“Beautiful home, well stocked, and great fishing”

Posted 7 years ago

“Beautiful home, well stocked, and great fishing”

Posted 7 years ago

“I stayed with 15 of my family in this house and it was good, it is a nice house and we enjoyed ourselves. But of course there are ways to make it better. I like detailed reviews so here is our experience. First of all the good: - The house sits on the bay side of Galveston Island and although there are no waves like on the ocean it is still nice to be on water. - The house has parking for 3-6 cars which is nice. - The dock is great and the kids had a great time fishing and they even caught a number of fish. - The house is not on the ocean but beach access is a 1-2 minute drive by car (probably 1 mile away). The great thing is that you can park your car right on the beach. Just pull on to the beach and unload your stuff, there is a roped off parking area at most beach access points for cars. The only downside is that you get sand in the car - it goes everywhere! For that reason it might be nice to rent a golf cart but driving our car was great and we avoided $500 in renting a golf cart, it just cost me 1.5 hours cleaning the car of sand. - Regarding the beach, we found the beaches in Galveston to be great, clean, warm, good waves and good sandcastle sand. Here is my theory why we always heard good and bad about Galveston beaches - when we arrived the first day the beach was completely clean. Later in the week they were dirty and covered with seaweed, nothing too terrible just lots of seaweed everywhere. That's because there was a storm that dragged it up. We saw city trucks go by that clean the beaches but it takes time. We didn't find it to be a problem. The water is brown, not clear but very warm and great. - The house has good access - 1.5 hours to many Houston activities. The Houston Zoo was great we all enjoyed it. - The house had a great side yard to do activities on. - The vestibule on the first floor while small was great to store outside activities. - There is a lot of good outdoor space, deck and side yard. Some things to just be aware of and suggestions for improving the house: - The house is generally good but with 16 people it feels tight. The kitchen is tight, the dining room is tight and there is not as much room to spread out inside. Just be aware. I don't know what the square footage is but it is about 25% smaller than most vacation house that sleep 16 people that we have rented. - There are no large screen tvs (not even in the front room, just a few small ones around 27-30") so you will be disappointed if you bring a video game system and expect a big tv or two. The tvs in the master bedroom are tiny and in the master upstairs it is across the room and difficult to see from the bed. It needs a large screen TV and they are not too expensive these days and standard in most large houses. - The house lacks a pool, pool table, kayak, or arcade game like other vacation properties we stay at that have these amenities at this price, so you will need to bring all of your own entertainment. An arcade game would add some entertainment to the house and not take up much room. The cost also would not be that much - a few thousand dollars. Likewise a kayak or stand up board is not expensive but would add to the experience. - AT&T has service but it is 1-2 bars, not great. WIFI was problematic when we stayed but they eventually fixed it. A router was just going out. Once that was fixed phone service was fine. - At nearly 5k a week I expect the house to have a propane grill and not charcoal. That was very unexpected and not typical. That should be corrected immediately in my opinion. Again not an expensive proposition. - They do not make it clear but the house is a full 30 minutes from downtown Galveston. So, if you have to run to Walmart you have an hour just In driving time. It's okay it's just not that convenient and it adds time to everything. That said you do gain some privacy. I just didn't plan on an hour drive every time we needed or did something. - The house has a staircase that curves. It is pretty but on one side the stairs are VERY narrow (Like 3 inches) - so they are not practical. Our 4-year fell down the stairs rolling and screaming as he rolled. It was not great. We had to train everyone to walk on the outside part of the stairs where they are widest and hold the rail). In addition one of my teenagers hit his head on the stairs as he went up them because the clearance is just 6'. Also there are 2 flights of stairs in the house so you are constantly climbing stairs. That is probably the same with any house you rent in Galveston just FYI. - The bedroom layouts are strange - to get to two of the bedrooms you have to walk through two other rooms. So, 4 of the bedrooms lack much privacy. Like I said the house is tight. - Some of the bathrooms don't have locks, so that is awkward. - Overall it is a good house and I would stay again, but truly for the price it could use a few upgrades: propane grill, 60" big screen tvs, arcade game, kayaks. - Also, The Ryson property management people were great to work with (thanks April, Austin, etc). They were always very nice and helpful. -Thanks for letting us stay in your house.”

Helpful Report

Posted 7 years ago

“I stayed with 15 of my family in this house and it was good, it is a nice house and we enjoyed ourselves. But of course there are ways to make it better. I like detailed reviews so here is our experience. First of all the good: - The house sits on the bay side of Galveston Island and although there are no waves like on the ocean it is still nice to be on water. - The house has parking for 3-6 cars which is nice. - The dock is great and the kids had a great time fishing and they even caught a number of fish. - The house is not on the ocean but beach access is a 1-2 minute drive by car (probably 1 mile away). The great thing is that you can park your car right on the beach. Just pull on to the beach and unload your stuff, there is a roped off parking area at most beach access points for cars. The only downside is that you get sand in the car - it goes everywhere! For that reason it might be nice to rent a golf cart but driving our car was great and we avoided $500 in renting a golf cart, it just cost me 1.5 hours cleaning the car of sand. - Regarding the beach, we found the beaches in Galveston to be great, clean, warm, good waves and good sandcastle sand. Here is my theory why we always heard good and bad about Galveston beaches - when we arrived the first day the beach was completely clean. Later in the week they were dirty and covered with seaweed, nothing too terrible just lots of seaweed everywhere. That's because there was a storm that dragged it up. We saw city trucks go by that clean the beaches but it takes time. We didn't find it to be a problem. The water is brown, not clear but very warm and great. - The house has good access - 1.5 hours to many Houston activities. The Houston Zoo was great we all enjoyed it. - The house had a great side yard to do activities on. - The vestibule on the first floor while small was great to store outside activities. - There is a lot of good outdoor space, deck and side yard. Some things to just be aware of and suggestions for improving the house: - The house is generally good but with 16 people it feels tight. The kitchen is tight, the dining room is tight and there is not as much room to spread out inside. Just be aware. I don't know what the square footage is but it is about 25% smaller than most vacation house that sleep 16 people that we have rented. - There are no large screen tvs (not even in the front room, just a few small ones around 27-30") so you will be disappointed if you bring a video game system and expect a big tv or two. The tvs in the master bedroom are tiny and in the master upstairs it is across the room and difficult to see from the bed. It needs a large screen TV and they are not too expensive these days and standard in most large houses. - The house lacks a pool, pool table, kayak, or arcade game like other vacation properties we stay at that have these amenities at this price, so you will need to bring all of your own entertainment. An arcade game would add some entertainment to the house and not take up much room. The cost also would not be that much - a few thousand dollars. Likewise a kayak or stand up board is not expensive but would add to the experience. - AT&T has service but it is 1-2 bars, not great. WIFI was problematic when we stayed but they eventually fixed it. A router was just going out. Once that was fixed phone service was fine. - At nearly 5k a week I expect the house to have a propane grill and not charcoal. That was very unexpected and not typical. That should be corrected immediately in my opinion. Again not an expensive proposition. - They do not make it clear but the house is a full 30 minutes from downtown Galveston. So, if you have to run to Walmart you have an hour just In driving time. It's okay it's just not that convenient and it adds time to everything. That said you do gain some privacy. I just didn't plan on an hour drive every time we needed or did something. - The house has a staircase that curves. It is pretty but on one side the stairs are VERY narrow (Like 3 inches) - so they are not practical. Our 4-year fell down the stairs rolling and screaming as he rolled. It was not great. We had to train everyone to walk on the outside part of the stairs where they are widest and hold the rail). In addition one of my teenagers hit his head on the stairs as he went up them because the clearance is just 6'. Also there are 2 flights of stairs in the house so you are constantly climbing stairs. That is probably the same with any house you rent in Galveston just FYI. - The bedroom layouts are strange - to get to two of the bedrooms you have to walk through two other rooms. So, 4 of the bedrooms lack much privacy. Like I said the house is tight. - Some of the bathrooms don't have locks, so that is awkward. - Overall it is a good house and I would stay again, but truly for the price it could use a few upgrades: propane grill, 60" big screen tvs, arcade game, kayaks. - Also, The Ryson property management people were great to work with (thanks April, Austin, etc). They were always very nice and helpful. -Thanks for letting us stay in your house.”

Helpful Report

Posted 7 years ago

“We had a lovely time at the home. It was beautifully decorated and spacious enough for 6 couples.”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

“We had a lovely time at the home. It was beautifully decorated and spacious enough for 6 couples.”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

“We had such a wonderful experience on this vacation. Beautiful scenery even while you're cooking in the kitchen you can see out the front as well as the back side. The perfect overall getaway. It makes you feel as if you are in another state:)”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

“We had such a wonderful experience on this vacation. Beautiful scenery even while you're cooking in the kitchen you can see out the front as well as the back side. The perfect overall getaway. It makes you feel as if you are in another state:)”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

10323 Reviews