Oaks Port Stephens Pacific Blue Resort

the property itself was lovely , however it’s starting to show its age , pool could do with a facelift and the shutters in the room came off their hinges and we couldn’t shut them properly

The property itself was fine , we had a lovely time , however, on arrival for check in , the guy on the front desk “Bob”, was extremely rude , unwelcoming , unprofessional, passive aggressive, ignorant , and just downright horrible . How ppl like that get a job in a place like that , dealing with the public , is beyond me . He needs to pull his head in , we turned up on a high looking forward to a nice few days away , and within 2 minutes of being there , felt like telling him to shove his accomodation where the sun don’t shine , he certainly brought us down from our high

plunge pool was fantastic for the kids, lagoon opened up a couple of days early so we managed to get a few laps in. restaurant was great food in evening. house was in good state, with kitchen good enough to cook meals in. bus stop right outside the hotel so easy to get to airport, Anna bay and Nelson bay alike. main supermarket around the corner. tennis courts were always available.

minor points- kitchen lacked a few basic pieces for cooking, but staff supplied chopping board and oven tray as soon as pointed out. no drying rack for clothes, just a dryer machine.

Bedrooms and plunge pool and the whole apartment had a generous size. We were with other group of friends who were in 2 separate apartments and we still got to share dinner with them. The resort had one of the best locations which was also close to amenities, the beach area and some other outdoor activities that you can go to. My husband really enjoyed his lap swimming at it was a heated pool. The kids were just a bit disappointed as the main pool was closed for renovation.

It could have been better if the resort had an outdoor barbecue facilities. The main pool was closed for renovation, and the kids could have really enjoyed it if the pool was operational.

Very comfy master bed and pillows, very spacious living area and master bedroom plus balcony, nice clean linen. Towels were topped up daily and beds arranged which was nice

Very poorly equipped kitchen. No bowls, or big dishes to serve food in. Just 2 saucepans and a small fry pan. We were in room 348. Just 2 tiny mugs as opposed to 4. Very disappointing, as normally a 2 bedroom apartment of this calibre should offer a lot more in the kitchen. Excepting for Fox sports no other entertainment was provided on TV. Such as stan, netflix. There was no DVD player either. 2nd bedroom door was broken, had come off the hinges and door frames had split. Not sure how this went unnoticed by the cleaners and not reported. But upon us reporting it, they immediately sent maintenance staff to secure it. The lagoon was empty of water for maintenance work, which ruined the view somewhat as we had selected a room with lagoon views

The location is wonderful, staff are beautiful (nothing was too much trouble), the pool set up and surrounds is really lovely and close to everything. The Laguna Blue Restaurant at the Oaks Resort is so delicious !! Probably the best steak I have ever had... so much so we had it twice ! Chef even made us a special Carbonara pasta (which was amazing), their pizza was pretty good too... Make sure you also go into Nelson Bay for Nero Gelato (OMG - photo added) and try Sharkys Pizza, Lime Mexican and Blueys for breakfast (share a plate - they are huge!).

The pool needs some attention, it looks a bit tired and worn in places. I wish they had breakfast on weekdays at the resort (weekends and holidays only). The step down/up from the swim out room into the pool is a bit too steep, it's not easy to get back up to your gate/deck, even saw young adults struggle dragging along their knees - you can't just easily step in and step out ! I'd likely not get a swim out room again next time because of this as we really ended up exiting the pool by walking around to the shallow pool areas (or I'd take a little plastic fold up step/seat?), there are heaps of ways to get into the pool and gates everywhere close so you don't really need a swim out room.

Absolutely wonderful experience for us . I travel with my kids 24,21 and 10 . We had a 2 bedrooms swim out room . Easy for us to watch the little one . The room was nice and clean, beds are comfy, wifi was perfect with strong connection. All the staffs are awesome and helpful, can’t think of anything need to complain, only one thing is we should stay longer than 4 nights . Location is perfect close to shops , shopping centre, kfc … the bus stop just ring in front of the resort. We fell in love with NSW public transport $1 per trip per person. We definitely planning to be back later this year to stay longer .

Nothing at all . Everything was just perfect, the swim out room was highlight.

Pros - Really outstanding. We visited in the middle of the year, winter, so practically empty. We didn't leave the resort for the entire five days utilising every minute in the heated lap pool, gym, sauna...trying to choose which of the three empty spa pools we would jump into that day and playing tennis. Even though it's 2022 and the year of constant rain, the beautiful sun graced us the entire five days. Sublime and peaceful. Excellent value for money off-peak. My hubby even swam several times around the resort every day (700 metres I believe) although that isn't heated and was way too cold for me. Kmart, Coles very close. Walking distance. All staff were wonderful too. Thank you for an awesome visit. We'll definitely be back. 😊

Cons - We stayed in a 1 bedroom swimout. We even brought Chromecast with us but neither TV (bedroom and living room) was a Smart TV so couldn't cast to TV. No Netflix etc. All free-to-air and a handful of Foxtel channels including History, CI and several sport's channels. No movies but a DVD player if you have DVDs. Some items we needed but didn't have included tongs, colander, egg cups and microwave-proof cookware. These things are so insignificant really but since you asked, I'm providing.

We loved the size of our room and the plunge pool out the back. The pool was always lovely and warm. Also the beds and pillows were so comfy and the full sized kitchen was so convenient. Lovely picturesque views of the pool and greenery. Very fast response when we requested one of the beds to be changed after our daughter had accidentally wet the bed.

We thought it wasn’t too clean in our room when we arrived. We could tell there had been a party there previously as there was remnants of confetti on the carpet and we saw the end of a balloon behind the shutters near the back door. There was also some hair in the bath upstairs and a door or window must have been left open because there were mosquitos everywhere on the first night inside the apartment. Also, our bins were never emptied and we were there for 4 nights.

The location was close to the beaches and shops (within 5mins drive). The villas were well maintained and stocked with amenities except the jacuzzi needed a bit of deep cleaning as it kept on discarding dirt on to the tub. The washer dryer was very handy and most welcomed. We had the dual key swim out apartment with direct access to the main pool - but it was way too cold for a swim (in April) and we ended up using the spas. The sauna is lovely although the lap pool needs a bit of maintaining. All the villas were private and we appreciated being able to park the car right outside the villa. The breakfast in the Laguna Bar was decent enough and the staff were so lovely.

The jacuzzi and lao pool need maintaining.

Very clean and liveable. We were a father and two adult sons visiting relatives in Port Stephens and the 2 BR apartment was excellent for us. Kitchen well equipped and beds comfortable with good showers. Car parking close by the unit. However the big surprise was the restaurant, basically Italian, which was brilliant. A good wine list and the menu was great. Also really good service and a free lemoncello at the end!!

Nothing to dislike except wifi wasn’t so good in our apartment and we could not link the smart tv with our own accounts, but that is a minor glitch only,