When we initially were pinning down the dates for this trip Ed contacted Eugene Silvestri, General Manager of the Hilton, with questions about possibly staying sometime during the last two weeks of August.  He recommended we choose the particular period that we did primarily because there would be a significant decrease in the number of families with children staying there as a result of schools restarting.  However, as he put it, he also had some bad news and some good news.  The bad was none of the one bedroom suites in the Hilton was available and the good news was he wanted to put us in a two bedroom condo at the adjoining Royale Palms.

We didn't know very much about the Royale Palms accommodations other than we had read they were nice and were completely non-smoking which is why we had not seriously considered them as a possibility before.  But with Ed having stopped smoking a few years ago and Sandra currently trying very hard to do so (down from two packs per day to about three cigarettes a day) we thought that would be entirely acceptable, especially since Sandra could retreat to the outside balcony to indulge what little remains of her addiction.

After checking in at the Hilton main desk we were more than surprised when we arrived at the oceanview suite reserved for us on the 21st floor of the Royale Palms.  Succinctly put, it was extremely nice.  The entranceway, replete with doorbell, led into a very large combination sitting room and dining room with an attractive trey ceiling.  In some pictures of other units we've subsequently seen, this large area is at least partially divided into separate rooms.  We much prefer the particular variation we had - very spacious.  There was a full size kitchen equipped with nice, full size appliances and separated by a bar from the main sitting area.  At one end of the suite was a very good size bedroom with a king bed and at the other end another bedroom with two full size beds.  Both had plenty of drawer space and televisions on cabinets that could be viewed from the beds.  The two-bed bedroom had a nice size closet while the master bedroom had a more than adequate separate walk-in closet.  The bath for the master bedroom had a large jetted tub and a separate shower which included seating.  There was a smaller bathroom with just a shower near the bedroom with two beds.

The finish of the rooms including trim was unusually nice for what one might expect in this type of rental condo and all of the bath and kitchen counter tops were granite.  In the sitting area there was a couch which could open into a foldout bed and across from it was a decent size LCD television with DVD player.  All of the furniture was in good shape and of a good quality.

We encourage our readers to use this link to obtain more details about the considerable amenities provided with these condos:  Royale Palms website .

The only detraction from our stay in the condo was the sometimes excruciatingly long waits for an elevator at peak demand times.  At such times one easily can wait 10 - 15 minutes.  Something that was observed which most definitely contributed to the problem was housekeeping staff stopping and blocking elevator cars while they cleaned them.  That should never be allowed during periods of high demand.

Guests at the Royale Palms have full access to all that the Hilton has to offer including food room service and concierge.

As usual, the staff and management at the Hilton made us feel very welcome and appreciated.

Indeed we were extremely pleased with our stay at the Royale Palms and our related utilization of the Hilton facilities and services.  Now, we'll share a little story with you about just how pleased we were.  On one of our prior visits to Myrtle Beach we had toured the Marina Inn at Grande Dunes and were so impressed with what we saw that we made reservations to stay there when we would be attending the Carolina Beach Music Awards in November.  After our experience with the accommodations on this latest trip we cancelled our reservations at the Marina Inn and booked a full week in a two bedroom oceanfront condo at the Royale Palms.  Yes, we very much enjoyed our stay!

There's really nothing new to add in this subject other than to report that Flowers on the Coast has continued its perfect track record of providing outstanding arrangements for Sandra.  As usual, Ann at FOTC worked patiently with Ed to create a uniquely beautiful arrangement which this time was presented in a large basket.

When we were departing we found there absolutely was nowhere to carry the flowers in the XLR-V except in Sandra's lap.  Consequently, we stopped at Fat Harold's Beach Club in Ocean Drive and gave the arrangement to Joy Thompson and Kathy Fitzsimmons in the office there to enjoy.  They were quite surprised and seemed pleased.

Next Page or Table of Contents