Full review on 7 nights/6 days in PCB
I’ve seen full reviews on other destinations so I figured I’d share a longer, more in depth review from condo, beach, crowds, etc. we stayed at Regency Towers, and booked through Book That Condo via vrbo. I’ll make this post as something similar to what I would want to see before choosing a vacation. Two adults traveling with 8yo and 6yo.
The condo unit
The room was clean, updated, and MOSTLY had everything we needed. The fifth floor view was great and being located directly across from the elevator, stairs, and garbage chute was really nice. We didn’t hear any nonsense outside whatsoever. We had some issues though. The breaker tripped each time we used the oven and the stove at the same time, so cooking took longer than normal. The shower in the kids bathroom had the hot/cold reversed so the kids had a hard time with that at first. Both bedrooms and the living room had ceiling lights/fans that were plugged into the wall that were only controlled with a remote control, and the light switches did nothing. This was frustrating having to walk into dark bedrooms every night with a cell phone light. The ceiling fan in the kids room would not turn off so it was on all week which required the kids needing an extra blanket. We were also surprised at the $40 registration fee when we checked in. It was probably hidden somewhere in the rental agreement. I don’t put any of this on Regency Towers, and will say that I would never book a room through Book That Condo again. Could I have had maintenance come address the issues? Sure, but who wants maintenance in and out on a daily basis during their vacation. The main elevator was out of service for most of one of the days, but wasn’t a big inconvenience being on the fifth floor.
The Pool
The pools were clean, comfortable, and the vibe and atmosphere were awesome. The pools themselves were pretty crowded especially in the shallow end. The Sand Bar in between the two pools was convenient with decent prices and the drinks weren’t weak, and the food was actually pretty good. The security guard walks around but isn’t up in peoples business. They made it known they were there but left everyone alone. We only had trouble finding a pool chair one time. It was frustrating seeing people “reserving” 4-5 chairs together at 6 am with beach towels and not seeing them even show up until after 12:00. There are signs for this, like most places, but it’s something security didn’t enforce. If needed I would have had to toss a few towels off those chairs to have a place to sit. Overall, the pool was a huge plus on this vacation.
The beach
The beach was nice, and the chair service that came to the room was awesome. There was a LOT of sargassum in the sand and in the water. I know there is a contract for 20-25 miles of beach to have this stuff removed, but I’m also surprised the condo didn’t have their own personnel to clean it up on their section of the beach on a daily or every other day basis. Maybe there are laws about this, who knows. But we didn’t see any effort to remove this stuff during our trip. Speaking to people who frequent PCB, I guess it was worse this summer than it usually is, and we had double red flags for most of our trip due to a tropical storm that was further to the west, so I’m guessing maybe that contributed. This was all a surprise, since the last trip to Destin in 2021 had no sargassum in the water. We still really enjoyed the beach though and being in the ocean was still a lot of fun and enjoyable. The umbrellas and beach tents were a few rows deep off to the sides, but the beach never felt overly crowded, maybe due to the double reds and the residual storm effects keeping people away.
Crowds
The traffic was not bad at all on the east end. There were no crowds for Wonder Works, mini golf, go karts, things like that. But one of the better restaurants? 1.5-2 hour wait times. We planned to do lunch out instead, but there was a water main break which caused everything close by to close during lunch hours. I can’t complain too much about wait times, I mean, it is PCB in mid June. If we were traveling without kids then no biggy…grab some drinks and chill, but with two young ones, it just wasn’t going to happen. There were even lines out the door for the coffee shop across the street from the condo. I’m sure this is all normal, but it was a bit of a shock for a northerner who lives out in the country who doesn’t frequent busy touristy places.
TL;DR
Overall we had a great vacation in PCB. The water main break was a freak thing that left us without water for a full day, and elevator issues happen no matter where you go. The crowds were the worst part, but we adjusted to other things having a 6yo and 8yo. Book That Condo? Would not recommend. Regency Towers? Was a great complex to stay at. Was it worth the 17 hour drive (21 total hours) with two young kids? Yep. Would we come back to PCB again? Probably yes.