Which home to stay in

My family of 4 adults and 3 children (1 in a crib) is traveling to Captiva in June. I have narrowed down our home search to 3 properties at AMRC and 4 properties at Royal Shell. The AMRC properties are Escapade, Rainbow%26#39;s End (on Wightman), and Captiva Villa. The Royal Shell properties are Casa Shandria, Tarpon Tales, Caspian, and Martin. Can anyone give me input on where to stay?? I know this is a lot of properties, but I%26#39;m very indecisive... I want to be sure to get the best that I can for my money. I%26#39;m not sure if its better to stay in the village and have a further walk to the beach or to stay down off of Wiles and be closer to the beach but further from the restaurants?? Also, these are the only homes with pools in my price range and for my travel dates (that I could find).

Thanks for the help!!

Which home to stay in

Casa Shandria is a nice a place and recently renovated and the pool was put in just 2 years ago or so, but it%26#39;s a small house, so keep that in mind. Not much space to roam. The Martin Home used to be with PMR and had a quality high rating with them, but I would ask about the current condition as it%26#39;s had a lot of wear and tear. It%26#39;s a good sized house. Tarpon Tale - IMHO, it;s overpriced. Caspian has space, but isn%26#39;t as nicely done as Casa Shandria.

Escapade is a new renovation and is very close to the beach, but it sits with one side of the house on Captiva Drive so of all the houses it is the least private and would have the most road noise. The plants have grown in a lot so it%26#39;s not as exposed to passer-bys at it was a year ago. Like Casa Shandria, the sq footage is fairly small, but well designed. Captiva Villa has been around awhile and I haven%26#39;t heard much about it. Rainbows End is too close to the restaurants for me. I don%26#39;t want to deal with the noise or the smells.

My top choices would be Casa Shadria [quiet and very nicely done] and Escapade [you%26#39;ll be trading some road noise for beach proximity - I mean just walk a hundred feet and BEACH!] . Then Martin is the furnishings are still in good shape - but it will have more mileage than the other two.

Just my opinion.

Which home to stay in

Hi crzymom,

I have stayed in Caspian (summer 2005)and I am not so sure you will feel you are getting the best for your money. The property is large and airy, but the furnishings need updated. There was really not an area where our family of 5 could just hang together. Not enough seating, etc... The place had very poor lighting and the bathrooms were from the 70%26#39;s. When we gave the people at Royal Shell our feedback after our stay, they told us that they hear that alot about Caspian and that the owner is/was unwilling to do anything to update the property.

I have seen Casa Shandria, and we almost rented it last year. (we rented it%26#39;s sister property Villa Elena) The beach access will be much closer AND less crowded. I would choose that property over the others you have listed. It%26#39;s also newly refurbished.

We have stayed on Wightman 3 times over the past few years and our family prefers to stay further away from the village. The times we%26#39;ve stayed on Wightman, the beach area was much more crowded because you have Wightman, Laika, Andy Rosse public access and the bayside visitors all in that area of the beach. Staying a little further down will give you more privacy.

Hope this helps you in making your choice!

Denise

Thanks to both of you for all the info. We are still not sure where we are going to stay. We are changing the dates of our trip so that we can choose the house that we really want. I guess I didn%26#39;t realize how far in advance these houses booked up!! I%26#39;ll be sure to write a review on whatever house we choose.

Good for you! I%26#39;d do the same thing. :-)

Casa Shandria just reduced there rates by 20% for the summer time. They have recently remodeled two of the bathrooms. It looks great.

Hi CaptivaVisotor,

Do you own Casa Shandria? Both of the threads you posted on are over a year old, so for certain those visitors have already chosen their vacation rentals and have already visited Captiva.