My wife, daughter, niece, sister-in-law, and her two sons went down there last Thursday, and came home yesterday.
Let me start by saying that they did have fun.
Debbie said that almost everything they did there, someone was trying to swindle her out of money. She had to go to the police twice on two different occasions, and she and my daughter handled one on their own, to the grand total of almost $900.00 She got most of the money back, but said she felt like she spent her whole time there, fighting not to be taken advantage of, or to get her money back from someone.
They had a Cabbie take them to Atlantis, which is some big hotel/casino, I think, and he made her buy his gas and his lunch, which turns out is illegal, and THEN wanted a $450.00 cab fare. He wound up getting $100, plus gas and meal, so she said it was $160.00 total. The police said they would take care of him and she may get money sent back to her.
The next thing was a company selling packages to the Blue Lagoon, where you get to swim with the dolphins and go parasailing. So she laid out $250.00 for that, being told that they would get to do those things, and didn't get to do anything but eat and sit on the beach. The people there said the package she bought didn't include those items. She got $160 of that back, and Debbie said the police there were very helpful. Then they had to go and pay another outfit again to take them parasailing. She said that he was very nice, let the kids drive the boat, and flew them right by where she and my sister-in-law were sitting. She said that was the only time she didn't feel like someone was cheating her.
The last thing was the Blue Water Resort, where they were staying, tried to get them for $190 for phone calls. Debbie made a few to me and my daughter made a few to her boyfriend, each time using the dialing instructions sitting right by the phone, that detailed how to make those calls "collect". They had to argue for an hour and a half over this one, and finally got the charges taken off. The lady at the reception desk said the correct dialing instructions are in a book in the drawer. They finally all went back to the room, where there were the incorrect instructions, and no book, anywhere.
Debbie said she's staying in the US the next time she has an urge to sit on the beach.
She also said that every gate agent she encountered, with the exception of one, on the whole trip, was rude, some to the point of nastiness. She was flying on my passes, and they got bumped off of probably a total of 5 flights, so she encountered many agents. They had to travel through Miami to get there, and that's a hard place to get through, flying stand-by.
It's a good thing I didn't go. I would have been fired and in jail after Debbie told me what some of those gate agents said to her.
One of her bags didn't make it back. She, supposedly, filed a claim when she got back, with a rude baggage service agent. So, later that day, my daughter came over to bring some things that were in her bag that belonged to others, so we decided to go to DFW and check for ourselves about the bag, while Debbie took a jet lagged nap. So I go into the baggage service office and told them my wife was on flight 1379 this morning, and one of the bags didn't make it with her. Her response was "So, what do you want me to do about it?" I swear to God.
Anyway, my daughter looks at her and says, "This is the baggage service office, right?" I started laughing. She's something. The lady said yes. I said "Would it be possible if you could check to see if anyone might know where the bag is?" So she did, found it, sitting in Miami, sent them a note to forward it to DFW, and said someone would call when it came in. Well, I called them today, and it's here. No phone call from them. 
Debbie's going to go pick it up now. I sure hope they're nice, because Debbie's not going to take ANY MORE SHIT from airline people.
One other little note that probably didn't make Debbie's trip any better.
So Monday night is my last night of solitude, so I probably drank about a 12 pack. Well, Debbie's trying to get ahold of me from Miami, and I'm dead to the world! I woke up at 9:30 when her mom called, saying she was on her way to the airport to pick her up. I had 33 missed calls on my phone. I knew I was a dead man, and the look on Debbie's face when she walked through the front door, almost cut me in half. She didn't stay mad long though. 
But I'm glad he's got someone that you really like. My dad's new wife is so nice also, and I think she's a keeper.
