This is my second post since finding this website. I have a lot to learn.
My (now) husband and I checked in at Torres Mazatlan on the same day and met three days later. I was there for 12 days and he had an extra 3 months reserved at El Cid. After I left he invited me back. I met a lot of timeshare owners and salespeople in Winter/Spring 2006. We used timeshare points to pay for 21 days Alaska cruises and a cruise tour. We got married during that time.
I started to read through the time share files when we got home. I found that Pono Kai in Hawaii would have had to be banked by June 30 or we'd lose it. I tried to advertise it but didn't get any bites. So we used it in September followed by a second week at the same resort using Vacation International points. I found it interesting that 5 different organizations operated out of the same resort. The VI units included washer/dryers but not the robes that the Pono Kai/Bluegreen units provided. The Pono Kai/Bluegreen didn't offer W/D.
We spent 8 weeks at Mayan Palace from Nov 12 - Jan 6, 2007. A few months before we made the reservation Mayan informed us the 48 week a year contract members could book Christmas/NY's week. The resort seemed totally different Christmas/NY weeks as many people like us with only 2 people in a 2 bedroom unit had guests. It seemed like the number of people at the resort tripled during those two weeks. Interesting also to see 4 colors of wrist bands. How they differentiated between Mayan Palace/Grand Mayan and whether you came in from a trade or were an owner/owner's guest.
We spent the last two days at El Cid because the Mayan check out was Sun. El Cid lets us check in S/S/M and check out anytime. We flew to Ft Lauderdale and used timeshare points to completely pay for the Princess World Cruise from 10 Jan - 22 April in Southampton.
We stayed at Hever Hotel (on the estate of Hever Castle - Anne Bolyn's childhood home) using El Cid points. Then we checked RCI trades and got Woodford Bridge in SE England - County, Devon. Then we used Marriott points for all of our hotels in Ireland.
It's a piece of work to figure out all of our 22 timeshare contracts and make reservations. We have been home a month but leave again in late September.
We are trying to use up some of our one week timeshare programs. Some of the companies allow us to bank from one year to the next. But they generally want to give you the least desirable months if they let you bank them. We plan to spend October in Mazatlan, Nov-Feb in Puerto Vallarta, and March in Mazatlan again.
I have found a lot of informative posts on this website. I am unfamiliar with the credit system. Also I started to reply to posts but saw they were a few years old. Hopefully I will learn my way around.
I saw the GrayFal Moderator Pat's personal website and found it very informative. I posted some of my photos at timeshares along with other travel photos on
georgeannmalowney's photos and albums on webshots
