Spectacular views, breath-taking home
Review Submitted: January 6, 2012
Date of Stay: December 2011
Ten of us, plus two four-legged boys, stayed at the Estate for Christmas 2011. The decor and design of the house is amazing. We had plenty of room to spread out, yet enough space to gather together. The owners were kind enough to have a large Christmas tree for us to put our gifts under and for Santa to leave surprises for all the girls. The spa is one of the nicest we have ever used and it's great not to have to climb up to get into it. The pool area was just beautiful, especially the fountain.
On the down side, it seems strange to have such a large, lovely dining room but not enough chairs or a large enough table to accommodate at least 10. Sharing meals is one of the things our group enjoys most, so it was a little sad that the children were in the dining room and the adults in the beautiful breakfast area. We also had some difficulty with the stove. It would heat up and then seem to cool down after a few minutes. A "quick" stir-fry" dinner took more than an hour to cook. The dishwasher also didn't do a very good job. We usually washed by hand and then put in the dishwasher. As with most rentals designed for large groups, we wish we could have had more serving bowls, but there was a great supply of tableware and dishes. A slow cooker would also be nice for putting on a pot of soup or chili. And, finally, we couldn't get two of the games in the game room to work. On the plus side, the washer and dryer worked great.
We were able to spend a lot of time in St. Augustine, where the food is pretty good and the shopping is great and the history is overwhelming. We took a walking ghost tour that was just O.K. because our guide was not as animated as others we overheard, but it was a good outing. The trolleys are a great way to get around and get a scope of places you may want to visit. We had a wonderful late lunch at Caps on the Water, and we highly recommend the gator tail and the tacos--the tuna taco is mouthwatering. The weather was wonderful and we were able to spend a lot of time on the beach which had an abundance of great conch shells.
Overall, this place is fantastic. It was very clean and the pictures are accurate. I would certainly recommend it to friends or family. The twins (8) say that this is the best place we have ever stayed and they want to go back again!
Recommended for:
Age 55+,
Pet-friendly,
Adventure Seekers,
Sightseeing,
Families with Teenagers,
Families with Young Children,
Romantic Getaway
Owner's Response: We certainly enjoyed having Joyce and her extended family stay at Ocean Estate...And we appreciated her nice comments and recommendation. Just to clear up some of her small concerns, the large glass dining room table seats eight (about as big as you can get) and the breakfast room has a large round table that another seats eight comfortably. We have checked the stove and it is fine. The dishwasher is new and works fine. We have hard water in this area thus the home has a large water softener to help as well as we leave specific soaps for the new dishwasher so our guests have clear clean dishes. One of the three game machines in the game room is out of order (with a sign) but the other two work fine. As with all of our guests, had we heard of any issues we would have done our best to correct them right away ... From bringing additional serving bowls to showing a guest how to work the dishwasher and stove correctly. We did not hear from Joyce ... But, we are always available to help our guests. Ocean Estate is truly the premier home on the beach in this area. Rick
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