I have NO desire to EVER cruise again!

[robbyxoxo]

Ricks, lol... the closers that come in at the end are as slick as ice....they are usually well educated with the gift of gab and could sell most anyone anything.....they make a sh*ttt load of money.....i heard they get 8% of each sale they make....many of these things sell for $30,000-$100,000......they are makin a bundle and drivin mercedes........youre right, IF someone wants to buy a timeshare, hopefully they are at least wise enough to buy second hand for pennies on the dollar......but I just cant see paying a yearly maintanance of $500 for a week, when you can use priceline or hotwire or on your own and find weekly stays for even less than $500 without ever having to purchase a timeshare to start with.....if youre normally spending over $100 per night and need more spacious accomodations, time shares make more sense....

[southern*belle]

They are blood suckers.... I have 2 timeshare weeks and got them at a steel... 25 cents on the dollar. Timeshare resort sales people are right up there in my book with car salesman, lawyers.

 

Ricks you are so funny! this sounds to be true for me too!

 

I love cruising, and I'd take a cruise to a land vacation anyday.

[BluexMoon]

Robby,

Tell me more about your experiences at the timeshare presentations. My DH has been pestering me to go to one with him for years, but I'm afraid of those people:( And, I allways think there must be a "catch". I don't have the $ to buy a time share so I know I will get out of there saying no. But, can't they be very difficult?

[hstrybuf]

LOL Tef, thanks for pointing that out!!!!

 

But really, there is nobody quite like Robby :D Without him, I would have never seen the word "prolly" :D

 

And let's not forget "peeps". Robby, whatever you choose, have a great time! :)

[WeatherGeek]

Vacation is a vacation no matter where you go, as long as you want to be there. Cruising isn't necessarily for everyone. Have a great time in whatever you do Robby!

[judyzoo]

Timeshare resort sales people are right up there in my book with car salesman, lawyers.

--------- and clients of lawyers.

[jcrandle]

Well, the moral scruples are not the same as mine as I would never intend to defraud someone by taking money, food, drink and tickets from someone for a timeshare presentation with the intention of never even entertaining thought of purchasing. OP did state that they "felt bad" doing it but obviously didn't feel bad enough since the monetary value was decent.

 

But like it has been said before and will be said again, cruising isn't for everyone so whatever you do decide to do, have fun, good luck and God bless...

I don't think you need to be concerned about the "immorality" of attending timeshare presentations while planning not to buy. If there is any inequity of ethics, from what I've seen, it favors the sellee, and not the seller.

[dsclark]

Prices have jumped so much that you really have to twist logic to justify that it is still a bargain. For me to fly my family out top Miami and get a balcony room will cost around $6000 for seven days.

For the same time (6/15/05), I booked a vacation for four to Hawaii. We can fly, stay at the Sheraton at Wakiki, rent a car all for under $2500 for the whole week.

[robbyxoxo]

Robby,

Tell me more about your experiences at the timeshare presentations. My DH has been pestering me to go to one with him for years, but I'm afraid of those people:( And, I allways think there must be a "catch". I don't have the $ to buy a time share so I know I will get out of there saying no. But, can't they be very difficult?

.....some of yall seem a lil TOO happy to be getting rid of me, lol......BluexMoon, there really are no catches to playing the timeshare game and profiting from it....it certainly helps to have thick skin.....sometimes they will throw some harshness your way and try and make you feel like a loser for not buying.....i really thought though that most the ones we did in Cancun were easier than the ones weve done in the states......and you cant find any in the states that i know of that will pay $250 in cash for your time......they will try every possible angle to sell you on their product and make it appear as if its the best thing since sliced bread.....they will find a way to make your payments look small to tempt you to buy.......tell them you just arent sure what your future may hold and you dont feel comfortable buying at this time in your life....tell them youre pregnant with triplets and cant afford it at this time....tell them your afraid of the water.....so many excuses:)....and when they've gone over 2 hours you tell them time is up and they've just lost your attention......just DONT BUY!:)

[Girlsnightout]

I have to say that I agree with you 100%. The reasons you gave are why my husband will not cruise. Lines, crowds, announcements, schedules, dress codes, limited beach time, not for him, and you can't avoid any of those on a cruiseship. All of our no kids vacations are real vacations, we have a big room or condo, eat when WE feel like it, dress the way WE like to, stay at the beach as long as we like, never fight for a chair, try out the local cuisine, get to sample the nightlife that you miss when the ship leaves at 5:00 or 6:00, sleep late and still make the excursions, make our OWN drinks with alcohol that we didn't have to sneak into our rooms, which, by the way are bigger than the most expensive suite on a ship.....ahhhhhh, fabulous...

 

So why do I cruise? For the kids, and that is the ONLY reason. They are phenomenol vacations for kids. I'd rather cruise than do Disney, and so would they, they prefer cruises over beach land vacations. I would never cruise without my kids, it's just not my idea of a relaxing, adults only vacation. So we take a cruise vacation (without DH), and then he and I take a vacation, then we take another family vacation for all of us to be together.

 

Once the kids are on their own, my cruising days will be over. At least until I start taking the grandchildren that is.;)

[Girlsnightout]

Just rent weeks from some poor shmuck who bought one! (no offense to the poor shmucks who bought them), but we've done this. Just last week we stayed in a beautiful condo on the mountain of a ski resort for a fraction of what the management company wanted by renting from a timeshare owner. We also rented a GORGEOUS 2 bedroom condo at the Westin in Cabo San Lucas for $900 a week. That is a 5 star resort, just a room there goes for close to $300/night, we got a full kitchen, 2 bedrooms, living/dining room, terrace with hot tub overlooking the ocean and use of all the resort facilities for about $130 a night. That's a bargain in my book.:D

[BluexMoon]

Robby,

 

Thanks for the extra info. I hope I'm not being a pest, but can you run me through a typical presentation? I assume: you get there, they show you all the glories of the resort, then they feed you, liquor you up and then send you to the shark, slick Rick. Slick Rick then does his best used car salesman act (for how long, usually?) Then I get pregnant, err... say I'm pregnant with triplets! lol... then I get to go enjoy my vacation? Is that about right?

And, when I follow them around the resort I keep my mouth shut, so they have no extra fuel to use against me right?

I had one offer to even pay for my flight, is that normal? It was in Florida.

 

Oh, and after going to many of these presentations, do you get put on a blacklist, where none of the resorts will allow you to come because you've never bought?

 

Do you just search the internet for timeshare presentations? Or how do you find them?

[Andipanda1]

.....defraud someone, LOL......spend a month in Mexico and you quickly realize that its EAT or BE EATEN...the resorts are even getting screwed by their own sales people that are out on the streets trying to lure in the people...all they care about is making a buck by getting you in to the presentation...they actually tell you how to work the system to get you to do more presentations so that they can make their cut off each one they get you to..its allllll about the $$ in Cancun......dude, those resorts are raping the people that actually purchase the timeshares.....no need to shed any tears for them.......my statement about feeling guilty was just funnin.....not one ounce of guilt felt by me....Cancun is full of more crooks than you could fit on a cruise ship.....they will try and cheat you from every angle if you let them.....thats the ONE thing that id say wasnt appealing about vacationing there....your guard always has to be up or else you will get taken advantage of.....but once you pick up on that and play the same game that they play, its a more level playing field.......feeling bad about taking money from the timeshare people would be like feeling bad for a rapist who has to serve time in prison.....those people would have you sell your first born child just to get you to buy their cr@p......they lie and do anything they can to make a sell....sympathy for them, you gotta be kiddin

 

But you are not being honest by taking the tours. Two wrongs don't make a right, no matter how you try to justify it. Sorry.

[robbyxoxo]

But you are not being honest by taking the tours. Two wrongs don't make a right, no matter how you try to justify it. Sorry.

.......bottom line is that its a legal game to play:)....they know good and well that out of every 10 couples that they get in, probably 2 or more of them are there just to put in their time and collect the cash....and that they will only sell to a small percentage of the people that come in.....if i was blessed with the gift of gab, i myself would love to be a timeshare salesman......being shady to make a buck is right up my alley......

[robbyxoxo]

Robby,

 

Thanks for the extra info. I hope I'm not being a pest, but can you run me through a typical presentation? I assume: you get there, they show you all the glories of the resort, then they feed you, liquor you up and then send you to the shark, slick Rick. Slick Rick then does his best used car salesman act (for how long, usually?) Then I get pregnant, err... say I'm pregnant with triplets! lol... then I get to go enjoy my vacation? Is that about right?

And, when I follow them around the resort I keep my mouth shut, so they have no extra fuel to use against me right?

I had one offer to even pay for my flight, is that normal? It was in Florida.

 

Oh, and after going to many of these presentations, do you get put on a blacklist, where none of the resorts will allow you to come because you've never bought?

 

Do you just search the internet for timeshare presentations? Or how do you find them?

.....Blue, LOL.....youre pretty close in your run down of how they work.....you arrive there and they first do a quick check to make sure you qualify, being of age and married and with ID and credit card.....they then feed you and drink you.....then they ask you some more questions to make sure that you're going in with "an open mind".....of course you agree that you'd be willing to buy if you felt it met your vacation needs.....they then explain a lil bit about how their vacation plan works.....they tour you around and show you a typical room that you'd be staying in..........at this point youve been there about 90 minutes, having spent 30 minutes or more eating lunch and having drinks.......they then sit you down and offer you more drinks......this is where they hit you with the price plan.....you give them that look of astonishment, as you cant believe how much it costs......usually the first sales guy is a piece of cake...should take less than 15 minutes with him, with most of that time being filled with him just breaking down the plan and price to you..you say NO and tell him why you dont want it and he will then call for the second sales guy.....the second guy is a lil smoother and will offer you a better price and try some more convincing.....this could take anywhere between 2 to 15 minutes depending on how it goes....then comes the third and final guy who will offer you something really cheap like $2000 for a partial plan.....you tell him the same thing you told the first 2 guys and you'll prolly spend less than 10 minutes with him and youre done....they send you off to the front desk to collect your money....you will get exactly what you were promised on your invitation....they will generally want to pay you in pesos though...if you insist, im betting you could force them to pay you in US dollars if its specified on your invitation...........we never had more than 3 salesman in a presentation, and once they let us go after only one salesman......and yes, the less you say during the presentation the quicker it will go....there is no blacklist that i know of.....the guys on the street told us to come back next year and hit them all again....i cant see it as being a problem unless they recognize our faces, lol.....but they see a lot of faces in a year.....the guy at Mayan Princess got pretty nasty when I told him at the end that timeshares are horrible investments and id never ever buy one....but they were really starting to drag it out and getting me irritated:)....but all the dealers on the street will tell you that the Mayan Princess is one of the only ones that uses such harsh tactics...........finding timeshare tours in Cancun is as easy as finding drugs.....they find you!......they are on every corner especially towards downtown........for me, i was mostly concerned about getting the maximum amount of dollars or gifts out of each tour......too many tourists get sucked into doing the tours without getting enough compensation......you really need to talk to all the different sales guys on the street to get a feel as to what resorts pay the most and whats the most you can get out of them......like a resort might pay $250 and the sales guy on the street is gonna try and get a piece of that 250.....he wont hook you up unless he makes at least something....so you have to barter with them same as buying a car......whats in your favor is that they all want your business, so you can play one sales guy against another to get them to take the least amount of cut for themselves.......sounds like a lot of crookedness and it is......but thats mexico...

[steveaaaa]

I always go to timeshares myself. Fairfield resorts to be exact. I am hyped to buy from the word go!!!!

They offer CCL cruises as part of the deal, so I want to buy. I also want the price locked in for as long as I own my points and the yearly maintenance fee set to the schedule of the resort I am buying the so called points for. I am not here for the resort,just to purchase it for the cruises.I love to cruise and I want it...............

What you can't guarantee it,or the fact in 10 years you might not even have an agreement with them, to bad you just lost a sale. No guarantee in writing,no sale.

 

I am done in less than 45 minutes,my 3 day 2 night stay is free and so is my dinner and a free $50 gift card to Red lobster. Works all the time.I am limited to 1 every 6 months.

The key is I am here to buy now,forget the resort and go straight to pricing.

Steve

[hstrybuf]

All of our no kids vacations are real vacations, we have a big room or condo, eat when WE feel like it, dress the way WE like to, stay at the beach as long as we like, never fight for a chair, try out the local cuisine, get to sample the nightlife that you miss when the ship leaves at 5:00 or 6:00, sleep late and still make the excursions, make our OWN drinks with alcohol that we didn't have to sneak into our rooms, which, by the way are bigger than the most expensive suite on a ship.....ahhhhhh, fabulous...

 

Whatever floats your boat. It comes down to personal preferences, however I think most people on these boards also consider a cruise a real vacation. ;)

[pholter]

Robby-

 

The only way I can keep cruising and continue to enjoy it is alternating my cruises with Land based vacations. I do usually choose Jamaica, but Mexico is a close 2nd purely because it's cheap from Texas. I keep cruising fresh because we choose a different itinerary each time though. We'll have to go to South America or Baja next time or I might just find myself wishing we were with you in a condo in Cancun :)

 

Thanks for sharing your experience!

[lisaluvscruising2004]

Whatever floats your boat. It comes down to personal preferences, however I think most people on these boards also consider a cruise a real vacation. ;)

 

 

I must agree with you. My cruises are real vacations. Being a solo traveler I find cruises are a wonderful way to travel. I love waking up each morning with a different view outside. I love meeting people from all over the world that I would never get to meet had I not cruised. I love that most the people I have met in my cruise history, have been kind, thoughtful, happy people. I regularly correspond with new and not so new friends from all around the globe. Africa, Belize, Chile, Portugal, Australia, England, Romania, and so many more. For me, cruising is the most logical, safest, and most comfortable way to travel and see different places. People always ask me "how can you travel alone?" I'm not really alone you see. I have been fortunate enough to have good, interesting, varying, and unique tablemates, lounge chair mates, and even wandering through towns mates. I also agree that cruising is not for everyone. I just happen to enjoy it very much. I love watching the sun lower into the horizon, and rise up in the morning over the glistening water. For me it just doesn't get much better than that.:)

[dsclark]

go ahead and do the timeshare presentation. If you like wht you see, then BUY one... off of Ebay!

Timeshares have horrible resale value. That's why my sister bought one off of ebay for a tenth of what it cost 'retail'. She lives near it and uses it in the summer for its pool facility. otherwise, she trades her room time for one in HI .

Timeshares can be great IF you buy it off some poor schmuck who needs the cash.Unlike cars, they don't come with ear and tear!

[staylor]

We cruise for our winter vacation and do a land vacation for our summer vacation....that way there is something to look forward to every 6 months. We went to Cancun for the first time last summer...a non-AI. It was wonderful. It was so relaxing. I left with a tear in my eye. I love to cruise, but I don't want to miss anything and I am exausted at the end of the week. Cancun gave me time to do nothing.......ahhhh.....come on July!

[CruiseFever]

xoxo's leaving? How very sad.:p I mean, just look at that post....SO easy to read. We'll certainly miss that and all the unhappy posts. BaBye now.

 

I feel your pain

[jewopaho]

I'm not sure that I could spend a month in one place (I live in Florida, just a stone's throw from the Gulf of Mexico, so I don't have winter to contend with), nor is airfare a factor (unless you consider $39 from Tampa to FLL an issue) - and staying that long in a studio apt. ... gotta think about that one.

 

I do go one better on the timeshare thing, though. What I generally do is print the resales available at given resorts in the area I'll be visiting. There are various secondary sellers other than eBay, and the information is readily available. My general remark to the opening salesperson is, "You're out of your mind. Now give me my free stuff and let me get the hell outta here." When #2 arrives, I pretty much repeat what I said to #1, but add the word, "still" after "You're." When the pressure begins to increase as the heavy artillery is wheeled out (usually some guy named Skip or Lance), I abruptly end the conversation by whipping out my paperwork, adding, "It's really a great place; and if I ever decide to buy, I'll go here." I then revert to the remarks made to #2, ask for my freebies, and exit stage left, with goodies in hand. It feels wonderful to catch these professional bloodsuckers off guard!

 

Al

[robbyxoxo]

LOL @ jewopaho:).....that story is sooo funny to me, because ive thought of trying the same thing of bringing in some documentation showing how timeshares have such horrible resale value....ive yet to be brave enough to try it, lol....from my experiences, they get quite cranky when they find out that you had no intentions of buying from the start.....but i think im gonna keep it as a back up for future tours where they are giving me an extra hard time.....id love to see the looks on their faces when you pull out your paperwork:)..............these guys tell such lies to make a sell, its sometimes hard for me to not start throwing out some truths at them.....one guy tried to sell me by showing me how its gonna appreciate 14% per year and ill make such a huge profit on in after a few years.....this was based on a selling price of $67,000!.....i had a hard time keeping a straight face and eventually broke down and had to flat out call him a liar:).....i think he took offense to it................my wife says im a sick person because i actually ENJOY doing these timeshare tours:)...............................................

[Ricks]

I'm heading out Monday for 3 days 2 night in Freeport bahamas, from what I recieved from a time share tour. Air & hotel... Free