Marriott Grande Ocean - Ocean Front

[Cavalier]

We purchased Ocean Front with the understanding that only villas actually fronting the Ocean are Ocean front. Villas on the side of buildings were sold as Ocean side or view. For example Barony is also Ocean front or side. At Barony we purchased side as we already owned 2 weeks Ocean front at GO.
So today a GO checkin was not Ocean Front but side. Upon complaining I was told that the Ocean front revolves assignment so every owner gets a chance to enjoy Ocean front. Did they over sell the season and Ocean front villas? I will review my deed and see what's going on. We paid a lot of extra money for Ocean Front at Grande Ocean.

 

[Fasttr]

The best way I have seen the Ocean Front view at Grande Ocean described is by drawing a horizontal line across the entire map directly below the Sea Horse and Sand Castle buildings. Everything above the horizontal line is Ocean Front. That puts all (front and side) of the two buildings mentioned above as Ocean Front, and half of the Dolphin and Starfish buildings (the half nearest the ocean with direct ocean facing views) as Ocean Front. Therefore, because of the view designations in Sea Horse and Sand Castle, not all Ocean Front's at GO are directly facing the Ocean.

Here is a MGO map.

https://owners.marriottvacationclub.com/medias/grandeOceanResortMap.pdf?context=bWFzdGVyfHJvb3R8NjEzNjE0fGFwcGxpY2F0aW9uL3BkZnxoNGYvaDJjLzg4ODI0Njg0NTQ0MzAucGRmfDIzMzQ4YmMyZjliYmJlNzJhYmM5ODU1ODk5NTQzMWVkZWI0MWRiZTc0YTVlYjllZGM2MDcyNTFhYTdlYWVkNjA

 

[jme]

We purchased Ocean Front with the understanding that only villas actually fronting the Ocean are Ocean front. Villas on the side of buildings were sold as Ocean side or view. For example Barony is also Ocean front or side. At Barony we purchased side as we already owned 2 weeks Ocean front at GO.
So today a GO checkin was not Ocean Front but side. Upon complaining I was told that the Ocean front revolves assignment so every owner gets a chance to enjoy Ocean front. Did they over sell the season and Ocean front villas? I will review my deed and see what's going on. We paid a lot of extra money for Ocean Front at Grande Ocean.

Here's what Fasttr is suggesting:
Above the line = Oceanfront, below the line = Oceanside
(note that the line bisects the Dolphin & Starfish buildings)

Your opening line is a misstatement, most likely simply a misunderstanding.
When you purchased you had a lot of info to process, as we all did, and that fact may not have been clear.
If you purchased resale from a third party, either they misled you or they didn't understand themselves, and both are unfortunate.
(We own multiple Oceanfront and Oceanside weeks, and purchased about half of them as far back as 1998,
so we've had many years to understand the process. We own both developer weeks and resale weeks.)

Re Barony vs Grande Ocean, all resorts are independent and "unto themselves" and have no bearing on the others as to similarity of reasons
for nomenclature or anything else. Applies to Monarch or Surfwatch too...... each is unique.

Rest assured, Marriott did NOT oversell the "Oceanfront" villas. It's a misunderstanding if anyone suggests so, as that is not legal.

There are 4 buildings that contain Oceanfront villas (lined up North to South): Dolphin, Sea Horse, Sand Castle, and Starfish.
Dolphin & Starfish (on the N & S ends) have only one wing of Oceanfront units (direct-facing),
and those buildings are set back a few feet farther from the ocean than the central buildings, Sea Horse & Sand Castle,
such that the L-shaped inward-facing units in Dolphin & Starfish are Oceanside.
Sea Horse & Sand Castle, being slightly closer to the ocean in the middle of the resort (the four buildings are not in a straight line),
have "Oceanfront units" in both sections of the "L" (the direct-facing ones and the inward-facing ones, and again they are closer to the ocean so
a greater % of those views can see the ocean, albeit sometimes at an angle).

This is what many people do not understand, but it's clearly on the deeds and clearly on the resort map. The inward-facing "Oceanfront units" in
Sea Horse & Sand Castle do indeed have much more of a chance to see the ocean, altho not all do, but they are CLOSER to the ocean.
The inward-facing Oceanside units of Dolphin & Starfish can have a view of the ocean too on high floors, but many views are blocked by trees, etc.

The whole deal* (please get this!) is that all the Grande Ocean buildings are designated according to "PROXIMITY" to the ocean,
and do not refer to "ocean VIEWS" at all, as many other Marriott and non-Marriott systems may have.
In fact there is no such view designation as "Ocean View" at Grande Ocean----you have either Oceanfront or Oceanside on all the original deeds, and only those two.
Nowadays when Marriott sends out MGO's reservation confirmations, they mention "Close to the Ocean" (that's Oceanfront)
and "Courtyard View" (that's Oceanside) simply so that it is clear to all guests and doesn't mislead as to some sort of VIEW expectation.
Again, regarding the ocean, it's "PROXIMITY TO" at Grande Ocean, not "VIEW OF".

And in making the unit assignments for each week, they NEVER alternate views to give ALL owners a shot at a direct ocean view.
However, they do alternate assignments in order to give all OCEANFRONT owners a shot at a direct ocean view (so, not on the inward-facing Oceanfront sides,
but the direct-facing Oceanfront units), and those ONLY go out to the Oceanfront owners, per their deed.
An owner who purchased an Oceanside unit does not receive an assignment to a unit in the Oceanfront buildings, even on the sides, except on the rare occasion
that there are not enough Oceanfront owners occupying that week to fill up those units, so they may bump up an Oceanside owner to Oceanfront.

NOTE: When someone uses Destination Points to book at MGO, those guests are never assigned to the "other" designation, but are allowed to stay in
only what they chose based on point requirements.

 

[dioxide45]

The best way I have seen the Ocean Front view at Grande Ocean described is by drawing a horizontal line across the entire map directly below the Sea Horse and Sand Castle buildings. Everything above the horizontal line is Ocean Front. That puts all (front and side) of the two buildings mentioned above as Ocean Front, and half of the Dolphin and Starfish buildings (the half nearest the ocean). Therefore, not all Ocean Front's at GO are directly facing the Ocean.

Here is a MGO map.

https://owners.marriottvacationclub.com/medias/grandeOceanResortMap.pdf?context=bWFzdGVyfHJvb3R8NjEzNjE0fGFwcGxpY2F0aW9uL3BkZnxoNGYvaDJjLzg4ODI0Njg0NTQ0MzAucGRmfDIzMzQ4YmMyZjliYmJlNzJhYmM5ODU1ODk5NTQzMWVkZWI0MWRiZTc0YTVlYjllZGM2MDcyNTFhYTdlYWVkNjA

With the line,

 

[Dean]

We purchased Ocean Front with the understanding that only villas actually fronting the Ocean are Ocean front. Villas on the side of buildings were sold as Ocean side or view. For example Barony is also Ocean front or side. At Barony we purchased side as we already owned 2 weeks Ocean front at GO.
So today a GO checkin was not Ocean Front but side. Upon complaining I was told that the Ocean front revolves assignment so every owner gets a chance to enjoy Ocean front. Did they over sell the season and Ocean front villas? I will review my deed and see what's going on. We paid a lot of extra money for Ocean Front at Grande Ocean.

As noted, the villas on the side of Sea Horse and Sand Castle are OF. GO also rotates floor height for owners for the same reason they gave you on location. And some of the OF villas have little view due to vegetation. It's part of the timesharing life with villa assignments, check in delays, etc. There are requests that will improve your chances IMO.

 

[jme]

Any pruning of trees or outright reduction of trees is regulated by island codes, rendering it very limited. Each resort is bound by that and cannot arbitrarily cut back vegetation, even to enhance views. Over the years, however, the rule of not pruning anything more than 1/3 has served the natural vegetation well, and also served the need of incrementally allowing for better and better views, and imho the resorts are all the better for it. So the “side units” of the MGO oceanfront buildings, whether OF or OS, have more of an ocean view than ever before. The tree limbs used to almost reach the balconies but now you can actually see the ocean from many of the side balconies. Above the bicycle rental area is far better now, for example. Regular reduction or elimination of the wild vines on the dunes immediately in front of the resort (those plant varieties are not protected) has been a great improvement, allowing for better ventilation of the resort’s interior, as it allows a nice breeze to keep everyone happy poolside. Not to mention that now you can actually see the ocean from the first floor balconies of the OF buildings. That is huge. I think the grounds of MGO are as beautiful as they’ve ever been, and slight innovative and well-thought-out changes in landscaping have made it better as each year rolls around.

 

[pedro47]

We were bless one year to stay in the Sea Horse building ocean front villa #8426.
Amazing view of the Atlantic Ocean. IMHO

 

[NJVacation61]

On the bright side, maybe not having an Ocean View relieves you of the duty of closing your blinds/drapes every night during turtle nesting season.

 

[dmharris]

I'm wondering if you can help me think through what to request for our December 4th-18th stay at Grande Ocean Oceanside. We used points. I made the reservation in June. In late September my husband had to have open heart surgery. Total surprise; no previous heart issues and never on any medication. He's doing ok but he's in his 70's and prior to the surgery he worked out 5 days a week at our YMCA doing 50 to 60 minutes on the elliptical 3 days a week and 3 rounds on the Cybex machines the other 2 days. He will be in cardiac rehab hopefully soon and will want to use the exercise room at Grande Ocean. We've stayed at GO over 10 times in many places, many south side. I'm trying to think where would be best for him. In the building with the exercise room or nearby or just what? That building on OS seems to have obstructed views from the vegetation, though we've never stayed in that building facing south. What would you ask for?

 

[AlmostRetired]

The first two pictures are from the ocean front unit I had at the Monarch, the second is the Garden View unit I had. The advantage of fixed week is I always had this view. The reason I post the view is because I did not spend as much time on the balcony when I was actually vacationing as I did spend in my mind thinking about vacationing. Cup of coffee in the morning and a drink at night most days but that was it. The one caveat is the time I spent watching lighting storms over the ocean at night. Its biggest benefit was for rental and selling purposes when others would fall under the same trap if thinking about how much time they would spend.

When it was time to sell and buy at the Grand Ocean, I never gave an ounce of thought caring about an ocean front view with a round robin system of the view of the ocean. When I go to the GO, I ask for a high floor Starfish building with a view of the pool. The back of the redlined picture in this thread. I sometimes get a glimpse of the ocean but with a pool view I like the activity of families enjoying themselves. I guess being a grandpa brings that out. I tend to get the building often either from my owner week or often traded to II week. Funny, with II traded weeks, they consider me an owner. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a great ocean view but I really put no weight on the impact it has on enjoying my vacation.

 

[Dean]

I'm wondering if you can help me think through what to request for our December 4th-18th stay at Grande Ocean Oceanside. We used points. I made the reservation in June. In late September my husband had to have open heart surgery. Total surprise; no previous heart issues and never on any medication. He's doing ok but he's in his 70's and prior to the surgery he worked out 5 days a week at our YMCA doing 50 to 60 minutes on the elliptical 3 days a week and 3 rounds on the Cybex machines the other 2 days. He will be in cardiac rehab hopefully soon and will want to use the exercise room at Grande Ocean. We've stayed at GO over 10 times in many places, many south side. I'm trying to think where would be best for him. In the building with the exercise room or nearby or just what? That building on OS seems to have obstructed views from the vegetation, though we've never stayed in that building facing south. What would you ask for?

The building with the GYM is only OF even though it has the side views, same its sister building next door. Since you're on an exchange (points) then you'll have lower priority for unit assignments. If your OS, I'd ask for Dolphin or Starfish for easier parking and potentially better view. Royal Tern will be the closest OS to the Gym but I've always found parking to be an issue in that building. Make sure you get a HC placard from your DMV so you'll have options.

 

[dmharris]

Such a great idea about a handicap placard. Thank you and thank you for the building recommendations.

 

[Dean]

Such a great idea about a handicap placard. Thank you and thank you for the building recommendations.

Sure. I'm not sure about PA but in many states a permanent one is free and a temporary one (usually about 3 months) is a small fee. Since you don't know what the future will hold, I'd suggest getting a permanent one. Sometimes you still have to renew them but it'll be several years rather than months. You can likely find the form online but many physicians offices will have them as well. Hopefully your physician doesn't charge for forms, many do now. If you take it with a visit completely filled out, they likely wouldn't charge even if they normally do. If the specialty physicians do charge for it, you might ask your PCP if they do. Many PCP's do not charge for forms. A quick search online found the forms and instructions including the option to do so by mail.