I woke up this morning and felt fine, just very hungry. I ate a light breakfast, and then about 11:00, we headed down to our “taco party” as we had planned the day before. The food was quite good, the drinks were free, and other than reconfirming our appointment to go to the Royal Sands @ 1:45 nothing much happened. Well fed, we wandered back to the pool, and hung around till time for the transport.
We showed up at our appointed time out front, and as is want to happen in Mexico, everyone was late. We finally rounded up Beto, our driver, and a van for the trip to the Royal Sands. When we got there we began the time-honored ritual of “The Time Share” A young lady sat us down and had us fill out pages of meaningless paperwork. Then she passed us along to a personable young man for our indoctrination and tour. On the way in I noticed that their “scoreboard” on the wall was showing mostly zeros, with one block having a 2 (probably their sales for the month). Our indoctrinator sat us down in front of a flat screen and proceeded to tell us all about the “Royal Way and History”. Then he played us a very glossy video showing all about the Royal Resorts. Any questions, no, well it was time for the tour. He hiked us all over the Royal Sands (supposedly their biggest and best resort in the Cancun hotel area), showing us this and that and finally to a villa to see the lovely ocean view. (of course only 20% of the villas have this view, and they are more expensive) Then it was back to the boiler room to meet “his manager”.
Anyone who has been through a time-share presentation knows how it goes from here, but this one had a Mexican twist. (Don’t you just love how they all learn to write upside down? I can barely write legibly right side up, so I greatly admire this talent.) First surprise was they were selling the Royal Haciendas down in Playa del Carmen, not the place we had toured. Second surprise was “they were way behind due to the poor economy” and had not sold out as soon as they had planned. He asked if we were interested, and we made noncommittal noises. He said good, and went off to get his “most current inventory”. He came back and showed us a list that ranged from about $37,000 for a week to well over $100,000 for a week, depending on the time of year. We said we weren’t interested. Then He asked us how we liked the place we were staying. We said just fine, in fact better than the Sands we had just toured. He said let me see what I can do and off he went again to “check inventory”.
He returned and said he had exactly what we wanted, a week at the very place we were staying, just 2 rooms down from our current location. But then he let something slip. In his urgency to sell us something, he used an illustration of the owners at the Royal Mayan (another of their resorts) and how they were pretty much hosed cause their ownership years were ending. Turns out Royal only sells you the condo for 35 to 45 years, and then they need to resell it to make more money. So the way I see it is they kick you out give you your original purchase price refurbish the place, and resell it. Pretty cool racket. Of course you get your original “investment” back, but say you paid $7000 for your week 30 years ago, now to rebuy, it costs $47,000. And oh yea you have been paying $800 maintenance fee every year. What a racket.
Then he really took us for fools. He offered us the condo we were staying in at the other place for $21,600 for a week every other year. For the math challenged, this was almost as much as the every year at the brand new nicer place. We told him we weren’t interested. I had reached my attention span, so I got up to leave. He told me I had to sit back down so we could conclude our business and get us our free stuff. So I did just for the entertainment value. He goes away, we all swear a vow to no more time share presentations, and here comes mister big gun. (with the real butch crew cut) He offers us a rental week at the place we are currently staying for $697 for the next year. I tell him, Interval International already beat you by $203 on that price. He gets frustrated and signs our papers so we can get our free stuff. I walk away. The girls go off to do their facial, Jerry and I find a bar, and notice that the whole place is pretty empty.
Later we hook up with the girls, and decide we just want to go back to our own villa and enjoy the evening. We round up some change, and hop one of the every 2-minute Cancun buses back to our own property. Have to insert an interesting quote here. While I was waiting out front and we were preparing to catch the bus, I picked up a brochure off the bell captain desk. It was about driving in Cancun Called the Royal Resorts Road Safety pamphlet. Here are a couple excerpts: 1. Speed Bumps “When you travel through residential areas of Cancun and villages……….look out for speed bumps or sleeping policemen at the entrance and exit to the communities and in front of schools. (you can’t make this stuff up) 2. Helping our visitors Article 152. The municipal government has implemented a courtesy driving offense ticket which will be used exclusively for tourists who break minor city traffic laws…………….There is no charge whatsoever, and the courtesy ticket may be issued twice to the same car and/or driver but will not be used in cases of serious breaches of local traffic regulations and acts of dangerous driving. (unless you are really stupid, you get 2 get out of jail free cards driving in Cancun) Bet the local money machine really hated when they introduced this policy.
Back to our villa….We swim a while, then plan to get cleaned up and go to the Mexican Fiesta they are having at the restaurant tonight. Unfortunately while we were hanging at the pool Brenda finds out she has to urgently call home. Turns out Brenda’s sister June, who has cancer, has taken a turn for the worse. Bren and Jerry need to go home. Jerry makes the arrangements, and we decide to head for the fiesta in June’s honor. We eat great food, drink a bunch of toasts to June, dance, sing and in general have a real fiesta.
Later Brenda and I had a great conversation sitting on the balcony overlooking the resort. Since I had just lost my dad last July to cancer, we shared feelings about what it’s like and the pain and suffering. I believe it was cathartic for both of us. They went home the next morning, and currently June is comfortable, but very weak. We will be looking for more news this morning.
more later,
wes
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