Oh boy, this is exhausting! Let's start from the day one.
I was on my honeymoon trip and the driver picked up us from the airport and took us to some other hotel for which I had no reservation. ...
The driver then apologized and took us to exactly the hotel that I asked ALS to book for me. I was surprised, I did not have the reservation there too. So where did I have the reservation if not at the beach facing, 5-star holiday inn resort with great services? I will tell you, it was at the holiday inn express hotel, a cheaper alternative with no room service and a smaller room space. After nearly half an hour of discussion with the girl Pooja; who booked my package and her manager Harpreet, I found that they didn't know about the express and resort to be different. They booked it through one of their vendors and their vendors had this hotel on top. Sounds ridiculous? No ridiculous is the answer that I should have rechecked all the bookings. Talk to me about it. :-D The thing is I was getting the same package with the resort of my choice at cheaper price and somehow I got convinced to buy from ALS.
I don't want to take up too much time and space, so now, I will quickly list down a few things.
- I was promised a local sim card, I wasn't provided.
- My itinerary was jumbled up, and so couldn't go to the free dinner which was supposed to be like a dream dinner on a beach. You have got to remember Pooja because she sold me all this stuff. The dinner that they offered was nowhere near to the dream dinner that Make My Trip sells (you have to goole it) but the worst part is I got to know that I was supposed to coordinate and organize it. At one point, I started asking question why did I hire ALS if I had to do everything myself.
- She sold me insanely big list of places in the package that cannot be realistically covered in our itinerary and for which I bought the package. She basically fooled me into buying a package that is useless. On top of it, I had to take care of the whole itinerary within 10 hours. If it goes above 10 hours, I was to be charged at 7 USD/hour; also not informed to me in advance.
- She sold me a cruise ride. ROFL. She told me that we will have separate places for dinner on the cruise. The cruise basically was a small boat and nowhere compared to again MMT cruise. I keep mentioning MMT because my friend bought that package cheaper than this and had a great fun.
- I even asked her at one point showing a photo if the boat is something with which I am going to have a Cruise ride and she said no. She said it's BIG. Most of the time we were travelling and then for a couple of hours we were on the lembogan island. Everything that they say is laughable in the package - there are no electric cars for village tour, no huts, no lunch on the cruise basically meaning only one hour free on the island because we have to also be back before the sunset. Wait, the sunset; she sold me the sunset on the cruise, a big LIE. We reached our hotel before the sunset.
- Full access to beach club resort means a couple of lockers, public washroom, and open swimming pool. And there is no live music. No full access to pontoon facilities. The boat guys were great. It's the ALS guys who booked a cheaper package with these boat guys.
- I thought I would have a great time in Ubud. It seems they didn't have my confirmed reservation in Ubud as well. I had to be transferred to another villa at the outskirts of Ubud, 20 mins from where I was supposed stay and then the next day back to this villa.
- She also promised veg breakfast to me. Another lie. They didn't have anything in veg.
- Enjoy lunch and dinner in the inhouse restaurant in your package? It was a lie for me. There were no services in any hotels or villas.
-There was no breakfast at all on the first day in Ubud, even if I ordered.
Apart from that the cab driver was a great guy and we enjoyed a lot talking to him. We even visited his home. 5 for the driver and the Bali and for ALS to at least book the two hotels and the cab.
What I understood is that if you are on a honeymoon, you should not try out things. Brands are brands for a reason. At least they are answerable. I felt so helpless and stupid while talking to ALS people.