Camp Cardinal RV Resort — Hotel in Gloucester Point

This is definitely not a resort as described on their website.  At first sight this park seemed to be a little different from the pictures displayed on the website. But as our two week stay progressed we realized that this park was definitely not what was advertised on their website.  NO functional WiFi or cable on our site. Over the two weeks we stayed the cable was still not repaired.  We received various excuses from the owners: from not knowing about problem, that it was a holiday and finally upon our departure the last excuse was that it couldn't be repaired while we were on the site. The WiFi.  After setting up an account with a username and password, purchasing a free week and then relogging into said WiFi.  It doesn't work. Either you never get to finish logging into account because it times out or just kicks you out altogether.  Excuse for the WiFi from employees and owners varies from it hasn't worked right in 12 years, it's the best we can offer or we are getting new service in 30+ days (what does this do for us during our stay?).  Even though the website states high speed WiFi. The rules for the activities and the pool slides change daily.  It depends upon which employee is working.  There is no consistency which is very hard explaining to a child why one day they are able to use the water slide and then the next day forbidden.

The amenities described are definitely not what you receive.  The inflatable water slide is disappointing by far. The amount of water trickling out of the pipes barely wets down the slide.  With the extremely hot weather that was experienced over the 4th of July holiday it was not refreshing and at times going down the slide you stuck to the material.  We were told by the employees that the water could not be turned up because of their water pressure. The water balloon area was adequate.  For a group of 7, we were given approximately 12 balloons.  The area for both the slide and water balloons is covered in small rocks so going barefoot is extremely hard on the feet. The beach…. Where's the beach?   We found a Sandy area labeled beach but if you want to get into the water be ready to sink into muck.  Obviously no one wanted to do this, while we were there we never seen anyone partaking. The pools.  Where do I start.  There is a kiddie pool with water slides.  The slides are open from Noon till 6 pm, there is an employee not a lifeguard at the top of the slide telling you when it's clear to slide.  Depending on who is working their 2 hours shift, it will determine which rules will be enforced.  The swimming pool is open the same hours as the office, closing at 8 pm Sunday thru Thursday and 10 pm Friday and Saturday.  The reason for the early closing during the week is so the pool and slides can be rented out to private parties.  It was extremely enjoyable to watch others able to swim in a pool that was included in the price of your camping during the extremely warm weather experienced.  During the day the pool is also “rented out”, day passes are sold to locals so when you go to the pool it is taken over by neighbors who are sold season access passes to the pool.  So don't expect to find a table with an umbrella.  We ended up driving to the beach because of the crowded pool.  One rule that is not enforced is making sure children under 14 are being supervised by an attentive adult.  We assisted two different children in distress while swimming with no parents around.  A maximum pool capacity sign would also be nice. The water pressure coming out of the well can be stopped by your thumb.  If the water basin is being filled for the washing machine (that's correct the  washing machine is not hooked up to running water) then you have no water at all.

Does this sound like a resort?  I say NO.

We attempted to address or concerns with the owner and asked for a partial refund since your stay has to be prepaid before arriving at the campground.  Our request fell upon deaf ears and we told “sorry your stay wasn't what...

I was really torn on how to review this campground because we did enjoy our time and made the best out of it, but we are not sure we would return. This review is a little long but if you are traveling from far away to stay here I want you to have all the information. We have been camping for awhile and live in PA, however we have friends who live in Yorktown and they grew up going to this campground 20 years ago and suggested it to us. We booked a week long stay. Full hook up pull through site across from the playground.

We arrive Sunday around 5pm. Water park is open and we needed to beat the heat so we jumped right in and were having a blast on the water slides just to be told a couple hours later they are getting shut down due to high chemical levels. The water slides remained closed the entire week. We asked the office everyday when they would be back up and running as our friends wanted to come back and visit the campground with their kiddos. Everyday we were told “part was ordered it’ll be here tomorrow and up and running hopefully”. My 10 year old stared at those slides all week long completely bummed they were closed.

Fast forward to Saturday, six days later the slide is open. My daughter cuts her foot real bad on a broken plastic grate that just feet out from the bottom of the water slide.

The pool was over crowded and dirty due to everyone hanging in it to cool down. Also people were bringing glass bottles into the pool area everyday.

During the week when it wasn’t crowded the water pressure was okay, but come Thursday we had next to no water pressure. We noticed the sudden change and spent an HOUR filling our water tank so we would have access to water.

Bath houses were awful and dirty we couldn’t even use them. Kids were cleaning them over using bleach but not actually cleaning properly. Toilets leaked. Lights were falling down.

Website advertised having on site laundry available, that is also a lie. They were closed the whole time.

GOLF CARTS are out of control at this campground. Huge issue for us. We camp to relax not watch CHILDREN rip around a campground in golf carts blasting music while on their phones. At 11pm it was pitch dark, and golf carts were still going by our site with NO LIGHTS on and the kids had to be as young as 12! I also witnessed a dog off leash chasing a golf cart trying to get into a fight with the other dog on the golf cart. Very stressful that a violent dog was free like that feet away from our dog and child.

Dog crap is everywhere! This is the first campground we have camped at that people just leave their dog’s poop all over the place. There were two piles in the playground! I watched the young staff members walk right around it and not pick it up as well.

When the weekend came the crabbing and fishing piers were crowded. Boats were allowed to dock at the crabbing piers and just hang out there so there was no room to crab. That was a huge disappointment.

The property itself is nice! The location is great. The gift shop has nothing kid friendly. My daughter saved up her allowance for months because she knows how fun camp stores are but this one was packed with wine, beer, and dog toys/treats. Also, during the week there are no kid friendly events or crafts planned.

The seasonal campers are not friendly and have no control of their drinking or pets.

We left a message asking if the visitor day pass fee could be waived for our guest since the water park was closed but we never got a reply.

This place has potential and they were working on it from time to time but it looked like ONE person was trying to juggle all the repairs while being stopped every five minutes and becoming side tracked. I hope the owners can make some changes to make this place more kid...

I’ll try and keep this short and to the point but there’s a lot to cover.. first off the laser tag is not working so that was a big disappointment for the kids… It really is a simple fix to notify booking customers that it’s not available any longer but I guess they like the surprise approach…. Our site was directly across from a bath house and some sort of an alarm would sound continuously starting at around 3 in the morning and stop at around 8….Very difficult to relax and sleep. I could be wrong but I also got the feeling there are a lot of long term “residents” in the campground. Everywhere me and my kids went I felt like we stood out as outsiders and that we weren’t really welcome. One permanent site had a disabled vehicle with no tags in the front area….In one instance we were in the pool and it was packed. I watched an employee walk out from the office and come straight to me without hesitation and ask to see my wristband to prove I was allowed on the campground. Afterwards he walked straight back inside, literally passing like 6 people with no wristbands at all (one of which had a giant lizard on his shoulder!!! Like WTH??) Initially I was embarrassed but then really got kinda pissed about it… I had also sent my 13yo son to the camp store to look for a hose connection part, and he said the cashier was completely rude and when asked if they had the part he was told “go check for yourself”…. The noise levels didn’t bother us but if you are with really small kids expect music and bass throughout the night. So the real gem was waking up Sunday morning and hooking up to sewer connection and having it back up into my dump hose…. That was a yummy treat. The entire septic was backed up and had to incrementally dump little by little to avoid an overflow… and lastly they do not pickup trash (which is fine) but only have one set of dumpster all the way at the entrance. I just held onto it until checkout and sure enough…. They were completely overflowed and spilling trash out…. I literally just threw the bags at the dumpster and put the hammer down. We do a lot of camping and maybe my expectations are just too high. Needless to say me and all of the campers parked around me that morning agreed we would not be returning to Camp Cardinal….

Update First off, thank you Camp Cardinal for the extremely fast and professional response. Many of your regulars probably do know about the septic issues, but as a non regular, imagine my surprise when nasty black tank contents stop going down and are stuck in my dump hose. As far as the long term guests you are correct and after reviewing your website again you clearly state that you are indeed a long-term campground. From my past experiences I tend to steer away from long term residence campgrounds because there always seems to be an underlying passive aggressive feeling of being a nuisance or an annoyance to the regulars while using amenities. As far as the wristband check, I can without a doubt say that we spent the majority of the weekend at the pool and never saw one other person get checked, and again this was after seeing about 20% of the people there not wearing wristbands. Again I certainly appreciate the response, and I think we both agree that important information that you advertise as being available (laser tag & full hook ups) should be either updated on the website or emailed to prior booked guests before the...