Since I was a little girl (I'm 38 years old) I had always wanted to stay at The Carousel due to its wonderful reputation. So when my husband surprised my family and I with booking a week vacation in one of their ocean-front rooms, I was thrilled!
more +Unfortunately, things change in a matter of 3 decades, and The Carousel was not an exception. The first evening was disastrous at best. After walking around in the dimly lit room (several bulbs were either burned out or missing altogether from the socket) for a half-hour, the bottoms of our white socks were very moist (which is to be expected when staying at any beach resort) and DARK, DARK BROWN. The tub was so caked full of soap and hair that a drain plug was not needed because the water would not drain. And when I put my feet under the covers for the first time later that evening, I kicked ... something. Throwing back the covers revealed FRIED CHICKEN SKIN! (I was thankful to be wearing those moist, dark brown socks.) I immediately brought this to the attention of the front desk. They and the managers were completely useless. The offered another room, but we were forced to move our belongings ourselves and management insisted we had to move IN THE MIDDLE OF THE AFTERNOON. I had to try to explain to my 7 and 11 year-old that we had to leave the beach to conform to The Carousel's instruction, or they would revoke their offer to change the room. It took us from 12:00 to 3:00 pm to completely move to another floor, with no help from the hotel. An hour after we finished, at 4:00, a thunderstorm came and the entire building lost power for several hours. The loss of power, actually, occurred intermittently on several days, without the provocation of a thunder storm.
The "arcade," which consists of pinball, pool and video games, is a joke. They have very few games and half of them were broken.
The Carousel boasts of having the "only ice skating rink in Ocean City." If after reading this review you are brave enough to still book a vacation, bring your own skates. Their skates were filthy, slimy (no other way to describe it) and not properly maintained. The ice was rough and looked as if it never saw a Zamboni.
Exactly 5 days from the commencement of our stay we all become terribly ill with respiratory infections. The doctor diagnosed the cause of our illnesses to mold exposure.
After relaying all of the above, the hotel flat out refused to either (a) upgrade our room, (b) give us a discount on the rate we paid, or (c) extend our stay.
Ocean City's Chamber of Commerce was very empathetic to our experience and said The Carousel gets many complaints due to their unhealthy and unsanitary conditions. They explained that the Chamber is not, however, in the position to disclose property reviews and are an informative resource only.
I had sent several letters regarding the filthy, unhealthy conditions of The Carousel, and have yet to receive an acknowledgment.
Date of Stay: 08/13/2007
Children in Party: 2
Kids (7-9) Tweens (10-12) Accommodations Dining Kids Play Area Money Value Pool & Water Fun Staff
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