Swan Bay Resort & Marina — Hotel in Town of Alexandria

First impressions were excellent. The sites are pristine. Flat, cement paved pads, brick paver patios, perfectly groomed grass, trees and shrubs surrounding the sites. The picnic tables and stone enclosed firepits are in perfect shape, and the general appearance of the campground is beautiful. The water, electric and sewer hookups were easy. The wifi in the park is pretty good - as wifi goes these days in campgrounds. There were only 2 air channels accessible with our antenna. That was a bit disappointing - but our Roku that we accessed from the wifi kept us entertained. The camp map is excellent. The 2 pools are clean and clear, the waterfront is quite pretty, and the tiki bar is a nice added attraction. There is ample seating around the pool area. The entire campground is entirely flat, so walking, running, dog walking and biking are welcomed activities. The camp store is plentiful with all kinds of items that any camper might need or want, and, at the far end of the park, there happens to be a full supermarket right next door. It is an excellent, pretty location. In fact, the views of the sky during sunset and dusk are impecable. When we checked in, the front desk seemed kind and knowledgeable. And, during our stay, the interactions we had with the maintenance staff were excellent. THIS part of my review gets a 5 star rating. Swan Bay promised a free shuttle bus service, available several times a day, into Alex Bay or Clayton. This services allowed us the opportunity to not have to rent a car to see the sights. When we pulled in, we immediately inquired how things work. The young lady at the desk instructed us to call the day before we wanted the service, as they have to "reserve" it. We reserved the shuttle for 11 a.m. on Wednesday, the 13th. Fine. The next morning, we went up to the office to wait. We asked TWICE if we were in the right place and the answer, was "yup". Fifteen minutes AFTER the time we were supposed to leave, there still was no shuttle. It was at that time they discovered that the girl who took my information for the 13th wrote down the 12th. They then scrambled, and found a fabulous maintenance guy to drive us in. We lost some time in the city, but it turned out fine. Immediately upon returning, we went into the office and reserved shuttle seats IN PERSON, on the 13th, for the 14th, at 9 a.m. We went up to the store the next day, at 8:55. They told him the girl wrote down 11 A.M. - not 9 A.M.! I mean...HOW MANY mistakes can ya make?? Again, maintenance had to rush down and take us into town. The guy explained that much of their regular staff was disrupted by the pandemic. Okay, understood - but can you just do your job? The driver was excellent - and all ended fine. We were supposed to be picked up at 3:15. At 2:55 we found ourselves on a boatride that was being detained. I made a pre-emptive phone call to the camp office, but was put on hold....and after SIX MINUTES of hold, I just hung up. No one ever got back on the phone. I think that's the 3rd strike by this office staff. The story ends fine - we got to the bus stop with 2 minutes to spare, and everything worked out. The driver had no idea we had even called - and that was fine. So, the office staff at this campground gets, unfortunately, a rating of "2". I am sorry, for such a high class campground, whose cost is commensurate with its amenities, the office staff should know what it's doing. So, averaging the 5 rating for the grounds, and the 2 for the staff, I end up with a 3.5. In this rating, I rounded up. I'm not saying that I wouldn't come back - because I surely would. But, I would know NOT to depend on the office staff for much of anything, as they really aren't super responsible - and might need more training to make this campground the excellent place it most...

My family and friends have been coming to thousand islands every year... We love staying at Swan bay resort. It's the nicest campground we ever go to. The full hook up makes our visit epically easy. I can run both my air conditioners, use my microwave and coffee pot without worry of blowing a fuse. wifi is also something that you usually have to pay extra for and it's free at Swan bay. The very large level concrete pads are great! They also make set up so simple! There's good amount of yard space and a very nice firepit at each space. We've stayed pretty much allover the resort and have been very happy at each placement. Depending on what your looking for as far as camping there's more wooded areas with trees or none at all...but convenience of the site is usually where we ask to be. Typically we like being closer to the docks, bar and pool. Our camper does have a shower but we choose to shower at the bathhouse. It could use some very minor repairs in the shower area... but the water pressure is great and very hot! They are clean and I have only ever noticed them being dirty due to people just being lazy who use them before me. It's obvious that they can't be kept up every second of everyday but they do get cleaned daily. If there is ever an issue a staff member would be on top of it right away. My family has grown to build a great relationship with the staff making us always feel welcomed each and every time we visit. They always accommodate our very large group of friends. The bar tenders and gift shop employees are also very friendly. The location of the resort is perfect! With price chopper and the dollar general being so close... it makes our trip less expensive because we tend to make most of our meals at the campground. Definitely like having a bike or scooter because depending on where you are it's a bit of a walk... But with the resort being mostly paved riding bikes skateboards and scooters is a lot of fun and a great way to get around the resort. Most of the time we spend is out on the water... We bring our own boat and dock it at the resort docks. When we get back we're glad that we are staying at Swan bay because we're tired and ready to relax. For us we like to get drinks at the bar, go to the grocery store to get dinner and cook without having to "rough it". I can put my kids to bed with their TV and other electronics then enjoy a little fire. 10/10 enjoy coming to Swan bay for our thousand island vacation. I feel that the negative reviews I've seen posted are all things that are out of the staff members hands... The staff can't control mean glares or remarks from other campers. Or if there's a beer can another camper didn't pick up. Grow up and take some responsibility people... It's a big place to take care of and we all know good employees are very hard to come by these days. There's only so much the staff can do to make everything perfect for everyone. Maybe don't go camping if you have a problem with other...

Honestly, the whole place smelt like poopy sewage, everytime someone went, you could smell it , in the morning , at night , that’s the one thing I remembered from this trip.(they even disclose this smell when you check in, don’t tell you about it possibly before booking lol) this is like an older folks all season camping retreat. Was definitely not what we were expecting for the price we paid a night for the lot, we came to the area to get engaged….we did our stuff and actually packed up and left a day and a half early , so we practically just stayed one night but payed for Fri-Sun. No attempt to ask how things were at drop off or even asked why we were leaving early. Food on site was over priced for it to come out of a food truck/shack like that on a “resort” campground. Kayak and boat rental pricing was out of this world. We brought our fishing gear and couldn’t even get out on a dock anywhere because the one they had, constantly through the day was full of off leash dogs and men standing around.

Not to mention our two very large dogs had to stay inside our camper for the time we were there because , even though they say leashes and tie outs are required, little/medium dogs must be exempt from this as we saw soooo many like this, the dog behind our lot spot was on a bed outside the camper when we pulled up with no leash and barked and tried to come towards us as we let our dogs out the truck. As people with very large dogs who normally get the spotlight on us first because of size, we’re extremely disappointed by how the other patrons handled and how they kept their own animals while at the campsite. This location should also be requiring the physical copy of vaccinations to be seen by the office during check-in, as viral and parasitic diseases spread very fast in tight areas like this site/resort. I find it funny that our site was supposedly a handicap accessible site, as a person with disabilities, this was not spatially or legally extra accessible by anymeans, I mean, look, I couldn’t even use my service dog on site for fear of being charged at/attacked or even allow him to be outside with us sitting or walking because of excess barking or unsanitary pet areas around us . :(

We would have rather stayed on state land or at a no hook up/no electric if we would have known it would have been like this after driving 4hrs and spending $265 for a two night stay that we didn’t even complete or enjoy…at least we got engaged!! Woo!😆😆 Unfortunately I have no pictures of this place, which is shocking as I always document constantly but this was so nerve wracking and disappointing I must have...