Marina Dunes Resort Review

Have you stayed at Marina Dunes? Here's your chance to tell other owners what it's really like. How big is the pool? How hot is the hot tub? What do you wish you had known before you left?

Just stayed here for the first time, got lucky and it came up on bonus time at the last minute. Scored a wonderful two bedroom unit, upstairs with an ocean view. I wish there was a way for me to post a picture from our balcony. Incredible! I will be watching for this much more often, close enough to home (Sacramento)to pack a bag and get there quickly when it is available. The beach within walking distance is pristine!

With not many recent posts, I was unsure how this property would be. My family of four was pleasantly surprised. The location is great for exploring the Monterey/San Francisco areas. The condo is set up a little odd but functional. We were quite comfortable and actually had a limited view of the ocean. Room 323. Easy to find, quick access to Highway 1, north and south. I thought it would be sad to not have the golf cart that the Sanctuary Beach people have but I realized quickly that it was not that great. They could not park by their units and had to use the carts to go back and forth to their cars....looked like more of a pain than anything. The pool and hot tub were great and never crowded. The beach is a short one to two minute walk. Lots of chairs to sit on and look out at the ocean from the bluff. The fire pit at night was great....buy your s'mores supplies at the store ( not provided). All in all, great resort to relax and use as a base of operations for the area.

We have stayed at this resort numerous times. It is in a fabulous location right on the beach. The units are small, all 2 bedroom, but the pool and spa are huge and rarely busy. Most of the time we have the pool to ourselves. We try to get a second floor unit with view and enjoy watching the waves crash on the sand. Sometimes we have seen whales from our balcony or from the wonderful Adirondack chairs provided at the beach, which is a 50 yard walk from the resort. Every night you can enjoy watching the sun set from the beach and there are 2 bonfires lit by the staff for the sunset. The staff is super friendly and helpful, especially Douglas and Liz.

Last week, my family stayed at the Marina Dunes Resort, and loved it. The resort itself is about ten minutes north of Monterey. The resort is bit isolated by the ocean. The Worldmark resort is co-located with The Sanctuary, so the buildings closer to the ocean belong to 'The Sanctuary', and are all studios. The Worldmark portion is a bit back from the ocean, but it is still lovely. Some Worldmark units have an ocean view, but most do not. My family had a two bedroom unit. It was just the three of us, and we found it roomy enough for us. However, the units are small compared to other Worldmark properties. Adjacent to the property is a restaurant, however, it was closed during our visit. We were told a new owner will reopen early 2017.

Our favorite thing about the resort is the evening bond fires on the beach. There are five fire pits and lots of seating available for the guests. The fires are lit at 5:00 pm and go till 9:00pm. It was wonderful to sit by the bond fires, watch the sunset, listen to the waves, drinking an adult beverage. It was very relaxing. My seven year old son loved the beach. The waves are not tame on this beach, so he could not play in the water. But, he enjoyed playing in the sand. The pool is big, and was plenty warm for us. The hot tub was very spacious, and hot too.

I live about 20 miles from the Marina Dunes resort, so when I find a night or two available, I always snap it up. Since I am handicapped, I always stay in a special needs unit. The living, dining & kitchen area of the units is small compared to other WorldMark Resorts. But the bedrooms are regular sized. The units have be recently refurbished. There is now full-sized front loading washer & dryer, rather than the small, stacked apartment sized units. It is a great improvement over the washer-dryer combo that was put in the Angels Camp special needs unit (5 hrs. per load!). And the beds are very comfortable.

Marina, the city closest to the resort is multicultural and there is a wide variety of restaurants: Thai, Korean, Mexican, Filipino, Vietnamese, seafood & american, along with the usual fast food places.

My only complaint about special needs units is the handheld shower. Most of these shower heads have a slight angle. But not here. The handle is straight and the water comes out at a 90 degree angle. In the master bathroom, the water hit the wall behind the tub and ran on to the floor, flooding the bathroom. Luckily, there was still a maintenance person available to clean it up.

Thanks for posting. Many of these comments are quite old, but we're headed there next week. BTW I had the special needs unit in Angels Camp with my mother. You were lucky to get a load of clothing in 5 hours...Those all in one washer's are the pits.

Hi everyone
just curious who posts units on Expedia for rent? I wanted to book some additional units in Windsor but not available for owners to use credits but for rent on Expedia ? don't understand this?

We have been trying to reserve Marina Dunes for the Indy car races at Laguna Seca raceway for the last several years with not much luck. Then finally, for the 2022 race we managed to get a week from September 13 to September 20th. So what does Indy Car decide to do??? They change the schedule for the first time in 5 years and moved the race up a week. Of course the the new race weekend of September 9, 10 and 11 is all booked up. My question is, is there anywhere I can see if anyone wants to trade my week of Sept. 13-20, for the week that would include September 9th thru 11th? Thanks

No we have never stayed there. We've been trying for he last 3 years with not much luck.