The Crane Beach Resort, on the island of Barbados, is one of the best exchanges I’ve ever done.  It’s said that it is the first resort ever built in the Caribbean! The main building, which still exists, started accepting guests at the end of the 1700’s.

The Crane sits on a bluff above one of the most beautiful palm lined, pink sand beaches you’ll ever see.  You take a switchback staircase down to it where the staff will bring you drinks and rent you umbrellas and body boards.  The shallow slope of the beach makes it safe for swimming and even though there were good waves for body surfing, I detected no undertow or rip currents. 

It’s also on the quieter and more remote side of Barbados and is very romantic.  It’s away from the hustle and bustle of Bridgetown, the capital, and the more popular resort area of St. Lawrence Gap. 

The pool has one of the most dramatic settings you’ll ever find.  At far end of the pool are  sets of Dorian columns that are backed by the ocean.  It’s truly a breathtaking setting.  You can see some pictures of it here.

There are a great restaurant and pool bar on site and a grocery store nearby.  Because the Crane is more remote you’ll either want to rent a car or take tours to see the other parts of the beautiful island. 

Be warned, Barbados is a former British Colony so you drive on the left, which takes some getting used to for many of us.  Also, be sure to look both ways when stepping off a sidewalk because the cars will be coming from a direction you’re not used to.

Make sure you visit Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary, a beautifully manicured mangrove swamp filled with the natural flora and fauna of Barbados.  Look for the beautiful Rainbow Eucalyptus trees the bare trunks of which are covered with the pastel colors of the rainbow.

Barbados is also outside of the hurricane zone so you can safely travel there anytime of the year.  Winter is best, of course, but the hardest time to exchange.  I was there in May and it was great.

You can check it out at http://www.thecrane.com/.

You’ll find this one of the most challenging timeshare exchanges you’ll ever do.  If you want any chance of exchanging to this resort, make sure you pick up

“The Insider’s Secrets to Exchanging Your RCI Timeshare -
The Da Vinci Code of Timeshare Exchanging.

In the next post find out which resort you can stay at with its own penguin colony while still wearing shorts all week.

Congratulations to Eli Manning and the New York Giants for their stunning upset in winning Super Bowl XLII.  You’ve got to hand it to them for a game well played and for running through the playoffs as a wildcard. 

So much for all of the talk of Tom Brady  and the New England Patriots  and their perfect season. Although, I think it will be a long time before we see another 18/0 season.

Have you ever dreamed of going to the Super Bowl?  If you have, now’s the time to put in your exchange request to RCI and Interval International  for both the 2009 and 2010 Super Bowls. Super Bowl 2009 will be played on February 1, 2009 in Tampa, FL and in Miami on February 7, 2010. 

Even though it’s a little late, in my opinion, to exchange for the 2009 Super Bowl in Tampa, it’s offset by the fact that the nearest timeshares to Tampa are in Orlando.

Normally there are so many timeshare weeks available in Orlando it wouldn’t be a problem.  Still, if you get with it now, and you own a timeshare with decent exchange power, you may have a good chance of being confirmed.

Miami in 2010 is a different story.  While you’ll have the advantage of putting in your request 2 years in advance, the scarcity of weeks available in Miami will make it difficult for all but a few lucky timeshare owners with extraordinary exchange power to get confirmed. 

If you follow the many recommendations in The Insider’s Secrets to Exchanging Your RCI Timeshare you’ll increase your chance exponentially. 

Here are a few tips from the guide.

Search for both the 2009 and 2010 Super Bowl off of your 2008 deposit.  Many people don’t think, or even know, you can have a simultaneous search spanning 2 years from only one deposited/banked week. 

If you want to increase your chances even more, pay your 2009 HOA now, bank a week and search off of that week as well. 

You might be thinking “Why would I search for the exact same thing off of 2 of my weeks?  What if both my 2008 and 2009 week are confirmed for the same Super Bowl week?”

The odds on this happening are negligible while the benefits are enormous.  The first thing to recognize is that if you didn’t deposit your 2008 week in 2007 then it will have less exchange power than 2009 week that you deposited in 2008.

The second thing to recognize is that by starting your search on your 2009 week in 2008 you have significantly increased, or supercharged, your exchange power for that 2009 week.

For more great strategies check out “The Da Vinci Code” of exchanging a timeshare at The Insider’s Secrets to Exchanging Your RCI Timeshare.