Mayan Palace

[rpennisi]

We do own the Marriott weeks and trade thru II - hmmm, Grand Luxxe units - are those the units even above the Bliss (is there a Grand Bliss)? Would be a very nice treat and worthy of the huge maint fees we pay for those Marriotts. I definitely reserve my Marriott trades for high end resorts - LOL!
....

I have used my Polo Towers LV deposits in II to trade for Grand Luxxe. The Grand Bliss is very nice (traded through RCI for NV), but the Grand Luxxe is way better. We traded a one bedroom Polo for a 2 bedroom GL (but had to take a summer week in NV) in 2012. We have a one bedroom GL suite for RM for next summer.

Marriott weeks will definitely get you GL through II.

Bliss is just above MP, Grand Bliss above Grand Mayan, and Grand Luxxe is the top of their line by a large margin.

Ron

 

[Jwerking]

I called the RCI Mayan Desk 2X and was told that as an Mayan owner, we are not allowed to rent Extra Vacation week. This appears to be consistent with the "restrictions" at the bottom of the page for Mayan units available online at RCI. Real bummer because some of the 2BR GM Cabo weeks are renting for less than $500 per week - an exchange would costs more.

Both reps stated that I CAN use my Mayan deposits to trade back into Mayan resorts. However, this is not consistent with what I see online - as I get the same message that Ron gets with his Mayan deposits. So either the online system is faulty (not the first time) or the Mayan reps are wrong.

What do you Mayan experts think about Cabo in comparison to PV/NV? I am thinking about spending maybe Jan and Feb 2015 in Cabo - as we are retired and want to get away from the chilly east coast. banana: We are going to Hawaii this year from mid-Dec thru the first week in March. Using 7 timeshare weeks and a private condo rental for Feb - retirement is awesome! Never would have dreamed that I would get to spend the winter in HI!)

Joyce

 

[pittle]

Joyce - We have been members of various "Mayan World" properties since January 1999. We have worked our way up from Sea Garden to Mayan Palace (many of those- resale), Grand Mayan, and now Grand Luxxe. Every vacation has been absolutely awesome!

We have been to every one of the locations - the GM in Cabo once, and would like to go back, but you cannot go wrong with ANY of the MP or GM locations. Each is different and special. We love them all. PV is right there on the Marina and you can catch a bus across the street; NV has an awesome beach and lots of things to do; Mayan Riviera is great and you can snag a bus or shuttle to Playa del Carmen or Puerto Morales, Acapulco has a super beach and MP members can take a shuttle to the beach. (Pool at MP is nicer than the one at GM.) Our least favorite its the MP in Mazatlan - it is basically a Sea Garden with a few MP units. (We stay at other resort when in Mazatlan.) Since we live in AZ, we can drive to PP in less than 4 hours - it is fun to take grandkids to on fall and spring breaks.

Congrats on the Hawaii deal - it sounds great. We tend to go to Mexico because of the time and costs. We have been to Hawaii many times, but even now that we live in the Phoenix area we can get to Puerto Vallarta in 2-1/2 hours and there is no major time difference on these "old bodies".

We head out tomorrow for 3 week in PV - I am packed and ready to go! We have the TUG Banner and 3 other TUG members to visit with while there. WOOHOO!!!

 

[rpennisi]

...Both reps stated that I CAN use my Mayan deposits to trade back into Mayan resorts. However, this is not consistent with what I see online - as I get the same message that Ron gets with his Mayan deposits. So either the online system is faulty (not the first time) or the Mayan reps are wrong....

Joyce

Hi Joyce,
I am using my MP deposit on RCI to get MP NV this coming January. It should work using their website, as I had no problem making the trade.

My reason for using MP to get MP is that I banked my 2 bedroom MP as 2 separate deposits to RCI. I then used one of the 2 to get a 2 bedroom MP unit, still having the other half to make another trade.

I did the same with my Buganvilias, which is a hotel unit to get a one bedroom Buganvilias suite on RCI.

RCI makes the bulk of their money, I would guess, through trades, so you deposit and get greater value with your TP gain to upgrade trade-wise. For them, the more trades made the better. But Vida has obviously put some tough restrictions on them for their own reasons ($$$).

Ron

PS to Phyllis...Have a great trip to PV...Buganvilias??

 

[Jwerking]

Hi Joyce,
I am using my MP deposit on RCI to get MP NV this coming January. It should work using their website, as I had no problem making the trade.

My reason for using MP to get MP is that I banked my 2 bedroom MP as 2 separate deposits to RCI. I then used one of the 2 to get a 2 bedroom MP unit, still having the other half to make another trade.

I did the same with my Buganvilias, which is a hotel unit to get a one bedroom Buganvilias suite on RCI.

You are correct, Ron, I can see the MP units online at PV and NV when I search online - just not the GM units - which is why I could not see the Cabo GM units.

I too have split my MP for deposit with RCI for the same reasons you mentioned - more TPUs. I guess that we should be happy with the TPUs that we are given for deposit - as when you look online, it is amazing that you can get MP units at least at PV for only 6-9 TPUs - with the exception of prime winter weeks. Guess I could go spend spring and early summer in PV for cheap.

There are two TUG couples that have given up their homes and doing full-time timesharing - I have given it some thought, but don't know that I am ready to give up my home. But it would be an interesting challenge to see if you can book those last call and extra vacations for $250 per week at those locations with surplus TS inventory during off season.

It is amazing what you can get. We purchased an extra vacation on Memorial Day weekend for a studio in Pompano Beach, FL as part of our trip to use our May Hilton Head timeshare this May - first time we have actually used this unit ourselves - LOL! We paid about $250 and it was tiny - had a murphy bed in LR, but did have a full kitchen for cheaply preparing our meals. It was direct oceanfront with a nice balcony for enjoying the view - could not believe it for $250 - what a bargain!

We are off to Va Beach this Friday to a 1br oceanfront unit purchased for $220 right on the boardwalk. Cannot beat it and maybe we will luck out and have some temps in the 60s with no wind for just sitting on the beach and reading my book. Regardless, it is where I grew up, so will visit friends and relatives. These extra vacations are great now that we are retired!!

Joyce

 

[Jwerking]

Joyce - We have been members of various "Mayan World" properties since January 1999. We have worked our way up from Sea Garden to Mayan Palace (many of those- resale), Grand Mayan, and now Grand Luxxe. Every vacation has been absolutely awesome!

We have been to every one of the locations - the GM in Cabo once, and would like to go back, but you cannot go wrong with ANY of the MP or GM locations.

We head out tomorrow for 3 week in PV - I am packed and ready to go! We have the TUG Banner and 3 other TUG members to visit with while there. WOOHOO!!!

Hi Phyllis:

One of these days, you will have to tell me how you got all the way to the Grand Luxxe. You were the one that helped me 7 or 8 yrs ago with purchasing my MP resale - in those days, you had upgraded to the GM. With your advice, I purchased an old MP contract which had a very low transfer and annual maint fee. Cannot believe that our maint fee is about $650 for a 2 BR. However, this year, Mayan transferred our ownership to MP NV from PV - something about their plans to tear down and replace the MP PV. They stated that it would NOT affect our ownership contract and maint fees - since it is a "CLUB." Hope that is true!

I like the sounds of the Cabo GM - as it seems like it is walking distance to town and grocery store. These days - I mostly cook on vacations given our long stays. While I love the NV Mayans, it is remote and restaurant options are on the expensive end and no grocery store without a long taxi ride - unless that has changed ???

How are the beaches and water in Cabo? Can you snorkel in the winter?

I know what you mean by the LONG flights. My daughter is working in Korea for a few yrs and when we retired 1.5 yrs ago - we planned a trip to visit her - that got expanded to a trip to Japan, Thailand, and New Zealand for 5 months from Sept to Jan. Now, those were some long flights - so after a few times, we got use to passing the time on a 12hr flight. But it was an awesome trip - used American Airlines miles to get a Oneworld ticket for the entire trip and used timeshare for almost all of our stays except for in NZ - where we only did 3 TS weeks and then a road trip with short hotel stays for the last 3 weeks.

Got the travel bug right now- as we just completed a 2 month cross country roadtrip from Aug-Oct to visit the Western national parks. Drove our minivan all the way to Vancouver Island from our Northern VA home with stops for a week at Mt. Rushmore, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Glacier, Banff, and Jasper NPs. We hiked to our hearts content - something we just started during our trip to NZ. On the way back, it was 3K miles and $450 of gas. And took 5 long days of driving - ugh!

I think my hubby is tired of our long trips and tells me we have the rest of our lives to travel and we don't need to do everything in the first year - but my philosophy, is do it while you are able!

Enjoy your visit to PV - we have stayed at MP PV and love the close in location to town! For sure, the beach is not as nice - but I am seldom in the water anyway - just love to sit out and read.

Joyce

 

[pittle]

PS to Phyllis...Have a great trip to PV...Buganvilias??

We are at the Mondavi in Conchas Chinas this week and will be at the Buganvilias the next two. We were able to use one of the "extra" weeks in our contract for a 2-bedroom ocean front unit next week and then move to our Imperial Sky Suite unit for Thanksgiving week. At least moving from unit to unit at Buganvilias is easy. I hope that they open up the Sky Suites for the "extra" weeks in the future.

We loved the 2-1/2 hour mid-day trip to get here! It gave us time to get groceries and all settled in before dark. Mondavi is just up the mountain above Ocho Casadas - next door to Grand Miramar. The units are very nice, but they have not finished the resort - it is just about 1/2 done. Four of the 8 finished units are full-time ownership units. It is kind of like having your own private home up here this week - one other family is here and we know them from other November visits. No problems getting pool chairs or umbrellas!

 

[ride2slide]

Update

Thanks to the help from TUG members advice, we scored the GM wristbands.

 

[ride2slide]

I forgot to mention, they appraised my newly acquired Wyndham 189K points at $15K but I never disclosed what I paid. But, they gave up after I said several times that no still means no where I come from.

 

[ride2slide]

A few helpful things we learned:

The Grand Mayan band gets you in to all areas but the Grand Luxxe. They will only let you have it if you make that a stipulation of attending the owner "free breakfast update" The GM bands also got the guys breakfast and drinks on the bus tour to the ruins, that the MP bands had to pay for.

The Playa shuttle is $5 per person and picks up at the lobby. They will NOT stop at Walmart or Mega Mart unless, everyone in the van wants to do it and it will be an extra few $. The Shuttle drops you at the far North end of 5th Ave shopping district. You have to pay extra to go to the commuter pier. The pier closest to the drop off point is the cruise ship ferry pier. Mega is much cleaner and a more relaxed less congested store that, is mostly groceries, with a small pharmacy and no souvenirs.

When we stayed at the Mayan Palace last time, we rented a car that we only drove to Playa 3 times, then back to the airport. This time we took the resort shuttles or a taxi everywhere. That was MUCH less stressful and way cheaper!

Both my son & I paid for week long wifi that turned out to be very poor most of the time in our condo. We were in 2062 Building 5 which was about halfway between the pool and the lobby. We had strong wifi at lobby, the Jade and the pool. On pool days, we would rent one of the cabanas closest to the Jade and take the ipads for when we were not in the pool. The cabanas are $30 USD but free if you spend $30 on food or drinks within the pool area venues. I complained to the wifi folks twice during the week about poor signal in the condo. On the 2nd call, they offered to reduce the wifi bill for each of us 50% for the inconvience. I also learned that they were not on site but based at the MP in PV.

Mindy

 

[hethcock@mho.com]

Whatever you do dont go to the timeshare presentation

I am currently staying at the Grand Mayan Nuevo Vallarta right now for 2 weeks in a1 bedroom suite with ocean view. I got ocean view instead of parking lot view by agreeing to do the timeshare presentation. Started at 9:00am and couldn't get out till 4m All Day. One pitch after another. They wouldn't let me go!!!! Hated it!:annoyed:

The resort is awesome though. The 1 bedroom suite is luxurious. The amenities pools, trails, plants, are amazing here. There aren't many Mayan Palace rooms left now that they tore down 2 wings. There should be a good chance that you can switch to Grand Mayan.

Good luck and don't tour.

Christine

 

[richontug]

I own at Mayan Palace and Wyndham. You can deposit Wyndham weeks (certain resorts only) into SFX (San Francisco Exchange) and then get Grand Mayan weeks in exchange. SFX has a good inventory from Grand Mayan.

Rich