Discovery package - did not rescind [Recommendations for beach resorts]

amcginny · Jul 19, 2016

I have read many threads on this forum in regards to getting and rescinding the Discovery package from Wyndham. We are far past our rescinding time and have 400k points to use. I want to know the best way to use them and what are some of the best places to visit from people who have also done discovery and had good experiences.

My fiance and I are wanting to go somewhere near the beach for our Honeymoon in May-June 2017. Hit me with the best tips!

DeniseM · Jul 19, 2016

Can you narrow it down - do you want to stay on the mainland? Or what region are you interested in?

amcginny · Jul 19, 2016

We are pretty adventurous and just want to stay somewhere fun with lots of activities but nice amenities. We aren't opposed to any location, but I am a little concerned because I have looked up reviews (such as the Rio Mar Beach Resort in Puerto Rico) and they have pretty bad reviews. Other options are Florida, Hawaii, Mexico. We live in Vegas so we don't really want to go to California since it's close by.

55plus · Jul 19, 2016

Wyndham at Waikiki Beach Walk

If you can get a reservation, Wyndham at Waikiki Beach Walk in Hawaii is my recommendation. It's a block away from Waikiki Beach and across the street form of Waikiki Beach Walk district. Here is a link to the area: http://waikikibeachwalk.com/

We go there every winter and sent my niece there as a wedding present for their honeymoon.

You won't need a rental car. Fly into Honolulu International, take Robert's Hawaiian Shuttle to the resort and enjoy yourselves. Parking in the area is expensive. I've rented a car for the day to drive around the island and turned it in later that day. That works the best for me.

Otherwise, there are a lot of really nice beach resort locations within the Wyndham Vacation Resorts directory.

vacationhopeful · Jul 19, 2016

Every one who wants to go the South Florida dreams about Wyndham Royal Vista in the beach. I own points there and it is a nice enough resort .. but I prefer to stay across the street (Ocean Blvd/A1A) at the Wyndham Santa Barbara. More intimate to me plus it has a hot tub, a fine kidney shaped pool and fewer guests (40% studio units slp 4, 40% 1bdr slps 4 and 20% 2bdr slps 6) over a total of 90 units.

Royal Vista has 93 units ... 1 and 2 bdr only sleeping 4 or 8 people. Hence MORE people.

You can use ANY resort services if staying at either Royal Vista, Santa Barbara or Sea Gardens. Sea Gardens has tennis courts and over 350 units. Sea Gardens is 1 mile further north on A1A from the other 2 resorts. Wyndham Palm Aire is around a golf course ... that is several miles WEST of the beach ... but it that is all that is available .. you can still park and use the Wyndham resort pools, parking and beach access, too. Palm AIre has hundreds of units over 4 towers (I beleive) ... casino is across the street.

Why stay just 6 miles NORTH of Ft Lauderdale (and its GREAT airport) and it large as all get out cruise port? Because, you can get day tour bus pickup for Key West or the Everglades or city tour of South Beach, too. And Ft Lauderdale is just down the road.

DeniseM · Jul 19, 2016

There are lots of well-priced flights from LV to Hawaii, and IMNSHO, the weather will be nicer in Hawaii in May/June.

Here is a post that I wrote recently about Wyndham and Hawaii.

DeniseM said:
The resorts aren't that much different.

The islands are tremendously different - so I'd choose the island first:

Oahu - Honolulu/Waikiki offers a lot to do and both tourist and historical attractions, but it is a bustling BIG city. The population of Oahu is greater than all the other islands put together. Oahu is great to visit - once!

Wyndham Waikiki Beach Walk is newer and right in the middle of the action - but not ocean front.

The Big Island (Hawaii) - The Big Island is bigger than all the islands put together. It has a lot to see, including the active volcano. Because it is the newest island, most of the shoreline and island is still rocky lava flow, and there aren't many timeshares on the beach. It has great snorkeling. It involves a lot of driving to do it proper. *Had a Dengue Fever outbreak in the last year. OK now - but check on it before you reserve.

I like the Wyndham Kona Hawaiian Resort.

Maui - Maui has the most demand for exchanges and seems to be the "in" place to go (at least right now.) It has a nice blend of natural and touristy things to do, and the very popular Ka'anapali Beach Area - a huge resort area. Pros - great beaches. Cons - it's starting to get too crowded for us. A big plus is that you can visit 2 nearby islands by ferry or a short flight - Lanai, and Molokai.

Don't have a Wyndham Mauai recommendation.

Kauai - Our favorite island. Kauai is the oldest island so the lava has had the most time to break down and it has beautiful sandy beaches and lush tropical jungles. Kauai is very rural - small towns and not much in the way of fancy shopping and night clubs. It's strength is great outdoor activities like snorkeling, hiking, 4WD, and ATV trips. It's pretty laid back, but does have a mall, major grocery stores, and some good restaurants.

I like the ocean front units at Wyndham Kauai Beach Villas.

uscav8r · Jul 19, 2016

Do you have access to online reservations? If so, go the website and peruse the resorts.

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DeniseM · Jul 19, 2016

They have a Discovery Pkg. - don't you have to call for that?

vacationhopeful · Jul 19, 2016

I believe with the Discovery package, the owners MUST call in to make reservations. Sales HOLDS inventory open AND they are not charged HKs or RTs but can not use Guest Certificates. And I believe, they try to get them to attend Owners' Updates .. to upgrade their 'trial package' to real points.

Most times, the reservations are for less than a week during Prime time ... I figured this out when I talk to people who booked 2 or 3 weeks earlier for an impossible to get resort. And they were only staying 3 nights and HAD to go to an Owners' Update ... asked if they rented the unit? Was told they had brought into Discovery months earlier ... phone in only reservations, etc.

Cheryl20772 · Jul 19, 2016

We used Discovery points to do a land and sea. Our land was in San Antonio at La Cascada and we loved touring the Riverwalk and the Alamo, then we drove to Galveston where we boarded the Carnival Ecstacy for a 4 night cruise to Cozumel. There are beaches you can visit from the ship in Mexico, but we were more interested in visiting the Mayan ruins. We had regular points to use as well as the Discover, so we made the trip even more interesting by visiting Avenue Plaza in New Orleans and Smoky Mountains in Tennessee on the way back home. That was in, I think, in 2011.

Anyway, the land sea Discovery package isn't too bad and there are other ports in the catalog. If you've never cruised, it's a nice way to see if you like it and visit some of the Caribbean beaches. Our favorite so far there is Trunk Bay, St John, VI. You can get there by ship excursion when docking at St. Thomas, VI. That was another cruise-not the Discovery to Cozumel.

Oh, and you need to know that you don't have to attend any meetings during or after using the Discovery - unless you want to buy the points contract. You can tell them NO. You don't have to sign anything either. That's just a trick, to get you into their office. l told them 'No' and nothing happened at all.

uscav8r · Jul 19, 2016

DeniseM said:
The have a Discovery Pkg. - don't you have to call for that?

vacationhopeful said:
I believe with the Discovery package, the owners MUST call in to make reservations. Sales HOLDS inventory open AND they are not charged HKs or RTs but can not use Guest Certificates. And I believe, they try to get them to attend Owners' Updates .. to upgrade their 'trial package' to real points.

Most times, the reservations are for less than a week during Prime time ... I figured this out when I talk to people who booked 2 or 3 weeks earlier for an impossible to get resort. And they were only staying 3 nights and HAD to go to an Owners' Update ... asked if they rented the unit? Was told they had brought into Discovery months earlier ... phone in only reservations, etc.

Ah, got it. Would they not have gotten some picture book with all the resort's and points values? I know I did when I bought a Discovery package 10+ years ago.

amcginny · Jul 20, 2016

uscav8r said:
Ah, got it. Would they not have gotten some picture book with all the resort's and points values? I know I did when I bought a Discovery package 10+ years ago.

We got a book but I wanted the inside scoop on some good places. Everything looks great in the book, but actual reviews tell otherwise haha! We have to use the travel coordinator and do not have access to anything online. He already asked me if we were considering ownership and I told him no, so I don't know if that will influence how they treat us once we get to wherever we're going.

Thanks for the great ideas so far everyone! We were encouraged to use something other than the land and sea option to get the most of our points but we were pretty interested in it from the start. The cruises that are available to us look like they leave out of Florida and are 196k points for 4 nights on land and 3 at sea.

I honestly don't care how many points we are using considering we have 400k and we want to use the majority of them on our honeymoon. They made it seem like we would just be wasting them on a cruise. I think all-inclusive for half the points we have is pretty great considering that most of the other options are not all-inclusive.

ronandjoan · Jul 20, 2016

I would second Lindas recommendation of Pampona Beach in FL, ocean Walk in Daytona beach, another beautiful ocean front resort but the Beach Walk in Honolulu is not oceanfront so I do not prefer that at all. I'd rather be on the Big island at either Wyn Mauna Loa or Kona Hawaiin Resort than on Oahu since there's more to see, and more space.. I really felt closed in when we were at the Wynd Honolulu ( beach walk) resort.

The FL Atlantic beaches are wide and beautiful.

Cheryl20772 · Jul 20, 2016

amcginny said:
Thanks for the great ideas so far everyone! We were encouraged to use something other than the land and sea option to get the most of our points but we were pretty interested in it from the start. The cruises that are available to us look like they leave out of Florida and are 196k points for 4 nights on land and 3 at sea.

Yes, generally speaking, it is thriftiest to use Wyndham points only to stay at Wyndham resorts. You know how much you paid for this package of points. Calculate how that costs per thousand points. Then see how many thousand points the cruise would cost. Then it's easy enough to go to the cruise vendors and see what the same cruise costs when paying money for it.

This calculation is valuable to make whenever an owner considers using points for other things like park tickets, or plane tickets.

uscav8r · Jul 20, 2016

I used my Discovery package to go to Fiji! Included airfare for two and a week at the Outrigger!

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Discovery package - did not rescind [Recommendations for beach resorts]

amcginny

DeniseM

amcginny

55plus

vacationhopeful

TUG Review Crew: Rookie

DeniseM

uscav8r

TUG Review Crew: Expert

DeniseM

vacationhopeful

TUG Review Crew: Rookie

Cheryl20772

uscav8r

TUG Review Crew: Expert

amcginny

ronandjoan

TUG Review Crew: Elite

Cheryl20772

uscav8r

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