The only problem with Ocean Front at Ocean Pointe is that over half of the OF units are located the Kingfish building. Kingfish seems to be a love it or hate is kind of thing. The building is separated from the main four building complex by a large condo property. Also, many of the ocean front units in that building are actually front the inlet and not the ocean.
Our confirmation for October shows an Ocean Front unit, I wish it showed ocean side as there is a lesser chance we would be assigned to Kingfish. I will take ocean side over ocean front any day at Ocean Pointe.
Depending on the season in which you travel and, your standing as a Marriott owner (mult. weeks vs single weeks), it might not be that difficult to get a unit in the main complex. I've found the people who do unit assignments to do a really good job of placement if you can give them three building choices. If you don't mention Kingfish, chances are you won't be placed in Kingfish.
Of course, much depends on when you traveling. If you have a unit during the very high demand part of Platinum season (I'm thinking Feb.), then there seems to be very high owner occupancy. When there are a lot of owners at the resort, you don't want to be low on the pecking order. Even mult. week Marriott owners trading in will have trouble getting a prime or even good location.
If you're traveling during the lower demand silver season weeks that fall in Sept or Oct., I think you stand a very good chance of getting your first or second building choice plus a good shot at getting a reasonably high floor.
Personally, I always make a note that high floor is more important to use than building choice and any building is actually fine by us, even thought we list our top three prefered buildings. It helps that we're mult. week owners (different resorts however), we are Ocean Pointe owners, we prefer and own silver season and we like Kingfish. But we've always been treated well by whomever does the room assignments when we've asked to be placed in the main complex.
To be honest, I'm not certain how summer or gold season would pan out. My assumption, which could be completely wrong, is that most guests would be families with children and, since they have children, would prefer to be in the main complex. In that case, if there are a lot of owners who stay at Ocean Pointe during Gold season, those exchanging in will most likely find themselves in Kingfish more often than not.
I'd actually enjoy having a high floor inlet view sometime. The problem is, we own a three bedroom unit and there are no three bedroom inlet view units. Thus, we'll probably never get that view. The only way I could see getting that view would be to purchase a 2 bedroom OF unit and specifically request that view. Since the MF's are so dog gone high for Ocean Pointe, even though we love the resort, we'll never own a second week. It's easier and cheaper for us to trade back in using a non-Marriott week and accept the lower floor ocean side view. As it is we're content visiting Ocean Pointe once each year and exploring other Marriott properties during the rest of our vacation time.
