Looking into our Vacation

My boyfriend and I had been planning out vacation for a little while, but the time was drawing near and we hadn't decided on anything. We had been thinking about going to the Caribbean and I really liked the Wyndham Resort (pictures, all-inclusive, little reasons like that).

We finally decided to just take a road trip, though, and decided he would surprise me. We ended up going to South Carolina and staying at a Wyndham!

SC Wyndham

The area was great. It was hidden from the roads and right on the beach. There was plenty of free parking very close to the hotel and looked magnificent from the outside.

When we got to our room, which was on the 10th floor, we weren't sure if we liked the view at first. The hotel was situated in the shape of a wide "V" with the point facing the ocean, so that everyone had an ocean view. It was nice, but we weren't used to seeing it all from an angle with a clear view of the hotel next to us. We got used to it though and it wasn't so bad after finding positions on the bed where all you can see is the blue water splashing down on the sand. Each room has its own balcony, but because of the hotel shape it's not private at all. The room was pretty clean, although there were some fairly big pieces of trash laying on the floor. The bed sheets were awesome and there were 3 extra, fancy pillows on the bed. The colors on the covers and on the walls were bright and happy.

There is internet service available through the tv. It's something like 19.95 daily (9-5) or $9.95 hourly. There's a small, circular desk for food or work. Our room didn't have a refrigerator, but I think it is an option in some rooms. We did however have a safe, that we didn't use.

We went exploring the hotel. It had a fitness room, a deck with a pool and spa, ice machines and snack machines on each floor, and a few restaurants and shops. There was usually always music outside, live entertainment.

Room service was available (even from Pizza Hut), but very pricy... fees upon fees. (This particular resort isn't all-inclusive.)

At night, Wyndham is the most happenin' hotel around. While all the other nearby hotels offer an outdoor pool, no one is there - they are all outside at Wyndham enjoying the music, deck, refreshments, and water. It is crowded, even during the day.

Although I normally think of resorts as not having many families and pre-teen kids, this was just like a regular hotel. They do have a nice babysitting program for the youngest children though. A nice, spacious room inside the hotel looking out towards the beach is devoted to them. There were preteen groups of kids running inside and outside the hotel, riding up and down escalators, the "Stay covered" policy wasn't enforced, adults walked around with shirts off (guys) and only bathing suits on (ladies). But this actually made it be a little more of a relaxing environment.

You won't find the nice palm trees, lights, or other fantasy setups outside here. But there is a nice set up are inside when you first walk in with plants and some comfy furniture.

Cleaning Services

This is perhaps my biggest hang up. And as my first tip, I advise you not to leave a tip. That will be taken care of at check out for $9/day wether you tip or not.

The service was inconsistent. When we arrived in our two- bed room, each bed a sheet, a nice soft cover, and a normal top blanket. Each bed also had two "normal" pillows, a nice fancy pillow with a purple fan out cover, a soft, plump, white body pillow, and a little supportive orange pillow. We came back to the room the second night to find one of the soft covers missing, but wrote it off as them not having a new one to put on the bed and decided to use the other one. The next day we were missing the two soft, plump, white body pillows and still no second blanket- now it was getting to be too much of an odd habit. The third night we came back and had one extra body towel, but had gotten the other cover back. (This doesn't matter much, but it added to my annoyance, see, that cover and those pillows were my favorite of the 3 blankets and 5 pillows...) We never did get the really nice pillows back. I still don't know why everything was disappearing and reappearing.

Maybe...

I. They didn't have enough clean for each bed/room. Then what are we paying the normal fee for? And that's a litte rude in the first place.

II. They forgot. Kewl, we're spending $9/day for below average service.

Or maybe they just didn't like us or were having bad days... I don't know.

If they have some kind of system where they keep track, they aren't doing a good job. If they don't keep track, how do they know if anyone takes anything? We could easily have taken something and argued that we didn't have it from the beginning, or just taken the extra towel.

The Beach

The beach in this area is really nice. The sand is pretty white, though there are lots of little sand stones around, but there are also many awesome shells. The water is warm - same as the air almost (at least in the summer) and you can see fish and crabs swimming near you. Don't assume you saw a jellyfish just because you saw something long and slinky move quickly past you with the water, it was most likely a friendly, little fish.

Be careful of little holes in the ocean floor. No matter how far you go out, you will probably almost me the same depth in the water for the most part; the bottom is pretty flat.

Upon Check-Out

Hopefully you read the one of the articles about the different hotel fees and how to get around them. If not, try to find one and read it. They are both from early July - around July 4th, 2001.

You will incur many fees upon check out and I'm not going to attempt to cover them all (mainly because I wish to forget what they all were and I didn't know what some were for). The charge for using the phone for a minute is ridiculous. Bring a cell phone or read the online articles for options. Beware of fees for the safe placed in your room automatically and know that there is already a fee for cleaning service regardless of a tip.

Many people were arguing over the fees upon check-out. It was a mad house in there. We didn't say anything for various reasons. We just wanted to leave for our next destination, we figured they were getting enough complaints and with the lines behind us there would be more, and we realized that we should have followed through with our thoughts about taking the one cool cover (the one we fell in love with) in the beginning. (This idea wasn't in spite of the service, it was a joke idea we had the first night that reoccurred to us after we realized we were paying a fee along with our tip on top of the poor service.)

Things to do/Places to go

*Broadway at the Beach - shop, eat, catch movies, golf (there are many golf places around elsewhere too), see free fireworks and a laser show nightly over the water, clubs (stop by visitor booth for coupons) and find coupons for the theater in discount books available at stores along the Highway.

*Alligator Adventure - for $12/adult tickets you can take a long walk through a zoo of animals. Many alligators, crocodiles, komodo dragon, catch free snake shows and alligator feedings and kids shows, tigers, many reptiles, frogs, etc. (4604 South Kings Highway in North Myrtle Beach)

*Barefoot Landing (right at Alligator Adventure) - shops, restaurants, places to browse.

*Medieval Times (see epinion)

*"Boardwalk" - happening area along the streets and beach (North Ocean BLVD in Myrtle Beach) with shops, things to see, amusement parks, Ripley's Haunted House, Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum, Ripley's Aquarium

*Find and get as many coupon books as you can (walmart is a good source).

Things to Avoid

*There are plenty of places to eat just a drive or nice walk out to Highway 17, so spare yourself those few charges with room service, you'll have enough later on.

*Ripley's 3D Moving Theater at the "Boardwalk." Even if you have coupons or opt for any of the Ripley deals, stay away. Go to the IMAX theater at Broadway at the Beach. Much better quality, and the 2 movies at the moving theater are parts of movies at the IMAX theater. The chairs only go 3 ways anyways and they aren't comfy at all.

*If you go for a walk on the beach at night, be wary of the little streams of water on the sand. Don't be fooled. Some of them are deep (knee deep)!!

*Carry your own bags in. Parking is not far away from the hotel at all, so make an extra trip or two. It's expensive to use the bellhop services, but I guess is it everywhere. Just a money saving tip that will help you swallow the other fees at the end.


Closing

If you're just going to Myrtle Beach, check out some other hotels and resorts as well as this one. I did enjoy my stay here and the beds were very comfy, but as far as all the other plusses are concerned, you can benefit from them even if you aren't a guest. Yes, being sure you get an ocean front room with a balcony is nice, but with hotel another hotel 2 steps away from you on the left and the right continuously for a few miles, you're bound to find more like this, maybe with more perks. All hotels are starting to add extra charges, becareful wherever you go!

Recommended: Yes