Tag: Timeshare

Touring Caliente

Vicky Wells Leave a comment
Our transportation, accommodation, food and entertainment cost so far

Nov 17 ~ Day #191
Budget to date
Spent today
Total to date
Daily average
Total
$19100
$28.14
$16794.42
$87.93
Miles by Road
Miles by Sea
Miles by Air
Miles by Train
Total Miles
15815.4
12056.7
7662
196
35730.1

Current Location: Caliente Resort, Land O’Lakes, Florida

Today’s Total Expenses: $28.14

Accommodation: $28.14 (timeshare)

Miles Traveled Today:
Zero

Touring Caliente

As to be expected, whenever you exchange your timeshare into another resort you are always offered a tour of the resort and there is always a bribe of some sort as well.

Caliente was no different. They offered us a tour and an explanation of their system. Apparently they are not, technically, a timeshare even though they are associated with RCI, which is how we were able to exchange into Caliente.

They have a points system that they wanted to explain to us. The bribe was a free lunch and a $50 credit to our account.

The young lady that gave us the tour was very knowledgeable and very friendly. Their system works by pre-purchasing a certain amount of points that can be exchanged for all kinds of things – accommodations, dinners at the restaurants and more. Naturally, the more points you want the more it costs, but as the amount you pay goes up the cost per point goes down to make the higher amounts start to look like a good deal. But, when you use up your points, they’re gone! And, as long as you still have some points, you need to pay a maintenance fee each year just like you do with timeshare, but your timeshare doesn’t expire as long as you’re paying the annual fee.

I’m afraid it didn’t seem like such a good deal to us.

One thing we did learn while talking with our tour guide was that Caliente has a pretty hefty daily ground fees.

Caliente Ground Fees

In the course of our conversation with our tour guide we found out that the normal Caliente ground fees are $100/couple/day. Yikes! That seems awfully high to us.

Then we began to wonder if we were going to be charged the daily ground fees when we checked out. That would make this exchange way more expensive if that’s the case.

Well, we check out tomorrow, so I guess we’ll find out for sure then. RCI is supposed to advise you of any additional fees that you are expected to pay that aren’t covered by your exchange and nothing was mentioned about daily ground fees when we booked this exchange.

No point in speculating, we’ll find out when we check out tomorrow and if they want an additional $100 per day for our stay we will certainly challenge that kind of charge.

Trivia Night at Caliente

Vicky Wells Leave a comment
Our transportation, accommodation, food and entertainment cost so far

Nov 16 ~ Day #190
Budget to date
Spent today
Total to date
Daily average
Total
$19000
$46.14
$16766.28
$88.25
Miles by Road
Miles by Sea
Miles by Air
Miles by Train
Total Miles
15815.4
12056.7
7662
196
35730.1

Current Location: Caliente Resort, Land O’Lakes, Florida

Today’s Total Expenses: $46.14

Accommodation: $28.14 (timeshare)
Food: $18.00 (dinner)

Miles Traveled Today:
Zero

Water aerobics

One of the classes being offered today was water aerobics and we decided to give it a try.

Our instructor was a tiny, very fit woman who was like a drill sergeant! She really got us working and exercised right along with us. I’m sure that’s how she stays so fit.

We certainly got quite a workout.

Trivia Night

Apparently Tuesday nights at Caliente are trivia nights. The trivia challenge is held in the sports bar and they also have dinner specials that night. So, we treated ourselves to dinner and participated in the trivia as well.

There were lots of teams, some with up to six people in the team, that had obviously participated in these trivia nights before.

In the first round we were holding our own and were in second place. However, by the time the game was over we had slipped to fourth or fifth place. Still pretty respectable given the number of teams participating and the fact that our team was just the two of us.

Visiting Another Resort

Vicky Wells Leave a comment
Our transportation, accommodation, food and entertainment cost so far

Nov 15 ~ Day #189
Budget to date
Spent today
Total to date
Daily average
Total
$18900
$62.95
$16720.14
$88.47
Miles by Road
Miles by Sea
Miles by Air
Miles by Train
Total Miles
15815.4
12056.7
7662
196
35730.1

Current Location: Caliente Resort, Land O’Lakes, Florida

Today’s Total Expenses: $62.95

Accommodation: $28.14 (timeshare)
Food: $34.81 (groceries)

Miles Traveled Today:
Zero

Grocery Shopping

It was time for another grocery run today. With just a tiny fridge in our room we aren’t able to get very much at one time.

Mani-Pedi for Me!

I’m generally not very good at keeping my nails nice, but the last little while I’ve been making a real effort.

So, while we were out shopping (actually, Geoff did most of the grocery shopping on his own), I was treated to a manicure and pedicure.

It was fantastic! I’m not sure exactly how long it took but Geoff was able to get all the shopping done and still had to wait for me to be finished.

I love being pampered like this and wish I could do it more often.

Riverboat Resort

Just down the road for Caliente are two more clothing-optional resorts. We decided to go for a walk and check out the Riverboat Resort.

While I find Caliente a little too large and impersonal, I’m afraid I found Riverboat at bit too small and even a little grungy.

We were given a tour by a very friendly young woman that I can really only describe as a “hippy chick”. She extolled all the virtues of the resort – pool, hot tub, restaurant/clubhouse and seemed very happy there.

I think Geoff liked it too, but I’m not sure I’d be happy here.

Lots of Exercise Today

Vicky Wells Leave a comment
Our transportation, accommodation, food and entertainment cost so far

Nov 14 ~ Day #188
Budget to date
Spent today
Total to date
Daily average
Total
$18800
$28.14
$16657.19
$88.60
Miles by Road
Miles by Sea
Miles by Air
Miles by Train
Total Miles
15815.4
12056.7
7662
196
35730.1

Current Location: Caliente Resort, Land O’Lakes, Florida

Today’s Total Expenses: $28.14

Accommodation: $28.14 (timeshare)

Miles Traveled Today:
Zero

Yoga Class

More classes were scheduled for today and we decided to take in a couple of them.

Both Geoff and I took in the yoga class. It was certainly interesting but neither one of us is terribly supple, so there were a lot of the moves that we had trouble with. But it was still fun to participate.

Belly Dancing Class

Next up was a belly dancing class. It wasn’t very well attended. It was just the instructor, myself and one other participant. Geoff decided to sit this one out. The last time he did any belly dancing was our trip to Morocco over 20 years ago!

I was amazed at how much work it was but had a great time trying to get the moves right.

Karaoke at the Pool Bar

Later that afternoon we spent some time at the pool bar where a lot of people were participating in Karaoke.

Several of the people singing were very good. Others – not so much. No, Geoff and I didn’t sing anything and, trust me, it’s better that way!

Nak’d Truth After Party

Tonight was supposed to the the Nak’d Truth after party, but it didn’t seem very well organized and, again, they kept things roped off and kept the general public at bay.

We wandered over to see what was going on and then just decided to call it a night.

Reality Show Casting Call

Vicky Wells Leave a comment
Our transportation, accommodation, food and entertainment cost so far

Nov 13 ~ Day #187
Budget to date
Spent today
Total to date
Daily average
Total
$18700
$28.14
$16629.05
$88.93
Miles by Road
Miles by Sea
Miles by Air
Miles by Train
Total Miles
15815.4
12056.7
7662
196
35730.1

Current Location: Caliente Resort, Land O’Lakes, Florida

Today’s Total Expenses: $28.14

Accommodation: $28.14 (timeshare)

Miles Traveled Today:
Zero

Zumba Class

Caliente Resort offers a lot of activities, particularly on the weekends. Today we decided to take advantage of their Zumba class.

What a hoot that was! It’s a combination of aerobics and salsa. At times we had a little difficulty keeping up and we wish they had taken just a little more time explaining some of the steps before we got right into it. However, all-in-all we had great fun and it was certainly a good work out, too. We plan to look into getting DVDs or something like that when we get home.

Nak’d Truth Casting Call

As we mentioned in an earlier post, Caliente is hosting a new reality show called the Nak’d Truth. Today is the casting call with people from all over the country vying for a place in the show.

We had thought that we would be able to watch the casting interviews but apparently that was not to be. The entire area was roped off and open only to cast and crew.

Hot Tub & Conversation Pool Roped Off

Unfortunately the area they were using for the casting interviews was where the hot tub and conversation pool were. The conversation pool is a long, narrow, shallow pool with built in seats.

This was our favorite area. We both like hot tubs and when we got too hot we’d just head over the conversation pool for a while. But both were off limits for today at least.

Fortunately Caliente has several pools, so we headed over to another one but the other pools were, of course, pretty crowded with it being the weekend and the other areas being off limits.

Comedy Show

There was a comedy show scheduled for this evening in the main bar. We were really looking forward to that.

After putting a dinner together for ourselves in our room we headed over to the clubhouse and into the bar to settle in for the comedy show.

I guess it wasn’t too bad, but we’ve seen much better comedians. They were supposed to be professional comedians but it felt more like they were amateurs.