Carousel Oceanfront Hotel & Condos — Hotel in Ocean City

I stayed in a 10th floor condo through Airbnb. I was satisfied with the unit itself, and especially the waterfront balcony, as well as the semi-private bay-view balcony, which is also the walkway to the door access each unit. The small windows on this side (in the bedrooms) seem to be the responsibility of Carousel and not the individual condo owners. They appear ok from outside, but once inside you can see they’re quite dirty. It’s February and they were also extremely drafty- made the bedrooms quite chilly. They seem to be due to be changed soon. Also- I don’t know why they made them so small!

My biggest disappointment was the kids ice hockey tournament that began the day after I arrived- the hockey people essentially overtook the entire atrium, parking and common places for the next 3 days- and seemed oblivious that non hockey guests were staying here at this time as well. Kids running around constantly, and numerous vendors were brought in and set up tables selling goods (professional pic packages of the hockey players, for example) making use and navigation of the common shared areas unpleasant to impossible. Even the elevators were full of kids- often unaccompanied and in their excitement and youth, not permitting others to exit before crowding in. There was even a gigantic bouncy house set up in the atrium, blocking a good amount of space- screaming, running kids and piles of shoes… It was like vacationing in Chuckie Cheese! So much for my vision of enjoying a cocktail in the lounge or sipping a cup of coffee in one of the seating areas. The noise level and chaos was constant and excessive from morning until night. I’m not an old grouch- I have kids myself, one still a teen, so not that far removed from life with kids this age- but I felt like an unwelcome intruder just by being here at this time. The pool/hot tub was so overrun with kids the water became very clouded & the air so thick with foggy mist that one could not see bathers in the pool from the chairs. If I had a child, I’d be very nervous because you could not see them in the pool! I tried to use the pool and hot tub 5 or 6 different times. Luckily, they left by Sunday night and I was able to enjoy the rest of my vacation; I added two nights because I felt I lost a few days enjoyment, but then of course the pool/hot tub is routinely closed Mon- Wed in the off season… so of the days I was here that the pool was open, I got to use it 2 days of the 4. My disappointment is mainly that management didn’t do anything to strike a balance for the enjoyment of the amenities for both the hockey and non hockey guests. Perhaps in the the future when such groups come in, you could designate some hours for pool use by tournament guests, and reserve some for the enjoyment of the “regular” guests, and perhaps a memo given to all tournament guests upon check in apprising them that other guests are also staying here, reminding them to be sure to keep the kids under control because it’s not just all about them. I had the impression many of the hockey parents had no clue others were here at the same time. Management/sales should provide the person/entity booking such events with letters to be distributed to all who will attend- a little communication and forethought from the get-to would go a long way in facilitating a peaceful, enjoyable. coexistence for ALL. I know I’m not the only one whose stay was disturbed- I met a couple outside who were leaving to go stay elsewhere. I did address this at the hotel main desk a few times and also directly with the condo office. All staff were understanding and sympathetic but unable to offer anything to compensate for the inconvenience and disappointment. I understand it’s “buyer beware” and now I know better to call Carousel directly and question very carefully about what is planned during any time I’m considering booking...

We stayed at the Carousel Hotel for my daughters cheerleading competition this past weekend that was held at the Convention Center. We chose the Carousel Hotel because we thought it was going to provide a nice place for the kids to play and have fun for the weekend. Unfortunately, the negative experience outweighed the good experience for the children.

We checked in Friday night, to a hotel room on the 2nd Floor overlooking the skating rink. The room was 84 degrees when we checked in. We turned the A/C on, and let it run for 3-4 hours and checked, and it was up to 85 degrees. My wife went to the front desk to let them know. She was informed that the A/C was off due to it being Winter, and the lady at the front desk recommended to get the box fan out of the closet, open up our balcony and just have the fan blow air out of the room. We weren't offered a room switch, a discount/refund, or anything.

Later that evening, there were people yelling and carrying on outside of the bar below our window until 11-12am. The kids had to be up at 5am the next morning, and we had to close the sliding balcony door to get some sleep soaked in our own sweat with 80-degree temperatures. Less than desirable.

The next day, the kids enjoyed the pool, and we went ice skating. That was great until our young son, who was skating for the first time was yelled at by hotel staff for sitting on the side while taking a break. Carousel, I'm very sorry that my 4-year-old, first-time ice-skating son needed to take a few minutes rest on the side of the skating rink. We ended our skating session early.

Later that evening, we ordered pizza out because the prices at the bar were unreasonable and the night before we tried to order a pizza at that time, and they said the kitchen was closed. Vodka and Redbull was $24 for rail vodka - get real. We had our pizza with our friends in the common area by the ice-skating rink attempting to cool off since our room was still around 80 degrees. Security came over, and in front of 4 couples and 7 or 8 kids told us we needed to leave immediately due to them not allowing outside food or drink at the "resort". We asked security where we could have pizza, to which he responded, "in your room". We let him know of the A/C issue, and he said that management told him there was no exceptions, and outside food or drink is not allowed there. Our kids hurried up and picked up their pizza because they thought we were really in trouble due to how we were spoken to.

As we walked back to our room, and past tables full of folks with Dunkin' coffee, drinks they had from their room, and Subway subs, I stopped at the front desk to express our displeasure. I was met with a nice lady, but she wasn't helpful in a solution to our hot room other than recommending we could eat outside in the 48-degree weather on the beach. Once again, no effort to relocate us, refund us, etc.

We ended up cutting our night short and went to bed in our now cool 75-degree room and our other friends decided not to sweat another night and drove 3.5 hours home at 10pm to avoid it. It had only cooled down in our room because we opened the fridge and put a bucket of ice in front of the fan to blow on us. Looking at local laws, the Carousel's lack of a climate-controlled environment was a clear health code violation. That, coupled with rust in the showers, mold in the bathrooms, stains on the sheets, and blood splatter on the walls made our recent stay at the Carousel Hotel our last stay there.

To those looking, please see the price of this place and understand that it's not even worth the low rates they are offering. Photos are attached...

I've stayed here NUMEROUS times and this is the first time I've been disappointed in my stay. My daughter and I headed down for a few days in the beginning of Spring Break (4/23-4/26). I ALWAYS check before booking to see if any amenities we frequent will be closed or limited. Maintenance was being done on the pool but it was scheduled to be operational on the 23rd when we arrived. The Bamboo lounge still did happy hour from 4-6 daily. The ice rink/game rooms would be open on a regular schedule. GREAT!...Or so I thought. We checked in around 5ish without any problems and headed to our room on the 3rd floor. The plan was to go get some food from Bamboo and bring it back to the room for dinner later because we were settled and I didn't want to go back out. We get to Bamboo around 5:30 and the doors are closed. A guest sitting at the atrium tables informed me that they closed at 5pm! Disappointment #1. After going back out to get dinner, we decided to go to the pool around 8 so she would have 2 hours to swim before it closed (one of the many things I love about Carousel!). We sign in and my first thought was wow, it's not crowded AT ALL! My daughter said mom why are there so many people in the hot tub? I look over and there are live 20+ people in there (it's rather small). I also noticed the pool room itself was very cold and normally it's like a sauna when you walk in. She went to put her feet in and said OH WOW, IT'S COLD! I checked myself and it was really cold! The lady sitting on the side said "now you know why there are so many people in the hot tub"! Apparently after maintenance was completed, they found out the heat pump was not working and once fixed, it was taking a long time for the pool to heat up. They should have updated the webiste with this little tidbit of information. He said he expected it to be closer to normal by Wednesday. Great, that's when we leave. Disappointment #2. When I brought this up with the front desk, her response was so lackadaisical that it ticked me off. People plan in advance and spend good money to travel on Spring Break and choose certain hotels for specific amenities that they have. A shoulder shrug and a sorry doesn't suffice. We go up to change, relax for a bit and after 9 decided to salvage our night in the arcade room. We get there and whomp, whomp, whomp, the doors are closed at 9pm although they too are supposed to be open until 10! Disappointment #3!!||||The whole vibe of the hotel was just "off" during this stay. This is the first time I wish I'd stayed elsewhere. What I don't understand is why someone would schedule pool maintenance during the month that spring break starts? Why not do it in January or February? Why limit days/hours for the lounge during the month spring break starts? It doesn't make sense to me. Although this last stay left a sour taste in mouth, it doesn't negate all of the previous excellent stays I've had in the past so I'm sure...