Ann D.
Yelp
Our family stayed here for our annual trip to Destin and I'm quite impressed. There were a few drawbacks but overall the stay was pleasant.
Silver Shells is a cluster of condo buildings right off the beach. We stayed at St Maarten - one of the buildings closest to the pool and ocean. We occupied rooms 407 and 607 to split up our family. You have to drive around in St. Maarten's garage to find your spots on that side of the building, but we got two spots each room and there is a shared parking lot for extra cars. Beautiful view from the living room, master, and second bedroom side. It is nearly a perfect panoramic view except for the building being built just in front and to the side of St. Maarten. Each condo had a kitchen, living room, dining room, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, laundry room, and balcony. Kitchens have decent amount of cookware, bar top, dishwasher, with dishwasher pods and coffee amenities. Television in the living room with cable, a large dining table which seats about 6-8, beds have unique bedding, bathrooms have soap amenities and toilet paper. An elevator leads you directly into the foyer of your space, which can get a bit awkward when you stop on a different floor and you peer into another condo. It can also get inconvenient if you're in more than one room. You need a key to access any room higher than ground or lobby while inside of the elevator. They only give a set amount of keys so we were calling each other all weekend to make the elevator go up to a floor without the right key. This was probably the biggest inconvenience but understandable. You also need to have a key to get into the (beautiful) lobby and to open gates leading to the beach. If you're looking for the grill, it's on lobby level outside on the balcony overlooking the pool. Trash chute can be found by going out of the third bedroom's door.
There was plenty of space in 607 for our family of 19 to gather. 607 was tile, decent decor that was livable but not spectacular. Kitchen was well stocked with utensils. The corners of the table in 607 was quite sharp and had to be childproofed. Master bedroom had a King bed, second had a queen, third had 2 twin beds. Patio furniture was sturdy wicker if I can recall correctly, and comfortable. We didn't spend much time in 407 and mainly split up to shower, do laundry, and sleep. 407 was carpeted, decorated well, and had marble counters. The third room has a full and twin bed. I'm not sure if this is because they rushed the rooms because we came a a little before check in (it's 4 o clock normally) but the shower floor was slimy and still had hair from the previous occupants. Cleanliness should not have been sacrificed. Bring and wear flip flops! I would periodically forget and get super grossed out. Also my bedding was itchy. Should have washed it but with other people there we had personal laundry going all day long.
As far as the rest of the resort, it's pretty nice and complete with the normal bells and whistles. The outdoor pool was great, heated at night and had lighted water spouts. It was nice and roomy so other families don't crowd together. It goes to 5 feet by a rock like waterfall. Plenty of tables and chairs around. There is also a hot tub and kiddie pool in that area. There's also a playground and an unmanned outdoor bar. The other areas were a bit of a hop and skip away. The tennis court and basketball court are both outside, but clean. The weight room and indoor pool are in the club house but the cardio room is in another building off to itself. Ruth Chris is right around here.
Pro tip: there is a TINY strip of public beach between Silver Shells and the next resort that will probably be snatched up by the aforementioned hotel that's under construction. Since you cannot pitch a tent on Silver Shells property you can do it there, but do NOT pitch it in the jet ski rental strip. If you pitch early in the morning the tide will recede and people will be in front of you. Be very wary though, the ocean is extremely crowded since the space is so small - about 4 tents in width worth. You might want to try and reserve private umbrellas and chairs if you want to relax and not worry about people invading your space.
Extra lagniappe: WiFi is very fast (upload speed was insanely fast) but the network is down from time to time. If you're lucky you can connect from the pool or beach since cell service was spotty. Also I was able to sit on a pokestop while in the living room, caught lots of water pokemon with lures on. Walmart is across the street and open for 24 hours!
Would recommend and stay again.