Sanibel Harbour Marriott Resort & Spa

Every once in a while we need a night away. A night away from the house. A night away from the daily routine. A night with room service???? It doesn’t have to be far but we love checking into our home away from home, relaxing, hitting the pool and checking out the food scene at the resort.

This time, all we did was travel about a half hour down the road to the gorgeous Sanibel Harbour Marriott Resort & Spa. At first, this was supposed to be a day spa trip. You know, a massage, some pool time, and maybe some tiki cocktails. You know, the standard stuff. 🍹

The BF booked us massages that he found on the big G deal site and set up a day date for us. The best part about this massage is that it also came with full use of their facilities for the day. We had access to all of the pools, hot tubs, saunas, steam rooms and the resort itself. To me, this is the perfect relaxation day.

We had only planned to take advantage of our massages and the use of the resort for the day. But of course, I had the bright idea that we should extend our day and make it a staycation at the Marriott. Why not right? Our last “cation” of any kind, stay or vaca was in February when we did our first tour of San Antonio and I was itching for a night away.

The Spa

I did not take any pictures of the spa as that might be a bit creepy with a bunch of people in their robes. You know, encroaching on their privacy and stuff like that. The staff, however, greeted us warmly, had us fill out paperwork and gave us a tour around. Claudia was my guide and she was fabulous. She explained everything about the locker room to me and demonstrated how to use the lockers that they provide.

My Massage

I had a male masseuse name Miguel and he was professional, cared for my well being and did a fabulous job. The mood of the room was warm and relaxing with cozy blankets to keep you snuggled in. He asked what strength I would like his touch to be and I wanted a medium to hard massage as my back was pretty tight. What I didn’t know is that Miguel is a massage ninja!! He knew how to find every single spot that was achy and how to work it out. I am not going to lie, this is not a nice gentle massage but one designed to get those kinds out. It hurts but it hurts oh so good! As a side note, when you pay for your massage it includes gratuity in it. BONUS!! Plus they offer you a mimosa when you are done as a little tasty yummy to top it off.

The Pool(s)

Since we did arrive early at the spa we had enough time to hit the pool for a few hours before it was massage time. The staff at the spa promptly called us a shuttle and the whisked us away to the Sanibel Tower where the main pool and restaurants are located. This is a large pool with a ton of seating all around it for people to enjoy. There is a nice little tiki bar off to one side and waitresses that come to your chair. You have a little red flag on the back of your chair to raise to signal that you would like to place and order. I am not going to lie here, we had a few beverages before we made it to our massage as we enjoyed relaxing in the warm sun.

The Sanibel Harbour Marriott Resort & Spa property actually has 4 pools on it. One is located inside the spa, one at each tower (Sanibel & Captiva) and one that sits on the other side of the Sanibel Tower that is supposed to be for adults only. This last pool is also by a little sand area with hammocks to enjoy in the evening breeze.

Next time you have some fresh baby cukes give it a try!

Yummy Bites

As typical for us, we spent the day having little nibbles here and there. Since we ate breakfast before we arrived at the resort we waiting until after our massage to get a quick bite to eat. Let’s call it pre-dinner. This was at the little tiki bar next to the main pool called “The Cove” they had hummus and pickled veggie app that was the perfect size for a quick nibble. The vegetables were crisp and “picklely”, the hummus was the perfect creamy texture and the baked naan bread was good even if there were only a few pieces.

There are a few more restaurants on site. One of them (Charley’s Cabana Bar) we did not get the chance to have a bite at but we were able to get a refreshing cocktail and take some pictures. They do have a woodfired oven right on premises that looked promising and the cocktails were delicious.

For an early dinner, we headed to their in-house restaurant called Tarpon House. Our server was Pam and she was an absolute delight. Thanked us for being local and still coming by to check them out. This is not a fancy high-end restaurant but was what we needed after a long day in the sun and full massages. The BF and I shared their Three Cheese Onion Gratinee. Warm, creamy, oozy, gooey, delicious is exactly how I would describe this amped up French Onion Soup. It did not disappoint and I am still thinking about it as that is one of my favorite soups.

Dinner entree for me was their Angus Blue Mushroom Burger.  Served with a glossy brioche bun with a burger topped with creamy blue cheese, sauteed to golden brown mushrooms, and sweet onions and tomato. This dish was served with a pickle and a choice of a side which i opted to get the side salad with blue cheese dressing. Seeing a theme here??? I may or may not like blue cheese! The burger was moist and delicious. Not quite the medium that I asked for but not far from it. The bun was pillowy and warm and the creamy blue cheese softened enough to coat everything. This is a BIG burger and I was only able to make it through half of it at dinner time as I may have had too much of that soup!

The BF’s dinner was the grouper sandwich. Down here in Florida unfortunately you sometimes have to ask if it is actually grouper to make sure and they assured us that it was. He ordered it his favorite way, blackened with waffle fries. So let’s talk about this sandwich. It was AMAZING! Freshly caught. A true piece of beautiful fish, thick and buttery. Just the right amount of seasoning to tantalize the taste buds and juicy. He was in heaven with this thing and I didn’t dare to even get my fingers near him for fear of losing one! He 100% recommends this sandwich if you get the chance to go.

The Room

When I checked in to the resort, Chris at the front desk handled everything for us. He was courteous and gave us an option on what tower we would like to stay in on the property. The Sanibel Harbour Marriott Resort & Spa actually has two towers, the Sanibel Tower and the Captival Tower. The Sanibel Tower was a room with 2 queen beds but is at the heart of the resort. Or we could take the Captiva Tower with a king bed just down the road a bit. We chose the king bed and had the shuttle scheduled for us to take us over to the tower. This building is great! The downstairs is filled with outdoor games (ping pong, foosball, giant lawn chess, giant connect four and the pool). The rooms actually start on the second floor and it has a wonderful sitting room with a tv, couches, games and some refreshments. Our room was located right on the second floor convenient to the ice machine and vending machines and had a beautiful balcony overlooking the pool and the Gulf Of Mexico. We could not have asked for a better room. It was spotless and everything was in the right place.

Final Thoughts

This Sanibel Harbour Marriott Resort & Spa hand’s down is worth it. The amenities, the rooms, the staff and the professionalism they display is fabulous. I did have the pleasure to work at the Marriott years ago and I will say if anything, their customer service has improved over what it was. And it was pretty stellar back then. We will be back to enjoy this property, sooner rather than later.