Marty and Tom, let's start over. I'm sorry you didn't like the "concrete jungle" term and I promise not to use it again. Instead I'll stick to what I've said before about GO, that we spent a few hours there one afternoon and my perception is that it's too crowded with buildings especially towards the back of the property where the entrance and gardenview sections are. What I remember from that afternoon is a whole lot of concrete walls surrounding me and feeling like there wasn't enough space - considering that SurfWatch is my favorite resort, isn't it obvious that I like space?
Perhaps you can concede that SurfWatch is indeed an oceanfront resort, even though the layout of the place requires more walking to get to the beach and you don't like that feature. Because honestly, seeing "Surfwatch is not exactly a beachfront resort anyway" makes me as defensive as "concrete jungle" makes you.
last word on this thread ( I think! I hope!) ....(p.s. surprise at the END)
i want others who have not visited these differing HH Marriott resorts to NOT get inaccurate impressions, so my desire is not to win any debate, but to provide a true picture of these and all resorts discussed. The comments of all of us may influence future plans of others.
So, a picture is worth a thousand words.......
SueDonJ, did you actually look at the Googlemap aerial photo links I provided, especially of Grande Ocean and Surfwatch ????? Besides being way cool, they show a lot.
If you did, you would :
(1) see no walls around Grande Ocean, as there are none (I don't think that's what you meant, but wanted to state that anyway). Maybe you're referring to being surrounded simply by the "many buildings" toward the center. If so, Ok ----that was intentional because it's a big resort, WITH TWO SIDES, built at DIFFERENT TIMES. The mega-pool side (my term) was a later construction. Those buildings (actually one) are a SINGLE combined spa desk/lobby/indoor pool/check-in building, with Villa buildings radiating outward into two large "U's" on either side (open side of "U" to ocean)----Middle check-in/spa bldg is merely for convenence to both sides. Seldom would you see or visit that area again during a week's stay, except upon entering or leaving the property thru the gate daily, as all of the units (windows/balconies) FACE OUTWARD into the two different "interiors"---i.e., either mega pool or lagoon. From your villas, you don't ever see any other buildings except "across the way" (other side of each U), and they are not close. A few of my personal vacation photos also address that perception of yours. (I have visited many concrete jungles, and GO is not one of them. Not even close. Actually that's why we are there, to avoid concrete. I was not offended, but rather stunned, at your perception, so hence I'm trying to clarify, not argue. hope you know that.)
(2) see no "concrete" to speak of in GO's interior, except around the MEGA (activities) POOL, where there are chaise lounge chairs. Barony and SW and all other resorts anywhere have the same for poolside sunning and daydreaming...it's standard and desirable. Ocean Pointe in Palm Beach Shores is similar, and Surfwatch is also similar in those particular buildings which DO HAVE a shared pool. Gotta have chair space. Funny, but most of that sunning space at Grande Ocean is NOW partially covered with limbs of the overhanging smaller trees, all the way around, totally unlike any of the other resorts.....Many don't realize that, but you almost have to move chairs out from under the shady limbs to get full sun. Pics verify.
(3) most of GO is wooded (except the interior on the mega pool side), especially the lagoon side, which is shown vividly in the dozen or more personal photos in another link i provided. Look at them!!! Your "walking around GO for a few hours one afternoon" hardly leaves an impression as accurate as the photos. And shrubs and grass abound throughout the rest of the GO landscape....also visible in the photos.
(4) PLEASE look at Surfwatch's aerial photo from Googlemaps in my previous post's link ....there's an ACTIVE STREET which you have to cross, called 2nd Street, in the EXACT middle of the property. Vehicles travel there. You have to cross the street to get to the ocean, still a ways beyond. All buildings except one are set well behind that street, in the "inland half" of the property. Note that on aerial map. Then on the ocean side of the street, there is the large marsh, THEN the ocean.
*****I guess the real question is, at what point do we classify a resort as oceanfront? (THAT'S where we differ.) When Marriott owns all the property between the farthest building OUT TO THE OCEAN, that qualifies for you. For me, it doesn't. Especially if you cannot see the sand or waves from the buildings' roofs, only the ocean's horizon, and that with binoculars. Yes, the "property" is oceanfront, but the BUILDINGS are not set along the ocean. Getting back to the "definition", would a resort also be oceanfront if the buildings were a mile from the ocean, even if Marriott owned all the property in between? In that scenario you'd need more than a golf cart, maybe a car or a short airplane ride, but again, it wouldn't be an oceanfront resort to me.
Do you see what my wife has to put up with? OK, well...sorry....had to expound on what i think the maps and pics show plainly. If that's still an "opinion question", then so be it.
Bottom line, I just know how I'd react if I RENTED, sight unseen, an "oceanfront villa" at SW, only to arrive and ..........well, it is and it isn't.......I'll leave it alone now.
I'll add one more thing...and this is THE MOST IMPORTANT PART-----if i ever meet you, we'll have a few margaritas, MY TREAT, and we'll simply watch the pelicans fly overhead and smell the ocean air, and not once mention the different resorts, DEAL ?????
(And the offer stands for anyone else)........jme
*****P.S. One more thought occurs to me, added after a couple of the following posts......Looking at BARONY's aerial photo on googlemaps, the GARDEN Villas (phase I) are a similar distance from the ocean as all of Surfwatch's buildings (save one). Only the Westin Hotel's position between the Garden Villas and the ocean makes the place any different. Otherwise, would that make Barony's Garden Villas an oceanfront resort, if ocean proximity were the deciding factor? Surfwatch villas may even be farther, not sure. Appears to be so, but didn't want to assume that.
