Kaki said:
Thanks again, Rick, but your information continues to be unhelpful.
I can guess as to the answers too, without insulting myself or others. I am aware of the taxi option.
I was told that the posters at DR1 have the answers that the other Boards don't have. Not so far, but I'll see if maybe it's true in the future.
Kaki
Well that's nonsense. You arrive, look for the rep, find the rep, the rep tells you the bus. I doubt they just throw passengers to the wolves and let them find their own way. If they do, then reason #863 is valid. When I arrived at SDQ at the times there were charters arriving you couldn't move for the tour reps and their little signs. And hotel reps and car service reps and on it goes.
To MommC's point when they were prevalent at SDQ there were some in the luggage area and some right outside in the meeting area. The signs were quite obvious.
The one (stupid, stupid, stupid) time I took a package to Cuba the rep and a gaggle of about 20 others were there with the little signs and checklists. I suspect the same will apply at SDQ, in fact probably a lot less of them since AC is about the only airline flying to SDQ now - the rest, Transat and SKyservice go to LRM and have for a while.
Still the odds of there being 200+ regular SDQ visitors on that flight (it is a new non stop flight to SDQ starting in December) are slim and none and slim left town - it will be oodles of fellow AI sharpies with their plastic pouches of important tourist information quivering at the idea of going to the third world. Thus you will be among a group af AC Vacations clients and should do OK, as AC will likely have a number of reps depending on how they split the flight into busloads.
In Cuba, had I known a taxi was maybe $15 vs. the 1 1/2 hour wait for the idiot AI tourist with a wonky passport to get out of immigration, I would have paid to get ahead of the sheep. If I arrived today at SDQ for a package to LRM I'd tell a fellow sheep I am there (to tell the tour rep - assuming there is one and you haven't been abandoned) and beat feet out to a taxi and get to the resort hours earlier than the flock.
However as 99% of AI tourists have as their two main motivations for using packages - fear of experiencing something different combined with being cheapskates, most people would not DREAM of paying $50 or $75 for a few hours of freedom and convenience.
To play it safe have enough US$ with you to get there (getting back of course is a picnic since the hotel stages the buses) and enough Spanish to argue with a taxi guy for a decent one way fare.