That's the time of year that I like it, being a Coloradoan. We like the cooler temperatures and gray skies. Weather in July and August, even September, in Colorado can be brutally hot and dry.
We stayed at FSA in May of this year and paid $33.66 per day. It was a change from prior stays where there was no resort charge. We love both FSA and NCV. They are different resorts, located near different things, just really depends on what you want to do.
Resort fees would make FSA a bust for me.
I agree that we prefer Four Seasons above Marriott, maybe not miles, but alot. I don't understand the statement of Aviara golf course giving timeshare access. You get a small discount for playing there and that's it. It is also very spendy. There are more inexpensive and good quality public golf courses in Carlsbad area compared to Newport Coast area. Public courses in Newport Coast area suck eggs.
I don't know when was the last time that you had played at Aviara.
There are numerous fantastic restaurants from Carlsbad down to Del Mar....
Just at random, I looked at Oct 18, public tee times are available at 7:34am (3 players), 8:17am (4 players), 8:25am (2 players) etc. There is nothing special about going off with members at 7:30am. It is not like a prestigious country club. Many of the public courses also sell memberships to get more money and play. If you thought your 7:30am tee time was special, it was not. We belong to a private (Nicklaus) country club, so being able to play at Aviara or not is no big deal.
We've stayed at FSA several times, twice in the last year, and golfed both of those times. Got a good rate because they were still working on major course renovations. We typically like to tee off early and get done early, but at the coast, going out later allows time for the fog to burn off. We found this out the hard way, missed seeing the first 3 holes. There are two very nice public courses only about 10 minutes away, The Crossings and Encinitas, both much more affordable. We also made the trip down to Torrey Pines, maybe only 30 minutes, they are beautiful courses there, but also along the coast and also fogged in pretty often.
We played at Strawberry Farms last year, and our friend and my husband both declared that the course was in such bad condition that they refuse to return to it again. I am easy peasy and will play almost any course, except Tijeras Creek, it was muddy marsh land on one of the holes when we played last year. That was our 3rd time trying Tijeras Creek and each time we were disappointed. We also played at Tustin Ranch and Arroyo Trabuco and decided that looking for inexpensive and good public course is a lost cause in Newport Coast area. I like The Crossings but because it is so spread out it takes way too long to play. I am spoilt and typically get the first tee time and finish a round in 2 hours 20 minutes as a twosome and under 3 hours as a foursome at our club. I play fast and cannot stand slow play. My husband and friend also declared that they would not go back to The Crossings because it took too long.