I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: staying in resort accommodations with a full kitchen just makes your vacation that much more affordable and convenient. The residence-style lodging at The Resort at MarinaVillage offers guests all the comforts of home, with some luxurious hotel amenities and services: a great combination for an upscale vacation for two!

Kitchen in a one-bedroom suite; there's a dishwasher too!

My husband and I stayed at the MarinaVillage property in Cape Coral, courtesy of the resort, last month during a trip to the Gulf coast of Florida. Here are the highlights and some considerations to note:

Accommodations: Our one-bedroom suite on the 12th floor was incredibly spacious for just the two of us. The Resort at MarinaVillage just opened in November 2009, so I wasn’t surprised to find our 790-square-foot suite in tip-top condition. The stainless-steel appliances — dishwasher, stove, refrigerator, microwave — are, frankly, nicer than the ones I have at home, and I loved having all of the dark-wood cupboards stocked with dishes, glasses and cookware. Always ones to save a buck or two while traveling, we did visit the grocery store to stock up on breakfast foods and snacks, so we made good use of the kitchen in the mornings (okay, my husband did, cooking up omelets and toast for us each day).

Our one-bedroom suite also featured a huge master bath with a washer/dryer (which I did use, since I was in Florida for a week, and happy to clean a couple shirts to wear again). The room had two flat-screen TVs, one in the bedroom and one in the living room. Our screened balcony was huge and facing a nature preserve.

Our accommodations featured a king-size bed and huge screened balcony.

Rooms come in studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom configurations in a 19-story building. To note: all of the exterior doors to each room open to the outside, which I wasn’t expecting (I thought they’d open to a hallway, more apartment style than motel-style.)

Location: The Resort at MarinaVillage is located in a residential Tarpon Bay Marina community. It’s at marker #92 (from which the resort restaurant Marker 92 derives its name) just off the Intracoastal Waterway. The marina is particularly pretty at night, which is when my husband walked hand in hand around the property to check out the boats. The community is gated and quite safe, and I certainly appreciated being on the water and adjacent to a green nature preserve and the Caloosahatchee River.

To note: If you’re looking for a resort with a sandy beach, this property isn’t it. To get to the beach, you can take a water taxi to Fort Myers Beach, but it’s a day-long (6-hour) excursion, taking about an hour to get to the beach on a fixed depart/return schedule. By car, it’s about 30 to 40 minutes to Fort Myers Beach.

Fresh tomato and mozzarella salad at Marker 92.

Dining: We had an incredibly good meal at Marker 92, which turns out a variety of dishes — steaks, seafood, pizzas –  from its open kitchen with wood-fired oven and wood-fired grill. Sushi is another specialty, and I give a huge thumbs’ up to the shrimp tempura roll.

Without a reservation, we were able to sit outside on the patio on a weekend evening, but the restaurant was hopping and I’d recommend booking a table in advance, especially if you want to dine outdoors — though the interior dining room is classy and comfortable, we avoid air conditioning whenever possible! I am sorry we had to check out before we had time to enjoy Marker 92′s lavish Sunday brunch — it got rave reviews from the front-desk staff.

To note: Florida does not follow the same public no-smoking ordinances that we have in my home state of Colorado, and we were disappointed to be sandwiched between two tables full of smokers. Some of them were kind enough to walk away from the table to smoke, but others didn’t. We tried to move, but as the maitre d’ pointed out, even if there were an outdoor table available, it would be very likely we’d be seated next to more cigarette aficionados, so we stayed put.

Pretty water feature in the lobby at The Resort at MarinaVillage.

Amenities: We were on the go during our stay in the Cape Coral area of the Gulf coast, so we didn’t have time to lounge by the small heated pool at the hotel, nor work out in the lap pool at the nearby Tarpon Point clubhouse, which is also home to horseshoe pits, tennis courts and bocce-ball courts. There are a few shops on the Promenade adjacent to the marina slips, with the day spa Esterra located there, as well.

To note: The resort does charge a $15 per room, per night resort fee to cover the above amenities, as well as a daily newspaper, internet access (whose signal was strong in our room, which we loved), fitness center, business center, parking, pool towels and bike rentals.

Photos by Kara Williams.

The Resort at MarinaVillage
5951 Silver King Blvd
Cape Coral, Florida 33914
888-372-9256