The history of our marriage is as unique as our honeymoon. We wanted to visit a destination we hadn’t before, and close enough to the United States due to time constraints. We married without much time for lengthy vacations, and thus we had to go back to work shortly after the wedding.
After contacting several travel agencies we knew here in the US, we had many doubts about traveling to South America. We were neither convinced about the price nor super excited about the itinerary. For a moment, we actually thought going back to Hawaii or Florida. We got quite anxious, there was a month left for our wedding and we didn’t have a honeymoon planned ahead of time.
Finally, we found SA Luxury Expeditions, and decided to have our trip booked with them. We purchased a package specifically designed for honeymooners in Peru, which promised to be as adventurous as comfortable. The itinerary fit into our plans, specially our time framework, and we couldn’t be more excited about visiting Peru.
We left on a Wednesday night for Lima, and spent our first night there. It was a long flight, with several delays due to inclement winter weather in the US. When we finally made it to Lima, four hours after our original arrival time, there was no one there to meet us. Doesn't the travel agency check if flights are late?? We called our travel agency and two hours later someone showed up. We were transferred to a nearby hotel and had to spend that night at a horrible, poorly located airport hotel. Rooms were humid, beds were small, and breakfast was impossible. This hotel looked nothing like the fancy stays we had been promised. Our sole consolation was spending just a few hours there before leaving for Cusco, our next and foremost destination.
By Thursday noon we were on our way to Cusco. The feeling we experienced while waiting for our luggage was one of the worst things we’ve ever experienced in our lives. We were dizzy, nauseous, cold, and generally felt short of breath. Our guide told us we were experiencing altitude sickness, and that we would feel better once we arrived at the hotel. The ride from the hotel to the airport was almost two and a half hours, and when we finally made it there we didn’t feel any better whatsoever. Quite the contrary, my husband threw up and got very pale. At the hotel, they provided us some hot water bags and coca tea, but we still felt pretty poorly, specially my husband.
While having tea at the restaurant, we met with other American travelers who gave us valuable suggestions. We were also told the agency they were traveling with informed them about all sorts of sicknesses and recommended various precautions before their trip. It seemed to us some companies do provide their customers some very basic though extremely useful tips. Evidently, we started wondering why SA Luxury Expeditions didn’t do the same before we traveled. Why no one seemed to care about the well being of their passengers, especially given that they know environmental conditions are a bit hostile towards non-locals? Ultimately, why no one from the agency tried to contact us and ask about our status, even though I personally emailed them three times asking for being contacted?
Things turned out to be worse the following day, when my husband started feeling seriously ill. We asked the hotel to contact SA Luxury Expeditions, but it was another unsuccessful attempt. My husband struggled more and more to breath, and couldn’t eat anything during the day. He looked very pale and felt without energies. We requested oxygen, but nothing seemed to work. At the nursery, they told us it would be best to go to a hospital. There was one in a nearby town called Ollantaytambo. When we made it there, it didn’t look like a proper hospital to us. Anyway, the doctor check my husband and he remained under close observation all day through. Up to that point, neither the hotel nor us were able to communicate with SA Luxury Expeditions. We didn’t receive any emails from our agent in spite of countless messages we left in their voicemails and emergency email addresses.
The doctor sent us back home that night. My husband still felt poorly though he could breathe better. They prescribed some pills and recommended to drink lots of liquid, particularly that coca tea. At the hotel, they informed us we had been evicted from our room because our reservation had expired, and our belongings were in the middle of the hall. According to my itinerary, this wasn’t correct. As you can probably understand, I lost my mind then. My husband had been feeling utterly sick all day, we were having a horrendous honeymoon, we hadn’t enjoyed one bit of our very expensive trip, and now we were being asked to leave the hotel. Where could we go? I talked to some people, and the manager finally understood our situation and showed some sympathy. Although we were able to stay at the end, it was a humiliating experience.
One hour later, we were back in a very basic room but finally were able to rest a bit. Everything that followed from that point was fine. The hotel was able to contact SA Luxury Expeditions somehow, and confirmed our reservations – though, in my perspective, the harm had been done. The hotel gave us some complimentary services in their spas and free wine. I guess we were, all in all, pleased with their service. However, we never heard back from SA Luxury during the rest of our trip. They never dared to give us a call. They didn’t even care about asking about my husband’s health or if we needed any changes due to this medical emergency. Nothing.
Our honeymoon had some exciting highlights – Machu Picchu was, for example, a wonderful experience – but at the same time was very disappointing as a whole. SA Luxury Expeditions was our worst mistake, and we’ll never get their services again. This company doesn’t care about their clients, and all what these people care about is money. A few weeks ago, after making it back home, our travel agent finally contacted us to ask whether we would be interested in subscribing to their “Special” listserv. Quite honestly, I found this very offensive but didn’t even bother to request an apology, or a refund for that matter. Do yourself a favor, and stay away from SA Luxury Expeditions.