While vacationing on the Sunshine Coast, Karen and I stayed at a beautiful resort called the "Sunshine Coast Resort". It was a pleasant oasis away from home. Located in Madeira Park in Pender Habour, it's about an hour's drive north of Gibsons.
We first learned about this resort through its Web site. We were particularly impressed with the ability to browse through floor plans of rooms, and see virtual 360 photos of all the rooms -- yes -- every room, not just their 'best of breed' rooms. Have you ever been attracted by the glossy photo advertising for a hotel just to find out that the photographed room is actually their most expensive executive suite and not the economy class room you booked? Not so with the Sunshine Coast Resort Web site! Every room was available to see. Thus we were able to anticipate what we would see and found our suite to be pretty much exactly as we had seen it when we arrived. Prices were also very reasonable particularly in the shoulder season where we were able to take advantage of their 4 nights for the price of 3 special.
Upon arrival, we were greeted by the well mannered front desk person / owner Ralph Linnmann. Ralph was very energetic and was extremely accomodating. He showed us to our room and made sure that we were settled including providing us with a portable playpen for Erich to sleep. Over the course of our stay, Ralph also made sure our every request was met - from setting up a DVD player to providing us with propane for the BBQ to ensuring we knew how to operate the hot tub. His service was second to none.
Photo: (above) night view of our harbour facing balcony. (below) view of the harbour from the marina.
We rented a one bedroom suite with full bathroom, kitchenette, and a dining / living room area. Every room includes a view of the harbour and an outside balcony from which to enjoy it. In addition to the kitchnette, a propane BBQ was provided. Internet access was available via a site wide WIFI connection. We found the accomodation to be spacious and provided ample room for us to feel comfortable relaxing there most of the day. The suite was clean. In fact, some parts were so clean we felt the need to for their sake put a sheet overtop in case Erich should spit up.
A short distance away was their public deck where a hot tub and various lawn chairs sat. Karen particularly enjoyed soaking in the hot tub while Jonathan took advantage of the beautiful scenery to add to his photo collection.
We don't have much in the way of criticism: any negative points were more than made up for by positive ones. We did have one night where housekeeping didn't come due to illnesss: they only had two housekeepers and both were sick. As a result, the poor owner ran around the resort like a madman trying to cover for them but of course ran short of time. Jonathan also found the placement of the microwave in our kitchenette was extremely poor as it was too high for Karen and low enough and protruding enough to be a nuisance when washing dishes. Jonathan managed to bump his head on it several times during the stay.
All in all, we enjoyed our stay and would be happy to recommend it to anyone who wants a good vacation away from it all. We would definitely return if the opportunity arises.
Happy 1/2 year birthday to Erich! Yes, that's right - our son turns 6 months today! For his half "birthday" he had the fortune of visiting the doctor to get his sixth month immunization shots -- ouch! Well the good news is that Erich gets to start on solids today. So, for fun, Karen and I brought out the buffet for him to choose. Mmm yummy yummy.
