We had a nice time but it wasn't the Marriott vaca...

We had a nice time but it wasn't the Marriott vacation club experience we've grown to love.

The rooms were very nice but the beds were ridiculously high. I'm a healthy younger person so it wasn't an issue for me but my kids needed to be helped up or take a running start. My mom has knee issues and it was near impossible for her to get in the bed she spent many nights sleeping in a chair. My parents also found the mattress to be very uncomfortable in their room it felt like they were sleeping downhill.

In our room alot of things were run down the doors wouldnt shut properly on closets you had to really push them and our front door the screws were actually out on the part where the door locks so the door didn't always latch correctly but maintence did come fix it eventually.

The filter for the a/c unit cover fell off the wall a few times cause the latches didn't seem to be working.

I hated the location of the washer/dryer. When transferring things from the wash to the dryer I ended up dropping them down the side between the wall and machines and it was near impossible to retrieve.

Watch out for the door on the dishwasher. It goes all the way yo the ground and will smash your feet.

My biggest complaint was the activities staff. NOTHING was ever on time and many activities they just didnt bother doing. I went to try the Zumba classes they offered twice a week and 5 minutes before the start time the doors were locked to the wreck room. I knocked and could see the activities staff in there but was ignored. My kids were really excited for flamingo races and they never even bothered to hold those at the scheduled time despite a packed pool. When confronted about it they claimed to have gone around the pool asking if anyone wanted to do it and everyone said no. We are a party of 11 and not a single one of us saw this. The movie night in the pool started nearly 30 minutes late cause they forgot to hit play. There was a bracelet activity one day they didn't bother setting up till a bunch of people showed up at the exact start time and then had to wait till it was all setup and organized. The "bar" was open once out of the 7 days we were there. There was a rootbeer float day and they charged like $3- $4 for extremely tiny cups. The activities staff seemed more interested in hanging out in their air conditioned building socializing with each other than doing their job.

There was a really nice little bay beach nearby (2 hotels over a short walk) with a restaurant, boat rentals and a very reasonably priced shuttle to shell island that no one mentioned to us we actually discovered on our own. They do have a sign about the shuttle in the lobby but its hidden behind other displays. You get tickets at serenity spa hotel 2 doors over for the bay point lady shuttle to shell island.

The front desk staff is the reason I didn't give a lower star rating they were extremely helpful especially Lisa. They'd bend over backwards to try to make up for what the activities and event staff lacked and were very informative when asked for info.