Over the Memorial Day weekend, my friend and I stayed at the Sandcastle Oceanfront Resort. Our room had two double beds, a microwave and half size fridge, and an oceanfront balcony. There was no closet in our room, just a rack on which to hang clothes in the corner next to one of the beds. There was a good amount of drawer space though, so that didn't really pose a problem for us. There was a TV of course, with a wealth of cable channels including HBO, and also a DVD player. The bathroom was small but clean, and the maid service was just fine. There was a little toiletries basket with shampoo, lotion and soap in case you forgot yours, and the built in hair dryer worked well.

The hotel's location is great, right on the ocean next to the fishing pier, and there's lots to do and places to eat in easy walking distance. For those with kids, there's an amusement park right next door with a nice assortment of rides for the little ones.

We were on the sixth of nine floors, and were grateful that the elevators worked smoothly and quickly. The only day we really had to wait for an elevator any length of time was around checkout time on Memorial Day, since a lot of people were leaving that day. The hotel's parking deck was convenient, and since the car didn't have to sit directly in the sun all day, we really appreciated that it wasn't boiling hot when we got in it to go somewhere. The hotel has a convenience store and beach wares shop on the ground floor which came in handy. Bike, roller blade and pedal car rentals are also available on the premises.

The indoor pool on the hotel's second floor is small, with a little kiddie pool--nothing fancy at all, and no hot tub. But the pool was clean, and has a sun deck with lounge chairs adjacent to it. If your family likes an outdoor pool with a diving board, slide or lazy river ride, this is probably not the hotel for you.

The boardwalk makes for interesting people watching, and the beach is broad and clean, with no sharp rocks or shell fragments to walk over to get to the smoother sand like like you have to do at Myrtle Beach. The downside of this was that I didn't find a single intact seashell, but I really appreciated how clean the whole beach area was kept.

The hotel's free continental breakfast is served until 10 am each morning, and the food was fresh and good. There was milk, fruit juice and coffee, fresh fruit and cereal, bagels and english muffins, doughnuts and sweet rolls. The hotel doesn't have in room coffee makers, but they do have beverage service in the lobby 24 hours a day. In addition to coffee they have apple juice, lemonade and fruit punch, all free of charge. Our floor had an ice machine, but not every floor did. If you want a hotel with room service, keep looking.

We were not impressed with the look and smell of the Seafood Galley restaurant on the ground floor of the hotel, though the Greek restaurant also located in the hotel seemed nicer. We wanted to eat seafood though, and chose to eat elsewhere. Ocean Eddie's on the fishing pier was a close, convenient place to have lunch, though it wasn't cheap. We walked a couple of doors down to Fishbones for the seafood buffet one evening (having found a discount coupon on one of the free VB guides) and enjoyed eating on the oceanfront patio. Another night we drove to the Surf Rider restaurant and had excellent crab cakes.

We especially enjoyed having an ocean front balcony. Even when the sun and heat got too intense to enjoy the beach, we could sit in the shade on our balcony and read, enjoying a bit of ocean breeze. We were even able to see the Memorial Day fireworks perfectly from our balcony on Sunday night, which was great.

The hotel offers internet access for those who want to bring their computer on vacation. In the lobby they have wireless, but in the rooms you'll need a Cat 5 cable. Our room also had an ironing board and iron, if you feel the need to do that on vacation.There is also a workout room just off the lobby with an exercise bike, treadmill, and a few other pieces of equipment.

The only problem we had was that our hotel room key card was deactivated on Monday, when we weren't checking out till Tuesday. The desk clerk was able to fix it quickly though, so it was only a small inconvenience. We found the staff very friendly and helpful.

If you're looking for a luxury hotel, don't let the word "resort" in the title fool you, this probably isn't the spot. But it offers clean, affordable rooms with a truly great location and some nice amenities. I would definitely return to the Sandcastle.

We took our oldest grandson on a spring break holiday. Since the Sandcastle is right at the pier in the heart of the resort area we chose it. The stay was okay, The place needs a little TLC overall, but the room was comfortable and clean, parking is okay, skip the "free" breakfast, it's just a sugar rush, there's a great all u can eat across the street! No in-room coffee maker, which makes me sad. the pool area was okay, but the whirlpool listed is nothing more than a kiddie pool, no whirl to it! For the moey, for the time of year, its a nice little get away, you can rent peddle cars in the C-store on the property, along with T-shirt and other beachy needs.

We decided on a "girl's getaway". The Sandcastle was having a deal on Hotels.com and I booked our room. The room was really nice, except for the air conditioning unit (old, definitely need an upgrade). The balcony was nice. The bathroom was very nice, remodeled, recently. Rooms were clean and staff was incredibly friendly, including housekeeping. I will definitely stay again. It was well worth the less than $60/night. Oceanfront and all. Great view from our room... The pool is small, but indoor, heated (offseason) and clean (6 ft deep). We enjoyed our time at the hotel. I may not stay during the summer months though, b/c I like a larger outdoor pool to enjoy. They do have a nice sunning deck for the summer though, so it's up in the air. All in all, it was a nice stay.

We were celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary. The hotel went out of their way to be nice everywhere we interacted with an employee.

When we first checked into the room, the toliet did not work. Someone came up right away and fixed the problem. This was wonderful service, because I have stayed in higher end hotels that took forever to fix a problem with the room.

The room was always clean and in good condition. The maid was very nice and gave us extra wash cloths, etc. without a problem.

We rented a family bike there. We had a blast. Can't wait til the children are old enough to pedal though. We also used the arcade. We kept losing money in the machines. We were told to go to the Greek restaurant to get my money back. They were very nice about it, but this was a pain.

We used the pool. Wish it was not as deep at first entering. The kids had to use their floating devices the whole time. They have now had swimming lessons, should be no problem now.

There are two restaurants on site. A Greek and a seafood restautant. We had the seafood. It was good. The kids had chicken.

The breakfast was really good. They had more items to pick from than most hotels with free breakfast.

We had a great time and plan to go back the summer of 2008. Can't wait!