Trip Report May 17-31, Fiesta Am/Coz Palace, Scuba w/Alison/AquaSafari

[cvchief]

Trust me. It’s easier to get rid of a spouse than get rid of a timeshare.

You are on it today. We should take the act on the road.

I told her to call them and see if she could pay them to take it back...

 

[cvchief]

Of course that didn't work when she called his parents so......

 

[ggunn]

Trust me. It’s easier to get rid of a spouse than get rid of a timeshare.

I have had several friends go through bloody litigious divorces. I simply told my wife where the shotgun is.

 

[tridacna]

I have had several friends go through bloody litigious divorces. I simply told my wife where the shotgun is.

And you’d still be stuck with the timeshare. My MIL actually contracted with one of those slimy outfits who guarantee that they’ll offload it for you. Three years later - she still owns it and is suing to get her fee back. Timeshares are the worst investments you can make.

 

[cvchief]

And you’d still be stuck with the timeshare. My MIL actually contracted with one of those slimy outfits who guarantee that they’ll offload it for you. Three years later - she still owns it and is suing to get her fee back. Timeshares are the worst investments you can make.

Ok, so question answered on slimy timeshare assistance outfits. I better call her quick and tell her to forget that!

Maybe that is the next thing: Outfit that helps you recover money from the outfit the promised to get you out of the timeshare that the timeshare people promised you was the best thing ever?

 

[jonhall]

What did you pay for timeshare initially and what are yearly fees

Aunt-in-law paid $9000 in 1985. As I stated in earlier post, we bought it for half that and the annual fee is about $900 and goes up a little each year - when we bought it the fee was only $540/yr. To give some numbers different than in my previous post: If I include every dollar we have paid into the timeshare (initial cost of unit, RCI membership fees, maintenance fees, exchange fees, fees for extra weeks and last minute weeks, a year when we had to pay $1500+ refurbishment fees, and a few other odds &ends), the 41 weeks we have used average out to be $796/wk - really a little less than that as people we travel with either pay or share in the cost of exchange fees. If I take away the initial cost and those one time refurbishment fees and only consider the fees that I now pay annually and for each week we used, the 41 weeks average out to $635/wk - again a little less because of others paying a part of the fees. The more you can use it, the better the deal it is. Although we originally bought it so we could go to FL every year at the end of the school year, I wouldn't buy one today just to go to the same resort over and over - I want to go different places.

Again, if it were just my wife and I traveling, we could a lot of places. There are a lot of diving locations. Bonaire, Curacao, Hawaii, Caymans, Cozumel, Cabo, USVI, Philippines, Bahamas, Australia, and more. Some of those, I would have enough points to get 3 weeks in a row or maybe only enough for 1 week. I might have an option to just pay for a week - prices can vary - Curacao I could get for about $280/wk whereas Bonaire would be about $1100/wk. Most timeshare units are 3 star, IMO, but some are better than that. The point is that I have options.

My sisters both had timeshares; neither knew how to use them. Only went to their resort a few times in the years they had them. Never went other places with them. A total waste of money.

Now for the real secret - find people you can travel with that are in some type of vacation club. We get a couple more weeks of travel in each year by sharing our friends weeks with them - only cost me $50-100 for 2 weeks depending on where we are.

 

[markmud]

I'm startled to see a cruiseship!

I was startled to see cruise ships at Curacao.

I checked Tennessee, Ohio, and Georgia C-19 numbers, they are dropping fast and at basement levels. The worst may be over. Farr's Law in effect?

I feel alive again!

Let's go diving people!!!!

cheers,
markm