Beat the hurricane down to HHI

[MOXJO7282]

Left a day early to beat Irene down to HHI for our week at the GO. Lost out on the Friday night Yankee - Oriole game but it was worth it, we had a very uneventful trip down Thursday staying in Fayetteville NC, then 4.5 hrs to HHI Friday morning.

My dear MIL was beside herself saying we were risking our lives but I thought the risk was almost nil and it turned out to work out fine without a drop of rain after NJ until we got to HHI Friday. We did get a ton of rain Friday but today it is going to be a gorgeious day.

Stayed at the Marriott HHI Resort hotel Friday night. Very nice hotel especially with the upgrade to oceanfront. This hotel always does a great job with upgrades for platinum members. They took 5 minutes looking for the best available room, offering a few different options, a 1 bd room suite with no view or a 9th floor ocean front which we took.

Had some great wings at the Wild Wing Cafe and after the rain cleared out it was an absolutely beautiful night for a beach walk and swim in the pool. Interesting thing about the hotel pool, its in some spots 13' deep. That's the deepest pool I've ever been in.

We're now awaiting room assignment for our week at the GO. Even though we only own OF we're staying in a OS from the last year of usage from a previously owned week so we hope to get a nice OS view. We requested high floor Sand Dollar or Flying gull.

 

[loafingcactus]

Nice plan! Have fun!!

 

[jont]

Didn't want to stick around to see AJ pitch? lol
Glad you made it down there safely. Enjoy your week. Sure wish I was there!

 

[dmharris]

Joe,

Where did you stay in Fayetteville?

 

[MOXJO7282]

Joe,

Where did you stay in Fayetteville?

Actually I stand corrected we wanted to stay in Fayetteville but couldn't get a room so we went to a Farfield Inn in Lumberton NC, which is conveniently located right off Route 95. $113/night and we had a nice hot breakfast in the morning.

 

[MOXJO7282]

Didn't want to stick around to see AJ pitch? lol
Glad you made it down there safely. Enjoy your week. Sure wish I was there!

If we went to the game I would have been putting us potentially in harm's way by time we would've gotten to NC so we had to pass. In hindsight that worked out too because we would've seen a miserable game as big Yankee fans. Although it would have been interesting to see what was it? 6 xtra base hits in a row by the Orioles?

 

[dmharris]

Actually I stand corrected we wanted to stay in Fayetteville but couldn't get a room so we went to a Farfield Inn in Lumberton NC, which is conveniently located right off Route 95. $113/night and we had a nice hot breakfast in the morning.

Thanks! We travel that route on our way to HHI and stopped for the night in Fayetteville. It's an interesting military town, not many frills.

 

[jont]

If we went to the game I would have been putting us potentially in harm's way by time we would've gotten to NC so we had to pass. In hindsight that worked out too because we would've seen a miserable game as big Yankee fans. Although it would have been interesting to see what was it? 6 xtra base hits in a row by the Orioles?

jk about the game. safety first. Game was really ugly yesterday. As a sawx fan I wish the pieman would pitch everyday!

 

[m61376]

Glad to hear it. I thought the area was part of the area getting slammed with the storm; glad that I was wrong.

 

[Bikeguy]

We requested high floor Sand Dollar or Flying gull.

Much smarter than me.

I requested a high floor in a building close to the ocean. I had rented a week from an owner.

I was put in the Starfish, in the unit right after the building is set back about ten feet and had a view of my neighbor's outside wall and a slice of ocean to the left.

It was exactly what I asked for.

Your request was the request of a veteran!

And make sure you lock your doors. I had a GPS and iPod stolen out of my unlocked minivan 2 weeks ago. Didn't help I was in Starfish, right next to the beach path. The whole gated thing got my guard down. More aggravation than monetary loss. And I ALWAYS lock my doors and hide the GPS (well, I guess I can't say that anymore!) I was in and out unloading and getting the bicycles sorted out and obviously didn't lock the doors one time. More my fault than the thieves, IMHO.

 

[MULTIZ321]

Much smarter than me.

I requested a high floor in a building close to the ocean. I had rented a week from an owner.

I was put in the Starfish, in the unit right after the building is set back about ten feet and had a view of my neighbor's outside wall and a slice of ocean to the left.

It was exactly what I asked for.

Your request was the request of a veteran!

And make sure you lock your doors. I had a GPS and iPod stolen out of my unlocked minivan 2 weeks ago. Didn't help I was in Starfish, right next to the beach path. The whole gated thing got my guard down. More aggravation than monetary loss. And I ALWAYS lock my doors and hide the GPS (well, I guess I can't say that anymore!) I was in and out unloading and getting the bicycles sorted out and obviously didn't lock the doors one time. More my fault than the thieves, IMHO.

Bikeguy,

I like your avatar. Looks like you're familiar with the Penny-farthing bicycle. For folks who are not familiar,
here's some other pics:

A Penny-Farthing photographed in the Skoda Auto Museum in the Czech Republic.

- Old British Penny and Farthing (quarter penny) which inspired the name of the Penny-Farthing Bicycle.


Richard

 

[Bikeguy]

Old British Penny and Farthing (quarter penny) which inspired the name of the Penny-Farthing Bicycle.

I didn't know that.

Thanks.

I do like to ride bicycles, but also have had a few motorcycles as well. Been meaning to try a Penny-Farthing Bicycle. The opportunity hasn't come up yet.

 

[bobcat]

Much smarter than me.

I requested a high floor in a building close to the ocean. I had rented a week from an owner.

I was put in the Starfish, in the unit right after the building is set back about ten feet and had a view of my neighbor's outside wall and a slice of ocean to the left.

It was exactly what I asked for.

Your request was the request of a veteran!

And make sure you lock your doors. I had a GPS and iPod stolen out of my unlocked minivan 2 weeks ago. Didn't help I was in Starfish, right next to the beach path. The whole gated thing got my guard down. More aggravation than monetary loss. And I ALWAYS lock my doors and hide the GPS (well, I guess I can't say that anymore!) I was in and out unloading and getting the bicycles sorted out and obviously didn't lock the doors one time. More my fault than the thieves, IMHO.

Did you report it to the resort?. Also, does this resort have outside cameras?.

 

[MOXJO7282]

Much smarter than me.

I requested a high floor in a building close to the ocean. I had rented a week from an owner.

I was put in the Starfish, in the unit right after the building is set back about ten feet and had a view of my neighbor's outside wall and a slice of ocean to the left.

It was exactly what I asked for.

Your request was the request of a veteran!

And make sure you lock your doors. I had a GPS and iPod stolen out of my unlocked minivan 2 weeks ago. Didn't help I was in Starfish, right next to the beach path. The whole gated thing got my guard down. More aggravation than monetary loss. And I ALWAYS lock my doors and hide the GPS (well, I guess I can't say that anymore!) I was in and out unloading and getting the bicycles sorted out and obviously didn't lock the doors one time. More my fault than the thieves, IMHO.

I'm really sorry to hear about this. Unfortunately if you have a big group of people your always going to have a few bad apples and that is what you ran across.

I was put in the Laughing Gull 3rd floor. Not a horrible view but mostly of tree tops and some ocean. This the first a room request wasn't fulfilled for me. They also put one of my guests on the 3rd floor. I'm trying to find out where they put my oceanfront guest.

Once I know I'm going to go speak to the person that does room assignment to have a chat. Not at all in an adversarily way I just want to politely ask to understand the protocol so I can put myself in the best position going forward.

I know what they officially say, multi-week owners, those that reserved first, those that call to request specific building request a week before and I did all that and didn't get a high floor. So I just want to know why.

Is it still largely decided by rooms that are available at the time of assignment? Is it that there are just more multi-week owners that have more weeks than me?

They won'y tell you what specific room is assigned if you call a few days before arrival but should I have called to say is it a 4 or 5 floor? This is one thing I did not do.

I'll let me TUG friends know what I find out.

 

[captbob]

Which Building

I have a Week snagged at Grand Ocean October 13-20th and I was wondering from the experts if I get a choice of buildings which one is my 1st 2nd 3rd choice. I used a Platinum BeachPlace OF week to trade into Gold season at Grand Ocean. They may? put me in an Ocean Front Unit. Looking at the layout it would seem my best chance for that might be in Sea Horse, Sand Castle or maybe Dolphin. Would love some advice.

 

[SueDonJ]

... I'll let me TUG friends know what I find out.

Joe, is it possible that they're following what SurfWatch and Barony have in place? Anything 3rd floor and above is considered "high floor," and, owners are placed according to requests as much as possible BUT they also use a rotational system. If you get a high-floor best-available-view unit one visit, the next you're more likely to get a low-floor least-view unit. Even though this has been explained in at least the last three annual resort newsletters, it seems to me that they've become much more strict about it only in the last year.

 

[dmharris]

Joe, is it possible that they're following what SurfWatch and Barony have in place? Anything 3rd floor and above is considered "high floor," and, owners are placed according to requests as much as possible BUT they also use a rotational system. If you get a high-floor best-available-view unit one visit, the next you're more likely to get a low-floor least-view unit. Even though this has been explained in at least the last three annual resort newsletters, it seems to me that they've become much more strict about it only in the last year.

This is my understanding from last year when we exchanged into GO. We own at Grande Vista and were put on the 2nd floor though I requested a high floor. They told me so many GO stay at their home resort and don't exchange that they have many owners on site for that week (last week of October) so they get high floors which are rotated amongst them year to year.

 

[Bikeguy]

Did you report it to the resort?. Also, does this resort have outside cameras?.

I let a security guard know, but no one else.

No security cameras. If they had them, I would have made a formal complaint.

I really didn't think me telling them I left my car door unlocked in a garage next to a beach path would have resulted in me getting my stuff back or any improvements in their security.

The place is gated and on multiple occasions I saw security guards on mobile patrol.

The only way the people that took my stuff would have gotten caught is for security to "change up" their routine and walk their route backward or doubleback.

And you don't need to do that more than a few times for the bad guys to figure that's the new patrol pattern.

I actually called and requested a return phone call from the security supervisor while typing this post.

I'll let you know if anything constructive comes out of it.

 

[Bikeguy]

Joe, is it possible that they're following what SurfWatch and Barony have in place? Anything 3rd floor and above is considered "high floor," and, owners are placed according to requests as much as possible BUT they also use a rotational system. If you get a high-floor best-available-view unit one visit, the next you're more likely to get a low-floor least-view unit.

When I talked with the front desk supervisor and asked about this, she stated exactly what you describe. Summer weeks have occupancy between 80 and 90 percent owners, and views are rotated.

 

[pedro47]

Security is pretty good at this resort there are serval retired police officers from the state of New York, Virginia and New Jersey working at this resort and do not play with bad guys.

 

[Bikeguy]

Talked with the supervisor of loss prevention. He thanked me for letting him know.

Said this is the first theft from a vehicle reported this year and maybe last year.

The security guard I talked with said they had lost a few cruiser bicycles this summer.

They have a guard at the gate and one patrolling all night.

I'd feel very comfortable staying there again, and I tend to be on the paranoid side. I'd just lock the doors and hide the valuables.

DOH! Typing that last sentence pained me. How embarrassing.

Hopefully it serves as a common sense reminder for others and saves them a little grief.