor would we ever book it again. At this point I do not think we would recommend Apple either.

Birds landed on plates etc at the buffet located at the pool hence creating a breeding area for bacteria also. In short, this was the vacation from hell. I am also handicapped and when calling for assistance with transportation was told to get on the tram which I could not do. A nice man did finally accommodate us in a golf cart. This was in celebration of our 40th wedding anniversary with 3 other couples and it was of the utmost disappointment. I have never stayed in a dirtier place than this. We work hard for our money and this was truly like a scam whereas they took our money and didn't care.

On the charter flight there and back Apple charters with Frontier. I paid for my seats extra, even had the seat numbers on my itinerary, but they didn't give us the seats I paid for. In fact tried to put my husband and I on both flights way across the plane from each other. I hate to fly and there was no way I could do that, so a nice couple did help us and changed seats with us. The Apple rep on the Plane was rude, the Apple Rep at the hotel only wants to get more money from you. Apple has given me no help of any kind about a refund or compensation, even though they stole 2 days of our vacation time, they took our money and ran. I am reporting them to the Better Business Bureau next, I suggest everyone else on this web site do the same! You should get what you pay for. Not only did they not give us that they took our time, which is money as well, don't you agree? Please write the BBB, we cannot let them do this to other people.

They tried to charge us more money to eat at certain restaurants when the apple book boasts all inclusive. All inclusive to me means you have paid ahead of time for the luxury of eating well. I could go on and on but I would be here all day. In closing, as a family on a budget who trusted that a 4 apple resort would give us a comfortable get away without breaking the bank, we found nothing but stress, trashy rooms, rude behavior and filthy language. We are sooooo not pleased.

When we opened the door the room was not exceptional but that's ok because I planned on getting out and getting some much needed sun. We opened the curtain to the balcony and were shocked to see the hotel next to us. I was told we had ocean view. In fact it was 75% hotel view and 25% ocean view. I asked the desk to change rooms but they said they had none. We finally found an Apple Vacations rep on the property and he was of no help. He did sell me on an excursion but that was all the help we could get. The hotel the rest of the way was great but then when it was time to go and we wanted an earlier ride to the airport, he said I needed to do that earlier. I told him I tried but the reps were hardly ever there.

The other travel agencies like Expedia had reps there all the time but not Apple. It was always hard to find one. We paid for a cab back to the airport and then had to pay another $100 to get a seat next to my wife. If I had waited for the Apple driver, we would have had to stay another night because they oversold our flight. I will go back to the hotel but will not book with Apple. They don't tell you everything and I found out that if I book far enough in advance, I can get it for less on my own and get the service I deserve.

Mini fridges are not cold and we were told that they aren't supposed to be cold just "fresh." My father in law is a diabetic and they had to keep his insulin on ice because the fridges don't work! Japanese restaurant waitress said that she refused to serve us because we were talking amongst our group and was not giving her the courtesy of "eye contact" to her liking. We had 6 people participate in couple's massages at the spa. The spa is dirty and I mean dirty hot tub, dirty spa and kinda disgusting and way too small to be called a spa. Not relaxing, no relaxing room at all! We talked to the Dreams people daily and Apple as well who did NOTHING! We are actually pretty laid back people but the drink glasses were dirty and did I mention I got a mouth infection? First vaca for our elderly parents and they were not impressed. I implore you to change your plans. To this day (a week later) not one person has contacted us for restitution.

I called and talked. Tried to talk to a Supervisor and just to get her to respond to me was like Pulling Teeth. She had nothing to say. At times I had to ask if she was still there. She told me there was nothing she could do for me. The flight was not available and I changed my returning flight. Then I asked to speak to HER boss and I got the same run around (which yes I did TO THE FLIGHT I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ON IN THE FIRST PLACE).

SO what good is it to have CUSTOMER & PROMOTION CODE when they just ignore it anyway. I feel this is their way of getting more money out of you. Others that are taking this trip and had to change a flight to the RIGHT one were not charged. I WILL never refer anyone to Apple Vacations. Their customer service is crap.

At this point, we checked in with ** and he said "Did you get my message?" I asked "What message?" He said he had left a message on our hotel phone. Why he would think we would spend the day in a hotel room and not try our cell I am still not sure. He said we needed to speak to frontier personally to guarantee a spot on the plane. I dont understand this as he was arranging the transportation with the airline. He then made a call and said that flight was cancelled as well and we had an option to fly to Pittsburgh or Boston. I explained that both options were a couple hundred miles from Philadelphia and there was snow in the forecast for each. He said that we could arrange our own transportation at our expense if we wanted.

I asked if he or someone from the travel agency could assist us to find an alternate airline and he said we could use the hotel computers as it wasn't their job to find us a flight. We attempted to do this but couldn't afford the price so we opted for the Pittsburgh destination knowing that we would have to rent a car and drive 6 hours in the snow to get home but there didn't seem like there was any other option. On the 16th I received a phone call before leaving to go the airport that the Pittsburgh flight was overbooked and we would have to fly to Boston. Again I told this person that Boston had several feet of snow and it was not an option. He said "Not to worry. Take the transportation to the airport, we are going to get you out of here."

We arrived at the airport around 8:30 am and spoke to the Amstar Representatives. I was told to wait in the line for the Pittsburgh flight and that he was trying to get us on it. Later he said that the flight was in fact overbooked and again said we would have to fly to Boston as that was the only other option unless we wanted to find our own flights on another airline. I asked this person as well if they or someone in their office could assist us in finding a flight. He said that we were on our own if we wanted to find an option other than Boston. I had someone back home in the states find us a flight (Southwest flight #219 to Chicago and then Southwest flight #859 to Philadelphia). I then spoke to ** from Amstar about how we get compensated for everything and he advised us that he was putting everything in a report that we should contact Apple Vacations when we return and they will be aware of everything that happened.

We were originally scheduled to be back in Philadelphia on 2/15/2015 at (3:50PM) and we didn't arrive there until 2/16/15 at 11:30PM - a delay of about 31-1/2 hours. An additional night at the resort - $259.44. We both lost a day and a half of work that we had to take vacation time to cover which we can't get back. Southwest Airfare - $761.28. Fees for parking at the airport - $12.48.. Pet sitter - $65.00.

I am very disappointed that Apple vacations did not help us at all to get home. Offering us a flight to two destinations that are both 100 miles away from our home in the middle of winter with snow on the ground was not a suitable solution. I believe at a minimum Apple Vacations owes us a reimbursement of our out of pocket expenses.

We soon discovered from other guests that none of us on the flight received any email or text updates from Apple and no one would tell us anything. One other passenger from Madison could get updates directly from Frontier's website and it said our flight would depart at 6:00 pm. We finally got to the airport at about 4:00 pm and it took about 90 minutes to get through customs and immigration. Then when we reported to the gate, the time was posted as changed again to be 8:30 pm departure. Still no information or updates from Apple. Meanwhile, we had to spend over $60 for two people to eat at the airport. At 9:15 pm they finally told us the flight was cancelled and we would all be bused to another hotel.

We arrived at the Now Jade resort at 11:00 pm and it took an hour to check-in. None of us could access the internet to notify our families of the flight cancellation. They wouldn't let us bring our own luggage to our rooms. We got to our room at about 12:30 pm and our luggage didn't arrive until 1:00 am. We then left the hotel the next day at 5:30 am. They gave us coffee but no breakfast. We had to do the 90 minute check-in and customs routine all over again on Thursday. And we had to buy breakfast at the airport and pay for all food on our flight back. Apple did not provide any of us vouchers for anything.

Worst part is that an Apple rep finally spilled the beans to us on Thursday morning on the bus. He told us that he knew at noon on Wednesday the flight would be cancelled for flight crew having too many hours. He said he called Apple in the US and they told him, "No one is staying at their resorts tonight, get them all to the airport." We all understand that these things happen from time to time, but to intentionally withhold information from us and fail to be in touch with anyone on the flight about the status is complete crap.

It was a completely frustrating and expensive couple of days for everyone. The Apple rep who told us about the cancellation said that Apple should be in touch with each of us yesterday sometime and that we can turn in our meal receipts for a reimbursement. However, there still has been no email or text communication from Apple about the entire incident. Kind of a bummer way to end a good week.

This is beyond insulting to me as I spent several thousand dollars to have a good vacation and the return for being reasonable was bogus. If you are reading this far, here are my takeaways: Apple Vacations does NOT represent your best interest, Apple Vacations will NOT work reasonably with you, expect the worst with this company. I hope this helps.

Disabled Mother (she cannot walk as she has MS) was not put in the first row of the plane for ease and comfort even though we book in 2 hours in advance. Our travel agent did know that my Mother had anxiety about flying and said that they would make accommodations for her when we checked in, which did not happen. She also could not eat or drink for the 3 hours delay as going to the bathroom on a plane is really not easy for a woman that does not have control of her legs. My Mother did not have something to eat or drink until we got to our resort which was about 4:30pm. That would be 12 hours without anything!!!!!

Family was not seated together even though we all booked in together. Mother traveling with a Disability and had no real communication on what to expect from the travel agent. Had to carry my Mother onto a full bus of people at the Punta Cana Airport due to it not being Disabled accessible, if we would of known that we could of asked for a different form of travel to the hotel for my mother. Could imagine how it felt to have a bus full of people staring at you while some men carried you onto a bus??

Middleton Travel didn't recommend or mention that a 4th room was needed, even though we had 8 people in our party. I am a 41 year old woman that was told I had to stay in my parents' room because a 4th room was not booked. My Father was under the impression that I would have my own room. I then contacted my travel agent while at the resort and was told that it would be an additional 241.00 per night!!! Again crazy!!!

The room that my Disabled Mother stayed in was not Disabled accessible, which we were told!! But never knew that the shower area would be so small, a small chair couldn't be put into it so my mother could shower. We did go into one of our family members' room and because they upgraded they had a larger bathroom area. Again if we were told that, then we would of booked an upgrade for my parents. Again crazy for my Mom's sake.

Flight going home was delayed almost 2 hours going back to Milwaukee and Frontier Airlines could not provide ice, snacks, most sodas and alcoholic beverages - the flight attendant told me that all they had was Blood Mary Mix and Tonic Water. My Father was sick and they could not provide him anything but water. I can't believe the TSA would allow this if they knew!!! Again Crazy for my Father as he was sick on the plane. While on the plane both my 4 year niece and sister could not pay to watch the TVs as they didn't work.

Yes we had an amazing vacation cause as a family of 8 made the best of it but we now will think more than twice to use Apple Vacations again. I also work at a company that has a lot of employees that take vacations throughout the year and I will make sure they know I had such a terrible time with Apple. I would love to give Apple another chance but I'm just way too scared to. I would much rather spend my $12,000 elsewhere!! What is Apple/Frontier willing to do to keep mine and my family's business???

This is fraud. They were deceptive and refused to accept responsibility for their mistake.

I was called a liar by one of your employees and never received an apology or any kind of acknowledgement. I had issues at the resort that were never resolved by your rep onsite for 4 days until I went to the resort management and they bent over backwards to resolve all my issues in 2 hours. I tried to report this to the Apple Survey I was sent but it was not functioning. I am requesting a refund because of all the terrible issues that happen to me and ruined my vacation on account of your company. Very unhappy customer. Their response was that they do not care, did not even call to apologize. They are the worst vacation company on the planet.

Our travel Agent, Ada Samoilovich, who is an independent contractor for Apple Vacation and owner of Magic Planet Travel, has breached her fiduciary duty to provide adequate customer service, respond to phone calls or emails in a timely manner, and most importantly, provide factual information. Ada's company, Magic Planet Travel, is affiliated with Nexion LLC host agency, which is a wholly owned branch of Tzell Travel Group. Ada worked on the following 3 Bookings for 3 of the 5 families: Apple Booking numbers **. Total cost for the hotel, airfare and hotel transfer per family ended up being $565 higher than what was available on Southwest Vacations website at the time of the booking on Friday, August 15th, 2014. Ada clearly communicated to us prior to completing the above described bookings that no cheaper options were available through other airlines or vacation providers which turned out to be false information since the other two families in our group were able to book their trips directly through Southwest Vacations website for $565 less.

As soon as we found out the $565 price difference, which was less than 48 hours after the booking was made, we tried to explain to Ada how going as a group of 5 families who paid a significantly different price is very problematic in terms of our client satisfaction. Ada refused to listen or even attempt to understand our concerns. Ada also declined to work with us to resolve this uncomfortable situation. All our efforts to get Ada and Apple Vacation representatives to evaluate cheaper airfare options, try to re-book airfare on a different airline or try to cancel it all together were completely ignored. According to Apple supervisor in the Scheduled Air Department, there was an opportunity to contact United Airlines directly on Monday morning, August 18th and cancel our booking.

Much to our disappointment and utter disbelief, Ada ignored our repeated calls and emails that were being communicated to her starting on Sunday afternoon, August 17th. When Ada finally got back to her office on Tuesday evening August 19th, she claimed via email that she was on vacation, and had poor cell phone reception which is simply an unprofessional way to address client concerns that needed immediate attention. We then proceeded to provide Ada with electronic proof that much cheaper airfare was still available on Southwest Vacations website, $812 less than what we paid on United. We also found that the hotel that Ada booked us, Hilton Rose Hall in Montego Bay Jamaica, was available on numerous websites including Hilton.com, Costcotravel.com, aavacations.com for $176 less than what we paid. Ada also indicated via email that Roundtrip Transfers cost is at least $100 while in reality the Roundtrip Transfers for Montego Bay Zone A hotels are $18 per adult and $9 per child over 4 which in our case equals to $45 ($18*2+$9).

Repeated calls and emails to Ada and Apple's Scheduled Air and Price Match Departments for 10 days after the booking resulted in more stonewalling, non-factual information, refusal to talk or listen to our problematic situation, continuous referencing of standard Apple policies, and extremely poor customer service by repeating the phrase: "there is absolutely nothing we can do for you, stop wasting time by calling and sending your emails." Apple employees involved were Paul **, Jennifer **, Larry **, Flor **, and Ricardo **.

Please carefully re-evaluate your policies and procedures on how you treat loyal customers of 23 years. We are all extremely frustrated and disappointed that Ada will end up making a large commission on the 3 bookings referenced above after everything that my family and our friends' families have been through in the past 10 days. No effort was made to resolve this situation by either Ada or Apple employees listed above. If Apple continues to ignore our pleas for fair and adequate client treatment, we will be forced to write more letters to the local chapter of the Better Business Bureau and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan to suggest more travel industry regulation, and prevention of customer abuse through price gouging and excessive commissions.

We waited until 2 am for the police to arrive and were final told by Mr. ** that they will arrive at 8 am on July 3rd. Mr. ** also made a report on what was stolen, per our request, which is attached to this letter. Police did not arrive on July 3rd, as expected, and we again had to keep asking hotel customer service to help us get a hold of the local police and got no cooperation whatsoever. We requested to speak with the hotel manager, but he was not available. We did talk to the assistant manager Maria **, but she also did not help us to get a hold of the police. We finally got a hold of chief of security RC ** and with his help called the police, and 2 officers did arrive at 11 am. Police officers did take our statement, looked at our room and promised to provide a police report, which took us 3 days to receive, after dozen of repeated requests.

In the meantime, we had absolutely no cash left and attempted to cancel prepaid trip to Ocho Rios. Apple agent requested a police report to return our money, which we did not get practically until we were leaving to go back home. As a result of not getting any cooperation from the hotel staff and management to assist us in this ordeal, we spent last 4 days of our vacation in the hotel lobby, attempting to get a police report, and get our money back for Ocho Rios trip we could not take now because we needed some cash to get back home.

We also contacted Apple vacation customer service, which forwarded our complaint to RIU Customer Service at the Corporate Office in Spain. Their response was it is not their problem and they did not offer to do any investigation nor provide any compensation for stolen cash and jewelry. Needless to say that this was the worse vacation we ever had and not only we lost cash and jewelry, but we also had constant stress and the worst service. Instead of spending time on the beach, we were in the hotel lobby attempting to get any cooperation from the hotel management, security and local police.

Jet Blue and Apple exchange a lot of business in the New England market, so they are very close. They are in the same building in PA, and can be found on Google Earth or Google Maps if anyone wants to see where they are. AAA of Auburn, Maine sold us "Breathless" as it appears in the brochure. Having seen it, if it were run by a competent management team and staff like found at a pretty fair 3-star hotel it would possibly rate a "5 Apple." The total lack of training of anyone, very few managers in sight, continually failing systems (sewer backing up in the shower, bell boys hammering on our door at 5 AM, etc, "free WiFi" that covered a quarter of the place, etc.), supposed free benefit coupons that require you pay $1200 to get $400 off, give it a 3 Apple at best with seriously defective service and systems every day.

Jet Blue was just as bad. I wrote to the CEOs of all companies involved and actually heard back quickly as I promised to let my 50,000 social media contacts in on the experience. We were offered $400 from Apple plus $300 toward flights. I am very easy to please in stuff like this, I probably over tip and all that. This place is atrocious and Apple Vacations doesn't want to make it better because they probably figure investing in making it better costs more than the few losses they take from the demographic who go on all-inclusive trips.

I left a message with my regular agent to call me asap.... So I took it into my own hands, found flights but I was in Kansas City and rented a car, drove to Dallas, TX and caught a flight the next day! I finally called the agent at 10:15am, the day I am driving 9 hrs to see why no call back??? Acted dumb and first time happened! She wanted to know why I took it in my own hands to find flights.... The emergency number I called couldn't find anything and spent 15 min working on it and not real worried about it all. Only reminded that we didn't have insurance and too bad for us! But we missed our original flight. Now the agent proceeds to tell me now that I am already on the road we can't fly home because we were a no show! They are a mess!!!

They never had to deal with this. I know I am not the first person in the United States to have to find another flight!!!!! So we finally make it to Cancun... We missed a day and they won't let us check in even though we paid for the room the day before and wasn't used. We had to wait till 3... then have to check in everyday with an Apple resort agent... Pain, I am on vacation!! Make it home finally. I follow up with Apple because they needed to know what happened. But come to find out they extended our hotel stay for the missed day... but nobody let us know after all our check-ins with the Apple agents!!! SCAMMERS!!!!!!

I asked how were we going to get back our extended hotel but no flight changes... no comment. All they could explain was how long they been in this business. I found out from other people same issues! I own my own business and make sure my customers are taken care of!!! Beware of the insane, annoying, high shrill voices and Apple to have no explanation but to argue!!! NEVER GO THROUGH APPLE!!!!!!!!!

Well no one was there after numerous unanswered calls to the resort (2 hours from the airport) and pleading for help to anyone would listen. My prayers were answered by a man driving for Gamboa Tours. He advised me that we would have to wait for his group to arrive and then he would take us to the resort. We arrived at Playa Blanca at 12:30 AM and was told that we had no reservation. I pleaded, begged for a room and finally they gave us a suite. I had all my paperwork stating it was pif. However, all their records were in the main office in Panama City. The next day the manager and me contacted Apple (from a business card she had in her rolodex). I spoke to a woman who had no idea what I was talking about. She assured me someone would contact me. It never happened. Still waiting.

Our trip was 02/15-02/22/14. The resort advised me that they did no business with Apple and never did. Apple lied about lack of amenities they advertised among many other issues. No Apple reps on the property, no tours available. This was the trip from hell. This was my 3rd and final trip through Apple. I had no international phone # for Apple but had been in contact with my mother who was in contact with Apple. They assured her that they would contact me, once again still waiting. I have called my credit card company and disputed all charges until I can discuss this horrific situation with Apple. I am waiting for a response. It has been over 3 weeks. This was my father's last major trip since he is failing in health and they ruined it completely. Totally disgusted. Best of luck for anyone that travels with Apple.

The next day we found ourselves at the airport to try to fly again... We confronted the same Apple rep that left the previous day. She was rude and basically said exactly what NOT TO SAY as a customer service rep from any company: "I had to go to my other job", "I had already stayed 10 hours", "Apple only requires me to stay 8 hours and I stayed ten." She played the victim and the martyr and said nothing whatsoever to admit any fault. It became clear after a while that we would not be getting anywhere with this woman. She simply did not give a crap. In fact, no one at Apple gave a crap after our payment went through to initially book the trip.

That flight did indeed take off and we arrived in Playa only to be told that we were a "no show" and our room had been sold after Apple failed to notify them that we would be showing up one day late due the flight cancellation. Of course Apple insisted that they made no mistakes. They never do, FYI if you are planning on booking with them in the future. They are infallible and they will be the first to tell you that. The hotel manager was nice enough to find us a room despite being sold out. Apple made zero attempt to rectify the situation as they already had our money.

We tried to extend our stay in Mexico to make the trip worthwhile. We inquired with our travel agent first to get some rates and then decided to post that same question to Apple. All of Apples quotes were several hundred dollars higher than the rates that our travel agent was able to secure us. For example, resort "A" will cost $1300 a night with travel agent and with Apple it goes for $1800... Hmm. Strange. We booked through the travel agency and paid a cab to take us to the new resort as Apple's transportation card was only valid for going to and from the airport even though the resort we went to was on the way to the airport AND closer.

We extended our stay in Mexico two extra days and we wasted several more hours just trying to confirm that we were booked for the flight home. Again, no answers from Apple. Travel agent steps in and gets us all the information. We arrived in the hotel lobby as instructed by Apple for the shuttle back to the airport. None of the shuttles have our name on the list... Apple reps are questioned, guess what? They don't know anything... Again. At this point we started to videotape the reps at the Apple desk and they became very uncomfortable. Shuffling papers, hiding their faces behind binders, looking away, etc.

Well, wouldn't you know, our shuttle did arrive about a half hour later to drop us off at the airport. It was clear at this point that Apple was unable (more accurately, unwilling) to deal with any problems outside of their itinerary even though we bought the insurance for the trip. We have been home for over a week now and have not been reimbursed for the first night of the hotel due to the cancelled flight or the travel vouchers promised to us for our troubles. In fact, we were told it would be several more weeks as Apple is "inundated with requests" at this time. We need to bear with them as they need time to catch up. Really?

In summary, I have never seen a more inept and less compassionate group of people in my entire life. From the bottom to the top, this organization is rotten. They cannot deal with any problems you may encounter on your vacation. They do not care how much money you spent or how long you have planned your precious getaway from everyday life. You are just a number. Once the money changes hands they are done with you. Well, Apple Vacations, message received. We are done with you and will do our best to warn everyone we know of your gross incompetence and lack of decency to good paying customers.

We checked in Wednesday morning and met with Apple to check in and go over perks, etc. That is fine, they had my travel information, my flight information, my room number etc. So they easily could have said meet us in the lobby on your last day Sunday at 6:45am to leave for the airport. This is Cancun, rain or shine we would still leave for the airport at 6:45 (surprise the last 3 trips we left at 6:45).

No, I had to go back on Friday to meet them in the lobby to give them my ticket to book the Sunday bus ride which by the way he called me in my room the night before to remind me to meet him - so he had my number to call me and just tell me the time we were leaving. Then I had to go back on Saturday to meet him AGAIN so he could tell me 6:45am. REALLY?

I paid almost $1600 for a 4-day vacation that I have waited 2 yrs for so I can spend the entire vacation running back and forth to the lobby just to find out what time my bus leaves on Sunday and even bigger surprise there was always a a day trip or activity being sold to us. It was almost impossible to plan any activities because I was forced into meeting Apple every day - SHAME ON YOU APPLE! Was my $1600 not enough for you. The worst part is when I asked why this was necessary he became rude and said I "had" to if I wanted a ride back to the airport.

It is a shame they do not treat customers better than this. There is absolutely no reason you cannot book the bus ride back when we check in. If there is a problem with the flight you have our room numbers to contact us. I feel like my vacation was hijacked.

When I received the airline tickets my first name was SEVERELY misspelled (I'm not talking about anything even remotely similar - except for the first 2 letters of my name); this is quite odd considering I spelled my name for the agent at LEAST 3 times over the phone and he confirmed this spelling - however, that was not what he put into the airlines. Additionally, when I called the travel agent to discuss this issue, he claimed it was MY FAULT! REALLY? I spelled my name for you and you confirmed the spelling prior to booking!!!!!!!! He was rather nasty the entire conversation even though I presented the problem calmly (I understand mistakes can be made, so I am not one to be upset, especially when mistakes can be fixed).

When I talked about corrected the mistake, he said I (YES, ME!) would have to pay a couple of hundred dollars to have my name changed (and I would have to call the airline on my own to change it)! Seriously? I shelled out a lot of money for the vacation and it was HIS mistake! I explained to him that since it was his mistake, AV should pay for it. He denied any responsibility for the issue and claimed that it was my fault and I told him my name was what was on the ticket! REALLY????

I called the airline company (AA) and discussed it with them and explained the situation. AA is the only company that had any sort of customer service skills in this situation. While they wouldn't change it for free as it was not their mistake (understandable), they put a notification on my ticket that this was a misspelling and so on (b/c I didn't want to pay to change it). They noted that I may only run into trouble trying to leave Mexico (which wasn't an issue).

AV coordinated airport transfers in Mexico as part of the package deal. Getting to the hotel was fine, BUT, when I was supposed to depart, the bus NEVER showed up (and it is a bus run by AV, not some random company). I was panicking and so was another girl who was waiting for the same bus (my friends that came with me all left on 2 other flights earlier that day). Finally, after at least 30 minutes of waiting, I tracked down the AV rep onsite and talked to him about it (along with the other girl). The onsite person then decided to call us a cab as we were running out of time to make our flights (this cab of course was paid for by AV).

I barely made my flight (I am unsure if the other girl did as well). I have a feeling that if I would not have found another mode of transportation, I would have waited at the hotel for the bus the rest of the day only to find it to be nonexistent, and would have had to pay A LOT of $$$$$ (is this part of them making more money??? ).

When I booked the add on with the AV rep prior to leaving, I requested to be placed in a room with 3 other people that I knew (I didn't know the other people in our group- friends of my friends). He told me that 4 people were not allowed in a room and the max was 3. I went along with this, although found it odd. I then found out at the hotel that there could be 4 people in the a room and the HOTEL was nice enough to transfer me to room with the people I knew. MY GUESS is that he wanted to RIP ME OFF (he would make more money for a 3rd person add on to a room vs. a 4th person add on). I WAS RIPPED OFF!!! (and I feel as though I should have been refunded the difference)

Our hotel was listed as not allowing "Spring Breakers" by AV and we all thought it would be nice to be at a hotel that was on the beach, near other "spring break" hotels, but not at a "spring break" hotel as those can get a bit wild. We wanted to experience SB, but to have some quiet away from craziness if necessary. Needless to say, this was far from the truth. The hotel (Crowne Plaza) was SPRING BREAK CENTRAL (MTV was filming there, StudentCity had huge groups of spring breakers there, decorations including the shower curtain, do not disturb sign, elevator door decorations and etc. were all from Axe (the deodorant company) and were spring break related). This was all right, but not what we had booked.

It was enjoyable in that it was lively and we received a lot of goodies from various companies including American Eagle, but it was also quite dangerous. The overly boozed students (we were all students too, but we don't get CRAZY/DRUNK when we drink) were acting crazy - throwing glass all the way up to FIRE EXTINGUISHERS from balconies of rooms onto one of the pool areas (a pool area that was also by the entrance of the main restaurant, where people waited in line). These people were ARRESTED! While the issues at the hotel are not the fault of AV, it felt very much like a bait and switch situation by AV. The hotel was SB central despite being advertised by AV as not allowing spring breakers, and I felt rather bad for all of the families that had children in tow staying at this hotel.

Other than these complaints I had a few other issues including food poisoning from the hotel food in the all-inclusive package, the hotel giving my large security deposit to one of the other guests in my party despite the agreement saying that the deposit had to be returned to the person who signed it (I convinced the hotel to give me my deposit back as it was their mistake), and airplane malfunctioning at takeoff. While these issues were not related to AV, it put the cherry on top of my slew of issues with AV. I did indeed have a great time on the trip despite these issues, BUT, it was not due to anything AV did!

I WOULD NEVER BOOK WITH THEM AGAIN! THEY ARE A HOT MESS AND ONCE THEY HAVE YOUR MONEY, YOU ARE NO LONGER IMPORTANT (they have already made their commission, so they could give a ** less). If you want crappy customer service, where you are treated like a lowlife, book with AV!

The resort staff was unwelcoming, not at all helpful and outright rude. The pools were filthy and the beach dirty and littered with glasses and cigarette butts. Sirenis Resort was listed as a "family" resort but was more like a frat party. The electricity went out and sewage backed up into the restrooms by the pool. The multiple "fine dining restaurants" were the lunch buffets with side canopies pulled down at night. We arrived at our resort Monday at 3:30pm and were on a bus back to the airport Wednesday at 10:30am for which Apple charged us an additional $300 for flight home... and they told us we could only get that flight if we had cash!

The customer service we received by the Apple reps at our resort, the airport, and the 3 months they took to respond to our complaints were horrible! I am shocked and angered at their audacity to give us a $200 Apple voucher in return for our loss of vacation time from work and $4000 expense and time to travel. What a joke and an insult to the integrity of myself and my family! Needless to say we will not be traveling through Apple ever again!

We were stuck in Cancun and had to figure out what to do. I had to pay $95.00 for a taxi to the hotel! When we arrived at the hotel, we found out that Apple also forgot to confirm our hotel reservation, even though the hotel was clearly listed on our confirmation paperwork. I racked up over $100.00 on my cell phone calling Apple Vacations customer service and was being told sorry, we can't help you.

The only bright side to this whole affair was the customer service manager at the hotel,**, asked if he could make a copy of our paperwork and told my wife and I to make ourselves comfortable, they gave us wristbands and told us to enjoy the hotel while they checked into the problem. He called Apple Vacations headquarters and faxed our confirmation paperwork to them to prove they had screwed up. 2 hours later thanks to the ** staff we got in our hotel room.

Apple Vacations rep called our room and asked to meet me in the lobby, which I did. He apologized profusely and said they were going to make things right. He asked for my receipt for the taxi and told me they were going to reimburse us, the hotel was sending champagne, etc. He was sorry, but Apple Vacations never even told him we were coming. Not surprised at this point! I told him the hotel didn't mess up and didn't need to send anything; Apple was the one who needed to regain our trust.

Needless to say, nothing ever arrived and we have never received reimbursement from Apple for the taxi. The only communication I have ever had from Apple Vacations was a survey of how our FLIGHT was. This was our third vacation in one year, and our only experience with Apple, NEVER AGAIN. Advise travelers to go elsewhere.

The Apple representative at the resort was not much help either. He said we could move hotels for another 500 dollars. I was more than furious because they misrepresented the 6 Apple square deal but I was the one that would have to pay more money to fix their mistake. Not happening. Ended up staying at the Now Jade. Tried to stay positive. When I returned home, I sent Apple an email stating I had some issues to discuss with them but I have never gotten a response from them. Liars and terrible customer service. Below are photos proving this was no 6 star hotel...

The next morning we explained it all to our Apple rep who said he would look into it. And although he probably tried, he never gave us an explanation the entire week. It got so bad that he avoided eye contact with us when we walked through the lobby. He blamed it on "Apple in the States" not getting back to him. I was looking for some type of upgrade, voucher, or apology, and we got NOTHING. I complained on my post-vacation survey and have never heard a word back. Also, separately, I had to pester the living daylights out of Apple to reimburse me the price difference on my vacation under the lowest price guarantee clause of the insurance I purchased. It took 6 weeks to get it, and only after repeated calls. They first said it would take about a week. But for the pestering I doubt I would have ever received it.

2nd, I wanted to book activities such as swimming with the dolphins. After having to deal with ** - horrible, HORRIBIBLE attitude - I was able to book one activity. I even attempted to brighten her day by giving her a tip. Well she quickly took the money. That was the only and last time that I received a smile from an Apple rep. ** assured me I would be back to the resort by 2:30. We did not return until 4:30. Book your activities with other companies. Luckily, I found better service directly through the resort.

3rd, my package included a round trip from and to the airport. Because of **, the transportation left my family and I behind. ** did not do anything to help or offer an alternative solution. Our flight was leaving in three hours. She sat behind her desk, refused to put her supervisor on the phone, and refused to call the 1-800 Apple Vacations, and neither rep at the desk did anything to help me find an alternative solution. Being without phone service, and the internet being down at the resort, I was forced to pay over $100.00 out of my pocket for transportation to the airport. Over we loved the resort. However I strongly recommend you DO NOT BOOK through Apple for this resort. If you already booked, stay away from **.

I have been seeing a neurologist since my return. I have never threatened Apple or the hotel with any form of legal action but did request that they refund my money based upon their false representations. Apple has blown me off. So, now we shall see...

We first thought it was a joke, but soon came to realize the pink prison was our hotel. We get off the bus to a very dirty, small lobby where the man behind the desk starts to yell at us. Come here! When I said, "Can I use the bathroom?" he says, "No, come here now!" We went over and he checked us in and said the room is not ready now and will be about 2 hours and to go eat or something. The place was beyond dirty with food and trash all over the floor. We used the bathroom and two stalls were closed with human waste all over the seats. We went to eat. No one greeted us, no drinks to be found. The food was cold and stale. We sat by the pool which was very small with so many people in it, you can't move. The rooms are on the other side of the lobby, not by the beach at all, and as stated before, behind an eight-foot barbed wire fence.

We found the Apple representative and told him that there is no way that this is a 5 Apple hotel and asked if he can move us. He told us (and 3 other couples at the desk complained about the same things), "Once Apple places you in a hotel, you are stuck there," but if we gave him another $450 each for our party of 3, he would move us. Finally, the RUI manager of all four hotels came over and told us that he will move us for $150 each to another hotel in the complex. We and the other 3 couples took him up on the offer, unhappy to pay extra money, but could not stay in the Pink Prison Motel for a week. The new hotel was much better even though it was rated a 5 Apple too. This was a pure bait and switch. Apple tells you that you can go use the other hotels services, but this was not true at all. We went in another RUI hotel and sat down by the pool and were shooed away fast and told that we could not use other hotels. Unfortunately, we can never trust or use Apple Vacations again.

The Apple reps are always around, but they have no rapport with the airport employees deeming them useless on top of having to contact their home base before they can even help you which just wastes additional time. The Apple rep at the hotel was more worried about selling us excursions than ensuring our flights home would be seamless (which they weren't). We also believe that she sabotaged the catamaran excursion we did set up and that is why they showed up 2 hours late. Everything was set and verified until after she took off with my paperwork to check on it too, probably to get some kind of commission.

I booked through a travel agent which then in turn booked through Apple. I tried to book with Apple's group department but you are forced to leave a voice mail and they do not even return the call. I will not use Apple's services again. They caused nothing but headaches for us.

On the last day of our stay in the hotel, we knew that there was a snow emergency in Boston (our home) and that the flight would have to be canceled because the airport was closed. We tried to talk to our Apple Vacations representative, but he assured us that the plane was there and that our flight would leave tomorrow. On the following morning, we were waiting for our Apple Vacations representative to arrive and let us know what's going on, but he never showed up. We called the company's local number and Apple representatives told us that the planes were flying and that we needed to be at the airport with all our belongings.

When we arrived at the airport, we realized that the only people at the airport were people that booked from Apple Vacations because everyone knew they weren't going to fly in the middle of a blizzard. The Apple Vacations representative showed up late at the airport and told us that they have just found out that the flight through JetBlue was canceled and that they have just informed them. Once the crowd of around 150 unhappy travelers came to JetBlue, the JetBlue representative told us that they informed Apple Vacations a day before that the flight was canceled. When we came back to Apple Vacations, he told us that we would have to rebook our flight through JetBlue instead of Apple. We went to JetBlue again and the reps told us that they didn't have a confirmation code because we booked with Apple and, therefore, cannot book us a flight.

After 2 hours of miscommunication, the Apple Vacations representative told us that we should go and buy tickets from JetBlue out of pocket and fly to wherever we needed to go (basically to piss off). We were given a telephone number to call JetBlue and were told that it was free, but we realized that we had to pay for the minutes and phone calls. The phone number didn't work at all. We realized that this was a bad sign and asked why we didn't just stay at the hotel, to which he responded, "It's not my problem. Go online and book yourself a hotel room and we will stay in contact." We contacted our travel agent in Boston and she arranged a hotel for us for another night. They did not provide transportation, lodging, or any type of information about our flight or when we would fly out. What terrible service and terrible communication! I advise you not to use Apple Vacations.

After a night at the hotel, we received several phone calls at 12:00 AM and 2:00 AM about our flight the following day. We were told that 3 out of 6 people in our party were able to get on the next flight, but nothing was said about the other 3 people. Finally, after hours of more miscommunication, we were able to finalize that we were all flying and that we should arrive at the airport at 3:00 PM.

We paid for the hotel and transportation out of pocket for all the people in our party. We want our money that we shouldn't have spent refunded! This company is ridiculous and treats their customers terribly! Do not use Apple vacations.

On December 23, 2012, we arrived at the airport 2 hours before scheduled departure, as requested. Upon arrival to the check-in counter, we learned that the flight was delayed by approximately 3 hours until 9:00 am. This was not published anywhere so calling prior to coming to the airport didn't do any good. By the time we got to the gate, our flight was now delayed even more, but with no potential departure time and no reason given. Finally, after waiting about 5 hours, they announced that there was no pilot for the plane but they had identified a possible pilot and they would ask him if he minded taking us on our flight to the Dominican Republic. If he agreed, they would fly him to O'Hare from wherever he was and we would be on our way. If this pilot had said no, there was no other solution. To make matters worse, I knew that this exact scenario had happened the day before our departure to our friends who were also on an Apple Vacation/Frontier flight to the Dominican Republic and also experienced a similar delay with the same excuse, which ultimately resulted in police being called to quell their outrage.

We finally took off approximately 7 hours late. Originally, we were supposed to land before 1 pm and would have been able to have lunch and dinner and enjoy the facilities at our hotel. But instead, it was a wasted and an expensive day as we needed to pay for the food at the airport for lunch and dinner that we had already paid for as part of my all-inclusive vacation. After a wonderful week at the property, our departure experience was even worse than our arrival. As requested, we left the hotel 3 hours prior to departure and were told our flight home was on time. When we arrived at the airport, we were told our 12:50pm flight would now leave at 5:45pm. They knew this prior to our check out, because the pilot had not even left from Chicago but required us come to the airport anyway.

After 3-1/2 hours at the airport, they informed us that our flight would be delayed until the following morning. Then we need to retrieve our luggage, go through customs again, and then they loaded us on buses to take us to a hotel. The hotel they brought us to was the Hotel Be Live Grand Punta Cana. To say this property was substandard is an understatement. It was a flea-bag motel with rusty water, inoperable door lock, roaches, inoperable toilet, fire extinguishers and hoses missing, no phones, broken TV, and no blankets. I could go on. We were to return to the lobby at 3am for bus pick-up. After we dragged ourselves out of bed and arrived at the lobby, we found a handwritten sign that said pick up was delayed until 4am. Our flight eventually left 17 hours and 40 minutes late. Throughout this nightmare, the Apple representatives made it perfectly clear that we were cattle. But nothing spoke volumes of their utter disdain for customer satisfaction and the company's complete worship of the maximizing profits than the following:

There was a family on the return trip that was traveling with a grandfather who appeared to be a paraplegic. When told that our flight was cancelled and all needed to gather luggage and return by bus to a new dumpy hotel, this family protested. They explained that he could not walk, was in a wheelchair, and it was incredibly difficult to bring him to the airport in the first place. They wanted to just stay at the airport all night. They were told (as I listened) that they had to vacate the airport, period. Apple would not pay for a cab to bring him to the new hotel. His family was forced to hoist his limp body up in the air and methodically maneuver him through the tight zigzag steps leading into the bus, then do the same unloading him, then load him again at 4am, then unload him again at the airport later. Absolute cattle. Other passengers who watched these events unfold were equally sickened and our incredibly poor treatment paled in comparison.

Now we were not angry with the airport but with Apple Vacations. This company did not do any research with regard to the line they had booked us with or if they had, they purposefully failed to inform us of the risks of this line in order to save money for themselves. Let's be honest, this is how businesses work (we would have gotten the more expensive option if we were told that the airline they gave us in the first place had a 45% cancellation rate). Nonetheless, we got our own tickets for the Hawaiian flight since there was little chance of finding room on the next-day flight and we had a hotel reservation. The agent we consulted told us that we should, by all means, take it up with Apple Vacations for at least a partial refund or a refund of the price of the original tickets. We did do so two days later, when we arrived back in IL.

So far it has been two months since our repeated attempts to contact the company and work it out with them. They had not responded to our inquiries neither via email. All phone calls end with no avail or we are put on hold for forever. There is no one in this company who cares enough to make up for their screw up! The agent we had worked with refused to aid us properly and we got nothing! All the money we originally spent for the original flight was never refunded despite the fact that the Apple Vacations TOS states that it would be in such a case and absolutely no one in the company cares! All in all, terrible customer service, lack of research, inexperienced agents lacking proper knowledge. Don't bother with the company. Find a different agency because you will regret it.

As for The Ritz Hotel, the response included in the letter from their General Manager ** only adds to the fact that the service at their hotel is below even the lowest of standards. I pity those that work for such management and stay at a "high" rated hotel such as The Ritz. My complaint included the fact that the air conditioning did not work in the first room, the water ran on high non-stop in the first room, and it was filthy dirty. Not to mention the fact the front desk agent told us they were putting us in the room that had been closed for construction/remodeling. None of which was addressed in the letter, he focused only on the American/Mexican Language issues. Sure there are no complaints that were filed as you say in your letter. Every time I tried to talk to someone, no one would understand. No habla English and I do not speak English was the most frequently used phases by your staff. The Security guard had to go get someone else to translate, really security, pity if something were to happen.

In my 19 years working in the industry, earning a 4 year Hospitality Degree, and working for some of the largest hospitality companies and hotel corporations, I find it hard that the only response was $100 towards using the horrible company Apple Vacations. ** did not even try to fix the problem, he only pointed out how he perceives his staff. Yes, eight nights were spent there, but keep in mind we did not know where we were, where was safe and the money had already been charged to our credit card by Apple Vacations and paid by us. After the treatment received by you and your staff, do you really think we would try to leave and get money back? You said it best in your letter, "We are not considering a refund on this specific case." Representatives of Mexico, please be sure to read these emails with open eyes and see what your country and State of Guerrero have to offer.

At my arrival in Acapulco Mexico and finding my husband I had not seen in 5 months, a gentleman kept grabbing at my luggage and following my husband and me out of the airport. After telling them 2 times that I did not need help with my luggage, they finally said they were with Apple Vacations and were there to take us to the hotel. We were rushed out of the airport and into the van not even having time to hug my husband. The whole ride from the airport to the hotel the rep kept talking and trying to sell us tours and activities. We did not want those and would have like a very quiet ride to the hotel.

Upon arrival at the hotel, “The Ritz Acapulco”, they did not have our reservation. Instead of placing us in a room and working out the details with Apple Vacations (which had already been paid), they made us sit in the lobby for 2.5 hours without being able to eat, I had been traveling since 5:00am that day. The Apple rep said to have a seat here and I will get back to you, then disappeared for over an hour. I called the numbers on my email confirmation to try to find out what was going on. The room we were finally put in was in the “closed” tower, it was being renovated.

We were ensured that the room had electricity, air conditioner, water, and was clean. It was anything but, drawers were missing, A/C did not work, water knobs were broken on the hot water in the shower, it ran high power 24/7, and the room was filthy. When I returned to the front desk to ask to be moved, the staff acted like they did not speak or understand English even though we had just been having a conversation in English. We stayed in that room for 2 nights before my husband finally went down and asked to be moved. We were moved that afternoon.

The women and a few men staff in the hotel would not wait on us, or address me when eating in the restaurant. It made for a very uncomfortable situation, which we were paying for, every time we went for a meal or had to ask for directions or assistance. There were no other Americans in that part of Acapulco. I did not see another American until my arrival at Immigration in Houston, TX. Other guests in the hotel would stare, make ugly faces, and even would make nasty remarks when Jose Manuel and I would walk by. I was in the elevator one afternoon; the elevator operator, I and another female guest got on as we were going up. After about two floors the lady turned to me and in Spanish said "ugly American **, go back to the US where you live." I quickly pushed another floor button got off the elevator and turned and said as nicely as I could in Spanish “Gracias, senora”.

It was not just the hotel staff and guests, the people in the town, at stores, flea market, restaurants, and attractions had the same attitude towards me. I have never been treated so poorly before from someone from a different culture. It was enough that I could not wait to get back to the USA and fight to bring my husband home. I have never been treated so poorly before from people in the hospitality industry and I work in the industry. We will never use Apple Vacations or the hotel in Acapulco again. We have been referred to another booking company and not to go to Acapulco again. My experience with Apple Vacations and The Ritz Acapulco was a waste of our time, and money. It was the most miserable trip I have ever been on.

Service at the Breakfast Buffets was non-existent. We waited forever to get coffee, water and silverware. It seemed although many servers were seen they either didn't understand any English or were not able to do anything other than one particular task. We have traveled with Apple for over 10 years and this is the first time everyone in our group had complaints about the liquor available at your resorts. The beer and rum were of poor quality. We were into our fourth day of the vacation before we could find a bartender who could find anything that even tasted somewhat like Kaula. The grounds were beautiful, the rooms were very clean but service was lacking. Many of us were locked out of our rooms for over an hour and had to make several trips to the front desk for assistance. Our group will definitely hesitate in the future to rely on the 5 Apple rating in choosing an Apple Vacation for fear of a repeat experience.

The trip I booked was from 12/29 - 1/1 - and it was booked on 11/10. I had a credit that I needed to use and we decided to have a family vacation (my husband and I and my 2 kids). We were scheduled to go to Cancun. Unfortunately, my daughter ended up with pneumonia. Apple would do nothing for me. If I were to change our travel dates, I would have had to pay an additional $2000 plus the cost of the all-inclusive vacation ($500 per person since it was so close to the travel date). We lost 100% of our money - $4000.

Be very careful when using Apple Vacations! It is unbelievable this is happening in the USA! We have never experienced such an attitude towards us as customers and such a bad customer service! We will never ever recommend Apple Vacations! I don't mind paying a change fee but $2000 is unheard of - who should have to pay $6000 for a 3-night stay at the Riu Caribe for 4? For that amount I could fly to Hawaii or Europe. I am going to take this up with Apple directly - a voucher/credit towards a future trip would have been good customer service!

Therefore, we were stuck in our room in building 7. Our view from our room was the entrance to building 6 (which was under construction) where they set up the entry way for all the construction workers and service deliveries. Every time we looked out our room, we got to see about 5-10 workers sitting in front of us taking their breaks and having lunch. No privacy at all. The room seemed and felt very dirty as the curtains had mold on them. The bathroom ceilings were falling in. The bed post were crooked and rocked.

There were ants coming and going by the coffee maker area and our refrigerator was not working. We had to call and actually walk to the customer service around 10 times before getting someone to fix the refrigerator a day and half later. It seemed like every time we would ask for the repair, they would just write our room number down on paper along with a bunch more room numbers with no comments. Therefore it seems like they are going to do something about it but actually just brushed us off time after time.

The beach area was also dirty, small area and water was not blue like in the photos on the site. The Dreams Punta Cana site is very deceiving when looking at the photos they have on there. I cannot believe we based our vacation off their site and Apple vacations 6 golden apples. What a huge mistake on our part and a complete waste of money. Also all the bars had top shelf liquors displayed and on the shelves, but once you ordered a specific type of liquor they would pour you bottom shelf liquor. Every time we would mention that we wanted a certain brand of liquor when they were pouring the bottom shelf liquor. They would just smile and continue making the drink with bottom shelf brand liquor.

Here is the worst part of the vacation, we figured with all this disappointment, we would have a couples massage done the day before we left. My wife and I both got a 55 minute massage at the spa. When we finished our massage, we went back into the locker rooms and showered and then meet back up in the lobby area. We figured the massages went well and we were about to tip the ladies for our massage when. My wife notices $5 dollars was missing from here wallet. Then I checked my wallet and a $20 was missing! What is up with this place! We went straight to customer service and told them we were not leaving the desk until we spoke to an actual manager. After about 20 minutes, we had our one chance to speak to a manager named Fernando, who called the head of security into his office. We explained what had happened during our massages and immediately they went straight down to the spa, searched the locker employee, fired him on the spot and returned our money right away. After all this, they just gave back our $25 and filed a complaint in their system.

Wow, what an experience for a 6 Golden Apple Resort. More like 6 rotten apples! I sure hope others read reviews before booking their next vacation at Dreams Punta Cana resort or with Apple vacations who claims this resort a 6 Golden Apple Resort. I feel like they base their reviews off of commissions they make from the resorts and need to be honest with the people booking their vacations and spending hard earned money!

The cost of airfare and travel time via Chicago was the best in regards to our departing from other airports near Cincinnati, Ohio. Originally the American Airline flights were nonstop to Montego Bay, Jamaica, and Cancun, Mexico. Our seat assignments were selected at time of booking. About one month later those nonstop flights were discontinued and American Airlines automatically rebooked us with seat assignments on other flights. Our flight to Jamaica would require a connection in Miami, Florida, and the return flight with a connection in Dallas, Texas.

Upon arrival at the airport in Chicago for our flight to Miami, we were informed of the cancellation of that flight. Immediately after telling us, the American Airlines ticket agent found us another flight. We did not have to suggest that. However, that flight would depart in 20 minutes. Without hesitation the ticket agent checked in our carry on luggage and escorted us through the waiting queue to proceed through security.

At 10:00 pm on Tuesday, October 11, we arrived to check in at the Sandos Caracol Resort in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. I asked the desk clerk for the departure time for our morning, October 12, tour to Chichen Itza via Apple Vacations, confirmation number 0051310155. The front desk clerk had no information whatsoever regarding that tour. We were later to find out that it is the policy of the hotel for hotel personnel to have no knowledge of any tours guests may take even though the tours depart from the lobby of the hotel. As a courtesy to me, the desk clerk telephoned Apple Vacations, the tour sponsor, and found the office was closed for the day. The results were the same when she contacted Amstar. She continued her courtesy by calling an employee of Apple Vacations. She then found out that our reservation for the next day, Wednesday, October 12, had been cancelled by Apple Vacations. Also, that tour was filled and there were no circumstances that would allow us to participate in that tour on Wednesday, October 12.

From early morning until mid afternoon on Wednesday, October 12, I spent that time in phone conversations in my hotel room with Mauricio, an Apple Vacation representative; many Cancun Apple Vacation representatives; and my travel agent. Mauricio was adamant that Apples cancellation of our excursion was the entire fault of our travel agent. He stated our reservation was not day specific as the reason. When queried about the possibility of our attending the tour on Thursday, October 13, Mauricio said space was available.

However, he required us to make an immediate payment to ensure space. I informed Mauricio that we had already paid for the tour in March. His reply was that there was a price increase of $30 which had to be paid immediately. I told him that was impossible at the moment. We had prepaid our October 13 return flight to the States and for us to go on that, the tour would require new flights for October 14 and an additional night at Sandos Caracol. I would make no commitment until our transportation issue had been resolved. After continued insistence for payment and our insistence to contact our travel agent, Mauricio said he would meet us at the hotel at that evening with the tickets and our additional payment.

Later that afternoon I received via phone flight information from my travel agent. We had been booked on a one-way flight to Chicago, via United Airlines, at an additional cost of $198 per person. Our original return flight with connection in Dallas via American Airlines had been cancelled. She would fax additional flight information to the hotel that afternoon. Since we were using the services of a Fly and Stay program at a hotel in the Chicago area, she also changed our return stay at the hotel to avoid the penalty of not checking in for the original return date and contacted the Cincinnati caretaker for our property and pet.

Prior to meeting with Mauricio that evening we received additional phone calls from Apple Vacations representatives: Why did we not attend the welcome meeting that morning? How was the condition of the resort? One representative asking if she could arrange for us a personal tour of Chichen Itza, for that day, October 13, naturally at our expense. We met with Mauricio at 6:00 pm at one of the bars at the resort. We found out later that Apple Vacations was not allowed to meet with guests at the tour desks in the front lobby or any place in the front lobby.

This meeting with Mauricio, to say the least, was not pleasant. He adamantly reconfirmed his position of blaming our travel agent for the incomplete work done by her. He questioned her experience, competence and expertise. She has been the tour agent for my son and wife's extensive international travels: two trips to South America, two trips to Africa, trips to Europe, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Our travel agent had scheduled numerous tours for other people to Mexico and never has had to reconfirm any part of the vacation for any guest. Upon hearing that information Mauricio stated that it is the policy of Apple Vacations for the agent to reconfirm. When asked when this policy started, Mauricio stated the policy has been in existence for years. He agreed to supply our travel agent and us with a copy of that policy.

I informed him that our reservations and payment had been made in March. In October Apple Vacations cancelled our tour stating lack of day specific. He was also told that one of the Apple Vacation customer representatives I had spoken with earlier in the day had noted our unusually short stay in Mexico. She was surprised that it was only for two days and not the usual six day or longer stay. I reminded him that for six months Apple Vacations had received payment, a customer representative had noted the short stay, and it was not day specific.

During that time no attempt to correct that omission was made by Apple Vacations. Mauricio quickly responded by stating that the blame for this was now ours and that that omission could have and should have been corrected by us. The customer welcome meeting held by Apple Vacations at 9:00 am on the morning of October 12 provided us with that opportunity, but we had not attended. (At that time we were in our hotel room engaged in numerous phone calls which I have already enumerated in this letter). Mauricio stated that at that time, 9:00 am, we should have reconfirmed our attendance for the October 12 tour (that tour had left at 7:00 am already). No acknowledgment of the conflicting times was made by Mauricio.

The conversation then turned to the additional one day stay at the Sandos Caracol if we took the Thursday, October 13 tour. If we did not make payment to Apple Vacations by noon on October 14, Mauricio said the one night price could change: it may not be the rate we paid in March, it could be at the current rack rate and it could possibly double. I told Mauricio that I would deal with my travel agent and the resort, not Apple Vacations regarding that. Mauricio would not tell us the rate until the moment we were willing to pay Apple Vacations. We finally did receive the needed receipt for admission for the tour on Thursday, October 13. The additional $30 charge was listed on the receipt as a $30 discount on the new purchase price of the tour. After the heavy handed dealings we received from Mauricio, we refused to sign the customary waiver Apple Vacations issues for its tours, fearing it would be later used to our disadvantage, especially regarding the additional costs we were incurring.

Early in the morning of Friday, October 14, (our departure day) we received a phone call in our room from Apple Vacations demanding immediate payment for the additional night. I informed the representative that I would deal with the hotel and not Apple Vacations. When we checked out of the resort that morning, we paid for the additional one nights stay, which was $115, and our telephone charges of $48. Our return flight was a nonstop flight from Cancun to Chicago via United Airlines. That flight was delayed upon its arrival in Cancun, and subsequently delayed ninety minutes in its departure and return to Chicago. Prior to making our final descent into Chicago, the flight attendants distributed the necessary forms to each passenger, on the near capacity flight, for compensation from United Airlines for the delay. United Airlines was proactive in its dealings with their customers.

Apple Vacations cancellation of our tour has resulted in the following additional expenses: air fair, $396; hotel $115, telephone $48, internet usage $10. In arranging future travel plans, the actions of our travel agent, AAA, Sandos Carocel, American Airlines, and United Airlines will be brought to our attention. Their empathy and proactive policies warrant top consideration for further use of their services. The same cannot be said for Apple Vacations. Throughout all conversations with Apple personnel, no empathy was shown, and no hint of compensation for the additional expenses and discomfort we have undergone. The only concern was for immediate payment to be made to Apple Vacations. Thank you.

I explained to the customer service representative that when I booked, I told them I wanted to stay till Tuesday because I didn't want to travel on Monday, my anniversary. They told me they had to review the call recording and did. They told me I could stay, but I would have to pay the additional cost for the airfare for the following day. What?! I thought at the time of booking that the price quoted to me was for that additional day. They told me they were already eating the cost for the original airfare and wouldn't eat the cost for a second. I told them I was canceling the entire vacation with them and they could eat all the costs involved!

I also told them I was going to write complaints and tell everyone I know about this situation, and they told me that's fine. This was 2 days before my vacation. I am so upset and spent all day trying to get this worked out. They were rude and not sympathetic at all. Prices have gone up more since I booked with Apple because it is last minute. They already charged my credit card and it took a few days for the charges to be replenished. So now, I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place because I do have a limit on my credit card. They ruined my entire vacation plans. I am so stressed and angry. I did make other arrangements, but I'm still furious over this whole blunder. I'm afraid I wont be able to have a good time. I will never book through them and urge anyone I know to book elsewhere. Ugh! I wouldn't even give them a star!

No one comes back to assist. I wait for 30 minutes for the promised help. Nothing. I hang up, call back, wait 30 minutes but nothing. I am on the phone right now with a rep from Apple, after another 15 minute wait. Oops! I was just put on hold. Get the picture? My husband died. We can't take the trip unless we are as heartless as Apple seems to be. I am told that only my husband's reservation can be cancelled without penalty.

And all I need to do is fax in the death certificate. But, as I stated earlier, I'm still on hold. This is a terrible company. I wouldn't trust them to be human even if you don't die.

We were disappointed to learn that the ATV ride through the town was no longer an option, but Carlos was able to persuade the young adults to attend a Disco held in a cave from 11:00 until 5:00 AM which included round trip transfers. It was marketed as this popular night spot with 3 floors of dancing with an array of music to ensure an exciting club experience. The Disco turned out to be totally misrepresented and the kids wound up taking a taxi back to the hotel only 15 minutes after arriving at the desolate and strange 1 floor cave which frightened them so much they couldn't bear to stay any longer than 15 minutes.

Additionally, on the Tuesday following our arrival, the girls who were in the room next to my son and I attempted to order room service which had been available to both rooms all of Sunday and Monday after our arrival, but were now being told that room service was not included. Our attempts to explain that we had been told it was included on Sunday and that Room Service Menus were provided in both rooms were to no avail. I went to the front desk on Tuesday evening and was told that room service was no longer going to be available and that my room had been upgraded because I was an Apple Vacation customer, but my meal plan was not (even though I paid Apple Vacations for an all inclusive vacations which included meals), and I needed to speak with the Manager who would not be available until the next day sometime. I was also advised that this was based on the Apple Vacation policy.

I went to meet with Carlos, the Apple Vacation representative on Wednesday morning to advise him of what happened. Carlos then advised me that this had nothing to do with Apple Vacation and the Hotel decided to not upgrade the meal plan during my stay. (I thought my vacation was all inclusive). Anyway, now that we were no longer interested in purchasing an excursion, as we already purchased the tickets for the Disco for Weds. evening, Carlos was no longer the friendly, upbeat, entertaining, representative that he had been prior. Suddenly, he was curt, impatient, unfriendly and clearly did not want to be bothered by us. Carlos picked up the phone to call the manager, Mr. ** and spoke with him in Spanish while we waited.

When Carlos ended his conversation, he advised me that not only would the room service not be included, but we would be responsible for the charges for anything that we ordered on Sunday and Monday. Now I was furious. Carlos told me I needed to go over to the front desk to speak with Mr. **. I followed his instruction and went to ask to speak with him. Mr. ** eventually came from the back office and asked myself and my children to come in the back where he looked up the room numbers that I provided. Mr. ** said he did not see any charges for either room and confirmed it with another member of the staff. I left abruptly as now I felt I was being railroaded all around. I find it extremely disturbing that I would pay for an all inclusive vacation only to receive "part" of the amenities. I felt it was a safety concern to have these girls walk through the compound late in the evening when they should have been able to order room service if they were hungry. Also, how was it that room service was available for two days and then all of a sudden, it was no longer available and then no charges appeared for the times that it was used?

The hotel blamed it on Apple Vacations. Apple Vacations in turned blamed it on the hotel and here I was, the customer with 3 young adults caught in the middle with no one as my advocate. It was if Apple Vacations and Grand Bahia both washed their hands of me and my family as nuisances. The "Golden" room that everyone "claimed" I was upgraded to I clearly remember choosing a Golden Package on the Apple website when I purchased the vacation. I found that I was totally disregarded as a customer after being recommended by a co-worker that I book my vacation through Apple. We were having a great time on vacation, but this certainly did not make us feel as though we were welcomed guests by Grand Bahia Principe nor Apple Vacations.

At the very least, I feel that I am entitled to some sort of refund for being denied part of the amenities that we were told were included. Additionally, I feel like the girls were deliberately placed in a comprising position by being told their only option was to walk to some deserted snack bar in the dark if they were hungry after a certain hour. I never saw many people using this option which leads me to believe that with all the rooms on this property, most people were getting room service.

I also feel that it is unacceptable that your representative would become so insensitive and uncaring because our concerns did not involve a purchase. I asked him for the address to write a letter and he advised me to get it from the website. I asked him to please write the website down on a piece of paper and he said he couldn't write anything, but I could write it myself and pushed the paper and pen in my direction. This was after he was able to write 3 receipts for the Disco perfectly fine only a few days prior. As you can tell, it's been over a month since I've returned from vacation and this is still deeply disturbing me.

I e-mailed this letter to Apple Vacations twice via their website that Carlos told me I needed to use to voice my concerns and have not received a response from either e-mail, although their website acknowledged receipt of my letter and said that someone would contact me shortly.

The Apple and Iberostar websites boost: The world's most important tour operators entrust their clients to Iberostar because its hotels are distinguished by meticulous care over service and a significant volume of investments in all the chain's establishments, allowing for excellent reception and treatment of guests, comfortable facilities with wide open spaces and modern decoration. Privileged locations of establishments situated on the beach front with easy access to the main places in each town and surrounded by gardens and green areas, varied gastronomy with exquisite buffets, traditional cuisine, cafeterias, pizzerias and theme restaurants, qualified, specialist staff, expert entertainment teams and sports and entertainment programs. Apple in its literature posted online and disseminated to travel agents boosts of Iberostar's superior service and quality of the dining facilities. Our complaint lies in the fact that the Paraiso Lindo is at best a 3-Star Resort and Apple’s rating system and their online reports are disingenuous at best. As examples of the issues we had at this resort and with Apple’s misrepresentations: Food. My family and I have also been on a number of cruises and have had an opportunity to sample cruise line food with both the middle to higher end cruise lines, traveled overseas (Europe, Korea, Ireland, Africa, Costa Rica) throughout the Caribbean (17 islands), Mexico, Canada and Bermuda and have had the opportunity to sample the local cuisine so I believe we entered into this vacation with reasonable expectations.

Prior to our arrival in Mexico we had no illusions that we were not going to be staying at the Hilton, but expected that at least one of the 7 restaurants advertised at the Iberostar Resort would be comparable to a 4-star restaurant based upon Apple’s 5+ rating. We made a point of asking our concierge to book us at "sit down restaurants" as we did not want to deal with a buffet at dinner and based on the literature provided by Apple and Iberostar, we were looking forward to 4/5-star dining. We understood that breakfast and lunch involved buffets and we were fine with that. Well, the food in plain terms was mediocre. It was difficult to find a decent meal. A majority of the food was either pre-prepared food that was then microwaved or reheated. On our first night we tried the Italian restaurant and three of the 5 meals were just plain horrible. The other two ranged from "OK" to not bad with the "not bad" meal being the equivalent of a fast food chain restaurant (Applebee's, TGIF's). On our second night we tried the Steak House and the meat was tough and very greasy and the vegetables mashed and soaked in oil.

Everyone was in agreement that no one had a decent meal that night. On our third night, we tried the "Gourmet French Restaurant" and again no one had a decent meal. The steak/tenderloins were tough, the fish was overcooked. I complained that night and was met with a number of apologies and a visit from the "Head Chef", but we were left with a situation where we needed to "find" something to eat at 9 am that were not burgers, carbs or a picked through buffet. On our fourth night, we tried the Mexican Restaurant which we felt would and should be terrific in light of the fact that we were in Mexico. Well, it was horrible. Two of us had a lobster that had been cooked and reheated and was so dry that we gave up on trying to "dissect it". Our remaining three meals were again reheated and rubbery. We were once again relegated to the buffet to grab some grilled chicken and guac. Of all the restaurants, this was the most disappointing as we expected a wonderful meal prepared by the "Iberostar 4/5-Star Chefs" and ended up with a meal that a wait person at Ruby Tuesday would have sent back.

On our fifth night we tried the fish restaurant and four of our meals were overcooked and rubbery which is hard to do with fish and scallops. My daughter had a nice piece of salmon and my vegetables weren't too bad. On our sixth night we went back to the "Gourmet French Restaurant" as the people we met at the pool and beach had warned us to stay away from the Japanese Restaurant with comments like "our meal was just plain terrible" to "we had to ask our waiter to please find us someone who could speak English and tell the cook to prepare a meal based upon our requests and not his interpretation of what a Authentic Japanese meal should taste like". At that point we had a choice: back to the burger/chicken/carbs buffet or upgrade at a cost of $40.00 per person to eat at one of Iberostar’s two Five-Star Restaurants at their high end Grand Resort.

At that point in our vacation we did not want to spend $200 extra on a meal plus tip hoping that it would be better than the other 6 restaurants so we went back to the Gourmet French Restaurant and two of us had a decent meal in that the meat was not overcooked and the vegetables (which were steamed) were tasty. At this point our rating system had gone from “Is it a 4 star meal” to “is it edible?” Seriously, a majority of our dinners were just plain terrible and most of the staff was oblivious. At the beginning of our 2nd visit to the Gourmet restaurant, we were escorted into what was described as a "private" dining room which if you and your family were there alone with a waiter/waitress, it would have been a fun experience. In our case, the staff proceeded to break down the room around us as we ate and used the room to store then retrieve chairs, glasses and tables. Needless to say, the constant distractions dampened any conversation and at times we simply had to stop talking until the staff had finished moving a table out of the area.

To add insult to injury, most restaurants had a buffet for your appetizer and dessert and were quickly picked over. The desserts were comparable to what you would receive on a low level cruise or the packaged dessert you would buy in bulk at Sam's Club. Most of the bread based/puff pastry desserts (cream puffs, vol-a-vue, pastries) were stale and hard to cut much less ingest. We had expected the food to be affected by the humidity and made allowances for that. But we found a majority of the bread /pastry products were not "freshly baked" and the bread they served was virtually tasteless. It was difficult if not impossible to get a salad unless you raided the condiment section of the burger buffet and used the lettuce, tomato and onion as a basic garden salad. A majority of the items in the buffets at lunch and dinner involved a lower cost cut of meat drenched in a number of sauces that ranged from very oily to low end butter substitute.

A majority of the cooks/servers in the buffet did not speak English so it was not unusual to get a mystery omelet if you did not sit there and make sure they put the requested items in. The lack of proficiency in Basic English was really an issue at the bar. Now keep in mind, this is an all-inclusive resort were we spent close to $10,000 for a week and a majority of the waitresses did not have a basic understanding of English. My son served as our translator, but when he wasn't available, we had a problem with the waitresses not understanding any request for any drink that was not a "straight rum and coke". On a number of occasions we were left with a decision as to, do we drink the mystery drink or ignore the waitress and ask the bartender (who were usually very good to deal with) for the drink?

A major issue for us was the fact that a majority of the cooks/wait staff did not wear gloves and made minimal attempts to observe any sense of hygiene. I observed the cook at the omelet station cooking multiple omelets wiping her hands on her apron and sleeve, fixing her hair and leaning on the counter as she added one condiment after another without washing her hands or making any attempt to ensure that the raw egg batter stayed away from the utensils or food. In fairness to the resort, the waiters were very nice and most of them tried their best to make sure we had a nice dinner experience. However, whenever we raised a concern, the response was always the same: we can get you another lobster/steak. If we just had a terrible meal for the 4th time and we can see the cooks preparing the meals (and know that we will receive the same thing), why would we try another reheated lobster? After the first time we "tried another meal" and found it to be just as disappointing we made a point of trying to fill up at the buffets and not anticipate a decent meal at night. The resort did have a nice set up at the beach. If you have a family with a couple of kids that love the beach and burger and fries, Iberostar does a nice job with the beach portion of their resort. At the beach, you can enjoy great water, views, sand, semi-comfortable beach chairs under your own umbrella and the wait staff will bring you food (burgers and fries) along with drinks all day.

The beach also has fairly clean bathrooms and a number of activities that would keep your kids busy all day. The Paella cooked on the beach was a fun experience for everyone as the cooks made a point of getting the entire beach involved in the process. If you wanted to live at the beach, were not concerned with the above referenced dining issues, and did not want any other activities, I think you would have a decent time at this Iberostar resort. With regards to our choices of restaurants, it was not until just before our departure did we find out that the resort had two Italian and two Mexican Restaurants and you had a choice of either the buffet or a "sit down" style. What bothered me was we made a point of asking for a "sit down dining style restaurant" and our concierge totally missed that point. I do not contribute his failure to make a reservation at the sit down Mexican/Italian restaurant to a misunderstanding or inability to communicate. Quite frankly, the reservation process for those restaurants involved an additional step and he simply did not want to take the time to make sure we got what we asked for.

We all felt that the Iberostar Resort did a nice job with security once you were on the bus and/or in the resort. I had no problem walking around late at night and I felt that the staff were all trustworthy (by that I mean I used the safe in the room but did not have any issues with leaving money in my clothes in the room while I was at the beach or in the pool), the issue I had was at the airport. Immediately, upon exiting the immigration screening section, you were descended upon by everyone from baggage handlers, taxi drivers, time share resort salesmen to people trying to sell you anything you could think of. I think Iberostar/Apple should have had a representative at the gate (we arrived in an Apple chartered plane) to save us from having to fight these people off. I realize that everyone has to make a living, but when you are trying to get your luggage and find the right exit while making sure your family stays together, the last thing you need is a time share salesmen literally breathing down your throat.

Flight. Our flight was a charter booked by Apple that left Logan Airport (Boston, Mass) at 6:50 am which meant we had to get up at 2 am to catch the limo at 3 am to get to Boston by 4:30 am to allow us time to get through customs. My issue was not the 6:50 am departure, it was the fact that we arrived at the Resort at 11 am and could not get into our room or any room until 3 pm. If Apple is booking the charter and as such they know exactly what time we will be arriving to require us to sit around for 4 hours in 90+ degree heat until our room is available is unacceptable. They could have made arrangements to have our luggage brought to an area that had showers so we could have changed into our bathing suits and gone to the beach or pool for a few hours or made a number of excursions available to fill that void. We would have been more than happy to pay an additional fee to fill the gap with something productive rather than sitting around for 4 hours.

Room Service/Chamber Maids/Cleanliness. We were very frustrated with the chambermaids as they basically cleaned your room when they got around to it. There was no definitive schedule so you could not plan on taking a nap, playing cards or watching TV around the scheduled maid service. Our chambermaid would arrive somewhere between 11am and 5pm. Now, when you are trying to get showered and dressed for dinner and the chambermaid shows up after 5 pm to clean your room and it would take them anywhere from 50 minutes to 1 hour to clean it, that creates a problem as our schedule is now impacted by theirs. Overall: (a) The room was not spic-and-span, it was clean; (b) we did not have any local critters so that was nice; (c) the air condition ranged from "kind of working" to being OK; (d) the room was all tile so it was very slippery when wet which presents a problem when you consider the humidity in Mexico and the fact that this resort is a pool/beach based resort. We witnessed a number of people slip on the wet tile and take a nasty fall.

This resort had very little to no carpet, and due to the presence of the tile, you were always watching were you walked due to the fact that the tile was so slippery. If anyone in your party has a walking disability, I would not recommend staying at this resort as they will have a difficult time getting around due to the slippery tiles unless they stayed at the high end grand resort which has carpeting and due to the fact that it is an adult only resort, you do not have to deal with kids running from pool to pool to their rooms getting the floors wet; (e) most of the chambermaids did not understand English so you needed to get a hold of the concierge to get almost anything done to include having the maid refill the bottle water in the refrigerator; get an extra pillow, etc. (f) the resort was quite large so you had the opportunity to request that a golf cart pick you up and drop you off at your destination.

This was a pleasant surprise especially if you were dressed up for dinner and did not want to arrive at the restaurant soaked due to the near 90 percent humidity. The problem was waiting for a golf cart or the train. If you called from your room they would be there anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes and were very accommodating. If you were on the grounds of the resort and waited at the train stop or in front of the shopping center, you could be there for quite some time as they did not keep to any regular schedule. So in most cases, it was quicker to walk; (g) When you ordered room service you got your food within a reasonable period of time, but it was not always warm (forget hot) and they usually did not bring any condiments; (h) as I had stated above we were taken back by the lack of cleanliness. To be clear, the resort is very well maintained. Iberostar has workers on site all day cleaning, repairing the facilities. Our issue was with the people handling our food. It was clear that a majority of the people working there did not understand or they did not care about the transmission of viruses and transmitted food borne illnesses. You can dress someone up in a nice white chef’s uniform, but if they won't wash their hands after touching eggs, poultry or rare meat before preparing your meal, then there is an issue.

Entertainment. The entertainers were local and most spoke pretty good English. However, their "Hollywood reviews/stage shows" were equivalent to a High School Musical (my apologies to Disney). In some cases they had an entertainer who did a very nice job, but that was the exception. In our case, the onsite entertainment was not on our radar screen when we booked this resort so it made no difference to us. If you are looking for a cruise line quality production, you will not find it here. The TV is OK; a majority is in Spanish of course. A majority of the TV shows are old and the movies are at least 2 years old. As this is a beach resort, we did not expect to have HBO, but it would have been nice to have that option.

Complaints. There were a number of times when we had a legitimate issue which did not get addressed due to Iberostar’s failure to have anyone with any authority on hand. Specifically, we had a number of what we considered to be legitimate issues to include: (a) The low quality of our meals; (b) the concierge’s failure to book us for a "sit down restaurant" despite two requests; (c) the fact that we could not get dressed for dinner at 5:15 due to the fact that the maid had just started to clean our room and we had to go searching on many occasions to find a maid to get refills (toilet paper, towels); (d) the fact that the grounds people decided to spray for bugs in a populated area as we were going from one resort to the other and despite the fact that they could see us approaching continued to spray in front and behind us which resulted in us having to deal with the bug spray/fog for about 100 yards; (e) the fact that an employee had charged my daughter $8.00 (American) for a bag of Cheetos; (f) the fact that we did not have hot water in our bathroom for most of our stay; (g) the fact that the train operator had failed to make his scheduled pick-up at the shopping center requiring us to walk back to our section of the resort.

When we asked for a manager, the front desk representative suddenly developed amnesia and her English immediately began to deteriorate. We had to ask her twice before she approached another front desk employee who then started to giggle (seriously) and told us they did not have one. At that time she told us she could take our name and have a person from PR speak to us later. We did not hear anything and when we had the issue with the staff members dismantling the dining room around us at 7pm (during our meal), we went back to the front desk and were asked to wait a few minutes and a representative from PR would be right over to talk to us. The young lady from PR showed up about 10 minutes later and was very attentive and apologized for the quality of the meals and the fact that we were not "having a good time".

She told us she would have to turn this matter over to her supervisor who was not there and that her supervisor would be back the next day between 8 and 9 am and that the supervisor "would contact us as soon as she was in". The next day, I sat in my room from 9 to 11:20 am waiting to hear from this "supervisor" and after leaving a message with our concierge, I left for the beach to join my family. Upon our return late that afternoon, we had a message left for us on our bathroom sink that the PR supervisor had called to talk to us at 11:30 am and that we could go to the front desk to meet with her. At that point I was disgusted with the whole process. I expected the "supervisor" to contact us when her subordinate told us to expect a call, not 2.5 hours later and why would I at 4pm have to rush up to the front desk (a decent walk) to catch her before she left for the day? It was clear to us that we had received lip service and would continue to receive the same treatment. From that point on we accepted the fact that the representation in Apple’s website and in their literature had been grossly embellished and that Apple’s rating system had no direct relationship to the actual service at the resort. After returning home, I contacted both Apple Vacations and Iberostar with my concerns and never heard back from either group, a fitting end to a subpar vacation.

Restaurants: I saw roaches in both restaurants - La Porsche and Torquesa. It is very hard to understand how people can eat there and not complain. The drinks were of very poor quality and brands. They tasted like soap. We were afraid to be poisoned, and did not risk to even get any drinks at all. Pool area: I was disappointed that the pools are overcrowded with very hot contaminated water. We got ear infection after the 2nd day we stayed there. Also, you need to have cards to get a beach towel. And there’s not enough beach chair or umbrellas to protect you from the sun.

Bath Towels: It’s time to get some new ones. The ones we had were raggedy and faded. Those are definitely not the towels I'd put out for your guest unless they are homeless. The guests of our hotel did not have the towel service in the other 2 RIU resorts they went to when the beach has been closed. You had to walk 2 miles to the beach to find out you cannot get any towels there and stay this way or walk back to pick up one, which is ridiculous!

Room: The air conditioner just barely worked and sounded terribly loud, the shower did not drain, and there were no light fixtures there. So, we had to take a shower in a completely dark space. We had to ask them to provide the missing screen to prevent more mosquitoes from flying in. The beds were hard and very uncomfortable. The room we stayed in was in need of a good deep cleaning. There is going to be some mildew. But the ceiling in our shower definitely needed to be cleaned from mold and repaired. The grout in the rest of the room (especially the bathroom) also could have used a thorough cleaning.

Additionally, our shower did not drain properly which left us standing in about 4 inches of water each time. We have been awakened all the time by loud voices and other sounds, as the walls were so thin. We experienced a constant noise coming every night from the 3-hour shows from outside and the huge machines working on the beach all night. The room had a terrible smell we could not get rid of even when the doors were open. All our cloths smell the same way now and needs dry cleaning. I am afraid it is more than that because of the mold.

It’s a terrible place. I would not recommend it even to my worst enemy thinking of traveling there. The Riu Playacar is very old and definitely not a 5-star resort. It is more like a ½ star resort. All our 10-day vacation has been wasted as well as the money. Apple offered $100 coupon for the next trip to compensate us, which is ridiculous!

I finally booked our flights and the next day, we needed the transfer to the airport that was included in our package changed. I again could not reach her for over an hour and we could have missed our flight. We had an emergency situation and she advised she was available 24 hours a day and completely was unavailable and not helpful at all! My boyfriend was in tremendous pain while I was in a state of shock in a foreign country which resulted in extreme emotional distress.

The construction would only come to our attention when we stepped out to the beach and noticed it blocked off and littered with heavy Caterpillar machinery. We inquired about this inconvenience with the Apple representative at the resort, who offered us a transfer to a different Iberostar. Unfortunately, our previous experience a bigger Iberostar complex did not please us, hence why we specifically chose to have our stay at the Iberostar Tucan.

After our polite rejection, the representative went on to try and sell us an excursion package to Tulum, rather than continue to deal with the issue at hand. At no point did this said representative even mention the free shuttle that would take us to another resort, so we would spend the day on their beach. However, wasting an hour each way driving just to spend time at the beach was not part of the deal I paid for.

Throughout our entire vacation the beach was closed, and the machinery was used throughout the entire day, making it impossible to sleep at night. I would like to know why Apple did not warn us of these proceedings, given that Apple and Funjet were given warning about construction in the Rivera Maya hotel zone. Seeing as I paid for insurance and could've moved my vacation to a different time, I feel that Apple has failed a loyal customer. I cannot fathom though why Apple would act so negligent given that Funjet alerted all their customers beforehand. We wasted time and money that we paid for package.

Well, you can see where I'm going with this. It was not an ideal vacation. Now, the hotel management were very concerned and did everything they could to make a bad situation tolerable. When I finally was able to get around, I went over and I tried to inform your representatives of the illness and how the management tried to accommodate me. She just gave me a blank look (like a cold fish) not for myself only but all the others who got ill. Now, I know she may not have known at the time but she did know there were people dropping like flies from being ill. This is unacceptable and needs some attention on your part and I would like to see how you plan to deal with this and how you think a compensation is required.

Physically, I lost 15 lbs. in a 12 hour period and still after week has gone by, I'm still a little weakened and economically being sick 4 days out of 7 short changed mine and my wife's time vacation, and do you really think that place is a 6 apple. I don't.

I asked to speak with a Manager. I then spoke with Harold. Harold advised that the only thing he could do was to see if they could pull a report and show if I ever did call Apple Vacations. I gave Harold the phone number that I called from. He stated it would take one business day to run the necessary report and he would call me back. On 11/29/07, Harold did not contact me. On 11/30/07 at 3:10 pm (CST), I contacted Apple Vacations again and reached Allison. I asked to speak with Harold. He was on another call, so I left my name and number. Allison advised that he would call me back after he was finished with his current call. Harold did not return my call. He did not even call me to state that he was still working on the issue, and apologize for the delay. He simply didn't call. We spent $3200 on a vacation with Apple. We just want the $800 that was supposed to be processed on Oct 15, and clearly, no one is anxious to help.

American Airline representatives refused to help us because we had a special bulk ticket purchased by Apple Vacations and thus can't be re-booked without Apple Vacation representative.

Anyway as result of long conversations with answering machine and couple of persons who hanged up on me I have got connected to someone called Jennifer S. from Philadelphia office who simply told me to get away, purchase a ticket and fly back home by myself.

After 4 weeks wait time and complaint sent to them I have got return for tickets I've purchased and so called certificate for 100$ expired in 1 year that I will not able to use for obvious reasons. In addition to this useless papers they sent me a letter with false statements regarding a reasons of they mistake in my itinerary.

I feel this kind of customer care is abusive and not even close to trying to resolve the problem I have had with them. In addition they should clearly state that they ARE NOT PROVIDING ANY SUPPORT TO THEY CUSTOMERS IN CASE OF EMERGENCY.

My son was scheduled to leave on a flight from Cleveland, OH to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico with 12 of his friends for their senior spring break trip. This trip was highly anticipated and a once-in-a-lifetime experience which he worked very hard to pay for.

This trip has turned into a trip from hell from what should been a wonderful, enjoyable relaxing vacation with his best friends to celebrate their upcoming graduation.

To begin, the flight was delayed 11 hours and departed Cleveland, OH at 3:25am on Saturday March 24, 2007. During the flight, a passenger announcement was made saying that bags were taken off the plane (because of weight and safety issues), and that they would arrive later that day or Sunday March 25, 2007 at the very latest.

When they arrived in Puerto Vallarta, my son learned that his bag was one of the bags taken off the plane, not because of a mistake or oversight, but because of a deliberate decision by USA3000.

When his bag again did not arrive on Sunday, the Apple Vacation Representative, told him that it would be there the next day, Monday March 26, 2007.

My son's bag did not arrive on Monday, at which time the Apple Vacation representative again informed him that it was now scheduled to arrive the next day, Tuesday March 27, 2007. The bag was to arrive on a charter flight from Chicago which was to arrive in Puerto Vallarta at 9:30am. They promised that his suitcase would be at his hotel by 11:00am. My son's bag arrived at his hotel lobby at 3:00pm. At this point, his vacation was half over.

This situation is inexcusable. After speaking to the concierge at the Buenaventura Hotel, the Apple Vacation representative in Puerto Vallarta and the customer service center for Apple Vacations, I have ascertained the following: USA3000 Flight #414 was too heavy to take off and the pilot requested that luggage be taken off the plane for it to depart. I was told that during this time of year when USA3000 is booked with spring break travelers, this occurrence is not unusual. Since this is a possible occurrence, then procedures must be in place to reunite USA3000 travelers with their luggage on an immediate basis (within 24 hours). Four days later is unacceptable and utterly ridiculous.

A vacation is not a vacation without your clothes, bathing suits, sandals, toiletries, etc. This is like asking a baseball player to play the game with a bat and no ball. It cant be done.

To make matters worse, my son wears disposable contact lenses which were packed in his suitcase. We were concerned about packing them in his carry-on bag because of the new flight regulations concerning liquids.

I was not informed by no one of this MAJOR error I happend to log on to my Citibank.com and noticed all of this money was taken from my account. I immediately contacted the travel agent and she gave me the number to Apple Vacations. I called and someone by the name of Howard or Harold answered I explained the situation to him and he told me he doesn't deal with customers only the travel agent. I then hung up and contacted the travel agent so she could call. We did a conference call and she explained the situation to the next individual that answered the phone they stated nothing can be done a credit has been issued and it will take 3-10 days to process.

I purchased insurance so I called the insurance line. They were unable to assist me but gave me a number of a on call person from Apple. This person was upset that a consumer was contacting her because she only deals with Apple/ or Travel Agents & hung up on me. I called the insurance # back & they assisted they could be not help.

By this time it was around 8:00 and I went from counter to counter asking what the fares would be to better assist Apple. US Air & Continental agents both were suprised that our tickets were no good. They said as long as you get to the airport within 2 hours of your flight you will be put on the next flight. It's called the flat tire rule. I went back to Delta to double check & they said NO - your tickets were purchased in bulk & ARE NO GOOD!!!

and it was a horrif experience. I had 16 FAMILY Members flying in from all around the country to meet at the OASIS CANCUN.

Apple assured me this would be no problem. When we arrived we had no rooms due to 130% overbooking and they tried to fly us to Jamaica, Dominican Republic and the Bahamas (but not the whole family!!!) It simply gets worse from here but Apple contacted me with a letter dated September 8th, 2004 letting me know they were very sorry and were investigating this. It was signed by Joan Bennett and had a case number.