We had a great stay at La Bella Vita. One issue we had was dealing with the television in the main room (it didn't always work, and when it did, the picture was bad). There were also times when we had no hot water for no apparent reason. And there were lots of little bugs inside the house, especially near the bottom entrance. So I would definitely have someone look into replacing the television in the living room, repairing (or turning up) the hot water heater, and taking care of the bug problem. All in all, these were not major issues and didn't have much of an impact on our vacation. We really enjoyed the view from the master bedroom deck, and the beach in front of the house was great (and very close). We would definitely stay here again!
Thank you for your feedback! It seems as though your stay would have been better if you had contacted us to resolve these issues! Afterall that is what we are here for! We look forward to your return and hope that in the future that you let us know whenever we can be of assistance to you.
We really enjoyed our stay, the house is in an excellent location with beautiful views. It is well decorated, good size bedrooms, bathrooms and living areas. The kitchen is a very generous size. The kitchen is a great size for multiple people to work in! We had a few issues though. There was no frying pan. The kitchen was well stocked with pots and pans but lacked a frying pan. My husband went down to the Trading Post and bought one, but we felt like frying pans are a standard in kitchens. There were a brand new set of knives though! The oven takes FOREVER to heat up! Of course this is not the rental agency or the owners fault, it is just more of a heads up for future renters. The furniture in the family room is nice to look at but everybody in our family agreed that it is very uncomfortable. I don't have back problems and never have but my back hurt constantly after sitting on the couch or in the chairs. The dining room table and the outside patio table were very nice and a good size for a large family. The downstairs bedroom was perfect for my parents so that they did not have to go up an extra set of steps, but the t.v. only worked half of our stay. I called on Sunday and told the rental agency about it not working and I was told they would have to call the cable company, which I completely understood. My problem came up though, when a few days later I had to call back the rental agency because I never got an update on what was going on. Communication could have been better, I know the agency cannot call and tell me the exact time the cable company would be there but I would have appreciated a call saying they had contacted the cable company and was given an estimated time and day for service. Also the downstairs bedroom has an area of carpet missing right at the door, it looks like somebody locked their dog in that room and the dog pulled up the carpet, no big deal except for the fact that there are finishing nails sticking
We thoroughly enjoyed our week in La Bella Vita. There is not one thing I can complain about. The house was perfect for our family. The staff at Coastal Joe Vacation Rentals are very courteous and speedy with requests....Definitely a repeat customer for this property. Hope to see you in a year... or sooner.
What a wonderful treat it was for our family to spend a week at this lovely beach destination! We took a gazebo/tent to put up on the beach which enabled us to get out of the July proved to be a good investment. The house was perfect for our family configuration. We enjoyed some great seafood - roasting Apalachacola oysters outside on the grill was fun and delish! Fresh grouper and shrimp were great. The kitchen was well equiped and large enough for many cooks at one time. We made a couple of excursions to Port St. Joe and to Apalachacola to explore the shops and enjoy seafood cooked by someone else. We especially liked 'That Place off 98' in Apalachacola. If you like oyster stew,you must try theirs. Everything is homemade and really good. I would suggest that you might want to tuck in a few extra bath towels since only one per person for the whole week is provided. There is a washer/dryer, but I'd rather not have to do those kind of chores on vacation. The only other thing that might be considered by the owners is providing either a dresser or chest of drawers for the queen bedroom and twin bedroom area. There is no drawer space in those rooms. The big plus for us was that our doggies could go with us. They loved walking on the beach! Cape San Blas is pet friendly, but we found that people were very careful to keep their pets under control - all four legged kids seemed well behaved! We're planning on La Bella Vita and Cape San Blas being our yearly tradition. Hope you'll let us come back many, many times. (Oh, and granddaughters were thrilled with the shells they easily found on the beach)
Me and my family had a wonderful vacation and thoroughly enjoyed our stay. The house was very clean, comfortable, and spacious and we felt like we were at home. The location is perfect. I loved watching the sunsets from the upstairs balcony. We ate every meal at the very nice Teak table on the balcony downstairs. I loved that the beaches were NOT crowded at all. Me and my family do plan to come back for our next vacation. The only thing that I would complain about, and this DID NOT take away from our vacation, is the fact there aren't any sharp knives in the house and the pots and pans were not very good at all. We cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner every day except for one and it just made cooking a little hard when there's not good pans to use and no sharp knives. Also, I would highly recommend Coastal Joe Vacation Rentals!!
We had a great week at La Bella Vita, the house was perfecto for our family, very spacious, decorated beautifully--we loved it. I only have one suggestion-- the carpet needs some attention. We have a dog--so it was no big issue for our family--but there is a slight odor of "doggie" in the house and I think it is the carpet. We will be back next sumer, hopefully one more time this summer.
Upon reading this review we immediately sent our staff over to check the report of "doggie odor" in the home. None of us really noticed a smell and we have had several renters in the home since and have heard no other reports of this nature. The carpets have been and are steam cleaned on a regular basis.
The rental was very spacious and clean. Nicely decorated. Great sunsets from the balcony and close to the beach. If you are looking for a relaxing vacation with not alot to do this is the place for you. Beaches are gorgeous and not crowded and you can bring your dog on the beach. Huge plus if your dog likes the water.
Beautiful beach. House was perfect for family wanting to spread out. Mary Bowen from Coastal Joe's was incredibly helpful in tight booking window. House just needs a couple minor instructions (how to get TV's to work upstairs) and swap out cracked toilet seat upstairs. Snorkeling visibility was poor in Gulf and Bay. But diving in Panama City was terrific. This is a fine house really close to a remarkably relaxing beach.
The house and location are excellent; outside showere a true pleasure and quick walk to beach just what we wanted. Thanks and we'll see you again soon!
Great comfortable house, quick walk to beautiful beach, and nothing but relaxation--wish I were there now!
Balconies on both sides are great- bay and gulf, very nice location and gorgeous beach. Map to property needs to be updated so you don't spend lots of time looking for it in the dark. Very pleasant place, would like to go back.
We were actually scheduled for our 3rd year in a row at another Coastal Joe property. Upon check-in we were informed that our place was not available since the central air conditioner was broken. The property manager had relocated us to "Coastal Calm." We were a bit unsure since we liked our former place so much, but upon seeing the alternative we were very pleasantly surprised. It actually was an upgrade--going from a 2BR 2BA to a 3BR 3BA and for the same price. We felt the management treated us fairly and well and feel spoiled enough to want to return to Coastal Calm next year...that is if the oil spill doesn't ruin that!
Coastal Calm just needs a little face lift - like some paint, tiles fixed a little bit on flooring and some cleaner furniture and new comforters/blankets.
We had a great time at coastal calm. Beware this is a pet friendly property so it has a slight smell of pet urine and dirty carpet. Hopefully the carpet has been cleaned. Other than that the property was great.
Coastal Calm was a great place to stay! This was our first trip to Cape San Blas and we were very impressed. We had never stayed in a rental home before and liked all the conveniences it had to offer. Had a bit of a time with figuring out the household electronics because the cables were not hooked up to a couple of the TVs. A little fooling around with where to plug everything in and we were off and running. We truly loved the decks facing both east and west and couldn't have asked for a nicer beach. We will definitely be back!
We much enjoyed our stay in Coastal Calm. The Beach House feel was very nice, listening to the Gulf, both day and night, was wonderful. Sunrises over the Bay, and Sunsets over the Gulf were exceptional. The staff at Coastal Joe Vacation Rentals were exceptional....and we would strongly recommend Coastal Joe for any body looking to rent on Cape San Blas. A major reason we chose Cape San Blas area was the "pet friendly" nature of the area as well.