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Mexico Time-Share Turn-Off !

January 12, 2009 in George's Observations by George

I just received this review about the time-share pitch at the Marival Resort in Puerto Vallarta. It really details how time-share rip-off pitch ruins vacations. The sad part about this is that these time-share rip off people are third-party high-pressure sales outfits passing themselves off as part of the resort. Their actions reflect on the hotel. These few bad people undo all the good service of the rest of the staff. I am really dumbfounded that the managment of these Mexican resorts don’t realize that the lost business from people like these below offset the money these time-share people generate. Read this tru review I recieved on www.ReviewResorts.com

This was our second time at the Marival. Everything was almost perfect. The Restaurants have been refurbished and the food in most was amazing. We found the streak not good at the beachside evening restaurent. It’s a shame as the setting is very lovely. The Marival hotel has an amazing staff. They just make your holiday so much better!!! We had a very bad experience with some of the staff representing what they initally offer as a club. This turned out to be a time-share 3 hour offer. We were quite interested, but the mission was to have us buy before we left the room. We told them from the beginning this would not happen as we always discuss and investigate investments as a family. I actually had to be rude which I didn’t like to do. We did not accept the free items. I couldn’t believe the girl expected us to do so We loved the Marival and had intended to return in February with some friends. Because of this situation we will not return to the Marival in February or ever again. It was a very upsetting experience it spoiled the first few days of our vacation and we did not take in the spa or any tours for fear we would be trapped again.! “Let the Buyer beware!!

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Australia New Zealand Cruise Deals

December 19, 2008 in George's Observations by George

I found some really great cruise bargains on Celebrity Cruises.

  Celebrity Cruises is offering 14-Day Australia / New Zealand Cruises for an unbelievable:

$699 Inside and $899 Outside Cabins on: Jan 4 & 18, 2009.

$799 Inside Cabins and $999 Outside Cabins on:  Feb 1 & 15
$899 Inside Cabins and $1199 Outside Cabins on: Mar 15 & April 12

A little math tells us that’s as low as $50 a day for accommodations, food and that great service Celebrity Cruises is known for. Obviously, these prices are extremely low and therefore it should be stated right now that they are per person, based on double occupancy, subject to availability and change.

Celebrity Cruise Lines

Celebrity Cruise Line is the upscale sister of Royal Caribbean. That’s what makes this unique. Upscale travel is now on SALE! In the past, deluxe and luxury travel sellers would rather let a room, cabin or air seat go empty rather than discount. But we live in different times now don’t we? This illustrates a glimpse of what 2009 has in store in the way of travel deals. If you are planning on taking a vacation you can count on some of the best prices in years. Be flexible on your dates and accommodations, stay away from holiday weeks and you will find a great travel deal.

Happy Travels,
George

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Great Travel Deals Will Arrive with the New Year

December 17, 2008 in George's Observations by George

If you can afford a vacation, 2009 will be “the year of travel deals” says Genevieve Shaw Brown, senior editor of Travelocity as reported by Travel Weekly.

Indeed prices have already begun to drop. I put together some cruise deals the other day and found many Mediterranean Cruises offered for $999 or less. I also found 7-day Mexico Cruises with outside balcony cabins on Princess, Holland America and Carnival for $650 to $850 between now and June 15! Hawaii Vacations are still a bit high, but coming down quickly. Look for some great Hawaii Vacation Deals in March. There are already great Mexico vacation deals, especially with the the Cancun all-inclusive resorts.

Reality is setting in for the travel companies. Last year, the mantra was Luxury Travel. This year it is Value. The Hawaii visitor’s bureau has changed their marketing emphasizing value over luxury. Look for a deal and search for it in the middle of January and February. The industry will pretty desperate for your business.

However, a word of caution is in order. Be careful who you give your money too. Be wary of smaller tour companies. ALWAYS use a credit card to pay for travel. Google the tour or cruise company making sure they are solid.

George

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Mexico Timeshare Scams – Now is not the time to buy

December 16, 2008 in George's Observations by George

I received this review the other day on www.ReviewResorts.com. I did NOT publish this review on this Mexico hotel for a couple reasons. Primarily because the author did not put input their contact information. However, it was disturbing in many ways because it fits a pattern of others I received. I will publish it here for you – So you can beware.

From Scammed:
“Please beware of the fraudulent timeshare sales practices at this resort. There are numerous complaints on this company all over the internet. XXXXX Resort sales reps go far beyond the usual exaggeration and embellishment at timeshare resorts. XXXXX Resort sales staff outright lie and deceive unsuspecting buyers. Take heed and stay away from this unscrupulous company. In my experience, XXXXX Resort agreed to trade-in a timeshare I owned at another resort to offset the price of an upgrade from a studio unit to a one bedroom. When questioned about the why the trade-in was not listed in the upgrade documents, I was told that it would be in a separate document and would be provided shortly by fax. I told them that my upgrade was based on that trade-in. Although they later put the supposed trade-in confirmation in my sales folder, it was not correct. After returning home, I found that the document referred to listing the timeshare for rental or resale instead of confirming the purchase by XXXXX Resort. There had been no mention of listing the property for rental or resale in my discussion with the sales rep. The only discussion was related to the trade-in to XXXXX Resort. I thought it might be a clerical mistake at first, but soon realized this was fraud when XXXXX Resort pretended to know nothing of the trade-in. I also discovered that there are many, many other victims of the XXXXX Resort timeshare scams. You can find a multitude of posts by doing a Google search of XXXXX Resort combined with scam, fraud, and lies. It is amazing that they have been able to perpetrate these fraudulent practices for so long.”

The old adage of “Let the buyer beware” comes to mind. In this economic recession, I am sure that there will quite a few hotel managers looking to exploit time-share sales for more revenue. Be careful – Now is NOT the time to buy Time-shares.

George

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Winter Mexico Cruises on Holland America

December 10, 2008 in George's Observations by George

Winter Mexico Cruises aboard Holland America Line.

The economic mess is really bringing travel prices down. I was excited to find some really great cruise deals for Mexico cruises from San Diego. What really stands out is that these 7 & 10 day sailings are on the deluxe Holland America Line.To check out these deals go th the Holland America Cruise Line web site.


Holland America Cruise Line

7-Day Mexico — aboard Holland America Cruise Line
Visit: Cabo, Mazatlan & Puerto Vallarta
Jan 3, 10, 24, 31; Feb 7, 14, 21

Inside Cabins from: $449
Outside Cabins from: $499
Verandah Cabins from: $699
Verandah Suites from: $899

10-Day Mexico — Sea of Cortez Cruises
Visit: Cabo, Loreto, La Paz, Guaymas, Mazatlan & Puerto Vallarta
Jan 3, 10, 24, 31; Feb 7, 14, 21

Inside Cabins from: $699
Outside Cabins from: $799
Verandah Suites from: $1,699

Enjoy,
George

Note: Prices are per person, subject to availability and change without notice.

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Mexico Travel Deals

December 5, 2008 in George's Observations by George

Mexico Vacation Deals
Winter is the time to travel to Mexico. The weather is usually pretty decent. Not so hot, not so much rain. No guarantees on the weather of course. But the trend is pretty well known.

So I was searching for Mexico vacations and found some really good deals on Pleasant Holidays. The specials below include Airfare from Los Angeles, but Pleasant Holidays has airfare deals from most major U.S. cities. Heck the Cancun special below is using the Oasis Cancun All-Inclusive Resort (food and drinks), airfare from LAX and transfers to the hotel from the Cancun Airport.


 

3 Nights at the NH Krystal Puerto Vallarta
Includes: 3rd night FREE and Kids 12 and younger stay FREE
Valid for travel: Select Thru 05/04/2009 – 05/26/2009
From $399.00 – Plus Govt Taxes/Fees

 

3 Nights at the NH Krystal Cancun
Kids 12 & younger stay FREE.
Valid for travel: Select Thru 05/04/2009 – 05/19/2009
From $495.00 – Plus Govt Taxes/Fees

3 Nights at the All-Inclusive – Oasis Cancun
All-Inclusive Includes: all meals, drinks, non-motorized water sports daily activities and more! Plus Kids 12 and younger stay FREE
Valid for travel: Select Thru 01/12/2009 – 01/27/2009
From $536.00 – Plus Govt Taxes/Fees

The source of these Mexico Vacation Deals: www.PleasantHolidays.com

Happy Travels,
George

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Zen Travel – Yoga Resorts in Mexico

December 4, 2008 in George's Observations by George

Yoga Resorts in Mexico. OM and Namaste at a Mexico Beach Resort with www.ViaYoga.com.

A while back I was part of a group that visited the Ceiba del Mar Resort in Puerto Morelos (Cancun). Some of the group signed up for the morning Yoga class held on the beach.

So I’m in the gym lifting weights like most guys and the group of ladies signed up for the Yoga class came into the gym area to get fresh towels for the class. Naturally they egged me on to join them calling me a wimp and saying that I probably couldn’t handle Yoga anyway. Well, you ladies know exactly how to get a man to do what you want and I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to prove them wrong, right?

You ladies are smart because I sure am glad I did. It was an truly remarkable experience. Practicing the peaceful art of Yoga on a tropical beach with the sound of the ocean waves in the background is one of the most relaxing experiences one can have. I will definitely make this a priority on future beach trips.

With that said, I stumbled upon a new tour company called VIA YOGA. These people have combined tropical adventure travel with Yoga.
Via Yoga’s moto is: Sun. Surf. Yoga. You.

VIA YOGA combines surfing and Yoga, Pilates and Surfing, Spanish and Yoga and more. This sounds like a real nice twist on experiential travel. They have a great web site that will have you ready to explore your inner Zen in Mexico. Here is a link to their web site for more information: www.ViaYoga.com

Enjoy,
George

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NCL Hawaii Cruises Including Airfare

December 3, 2008 in George's Observations by George

I just got off the phone with NCL Cruises who is running a great special on their popular 7-night Hawaii cruises. This new special is $1,999 per person including round-trip airfare from San Francisco, Los Angeles or Seattle. It must be booked by a travel agent.
Promo Code: TGARTZ – This special promotion must be booked by: December 7

$1199 per person for a 7-Night NCL Hawaii Cruise including Air from SFO, LAX or SEA

This offer includes:

– Roundtrip airfare to Honolulu from San Francisco, Seattle or Los Angeles

– Valid for Sailings on Jan. 3, 10, 17, 24, 31; Feb. 7, 14, 21, 28

– 7 nights on the Norwegian Cruise Liner “Pride of America“

– Stops in Maui, the Big Island and Kauai

– Ocean-view cabin upgrades for $200 more per person

– Must Book by: Dec. 7

So the cruise deals begin to appear.
Expect many more vacation deals with the financial mess.
Happy Sailing !

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Gran Caribe Real Cancun Resort Review

December 2, 2008 in George's Observations by George


Gran Caribe Real Cancun

As editor of the popular web site www.ReviewResorts.com I seem to receive quite a few Cancun resort reviews complaining about sleazy time-share pitches that sometimes a ruin the impression tourists have of their hotel. The Gran Caribe Real Resort in Cancun Mexico deserves kudos for treating the guest who wrote the review below with respect and doing all they can to provide the best possible vacation experience. Check-out this review and see if you get the same good feeling I did when I read it:

Peter from Belmont, Michigan writes:
“My fiance and I just came back from Cancun today after a five day stay at the Gran Caribe Real Resort. We did not know what to expect from this fine establishment due to it being a 5-Star resort. We decided to stay there due the great introduction price due to construction currently going on. We are average every day middle class U.S. citizens with not a lot to spend on accommodations. Since we were paying a far lower rate than to be expected, we were concerned of the service that we might be given. If we had been given less than upper class service, I would not have written this review due to that we paid a very fair price to stay at an upper class resort. We were BOTH utmost surprised with the service that we received in ALL areas of the resort” ….Read More

Now that the financial mess has reduced vacation demand, resorts must examine the vacation experience they provide. Any resort could use more reviews like this to get people into their hotels.

George

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