Monday, May 9 2011

Monday, May 09, 2011:

The weather yesterday was cloudy and rainy – but at least it wasn’t windy.  Today, we’ve had a few breaks in the clouds, but we do have a little more wind, but not too bad.  Then it started to rain again so we decide to wait until the rain cleared and just drive around for a while. 

We ended up on Oyster Bay and walked around a while.  There is a pretty nice marina over there, plus some restaurants, villas, rooms and a resort.  The Westin is on this beach as well.  It’s supposed to be a very grand place, but as the locals say, it looks like a prison from the outside.  And it does.  Very institutional looking.  No personality at all.

 This is the Westin - from a distance:

We were talking to a gal on the beach and decided we would go over and take a look at the place…so we agreed to do the timeshare thing.  Not looking forward to it for sure, but it will get us in to see the rooms and resort, and we will get $100 worth of something.  We aren’t employed…so we wouldn’t qualify anyway! =)  And…as Gerald says, we are on a fixed income now…so the $100 will be a bonus! Ha! (too bad I couldn’t use it at a jewelry store!)

We left the beach and headed over to the Westin.  It’s hard to tell where you are going in this hotel.  You pull in to the back side of the resort.  It’s kind of like driving on the back side of a strip mall.  It’s not very tropical or ornate in anyway, just flat concrete walls with no windows. The overhang at the front entrance had a beautiful wooden coffered ceiling, unfortunately the wood was not sealed and it is stained, faded and warping.  How sad that they would not seal it to preserve, what I’m sure was a very expensive design and build.  Maybe it’s teak, which I suppose you don’t have to waterproof, but like any wood, it turns grey if you don’t seal it, which is not pretty unless you have a rustic cabin in the woods.  We walk through the front door, and are greeted by a sterile wall. Go right and you see the check-in area, go left and you end up going towards the conference areas.  On the other side of the wall, past check-in is the casino.  I didn’t realize they had one there.  There weren’t too many people there, of course, it is off season. 

No one was there to greet us at the entrance so we stopped someone and asked directions to where we could take a tour.  She directed us to the timeshare area. We get signed in and a young woman came to give us the tour.  (I’m ashamed to say I can’t remember her name for sure! I think it’s Tasha, but she was a very nice gal.) We went outside through a courtyard and then through more doors and hallways eventually outside to the pool area.  It was very nice. All done in a contemporary design. Nothing extravagant, just straight lines and very plain, but definitely a nice area.  The pool (according to her) was the biggest on the Dutch side and it had two levels.  The lower level having the most important area…the swim-up bar! Again, all in a sterile contemporary design with straight lines, flat colors and nothing special to indicate you are on a tropical island.  Walking past the bar, they had a nice beach area set up. No one was there.  (I’ll take pictures when we go back – I didn’t have the heart to do it now.)

We sat at the bar, had a soda and talked for a while.  I think she wanted to get us an adult beverage so we would get a little tipsy…for signing later! =)  But we only got a soda. We felt sorry for her really. They assigned her to us because of our likelihood of not buying.  Anyone really interested (or someone without a timeshare already) will get a top salesperson.  We finished our soda and then walked up the hill to the timeshare condos.  Apparently the Westin has the hotel side, which is in the main area that consists of typical hotel rooms and then some 1 bedroom type apartments.  The timeshares and condos are on the back side.  They supposedly have both fractional and normal timeshare features.  She walked us to a building – indistinguishable from any of the other buildings on the hill and we went in the garage.  The condo buildings have parking garages underneath.  Each condo is assigned 2 parking spots.  Then there is an elevator that takes you up to your desired floor.  We take the elevator up to the 2^nd floor (there are 3 total) and then to the room. 

The room was very nicely appointed, with elegant furnishings and warm soft colors.  Each condo has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths.  Although the 3^rd bedroom is basically set up as a den with a fold out couch. Each room has a large flat screen TV. The bedrooms aren’t that big (who needs a big bedroom anyway) but they are very nicely furnished.  There is tons of storage and a washer/dryer. The master is up front and opens to the deck and obviously is larger than the others. The kitchen is excellent with everything you would need. Stainless steel appliances and black granite countertops – very beautiful.  The living room naturally has a large flat screen and two large couches (they don’t pull out to beds, but they give you linens so you could put 2 people on them).  Unfortunately, there is a small sized deck that is only big enough for 1 chair.  That was disappointing. The view is ok; nothing special.  The big bummer is you are looking at the roof top of the hotel part.  Yuck.  If you can get past that, you have the ocean, and if you stretch your neck and look right, you can see part of St. Barths. Certainly not a top dollar view.

We finish our tour and walk back through hallways and courtyards back to the sales area.  Here we go! To make a long story short, we played good cop/bad cop and didn’t buy. (guess who was who!? =)  Of course it was expensive.  Regardless if it was nicer, it was too expensive for us – even if they could do a trade in with what we have got now.  Plus, we would basically be trading 2 weeks for one week and paying an additional (huge) amount.  So no thanks. The offer was just not good enough!  So we got our $100 certificate and off we went.  We’ll go back and take some pictures when it’s nicer ‘cause we’ve got the certificate and will have to go back anyway.  (not that we’ve been so busy lately!)  Besides, I don’t know if I want to spend it at the resort store or it could even be a free dinner at a nice place.  Decisions, decisions!

We came back to the apartment, made dinner and the day was done!