Preparing for a large group trip, I had a late arriving package and Hyatt, Explora Journeys, and Uber all worked together for me to save the day.
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Late Arriving Package
I had ordered some merchandise for a large group trip my travel agency was hosting on Explora Journeys this week. We were expecting 120 guests and I had ordered two boxes of hats but they had been stuck in shipping purgatory. For more than a week, I was tracking them down working with our printer and worried about backup plans.
On Thursday, the packages were to arrive at our Miami hotel but they were still at the north Miami depot, they hadn’t made it onto the truck for the day. Worse still, I had a dinner meeting and couldn’t make the hour long trek north of the city to retrieve them at the depot, if they would let me do so.
The delivery was scheduled to arrive “before 9 pm” well after our all onboard time of 4:30 pm and ahead of a 5 pm departure from the Port of Miami. A revision to the schedule came in just after breakfast to “before 7 pm” which was great news. As this was arriving via USPS, it would likely arrive earlier in the day whenever the mail normally comes to the hotel, 2-3 pm from what staff had told us.
We were in the area until 2:30 pm and simply couldn’t wait any longer, traffic to the port was atrocious.We arrived to the port just after 3:15 and were meeting colleagues onboard by 3:30 when the text came in that the package had been delivered. From there it was a mad dash that would require a number of our travel partners to work together.
Hyatt, Uber Coordinated Delivery
We spent about ten minutes on hold with Hyatt while we tried to locate our package. While my wife was on the phone describing boxes and sitting on hold while staff at the hotel looked for them, I was on Uber using its new (new to me, anyway) courier service. We found a courier and ordered it right away.
Hyatt continued to look, they couldn’t find it under my name – nothing had arrived. I called the Uber courier and discussed where to meet the bell staff and that they would be outside with the packages (that the hotel hadn’t yet located.) The courier was friendly, but shortly after we hung up, Uber was finding a new driver for us, the driver must have cancelled.
Side note: Uber’s policy that allows a driver to cancel no matter how long you’ve been waiting penalty-free while charging customers if they do the same is grossly unfair and needs to be balanced.
We give some alternative names for which the package might have been sent including our company, the shipping company, variations of my name. They went away to look, and a new courier picked up the trip. This driver had us a nervous with no available license plate number, and they couldn’t accept calls or messages.
Hyatt came back, they found the packages and rushed them to the front desk just as the driver arrived. We did all we could to alert him that time was of the essence. He was on his way and all we could do is look on and hope as we tracked his progress through Magic City.
Explora Journeys Last Second Save
There was a very real deadline and the process was completely out of our control. Though the “all onboard” time was slated for 4:30, we were among the last to board (if not the absolute last passengers) and staff from Explora was closing down the boarding process. Our driver was scheduled to arrive by 4:20 pm but my plan was initially to be back onshore waiting for the package and run it across the gangplank myself. That wasn’t in the cards.
“Our pilot [ship captain] is scheduled onboard at 4:20 pm and once he is on, nothing else can come onboard.” a customer service representative of Explora Journeys explained.
“We have an urgent, important delivery and it’s scheduled to arrive at 4:20 pm exactly.” I pulled up my Uber app to show him. The rep politely grimaced.
“If he’s even a minute late, we have to leave it.” We were nervous and crushed.
We also would hope that the boxes would be held in the event they couldn’t make it onboard, but who knows what will happen over the next two weeks while we were away. Tensely we watched our driver struggle through traffic and delays, creeping up to 4:22 pm, and back down to 4:19 pm. We were offered a drink while another customer service staff member stood by with us for the tense action. Our packages would also have to go through CBP inspections as well adding to the time crunch and a further complication out of our hands.
As the car approached, we could see him making his way to the terminal door, the customer service representative called to her colleague who had gone ashore to meet him.
“Lucca, do you see the black Honda Civic?” our representative asked. He asked for a license plate number which we didn’t have. We heard some shouts in the background, the clock turned to 4:19, our courier had made up a minute but it all came down to this collection. Then we heard Spanish being spoken in the background, our representative spoke Spanish among a handful of languages from her last post working for Marriott Hotels and Resorts in Dubai. She switched to Italian for Lucca, he had the package and would make his way back.
Triumphantly, I went to Deck 5 where I could access the outside to see it for myself. At 4:23 pm, Lucca and a colleague were walking the boxes into the cargo and staff entrance on Deck 3 and they’d be in my arms moments later.
Conclusion
Though weather through the northern states, and shipping and import/export, and traffic all conspired against us, it was our friends at the Hyatt Regency Coral Gables front desk, the waiting staff at Explora Journeys, and an ordinary Uber driver that all saved the day for me. It was incredible to see it come together right when I needed them all to cooperate the most.
What do you think? Have you had some of your travel partners come together to save the day at just the perfect moment?
Seems a lot of trouble for two boxes of MAGA hats .
Trump would have air-expressed them to you for free .
What ports are you visiting on Explora??? From the emails etc that I get Explora looks like a nice cruise product.
@Dee – It’s our favorite product. On this one we have a bunch of new destinations for us: St. Thomas (new), Puerto Rico, St. Martin (new), Pointe-á-Pitre (new), Anguilla (new), Antigua & Barbuda, St. Kitts & Nevis, and a handful of others. If you decide to try them, reach out.
Something going on with an AA flight in Italian airspace.
Saw something earlier about fighter jet escort and a bomb threat. But that was hours ago.
The pilot is not the ships captain. The pilot is a person experienced in all of the local hazards bringing a vessel in and out of a port. They usually stay on until a few miles offshore where you will see them get on or off the PILOT boat. The pilot never has control of the vessel, they just issue instructions and recommendations.
The magic city