Marriott's Oceana Palms — Hotel in Riviera Beach

Wow what a property, what a villa!||||- - - - - - - -||||December, 2024 Visit||||My wonderful wife and I were able to visit Palm Beach / West Palm Beach / Riviera Beach in December, the week before Christmas… it was a wonderful trip.||||My wife picked the location and did a wonderful job. I worked during the day and we enjoyed fun time in the late afternoons and evenings.||||The welcome at Most Marriott Vacation Clubs is similar… get you chicken and make sure you’re familiar with the property, parking, provide the week’s event schedule, etc. Much similar in all locations… and yet here… we received the most genuine welcome we’ve ever received. ||Such a wonderful welcome… Andrew very genuine interest and enthusiasm in the property and helping each guest/couple/family feel welcome and at home… thank you, Andrew!||||The property is much like Crystal Shores, in Marco Island, but a mirror image… Crystal Shores faces west into the Gulf; Oceana Palms faces east to the Atlantic. Both have 2 towers with multiple pools and a great staff offering fun on the sand and poolside.||||The building by the beach is tower 1 / Sunrise; we were in tower 2 / Sunset… and Andrew got us into one of only a few rooms that have a wrap-around balcony that offers 270-degree views of Riviera Beach / Palm Beach / Singer Island - SO NICE!!! We enjoyed sunrise from inside and from the balcony; we enjoyed sunsets from the desk by the bed, and especially from the wrap-around balcony.||||For fun, we enjoyed:||1. swimming in the pool - yes it is big enough for laps; there is another pool for splashing and fun||2. hot tubs||3. food and drinks by the pool, including sorbet and ice cream||4. beach - Oceana Palms has both chaise lounged and also big cushioned chairs, brought out each morning||5. games - bingo, 21, and Texas Hold ‘em, and meeting other guests||6. the warmth of the fire pit, and meeting other guests||||||- - -||||||The Property||||Marriott’s Crystal Shores is located on Singer Island, officially in Riviera Beach, near the bridge to the mainland.||||The property is in the water; there is a short boardwalk, from the lower pool, across the dunes, to the sand / beach / ocean.||||Most Marriott Vacation clubs are more like apartment complexes - villas in buildings usually shorter than six stories tall; Oceana Palms and some other locations are taller high rises / towers. I was curious what I would think about being in a (semi-) high rise… the tower did not matter, and in fact, us staying on the 14th of 20 floors was great as it provided wonderful views!||||There are:||- 2 swimming pools and many chairs and tables and some cabanas||- 2 hot tubs||- ping pong / table tennis, pool, shuffleboard||- a bar for pizza and drinks||- a restaurant with beach views with a full food and drink menu||- activities by the pool through the day, including: trivia, card games, tie-dye t-shirts, candle making, karaoke, and more||||Oceana Palms has 2 towers, multiple pools and hot tubs, outdoors ping-pong / table tennis, space for soccer basketball, and more, and a great staff offering fun on the sand and poolside.||||- - -||||||The room||||We stayed in a two bedroom villa||||- 1 king bedroom with bath, and a TV||- 1 two-queen bedroom with bath, and a TV||- Full kitchen - stove, microwave, refrigerator, dish washer; island||- Living room with TV||- Balcony with Hurricane-strength (big heavy and green views) doors; and table and four chairs for eating; and two chaise lounges for relaxing… or waking up with coffee||- Laundry / washer/dryer in the room||||The building by the beach is tower 1 / Sunrise; we were in tower 2 / Sunset… and Andrew got us into one of only a few rooms that have a wrap-around balcony that offers 270-degree views of Riviera Beach / Palm Beach / Singer Island - SO NICE!!! We enjoyed sunrise from inside and from the balcony; we enjoyed sunsets from the desk by the bed, and especially from the wrap-around balcony.||||- - -||||||Nearby groceries||||multiple Publix; the one has parking upstairs, with an escalator for your cart, similar as to the one at Ikea stores||||The closest Publix is locate just on the mainland, just across the bridge to/from Singer Island… on Florida Hw 708 / Blue Hero.||||||- - -||||||Parking||||Most parking is in a five-level underground garage, with some outdoors, uncovered parking also offered||||||- - -||||||- - -||- - -||||Reflections Bar & Grill||||- - -||- - -||||Great food & service, poolside||||And wonderful service from the staff.||||We recommend Reflections for:|| 1. gluten-free (GF) Hawaiian pizza|| 2. gluten-free (GF) pepperoni pizza|| 3. seasoned french fries|| 4. drinks - mai tais and alcohol-free mojitos||||Thank you, Reflections & staff, Tapialusk & Chris!||||||- - -||- - -||||Thank you, Marriott’s Oceana Palms, Andrew, Alex (in Sales) & the entire...

We just spent 5 nights here in a 2-bedroom ocean VIEW room in the Sunset building. We are Westin owners, which now included Marriott Vacation Club as well, so it was our second time at a Marriott VC. ||I do have to say, I’ve stayed at better resorts on the beach, but I’ll still give this 3.5-4 stars. ||We preferred shopping and dining in Palm Beach area - and overall it just felt more upscale and nice there. About a 15-20 minute drive. ||Guys golfed a few times at recommended courses and had fun. Girls did the Marriott hotel spa one day and enjoyed. It’s about 5 units down if you walk or Uber. ||Check the weather if you plan to go here during summertime (rainy season)! We assumed WPB was like 30A and gets lots of sunny summertime weather; however, it rained (like a monsoon!) most of our days here (and flight out of WPB even got cancelled, so we spent an extra night in Miami). Would NEVER go here again in June! And have learned to check when it’s prime season or not. Must be why we were able to book here for June within less than a 12-month window.||Positives:|Clean and relatively updated rooms|Friendly staff at check-in and they greet you every time you walk through lobby|Nice beach with free chairs and $20 umbrellas to rent for a day, $5 for a small table. The hut where you rent also serves some good cold beer etc. |Good unit with all of the utensils we needed |They’ll replenish towels, laundry detergent etc upon request |Beautiful clear ocean water! Gentle waves. |Not a “party” crowd and no one was blasting loud music at beach- yay! ||Negatives:|No robes in rooms (this would be a nice and luxurious touch, relatively inexpensive to implement?)|No daily room cleaning |No beach or poolside servers/wait staff as are typical at most Westin properties we’ve stayed at |Cramped parking spaces (1 car per unit)|Limited restaurant options on site ||Would we go here again? Probably not my first choice. Would prefer 30A area of Florida for beaches with white sand next time. But it was still a fun family vacation. We made the most of the rain etc! (That’s not their fault!) ||Some recommended restaurants in PB:|- Flagler Steakhouse at the Breakers (best steak ever!)|- Renato’s Italian near Worth Street - amazing! Go early enough for daylight and sit outside courtyard (feels like you’re in Italy!)|- Imoto at Buccan— wow such delicious sushi! |-Hive for awesome breakfast and pastries |- Dontee’s Diner for another good DINER breakfast or lunch in a longtime, famous spot ||Visit the Colony Hotel near Worth Ave for the cutest boutique hotel vibes and to grab lunch or a cocktail. Wow! Beautiful!! ||Johnny Longboats (about a mile away) IF you like touristy and overpriced, mediocre food. My least favorite meal there.||Hope this helps. |This was a family of 4 with 2 adult kids. So the review would be much different if we had smaller kids I’m sure! Perfect place for that with a kids pool etc. and lots of shade...

I really liked it here. Little activities every day to get to know the people in the place and they often served free drinks and / or food at them. The whole place is super photogenic and every place had good lighting etc. it’s right on the beach. You can drink at the pools. Two of the pools seemed to be handicap accessible as well. They regularly had games at the pool where you could win stuff and maybe we were lucky but we actually kept winning them so it seems like they’re pretty easy for people to win if they participate and try. Our party of 5 won bingo twice and some other games as well. They’re simple prizes but fun to win (a t shirt, free drink coupons, wine, a water proof phone case, a Fanny pack, a hat are all prizes we won) The bar downstairs was fine. Happy hour was meh but the breakfast wraps downstairs with like the hash browns in them and stuff? SO good. We got one almost every morning. A full gym with like pelotons that you can sign into your account from so you don’t lose your streak, treadmills, various other equipment and a water bottle refill station

It seemed to be a large amount of people over 50+ and a minimal amount of kids which I actually liked a lot. There was a kids area for them as well which may have made it so they aren’t like running around unattended. We “didn’t get a room with a view” but in my opinion, it was better. We had both a view of the water and the city and the bridge, sunsets and sunrise 🌅 from either side but it was considered not ocean view I did have two front desk people that I hated. We asked simple questions and they like snapped back at us and were not helpful at all. Another worker seemed to overhear the interaction and came over to assist us instead. She was super polite and great. Same with the other woman we spoke to after, she was excellent as well. 90% of the staff was great and happy. My sister made friends with the Maintenance guys even. Gladys was among the people we liked and the other woman who was...