interval international Caribbean exchange

[tidefan]

I would not put any of the St. Marteen/Martin resorts on the list personally.

Dean, you and I will disagree on this, but I think that the Royal Palm Beach Club is quite nice after the remodels there that have just been finished. We stayed in a renovated unit last November and it was great. All units there are oceanfront and there are numerous restaurants within walking distance.

I think that it would be an OK deal in the offseason, While RPBC may not be quite as nice as say DVC or Marriott, it isn't bad at all. If DVC/Marriott is a 10, I'd put Royal Palm as a solid 8 after the renovations (probably would have put it at a 6 before). IMHO, it is nicer than the sister Flamingo Beach property and is much nicer than the Pelican, especially if you get one of the units that has been blocked off by the new Bayfront condos.

As to St. Maarten, I like it much better than St. Thomas, but YMMV. I have never been to Aruba, so I can't comment on that. Also, one great thing about St Maarten is you can easily do day trips to Anguilla (which has the most beautiful beaches in the Caribbean) and St. Barths.

 

[travelbug]

What end of the Island is this on? We just returned last week from a RCI exchange, we were on the East end at Morritts Tortuga.

The Grand Caymanian is on the west side of the island, on the North Sound coast. Hope you had a wonderful time down there!

 

[kimberh]

We're going for our first trip to Aruba in a few months. We've never been in spite of owning fixed timeshare weeks there for more than 10 years. We're staying at the Surf Club for a week on an II exchange (Marriott to Marriott, not DVC) and at La Cabana for 4 nights total using Bluegreen points). One of my hobbies is to check out timeshare so I'll likely spend a couple of days just exploring and taking pictures while the wife reads by the pool.

We stayed at La Cabana 3 years ago with Bluegreen, I did enjoy the pool area. We toured the Island from end to end. I think you will enjoy Aruba! The beach is across a street, but it is very nice. They keep it private with security guards. We had a one bedroom Pool view.

 

[Dean]

Dean, you and I will disagree on this, but I think that the Royal Palm Beach Club is quite nice after the remodels there that have just been finished. We stayed in a renovated unit last November and it was great. All units there are oceanfront and there are numerous restaurants within walking distance.

I think that it would be an OK deal in the offseason, While RPBC may not be quite as nice as say DVC or Marriott, it isn't bad at all. If DVC/Marriott is a 10, I'd put Royal Palm as a solid 8 after the renovations (probably would have put it at a 6 before). IMHO, it is nicer than the sister Flamingo Beach property and is much nicer than the Pelican, especially if you get one of the units that has been blocked off by the new Bayfront condos.

As to St. Maarten, I like it much better than St. Thomas, but YMMV. I have never been to Aruba, so I can't comment on that. Also, one great thing about St Maarten is you can easily do day trips to Anguilla (which has the most beautiful beaches in the Caribbean) and St. Barths.

That's why I said that I would not personally. To be clear, my list was mostly a resorts based list and not as much a location based list. Not only do I feel the resorts in St. Marteen do not measure up, one can get them much easier and cheaper other ways such as a cheap timeshare exchange or a rental. From an ownership standpoint St. Marteen/Martin is the Orlando/Branson of the Caribbean. And I don't normally trade for something I'd rate an 8 and if I did, I certainly wouldn't give up $1500-3000 worth of DVC points to do so, as you say, YMMV.

We stayed at La Cabana 3 years ago with Bluegreen, I did enjoy the pool area. We toured the Island from end to end. I think you will enjoy Aruba! The beach is across a street, but it is very nice. They keep it private with security guards. We had a one bedroom Pool view.

Interesting that La Cabana is where I owned fixed weeks and now I'm finally staying there that I have converted those weeks to Bluegreen points.