Myrtle Beach Message Board

Trip Report Aqua Beach Inn/The Breakers


A little information about us: We are a couple in our late 40’s married for almost 20 years, and have no children. This was our second trip to Myrtle Beach, and the first one in the summer. We drove from the northern suburbs of Atlanta Georgia to save money on the airfare, and it was about a 7 hour drive including a half hour break for food and gas. It was a tough decision to as whether or not to take this trip because of finances, so we did our best to keep costs down and just enjoy the beach and being together.

We left Atlanta on Sunday July 31st not knowing if we would drive all the way or stop somewhere along the way. To be honest, we don’t travel in a car very well after about 3 or 4 hours. In my opinion my husband gets a heavy foot on the gas pedal , and he thinks I drive like an old lady, so you can imagine it gets a little tense in the car. Lol. Fortunately it is one of the only things we fight about.

It was actually a very peaceful drive for us, very little traffic and good weather. We were concerned about arriving a day early and not having a reservation for Sunday night. It turns out that there was no need to worry; lots of places were advertising one night walk in rates.

When first getting in to Myrtle Beach, we stopped at “The Beach House Bar & Grill “ at 1205 N Ocean Blvd. It looked like a fun place, had an outdoor patio and very easy parking, so it was a perfect place to stop and get a couple of cold beers. We toasted to a safe drive, no fights in the car, and to the beginning of a great vacation.
The beers were ice cold, and that was all we were hoping for. The music was a little loud on the outside deck, but it was great hearing Jimmy Buffet again. Really put us in the beach mood. Right behind the restaurant was the Aqua Beach Inn. We walked over, and ending up checking in there just for the night. It’s across the street from the beach, but all the rooms face the ocean and you can see the water, Pier 14 Restaurant, the new Ferris Wheel, and the sling shot ride. The area is a little noisy and there is lots of traffic. Cost was $129.00 after fees and taxes, and we thought it was well worth the cost. Despite the outside of the building being painted an awful orangey color, the rooms were newly remodeled . Granite in bathroom and kitchenette, very comfortable king size bed, linens and towels were good quality, carpet looked new, the room was large and everything was extremely clean. Small terrace with a table and two plastic chairs to sit on and watch the lively screen right outside. The only problem was that the interior hallways were not air conditioned, so they were hot and sticky. Room A/C worked great, so the room was the perfect temperature. We asked for a late check out, and it was no problem at all.

After freshening up a bit, we walked over to the Pier 14 Restaurant for dinner. The last thing we wanted to do was to get back in the car and drive anywhere. Why push our luck ? lol. Food was very good, fish was very fresh, and the scallops were delicious. Cost was a little high, but not awful. Around $60.00 with an appetizer and one glass of wine. After dinner we walked down the boardwalk to the Ferris wheel and Landshark restaurant. We were walking on the boardwalk about 10pm and felt very safe. Lots of people still out and about. No line for the Ferris Wheel, and the outdoor bar at the Landshark was packed. Walked back to our hotel and crashed for the night.

All in all, Aqua Beach Inn is a great place for a one night stay. It’s not a destination resort, but perfect for what we needed. If you are looking for a quiet , secluded place, this is not it.

Next Day: Checking into the Breakers : To Be Continued

What a wonderful beginning to your vacation, Penny!
>...everything was extremely clean
>...painted an awful orangey color
LOL! Clean trumps orange paint any time!

Yes, the downtown area looks good now, and safe, too. Don't you know those old businesses that stuck it out after the Pavilion closed are giving themselves well-deserved pats on the back for hanging tough until times got better!

Looking forward to hearing more!

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Day Two:

Monday; August 1st.

We woke up to an overcast and very muggy day. Had breakfast at the Olympic Torch right near the hotel. Typical breakfast place, good food, but after all it’s pretty hard to screw up eggs, toast and bacon. Got a 10% discount by showing the Aqua Beach room key. Total after tip was $18.00 . Good coffee and the juice might actually have been fresh.
Checked out of the Aqua Beach; no problems at all and hit a couple of souvenir stores.

Tried to check into The Breakers on 21st Ave around 2pm thinking it might be alright since it was a Monday afternoon, but no luck. They did do our paperwork and gave us wrist bands so that we could use all the facilities, but told us it would be about an hour before we could get our room keys.
While we waited to check in, we decided to drive down to the boardwalk area and walk around. Parked one block off of Ocean Blvd. Cost was $10.00 for all day parking but you could not go in and out. Don’t know if there was cheaper parking but almost all the lots looked like $10.00 We drove my car on this trip which is a Honda Accord, and the parking lots were fine for my small car. I don’t know about larger cars though…the parking spots were on the small side.
There was live music coming from the Oceanfront Bar and Grill so we decided to check it out. The waitress took our drink order before we had a chance to look around the place. This bar has the potential of being a great bar, but it definitely needs a complete cleaning. Mirrors were all filthy, stools were shaky and many were broken, and worst of all was the disgusting bathroom. But the beers were cheap, ice cold, and the guitar player was very good. Unfortunately I can’t remember his name. So we just kicked back for about an hour and ignored the nastiness while killing time before check in. Also wandered into the Gay Dolphin gift shop and my husband had a great hot dog at Marvin’s.

Around 4pm went back to The Breakers and got our room keys. We were in the Seaside Bldg, room 687. Resort view with king bed. Total cost for 4 nights was $600.00 Luggage carts were readily available so we unloaded the car and headed to our room. OMG, we were so disappointed. The Seaside bldg is extremely old. Had nasty green indoor/outdoor carpeting in all the outdoor corridors and the carpeting was wet, moldy and nasty. Yuck ! The elevator was ancient, hot, muggy and smelly. Our room was incredibly small. Three feet max from the end of the bed to the wall. Two suitcases and a cooler filled the available floor space. You really can’t walk around without climbing over things, so it forces you to unpack and use the small closet and three drawers. If you are type of person that brings a lot of clothes you will have a great deal of trouble with this bldg. It is much smaller than it appears on their website.
The bathroom is also incredibly small. If you are sitting on the toilet, your legs will just about be touching the sink and shower. You could go to the bathroom, wash and dry your hands, and take a shower without moving. You have to cram yourself next to the toilet in order to close the bathroom door.

On the good side, the room and bathroom were incredibly clean, good linens and towels, new flat screen tv, new microwave and small fridge. Kudos to the cleaning people in that tower. They work extremely hard to keep the rooms as nice as they are.
We immediately went down to the front desk and asked to be moved to a different room, even if it meant an additional charge. I wasn’t looking for a discount or a give away. I just wanted a better room. While we were there, there were two other couples asking the same thing, and they had also chosen the Seaside Bldg. The desk clerk explained that it was their busy season, the resort was full and there wasn’t anything they could do for us for the first 2 nights. They could move us for the third and forth night, but we would be in a different room the third and fourth night. Way too much packing and unpacking for us. Ummm…no thanks.

I was extremely disappointed, but my husband said we would just make due as the room itself was clean. I don’t know what they would have said if we asked to cancel the reservation and have our money refunded. We stepped away from the counter to discuss what we wanted to do next, and we hear this same desk clerk talking to the people that were in line behind us. They were walk-ins, and they were asking what they had available for that night and the next. The clerk proceeds to give them 3 or 4 options. I mean it was literally one minute from when they had just told me that there was nothing available for us to change to for those two same nights. I was about to lose my cool until I heard the price quote. It was more than double the price we were paying. My husband saw the look on my face and led me out of there. I was pissed but glad we paid what we paid. After a long walk on the beach, and a drink at the Red Parrott (lol) I was fine…this was not going to spoil my vacation. I am so glad that my attitude changed because we ended up loving the resort.

That night we had a light dinner at Bummz Beach Café next door to the hotel. Food was ok, well priced and the band was very good. Waitress was great and it’s a beautiful place to sit and relax while watching the waves and enjoying the breeze.

Hit the lazy river at the hotel around 7pm and just floated around totally enjoying every minute of it. Have to add a comment here about the pools and hot tubs at The Breakers. Pool guys constantly walking around and checking chemicals. Really working the pools, not just making it look good for the guests. Ended the night around 9 and got a great night’s sleep.

Day Three: Tuesday, August 2nd

Woke up to a beautiful beach day. Had breakfast at Papa’s restaurant right across from The Breakers. Very nice breakfast buffet for $9.95 each which included beverage.
It would have been priced at $7.95 if we had prepaid through the resort, but we never do that because we are never sure if we will want breakfast in advance. Plenty of food to choose from; everything was fresh and hot. Great waitress. Then hit Starbucks next door to feed my addiction.

We spent the day at the pools, just swimming and relaxing. Tons of children everywhere, and there were all sorts of planned activities for the kids if they wished to join. No cost to the parents which must be nice. Very good DJ (DJ Icebox) at one of the pools. He played all types of music and really got the crowds singing and cheering. He was a bit hit with the teens and 20 somethings. Lots of resort employees always circling the grounds picking up wet towels and trash. Had lunch at the hotel restaurant (Red Parrott). Great fresh salads and sandwiches for about $8.00 and service is available poolside. As a side note, I did notice many people bringing coolers to the pools and lawn area. Some people drinking alcohol or beer in plastic cups or with coolies and no one was bothering them. No one got anywhere near out of control so I guess security just lets it go. There was an area set up with a woman doing hair braiding and a woman doing henna tattoos.

Dinner that night was at The Sea Captain’s House. We got there around 6pm without a reservation and had to wait about 45 minutes. Perfectly understandable in the height of the season. Went to the back bar which overlooks the ocean to have a drink and listen to the guitar player while waiting to be called. Glass of house wine and a Heineken beer for my husband…$12.75 Really ?? A bit high priced if you ask me.
Got seated in about 30 minutes. Great waitress (Terry). I ordered she crab soup, and broiled scallops. My husband ordered the broiled seafood platter and added a lobster tail.
If you are a salad person, this is not your place. Salads served on very small plates, almost the size of tea cup saucer. The ginger soy dressing was absolutely delicious; both of our dinners were great. Tab was about $100.00 bucks with one additional drink each and we both thought it was well worth the price.

We then went to the Palace Theater is see “Le Grand Cirque “ show. We choose the cheapest seats in the house which were $30.00 each after we saw a coupon in a local flyer, and we were seated in the mezzanine. The seating there is fine..no need to spend the additional money for orchestra seats if you don’t want to. The show was ok. Certainly not the quality of a Cirque de Soleil show , but it was ok.

Ended the night with more pool floating and relaxation.

Day Four: Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Light breakfast and lunch at hotel. Dinner that night at Calabash Seafood. Ehh.....it was ok. On a scale of 1-10, I would give it a 5. If you don’t eat crab legs, then I would skip it all together. I got the buffet, and my husband ordered off the menu which I thought was a mistake. Turns out his ribeye and lobster tail were great. Tab was about $70.00 with ice teas.

Day5, August 4th

Woke up to another beautiful, sunny day. Actually it was REALLY hot and we are very fair skinned so we headed to Broadway At The Beach to avoid the strong afternoon sun.
We took a cab so that both of us could have a couple of drinks; cab ride was about $10.00. We knew this was going to be our last full day so we wanted to have some fun.

Got to Margaritaville around 1pm. Place was packed but we were able to get seats at the bar. Wait time for a table was one hour. Place was very festive; two guys on stilts walking around making balloon hats for the kids and getting everyone to sing. Great crab cakes and burgers. My husband also loved his spicy Bloody Mary.

We then stopped by the visitor’s center and they gave us a free appetizer card for Carlos and Charlie’s. Headed there, and had some kind of dip. Good stuff and washed it down with a beer. The apps were priced at $7.00 to $11.00 dollars so it really was a good free gift.

Then headed to Senor Frog’s but the place was packed so we headed over to Broadway Louie’s to play some video games and pool. I was surprised about how run down the place looked. Great new expensive video games and good pool tables though. I am surprised BATB doesn’t get after them to clean up the place though. Everything else there was so nice.

Did some shopping at the gift stores, picked up a gift for our friends that are cat sitting for us, and hit Fat Tuesday’s before heading back to the hotel. Drinks at Fat Tuesday’s were good, but the bartender had the personality of a floor mop. Oh well…sucks to be you I guess.

Got back to the hotel and spent our last night at the pool and hot tub. We had planned on seeing Bill Krauss at the hotel bar, but we had had plenty to drink already and we have seen him many times in Key West, so we now know we are not as young as we used to be and we were in bed by 9.

Check out Day, Friday August 5th,

We packed up and made a point of finding our cleaning lady and giving her a big tip. She certainly earned it working in that old beat up building. !
Checked out at 11am and got the resort bill. A couple of miscellaneous charges. Advertising fee $1.58 a day and resort fee daily $5.95. Not bad.
Stopped at River City Café for burgers before getting on the road. Might have been the best burger I ever had ! Burgers, onion rings, fries , and ice tea for two $25.00
Score !!

Long drive home, starting with the dreaded bumper to bumper traffic on 501. Really wished I had paid more attention to the posts about avoiding the traffic on that road.
Got back to our house in about 7 hours, and we were so glad to get back to normal life.

Final thoughts and what would I change ?

I would have paid the extra $150.00 to be in a nicer bldg when I initially made our reservation. I should have paid the extra money to be oceanfront. I should have brought swim shoes instead of being in the pools and lazy river with bare feet.

Overall the resort was fine for the price we paid. Would I go back ? No. Been there done that and looking forward to another resort this time next year.

Hope this report is helpful to someone. NEVER expected it was going to turn out to be this long. I am actually a very quiet person in real life. Really. lol

Great report - thanks for the detail ! Makes me realize we need to spend more time on the boardwalk having beers & dogs !!!

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"If a dog will not come to you after having looked you in the face, go home and examine your conscience." - Woodrow Wilson

Thanks so much for sharing your trip with us! Great report! Sounds like you really made the most of your vacation

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Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air... Ralph Waldo Emerson
Hugs, Emmy

Thanks for the fabulous report! Sounds like you had a great time...I laughed at your comment about water shoes for next year...I have 2 pairs of water shoes and FORGOT them this year...I did not go far out into the ocean...there seemed to be ALOT of shells this year...glad you were able to make the best of your building situation...sometimes just being at the beach is so worth it!


JoAnn

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Thanks for sharing your vacation. I really enjoyed reading your report. Sorry to hear you were not satisfied with the room but it sounded like you had a great holiday and that is the important part. It would be far worse to have a better room and not have enjoyed your time at the beach. You sure pack a lot into the time you have. Good for you!

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A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. Winston Churchill.

Thank you for a excellent honest report..
Glad you got to enjoy your time here and got
got safe and sound.....