Anyone had experience with Colorado River Adventures

PUG

Pug
I received a prospectus from Colorado River Adventures after purchasing a new five er. They said it is worth $1,000 and paid for by the dealer I bought the new five er from. I know they are selling memberships that appear to be usable at any of eight membership parks along the Colorado river area. Had any experience with these folks or know anything about them and their program?
 

TandT

Founding Utah Chapter Leaders-Retired
Yes we went. IMHO it is way over hyped and overpriced. Stay away. Total ripoff.
You would be better off going to some of the nicer-pay-as-you-go parks in the area. This is just a big corporation looking for suckers.
We have been going to Colorado river, Lake Havasu for 25 years and there are many nice parks in the area that don't require contracts, purchases, maint fees etc,etc,etc.
Look on Craigslist or similar sites and you will see people trying to unload these memberships.
Plus, the one in Parker is an over-crowded gravel parking lot with a few 3 ft palm trees planted in it . No shade at all. Very little money invested on their part. They also promised us a $100 gas card. After reading the fine print, it's almost impossible to cash in on it ,with date, location requirements etc.
 

Yellowreef

Well-known member
I just walked in the door from our "free weekend with CRA". It wasnt bad, I went to their KQ Ranch in Julian, CA. As far as the program goes, it wasn't for us. However, if we traveled more than we do it would have probably been worth it. Basically, if you buy in you get:

- Unlimited stays 14 nights at a time (with 7 off in between to make sure you don't live full time at their properties) at any of the 8 CRA Resorts.

- RPI Membership so you can go to any RPI park for $10 per night (restrictions apply)

- One week a year in a condo time share network.

They will start off at 10-12k membership with $649 annual maintenance fee and quickly drop to a "one time deal" of like 9k membership with $469 annual.

The membership is lifetime (but so are the maintenance fees).The way we figured was that paying regular prices as we go for our limited use a year was equivalent to the maintenance fees so we wouldn't be saving any money in the long run. This is a plan that you have to heavily use to end up saving money years later.

The "free membership" consists of 4 stays of up to 5 nights each on WEEKDAYS ONLY and the property you toured only. After that you are basically banned from any CRA property for two years if you didn't buy. You can't go there as a member's guest, you cant tour any other facility and you cant purchase a used membership from anyone.

You do get a check for $50, and the $100 gas rebate. The gas rebate isnt that bad. You have to gas up four times at a Shell station and send the four receipts in. The receipts have to be for more than $25, have to be in different months, and have to be within 6 months of getting the certificate. You mail the receipts in and they send you $100. I figure it's not too much trouble to get $100 rebated especially with gas prices hese days.

The tour did last almost 3 hours insted of the advertised 90 minutes but it wasnt high pressure. It was given to us by a nice old lady that was a workamper with them (as is most of the staff). All in all the facilities were nice at KQ and we had fun. If you can say no, and dont mind a tour/sales pitch, go get your free stuff and have fun with it.
 

Yellowreef

Well-known member
Dont know why I bother with parragraphs when this thing just makes it one big run-on post as soon as I click the button... Looks like it stays fixed after gouing back in through edit, weird.
 

TandT

Founding Utah Chapter Leaders-Retired
They are looking for folks that just fell off the turnip truck.
We are full timers and after you do the math, it still doesn't make sense, even for us.
Follow the instructions on the gas card carefully. We were 1 day out of sync, playing the the timing interval game and they refused to pay anything at all.
 

Yellowreef

Well-known member
[SUP]To each their own, we met some folks that were extremely happy with the program. We met others that like us didn't care to join. I think it's all about how and how much you intend to use it.[/SUP]
 

jenerics

Member
My wife and I have been Silver Members (9k) since 2006. WE LOVE IT !

It was worth the $$$ for us as we are in our mid 40's. Plus the lifetime membership transfers to ALL (6) of our adult children after 20 years or one of our deaths. Our yearly dues are capped at $449 for life. There are so many other ammenities that we can't list them.

We currently use our membership 14-21 days a year but that will increase as we near retirement.

We spend most of our time at Emerald Cove. This is a great family park if you have children or grand-children. There are many activities for both young and older kids. We usually store our trailer here in the winter (2 years free with membership). Plus they'll spot your trailer from storage upon request for a small fee.

We've spent a couple of weeks at the El Golfo park in Mexico. All I can say is how incredibly peacful and relaxing it is down there.

We've also stayed at Cherry Valley Resort and Lake Havasu Resort. Nice parks and no complaints.

With 6 children and 3 grand-children, this was a GREAT investment for us.

http://www.cramember.com/home.html
http://www.coloradoriveradventures.com/
 

BRC

Member
We bought in years ago (about 1/2 what they are going for now) and have probably spent hundreds of nights at Emerald Cove in Parker. I'd second what jenerics said and add that it depends on what you are looking for. We primarily used it because we were going to the river for boating. Also, weekend trips are the majority of our outings as we both work and are (sadly) many years from even considering full timing it.

We stored (very cheap for members) both our boat and RV out there from ~Mother's day through Columbus day for a couple years and were able to shoot out to the river almost every weekend, we could even call ahead and they'd move our RV into a sight and conect the electrical so it'd be cooled off before we arrived (~3 hr drive). Not once were they full and we generally wouldn't even call ahead on holiday weekends during the summer. Nice peace of mind knowing you always have somewhere to go at the last minute.

We've also stayed at Cherry Valley which isn't too bad though closer to the city than I prefer.

The Lake Havasu one was ok but too far from the water for us - Emerald Cove has a launch ramp and you stay on the river itself - at Havasu you had to drive to the lake.

River and boating aside, we REALLY like KQ Ranch down in Julian.

If you are considering CRA I'd look for someone selling their membership and contact CRA with that specific member # to verify which package and which sites it includes as they have changed over the years. I think the only real drawback is that when consigned or bought second hand they don't honor the "legacy" program that allows you to pass your membership down to your kids.
 

Angler

Member
Buy a used membership for CRA. I was able to find a CRA membership 17 years ago for $900. It does cost $421 per year,
but at that cost it is an amazing deal. We spend 8 weeks a year there between June to October.
 

centerline

Well-known member
mostly is depends on what your requirements/expectations are when traveling or going on vacation.... its basically just another time share program that is pushed hard on the potential customer in an attempt to get their money....
the timeshare program CAN work well for some, but not for most of us... and like has been said, look around and you will find many who are trying to get out of it, and have theirs for sale, and some can be purchased very cheaply....

all things new and novel are kind of exciting, but sometimes just one little change in our life, which is usually health or financial related, can change our perspective...

so you cant just ask others how they like it, because you have to honestly assess what YOU want, expect, and how much you would really use it, as opposed to "dreaming" about what you would LIKE, or what you can "expect" due to their sales pitch, which isnt always as truthful as one would like to hope for (one or two well timed, but misleading statements that are impressed on you at the start of their pitch, can change your entire perspective of everything they say afterwards).... then you may be able to determine if it has any value to YOU and your way of life while traveling.
 

centerline

Well-known member
Y'all are responding to a 10 year old thread.

Oops... I hate it when that happens.

the date can be easily seen IF looked at, but this same thing happens on ALL forum sites that dont have expiration dates on their threads.... it would be so nice if the site designers could come up with a way to place the date boldly in the thread title line, either preceding the title, or following it, so it HAS to be seen when one reads the title...


but the information offered in this ten year old thread is as relevant today as it was 10 years ago...
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Oops... I hate it when that happens.

the date can be easily seen IF looked at, but this same thing happens on ALL forum sites that dont have expiration dates on their threads.... it would be so nice if the site designers could come up with a way to place the date boldly in the thread title line, either preceding the title, or following it, so it HAS to be seen when one reads the title...


but the information offered in this ten year old thread is as relevant today as it was 10 years ago...
The software used to automatically close inactive threads after 1 year. But that function doesn't work any more. There's work going on to migrate to a new software platform, so not much will be done to the old software from here on.
 
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