Emerald Isle Condominiums

We loved unit #2308! Booked directly with owner Shirley on VRBO and we will book again. Views are amazing from this penthouse condo on the gulf. The HUGE balcony was a joy to lounge and dine on each day. You can lay in bed and watch the sun rise/​set over the gulf. 2 bed 2 bath with nice furnishings and linens. 2 king size beds and a sofa sleeper in the living room. Fully stocked kitchen and nice appliances. Washer and dryer too! The complex is kept very clean. 2 pools and one hot tub just steps from the beach. 2 large gas grills. Beach chair service was included in our rental. Food delivery service from Mikes oyster bar was available beach side. Water sports were also available in front of this beach location including parasailing.
You will need a car to get around. A few restaurants are located within walking distance and the popular Pier Park is about 2 miles away which we walked to along the beach several days.
The owner provided a secure private WiFi connection. Our ATT cell phones however did not work well inside but we really could care less. Who wants to be on the phone in paradise? A hard line phone was available inside to use or we stepped out onto the balcony. I assume being right on the beach that the building is mostly concrete.
The gym was tiny and odd but was fine for quick cardio. So don’t come here for the gym. Get outside and swim, run on the beach, boogie board, snorkel and jet ski. You will have much more fun burning calories that way.
Anyway great location to stay and explore PCB. This area is not as crowded as others in PCB.

I would echo many of the items from Esther’s review below. You’re almost renting someone else’s unit, so you’re beholden to their view of what is good decorating and linens. We would have opted to have real fitted sheets on the bed so that we weren’t bare on the mattresses by 1a each night. Also the pots and pans were abominable. The unit was a little beaten up too (#510). The building needs a paint job, especially the metal railings and some of the walls. The resort is also somewhat far from many of the attractions, so it isn’t an easy walk to get to anything, you must take a car.
The office personnel weren’t exactly helpful either. We were having something shipped for the Xmas holiday so that our little ones would have some additional presents and they REFUSED to accept the box. We almost had our presents sent back to our house in IL. They were unapologetic and seemed not to care at all. They were also somewhat difficult when we checked in.
So you couple the poor customer service with a beaten up unit and you get one star. You add the great views and closeness to the beach and it climbs back to two stars.

We stayed in condo unit 2206. We used Interval international to book a week at this condo. We had booked a week and left 2 days early. Awfully glad we drove instead of flying to FL so we could leave w/​o difficulty.
If your family enjoys using Internet services and Smart phones you probably will not like staying here (we didn’t). If you are a no or low tech family, you could enjoy this condo. We would not stay here again even though the location is ideal. Reasons follow:
CONs:
1. Unit 2206’s Internet service is a COMCAST modem/​Ethernet connection. (So I cannot figure out why the service is VERY UNRELIABLE.) This means your laptop movement is constrained by the length of the cable provided. It also means your Smartphone cannot connect because there is no Wi-​Fi service for this specific condo unit. Some of the other units may have Wi-​Fi service because their «locked» service was visible. There is free Wi-​Fi service in and near the condo office on the 4^th level. I used this Wi-​Fi service on the 3^rd level-​parking garage also.
2. AT&T 4G & 3G phone service is very spotty at this level; 22^nd floor.
3. The 3 TVs are not HDMI capable. This means you cannot use” HBO To Go” to see movies on the TV or mirror your laptop to these TVs.
4.There are no planned activities at this resort, apparently (at least not this time of year).
5. The exercise room, sauna, office and activities room are in a converted condo. You have to walk thru the office to get to other stuff. This exercise room is compact (read as small). The office closed on 1 Jan, for example, so we were locked out of the exercise room and sauna.
PROs:
1. Spectacular view. You can see the sun rise and set from wide oceanfront view.
2. Property right on beachfront. Very short walk to Gulf of Mexico.
3. Our 2 bedroom unit, with king size bed was clean and neat with basic kitchen utensils, but not plush.