Sounds like a lot of complaints and that you stayed there. But did you complain to the office while there? Were any of the complaints you had against written rules?
Not sure if you ment it that way, but your message came off a bit snobbish and sounding like you are hard to please. Not that I condone most things they were doing, but the establishment is not going to patrol the place every hour to make people follow the letter to a T. Normally they are reactive due to complaining and not reactive. People would feel they are in a prison otherwise.
I would of complained there in person and demanded a refund. Not that I would of gotten one, but they would know I wasn't happy.
Brian RVing Illustrated
2010 Keystone Sprinter Select 31BH
2001 Coleman Santa Fe
Wow! This makes me very glad that my daughter changed her mind and decided AGAINST having her wedding this fall in Key West. We had planned to take the RV down and stay at one of the places down there. And I don't agree that the poster sounded "snobbish". Some of us just prefer to be around other people who know how to act like adults and not like college students on spring break.
FINALLY got my RV! - proud new owner of 2009 Winnebago Outlook 30D Ford E450
Dogmom to Reilly (cancer survivor), Bianca (rescue golden), Helen the kitty and now little tiger Suzy (both rescues, too)
Doggie Grandma to one gorgeous golden puppy named Jameson
Sunshine Key is really two RV parks..the Winter one and the summer one. We were there the last couple of weeks in February and it was great. In April the snowbirds have all gone north and the place changes to a weekend party place. We cant wait to go back next winter! Friendly folks, lots of activities, and its centrat Keys location make it just right.
Chuck & Pam
Bobbi and Nikki the Cats
Blog: Chuck & Pam's Travel Pages
Bounder - Ford V10
'04 Chevy Tracker.
F261484
NJ4B
NCBounder wrote: Sunshine Key is really two RV parks..the Winter one and the summer one. We were there the last couple of weeks in February and it was great. In April the snowbirds have all gone north and the place changes to a weekend party place. We cant wait to go back next winter! Friendly folks, lots of activities, and its centrat Keys location make it just right.
This is exactly right. We were there two weeks in January, great park, and none of what you described. We went back in March for 5 weeks. The park was half full of summer residents by the time we left and it was a changed place. What the OP described was exactly what we saw.
The OP was NOT being snobbish. It was way beyond kids having a good time and getting loud. There appear to be 4-5 families PER SITE.
In the winter you have snowbirds. Older folks, who are quiet, pick up their trash and respect others. Normally two people per site.
The "summer" people get special long term rates and can start moving their "compounds" into the sites April 15th. (although many moved in the week-end before)
They build little compounds/fortresses. They keep the site for 4-6 months,so bring everything they need. There is usually more than a dozen people per site. We saw large side by side refrigerators outside, full size stoves, washers/dryers. Summer residents can only spend Friday-Sunday there. SO...Monday, all is quiet until Friday.
There is trash all over, and we smelled a strong urine smell at one campsite. It was NOT like that in the winter.
I understand they destroyed the fitness center last summer and dumped a lot of stuff in the water by the marina.
They don't respect anyone else. They blocked the roads with their trailers and trucks, turned up their music very loud, speed around on their golf carts and pretty much made themselves at home. We did notice the manager was working on keeping the noise down after 11pm and a few people had been evicted by the time we left.
We had to change campsites after the summer residents started coming in because we were afraid we would be blocked in by the compounds. They use every square inch of their site to "build" on and if we hadn't moved, we would have not been able to get our motor home out.
There is a rule of 6 persons per site, and if it would be enforced, that would solve many of the issues. Many, if not most "compounds" had 4-5 pick-up trucks and 3-4 golf carts PER SITE. Many also had large boats. All had tent style canopies and the manager was trying to limit them to 2 per site....good luck with that. Most had decks, some were wooden, we saw one that was ceramic TILE! One had a swimming pool!
This is a LOVELY place in the winter.
From April 15 through October 15, they allow the summer residents to "live" there. We had heard about how it was in the summer, but until we saw it with our own eyes, we couldn't believe it.
It was NOT like that in the winter, and we spent 7 weeks there and LOVED it!
Sunshine Key is TWO different parks. Go in the Winter/stay home in the summer!
We can't wait to go back.... AFTER October 15th.
and NO, the OP is NOT a snob, and YES, people are breaking the written rules.
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Thanks very much for this information regarding Sunshine Key RV Park. We are thinking about spending the summer in Florida. Sunshine Key was on our list for longterm stay a couple of weeks or more using our Thousands Trails membership discount. My question is we like the State parks in the Keys but how hard is it to get into them.
Thanks very much for this information regarding Sunshine Key RV Park. We are thinking about spending the summer in Florida. Sunshine Key was on our list for longterm stay a couple of weeks or more using our Thousands Trails membership discount. My question is we like the State parks in the Keys but how hard is it to get into them.
"Happy trails"
chiefneon
The state parks are busy year round, make reservations early!
After reading the responses, feel a need to defend our comments. Yes we did complain to the park staff, when we had to move sites just after arrival. Response we received was - we understand with a bit of eye rolling. The interpretation was, there was not much they could do about the situation. Perhaps we should have just left then but there were no sites available at the state parks so we decided to stay.
The next day we went back to the office to express our concerns that the park rules were not enforced. Again the same basic response, "we understand". Essentially an acceptance of the flagrant rule violations. At that point we should have demanded a refund, but our desire to see Key West overruled any decision to leave.
We feel that the Encore park marketing information and web site, improperly describe the park's true character. Because of this we decided to send detailed emails to Encore and Sunshine Key.
Yes, we could call as a follow-up, yet based upon the previous interactions and failure to respond- we determined neither Encore or Sunshine Key were concerned as to the situation. Therefore decided the best course of action was to share our experience with fellow campers.
Never thought of us as hard to please or snobbish, however we do expect campgrounds to reflect the character and environment as advertised.
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