My family of 5 rented unit 1514. It was on the 15th floor with a great view of the ocean! The unit was clean and cozy but does need a bit of a makeover. The balcony was big and room enough for 6 or 7 people to hangout. The patio furniture was cheap and dated. The kitchen had everything, even a crockpot! We cook a lot as a family and eat out two or three times so I loved how stocked the kitchen was. The living room was nice and had two high back chairs and a round table for 4. The bed were extremely comfortable too! I slept like a dream in the master and kids said their beds slept good. The 3 bathrooms are all full size. The linens were nice too. The trash chute is down two doors on the other side of the hall in its own room. You do t hear it. It was convenient when we needed to take the trash out. The big glass doors are nice facing the ocean but one of the doors had sand in between the double pane glass doors right in the middle of the door so it disrupted the view a bit. The two teenage boys brought both of their Xbox S consoles and the internet was ok. It is DSL and at times it was slow when trying to stream. We never watched tv so can’t comment on any channels. The master bedroom tv is pretty small. I also liked that they had a shark vacuum to get up sand each day. THE ELEVATORS are fast but it is the waiting around on one that stinks. People hold them up a lot. The security guys do try to get on and control the buttons and time people are holding the door open. That was nice. The Starbucks is nice. It has a beach store called Flip Flops which has the basic necessities you might need quick and even has 12 pack of beer. Definitely get the $20 cup because you get refills on frozen alcohol drinks for $11 and non alcoholic for $8.50. The beach is nice . I wish they didn’t put the rented chairs and umbrellas in the best spot on the beach so the guests that bring their own have to go pretty far down to set up with a view. THERE ARE ABOUT 150 chairs set up! I am not kidding! We stopped counting. I missed being close to the pools and the amenities because we were down the beach. You also have the jet ski rental guys that set up 4. Skis and so t let you put up in front of them either! You walk a football field in either direction to set your own stuff out. I had to go out at 7:00 am way day to get a decent spot ocean front with my umbrella. Most people have those pop up tents and take up so much space too. We never used the pools at all. They smelled so bad of chlorine and were always cloudy and gross. The early mornings they looked clear. We came at a pretty popular time so the pools would probably be nicer in the off season. My husband said the gym was nice. He worked out every morning. We never saw the theater. THE CHECK IN process could be better to if they would let people check in as their rooms are ready! PANHANDLE REALTY DOESN’T let you in a minute before 4:00pm which means 34 floors of people are all checking in at the same time!! Imagine waiting on carts and elevators!!! CRAZY!!! We got there at 2:00 pm and had to sit around and wait even though the room was ready! One guy told me he waited 45 minutes for a cart when he checked in on Sunday at 4:00. He hadn’t made it to the elevators yet. They do have a lot of large rolling hotel carts (like 30 carts) that you checkout with your driver license. We checked in on Monday and never waited on a cart just elevators. These management companies need to let people check in as their rooms are ready. It would cut down on the bottleneck at the elevators. They did have the packets ready when I got there with my bracelets and parking passes. Security is nice! I felt safe there. The cleaning staff are also nice and they are always sweeping and cleaning the grounds. I would stay here again but go through an individual owner instead of a management company. We were giving a few nice perks to stay but they told us we got 3 bikes and sent it in a message to me and then right before we checked in they said that was a mistake and then took an attitude when I questioned it. I showed them
food was terrible. not even that, the portions were so small but for such high and unreasonable prices. service wasn’t ideal. don’t recommend
I should have listened to the reviews about elevators… Ohmygoodness. Absolutely ridiculous. The elevators are so small and there are only 7 in the 30 floor building. At one point our daughter decided to walk up to our room (on the 29th floor) and we only beat her by about 2 minutes by taking the elevator. You can expect to wait anywhere from 10-40 minutes. If you are on a lower floor and can handle steps, this is a nice place to stay. We will NEVER stay on an upper floor here again. Yes, it is July, yes this is the busy season, I factored all of that in and I don’t expect miracles, but I didn’t expect a 45 minute wait for an elevator either. Location is nice, we walked to Pier Park almost every day. They have beach chairs to rent. Parasailing is offered here as well but the service isn’t consistent and the guy actually told us he would not recommend booking unless we actually saw the boat. Pools are small for such a large building. Parking is a little tight but we were driving a large vehicle also. All in all it was an “ok” place to stay.
We stayed on 1st floor knowing elevators are an issue due to the amount of people being peek season. Check in went smooth. Went to beach till check in time. Was able to use beach chairs provided with the unit. Got down early to kinda pick where we wanted to sit. Other days we had our own and set up closer to water. Over all I give 5 stars. Unit we stayed in needs a little tlc but we don't stay in unit long enough for any of the unit issues to impact our stay.
This condo is located close to everything. There are a lot of amenities on site. Two outdoor pools and one indoor pool. Theater. Store onsite. Bar/restaurant. Condo was very nice with great views. Even with the unseasonably hot days, the condo was always cool. Now for the not so good. The elevator. Plan on a 6-15 minute wait for the elevators. And then when one opens it is most likely already packed and you will have to wait for the next one. With seven elevators on site I can not understand why the waits were so long!! The Wi-Fi was spotty. Most times it did not work at all. To be fair there was a sign saying the network was being upgraded. However, there was not any dates listed on the sheet so I am pretty sure that it is up all the time. After being there a week it never, ever got better. The staff really seemed to hate their jobs. Most did not speak to you and if they did they were not friendly and seemed agitated that you talked to them. That being said the bar/restaurant staff were amazing and what you would expect to have at a place like this. They were always nice and friendly. They need to have them give training on customer service to the rest of the staff. Did I mention the elevator???? It is due to this that I will not be staying here again. It puts a damper on the entire trip standing there in the heat waiting forever!! It is a shame as the rest of the stay was great.
Getting a condo at the last minute is always like throwing dice. We lucked out to find one on the 29th floor of this place for the dates we needed. Upon arrival we found a security guy that gave us the instructions needed to gain entry. The parking garage across the street was packed but we found a spot. We walked across the 2nd floor crosswalk tunnel and checked in, got a cart and made our way to the condo. Waiting for the elevator we spent a good 15 minutes staring at the numbers move slowly. And we waited....... We did learn that there was another elevator hiding down the hall so we started using that one later in the trip but it was still a long wait at times. 7AM - no elevator problem. 8AM complete nightmare for the rest of the day. Tidewater was clean, lots of security constantly moving about. To rent beach chairs and umbrella was going to be $200 for 3 days so we opted out of that. Pools were chilled so nothing like a bathtub experience.. Panama City Beach Pier area was lively...if you enjoy loud music coming from all the kids cruising the strip and acting like fools. As I have aged I have less appreciation for teenagers on vacation and there were plenty of them this past weekend. The beach was crowded...very...but well maintained and clean. All in all if you like noise, are in no hurry to leave or get to your condo, and love rubbing shoulders on the beach then this is for you.....
It is after 10 PM. The music blaring from the pool area is unbelievably loud and disturbing. There are about 20 people yelling and partying. My condo unit overlooks the pool as well as the beach. This is not my idea of a relaxing vacation. Someone needs to provide closer supervision of the activities at the pool.
This is a great resort. We almost missed out on it because of the negative reviews about the elevator wait times. We went the first week in May 2022 and never waited more than 1-2 minutes for an elevator. The staff at the front desk are very nice and knowledgeable about the resort and surrounding areas. Our condo was awesome and one of the Top 3 we've stayed in during our 19 years of marriage. The resort has 2 large outdoor pools and one smaller indoor pool. The indoor pool is heated and the outdoor ones are not. I wish that one of the outdoor pools was heated because there are only a few months out of the year where the water is warm enough to swim in. There are multiple hot tubs with (2) ten person sized ones in the spa/gym area. This is one place where we will be returning to and will be excited to visit again.
We stayed four nights last part of April in a 17th floor condo reserved thru VRBO. Our condo was modern and clean. It was well maintained and well stocked with all that was needed (even beach chairs). Rooms were large, highlighted by a floor to ceiling sliding door in the master bedroom. Our room (and balcony) was quiet all times-day and night. Water pressure was good with hot water available all times. Despite earlier warnings, we waited no longer than two minutes for elevators the entire trip (even though it was bike week).. Parking was adequate and security is present 24/7. Beach is one of the finest in the USA with chairs and umbrella rentals daily. Incredible view of ocean, pier and pier one park. Observed rays swimming in ocean on two mornings. Property is located right on Front Beach Road and is a short distance to Pier One Park (1 mile) and nearby restaurants. There is considerable road construction present but really doesn't impede traffic. Two pools and hot tub are present as is small snack bar and restaurant. In short, all you need-incredible views, fantastic beach and all the amenities..
Great little restaurant at the Tidewater resort in Panama City Beach, FL. Convenient and good food. Especially since you do not have to leave the resort. The server's were very nice and brought out food quickly.