Today is our Anniversary!

Two years ago today, Jen and I got Married at the Ritz Carleton in Half Moon Bay after being engaged for 19 months. More amazing to me than being married 2 years is the fact that this August will make it 7 years that we’ve been living together!

Tonight we’re going to The Melting Pot which is the fondue restaurant that I mentioned in a previous post. I’m fired up!

I recently wrote an account of our almost honeymoon disaster and submitted it to get published on a website that was offering $100-$200 for writing about honeymoons (every week they have a new topic). I have no idea how many submissions they got or how many they chose, but they didn’t pick mine . Rather than throw it in the recycle bin I figured I’d put it up here. Here it is!

A Honeymoon Blessing in Disguise

My wonderful wife Jen and I got married on a beautiful Saturday in July of 2005 and the day before our wedding got some troubling news. We were getting ready to play a round of golf with about a dozen family and friends and on the way into the clubhouse to check in, Jen and I ran into my Dad. The first words out of his mouth were “Did you hear about the hurricane that’s going to wipe out your honeymoon?” I knew that my father can be one of the world’s great pessimists so I certainly considered that he might see a forecast of a few rainy days and start throwing around the word “hurricane.”

After 18 months of planning our wedding, that’s what we were worried about and at that point the honeymoon was a complete afterthought. We resolved to not think about anything but the wedding and enjoy our special day. Of course once the wedding (which went perfectly) was over we started to worry more about the weather.

After a few minutes of watching the weather channel it was obvious that in this case hurricane meant HURRICANE! We were scheduled to leave Oakland California on Monday morning, land at the Cancun Mexico airport around 5 in the evening and spend 7 nights at the Royal Hideaway in Playa Del Carmen. Coincidently, category 4 hurricane Emily was due to arrive at almost the exact same time.

After some discussion and a little panic, we resolved to fly to Mexico if they’d let us and work it all out when we got there. Not surprisingly, when we woke up on Monday we discovered that all the flights to Cancun that day had been canceled. We’d booked our flight, our resort stay and our transportation from the airport to the resort as a package through one of the major online travel services. The first thing we did when we saw our flight was cancelled was call them.

That was the beginning of a two day extravaganza of the worst telephone customer service I could ever imagine. It was like we were getting punked by Ashton Kutcher. We’d say “Our flight was cancelled and the resort we were supposed to stay at is closed for the next two days because there was a major hurricane. We need to reschedule.” And they’d say “We’re going to have to charge you for the half the cost of the flight you missed and the cost of one nights stay at the resort as a penalty.” We kindly tell them that the flight never left the ground and that the resort was at that moment experiencing 120 mile per hour winds. They’d say “Let me check on that” and after 20 minutes of easy listening torture they’d come back and say “We’re going to have to charge you for the half the cost of the flight you missed and the cost of one nights stay at the resort as a penalty.” It was as if they had no idea what a hurricane was.

Part of the problem was the people at the travel service had to speak with the people at the airline and the people at the resort. The people at the airline we swamped because they were rearranging travel plans for thousands of people and the people at the resort were focused on not getting impaled by a palm frond going faster than Dale Earnhart Jr.
Perhaps a more substantial part of the problem was the fact that the people we were talking to had the reasoning power of a bag full of horseshoes. After deciding to give up the fight about the fees and penalties until after the honeymoon we decided to just get everything rescheduled ASAP. Not surprisingly, this was not a simple task. At one point one of the rocket scientists working for the travel service returned after a brief 30 minute hold session and said (I swear I’m not making this up) “OK we’ve got you scheduled to arrive in Cancun on Wednesday the 20th, you’ll be staying for 7 nights at the Royal Hideaway starting on Thursday the 21st and we’ve got your ground transportation from the airport reserved for Tuesday the 19th. Is there anything else I can help you with?”
Is there anything else you can help me with? You can explain to me how the hell we’re supposed to catch a bus in Mexico the day before we get there. Does our package include the use of a time machine? Around that time they offered us a refund and we almost took it. I am so glad we didn’t.

After roughly 15 hours on the phone over the course of 2 days we finally got it worked out. We would arrive on Wednesday and stay at a three and a half star resort for one night before moving over for seven nights to our five star accommodations which we were told had a 90% chance of reopening on Thursday. One more day of Honeymoon couldn’t be a bad thing, and somehow during all of the confusion we ended up sitting in first class on our flight to Mexico. We clinked glasses and kissed as we broke through the clouds and into the sunshine on our way out of town finally feeling like everything was going to work out.

When we arrived at our first jungle themed resort we were met by a man named Alejandro. He told us that if we needed any information about tours or activities away from the resort that he’d help us arrange them and that he’d check to make sure that the Royal Hideaway would be accepting guests the next day. He said we should have a “meeting” with him at 9 the next morning and he’d give us all the details.

Not wanting to wait until the next morning to find out what was going on, the first thing we did when we got to our room was call the Royal Hideaway. They confirmed the fact that they’d be open and everything was fine with our reservation. After hearing from the people at the travel service what felt like 1,000 times that they didn’t know when everything would reopen it was a tremendous relief to confirm that we’d be able to stay where we wanted.

After getting settled we made our way to the pool area where we had a few mixed drinks, swam in the pool and surveyed a little of the hurricane damage. After dinner we ate a piece of our wedding cake that we’d brought with us on the beach under the moonlight. It was a nice night.

The next morning we blew off our meeting with Alejandro and after a nice breakfast we made our way to the front desk to catch a cab to the Royal Hideaway. But somehow Alejandro tracked us down. He came up to us and said, “Your other resort is closed until Monday.” What!? We told him that we’d spoken with them the night before and everything sounded fine, but he assured us that he’d “just gotten off the phone with them” and they weren’t taking any guests until Monday. “Why don’t you just stay here a few more days” he said. It all came into focus for me at that point. I’d heard that the locals might try to swindle us in one way or another, but I didn’t really think it would happen. We kindly informed Alejandro that we’d just go on over there and see what they said. He replied “That’s the worst thing you can do. You don’t want to go all the way over there and then have to come all the way back, do you?” We told him we’d take our chances. It turned out that “all the way” was about a 4 minute cab ride. If we’d known how close it was we might have walked!

While we had a nice time the first night the difference was obvious the second we walked into the Royal Hideaway. Instead of being met by someone who would try to deceive us, we were met with two glasses of champagne which we sipped on as we checked in. We quickly discovered that the resort was deserted. We later found out that of the 200 plus rooms only 15 were occupied.

Since there were so few guests on the first day we kept running into the same people. At the beach, by the pool, and at dinner it was the same few people. When we saw them again at the bar we decided to introduce ourselves to one of the other couples. In no time at all two other pairs had joined our group. It turned out that all three other couples had been married the same weekend as us and were all on their honeymoons! We traded stores about our weddings, talked about our jobs, and remarked on how great it was to be on our honeymoons. By the end of the night it was as if we were all old friends.

For the rest of the week it was like the 8 of us had our own private all inclusive resort. We had our choice of the six pools all to ourselves. We could sit wherever we wanted at any restaurant at any time. We got to know all of the employees on a first name basis. It felt like there were 50 people working to cater to our every whim. And since it was all inclusive we could eat as much of the amazing food and drink as many of the expertly prepared, beautiful drinks as we wanted without spending an extra dime!

 

While we thought the hurricane might ruin our honeymoon it turned it into a one of a kind experience and gave us the chance to meet some great people who we’re still in touch with 2 years later. It even wiped out all of the mosquitoes so we didn’t have to worry about bug bites. It was truly a blessing in disguise!