Has anyone heard of a place called Laurel Pond Luxury Wilderness Lodge & RV Ultra Sites in Cream Ridge, NJ or stayed there? I came upon their site which looks fantastic but they are only in phase I of the project. The website looks beautiful with the pictures and the site actually seems too good to be true to pay $64.50 per nite for a full hook up with the amenities! I have searched all over the net for reviews and found nothing so I hope someone possibly lives nearby or has stayed there. I believe they just opened last year. They are only 4 minutes to Great Adventure and supposedly 30 minutes to Point Pleasant. We were trying to find a campground to go to the shore with our friends and actually didn't want to be that far away but the website is so inviting. I would appreciate any thoughts or comments on this place as we are planning on going there the end of this month and don't want to be disappointed.

Is this an ad for a timeshare?

This user has posted a near-identical "question" on the fmca forums.....and call me suspicious, but whenever anyone refers to something by an unusually-long formal name (or mentions amenities by the owner's reference)...it's an ad.

Only $64.50 per night? That's too good to be true?

No, it is not an ad for a timeshare. I called this place to inquire and the guy said that they do sell sites that you can buy and use and also they have sites that are being kept for weekly, monthly, and daily rentals. They are only in phase I of the project and I just hope this place is nice as we are going there this weekend and I will post more once we return but the place is supposed to be a mixture of rentals and site purchases.


I'm also thinking this place is going to be too good to be true. I did get an email confirmation that I am renting the ultra luxury site for two nites at $64.50 per nite. Now, what I find when I get there versus the pictures online, may be a totally different thing but the owner, Steve, assured me that we are going to have everything just as it is shown in the pictures so I am keeping my fingers crossed as we are going there this weekend and I will report back on my findings and if I was approached to purchase a timeshare as the other posting is advising. I hope not so I may try to locate other campgrounds in the area just in case there may be a problem. Don't want to hamper a nice weekend trip!

Ha. I saw the meaning of your italics

Too good to be true is Rayford Crossing (Spring, Texas) for $23 a night, or $17 a night at Oasis RV Resort in Amarillo. Too good to be true is NOT $64.50. Sounds typical for the "amenities" claimed by the original poster to be so amazing.

Actually, we just got back from the weekend stay at Laurel Pond and I can say that it was a nice place. Not your typical campground though. There were a few quirks. The office staff is a little behind on doing things but when they found our name and checked us in, they drove us to our site which was just as pictured. Our site was very spacious and had the lawn furniture, nice weber gas grill, gazebo with heat lamp and of course the hot tub. Unfortunately, the hot tub wasn't filled or working so they offered us a $15 credit for each night which I felt was sufficient. The cable didn't work either as a squirrel had chewed the main line but they made up for that by offering dvd's and plenty of games. The office wasn't manned most of the time but that was fine as we had no need to go in there. When we tried to pay for the second night after our friends came, the office was closed so we instead went Saturday late morning and made comment about the hot tub. At that point, the owner deducted $35 from our bill for the stay and said he would try to see what was going on with the hot tub. Later in the day, he did come to our site and scrubbed the tub thoroughly as we watched and filled it up. We must say that we did enjoy that hot tub after a day at the beach and on the boardwalk plus the next day. We even were allowed to stay after checkout time without being charged extra. While there was no store, there was a WaWa not far down the road for supplies if needed. The place doesn't have a swimming pool. There was a lake which we didn't go in and free kayaks for the residents use. There was also a small playground and volleyball court. All in all, for $64.50 per night (which after our discounts for the hot tub and cable, $47.00 per night), this place was a very nice place to be. It was private and you felt secluded on your site and not too much activity there. Good place to go if you want to relax. Would definately go back again but would hope that they get their quirks out of the system and have things ready and checked before a camper checks in to avoid problems and having to give a discount. I personally think this place is trying to get off the ground and needs some outside financial help. One last thing, don't depend on a bath house! There is a so called bath house which was suitable for our party but it only consists of an oversize bathroom with a single shower in it. There are small hotel type bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and hand cream. It was nice and clean so we were completely satisfied but others may feel the need for more baths since we did have to wait for two other people in our party to take their showers after coming back from the beach instead of using our unit which was a little bit of a wait but worth it. I wouldn't feel bad telling someone to check this place out if you want to relax. Really close to Great Adventure too! About 25 minutes to Belmar and 45 to Seaside where we both went. There was also no security but the owner was seen driving around many times checking things out. They do sell the cabins sites and rv sites as a straight purchase and rent them out on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis but we in no way were approached for any type of presentation or by a salesperson to try to persuade us to do anything more than our weekend stay. Very nice and thoughtful unlike other places where you must go through the presentations to stay for the weekend!

You really need to write this up as a review.

Thanks for the details. Now I see why you thought it was a deal at $64.50/night. As fulltimers, we couldn't begin to afford that kind of price on a regular basis, but I see the appeal.

I wouldn't find any of those conditions acceptable, even *with* a discount -- especially since the attraction IS the amenities.

A squirrel chewed the main cable TV line? Why didn't they get it fixed quickly, if they knew about the problem? (Frankly, the maintenance issues you note sound more like a place that's barely making it, rather than "oopsies".)

DVDs and games are not a substitute for cable TV news and/or other programming. Everyone already has that stuff in their RV.

Thanks for the review, and please post it in the Reviews site -- complete with the noted quirks.