Trip report: SanDestin/Club Intrawest

[kapeman]

Finally, here is the trip report a couple of people were looking forward to (preposition, I know, but anything else seems stilted).

This is running longer than I had anticipated, so please bear with me if I go into too much detail.

We just got back from 4 days at the SanDestin resort where we stayed at Club Intrawest. We have stayed on the resort several times over the past 5 or 6 years, but this was our first stay at Club Intrawest.

There were 6 of us, the wife, our two sons (5 and 3) and my parents.

We reserved a two bedroom vacation home and were initially told by the CM at MS that all the units with balconies were booked.
(How do you build a resort hotel/condo without balconies?)

Day1:

We arrived around 1 PM for our 4PM check-in and were told they would alert housekeeping and call us when the room was ready.

The person that checked us in was EXTREMELY nice and went over all the amenities that we were eligible for as guests. My favorite was free beach chairs, umbrellas and towels. I hate having to lug a ton of junk to the beach!

We went back around 3 and our room was ready. We were pleasantly surprised to find that we did have a balcony. We were also very pleased to see how large the condo was. (See pictures below).

The have two pools, a family pool that has a zero degree entry and a max depth of 4 feet and a regular pool that is standard depth. We used the family pool.

One of the great things about SanDestin is that they have a tram service that will take your anywhere on property, which includes the Village at Baytown Wharf and a brand new shopping area that includes several restaurants and a Publix grocery store.

We didn’t feel like driving (even though we made the trip in under 4 hours!) so we went to the Village for dinner. We picked a great bbq place called Jim ‘n’ Nicks. It is a small chain that is based in Birmingham, AL, so we know it is good and it didn’t disappoint.

We walked around after dinner and let the kids play on the new, very large playground. It is made almost entirely from Trex or a similar material, so it is very durable and there are no splinters to worry about.

From the balcony!

The bedrooms:

At the village!

The Beach Boys!

Day 2:

We took the tram to the beach and it was fantastic. The weather was great and the water wasn’t too cold. Did I say how much I hate schlepping stuff to the beach? Well, this trip it was easy!

After a very relaxing morning at the beach it was back to the condo for lunch and naps!
That was our basic itinerary; beach, lunch, nap, pool, dinner. Now that is what I call a vacation!!!

We took the kids to another of the three playgrounds there. This one is like a fort and it is in the middle of a nature trail that is basically a boardwalk that twists and turns for around 200 yards. We always have to go here.

For dinner we made the 20 minute drive to Panama City Beach for an old family favorite, Angelo’s Steak Pit. This place has been around since the late 50’s and the décor hasn’t changed a bit, but the food is consistently phenomenal!

Big Gus at Angelo's:

That evening the kids borrowed a movie from the front desk (Holes) and the wife and I went to the Village for the evening. (Thanks, Mom and Dad!)
We went to a couple of places and had some tropical drinks. Every place we went had live music and they were all very good and so were the drinks!

Day 3:

Beach in the morning and the weather was even better the first!
Naps and then the pool.
Our last dinner was a place that we had tried before called Pompano Joe’s. It is right on the beach and the building is long and narrow so every table has a gulf view.
It was even better this time than before! The breeze from the Gulf was really refreshing and the food was incredible!!!

That night the wife arranged for a showing of Finding Nemo in the private theater. They typically show a kids movie at 5 PM and a grown-up movie at 7 (I hate the fact that I can’t use the term adult movie because of the bad implication!!!).

That night we asked them to show Nemo at 7 and they obliged since no one else had any requests. We popped our individual bags of popcorn and proceeded with our drinks to the 20 or so seat theater. The 5 PM movie ran long so we caught the last few minutes of Narnia! We sat in the back row of large, rattan arm chairs and enjoyed the movie! Our 3yo was getting tired and climbed into my lap towards the end of the movie and it was perfect. The end of that movie always gets me misty and I just hugged my little man a little tighter for it!!! Everyone really enjoyed movie night!


Day 4:

We hit the pool for a couple of hours and then loaded up for the trip home.



I can’t tell you how much we enjoyed the facilities at Club Intrawest and SanDestin.
If you get the chance to stay there you owe it to yourself to do it!

Hope you enjoyed reading my great American novel, uh, trip report and let me know if you have any questions.

 

[Cheryl N. WI]

Great report and pictures Thanks for posting (and thanks for the PM letting me know it was here)! Maybe we'll give this a try next June.

 

[starbox]

Great trip report - we are very big fans of SanDestin and I've been curious about the Intrawest exchange option. I think we'll have to try it!!

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

Thanks for the trip report, and for the PM!

I've been looking forward to this report. Thanks so much for the detail.

It looks like you had a really great time, and loved the resort.

Will you definitely do Destin/CI on points in the future, or go back to paying cash elsewhere? (i.e, was it worth it?) Did they hit you up for a presentation?

BTW, Jim & Nick's is also on Hilton Head Island when you decide to take the Misses and youngins over there. We love Jim & Nick's but it can be expensive.

 

[maciec]

Thanks so much for the trip report! I am hoping that once enough people start sharing their echange trip reports that we can get a "sticky" at the the board.

 

[kapeman]

Thanks for the trip report, and for the PM!



Will you definitely do Destin/CI on points in the future, or go back to paying cash elsewhere? (i.e, was it worth it?) Did they hit you up for a presentation?

Thanks!

We never got any pressure at all to listen to the sales pitch.

We plan on going back, but I'm not sure what method we will use to pay for it.

It is a lot of points!

I did some preliminary research on Club Intrawest points and they seem rather high! I thought DVC was considered expensive.

I also have been looking at HGVC since they have an exchange agreement with CI, but can't find that many details. I have done most of my research over at the TUG boards.

Any info or advice on this would be appreciated.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

Thanks!

We never got any pressure at all to listen to the sales pitch.

We plan on going back, but I'm not sure what method we will use to pay for it.

It is a lot of points!

I did some preliminary research on Club Intrawest points and they seem rather high! I thought DVC was considered expensive.

I also have been looking at HGVC since they have an exchange agreement with CI, but can't find that many details. I have done most of my research over at the TUG boards.

Any info or advice on this would be appreciated.

I'm glad that it was no pressure. That is my greatest fear of trading. We are quite happy with our toe tipped in the timeshare world with our 100 BWV points. Its perfect for 2 Disney nuts.

I didn't mean to be nosey about how you pay, I'm just wanting to know if its worth using the points. It sounds like your trip really ate the points. Was it the same # of points as WDW resorts, more or less? Do you think its worth using the # of points required for your stay? We had thought about a studio in February.

As far as HGVC, I only know what I see on the boards. HGVC is in Orlando correct? I think that most people suggest that you purchase traders outside of Orlando because it is sooooo easy to trade into Orlando area timeshares outside of DVC.

The other advice I've heard is to never, ever purchase from the developer.
I've heard the most positive comments about Marriott (outside our beloved DVC of course) but have heard positive comments about Hilton as well.

BroganMc had an excellent trippie with great Marriott info a couple of weeks ago.

I personally get the willies from the Gatlinburg timeshares, but that may just be me. I saw too many uneducated rednecks come back with timeshares and a new microwave oven while I was growing up. No thank you.

Again, I am thrilled that you had a great trip, and brought us back a great trippie with pictures too!

 

[rascalmom]

Thanks for the report - Destin was a favorite family vacation spot when I was a kid, so I have been curious about the CI trades.

Looks like the points are comparable (very slightly less) to our home resort for the time of year we would want to visit. Of course, then we have to add that $95.00 fee.

How far is the beach.....do any of the units have Gulf views?

Thanks! Your boys are absolutely adorable by the way.

 

[kapeman]

I didn't mean to be nosey about how you pay, I'm just wanting to know if its worth using the points. It sounds like your trip really ate the points. Was it the same # of points as WDW resorts, more or less? Do you think its worth using the # of points required for your stay? We had thought about a studio in February.

The 2-bedroom unit at peak season cost us 34 pts per night.
A 1-bedroom unit would have been 25 points per night (Sun_Thurs). We would typically use the 1-bed for just the four of us.

I didn't mean to imply that I thought you were being nosy at all.
I was really thinking out loud about how best to visit that resort again.


Should we buy more DVC points and transfer in?

So far it is looking like that might be the best bet, even though it is not the most efficient use of points. Frankly, the price per point for CI is STEEP!

How far is the beach.....do any of the units have Gulf views?

Thanks! Your boys are absolutely adorable by the way.

The beach is a quick tram ride (small bus) away. There some units with really nice views of the bay. The CI building is on the bay side with no ocean views. There are SanDestin resort buildings on the Gulf however. I don't know if you can trade into them or not.

And thanks for the nice comment about the boys!

You know, everyone says that their kid's are the cutest and the smartest, et cetera, but ours really are!!!

 

[Grandbuddy]

And the point cost info. Been looking forward to hearing from your trip.

Is Club Intrawest an easy trade, or did you have to get on a list and wait until something came open?

 

[kapeman]

And the point cost info. Been looking forward to hearing from your trip.

Is Club Intrawest an easy trade, or did you have to get on a list and wait until something came open?

I put in my requests based on the latest info that DVC had from CI and 2 or 3 days later my first request was confirmed. I am not surprised since it was really slow there. Hardly anyone was around!