Best Things Nearby:
1. There is a nice biking/walking/skating path that meanders through the town, following the coast. You don''t necessarily see the water along it all the way, but it''s available and the locals definitely take advantage of it.
2. There are a few different streets where large, mansion looking houses are built and still being built; if you''re interested in looking at their architecture.
3. The town of Crystal Springs is quite small, so don''t expect too much! There are a few restaurants here and there; some excellent unique, family-owned restaurants, However, you are not so far from finding more restaurant chains, fastfood, large grocery stores, Walmart, etc. just down the main highway.
Best Things About the Resort:
Hmm. . . best thing about this timeshare is its location; close to Tampa's downtown, but far enough away to feel sort of like you're in the boonies, and it's a short drive from St. Petersburg, and only 1.5 hrs from Orlando, where we spent one day at Epcot.
Another great thing about the timeshare was that each house had an enclosed (with screens to keep bugs out) patio and a deck at the very top of the roof. We had a nice view of the houses by the bay, but not of the bay (see picture below)!
Resort Experience:
I really didn't know what to expect from this timeshare, as someone else had chosen this resort. We arrived quite late in the evening, where a guard let us into the 3-bedroom house. Now, overall, Sutherland Crossing was a perfectly acceptable place to stay, but I wouldn't call it fabulous. It seemed to have won many awards in the early 90's (and 80's?), but it has not kept up with that level of excellence since. As someone said, "it's resting on it's laurels."
Our house contained the standard things that a timeshare has, i.e. dishwasher, fully furnished, etc. There was one floor of living space, all upstairs, as the downstairs was simply the open carport. While the spaciousness was nice (one large master bedroom w/attached bathroom, one room w/a bunk bed, and another bedroom with two twin beds, and an unattached bathroom,living room with couch, 2 small T.V.s, dining table, fully furnished), not so wowing was the very outdated furnishings (from the 70's? early 80's). We had a beach themed interior, complete with pictures of shells, etched bird glass hanging, brown & tan colors. There were also a few scary artificial flower arrangements that I worried housed spiders and other things.
The bed linens were less than impressive. I usually get cold at night and these beds only came with sheets and a polyester cover. I know that FL is usually quite warm and humid, but I visited in early February and the temperature got down to the 40's-50's at night. There were a few raggedy yellow and brown blankets in the closet that I had to throw on top of me. Oh, and there was something weird with the mattress; I think there was some strange plastic covering on it (to keep it clean?) so that my sheets would slip off at night (and I really don't move much when I sleep). To ameliorate that, I ended up wrapping a blanket around the mattress and putting the fitted sheet around that.
One thing that I truly abhore is being "nickled and dimed," especially when I'm on vacation. Unfortunately, this place did, for things like garbage bags, dishwashing and laundry soap, tissue (hey! I only started off with a half-full box!), toilet paper (yep! they start you off with 2 crusty rolls for the week) etc. We went to the grocery store for extra TP of higher quality. Since my regular timeshare is in Palm Springs, Sutherland Crossing really didn't measure up. . . Since I''m on a roll with complaining, the biggest complaint I had was discovered when I was lying in my bed, reading a book. All of a sudden, I felt the house gently shake. EARTHQUAKE!!!! Is what I initially thought, being from California and especially sensitive to earth movement. It seriously made me want to run to the doorway! But no, Florida isn't known for that kind of action, so I investigated and found that it was just someone puttering around the kitchen. . . this shaking regularly woke me up when the earlybirds in the house were active.
Enough about the house. . . The timeshare area has a tennis court (doesn't look very used but it is well-maintained). Also has a pool with deck for sunning - convenient since there's no beach next to the water; just a pier that goes into the water, offering a nice view. Also available are a pool table (50 cents a game! Why bother charging?!), a tiny gym with outdated equipment, videos for borrowing (free), and a small cafe serving sandwiches and snacky foods. There are some activities offered, i.e. Sunday social for $1.50, nature walks, etc., but we were busy doing our own touring, which seemed much more exciting than what was offered.
- Unit Type: 3 Bedroom
- Activities: Poor
- Amenities: Fair
- Unit Satisfaction: Poor
- Family Friendliness: Fair
- Service: Good