We stayed at the Royale the first week in January. They grounds were well kept and the staff that we dealt with were very friendly. We exchanged a week from our timeshare which is a four star resort. While the Royale cannot compete with our home resort as far as furnishings and such the views, weather and location make up for it! We used the timeshare as a base to rest and change clothes:-) We went deep sea fishing on the Osprey and had a GREAT time. The captain (Rudy) and first mate (Isaiah) were excellent. The boat was clean and the fish were yummy. We would definately do that again. Went golfing one day, checked out the Turtle Lady, Inc. (which was well worth the $3.00 donation), walked on the beach, went to Mexico (it was an experience to go and I'm glad we did, but we wouldn't go again, we love the USA) and attended the "Polar Dip" on New Year's Day. Coming from Minnesota where you cut a hole in the ice for a Polar Dip this was a unique experience. We will be back some day. The only suggestion we would make is if you are fussy about you pillow bring one from home. The pillows left a lot to be desired. But...we survived it and had a great time.

My husband and I took his sister & father to the island for a week stay over Christmas. We own a beautiful timeshare with Marriott in another location and expected similar surroundings, amenities & service. This was not the case. We would not stay at this resort again. I now know there is a difference between the gold crown designation in the timeshare book and those that don't have that seal...this resort did not and it was apparent.

The problems with the resort are too numerous to possibly cover them all. We gave up trying to keep track and by the end of the week tried to just laugh at all that had gone wrong. Just a few things that we were disappointed in are as follows;

1. The stove had basically 2 settings -- low & high..good luck trying to get anything in between..food was either undercooked or burned.

2. We opened up the refrigerator and went to pull out the crisper to put in groceries and it came flying out in my hand. The bar that holds condiments in the door broke right off and the salad dressing bottle came tumbling down & broke all over the floor.

3. Tried to wash towels and after loading up 4 peoples towels & getting the detergent in, the washer didn't work. Called the front desk & was told that maintenance left for the day..so then I asked for new towels to be sent up since the ones we had were all mixed together and had detergent on them. I was told that housekeeping was closed and there was no one authorized to provide clean towels. Gimme a break! I then requested that when maintenance & housekeeping opened at 8 the next day, they please provide us with towels & service. Well, I'm sure you can guess what happened. No one ever contacted us. We finally got the towels washed in another machine.

4. The mattress was possibly the worst I have ever endured. The pillows (all 10 of them) felt as tho they had been stuffed with that styrofoam packing material -- you could feel the lumpy pieces inside. I left with a stiff neck.

5. The sliding glass doors did not lock, nor did they shut tightly which was an issue since we got the first snow on christmas since 1895. The wind was about 35 mph. It would have been nice to have the doors shut.

6. The CD player didn't work. That would have been nice to have given that because of the snow, the cablevision was out & it would have been enjoyable to be able to listen to some christmas music.

7. The water pressure was horrible and the drains didn't work.

8. The couches were visibly dirty & stained. For the kind of money that resort charges people (even tho mine was an exchange) they should be ashamed of themselves for the state of the furniture, floors, etc. (visible chips out of the floors & ceilings). The windows were filthy & prevented seeing the beautiful ocean view.

Okay - I am done ranting & raving. If you opt to stay here, good luck. I should have heeded the warnings I saw in these reviews but chose not to. I would not return to this resort again. There are plenty of other places on the island that would probably be in much better condition. I know that I have never, in all my years of traveling, stayed at a resort that I was so disappointed in. I will only stay in the gold crown (i.e., 4 star) designated resorts in the future to ensure what I am getting for my money.

We stayed August 8th for five nights at Saida Towers. Booked a one bed condo with Padre Island Rentals and when we arrived they upgraded us to a two bed two bath in Saida One. It had a great balcony and view. The beach was lovely. The pools were fairly well maintained and cleaned every day but as a load of people were using them they were a little cloudy.
The condo was clean and comfortable and we were very happy with it.
We also took a great Dolphin Watch boat trip. It was billed as an 'Eco' tour. There were loads of dolphins to be seen....and then they put out a net and then did a full presentation of the contents when it was hauled back in. Very educational and very enjoyable. The company was "The Original Dolphin Watch" to the right of the Sea Ranch restaurant.
The only gripe we had was that the food tended to be a bit samey in the casual dining restaurants.
Louie's Backyard does a great Seafood buffet for 18.75 which has prime rib, crab claws and shrimp and is very good.

Our family recently took a week long trip to South Padre that was disaster from the first step on the island. We were like others and had done research on the internet for places to stay. After thinking the Royale looked nice, we made our reservations back in March, 2004 for the week of July 24, 2004. After spending the day getting there, we are told that they overbooked and we did not have a room. (condo) I had a confirmation number and owell, sorry. The condo they had for us was not even near the beach, however we had to take it because there was not one other room available on the island. My question was 'we were told that if we were not coming we had to cancel 72 hrs in advance or we would be charged - but they did not even contact me at all when they were overbooked and were going to bump us out of our room. O'well, they are coming from IL - what can they do once they get here. They were right, everywhere we went, we were jabbed because we felt we were the wrong nationality. We also went Deep Sea Fishing at Osprey's and caught alot of fish that we paid to get cleaned and thought we were going to pick up when we left, only to be told that our fish had been stolen. Right? NOT!!! We don't feel we were dumb, we are just good honest people that trusted the people on SPI would be the same. Oh, were we ever wrong. South Padre Island sucked and we will never return!! I would like to think they cared about all the money we spent there, but I truly don't believe they do. We have visited FL at least 10 times and have never been treated the way we were.