Review Detail

We stayed here for a week during the Thanksgiving holiday. We made our reservation late and we were told that we had to stay in the grass, called overflow. That was fine, but we asked the office if we could move when people started to leave. They could only offer a different site at the day of departure and that was across from the old bathhouse where they were putting on a new roof where nails were flying left and right. Because we saw people come and go all the time, with sites remaining empty for multiple days, we went back to the office still they could not offer any desirable site. They have maintained for several years, at least, that they never know who will be assigned to a spot as it is done randomly by the computer in the morning of the assignment. Yet several days in advance, when asked for a empty spot-they would say that so and so is assigned to that spot. A new arrival a few days after we arrived chatted with us and indicated that he always could get a spot because he knew the management, but some of his friends could never seem to get in. The grassy site we were in was full with burrs, ants and we were tracking these including dirt inside the motorhome. We put out a lightweight cover that does not harm grass or in this case weeds, but soon enough we were handed the rules and told to read rule 12. NO carpets (also no fences). After the holiday I went into the office to take this up with the manager and also mentioned that our neighbor had 3 fences around his patio. It happened that he is a Host and may stay there for 6 months, so some of these rules do not apply to them. He should be comfortable. But still no carpet for me. It seems like that at least 10 sites (out of 49) are taken up by paid staff, host, cleaners, maintenance folks ,etc. Overall, our impression is sadly negative. It appears that the park is largely managed for the benefit of the staff and not for the qualified users. We have visited many military campgrounds across the country and Mayport has a great location, but due to poor management, in our view, we will not be back until someone gets the message and cleans house there.