Castaway Bay, Sandusky

Read a lot of reviews and was expecting the worst. Went there on New Years Day, Friday and stayed till Sunday. Check in took long because room wasnt ready but it WAS a holiday. Hotel was beautiful. Room was very nice and tropical looking, and was very clean. Loved the balcony although it was to cold to sit outside, about 20 degrees out. We had 4 adults and one child who was 12 in our party. Water park was so nice. One thing though was chlorine smell while in the water but at least you know that the water was clean. Loved the water coaster, loved the wave pool. My 12 year old even met a friend to hang out with. Very huge game room. Nice shop for beach wear and gifts. Also a store for snacks and necessities like when my camera died and needed new batteries. We didnt eat at the two restaraunts in the hotel. They were a little pricey but most hotels are. We did have dinner at TGI Fridays and it was great and a very classy restaraunt. The fireplace in the lobby was so nice and we got a lot of great pictures in the lobby. Most of the employees were very friendly and helpful. Ordered a pizza from room service on Friday night and it was huge for a medium and delicous but costed about 26$. Ordered a movie on Saturday nite and it is not even out on DVD yet. The whole experience was enjoyable and could have spent another day or two there. Would definately return. Dont know why there was so many bad reviews. They must of just been picky people because we were very impressed. We even left the hotel and took a ride to see the Lake Erie coastline. Love Castaway Bay......

After reading the reviews by the previous visitors, I was hesitant about visiting. What I found was alittle of the bad reiews were right and alittle of the good reviews were right. First the workers: We found one person there that was courteous. She was a manager at the front desk. Just about everyone else either ignored you completely or put on the facade that they didn't want to be there, couldn't wait to punch out. Maybe working with thousands of wet splashing people makes you this way. I did see one man there monitoring the accomodations. He would check on the washrooms and the swimming areas and did tell the lifeguards to check on a tiny girl, maybe 4, that was alone in the wave, hanging on the wall to get out. It turns out the parents were outside with a camera taking pictures. Yes the waves were over her head and the lifeguards didn't make a move to help her until the one manager mentioned above whistled and pointed at them to help her. The food: The snack shop in the water park area didn't have subs or pizza. The worker told me that she had only six subs at the beginning of the day. She also said the pizzas were frozen. Why she didn't thaw the pizzas? The restaurant outside the park was closed after the morning buffet. The deli had mostly bakery and desert items. The water and attractions: All of the water attractions were fun and worth the price of admission. The biggest problem though was the water was too cold. It should be a few degrees warmer. It was like jumping into an unheated pool in the beginning of summer. The water was crisp and refreshing and was chlorinated properly. There was no moldy or mildewy smell anywhere. Showers were available for people before getting in the pools or for afterward to get the excess chlorine smell off. The green slide directly under the large tipping bucket was alittle rough on the back. The edges where the pipes attached were sharper than they should be. The boat ride for two was fun but you are in the dark for a long part of the ride. You would think that the owners of Cedar Point could decorate and light the tubes. If you are over 250 pounds you will feel the bottoms of the hills on your tailbone. My son pointed out to the attendant that the pillows between the riders were deflated, but he didn't do anything to refill the pillows. The tall tubes: The three tall tubes are made for light weight people. The entire ride is in unlighted and undecorated tubes. I am 270 pounds and when I hit the splash pool at the end of the tube I hit the bottom. The splash pool is 4 feet deep. The pool needs to be deeper, at least under 1 of the tubes. The heated spa: This was the best part of the attractions. It is exceptionally hot. The spa has a waterfall and many forced jets under the surface. The only problem with it is the chlorine level was much too high. The mist or evaporate coming off the water was irritating my eyes after just a few minutes in the water. It was a nice one day trip. I wouldn't stay more than 1 day.

the water park was small but very enjoyable for my grandkids. the rooms were very bad. dirty.!sheets were not changed from previous guest! complained to "mamager"she said we were telling wrong person , we should tell afternoon "manager" food at breakfest bar overprice and under cooked!would not stay again.what a shame to plan abig weekend with grandkids and be so let down

We went on the 4th of July weekend. Expecting a nuthouse! I am glad that I ignored the bad reviews because I have nothing but good things to day. The staff was so friendly at check-in and check-out. Making reservations was a breeze! I had an issue trying to make it online, so I had to call and they still gave me the internet only price! Housekeeping gave us extra laundry bags when we were leaving to put our wet clothes in "didn't think of that!) the man at the entry into the waterpark was so nice! The room was clean, sheets smelled nice. I decided that some people must be a little BOOJIE if they thought the place was filthy. Its not a 5 star hotel and being that a lot of little wet kids and adults trample through the place I thought they kept it very clean! Its SO close to cedar point, and the waterpark itself was perfect for my kids (4 and 6) they didn't want to leave! I say see for yourself, if you are a family with little kids looking for a nice place to lay your head after a long day, this is the place for you!!!!

You cannot imagine how dirty our room was. We got the tarpon suite that has a King bed in the main room and two sets of bunkbeds in another room. We found so much garbage around the beds we had to call to get our room recleaned (first time ever). It took 2 maids 20 minutes just to clean one small room. They kept coming out with handfuls of garbage and left items. Tons of empty bottles and candy wrappers under the beds, crushed crackers all over the partial wall ledge that was between the two rooms. There was mold on the shower curtain as well. The waterpark was ok. Nothing compared to Kalahari but still not bad. The hot tub was nice and they do have some smaller waterslides for younger kids. Bigger then the toddler area yet not as large as the bigger ones. Their wave pool was a lot of fun and the waterpark itself seemed cleaned and organized. Our service was not bad. The receptionist that checked us in was very friendly and the maids that came back to clean the room were nice as well. In my opinion, if you are going to spend your money on a waterpark hotel, just go to Kalahari or Great Wolf Lodge. The only way I would go back to Castaway Bay is if someone else paid for it.

I thought the place was exactly as advertised. It's a value priced waterpark. If you want the works, than don't be cheap and blow some coin on kalihari or great wolf. I've been to both and I have a 5 year old and 2 year old, They loved it. If you are going for your enjoyment with spas and bars and lovely restraunts blow some coin and stop bad mouthing a value based kid friendly waterpark. You have to ask yourself, are you going for yourself or for the kids.

I was scared after reading some of the negative comments! Honestly...IT WAS AWESOME...clean rooms, great staff, AWESOME WATERPARK...better than I expected...If your kids got BORED there...they must have some SERIOUS ADHD!

We usually go to Kalahari's down the road, but they were booked, so we thought we would try a new place. Maybe we are spoiled from Kalaharis (even before they expanded), but Castaway was not impressive and its not worth the price. The Hotel is nothing special, we could have stayed at the comfort inn or budget lodge and had the same room and saved a bunch of money. The food leaves alot to be desired, and had it not been for fridays, there would not have been much of a choice. Its not personable, the service is SOOOOO SLOW and when checking out the guy never once asked how our stay was, rather he said sign here. NO, nice day or anything, which was odd. Oh and they apparently dont put fitted sheets on their beds. The waterpark is small, super small, the wave pool is cool but you cant even have a tube in it, I guess cause its sooo small. There are 3 water slides and one water coaster and thats it, the other slides are for the kids. WOOHOO, what fun it was. I wouldnt reccomend this place at all, go down the road and go to kalaharis, next time we will wait until rooms are available there. I hope all of Cedar points other hotels are not like this, I guess we will find out in the summer when we go there.

The water park is a joke and the hotel service is even worse. I've had better stays in $30 a night hotels. Do not stay here if you value a good nights sleep, decent food, security, or service.

The water-park is much smaller than what it appeared to be. The hotel staff do not have the ability to manage difficult guests, and are perfectly willing to sacrifice the quality of your stay. The walls between the rooms are so thin that you can see the light from the room next to you shining through. We made the reservations because this was the only resort in the area with vacancies, now I understand why.