A hearty recommendation for the older units at Marriott's Newport Coast Villas Date Of Visit - Jul 11, 2010 Date Of Review - Aug 13, 2010 My family visits Newport Coast Villas every summer and we always request occupancy in the first-built sections. For us, there are many advantages to being in the area closest to Pacific Coast Highway. We always walk to Crystal Cove, the Beachcomber or the Shake Shack. No need to pack up the car or pay the parking "donation" at Crystal Cove. We are an active family, and being nearer to the main entrance of the resort means that leaving on bicycles or heading out for a run is that much easier. Yet, in these lower buildings, we are far enough removed from the resort traffic that we don't see or hear it. There is a lovely, quiet pool just outside the villas. It is true that the televisions in these units have not been updated, they are truly low-def, but we don't go on vacation to sit in front of the t.v. anyway. The kitchen has standard white appliances, sometimes showing a bit of use, but always in working order. Utensils and kitchen supplies are unremarkable. I have learned to pack for any cooking possibility, usually bringing my own measuring devices and storage containers. The first built buildings do not have a view of the ocean but instead are buffered by the vegetation of the Pelican Hill Golf Course. Occasional club/ball interaction can be heard. Also, the landscape crew at P.H. does their work in the early mornings, and I have heard others complain about the noise. This sort of work would be short in duration and not daily by any means. In general there will not be much large scale tree cutting, just lawn mowers. It would be advisable to ask whether NCV has any knowledge of major work at P.H. if you are concerned about it. There are many activities near the main building. In addition to the pools, there is a bar, a lunch restaurant, ping pong tables etc. Children through older teens could easily be occupied for hours here. The new pool at the top end of the resort is lovely. There are beautiful views, a large grassy area for lounging, and staffed towel and snack areas. It is at least a 20minute walk from one end of the resort to the other. This pool is quiet because there are not many occupied units at this point in time. If all the newer sections are occupied, I would anticipate this to be a busy place. We enjoy NCV and all that the surrounding area has to offer. We will continue to request the older area, although I am a bit curious about the newer furnishings! sea&ski - owner 1

Just perfect Date Of Visit - Jul 17, 2010 Date Of Review - Jul 24, 2010 This resort is absolutely perfect for people of all ages. To get to the nearby beach you can use the Marriot shuttle, drive or take a healthy walk. We walked down to the beach every morning and it was beautiful. The neighborhood is extremely upscale. You can see Kobe Bryant’s house on the hill above (it's the one with 7 chimneys) and Tiger Woods is building a home (is 35,000 sq feet a home?) up there as well. When you see the views you will understand why this is some of the most sought after real estate in California. Crystal Cove Beach right below the resort is a protected California State Park. We say quails, rabbits, Red-tail Hawks and a Road Runner on our walk to the beach and had a great time exploring the tide pools. I understand it is a great place for Whale watching in the Fall and Spring. Make sure you take the time to explore it but do not take any shells or plants. Although it only has one restaurant on site and it does close early, the Pelican Resort next door offers breakfast, lunch and dinner in a great setting (it is a must see). You can also go down to the Crystal Cove beachfront restaurant where they serve breakfast lunch and dinner as well. It is right on the beach and the food was great. The Marriott Shuttle will take you right there. The Market on property is well stocked and actually not as expensive as othe resorts. The Villas are a perfect 10 like most Marriotts. We did have three FLat Screen TV's and the kitchen was fully loaded. The grounds are Lovely with breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean. The main pool area has three huge pools one of which is called the quiet pool. It also has 2 great big Jacuzzis. There are two other pool areas on the property and they are perfect if you want less crowds and more quiet. You have to check out the two Fire Pits on the property. Great for roasting marshmallows while watching the sunset. All in all it was a great week. The kids had a blast in the kids club, the arcade and at the pool while the adults relaxed at the pool, at the beach and explored some of the most exquisite shopping in the world. I have stayed at 9 of the Marriott properties and this is on the top of my list. timjaneen 2

Very Nice Vacation...Resort has pluses and minuses Date Of Visit - Jul 04, 2010 Date Of Review - Jul 05, 2010 We just returned from California and had a great time in Newport Beach. The resort was very nice and this is our second time there in the last three years. We probably spent most of the day off site and did things in surrounding areas every day. We usually got up, had coffee and left for most of the day and then returned and cooked out and had dinner at the resort. We went to the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park, Balboa, Laguna, and Newport Beach. As I said in the title the resort is beautiful. The views of the Pacific Ocean and surroundings are stunning. The grounds are amazing and everything is clean and well maintaind. However, once you get past the scenery and weather, you realize that there are some obvious flaws with the resort. The first is that it is very difficult to get from one part of the resort to another. There is approximately 100 feet of elevation change from one end to the other and the only way to get around is to take very steep stairs or climb steep inclines. Conversely you go down hill a lot too. You could always call for a shuttle to pick you up, but it's a real headache. The other thing was obvious was that you are much better off if you are in the five or six buildings surrounding the main area. If not, you are very far from other things (pools, tennis, marketplace). The marketplace was very small and overpriced for everything other than the Pizza Hut items. There is only one place to have a drink on site and it closes early. There is no restaurant. I found this to be the most disappointing part of the resort. For it's size and the fact that there are no other restaurants nearby, they should have one, even if it is very casual. We stayed in Villa 2525 and had a good view of the ocean. The unit itself was very nice and being an end unit, we could open the windows and get great cross breezes. The highest temperature we had all week was 75. The unilt was large and had two sleep sofas which was very good for our group that included three teenagers. The furnishings were nice enough, but were aging and the TVs were the older variety. The staff were all very friendly and helpful. I was very impressed with this. All in all it was a good home base and served the purpose. I wouldn't go there expecting a resort atmosphere given the lack of a restaurant, shops, etc. You will get some great photos and the weather should be good most of the time. I would say it has a resort rating of 8.5 and would be higher with a restaurant or expaned marketplace. Big Matt 3

Great Resort! Can't wait to go back! Date Of Visit - Jun 04, 2010 Date Of Review - Jun 14, 2010 We just got back from our week (June 4th-11th, 2010). We had a great time. The units are large and well furnished. The location is great. The grounds for this resort are VERY LARGE. So, just a warning...if you are going to take more than 1 car, get a unit near the Check in desks as the Garages are close to there (they only let you have one car close to your unit, the other car must park in garage). We were in building 1800 which is pretty far from the garage, so I had to walk 5 minutes each day to my car. Otherwise, the pools were nice and well heated. The TV's are not Flat screen yet, but they worked fine. The beds were great. The kitchen worked perfectly (we like to cook). They give you enough laundry soap for one load and enough dishwasher soap for several washes. The view from our unit was good (ocean view) but they have a LOT of trees there so don't expect a completely un-interrupted ocean view. We had about 45 degrees of Ocean view. Since it was June, it never really cleared up, so the view was not as important. If you want to have a great view....avoid May (May Grey) and June (June Gloom). The world famous Pacific Ocean Marine Layer is very strong here. The location was convenient to tons of restaurant and they even give you a card from Marriott that saves you money. The card saves you $20 every time you eat at Tommy Bahamas, regardless of how much you spend. One time, we got a soup, a salad and a sandwhich, and paid $8. You will need to take the shuttle to the beach as it is across PCH. The 73 toll road is quite close so that you can jet down the freeway to San Diego, or up to Long Beach/Los Angeles quickly. The best Units for View are 4000, 4100 and 4200. They are so high on their hill that they see right over the Golf Course into the Ocean. 3800 and 3900 are nice also. Most of the others are fine...they just have some trees and other things that partially block the ocean view, but you will still get one. Just request upper floors. reddogsd 4

Ok Place Date Of Visit - May 14, 2010 Date Of Review - May 22, 2010 We have had our time share at Newport Coast for about 5 years. They were past just beginning construction when we first were able to occupy. The units were just as we saw in the model and we were well satisfied with the stay. Over the last few years they seem to have completed construction of the all the buildings and grounds and it turned out very nice. The newer buildings don’t seem to be occupied yet. My guess would be as in most places the outside is complete and the insides are still empty. We have, however, come to expect that the promises made would be fulfilled. First I would recommend that when anyone purchases these time shares to be better informed about the true costs of owning year to year. The salesmen technique of estimates and ‘about this and that’ should be more exact. The Newport Coast Sales staff are very dedicated to making a living for themselves. Our costs for taxes and Concerning the resort itself it is very nicely designed. The buildings are appealing and the property Is well laid out. There are enough pools and and such to satisfy anyones needs. The property is not flat. it is built on a slope so there are pools at the top middle and bottom. It is a large property so it is pretty spread out. The units are very large, about 2,000 sq. ft. with no lock outs. Full kitchens are included. The furnishings are a little modest if your plan is to just hang out. No flat screen TV’s. The beds used to be the Marriott standard but recently have been downgraded again. We will really miss that. The property is well suited to families. This visit we used the resort bus to go to Laguna, a shopping and beach place. We could have taken it to the Fashion Island Mall. We could have also taken it to the Crystal Cove State Beach also. It was convenient and very nice too. If you would like to go to Disneyland you’ll need a car. There are really no close restaurants and driving to them entails some planning. Parking at the ones in Newport Beach is usually a chore. So if you are a breakfast lover bring food or buy it at one of the markets near there. We were told that a restaurant would be coming 5 years ago. We are still waiting. For now a small poolside bar/food operation is available. In the main building the small shop offers pizza and sandwiches but it is not a complete restaurant. Parking is a little tight and if you plan to have more than one car it has to parked in the garage which isn’t near most of the buildings. Hope this helps. We did trade for the Marriott in Poipu Beach Kauai this last year and really like it. JimnDee - owner 5

Excellent with right room Date Of Visit - Jan 23, 2010 Date Of Review - Feb 06, 2010 This resort is excellent to look at. The Pool facilities and gym are excellent. Towels provided at pool by just taking what we needed. It is a fairly new resort and is in excellent condition. My review is negative because the room we were assigned (3820) had severe drawbacks. It was on the second floor on the end next to about 12 very noisy air conditioners and another “humming” machine that produced a very audible noise at times thru the day and night. I cannot imagine how people on the first floor felt. The floors between the apartments act like “drums” and transmit noise very well. When a herd of elephants (actually small children) is above you it makes the vacation a little less desirable. For an excellent resort they should have built it so it was sound proofed- surface quality is fantastic but engineering and long term attention to detail leaves me in doubt. Aside from these issues the resort is fantastic. In the right room (not ours) you have fantastic sunsets along with ocean views. The room has a fully equipped kitchen, stove, full size refrigerator, micro wave (with low power output) and a washer and dryer, two bedrooms and 2 bath rooms. One bedroom (the master) has a very nice King bed and the other has a queen bed with a pull out double bed only suitable for children. The couch in the living room makes into a queen size bed. The deck is nice for breakfast and evening sitting- no lounge chairs nor room for them. The resort is about 35 minutes from Disneyland using commuter lanes and about 1 hour from Lego land. Great base for visiting those parks. They have a pass to the state beach available for a $2-$5 donation and that is very nice. We did not participate in the planned activities but several were cancelled while we were there. The staff was very friendly and helpful. When we called to complain about the noise from upstairs about 2 ½ hours later it did get quieter. No extra fees were charged for the basic resort. Nice gift shop well equipped with essentials. Good prices for a resort- very fair. Great for family but not very large rooms. Deck is only large enough for 4. Great for partying if you don’t mind upsetting your neighbors. No problems checking in or out. Staff very friendly and everything was very well done. 6

Excellent Resort Date Of Visit - Oct 16, 2009 Date Of Review - Nov 09, 2009 Traded our one bedroom Bronze Summit Watch week for a Two bedroom. We really loved NCV and cannot say anything negative about it. The grounds are beautiful, pools are great,. Six of us stayed including my 6 year old granddaughter. First night went to the angel playoff game, got tickets from the very friendly and helpful concierge (Sue) We landed at LAX and didn't find the drive to be bad at all. NCV is at a great location, went to hollywood, Beverly Hills, Disneyland twice, LaGuana Beach, Hunntington beach, Venice Beach and Balboa beach. All were great my favorite was Hunntington. Also went the the San Diego Animal Park. Our Unit was near the pool with a nice oceanview. The unit itself was excellent,everything you needed for a great vaction. We found the staff to be great, and will return Soon!!!! 7

Great family resort Date Of Visit - Aug 01, 2009 Date Of Review - Aug 09, 2009 This is a great resort with something for the whole family. We have stayed here twice and loved it both times. The beach that is 1/4 mile away, Crystal Cove, is fantastic for families. I recommend this resort. wags 8

Nice Resort With Many Attractions Nearby Date Of Visit - Jul 01, 2009 Date Of Review - Jul 14, 2009 We had a wonderful stay at NCV in early July. Villa was what you would expect from a Marriott property. Highlights included trips to: Long Beach Aquarium-go to the visitor booth to the left of the aquarium entrance and get the local magazine that has discounted tickets. We got adult entrance at the child price. Ate at Boston’s Restaurant next to the aquarium for lunch. Mission San Juan Capistrano-go on the walking tour with the audio player to get information about the Mission.. Ate at Sarducci’s near the mission/train station for lunch. Petco Park for a S.D. Padres game-beautiful ballpark. Purchase your expensive $20 parking pass online and you park right next to the stadium. Ate the 5 for $5 for lunch at the ballpark. 5 = hot dog, popcorn, cookie, coke, peanuts. This was a great bargain. Balboa Peninsula-nice beach with good waves. Highly recommend the early bird special ($15.95) at Harborside Restaurant with good service and great food. Also, Harborside is on the Marriott Grazie card so you receive an additional discount. Took the 45 minute boat tour where we saw sea lions and some expensive real estate. Would not recommend the nautical museum. Balboa Island-fun place to walk around. Parking on the main street is limited to a 2-hour time limit, but we parked on a side street with no time limit. Note when the street sweeper is coming by. We then walked to the ferry and rode as a pedestrian to Balboa Peninsula, which is a cheaper price and quicker since only three cars can cross at a time. Ate lunch at Wilma’s with slow service and good food. Mariners Church-large church nearby that has many services over the weekend. We attended the Saturday night service and had a wonderful visit. Dana Point Harbor-ate dinner at Proud Mary’s with a water view. Good food with excellent service. Recommend the sea bass and cordon bleu for dinner with coconut rice (c. rice only on Mon/Tues). Pool time at NCV-pool water is chilly, but the kids didn’t seem to mind (wish they would select one of the 5 pools and make it warmer). The two pools on the ends of the property were not very crowded. Main pool area had most of the people. Get a fruit smoothie to cool down in the afternoon. Mama D’s restaurant near Balboa Peninsula-great service and good food. Fun place to go, just get there early or you will wait 30+ minutes on the comfy couch. Wait time includes eating yummy bread and meatballs. The service was outstanding. Fox Rental Car is located near the airport, just a short shuttle ride away.We saved over $100 for the week by using Fox Rental Car vs. major rental car companies. The car was a mid-size Dodge. Overall a very nice relaxing trip to California. 9

AWESOME place Date Of Visit - Jun 21, 2009 Date Of Review - Jul 01, 2009 This is a huge, beautiful resort inside and out with great ocean views and lovely landscaping everywhere. All units are 2 BR and very clean everywhere. There is no mid week clean but asked for extra towels and was brought a large bag. Kitchen is well appointed with very high class pots, pans and dishes -- great storage items too. No problems at all. Called for more dishwashing detergent and was brought quickly. Wine and cheese party was a "member info" session on how to trade with Interval. BEautiful heated pools. Very convient to area. Went to San Diego Zoo which is one of the best in the world and spent the day. To Hollywood racetrack for the day and to the Mission at Capistrano. Many great restaurants in area --Five Crowns, La Brias and Cannons in Dana Point which had a GREAT happy hour and food. Highway 1 has good views of the Pacific and beaches as you drive along. Very suitable for all ages and no added fees. wrbshoe 10

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