How best to get to Key west?

[suzannesimon]

I'm going to be there the first week in April and was there Labor Day weekend. I flew into Miami and then caught a plane into Key West. 3-4 hours driving is not my idea of a vacation. If you fly, you don't need a rental car at all. Cabs are plentiful for grocery shopping.

 

[MaryH]

If he did a trade, likely via II for Beach House or Windward Pointe. For those, a car is still better.

For HSH, you don't need a car.

 

[suzannesimon]

We stayed at Windward Point Labor Day weekend. Cabbing everywhere was still cheaper than renting but am looking forward to the convenience of Sunset Harbor on this next trip.

 

[yumdrey]

I used ferry from Ft. Myers which I enjoyed.
But usually, flight to that area (gulf FL) is more expensive than to Miami (MIA) or fort lauderdale (FTT), so I would fly to there and rent a car and drive to key west.

 

[bullroc3]

If your from Seattle, i'd drive up north to Canada, take a Flight to Cuba then take a boat to the Keys...

:hysterical: :hysterical: :hysterical: :hysterical: :hysterical: :hysterical: :hysterical:

 

[theo]

Which one???

Just got a trade into the Hyatt in Key West!

There are actually a total of four Hyatt properties within Key West; three of which are timeshare resorts (Sunset Harbor, Windward Point, Beach House) and the fourth being the hotel just off Mallory Square.

Bill, just out of curiousity, which one of the three separate timeshare properties did you trade into and what did you use to acquire that particular exchange?

 

[Bungobird]

We just returned from a week at the Galleon. Our 3rd trade into Key West. We previously stayed Hyatt Sunset harbor.

This time we flew to Key West because the price to rent a car in FLL was $800 for the week! The previous 2 trips, we rented a car and drove to Key West. It basically depends on which way works out better financially. The drive down id beautiful once you get past Key Largo.

If you fly in, you can always rent a car and drive back up Rt 1 for 1 hour to the 7 mile bridge.

We trade our Marriott. We have found that request first works very well. II has incentive to get your match since they do not get and $$$ unless they get your requested exchange. We limit our request to Galleon and HSH.

Friends like to take the cat from Ft Meyers. When we checked into that we would have had to stayed the night in Ft Meyers..get taxi to hotel, taxi to cat...the expenses just added up.

 

[Bill4728]

There are actually a total of four Hyatt properties within Key West; three of which are timeshare resorts (Sunset Harbor, Windward Point, Beach House) and the fourth being the hotel just off Mallory Square.

Bill, just out of curiousity, which one of the three separate timeshare properties did you trade into and what did you use to acquire that particular exchange?

We traded a 1 bd, mid may week in Whistler for a mid Aug, 2 bd at Windward point

 

[MaryH]

We traded a 1 bd, mid may week in Whistler for a mid Aug, 2 bd at Windward point

Ah so you used your club intrawest points?

 

[rreno]

flying into Key West

Bill, I have been to Key West 15 times and will be going back in June. I have driven 2 times. It's a three hour drive if you don't get caught behind trucks or a accident. It's mostly single lane, however it is worth doing it at least once. As far as renting a car, I always do if staying in a timeshare. Parking is free at the windward pointe. I have never stayed there, but I know parking is free. I trade into Sunset Hyatt property, but the time you take in the cost of cab ride to the property,back to grocery,back to airport a rental car is worth it. The property you are staying at doesn't have a lot around it, so keep that in mind. I fly delta that flies into keywest via atlanta. I have no idea what is out in the northwest. Flights are not cheap, but if you check everyday you will sometimes get lucky. I'm flying from Indianapolis in June @ $350.00 round trip.

 

[suzannesimon]

Bill, I have been to Key West 15 times and will be going back in June. I have driven 2 times. It's a three hour drive if you don't get caught behind trucks or a accident. It's mostly single lane, however it is worth doing it at least once. As far as renting a car, I always do if staying in a timeshare. Parking is free at the windward pointe. I have never stayed there, but I know parking is free. I trade into Sunset Hyatt property, but the time you take in the cost of cab ride to the property,back to grocery,back to airport a rental car is worth it. The property you are staying at doesn't have a lot around it, so keep that in mind. I fly delta that flies into keywest via atlanta. I have no idea what is out in the northwest. Flights are not cheap, but if you check everyday you will sometimes get lucky. I'm flying from Indianapolis in June @ $350.00 round trip.

We stayed at Windward Point Labor Day weekend and flew into Key West Airport. We were catching a cab to Windward Point and the cabby pointed to it and told us to walk there, which we did. It is right on the runway! We didn't hear anything at the resort, but when you walked out the unit door, the runway was right there. It was kind of fun watching the planes take off and land. You do need a cab to get anywhere from that location, but, true to its name, it has a nice breeze right off the ocean.

 

[Bill4728]

We traded a 1 bd, mid may week in Whistler for a mid Aug, 2 bd at Windward point

Ah so you used your club intrawest points?

Kind of?

We are one of a very few CI owners who trade in II. Almost all CI owners use the CI in house trading company called Extraordinary(SP) Escapes or EE this in house exchange company works alot with RCI and almost not at all with II.

BUT we used our CI points to reserve a full week at whistler during May (about 60 pts) then deposited that week in II and made the trade. CI weeks ( even in shoulder seasons) trades as good as my best Marriott weeks (Maybe better) So we are sold 100% on using CI weeks in II.

One problem is that CI now does not any new owners to use II. You have to have been an owner since around 1998.