I will list to make it easier to follow:

Over all a nice place but not luxury. Spice it up and charge more. There are a lot of people in Texas that will pay the $$. If there was a Four Seasons next door it would be filled 24-7.

- reservation staff assured me we could check in early. We just had to call ahead when we left home (above two hour drive). So we called as we were told to and they said "sorry we can not guarantee a early check-in. We could come and wait for a room to become available". Sure enough we got there and had to wait till almost 3:30 for our room - we waited 3 hours

- we have stayed at Port Royal 5-6 times over the last few years. We have noticed there is not much consistency in the rooms. Some are nicely furnished while others are very bland. Some rooms had nicer TVs while some did not. Some hardly worked. I realize many are individually owned but there should be more consistency in my opinion. It's kind of luck of the draw on the type of room you get

- room very spacious but showed signs of wear after all these years. Couple of spots on the wall had white caulk they did not even bother painting over. Cracked tile and lounge chairs on the balcony were broken.

- pool very nice but needs cleaning more often

- slide fun in deeper in of pool. Kids loved it!!

- front desk folks very nice long with guards at gate! Very nice!

- beach access was nice!!

- beach very very dirty with seaweed. It would be nice if the complex could have cleaned but maybe they are unable to (environmental impact or city law or something. Entire beach covered in seaweed). Again not the hotel's fault but made for less fun at beach walking through it

- did not eat at restaurant but heard it is good from other people

- other person posted about the lack of restaurants in immediate area. This is true.

Overall a fun trip for the family and a great time in the pools.

I stayed here with my family (kids were 4 and 6) in August of 2011, and I just booked again for this coming August of 2012. We were astounded with how nice it was, particularily the pool and access to the beach. The pool is three levels, with varying depths. It also has a really cool waterslide that my daughter stayed on for hours.

The rooms were clean and well supplied with your standard rental stuff. We went to HEB before our trip and stocked up, so we cooked all of our own meals in the room which worked out perfectly. They do have an on site restaurant, and one evening they had a DJ and BBQ buffet by the pool. The food was so/so, but it was a really fun party atmosphere.

The only drawback I would say was the long walk to the beach. They do have freshwater showers right next to the boardwalk to the beach, which is great.

For the price, it is a good hotel. I spent with my wife and 1 year old baby a few good days there. But the Hotel needs to improve in several areas before I decide to come back or recommend this to my friends.

Some of the key areas that need improvement

a) Dirty pools
I even saw a guest cleaning one of the pools by herself. The pools need to be cleaned a couple of times per day or so. It doesn't look like there is staff from the hotel taking care of this during the day.

b) Lack of variety and professionalism in the Restaruant' menu.
They are missing a golden opportunity here. there are no good restaurants on a 7 mile radius. And yet, the restaurant's menu is poor, the food is bland, the staff is undertrained, etc. It is not even about the cost (costs are OK), it is about the quality. The resource should do your best to make sure guest want to stay at the resourt at any time, correct?

c) Lack of facilities for small kids (no playgrounds, no nursery, no pool for kids, etc)

d) Lack of organization:
On 05/24/12 there was going to be an event at the Hotel. Some members of the staff told us it was a buffet, then others told us it was just music, then other told us there was a steak differ at the restaurant, and finally somebody else told us it was a boiled seafood festival. ? Good thing we already have plans and didn't care, but this kind of miscommunication and disorganization is unacceptable from a 'resort'.

e) This is not a 'luxury' resort. That is ok because the price we paid was acceptable, but don't go thinking that this is a top-notch luxury resort.

This is the best place to be in port aransas! Everyone here is great, the resort is beautiful, especially the pool. Plain and simple you don't know customer service until you come here. Great job Port Royal and we love all the new changes!!!!!!!