Windward Passage Resort: Ardent Sunsets Fifty-five years ago, as young educators, my wife and I selected Ft. Meyers beach as a holiday destination during the Christmas break. We enjoyed the Christmas holidays with our parents and relatives and drove south to Ft. Meyers Beach Holiday Inn for a week of sun, and the salty beaches and the Gulf of Mexico. I recall that we made this excursion in our new 1968 Camaro that did not have power steering, power anything, airbags, or a GPS system. And we endured/enjoyed the drive. What were we thinking? Holiday Inn and a road-trip to Florida? This was to be the last holiday taken in this fashion. We soon realized that our lifestyle provided plenty of holiday time, and we have the resources to fly to U.S. and world-wide destination. Holidays Inns are a vague and very distance memory. I tend to be a linear thinker concerning attendance at national conferences and in terms of planning holidays. We seem to have a queue of airline tickets and timeshare reservations. The vital holiday planning is for spring break. Within weeks of the last spring break, we are trading for next year's spring break, and we are finding airline tickets as soon as the airlines post the routes. There are too many reasons to purchase a two-bedroom condo, and our stable is filled with ten two-bedroom timeshares. However, we traded years ago into Windward Passage Resort (418 Estero Boulevard Fort Myers Beach, FL 33931 239-463-1194) on the quiet north section of Ft. Meyers Beach. Ft. Meyers Beach is not Sanibel and Captiva, but for a small fraction of the price, we purchased two weeks of one-bedroom units. There are very few two-bedroom units at this property, and very few two-bedroom units appear on the secondary market. I believe that location is vital; that timeshare ownership should be in geographic areas that one will re-visit; and that timeshare ownership is not an economic investment, but rather a lifestyle investment. Windward Passage Resort also turned out to be an economic investment. We sold the two properties at a profit. Windward Passage Resort is a resort that we greatly enjoyed for several years; all 52 weeks are flex ownership, and we always scheduled the very same unit for two consecutive weeks. Timeshare owners know the advantage of making these arrangements: no refrigerator transfer of food, no kitchen transfer, no bathroom transfers, and no clothing or luggage transfer. Windward Passage Resort has a great swimming pool on the south side; we always arranged to reserve our units on the north side with a beach view rather than a view of children playing about the pool. Some years, we found profit in renting the unit, and these ocean and beach front one-bedroom units traded into five star and two-bedroom units with a degree of ease. All 53 week are red weeks at Windward Passage Resort. My wife and I are avid tennis fans, and Windward Passage Resort, and the tennis courts are one story high on the roof of the parking lot. This is a unique and clever arrangement, and one which discourages ball retrieval. The photographs (while limited) on the Interval international Website do not provide justice to this gem of a property. Ft. Meyers is the archetypical Florida "snowbird city." The hordes come in November and depart in April. This means that often the bridge from Ft. Meyers to Ft. Meyers Beach is in gridlock. This is not the case in the summer months. We fly to the Ft. Meyers airport, pick up a Hertz number 1 automobile and drive the 18-22 miles to Windward Passage Resort in about 30 minutes. During the "snowbird months" allow at least an hour for the same trip. I posted this review on the Web several years ago: "Outstanding small resort located between city pier and city park. Although small rooms, the veranda provides an outstanding Gulf view. Summers are hot and humid, and good vacation times. Winters can generate fierce traffic problems. Hurricanes have done their worst to this property, and it has always bounced back. Ideal for small families. Great staff." The following post is representative as a summary of Many Web posts: "A unique, intimate Resort in a great beach location. Socials include Ice Cream Day, Pancake Day, Hot Dog, Burger Day & free coffee any day. A user-friendly quiet Resort with heated pool and complimentary beach chairs. Bring your own beach towels as they are not supplied and minimum toilet tissue or you can purchase additional rolls. Not far near the end of N. Ft. Myers Beach is the fabulous Pine Shell Resort for a tropical drink or meal and several quality island restaurants." The absolute best part of the day is at sunset. People flock to the beach in an almost religious manner to silently observe the ardent red ball of sun "descend into the ocean" or into a thin layer of clouds that provide a hue of red and pink for a 30-minute afterglow following sunset. read more

Windward Passage Resort - Hotels Near Me - Ft. Myers Beach, Florida

My wife and I were on vacation via RCi and we booked this place because we love the Gulf. First off, they stuck us in the back cottages without even offering us a place with an ocean view, which I knew there were tons of, because the place was not that full. The pool only had about 5 tables, which were filled by 7 AM every morning. Take away some lounge chairs and put in tables. Not difficult to remedy. All of the activities were volunteer based?!?! What!? I have been to 30 different timeshares, and this was a first. I asked if they had a place where we could donate our leftover, unopened food to a food shelf, and they looked at us like we were insane. They said the staff takes them. The ocean was nice and warm, but very murky, which wasn't their fault of course. The fan in the main room did not work and lots of vent slats were missing from the AC registers. Fort Myers Beach is a wonderful place, but I think I would stay somewhere else. They have taken themselves for granted. read more

We booked this through our timeshare Interval exchange. Our stay here was very nice. We had a 2 bedroom booked and put in Unit #401 Top floor with about a 165ish degree view on all the ocean and side view of the rest of the island. This was nice because the balcony was opened up from the bedroom or thru the living room. This unit was very spacious for an entire family or for just 2 of us. There were fans in each room and made is nice to circulate air with or without using the AC. The furniture was nothing over the top but comfortable. The master bed was comfortable and they gave extra soft blankets stored in the walk in closet. The master bath had a shower only with a seat & was roomy whereas the second bath was a tub/shower combo. Nothing special with the fixtures but did the job. Kitchen was spacious but I did not cook as the stove needed some cleaning and was electric. Who cooks on vacation anyways -- right! I used the blender daily and the coffee pot. Kitchen had all cups, plates etc needed. Pool area was clean although we used the beach everyday as they supplied lounge chairs, pads, umbrellas etc. Thumbs up for this.... I would recommend this place for the the oceanviews and hospitality. The girls (office staff) did a great job with all our questions & placement!!! If you are looking for 5 star - its not here but it did not bother us. read more

Windward Passage Resort - Pool area is great & WiFi is good. - Hotels Near Me - Ft. Myers Beach, Florida

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this is predominately a time share resort. we chose to do a vacation exchange to stay here at the windward passage resort. this place isn't going to win any beauty contest or be clumped in with 4 star resorts, but what it does have to offer makes it a great place to stay in FMB. #1 it is location is perfect. about 1/2 mile down the road from the "times square" shopping area, there are tons of restaurants nearby, close access to bridge to get off island, and close to accessing sanibel & captiva islands. #2 the beach is great. it is primarily private. the resort offers FREE lounge chairs that you can use on the beach. they even offer cushion & umbrella rentals for like only $10 FOR USE FOR THE WHOLE WEEK. cheap! remember to bring your own beach towel, they don't offer them. #3 the parking lot is also great as it has most spots located undercover, out of the rays of the sun. the neat thing is that the concrete covering over the parking spots, features tennis court/basket ball court on top. now for the rest of the details: yes, it is very dated! the room lay out, especially with the grossly over sized appliances in the kitchen, the decor, etc. isn't pretty, BUT we didn't come here to hang out in the room the whole time, but if you did, the screened in balcony is great, the room was comfortable and clean. they also have a laundry room that is FREE to use. the pool is small, crowded and people try to scam a table/loungers early by putting all their stuff on them & then going back to their room. this is frowned upon by the resort, but NOT enforced. we did not use the pool at all, too many people & kids, throwing balls, hanging out for hours but never getting out of the water, despite they are drinking, i don't want to swim in a toilet and that seemed to be what was going on. plus most of the kids were totally unsupervised, running amok while their drunk parents sat around tossing more drinks back. also, their smoking policy is not really enforced. people were smoking around the pool and the designated smoking area is where the bbq grills are, but the smoke rises up to the rooms above. the one thing that really caught me by surprise is that they still use hard metal keys to access your room. if you lose it, you're charged a fee. if you get locked out, after reception hours, there is a $25 fee to have somebody drive in to unlock your room. otherwise, i think what this "resort" has to offer far outweighs any complaints. we would come back again, but only to stay in the main building read more

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This resort has an awesome location on the quiet part of Ft Myers Beach. It is located on the dead end portion of Estero Blvd. which ends in a beautiful park on the beach and inlet. We stayed in Unit 105, which is oceanfront with a nice size balcony and view of the beach and sunsets. The unit had a comfortable King Size bed and was clean. However, it needs some significant updates. The kitchen was a small U shape that only 1 person could access. It had aging appliances, and none of the buttons except the start button on the dishwasher worked. Also, the refrigerator could only open about 2/3 of the way before it hit the counter. The unit either needs a side by side refrigerator or a smaller refrigerator. The pool and public areas are nice and look to be recently updated. The resort advertises as no smoking, yet there is a smoking section at the pool. It is time this place gets with the times. We had to walk by the smokers to get to chairs and kids were swimming right by it. read more

I am on my third night here and my unit is near the pool. It is 2:26am and people are still in the pool that closes at dusk yelling and screaming. This is the 3rd night it has happened. Staff is gone by 3 or 5pm depending on the day so there is an after hours number for problems but they tell you to call the police. Huh??? You mean to tell me as much as a week costs here there's no person here- even sleeping on site or something that can help enforce the rules so me and my kid can sleep? And I should call the cops? You really want cops here? How to stress out a vacationer in two easy steps: 1. Post rules that make travelers feel confident they will be able to sleep. 2. Tell said travelers that "yeah- we put those rules up, but you really need cops to enforce them. Perfect. Just what I wanted to do. I mean- I am not necessarily on board with a pool closing at dusk- night swimming is nice and hot tubs are great when it's not high noon in Florida- but 2:30am is a bit much. Also- if you have an "emergency" (like a water break or something that HAS to be dealt with immediately and the cops won't get involved with) and someone actually has to come here after hours to help you- you owe them $25 cash. Ummmm- ok- I have been going to resorts my whole life- never heard of a place that you as a guest couldn't get help without paying $25 cash. This isn't a street corner where I ran out of gas and you're doing me a favor. It's a freaking "resort" where I have paid money for a certain level of comfort and security and providing it is your job as staff here. Your job is not to shake down your guests for $25 if your place falls apart or your other guests are unruly. Wifi is spotty if it works at all, TV is the same way. Talked to the people in the office and they don't know what to do to fix it. Bathroom faucet leaks, couch fabric is scratchy which matters if you have been out in the sun all day. Activities this week have been canceled via a dry erase board by the pool, towels only switched out once a week, no cleaning of the rooms to speak of- that's on you which I don't mind because I don't like people in and out of my room. It's nice they have chairs you can take to the beach, and the view is cool. I would probably not come back unless it was for a drunk-fest with friends. For a family trip- I would try someplace on Sanibel or Pink Shell resort down the road. read more

Place is very clean, location is A+, people are so friendly!! And pool and hot tub are great..its a great relaxing vaca..

This resort has all the amenities you would ever need. The grills outside are very big, the pool is spacious and rarely crowded. The property sits right off of the beach so the views are awesome. read more