Myrtle Beach Vacation 2013: OceanWatch Villas at Grand Dunes

Dates Visited: November 3rd-10th, 2013

I just want to start off by saying that if you want to be able to look over the ocean from your room, don't stay here unless you're an owner. We have a different timeshare and we traded to stay here. We knew that we would probably end up staying in one of the back buildings since we weren't owners which wasn't a big deal. What is a big deal to me is when people lie to my face. The woman said that they were completely booked up in the buildings by the beach. We stayed here in the first week of November. It's the off-season. There was nobody there. I have a problem with people that lie to me so we probably won't stay here again. That's some pretty terrible customer service. That being said, pretty much everything else about this place is great.

The villas are very nice. When you first walk in, there's a kitchen to your right and a small hallway to your left. The kitchen is very nice. It has a full-sized fridge and an oven/stove top. The microwave is above the stove top. In the peninsula, there is a sink and a dishwasher. They provide dishwashing detergent. They also provide pretty much everything that you need with a fully equipped kitchen like plates, glasses, and utensils. There's a coffee pot and a toaster. Across from the kitchen in the small hallway, you will find a closet. That's where the washer and dryer are. Make sure you check the water before you start a load of laundry. Ours had the hoses switched and the cold water was actually hot. Then is the door to the bathroom. It's a very spacious bathroom. It has a toilet, sink, and bathtub/shower combo. In the shower, there is a retractable clothes line. It's a good place to dry your swimsuits. There's a door from that bathroom into the bedroom with 2 queen beds. It is very spacious. There's 1 closet and a dresser with a TV on top. Between the 2 beds, there is a nightstand that allows for some additional storage. There are also 2 more small nightstands on the other sides of the bed. There's also a door that leads to the living room. On the other side of the kitchen is a nice-sized dining room table. It has 4 chairs and a bench. If the people are medium-small, you can EASILY fit 3 on the bench. There's also a dresser looking thing with a mirror above it in the 'hallway' from the kitchen to the dining room. The living room has a couch, 2 chairs, a coffee table, 2 side tables, and a TV. There's a blu-ray player under the TV. The balcony is right off the living room. It's a good size and has a table with 4 chairs. Ours overlooked a pond with a fountain in it.

The entrance to the master bedroom is at the back of the villa. It has a chair, a king bed, and a large dresser with a TV on top. There are 2 nightstands that have quite a bit of storage in them. Then there's also another dresser on your way into the bathroom. When you first walk in, there's a double vanity on your left and a HUGE soaker tub on your right. You will find another retractable clothes line above the tub. There's a door that holds the toilet and a glass shower.

They keep all of their pools at around 85 degrees. While we were there, the weather outside was in the upper 60s and lower 70s. With the ocean breezes, it's even cooler. We went to the pools near the ocean and they were very nice. However, if you got out of the water, you pretty much turned into an ice cube. The lower one was cool with the waterfall though.

The kids' pool by the back buildings is a much better option in the cooler months because you can't feel the breeze. There is a nice splash zone for the kids. It has a bunch of things that will dump water on you. Even my 3-year-old enjoyed it. Don't let that little area fool you though. It's a very large pool. There are plenty of deeper sections for adults to swim in. There's even a waterslide. As long as someone was there to catch him at the bottom, even my son was able to go down the slide by himself.

The indoor pool is nothing special, but it is nice that they have that if the weather is just terrible. All the pools are open 6am-10pm.

The hotel hosts different activities. You will receive a paper with all the times and activities on it when you first check-in. Some things are free and some things cost money. They had build-your-own sundaes for $4, tye-dye t-shirts for $15, shell class, and Bingo for $2/board to name just a few. They have some cute little prizes for BINGO winners. We won an insulated reusable tote and a voucher for an order of nachos from the MarketPlace. They also have sports for kids in different age groups every morning. The sport changes everyday including basketball, soccer, and t-ball.

The MarketPlace is like a small convenience store. They have a couple frozen items, boxed food items (crackers, pop-tarts, etc.), and a couple toiletries. They also have some fresh fruit. In the MarketPlace is where the Starbucks and Pizza Hut Express are located. You can get here from the pool or the ground level by the parking garage.

There is a small pond on the far end of the kids' pool. At this pond, they have 3 machines that for 25 cents, dispenses fish food. There is one on the bridge from the kids' pool to the serenity pool area. There are two more dispensers on the mini pier that juts into the pond that you can stand on. The money is donated to the children's miracle foundation (I think). The fish get so excited that they come up to where you are whenever they feel the vibrations of you walking. They pretty much attack the food when you throw it into the water. They looked like koi, mostly small, but a couple pretty large ones. There's also an area with a pergola that overlooks the pond that has rocking chairs. It's very peaceful. I guarantee there are many people that stay at this resort without ever discovering this place exists.

The treehouse is simply AWESOME. It's 3 stories tall. It has a slide that comes down from the top level. There's a fireman's pole, a steering wheel, lookout goggles, and about 10 different ways to get from the ground to the inside of the treehouse. I saw kids as young as 2 to kids as old as high school playing there. That's not including the adults that were with their children that looked like they were having a blast.

I definitely suggest going down to the beach at least one morning when it's not cloudy to see the sunrise. It's beautiful. There are a surprisingly large number of people that come out for the sunrise whether they're watching it or just running along the beach.

Check out the rest of my Myrtle Beach Reviews and Vacation Tips here.