Love WM Seaside!

[mountainboy]

Nice property! Right on the water/beach/Promenade ('Prom') at Seaside!
They do have Sales staff but did not harass us. Have heard & read lots of horror stories of them holding one's parking pass hostage until one meets the sales/concierge/update desk etc. We were given room keys & parking pass by check-in lady. Was told to go to the update desk for wrist bands which we declined (don't need). The sales guy did come outside to say why we did not stop with him; told him, no sales/updates for us & he was polite/respectful in our mutual agreement; no sales meeting for us & no wrist bands; all good.
The carpets in hallways & rooms are dated & tired but otherwise decent furniture. Well lit, functional living room, bedroom.
Lots of rooms with balconies looking at each other. The resort is a big U, towards the ocean with rooms on both the inside & outside the 'U'. Ours is on the inside of the U but does have a nice view of the ocean.
Rooms right next to the prom have the bets views but also subject to the noise, esp over the weekend of party/revelers & vehicles for those right next to the turnaround on Broadway. Ave A side may be quieter, with less vehicles turning around with loud blaring music but revelers with their boom boxes will likely still keep light sleeping people up at night)
BBQ Grills on patio are nice (smaller; no self ignition but they have a lighter in room to light them)
Murphy bed in living room excellent.
Washer & dryer here are much nicer than the ones in our Discovery Bay unit.

Yesterday was PERFECT weather; lovely sunshine, loved it. Prior to that was pretty cold, cloudy, windy, rainy (like @easyrider had indicated)...
Funny that we were away from PHX to escape the heat but it was too cold, gloomy & we took side trips to Salem & & Troutdale (as weather was nice & sunny) there.
@geist1223 , loved the Silver Falls State Park with the Ten Waterfalls hike and the riverfront park & Bush Pasture Park with beautiful Rose Garden in Salem. Nice small city with minimal traffic (compared to crazy Portland traffic). Loved being right next to Multnomah Falls (& away from crazy Portland traffic) for a day. The LA Fitness gyms in Portland area were all lovely (& nice to be able to use their facilities); wish ours in PHX were this nice (ours are a dump, in comparison)....

Weather forecasts change every few hours with the Marine Fog & ocean weather here in Seaside; anticipate the usual 3 seasons in a day, PNW weather everyday but hopefully Sunday would be perfect before we head back home...

Loved the new PDX airport; compact (except the luggage claim, which was a Zoo).... The newly renovated Alaska lounge was very nice. The Escape lounge here also is very nice (& won the Priority Pass lounge of the year) award; Capers Bistro honors the $56 Priority Pass restaurant benefit (with BoA PRE credit card); nice food at decent prices; PDX law requires restaurants to charge same prices for airport locations as their off-airport locations, so excellent prices...Their Zuchinni bread & to-go sandwiches were delicious & reasonably priced.

Have loved our travel/stays at PNW WM locations. Discovery Bay is much more private; Seaside is much more social/tons more people; much less 'privacy' but both very nice, in their own ways. Loved our WM stays at both!

 

[geist1223]

We love Seaside. Our preference is Ocean Front Penthouse as high up as possible. 2nd choice is South Wing Outboard as far forward as possible - great views of Beach, Tillamook Head, and Coast Range. 5th Floor or higher. In any of these locations we have never been disturbed by noise. Bottom of list North Wing Outboard Rooms. 2nd from Bottom any inboard Room looking at Pool.

 

[easyrider]

We love Seaside. Our preference is Ocean Front Penthouse as high up as possible. 2nd choice is South Wing Outboard as far forward as possible - great views of Beach, Tillamook Head, and Coast Range. 5th Floor or higher. In any of these locations we have never been disturbed by noise. Bottom of list North Wing Outboard Rooms. 2nd from Bottom any inboard Room looking at Pool.

We definitely have the same preference of room location at Seaside. I made reservations for next year 13 months out and none of the deluxe units were available even though they were showing as available.

@mountainboy , in the evening we go out into the ocean in front of the resort at low tide with flashlights to catch crab. Most are too little but we always get a few keepers. We look for lumps in the sand, its often a crab. Knee deep is as far as we go. The 12th Street or Ave Bridge is a decent crabbing area. There is always people crabbing there.

Ft Steven's and Astoria are some really interesting places to see. There is also Ft Battery Russel and the old Lewis & Clark camp. It is one of our favorite areas.

Bill

 

[mountainboy]

Perfect sunny morning now (after the magical = rainy, foggy, cloudy start) this morning!
The pool is really nice & warm!
1 hot tub's jets are out of commission (but does have hot water); the other: only half has jets, all of which point upwards, so sit/recline back by edge of the tub to get the jets to massage the back (vs usual horizontal jets at most places). some jets which the massage the feet too.
Lovely boardwalk right from the resort!
The Astoria bridge (coming from WA side) was beautiful!
Lots of interesting towns along the coast & lots of history to see; Thx for the tips for the area & for booking room preferences here, @easyrider & @geist1223 !
114 in PHX today (low 91); 55 this morning here; 50% off!

 

[geist1223]

Our favorite Breakfast Restaurant is the Osprey Cafe near the south end of the Broadwalk. It use to be the Columbian Cafe in Astoria before it closed. Another great Breakfast Restaurant in Wanda's in Nehalem. Patti claims they make the best Biscuits and Gravy on the Oregon Coast. It is about a 35 minute drive. After eating Breakfast drive on down to the Tillmook Creamery/Cheese Factory to tour. Cannon Beach has a number of interesting Art Galleries. Eat lunch at the Ecola Seafood Restaurant and Market. For dinner we like Castaways Global Cuisine. Both of these in Cannon Beach.

 

[greggybud]

They do have Sales staff but did not harass us.

It's been a couple years, but we have been harassed.

Seaside used to insist on retrieving the "parking pass" from sales. Now it appears some, maybe all resorts have changed that policy. When they insisted on retrieving the parking pass from sales, I just said no thank you and walked out the door. I have stayed at Seaside many times over the past 20 years without a "parking pass."

By saying "no thanks" and walking out the door with the parking pass that was given upon check-in, we got a note under the door saying "your unit has been flagged, please come..." and then a phone call with a definitely argumentative sales woman when I said I'm not interested.

However, the past couple years, get the "parking pass" at check in, then walk directly out the door. Sure, they all yell at me, but I'm deaf.

The sales guy did come outside to say why we did not stop with him; told him, no sales/updates for us & he was polite/respectful in our mutual agreement;

Again, going back in years, a sales guy followed me out the door yelling at me. I immediately got in my car and locked the door. He took a pic of my front license plate. I guess the parking garage police will be coming after me.

The parking pass is/was just a ruse to get you to timeshare sales, just like a bracelet is today. At a few properties, like WM Mission Valley, they charge for parking so a pass is important. You can park along the street, but then you are competing with the homeless vans in San Diego.

he was polite/respectful in our mutual agreement;

My guess is he either knows what he is doing and can 'read' potential guests well, or was hired last week and not desperate yet.

I think Seaside has finally toned it down. Maybe there are enough guests who have become weary or intolerable of giving initial pleasantries only for a high turn-over sales guy to ignore your 'no?' I hope true owner education via these on-line websites increases.

I think some of this depends on the district manager. It seems to me, all Oregon coast WM properties have toned it down. Central Oregon? Absolutely not.

The carpets in hallways & rooms are dated & tired but otherwise decent furniture. Well lit, functional living room, bedroom.

I agree, it's standard WM. If they can simply maintain things, I consider that a good thing.

Loved the new PDX airport; compact (except the luggage claim, which was a Zoo).... The newly renovated Alaska lounge was very nice. The Escape lounge here also is very nice (& won the Priority Pass lounge of the year) award; Capers Bistro honors the $56 Priority Pass restaurant benefit (with BoA PRE credit card); nice food at decent prices;

The renovation of PDX is super impressive. Look at all that wood. The baggage area is still under renovation for months.

I don't have access to Alaska lounge, but for years I have used Chase Saphire Reserve that includes Priority Pass. It's fantastic for international travelers. Some international locations have turned into a full Golden Corral type Buffet except with much better food and free alcohol. It's still nice for domestic travelers. And yes, the Escape Lounge is very nice.

You did write "with BOA card. Capers does not take the Chase Priority Pass. That wonderful thing, where you could either dine or have them make you sandwiches to go, ended years ago with Chase. I miss Capers, but the Escape Lounge is quite nice.

 

[easyrider]

It's been a couple years, but we have been harassed.

We decided to attend a presentation at Depoe Bay while we were staying at Glen Eden last Summer. It was fine.

A few weeks later we went to Long Beach and declined. There were a few things that bothered me about the concierge. She knew we were heading to Surfside after Long Beach. She mentioned she works both locations. I think she pulled some shenanigans on our next stay. They called the room and my wife's cell phone after being told we were not interested in a presentation as we had just been to one. I would call this harassment.

Our last presentation at Seaside was a few years back. It was fine. It's funny that they think the car pass means anything when the room key opens the gate to the parking lot.

The average WM presentation for us is under 30 minutes.

Bill