East Blockade Runner Beach Resort

Rooms were nice, and I loved the view of the ocean. I checked out on 7/24 and asked to have my receipt emailed to me. I did not receive an email. I called on 7/26 and requested my receipt. Paige sent me an email with a receipt attached from another customer dated August 2008. I called back to let her know I was sent the incorrect receipt and requested mine, and it is now 8/1/2023, and I still haven't received my receipt.

Yearly we try to make a visit to the Blockade Runner resort as a weekend getaway from family obligations. This year we decided to splurge a little and booked a more upgraded club level room on Friday July 10th for July 21-23. We would need to head home bright and early Sunday to get back to work. We even took the Friday the 21st off so that we could arrive at check-in time to begin our relaxing weekend. We planned a very relaxing time, rather than our usually hectic Wilmington visits by booking a poolside cabana on July 17th for Saturday the 22nd, splurging even more for some wine. The online booking system said several cabanas were available but are going fast. Sounded like a good time! We received immediate confirmation of the booking. On July 20th, as we counted down the days, we received a Reservation confirmation of a change, and when reviewing both reservation to the resort and cabana, we saw no change, and assumed it was some linkage of the reservations. We planned and set up our entire lazy pool day including planning meal deliveries for our meals because of food allergies. We arrived Friday afternoon and checked in. Everything was going well, and nothing was ever said that would alert us to the next day’s issue. We awoke early Saturday to get ready for the pool. Overnight, we received an email stating our reservation for the pool cabana was confirmed for Sunday July23 and would be ready as soon as the pool opened. We panicked, looking for our confirmation email to make sure we indeed picked the correct date (we had). When going to the reservation site for the cabana, it now indicated Sunday, not Saturday which we had booked. We called the front desk immediately, and they explained that there was a mistake, and someone had tried to contact us (they had not we checked all phone calls since the reservation) and that they booked us on Sunday so that we could still go (we could not we had to leave early Sunday) but the on duty manager would call back with more information. We received a call back from the manager on duty, stating that there must have been a booking issue, as there were cabanas being booked at the exact same time and there were none available. She stated that they went by the time stamps on the reservations, and we happened to be the last one in the booking list. We wanted to know why were we just now finding this out, she said they were assigning spots late in the week when they found this, and we were notified. We said we weren’t, nor were we told at check. She would call us back. Having our day turned upside down, we went ahead and changed all our Saturday plans. Shortly, the manager offered several options such as lounge chairs or a tent like bed used on their green areas, but by this time we had already revised our plan. We asked for some compensation for this as this really ended up being a complete pivot from our lazy day. She said she couldn’t do anything else but would have her general manager contact us. When we arrived back in the mid-afternoon, her general manager wasn’t on site, so we asked for the general manager to contact us to discuss. This never happened. We have never received any contact from the general manager or any other employee from the resort. We typically do not leave negative reviews unless things are not made right, or at least attempted. The manager did try, however, we feel the situation was handled totally inappropriately, we having basically wasting our money for the two nights. Luckily the cabana charge was refunded, that would have been a totally different story then. We wanted a peaceful weekend, but it ended up being us, running around Wilmington, finding something to do …instead of a weekend by the pool. Will we go back? At this point….no.

Nice place, great food, super beautiful beach and great service but the bathrooms are really dated and need remodeling. Bedrooms are nice. Great restaurant and outside bar. Would absolutely come back.Rooms: 4/5

First and foremost the rooms have quirky decor which is interesting, but they STINK from the humidity. It’s REALLY unbearable. In fact, the room made my clothes stink and I didn’t realize it until I pulled out a sweatshirt from my carry on while on the plane. It smelled like mildew from two days there. Every single thing in my suitcase stinks. Gross. The beds are squeaky and very uncomfortable. The walls are paper thin. I heard everyone in the morning when I still was trying to sleep. The pool was cloudy and so dirty. I also felt invisible trying to order a drink at the pool and at the bar. I wasn’t even acknowledged at the bar. The shower didn’t work right at all. It has two shower heads and no doors, so it was a wet mess outside the shower, and I couldn’t get only ONE shower head to work or a consistent temp. It was so hard to shower. Lastly, the gym is disgusting. No air circulation or fans, so it’s even more smelly and moist than the rooms. It’s so bad that their cable machine is rusted out and it’s difficult to use. The only redeeming quality is the location and outdoor area leading up to the beach. The bar and pool are cool (as long as you don’t get in it). I don’t insert why they don’t have umbrellas out at the pool. It’s really hot. Unless it’s a tactic to upsell a cabana. The property has a lot of potential but it needs a MAJOR overhaul. Really, they need to tear it down and rebuild. The amount of mold is probably out of control. Would NOT recommend.

The room was smaller than I thought but it was quiet and the ocean view was beautiful, very clean and helpful staff, not too overly price with extras.The Beach staff always assisting us with towels and lifeguard on watch as well as patrol, wonderful staffing