I wanted to really like the Seaview Resort at Galloway. It's a large, yet quaint old resort that has a nice feel, property, view, and appearance. The people working at the resort are exceptionally courteous and friendly. My teenage son stayed at the resort for a full week during each of the past two summers, while attending US Aikido Federation's summer camp hosted at the resort, and he enjoyed the resort in the summer. My wife, daughter and I finally got to experience the resort for one night recently (Feb 2013), so no golf, tennis, or outdoor pool, etc. We chose to stay at the Seaview for one short night based on proximity of the hotel to Dynamo Gymnastics in Galloway, where our daughter was competing in a gymnastics meet with a report time by 8:30AM. We live in north Jersey, and did not want to arise at 5AM or slightly earlier to drive down to South Jersey.
Because we were busy the day before, we did not arrive at the Seaview for check-in until 8PM. So, the purpose of our stay was efficiency, which has some bearing on our rating for this stay.
Check-in at the hotel was a breeze. We drove up to the entrance, and parked to unload luggage. Both valet and self-parking are available. Baggage attendants at the front door are friendly and helpful, and not pushy. My wife and daughter went with bags into the lobby, while I self-parked. The lobby is warm and inviting. Check-in was a breeze and very friendly. An attendant took our bags and escorted us to our room. Along the way, we asked questions about the hotel, and the attendant gladly answered our questions with ease and detailed information.
Oir daughter had to get to bed by 9:30, so we took an hour to explore the hotel. Our son raved about the game room and indoor pool, so we went to check them out. Along the way, I stopped at the front desk, because our room did not have a card to order breakfast room service. I expected the front desk to have extra copies, but they did not. The front desk attendant apologized, and said he would have one delivered to our room promptly. We continued on through the restaurant, where we ran into parents of my daughter's teammate. One joined us to see the other amenities. I walked by the indoor pool and the fitness center. The indoor pool is quite large, and appears nice, although we did not use it. The fitness center is also quite large, and efffectively a full gym with tons of equipment. They looked inviting, and wish we could have enjoyed them, but no time.
We moved on to the game room, which is effectively a large finished basement that has a very old full size air hockey table (that does not work very well), a full size ping pong table, a card table, and two old billiards tables that are in reasonable condition. There is a lounge area as well. The basement seems to lack adequate heating, similar to finished basements in many houses, so it was cooler than the main lobby level, but not too chilly. Soon, the other teammates and mothers came down to the game room, and we had the room to ourselves, with enought time to get in some marathon billiard games before other guests finally came in. The girls enjoyed the game room. It could use some updating, but it got the job done in entertaining the girls.
At about 9:15, we wandered back to the room. Upon arrival, still no card to fill out for breakfast room service. I wanted room service, so our morning could be very efficiently planned and timed. We do not need to add to stress right before a competition, and we want our daughter to sleep as late as possible. Room service in the morning was a big part of the plan to meet those objectives, as it takes time to go to the restaurant, get seated and serviced, etc. I had to get my daughter to bed, and I did not want some attendant knocking at the door after 9:30 to deliver the card for ordering breakfast room service. So, I called room service to see if they could take my order. They said no, but they would send someone right away with the order card. The card came just a few minutes after we put our daughter in bed with lights out. I filled out the card, which allows you to select a 15 minute window for delivery, with some note about guaranteeing delivery within that window, or breakfast os on them. I chose 7:15 - 7:30, so we could wake up our daughter close to 7AM, get her fully ready, and eat with time enough to relax, enjoy it, pack any remaining items, check-out, and be in the car by 8:15 for a two mile drive to the competition.
Well, it was a good plan, but not all in our control. By 7.35, breakfast had not yet arrived. I called room service, and they said it was on the way. The food finally arrived at 7:40, but still with the bill. The food was good, but we were paying a very steep price for the convenience and efficiency of this process. Yhe delivery attendant still handed me a very large and full bill, even though the delivery was late by 10 minutes. I had to swallow my food whole, so I could start walking everything out to the car, have time to clean a layer of ice and snow off the car, and check-out. Losing 10 to 25 minutes Iif breakfast was delivered as late as 7:30 to as early as 7:15) means that I did not at all enjoy my very expensive breakfast.
Overall, the value is very good. The room rate for one weekend night in early Feb is extremely reasonable. Besides the negative experience around ordering and delivery of breakfast, the other things we did not like too much were the beds (mattresses way to soft / not supportive -- probably old), and the HVAC. The room temperature was fine, but it was too noisy when the heat came on.
I really wanted to give Seaview a very good rating, as the people were so nice, and it is a quaint and cozy feel to the resort -- different from all the modern places, and makes you feel a bit of a time warp (memories of warm relaxing days in past). It was a good value, but for reasons above, I just could not get there on this visit. Sorry Seaview.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
