We stayed in Mango Bay for 10 days. They allowed us to book for 10 days, which was great. 7 days is not long enough because you aren’t allowed to check in until 4PM on your check in day, which is too late to consider it an actual day, and have to leave at 10 AM on your checkout day, which again is too short of a time to consider it an actual day, so really a 7 day vacation here is only 5 days. Having a few additional days really made it feel like a vacation. This is the third year we have used AMV, first time though in this property. The location is good. Not as close to the beach as we are used to but still not a long walk, about 5-6 minutes. It took a couple of days to realize that it is faster just to stay on Clark drive the whole way to the beach, it saves a couple of minutes. Due to the red tide, we only got three beach days, one of which we were coughing and our eyes were burning so bad that we had to leave after an hour or two, so it was great that Mango Bay had a pool and a spa, we used them every single day ! The pool was cleaned a couple of times during our stay which made it very nice. The spa was great except for the fact that the controls go through phases where it may actually shut off for an hour or two which stinks when you are in the middle of relaxing. There is a note on the spa control box stating if the remote is missing you will be charged 250.00. Well there was no remote upon arrival so I called the office to let them know and they thanked me and said they were aware, the remote hasn’t been there in a very long time. It seems the owners should then remove the note to save the renters the hassle of calling.
The house has an elevator, which makes bringing your luggage up to the third and second floor much easier. ( Be aware the phone does not work and is not connected in the elevator so I would not suggest using it when you are alone and without a cell phone). The garage is roomy, however they do not provide a garage door opener, like our last house did, which makes coming and going every day a bit of an inconvenience. Our family loves ping pong, one of the reasons we got this house, but be aware, there are only three paddles, and all three are literally falling apart. We tried to go out and buy a fourth but they are not easy to find and had to get something close, which was about twice the size. We played anyway and had a great time.
The bedrooms are roomy and the beds are comfortable. The master bath is gorgeous, the seven sprayer shower is heaven. The big tub is great, though the tv above the tub channels seem limited and both the master bath and master bedroom tv’s have no working remotes. The washer/dryer works great and the grill does as well. What i did not care for in the house is as follows;
The interior of the house is in dire need of painting. It does not look like the pics online. The walls are extremely beaten up. The house is for sale so I am guessing the owners are not really worried about it, but none the less it would show better for them if it was freshly painted. The carpet… I cannot imagine why anyone would want any carpeting in a beach house. The tiled part of the house is gorgeous and would be more practical if it was all tile. There is no vacuum there that I found, which I would suggest they have if it is staying carpeted. The couches or at least the covers are white. They are really stained. It definitely grosses one out to sit on a strangers stained couch. I would either change the couch covers or put a color cover on that doesn’t show everything.
The only issue we had was initially the house was hot. Usually we vacation in October so in August the a/c is really hot. AMV sent out a maintenance person to see why the air kept shutting off. The best we could all figure out is the owners were controlling it via computer. I keep my air on 68 in the summer in PA and PA heat is nothing like Florida. For the first couple of days it would not cool past 74, we were dying. Finally the house cooled after either the owners were contacted or they got tired of us changing it to 71-72. Still warm for us but it was comfortable.
AMV can only control so much, as it is the individual owners discretion on certain items which we understood, however AMV were responsive when we called. I suggest being super patient if you call on a Monday as it takes a while to get through, it seems to be their busiest day. Last year we stayed in Stay Calm, and were totally spoiled by how stocked it was with towels and quality cookware, etc, so we were a little disappointed that Mango Bay did not reach that same level. Be aware the beach chairs were mostly broken though we did find a couple of good ones. All were rusty and actually left a rust stain on my husbands back every day that lasted all week lol.
Unfortunately my daughter at the end of the week went sliding across the floor and put her elbow right through the wall, like butter. Our repair bill was stated to be 150.00. When I emailed then asking if it was going to be a 100.00 then since we pay a 50.00 damage fee when we book the house, she first said no they don’t charge a fee, so I looked at my receipt and they did each previous year, then she said the actual bill was 200.00, minus the 50.00 , leaving the 150.00. Sounded a bit fishy to me but ok. We have never had to actually use that damage fee before so maybe this is normal. My daughter will be working that off in chores this year.
Note, they are doing construction of some kind in the parking lot behind the church which runs right along the property, so it can get loud, until it is done but you get used to it after a couple of days. As far as red tide, it is faster to jog down to the beach every morning before hauling all of your stuff down only to find a bunch of dead fish and/or toxic air. We figured this out after making three or four trips in a row only to turn right around and come back.
Overall it is a nice property, just not one I would stay at again.
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