Camp Margaritaville Resort Crystal Beach — Hotel in Galveston

I’ve stayed at several Margaritavilles & liked them; this one missed. Our newer surf bungalow was super cute – the upper deck was fantastic & there are nice fire pits at the stair bottoms (bring firewood). But multiple outlets didn’t work (all but one in the master) & the master bedroom lost power on night 2, so we had to use flashlights when we got back to the room. They’re “new new,” so kinks are expected and that wasn’t the deal-breaker.

The deal-breaker was cost vs. amenities and feeling nickel and dimed. My friend joked she was surprised we were not being charged for the air we were breathing. Our Saturday cabana was $275, and hadn’t been cleaned (sticky table and chairs – staff did come quickly to clean it upon notification), and the cushions were tired. For that fee, we expected something much nicer than what we rented for $150 on a Saturday at a different resort last month – which is probably why the bulk of them were empty.

We also rented two pool beds ($200 each on Saturday). Each comes with a blue two-person bed on a raised platform (shaded storage underneath – skip a cabana if you only want storage) and two white in-water chairs. Chairs were great; cushions were worn. The bigger issue was that people repeatedly encroached all. day. long. They were stashing stuff under our beds and folks were constantly sitting on the shallow ledges our pool chairs were on, less than 6 inches from our chairs, despite everything on these ledges carrying clear "Reserved" signs. Annoying, but we let it go.

Pool: bartenders were excellent. One basic pool split into kid-friendly and 21+ sides; the adults only rule was respected. Pool and poolside food were decent – but it’s just a basic pool, not the fuller Margaritaville setup re size and number of pools if you've stayed at hotel-based ones that you might expect at these prices. Saturday’s pool DJ was great until the concert venue’s sound check drowned him out – understandable, but still clashed. Pool closed at 9pm. Also note, bring your ID to the pool on your first entry, no matter what your age is. They card everyone for their first wrist band (not a complaint, but a note so you don't have to go back to get your ID after heading all the way to the pool – with an entire party over 40, we didn't think we'd need them) and bring a credit card. You cannot charge things to your spot/bungalow. They accept Apple & Google Pay, but when using that, you will need to close out after every single order. Cards can run a standard tab.

Golf carts were $150/day with a two-day minimum, so we skipped (only had one full day).

Concerts are “included,” but bring chairs for more known bands. Friday’s cover band had free tables/chairs and was fun. Saturday, every chair/table was roped off: $400/$300/$150 by proximity. We hadn’t brought chairs (we didn't know we'd need to), and as a group of women in our 40s-60s, the suggestion by the staff that we "could just sit on the ground" if we didn't want to pay for a table was not something we considered doable; so we paid $150 for a four top table. Later, after the main act started, with empty tables still around, staff initially wouldn’t let our two extra friends even stand at our table on our side of the ropes (the rope touched the backs of our chairs). Had it been packed, understood. But it was not, at all, and the two tables next to us were still empty after the main act started. After a manager check asking they at least be allowed to stand at our table, we were then allowed two spare chairs from the table next to us if no one later decided they wanted to rent the table. Also, a bathroom 20 feet from us we had freely used on Friday night was suddenly VIP-only; we were told to walk to the other side, which felt unnecessary given maybe 30 paid tables total.

Overall, it felt like a money grab – extras priced about double their quality. For what we spent, we could have stayed somewhere much nicer and with more amenities. Two stars only because the bungalow was cute, beach access matched the ads, and the bartenders were on point. We...

We rented one of the VIP suites on July 4th for our party of ten. At first we were very excited, but that quickly changed after arrival. Summation: The suites are EXTREMELY overpriced for what is available. They advertise capacity for 12 guests, but they won’t provide you with enough seating for 12 when asked. The suites have bathrooms but no showers. The pool area itself doesn’t even have showers for rinsing off before getting into the pool. I thought that was a health code requirement, but I guess I am mistaken on that. We were led to believe that the suites had a dedicated server. Though our server was working very hard, she could not keep up. We REPEATEDLY had to chase her down to order drinks….ALL DAY!! When I say “ALL DAY,” I mean all day! The balcony facing the concert stage is a joke. It’s super cramped and just ridiculous. It’s literally only a walk way. We finally went down to the field and was even told we were standing in the wrong area and it was a “reservation only” area. I know good and well those folks in that area didn’t pay near what we paid. We were told “No you cannot stand here,” and told to leave. We were sitting at the half empty tables; we weren’t in anyone’s way, and we’re still told to leave. They really love the word “NO.” The food is expensive and very blah. All and all- WE WOULD HAVE NEVER RENTED THE $1500 SUITE HAD WE KNOWN THAT WE WOULD. IT HAVE THE SERVICE TAGT WE WERE PROMISED. Waste of $$$. However, the one -and only - pro to these costs: The Bellamy Brothers were AMAZING!!!

Details: We were greeted by our server and she was very pleasant. However, she was very busy and spread quite thin. It was our understanding that we would have a dedicated server who attended to the suites. Not the case. Ninety percent of the entire day we had to go find her downstairs to place an order. Again, not her fault, but Margaritaville should have had more servers or at the very least, a buzzer/pager system so that we could communicate with our server. When we tried to order from the swim up bar and asked if we could charge to our suite, we were met by an EXTREMELY rude young man. He was straight up AWFUL!!! (Word around the peninsula is that he is ALWAYS behaving in this terrible manner and is allowed to keep his job.) What?!? Why?!? He needs to find a job where he never has to speak to anyone. He has NO business working hospitality AT ALL. I don’t need to describe him by his appearance. If you ever order a drink from that bar, you’ll know which one he is. He should be washing dishes, not mixing drinks. All I can guess is that he is related to a hire-up. There is no other explanation of why he should be serving guests. Because we were there for the concert later that evening, we wanted to shower off and clean up. Once again, we were met with Margaritaville’s favorite word, “NO.” “NO we do not have showers.” Wait, what? So no one can shower BEFORE entering the pool. When asked if our party could use the showers that the RV guests use….. of course……“NO.” Also, food is very mediocre at best and with resort pricing. Typical Sysco-style garbage food.

We live here on the peninsula and have tried to support this business several times, but we will NOT BE BACK after this. All and all we spent $3800 that night - it was an expensive lesson. The ONLY positive to this ridiculous cost: The Bellamy Brothers were awesome. Even live and given their age, they sound exactly as they do on their albums. A++ to The Bellamies! F - to...

Don’t waste your money. We paid $890 to stay on a premier beach club site for 5 nights in Oct 2024. Included in that was resort fees for myself and my family members. We travel in the off-season due to less crowds. We did not know that during the off-season this place is open to the public Sunday through Thursday for free. Not really sure why I had to pay resort fees when it is free for everyone else . People from all over literally come here to use their facilities, swim in their pools, play on their playgrounds , and leave their trash everywhere. While we were at the pool on Sunday, I picked up three pieces of pizza from the family pool because they let you eat and drink while you are swimming. Also witnessed several kids spilling their slushy drinks in the pool. No one picks up after their selves nor do they have staff out there to clean up until it closes. People were leaving half filled cups with margaritas, piña coladas, and cokes everywhere. Plastic cups were floating in the pool and you would step on them. Pizza boxes and food boxes were left on the loungers to be cleaned up at the end of the day. Speaking of the premier beach club site, we booked it because it was close to all the amenities. But there was a fence all the way around the area and you had to go to the front to get in and out. You are not allowed to bring any drinks or outside food. They even haggled me over a water bottle for my five-year-old. They say that you have to go to the bar to order anything that you need and they make it nearly impossible to get back to your camper easily when you pay for this premier site. Next is the pool hours. When we arrived, they gave us an info packet. It said the pool area was open from 9 to 9. So on Sunday after everybody had left, my husband and son went over to use the hot tub. They stayed over there from about 815 till 9 o’clock. When we went back on Monday night at 7:45 we were informed that the pool closes at 8 Sunday through Thursday, however, no one told us that on Sunday night while they were there till 9 o’clock. We were told that if we had the app we would’ve known that. Not quite sure what time they said the arcade closes on the brochure, but my little girl wanted to go in there and the guy told her he was closing it too. Literally put her in tears. Golf carts would go flying down the street and clearly no one enforced the speed limit. We set our trash out at the designated time and it stayed out overnight while the birds enjoyed it. Bird poop was everywhere, on the site and picnic tables. And also, no one informed us of all the construction that was going on right in front of our premier beach club site. Cement mixers, Skid steers and everything just driving up and down the road right in front of our site. They had all of the areas to the beach closed except for one that was on the far end that they expected you to walk completely around to get out to the beach. I’m guessing they do that because they really want you to rent a golf cart which we did not do. At that point we had had enough and on Tuesday morning, we decided to cut our losses and checked out 2 days early. It was worth losing money rather than staying there and...