Our family is staying at South Seas and I've read some negative reviews, please give me your opinions

We stayed there Jan. 2000. We found it to work for our family. It's quite large, obviously, but we stayed in a condo close to the beach. The beach was great; we saw dolphins and manatees every day. There aren't a lot of eating places, but enough for us. I don't know what your expectations are, but it was fine for us. The accomations were clean and a nice size.

We stayed there in October and really loved it. Long beaches to walk on, perfectly clean, not crowded. Nice pool area on the water with great lunch food at the pool (which I find unusual at a hotel). Very relaxing place to stay. We drove to dinner every night, but stayed at the resort all day. Took a boat out to Cabbage Key and that was fun.

Just returned from South Seas. Lovely location but poor resort.

Many units haven't been renovated and have worn carpet and furniture.

Housekeeping was poor-leaving dead bugs in middle of bathroom floor.

Food prices were similar to restaurants off property, but food just OK and automatic 18% gratuity included.

No bicycle/walking trail or sidewalks--you must drive, ride trolley, or walk on the side of the road from the end with the golf course to the end with shops and restaurants.

Resort beach chairs and towels only in designated area, so crowded together. Pools were uncrowded.

I preferred Sanibel.

Kay 2, could you tell us which condos you stayed in? I think some are rennovated much more often than others. The units are individually owned and each group is an association which collects money for renovation. Captiva is discussed here often, Sanibel as well so travellers doing research need to know which units are in need of upgrading.

Sundial resort in Sanibel is often dissed as having similarly run down rooms. They are on a redecorating cycle that is too long for the amount of families that stay there.

LMF

Interesting comments ... I just returned from South Seas with my husband and we had a great stay in one of the beach villas. I had asked for a newly renovated unit and it was very nice, clean, roomy with newer furniture and dishes in the kitchen; also was nicely decorated with interesting artwork on the walls. We found it to be very clean and the housekeeping service daily was fine. Both Sanibel and Captiva are great, and I would stay on either, but I think I prefer Captiva ... The island is a bit more lush with tropical trees and plants than Sanibel. It reminded me more of the Caribbean than Florida!

Interesting comments ... I just returned from a week at South Seas Resort; we had a great stay in one of the beach villas. I had asked for a newly renovated unit; it was very nice, modern, and roomy with newer furniture and dishes in the kitchen; also was nicely decorated with interesting artwork on the walls. We found it to be very clean and the housekeeping service daily was fine. Both Sanibel and Captiva are great, and I would stay on either, but prefer Captiva ... The island is a bit more lush with more tropical trees and plants than Sanibel. It reminded me more of the Caribbean than Florida! We would definitely go back.

My experience with worn unit was in Bayside. Another person in the same Bayside building had newer furnishings (assume we had the same poor housekeeping). That's what I kept hearing all around the resort that week from other guests--some units in same building renovated and others not; some no problems and others housekeeping not showing/showing but not cleaning/solving complaint of terrible stink from garbage disposer by putting stopper over it/various lamps not working/lightbulbs out in most every unit.

Again, I agree the natural setting of the island is nice.

It's just for the rates they charge I think most people would expect higher quality. I'd rate the unit I was in and the housekeeping on the level of a 2* AAA motel we stayed in on the beach on Sanibel several years ago and that is priced much lower (no golf course, tennis courts, tour boats, or onsite restaurants there, but you pay extra for all that at South Seas anyway).