We stayed at the Holiday Trav-L-Park Resort in Emerald Isle, NC for one night passing through from Charleston, SC to catch the Cedar Island Ferry over to Okracoke, NC. After reading reviews about some of the other campgrounds which were closer to the ferry, we opted to try this place because it seemed like it would be more scenic, secure, friendlier and not too far off our scenic coastal route along US 17.
We reserved a spot in the premium Yellow section along the beach dunes, so we could enjoy some nice scenery if even for only one night. We paid $80 + $5 (50 amp) + $5 (for pet). We were escorted to our back-in site, which offered a picnic table, no barbecue or fire ring. We unhitched our toad, parked it next to us, took out only our doormat and cooler, which sat next to our front door.
In the morning, when we were getting ready to pull out, we noticed our cooler missing. Trying to stay on schedule and meet our ferry reservation, we looked around the area quickly and did not see it; we proceeded to exit the campground. I called the office to report the incident, but at 7:30 in the morning they were closed. We stopped to hitch our toad by the office and spoke with one of the campground “Managers” who apologized for the incident and took a description of the cooler.
I called later in the day and was told that they found my cooler out on the beach and had it in the office. The owner’s assumption was that some kids must have taken the cooler out to the beach. I asked if they would UPS the cooler to my home. The owner’s reply was that she could not be responsible for every cooler that got stolen. She would not UPS the cooler back to me at her expense nor would she discount my stay for the cost of a new cooler. Apparently this park has a theft/management problem.
Days later, In contrast to this, we stayed at a park in Hickory, NC where the power went out for 3 hours during a hail storm. Voluntarily, the owner did not charge us for that night because of the inconvenience. Needless to say, I would not recommend staying at a park that has theft issues in addition to an owner that takes no responsibility for those issues and charges $90/night.
This use to be my favorite place to go, however, last year we had reservations for Halloween weekend and canceled because of Hurricane Sandy. We didn’t ask for our money back, just if they could transfer it to another weekend. After all, who wants to camp during a hurricane? They would not do anything! We will not go back. I don’t know who the owner is, but I don’t know how they sleep at night.
I totally understand about the previous rv response to their cooler being stolen. But the big piture… this is a very clean well kept campground with ocean access, ocean view on some sites and very clean bathhouses. I have visited this campground at least 30 times over last 3 yrs and I absolutely love it.