My husband and I rented a Coral Beach condo for a week at the end of January. It's an older complex, I think built in the 60s, but they keep it up pretty good. The pool out by the beach is nice with the bar/restaurant. We don't believe the restaurant should be rated #1 but they do serve pretty good food and the service is friendly. We were disappointed that they don't take plastic. The complex was further from the Marketplace than we were led to believe. It's 1 1/2 miles down the road, with no sidewalks, and the speed limit we were told is just a "suggestion". There is a sign in the lobby warning tourists not to walk the road after dark. The buses don't run after dark and are just privately owned vans which are filthy with no functional seat belts. Taxis are expensive. Many of the businesses have closed due to the poor economy. There is NO grocery store within walking distance of the complex. After a couple of days, we rented a car.
The big disappointment was the condition of the condo. We rented one from VRBO that had a couple of good reviews. I suspect the owners can pick and choose which reviews they post on VRBO. The condos with many, many good reviews on TripAdvisor were already booked. The owner of our condo, who lives in the states, seemed to be a professional and responsible property owner. OUR ADVICE IS...only rent from condo owners who FREQUENTLY visit their condos themselves and who have SEVERAL good reviews on TA! We arrived to a dirty condo and the owner's excuse was that they have a difficult time finding good help in the Freeport area. We had to clean the tub & shower and kitchen sink before we used them. The floor was not clean. The bed was supposed to be just two years old but it was the worst bed we have ever slept in. The wall unit air conditioner sounded like an airplane landing every time the compressor came on. The smoke alarm had no battery in it and was hanging from the wall. This is not what we're used to. The owner gave us our cleaning fee back and an extra $100 refund but we were stuck there for a week. Since we did receive some of our money back, I won't mention the condo number.
We regret that we didn't stay at the Sunrise Resort & Marina as we had originally planned. We thought we could save money by not having to rent a car.
- Coral Beach Freeport
