Sea Gardens vs Santa Barbara

[Fiona1]

Anyone who has been to Sea Gardens or Santa Barbara in the last couple of months? I am looking into a vacation in September and I am looking into one of the 2 resorts (Royal Vista will be closed then =(...). There are a bunch of really bad reviews on Google and Tripadvisor for Sea Gardens, so I want to see if anyone here have any opinions?
Thanks!

 

[cbyrne1174]

If you want beach access and amenities, just book the ocean palms building in the back of sea gardens. The building is only 20 years old. I was there in Nov and had a nice time.

 

[Fiona1]

Thank you!

 

[Jan M.]

I'll second @cybryne1174's recommendation. Before we moved to Florda we always liked staying at Sea Gardens and stayed in the Ocean Palms building. If there's just you and another person those studio deluxe units in the Ocean View buildings are a good option. We weren't keen on staying at Palm-Aire because it's not on the beach. Now we like it for a staycation because there's more to do there.

The pool at Santa Barbara gets shaded by the tall buildings next to the resort. Although that might not be such a bad thing in September. We live about 20-25 minutes from the resorts. August and September are the two worst months for heat and humidity. If Royal Vista was open to walk across the street to use their nicer pools for variety, staying SB would be okay.

 

[ridgerunner71]

I prefer Sea Gardens too. Ocean Palms is the nicest, in my opinion.

Keep in mind though, Santa Barbara is a converted hotel and when they re-did it for timeshares, they took 3 hotel units and made them into either a 1BR Deluxe or a 2BR Deluxe and 1 hotel unit is Suite or Studio, forget what they call it.

Anyway, what i'm getting at is the 1BR Deluxe units at Santa Barbara are HUGE, and have 2 bathrooms.

The resort was damaged a few years ago in a hurricane, so most, if not all the units were remodeled as a result. The units are nicer at Santa Barbara, but the entire experience at Sea Gardens is much better. It's a real resort, not just a place to stay.

 

[chapjim]

I prefer Sea Gardens too. Ocean Palms is the nicest, in my opinion.

Keep in mind though, Santa Barbara is a converted hotel and when they re-did it for timeshares, they took 3 hotel units and made them into either a 1BR Deluxe or a 2BR Deluxe and 1 hotel unit is Suite or Studio, forget what they call it.

Anyway, what i'm getting at is the 1BR Deluxe units at Santa Barbara are HUGE, and have 2 bathrooms.

The resort was damaged a few years ago in a hurricane, so most, if not all the units were remodeled as a result. The units are nicer at Santa Barbara, but the entire experience at Sea Gardens is much better. It's a real resort, not just a place to stay.

Santa Barbara's one bedroom and two bedroom units are made from two of the hotel units, not three. Hence, 1BR/2BA and 2BR/2BA units, which are the same size. They made the second BR by taking some of the living area and some of the first BR. Since there is a sleeper in the BR of the 1BR unit as well as in the living area, the 1BR units have a max occupancy of six, just like the 2BR units.

 

[Fiona1]

Thank you everyone