Aruba Surf/Ocean Club owners questions

[gores95]

Hi all. We purchased our Oceanside unit resale back in January 2007 and have overall been pleased. We have not yet stayed at Surf Club but have deposited and exchanged into the following so far:

Cypress Harbour 2BR(AC...6/08)
Timber Lodge 1BR (1/09)
Grande Ocean/Surf Watch/Barony Beach 2BR (hopefully one of these in 4/09)

We also were able to rent our studio in 2008 for $1500 and currently have our 2008 1BR on deposit with II and have the July 4th 2009 week reserved with Marriott with our 2BR. We have not yet locked this off or deposited to II.

So all in all we are happy. BUT...the big issue I have with owning in Aruba is getting to Aruba. The airfare prices from the NYC airports is NUTS!!!! $625 R/T when I just checked for my dates in 2009. We are somewhat limited to travelling when school is out but have any Aruba owners noticed airfares skyrocketing recently? Has this caused you to rethink your purchase?

We originally bought resale for what I thought was a terrific price and I am pretty sure I can at least get our money back so that is why I am contemplating selling. I was then thinking the way to go if I want to continue a Marriott owner is to own at Atlantic City or Williamsburg...locations we can at least drive to. We really love Aruba but the airfare may have priced us out.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

 

[Mr. Vker]

We have actually been fortunate using Amex points converted to Jet Blue for award tickets three years in a row. We fly from Dulles through JFK to Aruba.

For purchased tickets, Jetblue also seems to be a good value. I have seen them as low as $199 each way plus tax and fees.

What I think you are experiencing, and we will probably see ourselves next year, is inventory shrinkage. Less seats to Aruba plus fuel surcharges are driving the prices up.

We go to Surfclub this coming Friday . Next year, we might have trouble getting award tickets.

I can also add that Aruba is about as far as you can get from the US into the Carribean. It has always been a more expensive air ticket. Our first trip was in 2000 on Delta. I think we paid $600+ plus then for BWI-Aruba connecting through Atlanta.

With the benefit of great weather year-round and no threat of hurricanes, its worth the extra $$ in my opinion. We do hope to visit St Kitts in the next year or two though.

 

[gmarine]

$625 is actually not that bad from NY considering how much fares have gone up recently, especially if its a holiday week. On non holiday weeks the norm has been in the $450 range the last few years, with some sales in the $350-$400 range.
When school is out its a different story. You can pretty much expect high airfare prices to anywhere in the caribbean.

Another issue with flights from NY is capacity. American recently cut back on its non stop flights from JFK so there will be less supply of available seats on some days.

 

[MRSFUSSY]

Aruba air tickets

Hello from Long Island. Reent airline tickets are a lot lower than in previous years. $750. was the norm, a big nut for a family. Last year we went on points but our son & daughter in law went for about $189. each, each way. Piece of cake!

 

[sls1003]

I know what you mean. We bought at the Aruba Surf Club on our honeymoon in 2003 pre-construction. We haven't been back yet, but we have had some wonderful trades. We didn't mean to buy it as a trader but we wanted to see Hawaii (which we did by locking off and getting a week at the Kauai Beach Club and a week at the Maui Ocean Club) and then had our son so trips to the Caribbean went on hold for a little bit. I think to myself that if I knew then what I knew now we would own somewhere domestic a little easier to get to. That being said, we loved Aruba on our honeymoon and can't wait to go back. In the meantime, we have locked off almost each year and have taken wonderful trips, many times going in slightly less busy times and trading up (1 br for 2 br, etc.) We also traded into Disney and the Four Seasons Aviara in California. So, we are quite happy with our purchase. I tell my husband that our next Marriott purchase will be an EOY somewhere closer by! :rofl:

By the way, I think around $625 is what we paid to Aruba from Chicago in 2003, so I'm actually pleasantly surprised that airfare hasn't gone up more.

 

[Dean]

When I looked a few months ago for Aruba for Jan, 09; Delta was $1200 each and almost $900 if we drove to Atlanta. USair was around $750 each. We're actually driving to Tampa and going on American at $450 each. All include taxes, right at $100 a person. There were no FF tickets but I didn't have miles so it didn't really matter.