II Caribbean trades?

[CaliforniaDreaming]

Has anyone ever done an II trade to a Caribbean resort? We would like to do one summer of 2005. When do we book this? At our 11 month window? And, for a 2BR, it is 270 pts, correct?

What would be the best resort to stay at?

Thanks!

 

[spiceycat]

Dean is the expert

he has say the Royal Resorts there are 3 or 4 of them

I would think the Marriott and the Westin would be nice too

How about the Atlantis it is at Bahamas instead of the Carribean but I think it looks great - Harborside Resort at Atlantis.

forgot - yes 11 months.

 

[Dopey Sharon]

I thought you could book two years out for II?

 

[AreWeThereYet]

I was on the phone with member services trying to book a trip to Hawaii for next summer. They say it's best to book two years in advance for these types of trips - I would imagine a trip to the Caribbean would be similar.

BUT, to answer someone's question, two years is allowed for II trades.

Good luck on your trip!!

 

[Dean]

Most people include Cancun in the Caribbean and if so, I'd put the Royals at the top. Otherwise it's St James Antigua, Westin St. John, Royal Reef and Grand Caymanion both Cayman's and the Marriott Aruba. Almost no 2 BR units though.

 

[emmrut]

Is your ranking based on tug or have you been to these resorts. I just checked with member services today and the only Caribbean resort available was the Royal Palm in St Maarten and the Caribbean Palm Village in Aruba. Have you been to either of those?

 

[AnnMorin]

We are a December use year. We are thinking of going in 2005 for a week in the winter to either Grand Cayman, Aruba, Antigua, St. John basically anywhere in the caribbean except cancun. We are using 2004 points for the cruise so we won't have points avail until 2005 when do we put in a request? Do you ask for specific weeks or give them a time frame? Do you request specific resorts or just state contries?

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by emmrut
Is your ranking based on tug or have you been to these resorts. I just checked with member services today and the only Caribbean resort available was the Royal Palm in St Maarten and the Caribbean Palm Village in Aruba. Have you been to either of those?

I haven't been there but I have far more info on some than just TUG. I have been to the Royals in Cancun (all 5) and the only one that would be a trade down is VCI.

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by AnnMorin
We are a December use year. We are thinking of going in 2005 for a week in the winter to either Grand Cayman, Aruba, Antigua, St. John basically anywhere in the caribbean except cancun. We are using 2004 points for the cruise so we won't have points avail until 2005 when do we put in a request? Do you ask for specific weeks or give them a time frame? Do you request specific resorts or just state contries?

You will need to be able to access your 2005 points by the time you match but not when you put in your request. It's also possible DVC can float your points in the new system, I'd ask.

 

[AnnMorin]

If I need to access them than I probably need to wait until 2004 to as I could then borrow against them if needed. Maybe I will call member services just to see, my understanding is that caribbean trades do not come up far in advance so there would be no need to put in early is this the case?
ps-thanks again Dean it is great to have someone so knowledgable at our disposal!

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by AnnMorin
If I need to access them than I probably need to wait until 2004 to as I could then borrow against them if needed. Maybe I will call member services just to see, my understanding is that caribbean trades do not come up far in advance so there would be no need to put in early is this the case?
ps-thanks again Dean it is great to have someone so knowledgable at our disposal!

Put the request in, it will not hurt anything. I know I've heard of DVC taking the points later as long as it's before the travel. Definitely call them.

 

[MiaSRN62]

How about the Atlantis it is at Bahamas instead of the Carribean but I think it looks great - Harborside Resort at Atlantis.

I just read on these boards this past week that Harborside is no longer being offered---very unfortunate because it's a gorgeous resort. My friend just stayed there (doing an internal trade with another off-site Orlando timeshare). I can't remember which thread I saw this on, but the OP mentioned that MS said not enough people want to trade their weeks at Harborside---and I can understand why. Now I have not personally confirmed this information---just something I read on DIS.

 

[disney4me4ever]

Hi Maria~

I am the one that posted that information after talking with MS back in March to try to get that trade for 2004 or 2005. At the time I spoke with MS they told me Atlantis Harborside was no longer available (even though the Member Guidebook & website had it listed) for trading. I asked her if it had to do with the fact that there had been some damage to the Harborside units ~ I had read that on TUG. She said no~ the issue was no unit were ever made available for trade, probably because resort was still new & members were using their weeks and not trading out; thus DVC decided to take them off the list until units started to become available.

Hope that helps,
Nancy

 

[Dean]

I'm sure no units were available due to the damage/rehab. They should have kept it on. I wonder if it wasn't due to the fact it's a starwood resort and in direct competition. If this were to be true, fear for the Westin St. John as well.