I am interested in hearing experiences with club mobay. Do people feel its worth the price? Is there pressure to tip? How fast do you get thru immigration and customs at arrival and departure?
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I am interested in hearing experiences with club mobay. Do people feel its worth the price? Is there pressure to tip? How fast do you get thru immigration and customs at arrival and departure?
We used both the arrival and departure services on our December trip. When we arrived we got through immigration and customs in about 15 minutes. They also call your driver and escort you to the curb and stay with you till you are loaded and ready to roll. On departure the time through immigration and customs was about the same and then they escort you to club MoBay with its free wifi, snacks, drinks and comfy chairs. There was no pressure to tip but we did anyway. Whether it is worth it or not depends on your budget and patience but if we can we will definitely do it again. Travel days, no matter how good, generally suck so the little bit of pampering was welcome and on departure the lounge was a huge improvement over the hard plastic seats, noise and overpriced snacks of waiting at the gate.
I used it the week of 12/15-12/22, both Saturday flights. It saved some time both ways, prolly spent less than 10 minutes at each stop. My arrival had the shortest immigration lines I've ever seen, but customs was crazy, which is unusual. My flight arrived 1/2 hour early. Since I didn't have to wait for a checked bag I was actually out of the airport by the time my flight was sposed to get in!!!!!
Helped on the return too. Stopped in the lounge for a snack. Lounge was decent. Food OK, finger sandwiches, fruit, chips, muffins, etc.
All staff was very courteous & helpful. Wasn't sure about tipping, but I did tip my arrival escorts a few bucks because they were so nice.
I think it was $80 for the roundtrip 'bundle', couldn't just purchase arrival or departure. It was a good experience. I would def consider doing it again, but also sorta like the come-n-go process of Sangster!!! lol
We have not used it yet. I reserved the arrival only service for our Feb trip. THere are 3 planes scheduled to land just before our plane and 2 more at about the same time so I jumped on it. It was $55.00 each for the arrival only.
I will report back.
We just used the departure service on 12/27. It was $30. Per person for pre-arranged reservations. The airport wasn't busy, so it did not save us much time. However, the lounge was very nice and as Ras Walleye said, it is a huge improvement at waiting at the gate! We would definitely use it again during the busy season.
We used it, just got back last week.
We arrived on the Saturday before Christmas, I figured it was going to be crazy busy, there were 6-7 flights coming in every hour. They met us at the gate, checked our paperwork and escorted us to the front, out in under 15 minutes. I ran into people that told be they waited an hour or more.
On the way back, there was no line at all at immigration, but the lounge was worth it, free drinks (had to get one more rum punch in), patties and other snacks. A very civilized way to travel
I only tipped the bartender.
My advise would be to wait until a few days before your travel date, check flightstats.com to see how busy the airport is and act accordingly.
I have emailed them but haven't got any response. Does anyone know the price for the arrival service?
I think you can only buy the departure service for $30 or the bundle for $80. Don't worry, they will answer your email, I found their customer service to be excellent.Quote:
Originally Posted by south jersey gyal
I thought you could only buy either the bundle, or the departure service, but LLAP indicated it was $55 for arrival only.
I used the departure service in November. I was able to get $5 off pre-buying on Expedia, so with tax, around $58 for two. I thought it was very nice and worth the price if you are going to make a lunch of it and have a couple of drinks. They had soup, hot mini patties, little sandwiches, bruchetta on crackers, etc. I was surprised their fruit was just basic apples and bananas (didn't look local). Coffee, tea, water, juice and whatever you wanted at the bar. We ended up only being in there for about an hour, as our flight was actually on time. The airport was not the busiest and we were not escorted to the lounge, just told how to get there. If travelling in January/February, particularly if on the weekend for sure it would be worth it. I figured that if the food helped tide us over for before flight and eliminated the need for in-flight snacks, it was paying for itself. My travel companion doesn't really drink, so he missed out on that "plus". No one monitored our flight or came to let us know/escort us to our gate. They have a screen with the flight status, I did have staff check to make sure it was correct as the time differed slightly from my iphone app alerts.
I departed on a Saturday last February, and the security line was 3/4 of the way down the airport, I remember looking with longing at those lucky people on the fast track through security. Would definitely use it again when going those months, and if going again with someone who would like to take advantage of the free drink or two (my companion put a damper on my enjoyment). In November, I was glad I didn't use the arrival service, as it was a piece of cake.....the February arrival (Sat. evening) was another story, would have been nice after a long day of traveling and then the 1.5 hours to get through immigration, customs, luggage and out of the airport.
In December we were escorted both on arrival and departure and when we were in the lounge they announced every departing flight via overhead speakers. Perhaps the service is evolving but we were completely satisfied.
We used it the end of Nov for departure. Our flight boarded early. They never announced it but we decided to leave the lounge a little early. Good thing we did. We were the last to board and the flight left early. They said they called the club but no one told us. Also the food was a little "old". We wereI am not sure we would do it again. the only ones there and they told us they were closing the area we were in as soon as we left. I think it depends on how crowded the airport is when you arrive and depart. We did not have an escort and only tipped the bartender.
Thanks to everyone for their experiences. If I decide to use the service for my Feb 7-16 trip I will provide my opinions. The club Mobay email support has been very responsive.
I have already reserved the VIP arrival only but now I have a question about the departure option. How does ticketing work for departure. Past trips we have had to wait in long lines at MoBay airport to get tickets and check luggage. Does Club MoBay bypass this step or speed it up somehow?
Thanks
I have only used Club MoBay's departure option and I am not aware of any help getting your bags checked (now that would be nice). Both times I have checked in and then proceded to the MoBay kiosk to purchase my departure pass.
I can't remember if it was on the pass or if I read it on the pamphlet, but it was noted that they can't always call every flight and that the customer should check the flight departure screens.
If any flight is leaving earlier that expected, I would hope that they would be told when the gate calls them. That is rather important information.
The departure service begins after you have been ticketed and checked your luggage. You then check in with Club MoBay and they expedite you through immigration and customs and on to the Club MoBay lounge.
I was pleased to discover a number of self serve kiosks to print my boarding pass this time, which is great if you don't check bags. & it looked like those kiosks also helped to keep the lines shorter at the airline counters by eliminating passengers who didn't really need to there.
Once I had my boarding pass I proceeded to the Club Mobay desk & got thru immigration & security check in about 15-20 minutes.
'Buzzkill' usually comes to mind on departure but not this time!!!
Tawnee, Ras, & Westend - Thanks for the replies. I have tried to preprint our return trip boarding passes using the Hotel computer & printer but they would not print. I guess it wouldn't matter anyway as we will have luggage to check.
departure service is all we have done and it is great. just $30 each would just be a few beers at margaritaville
We used the departure after our stay at Thanksgiving and jumped in front of at least 50 people lined up to go through customs,didn't get an escort to the lounge but told us how to get there.Bartender gave us fresh patties and nice cold beers and our customary leaving the island shots.We tipped the bartender as he was filling our beers before they were empty!$30.00 each paid for at our hotel as we were checking out and we would do it again,as Ras said,it's a nice place to relax for a couple hours before the dreaded flight home!Attachment 21850