I live in Clearwater and stay at beach condos several times a year. I like a kitchen, a pool, good beach, and 3 night minimum (most condos require 7 nights). Ram Sea offered all this, though some seasons they will have 7 nt minimum. I will definitely return here when possible and recommend it for families or couples.
Pros: I love the sound of the ocean, and the soft sand here. N. Redington, like Indian Rocks, is not too deep, not too far to the water. I have stayed in nearby Treasure Island and had a spectacular beach view, but so far from the breaking waves that you can't hear them from your balcony. At Ram Sea and others on Redington, you can hear the ocean inside even in the back of the condo.
The size of these rooms is very large, the largest I've seen in this price range, 1300 s.f. for the 2 BR/2bath. That spacious feeling and full balcony was very relaxing.
You can view each condo and see the furnishings online in advance to request the one you want. When you are doing this, note that the numbers that end in 1 and 9 are on the corners, thus have a breezier corner balcony and huge picture windows on the side, lovely view, highly recommend trying for the end units. The numbers higher than 9 are in the second building. And rooms ending in 2,4,6,8 are recessed balconies. I'm sure still lovely, but they do not jut out (see their pics and you'll see what i mean) Rooms ending in 1,3,5,7,9 seem to book more often.
Very clean, pool clean, hot tub was hot and well maintained and large.
Coin laundry on site, check which floors if this is important to you.
Front staff warm and friendly and helpful, there was even a huge basket full of fresh tangerines someone had just picked free for the guests.
Walking distance, about 1 block, is a convenience store. At least 2 restaurants walking distance (The Wine Cellar and Conch Republic Grill) And the resort next door has a tiki hut bar on the beach if you want to have a cocktail, they probably serve food as well.
Only some small things to point out:
Beds ugh. They are not sheer torture, but the mattresses, pillows, and sheets are just not up to par. Nothing feels worse than a scratchy pilly pillowcase on your head, and old cheap tired mattresses. From the pics it looked like most of the units had similar beds, though with individual furnishings, there must be some that have nicer bedding. I will bring my own pillows and sheets next time, and urge them to upgrade the mattresses and pillows and sheets.
Unit 409 had the most bizarre television set up, with missing channels (like NBC) and confusing channel numbers like 102.310 and changing channels was random. If it wasn't for football, we wouldn't have needed it, so did not matter much to us.
Kitchen was are very fully stocked with utensils, pots, cookie sheets, just about every gadget we could need. But the staff for some reason cleans out any leftovers of basic supplies. I find in condos that they usually leave the last person's dish soap, dishwasher soap, paper towels, salt/pepper, windex, Fantastic, foil. Not one thing. You will have a dishrag and 2 dish towels, one roll paper towels, and adequate toilet paper. Everything else you need to bring, and if you fly out and don't take it home with you, you've just supplied them with about $30 worth of supplies that won't get left for the next person. Minor annoyance. Unit 409 did not have any plastic cups to take down to pool, or wine glasses.
Although the rest of the place was positively spotless, for some reason the back windows on the slider to the balcony were filthy, had to really scrub them myself to enjoy the view. I've got a hangup about clean glass though, so maybe this would not have bothered someone else.
Though the unit would potentially sleep 8 (2 doubles in 1 bedroom, 2 twins in another, and 2 on a sleeper sofa), there were only 4 chairs around the dining table. There were at least 4 bar stools though, so if you don't mind splitting up, it's fine.
- Ram Sea
