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Castle In the Sand Hotel
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5 reviews for Castle In the Sand Hotel
Back in 2002 I lived in Ocean City Maryland for a summer. I worked at Higgins Crab House and had an awesome 3 months living at this beach. Unfortunately I have not been able to make it back to OC until this past weekend. With more that 7 years since my last visit I was both excited and apprehensive to visit... would it be everything I remembered it to be so very long ago? However my stay at the Castle and the Sand Hotel alleviated all my fears. This hotel was great! We waited until the last week in August and the rates had dropped significantly. The hotel was right on the beach and the Coconuts beach bar and grill that is attached to the hotel served the most delicious drinks, with an awesome 2 for 1 happy hour and live music . Our room was nice for the first 2 days, just your standard room with 2 double beds... but we decided to extend our stay and we upgraded to a suite. The room had a king size bed, a full kitchen and living room with a patio and a view of the beach. The room change ended up being cheaper then our original room because it was during the week instead of peak time during the weekend.
The pool was very nice as well. 25 meters with a diving board! The location of this hotel was perfect as well. Being on 36th street you are right in the middle of everything.
All in all this place was perfect!
I've stayed at this hotel a dozen times since I was nine (back in the mid 80's, when Reagan was president and Max Headroom was king) and it's always been a super-nice experience.
Plus one: the room (I've stayed in both the main hotel buildings and the rental cottages) is always clean and the air conditioning works. So what? This is not always something you can count on in Ocean City, MD. And comparatively speaking, the pricing isn't bad at all.
Perks: the swimming pool is a decent size, with more than enough lawn chairs to chillax upon. They've got a restaurant in the basement of the hotel that offers bland but budget-friendly breakfast buffets. And the hotel staff is always polite and friendly (once again, not always something you can expect in Ocean City, MD).
However, there's two things that really stand out, that have earned my loyalty as a return customer. First, they've got waitresses who come out to you on the beach and bring you your beer/mixed drinks! From what one of the waitresses told me, they're the ONLY hotel in Ocean City that's allowed do this (otherwise your boozing anywhere else on the beach will be frowned upon by the municipal authorities, apparently). Granted, the drinks are a little on the pricey side, but such service is worth paying the price for. I particularly remember this one absolutely beautiful, leggy (when I say leggy, her legs were as long as you are tall) bikini-clad Russian waitress they had two years ago. Sadly, I didn't see her this past year. Eye candy isn't everything, I guess. Besides, I'm a pig.
My other perennial favorite is Castle in the Sand's resident children's entertainer, Sunshine the Clown. Sunshine provides hours of fun activities for kids daily (I think), like craft workshops, carts full of bubble wands, and face-painting. Sunshine's assistant--didn't catch her name--is the Michaelangelo of face-painting, no overstatement here. My three year old daughter actually bawled her eyes out when the beautiful palm tree + tropical sunset on her face washed off the following day. Can't say I blame her, none of my tattoos look half as good.
Best of all is the cool r&b and rockabilly music Sunshine pipes in through the outdoor speaker system. I heard some Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, and the original version of "Green Door" from 1954 (which later became a hipster classic when the Cramps covered it in the mid 80's)! I asked Sunshine about it, to which she nonchalantly shrugged her shoulders and replied, "oh, I just hooked the stereo up to my Ipod". Wow. Not only is she consistently great with the kids, but she's a paragon of hipness.
My only gripe is the cheeseball band that plays at the Castle's beachside bar, Coconuts. I mean, how many bad covers of Jimmy Buffet and Billy Joel should anyone have to endure in their lifetime, especially if they're on vacation?
All in all, make your reservations for next year now, because it might just be me who gets that last room.
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3.5***
Went for a bachelorette party and packed quite a few girls into 1 room. The suite had a quite decent kitchenette with a full sized fridge and coffee pot, so I really can't complain. The room was also equipped with a radio that worked great for just hanging out, and we were lucky to get a first floor suite so we got quite a nice section out back with several chairs and sand - it's secluded from the beach so if you want to read outside with a view of the sand and some peace and quiet, this is perfect. We were also 2 seconds away from the beach.
Amenity wise, the radio also had an auxilary-in I believe, so you can plug in your ipod, there is a hanging rack for you to dry your wet bathing suit and towels from the beach, and the cleaning staff cleaned the room so nicely after we trashed it the night before (don't worry, we tipped them!). Lots of fresh towels (and don't worry about asking for more), a tv in each room and a pull out couch, 2 rocking seats and an ottoman. Worked out quite well for a handful of girls.
My only gripes about this place was that the A/C was in the living room/kitchen, and did not reach into the bedroom, man it was stifling there even with the ceiling fan. The back door (where the sun rises) did not have any blinds so it was blinding in the morning. Also, the hotel was 10 blocks from where the boardwalk ended, so it was a hike to get there. Though it's called Castle in the Sand and the building is castle shaped, that theme does not permeate more than just the exterior of the building. But with a fairly central location - great places to eat farther up, great bars like Seacrets and Fish Tales a little below, it's quite a decent place.
FYI - the windows are kind of mirrored so that during the day it is tough for people to see in, but at night it's totally see through!
One year later, we went back - and the fourth star is awarded for consistency!
Not much has changed - the staff is still great, the location superb, and the rooms clean and tidy. Still no wifi in the rooms though... what is this, the Dark Ages?
We tried the breakfast buffet this time ($8.95, 5 & under free), which was good - and I think the overall food prices have gone down.
Some additional things to note if you stay here:
- The sandbar on the beach in front of the hotel appears to be stable year-to-year - the water stays less than 3 feet deep out for quite a ways. Great with little kids.
- They rent umbrellas, chairs, and boogie boards for reasonable-for-the-beach prices. Plus, you don't have to set 'em up or take 'em down - they do that for you. It's a nice way to stake out your spot early in the AM.
- Parking is distributed across two lots (a big one close, and a small one less than a block away... no crossing of busy streets!) but there are a few spaces in front of the hotel. Steal these when people leave for dinner.
- If you get a room with a pullout bed, make sure you get the linens and blankets from the front desk - they tend to forget to put them in the room.
- It's faster to go and order food (and drinks!) from the bar than it is to wait for the waitresses to find you on the beach.
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1 Previous Review: Show all »
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7/28/2008 First to Review
Castle in the Sand is a great little place to stay when you're going 'down the ocean'. It's showing… Read more »
Castle in the Sand is a hotel that I have stayed in several times with my family... and I have even taken a couple of groups (stretched over 3-5 rooms).
Everything that the previous reviewer said is true of Castle in the Sand. I echo the excellent location on the Boardwalk in Ocean City and the Ocean City Convention Center.
The rooms are spacious (especially the condos) and clean.
The rooms with an ocean-view are where it's at...
TIP: If you can visit Ocean City in the off-season (aka: not summer) then you will find the prices much more reasonable.