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Red Tide @ Florida Gulf Coast

marinskas

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Anyone staying on Sanibel? How bad is it?

Based on all the info available it appears to be quite bad with dead wildlife washed up on shore, strong odor, etc. When I called Shell Vacation Club resort they just directed me to the City website, which has detailed information on the status and clean up efforts. But is this affected the resort grounds too?

Would like for anyone currently staying to chime in.
 

Bwolf

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Check the TripAdvisor forum for Sanibel. There are many threads and a great deal of information there.
 

Deb & Bill

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It's still bad from Tampa to Marco Island.
 

TheCryptkeeper

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I haven't been to the beach but I live in Tampa. According to the news this morning, the red tide has reached St. Petersburg.
 

Talent312

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All I can say is "Crap."
I have an RCI exchange on Ft. Meyers Bch starting in 2 weeks. :(
.
 

sb2313

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All I can say is "Crap."
I have an RCI exchange on Ft. Meyers Bch starting in 2 weeks. :(
.
We just left captiva, causeway beach area is clearing up from when it was the worst though it’s still not great. just keep monitoring daily reports to see what direction things are going in.
 

Talent312

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RCI Red-Tide Policy: Cancellation Penalties Apply.
"Thank you for your inquiry about the current situation with Red Tide in Florida. At this time RCI is not offering any exceptions for cancellations and they are following the standard cancel policy. Currently, if you decide to cancel, the $239 RCI exchange fee will be forfeited and, if points protection was not purchased, you may forfeit the points. If you would like to add the points protection for $59, you can receive 100% of the points back should you choose to cancel. You can also wait until closer to the dates to see if anything changes with RCI's cancel policy for this situation."
 

silentg

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RCI Red-Tide Policy: Cancellation Penalties Apply.
"Thank you for your inquiry about the current situation with Red Tide in Florida. At this time RCI is not offering any exceptions for cancellations and they are following the standard cancel policy. Currently, if you decide to cancel, the $239 RCI exchange fee will be forfeited and, if points protection was not purchased, you may forfeit the points. If you would like to add the points protection for $59, you can receive 100% of the points back should you choose to cancel. You can also wait until closer to the dates to see if anything changes with RCI's cancel policy for this situation."
Aren’t they nice?
 

Jan M.

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RCI Red-Tide Policy: Cancellation Penalties Apply.
"Thank you for your inquiry about the current situation with Red Tide in Florida. At this time RCI is not offering any exceptions for cancellations and they are following the standard cancel policy. Currently, if you decide to cancel, the $239 RCI exchange fee will be forfeited and, if points protection was not purchased, you may forfeit the points. If you would like to add the points protection for $59, you can receive 100% of the points back should you choose to cancel. You can also wait until closer to the dates to see if anything changes with RCI's cancel policy for this situation."

Governor Snot, ahem Scott, issued an emergency order effective 8/13/2018. How can RCI not offer exceptions when there is an emergency order for the area? Or are they not keeping abreast of the situation? No surprise there. Sarcasm intended!
 

Panina

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Governor Snot, ahem Scott, issued an emergency order effective 8/13/2018. How can RCI not offer exceptions when there is an emergency order for the area? Or are they not keeping abreast of the situation? No surprise there. Sarcasm intended!
They nor II offer anything for natural disasters. When the hurricane hit Florida, I lost my interval fee and got a replacement week that had 60 day search limit. Actually good RCI is allowing point protection purchase after knowing there is a problem.
 

PigsDad

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How can RCI not offer exceptions when there is an emergency order for the area?
Are there any policies mentioned in RCI's Term and Conditions regarding natural disasters or something similar? Just curious.

Kurt
 

Jan M.

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Are there any policies mentioned in RCI's Term and Conditions regarding natural disasters or something similar? Just curious.

Kurt

I don't know what RCI's policies are. Repeated calls until you get the right person and/or letters to corporate can definitely have results. My husband got a policy changed. We had a reservation in Pompano Beach in December of 2005, got to the resort at 11:30pm to find the resort closed. RCI told him they notified us saying our reservation was cancelled but strangely enough we never got a call or email. He told them do you think we would have paid for flights and a rental car and been driving up and down A1A in the dark trying to find the resort if we'd been told? Our reservation was for Santa Barbara and we tried calling the resort when we couldn't find it. The phone was still working so of course rang and rang but no one answered. We ended up going into Royal Vista and asking them what was going on. They explained that we weren't the first people who had shown up only to find the resort closed. They let us use the phone to call RCI and the rep told my husband to find a place to stay for the night and they would reimburse us and find us another place to stay in the morning. My husband let that person know how unacceptable he found it that he was expected to find his own place to stay the night, have to pay for it and wait for reimbursement because they failed to notify us. The manager at Royal Vista could of course hear the entire conversation and was nice enough to put us in a unit for the night since we are Wyndham VIP owners and our reservation was at a Wyndham resort for a week we had deposited into RCI. He proceeded to tell us about a couple on their honeymoon that had been in the same situation, arriving late at night to find Santa Barbara closed, but he couldn't do anything for them because they weren't owners themselves just the guests of the owner. The bride's father had booked the week for them.

When we got home my husband started making phone calls and writing letters saying that the nighttime emergency employees should have the authority to book a place and pay for it. He got a call from corporate in response to his letters that they were changing their policy to give their people the authority to do that.

RCI is owned by Wyndham and last year when Ocean Walk closed because of Hurricane Irma they cancelled my reservation and gave me the points back. I know they did the same for other people.

Sometimes point protection is pretty worthless. Based on our maintenance fees a reservation would have to be over 29,146 points to equal the exchange fee. I often book weeks for around or less than that.
 

Panina

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I don't know what RCI's policies are. Repeated calls until you get the right person and/or letters to corporate can definitely have results. My husband got a policy changed. We had a reservation in Pompano Beach in December of 2005, got to the resort at 11:30pm to find the resort closed. RCI told him they notified us saying our reservation was cancelled but strangely enough we never got a call or email. He told them do you think we would have paid for flights and a rental car and been driving up and down A1A in the dark trying to find the resort if we'd been told? Our reservation was for Santa Barbara and we tried calling the resort when we couldn't find it. The phone was still working so of course rang and rang but no one answered. We ended up going into Royal Vista and asking them what was going on. They explained that we weren't the first people who had shown up only to find the resort closed. They let us use the phone to call RCI and the rep told my husband to find a place to stay for the night and they would reimburse us and find us another place to stay in the morning. My husband let that person know how unacceptable he found it that he was expected to find his own place to stay the night, have to pay for it and wait for reimbursement because they failed to notify us. The manager at Royal Vista could of course hear the entire conversation and was nice enough to put us in a unit for the night since we are Wyndham VIP owners and our reservation was at a Wyndham resort for a week we had deposited into RCI. He proceeded to tell us about a couple on their honeymoon that had been in the same situation, arriving late at night to find Santa Barbara closed, but he couldn't do anything for them because they weren't owners themselves just the guests of the owner. The bride's father had booked the week for them.

When we got home my husband started making phone calls and writing letters saying that the nighttime emergency employees should have the authority to book a place and pay for it. He got a call from corporate in response to his letters that they were changing their policy to give their people the authority to do that.

RCI is owned by Wyndham and last year when Ocean Walk closed because of Hurricane Irma they cancelled my reservation and gave me the points back. I know they did the same for other people.

Sometimes point protection is pretty worthless. Based on our maintenance fees a reservation would have to be over 29,146 points to equal the exchange fee. I often book weeks for around or less than that.
Nothing changes unless one pursues change. Sometimes it is a pain and takes lots of time but results can happen like it did for you. I admire that your husband pursued it and got it changed.
 

Duanerice

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All I can say is "Crap."
I have an RCI exchange on Ft. Meyers Bch starting in 2 weeks. :(
.

I swim at Ft Myers Beach every week. I swam there this morning. No smell and no dead fish. Water decently clear (Ft Myers Beach not is never really clear). There is a group of us that swim every Friday morning and we've only skipped one week this year due to the issues. Now that could change at any time but it was not bad today.
 

Talent312

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I swim at Ft Myers Beach every week. I swam there this morning. No smell and no dead fish. Water decently clear (Ft Myers Beach not is never really clear)...

Good to know. So our trip may not be a waste... Thanks.
.
 

silentg

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I swim at Ft Myers Beach every week. I swam there this morning. No smell and no dead fish. Water decently clear (Ft Myers Beach not is never really clear). There is a group of us that swim every Friday morning and we've only skipped one week this year due to the issues. Now that could change at any time but it was not bad today.
It’s getting better then? What about the inter coastal waterways?
Silentg
 

chriskre

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Just want to warn anyone with low immune systems.
I got bilateral pneumonia just from lying on Hollywood beach.
I never went in the water not one day, only the pool.
Ended up with a stay in the step down ICU for a week.
Almost ended up intubated, spent the week on bipap and oxygen.
So be careful as it's really bad here even in places where
they are not either testing the water and air to keep tourism
from tanking or political reasons.
 

sb2313

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Above all, I’m so sorry you had to deal with that illness and hospital stay, I hope you are on the upswing now! I did not realize it was impacting Atlantic side as well, is this the blue green algae due to pollution from the lake? Did you smell anything or feel any burning while at the pool?
 

Panina

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Just want to warn anyone with low immune systems.
I got bilateral pneumonia just from lying on Hollywood beach.
I never went in the water not one day, only the pool.
Ended up with a stay in the step down ICU for a week.
Almost ended up intubated, spent the week on bipap and oxygen.
So be careful as it's really bad here even in places where
they are not either testing the water and air to keep tourism
from tanking or political reasons.
Hope you are all better or will be soon. Horrible you had to go through this.
 

chriskre

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Hope you are all better or will be soon. Horrible you had to go through this.

Yes it was very scary.
I've never been so sick so fast.
Just happy I did not get septic.
I'm home but struggling alot.
Turns out that it's coming out in the news that Hallandale Beach
which is literally hundreds of feet south of Hollywood beach is
infected water and air. A little too late for me so be careful for sure.
Government is covering this up or conveniently ignoring it.
 

Deb & Bill

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Red tide up and down the Gulf Coast is the worst it has been in years. Most areas are red, some are orange, very few are yellow or clear. You can check the status on visitbeaches.org. The worst part is that it is spreading so far out into the Gulf, too. Beaches in Charlotte, Lee and Collier County are pretty much empty.

Red tide is different from the green algae problem around Sanibel, too. That's coming from Lake O. Red tide is coming from the Gulf. Neither one is good for tourists or residents. Red tide occurs naturally. Green algae is coming from the farms in Florida with runoff to Lake O. Since the Lake is full, they are opening the dike to the river and it comes out mostly by Charlotte County and Lee County. Some of the green algae is also coming out on the Atlantic coast. If they ever finish raising Tamiami Trail from Naples to Miami, the water will be able to flow under all the new bridges being built toward the Everglades.

They had been relying on regular water testing at various locations along the coast and the report would be publicized each Friday. Now they are doing daily testing in more locations.
 
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