Reviews for Navarre Vacation Rental - VRBO 164976ha - 5 BR Florida Main North West House in FL, Exquisite Navarre Home on Sound: 5/18-25; 6/1-6/8; 6/29-7/6 Avl

Family vacation

Guest CNT613
Date of stay 10/06/12
Review Submitted 10/16/12

The home was perfect for our needs with a family of 13. Enough room for everyone to find their own space. The pool and hot tub were clean and in good working order. The home owners were always just an e-mail away and returned answers to any questions or concerns we may have had. The accomodations were as described in the description of the property. Beutiful setting and view of the water. Kids old and young enjoyed the kayaking and fishing. We brought so many things that we could have left at home like beach chairs, beach toys, fishing equipment, pool toys, pack and play, just to mention a few. All in all we would recommend this property to anyone and have already done so. As soon as we recover from a week with 4 grandchildred we will probably do it again in the future.

Recommended for: Families with young children

Owner response: Todd and Connie, Thanks for your generous review - we're glad you stayed with us and hope you can come back again!

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Beautiful Views and Spacious Home with Great Potential for Excellence!

Guest Paula
Date of stay 03/10/12
Review Submitted 06/14/12

This home is very inviting, has lovely views and provided a spacious house for our party of 8. Overall, our time at Seahorse was a solid four star good experience. We have stayed before in VRBO's that were not typical rentals but second homes to the owners. It is our hope our review which we have thoughtfully considered for months will be taken as constructive. The photos and the listing description are accurate with the exception of statement "everything you could expect in a tropical resort - only more exclusive". Guests are provided a detailed five page 32 item document of policies and procedures and are asked to act as caretaker with trash pickup, propane refills if empty, among other things. Some items seemed absurd to put into print. Obviously, the owners have had issues with many items that are detailed in the document and reinforced in emails, rental agreement, etc. We all agreed it must be terribly hard for the owners to rent their second home they lovingly built from the ground up to upwards of 18 people at a time in a 3300sft home. The owner was responsive and the house is maintained in a good not excellent fashion. On our stay, the property was clean with the exception of the kitchen area (oven, cupboard under the sink, pantry and applicances). We cleaned up the area and notified the owner that discussing these issues with her cleaning crew would be helpful for future guests. The owner asked us on our vacation to wait at the home for a dishwasher repairman. We thought this was presumptious to ask of vacationing families and she gave us procedures on how to operate the dishwasher in a different way. In addition, the owner was understanding when our 15 year old laid down one evening on his bed and the bed frame of an attractive iron bed broke. We were pleased the owner did not hold us repsonsible for something that looked like it had been fixed in the past. The Stereo/TV System has detailed instructions that are quite confusing that had two grown men in fits our entire stay. This is something that should be simplified ASAP. This property has EXCELLENT potential if an on-site managment firm is employed to take care of things to create that "tropical resort only more exclusive" ambiance that the out of state owners want to provide guests.

Recommended for: Families with teenagers

Owner response: Thank you for your thoughtful comments. We appreciate hearing from guests, and often we rely on them to let us know what works and what doesn't so we can correct things if necessary. We agree the statement on our listing, "everything you could expect in a tropical resort - only more exclusive" may not be the best description, and we have rewritten it on the site. Exclusivity perhaps implies that the property has a staff to attend to a guests' needs, which is not the case. Instead it is an upscale home in a beautiful setting, but guests are asked to treat it with respect and hopefully as they would their own home. This includes wheeling the trash to the curb, replacing propane if needed (guests are reimbursed), and following basic check-out instructions. The information document the guest is referring to includes instructions for how to operate such items as the spa and electronics, as well as days of trash pickup, housekeeping information, where supplies are kept, etc. It is no different than many other vacation rental properties which include a notebook of info about the home. We find it is best to spell everything out so guests can refer to the information rather than feel they have to call us. We did think we had a dishwasher problem and in trying to be proactive we notified the guest before she checked in and asked if she would be at the home at a certain time for a repairman. It ended up the repair needed was minor and the dishwasher operated fine without it. We are able to work around that if a guest is not there or does not want to be bothered. We agree the TV/stereo was complicated, and have taken steps to make it easier. There's a balance between providing amenities such as flat-screen TVs, DVDs, outdoor speaker system and surround sound and making everything easy for anyone to operate. We have owned several vacation properties and have used management companies twice but found that we are able to manage it better. In fact, we have received comments from guests who stayed in our property under a company and then when we managed it ourselves and felt the experience was better without the company. An on-site firm would not be practical at these properties as we do not have a guest house for a manager, and most likely it would make guests feel uncomfortable. We are hands-on with our guests, as well as our cleaners, landscapers, pool service, pest control, HVAC, etc. We also make many visits to the property throughout the year.

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Delightful stay, beautiful home, knock-out views

Guest KC
Date of stay 10/20/11
Review Submitted 11/03/11

We rented this perfect get-away to accommodate a large group of friends and family for a long weekend while we celebrated our son's "winging" in the Pensacola area. The house is designed with ample space both inside and out for social time and also provides privacy and comfort in its well-planned layout of bedrooms and baths. We had 12 in our party and everyone was delighted with the beautiful views over the sound, the pool and hot tub, kayak, shady lawn areas and well-appointed porches. The furniture and decor are of excellent quality. This house is gem by the sea.

Recommended for: Adventure seekers, families with teenagers, families with young children, girls getaway, romantic getaway, sightseeing.

Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 1/1

Family Vacation

Guest The Travelers
Date of stay 08/13/11
Review Submitted 09/19/11

Thank you so much for allowing us to stay in your beautiful home. We had 12 family members vacationing there and had ample room for everyone. We loved the pool and also the privacy of the beach with a fishing pier in our back yard! The view from the back porch was awesome! The house was beautifully decorated, very clean and had every amenity we could possibly want. We had good communication with the owner and she was very helpful to answer any questions we had and to recommend places to visit and eat. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to make their vacation a memorable one.

Recommended for: Adventure seekers, age 55+, families with teenagers, families with young children, girls getaway, sightseeing.

Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 1/1

Family Vacation

Guest Kasey B.
Date of stay 08/06/11
Review Submitted 08/16/11

We spent a week in August at the Seahorse retreat with our family of 17, grandparents, parents, teenagers, kids and one infant. We had a wonderful time. The sound was perfect for the little ones to play in the sand and not worry about under-tow or big waves. It was also perfect for Kayaking (we brought two of our own kayaks, but the home had two in the garage) and we did spot a few dolphin. The pool and spa were nice and the big kids enjoyed sleeping in the "tower". This was a lovely home and plenty of room for all of us. We brought our bay boat and had it docked there the entire time. Destin, Ft. Walton, and Navarre are only a few minutes up the road if you prefer the Gulf waters. We did not notice the highway noise at all, but thought the artillary sounds from the Air Force base in the evenings was neat. The Spaid's were very attentive and had new pots and pans delivered while we were there. We had some trouble with the internet access but if that is the least of your worries on vacation, then you are doing pretty well! We would definately recommend this to vacationing families.

Recommended for: Age 55+, families with teenagers, families with young children, sightseeing.

Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 4/4

May 2011

Guest pricegirls
Date of stay 05/14/11
Review Submitted 06/04/11

House and location were great and as described EXCEPT televisions in both master bedrooms did not work the whole week we were there. Crab pot was rusted out with no rope. Sheets and towels were gross and kitchenware was flimsy and sparse.

Recommended for: Families with young children

Owner response: We always try to go above and beyond to make sure all our guests enjoy the home and amenities, and this group appeared to be pleased the numerous times we communicated with them during their visit. Thus, we were surprised and disappointed to learn through this review that they didn't enjoy a five-star experience. Before guests check-in, we ask them to let us know if anything is amiss so we can address it. Our guests did notify us of trouble they were having with two televisions, one older and one a fairly new flat-panel television. That same day, after being unable to fix the problem, we purchased two new flat-screen TVs. However, we were reassured that the non-working TVs were not an issue because there are several other televisions in the home. They explained that they were on vacation and not really watching television anyway. The new TVs were supposed to arrive in two days, but the online retailer did not deliver them as quickly as promised. Sometimes we call in repair people to correct an issue that ends up being user education. For example, these guests notified us that our oven was not working properly. We called a GE technician who came out the next day only to tell us that nothing was wrong with the oven; the guest was simply not used to cooking on an electric range (for our part, we incurred a $79 service charge). In regards to the comment about "gross" linens, this is a bit of an over exaggeration. It would suggest that our linens were unclean. We have a professional cleaning crew who cleans the home and washes the linens before every visit. When we find linens that have become worn, we replace them. To date, we have not had other guests make the same comment. However, we would have been happy to change them out for her if we had been made aware of the concern. As for "sparse" kitchenware, we supply perfectly good utensils and dinnerware for 16-18 people, plus some high-end appliances for those who like to cook, such as a heavy-duty KitchenAid mixer, food processor, and blender. The crab trap is not an amenity we provide or advertise but has been left by another guest. It is at the end of the dock and has its home in the salty sea water, which does make things rusty. A nearby Walmart sells $2 crab traps for the casual crabbing adventure. We're glad they did enjoy everything else about the home and area!

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loved it!

Guest BC
Date of stay 05/02/11
Review Submitted 07/14/11

Our family reunion...this was the perfect place for my family to unwind and reconnect. The best part was how clean the house was and I loved the flavor of the upscale beach decor! The house was large enough to sleep all of our guests and we had room to spread out and not feel on top of each other. The pool was very unique with an infinity edge and a separate hot tub. The owners were very accommodating to our needs and shared with us their favorite places to sight see and dine in the area. I would definitely come back again and next time, we will stay a little longer!

Recommended for: Adventure seekers, people with disabilities, age 55+, families with teenagers, families with young children, girls getaway, tourists without a car, romantic getaway, sightseeing.

Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 1/1

Could not have been a more perfect retreat for us and three other families!

Guest WyoFamily
Date of stay 09/03/10
Review Submitted 09/15/10

We stayed here in early September and it was all we had hoped for and more. The location was excellent- close to grocery stores, etc. The beach area was great, but it also had beautiful foliage and trees unlike some of the more barren areas of Navarre. The little (and often big) boys spent hours fishing off of the dock while the little girls had the run of the beach and pool areas. The water at Seahorse Retreat (Santa Rosa Sound) was clean and beautiful. The house is very large- all four families felt like they had their own space and privacy. The Spaid family was wonderful to work with and I hope we have the opportunity to stay in their home again sometime!

Recommended for: Families with teenagers, families with young children, girls getaway.

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Awesome House!

Guest Fan of Group Vacations
Date of stay 08/07/10
Review Submitted 08/31/10

This house was perfect for 4 families with lots of kids to rent together. The private beach was great -- we had a couple windy days that created great waves for the kids to play in. Perfect location right between Navarre and Ft. Walton/Okaloosa area....so travelers can experience both gulf coast beaches 15 minutes away. Foosball and train table kept kids occupied while the adults made dinner each night. The only "downfall" is the house carries noise very easily -- we could hear the kids in the cupola each night and they could hear us in the living room. Everyone had a great time! Very well maintained grounds and pool. One family took advantage of the Blue Angels free show and had a great time.

Recommended for: Age 55+, families with teenagers, families with young children, girls getaway, sightseeing.

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Perfect Family Getaway

Guest Amy
Date of stay 07/31/10
Review Submitted 03/23/11

We stayed here last August for a week and had the time of our lives. We had 5 children of various ages, and 6 adults. We had PLENTY of space for everyone. We enjoyed kayaking right out the back door and even saw dolphins swim near us in the sound. We had a great time in Navarre and in Ft. Walton Beach. The water park was a blast and everyone must make the trip to Seaside (the city used in the Truman Show movie) and buy cupcakes out of the airstream trailor. They were amazing. The house was beautiful, well maintained, clean, roomy, and a perfect place to have quality time with your peeps!

Recommended for: Adventure seekers, age 55+, families with teenagers, families with young children, girls getaway, pet owners, romantic getaway, sightseeing.

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A Unique 'Home' in a great location.

Guest StephenJohn
Date of stay 03/27/10
Review Submitted 04/05/10

Everything about the unique property was as 'advertised' and then some ! The owners certainly make one feel welcome. It seemed no detail was overlooked ~ from the advanced overview sheet rec'd; to the 'Fun things to do' list that made exploring the area easy; to the cleaniness of the property when we arrived. Everything was spot on. Located on the Sound is a great location and the pool & hot tub just puts it over the top. From almost dawn to dusk, the Grandkids had a ball, as did we all. Enjoy the SeaHorse !! We definitely did.

Recommended for: Adventure seekers, age 55+, families with teenagers, families with young children, romantic getaway.

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Guest Rhonda Kelly
Date of stay 08/12/09
Review Submitted 08/12/09

This property is spectacular! We enjoyed a family vacation with our children and grandchildren. A lot to do in this area and the private beach was great for the smaller children. Hope to return soon!

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Guest The Kiser Family
Date of stay 08/03/09
Review Submitted 08/03/09

Seahorse Retreat is a beautiful home in a lovely setting and our family of 14 enjoyed it thoroughly! Because there were nine children ranging from 1 - 16, it was wonderful to have a LARGE house, yard, pool, and game room for everyone to spread out and enjoy. We also loved being close to the beaches and other activities while staying in a quiet, secluded home to relax completely. Thank you, Tim, Elizabeth and children for sharing your spacious, well-appointed home with us for a fun vacation and many memory-making moments. God Bless, Danny & Diane Kiser Children & Grandchildren

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Fun times in Navarre

Guest Dawson's Pride
Date of stay 07/25/09
Review Submitted 08/04/09

My family and I recently had the pleasure of spending a glorious week at this house with two other families. In all, our group had six adults and six young and inquisitive boys ranging in ages from five to eight and the house accommodated us with plenty of space to spare. Aside from the, shall we say, ambient road noise from Hwy 98 (which sits directly off the highway), the house couldn’t have better suited our needs or desires. We brought a bay boat with us and enjoyed discovering the area by water, docking at Juan Pagota’s for dinner, and other activities including sun and sand at Navarre beach and a relaxing afternoon at Crab Island in Destin. The boys explored the private beach every morning and evening, searching for crabs and fish, and then plunged into the pool and hottub to unwind. We absolutely fell in love with the area and cannot wait to return again soon. The owners are a pleasure to work with and attend to any and all questions or concerns with amiable and expedient attention.

Recommended for: Adventure seekers, age 55+, families with teenagers, families with young children, girls getaway, romantic getaway, sightseeing.

Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 6/7

A house made for a wedding

Guest Rosaletta
Date of stay 02/12/09
Review Submitted 03/18/09

This home was the perfect place for our daughter's wedding last month. She used the 2nd floor master suite (canopy bed) as her room before her wedding. Even with all her stuff the room was still spacious. The house was beautifully decorated throughout and had plenty of room for our guests. On the eve of the wedding the groom had a cookout for everyone. Even though it was raining no one got wet because of the design of the porches. He was still able to use the grill at the house and some of the guest even ate on the back porch. A local photographer took some beautiful pictures of the wedding. The palm trees and the beach/pier made excellent backgrounds for the pictures. Everything turned out very nice. We would highly recommend this house to anyone planning a destination wedding. Thanks again, Mother of the Bride

Recommended for: Age 55+, romantic getaway.

Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 23/24

Guestbook Comment

Guest Anonymous
Date of stay 10/01/08
Review Submitted 10/22/08

The pictures of this home do not do it justice... This home is gorgeous!! We had 13 people stay and it was incredibly comfortable!! My family and I are already trying to arrange plans to go back soon!! The house is equipped with everything you could need or want, it is truly amazing!! Blessings!

Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 4/5

Guestbook Comment

Guest Anonymous
Date of stay 10/01/08
Review Submitted 10/13/08

It was the perfect atmosphere and the perfect day for my wedding. The houses, amenities, and scenery far surpassed my expectations. I would not have changed a thing. We hope to make it a yearly family vacation, because we and our guests were so pleased with both houses. Thanks for the best wedding a girl could have! Mr. and Mrs. Hudgins

Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 3/4

Guestbook Comment

Guest Anonymous
Date of stay 10/01/08
Review Submitted 10/06/08

This home was above exceptional!! We had our wedding in the back yard, so I was a little nervous about how everything would look when we arrived...but...Everything was perfect, so spacious, great views, amazing landscaping, minutes from everything, very safe area and was so much more than I expected!!

Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 4/5

Guestbook Comment

Guest Anonymous
Date of stay 09/01/08
Review Submitted 09/20/08

We Couldn't have had a better experience in this lovely home. There was so much for us to do that was so close by that this vacation ended up being a total blessing. The home is excellently equipped to handle multiple people and keep them all very comfortable. Having our own access to a private pool and hottub not to mention a great dock for fishing and it's own beach for relaxing and soaking up some salt sea air was just what the doctor ordered for all of us. We would highly recommend this vacation rental to anyone even with younger children in the group. It was very easy for us to keep up with the little ones here, and keep them occupied.

Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 3/3

Resort-like vacation home

Guest GoCubs
Date of stay 07/19/08
Review Submitted 07/29/08

We had a lovely time at Tim & Elizabeth's house! It was beautifully appointed with great amenities. With four families (17 total) to feed, the kitchen served us well as it was stocked with everything we needed to prepare our meals. It had the perfect layout...we liked how it opened up into the family & dining rooms with a great view of the sound. The entertainment system was great...they had many DVD's to pick from and games to play. The kayaks were a great bonus as we took many trips to the "island"! The pool & spa were perfect. The dock provided lots of fun...the kids caught (& released) many fish & crabs! We cooked lots of fish on the grill which we caught on one of the deep sea fishing excursions out of Destin. One of our favorite outings was Pagoda’s on Navarre beach. While we waited for seating at the restaurant, we watched our kids enjoy a pickup game of volleyball with some other children on the beach! Overall we enjoyed our stay and appreciated their attentiveness & customer service!

Recommended for: Adventure seekers, families with teenagers, families with young children, romantic getaway, sightseeing.

Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 3/3

Guestbook Comment

Guest Anonymous
Date of stay 07/01/08
Review Submitted 07/15/08

Thank you Tim and Elizabeth for a wonderful vacation in your lovely home. You really have gone out of the way to think of everything to make your guests comfortable. We're already talking about coming again next summer! We loved the fact that we were on the protected Santa Rosa Sound...as compared to the ocean for a couple of reasons: 1) Because we brought our ski boat and a wave-runner, we had glassy water everyday in this protected area. And, because you have that great dock, we were able to tie them up each night and not worry about waves beating them up. 2) We went to the beach on the gulf side one day and it was full of jelly fish -- a problem (thankfully!) we didn't have to deal with in the water in front of your home. So...truly...it was the ultimate vacation. There was so much space to spread out...all the bathrooms ...bedrooms...garages...etc...we were NEVER on top of each other. Thanks for checking in on us to make sure we were happy! We were! Hope to be in touch in the future! We will recommend your home to our friends.

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Perfect Family Getaway

Guest LECO
Date of stay 06/21/08
Review Submitted 07/02/08

This property exceeded our expectations. It is beautifully decorated and lives up to its description. We enjoyed the convenience of Destin during the day and the tranquility of the Santa Rosa Sound at night. I would recommend this to anyone that wants to relax and spend quality time with their children.

Recommended for: Age 55+, families with young children.

Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 3/3

Guest comment entered by owner

Guest David and Lori V.
Date of stay 06/14/08
Review Submitted 06/13/08

Tim & Elizabeth, We had an exceptional time this week. Your home was an absolute joy to relax in. This has been our favorite family vacation we have ever taken. During our stay we enjoyed the pool, kayaking, shelling, dippin' dots, sno-balls, spending the day boogie boarding, dolphin watching on a cruise, and more! We would love to make this an annual tradition!

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Great family time...with space for everyone!!

Guest Shelley E.
Date of stay 05/24/08
Review Submitted 06/18/08

What a place to stay...the beach, dock, pool and backyard kept everyone busy! The beach was great and allowed the little ones to play in the softer waves. We caught many fish and crabs right off the dock. We truely enjoyed the backyard which offered plenty of room for family games and a short nap in the shade. The pool is out of this world and was used non-stop. The home is beatifully decorated and offers plenty of space for all 12 of us to spread out!

Recommended for: Families with young children

Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 7/7

Guestbook Comment

Guest Anonymous
Date of stay 05/01/08
Review Submitted 05/21/08

We found this beautiful property to be in outstanding condition and well appointed. You'll enjoy lovely views of the bay from the back porch off the main floor or venture up to one of upper floor balconies for a truly memorable sunset. This property offers several options for unwinding on-site including a pool, hot tub, or private beach. You're also just minutes from miles and miles of pristine Navarre Beach. We would recommend this property to anyone.

Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 6/6

Breathtaking

Guest Lynsey
Date of stay 04/30/08
Review Submitted 05/14/08

My family and I had a wonderful time at this beautiful retreat. Everything about this fantastic home is accurate. It is so close to the gorgeous island of Santa Rosa, just between Pensacola and Destin. So there is plenty to do for the adventure seekers. But, also so quiet and peaceful for the people who want to just get away. I will recommend this perfect home to everyone I know. We will return very soon!

Recommended for: Adventure seekers, families with teenagers, families with young children, girls getaway, romantic getaway, sightseeing.

Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 10/11

Vacation Rentals by Owner

Exquisite Navarre Home on Sound: 5/18-25; 6/1-6/8; 6/29-7/6 Avl [#177462] | View Property

Traveler Reviews (26)

Family vacation

Family vacation

Beautiful Views and Spacious Home with Great Potential for Excellence!

Beautiful Views and Spacious Home with Great Potential for Excellence!

Delightful stay, beautiful home, knock-out views

Delightful stay, beautiful home, knock-out views

Family Vacation

Family Vacation

Family Vacation

Family Vacation

May 2011

May 2011

loved it!

loved it!

Could not have been a more perfect retreat for us and three other families!

Could not have been a more perfect retreat for us and three other families!

Awesome House!

Awesome House!

Perfect Family Getaway

Perfect Family Getaway

A Unique 'Home' in a great location.

A Unique 'Home' in a great location.

Fun times in Navarre

Fun times in Navarre

A house made for a wedding

A house made for a wedding

Guestbook Comment

Guestbook Comment

Guestbook Comment

Guestbook Comment

Guestbook Comment

Guestbook Comment

Guestbook Comment

Guestbook Comment

Resort-like vacation home

Resort-like vacation home

Guestbook Comment

Guestbook Comment

Perfect Family Getaway

Perfect Family Getaway

Great family time...with space for everyone!!

Great family time...with space for everyone!!

Guestbook Comment

Guestbook Comment

Breathtaking

Breathtaking