While every person in entitled to their own opinion, and every story has two sides. The French turret suite is one of Cape May's hidden treasurers. I would say 95% of the people that stay, love it and come back!

We stayed in the town house, which was spacious and comfortable for our family of four. The decor fit the setting, yet it wasn't oppressively floral. The lovely marble main bathroom had plenty of hot water and fluffy towels, and we appreciated having a powder room right next to the entry and kitchen. The many stairs would exclude my arthritic parents, and the low rooftop balcony railing would be a safety challenge with active children, but is fine for sensible adults and older kids.

My husband and I elected to sleep in the queen bed adjacent to the bathroom while our sons took the king with the TV one flight up, there’s another TV and assorted media in the living room. There are two day beds, one in a sitting room off the bathroom and one on a sleeping porch off the king bedroom. The couches arranged at right angles in the small ground floor living room also appeared to be double sleepers, but it would be difficult to open both at the same time.

We were there on an unseasonably warm September Saturday, and the air conditioning kept the whole house cool enough even for my hot-natured husband.

We did not make use of the kitchen, but it seemed properly equipped and organized.

Several things could use improvement, though, most notably parking arrangements. The driveway is a tight fit to start, and can be really intimidating when other guests take up a bit more than their limited share. With no key deposit and no centralized communication, you either need to be bold (and lucky) or willing to wait until your fellow travelers move their cars.

I had read descriptions of the owner's churlishness, so we were resolved to be relaxed, whatever the circumstances. I recommend operating without a strict timetable, either, as the "will return" clock on the door of her pottery shop and espresso bar is more estimate than certainty.

If you are looking for peace and quiet then stay away from the French turret suite, the third floor apartment of the historic Merry Widow. The Merry Widow is located on 42 Jackson St., just steps away from the mall in Cape May center. I arrived there Saturday afternoon and was traveling with my wife, my mother, and youngest daughter, aged 16.

Early morning, and I mean early, was very noisy since the Merry Widow is situated next to some of Cape May's finest restaurants. By the way you won't have any problem finding something to eat for every member of the family; however, we were bothered by the noise of smashing recycled glass, sanitation trucks, and street sweepers before the crack of dawn. Not to mention the cacophony of laughing gulls. They are really raucous at the break of day. There are TVs in all rooms. There are DVD players in two of the TVs and one radio/cd player in the main room. The TV in the Kitchen/Main room is a 15 in. flat panel. Some of the light bulbs in the apartment did not work. The main light bulb outside was not working. I should say that the high point of the suite is its deck which was wonderful. No beach view really. You have to bend over the deck railing to see a postcard view of the water. We didn't really care about that. If you don't like to climb stairs or you have an elderly or disabled person in your party I would keep away from this rental.

The French turret suite accommodates four people but I would not recommend it for 4 adults. The rooms are adequate, the space is small but charming, the kitchen just enough room, and the bath is spacious. We found it comfortably clean. There are enough fluffy towels and nice linens. Beach passes are available but we had to ask for two more passes. There were only two at the apartment when we arrived. The main room, or lack of one is understated and is cramped. There is not enough room for 4 people to sit comfortably to watch TV on a rainy day. Bring games! This is better for two adults and one child at best.

Victoria Clayton is the landlord and she was lovely in the beginning when we started the contract process. She promised we would be greeted by a gift basket, but we never received one. It was a big disappointment. She was impossible to reach over the phone even though she had several numbers listed and available. I was hoping I would have received a call several days before our arrival to make plans to pick up the keys but never did until the evening before after many unreturned messages to all phone numbers. We even called the Cape May police to see if she even existed. I asked them if maybe she had a death in the family because we hadn't heard from her. They were very nice. We were assured that there was indeed a Victoria Clayton and she was the owner of the suite. This was the most frustrating thing about the whole process. She was never nasty, but for a person who's in business and deals with the public I thought she could have been a tad more available. (She owns the Tuscany cafe next door to the Merry Widow, which is very nice.) At the suite there is a plaque that explains that she can always be reached and available when you need reservations for restaurants. Not true at all. I would say she wants to remain anonymous and incognito.

The Merry Widow is on the haunted house tour. Most of the houses on Jackson St. are purportedly haunted. The turret suite was particularly singled out in a new book about haunted Cape May houses that we purchased in a local shop. Unlike some people, we were eager to meet these spirits but neither saw nor heard anything. Victoria claims it's all a lot of PR bunk, anyway I agree.

So, if I had to do it all over again (and that's not going to happen) I would stay on Cape May Point or on the outskirts of town in a B and B. And only for a weekend.

My horrible experience with staying at this establishment was like none I have had in my nearly 50 years of life. I have stayed in Inns all over the world-high end and standard, and never come across such negative and unstable owners.

Our problems started when one of the bedroom doors in our two-bedroom apartment (The French Turret Suite at the Merry Widow) got locked from the inside. I called the owner repeatedly beginning at 3 in the afternoon, leaving numerous messages on her voicemail. I didn't get a call back until 7 pm. On the phone she immediately starting accusing me of doing something to the door and was huffing and puffing about how she was out of town and couldn't take care of it. When I suggested she contact a locksmith she replied she would be over in 5 minutes. Out of town, eh? That was the first of many lies.

I hopped in the shower and my 16-year-old niece was in the living room when she got there. While I was drying off in the bathroom I heard her trying key after key and yelling at my niece "What did you do to this door?", "How did this get locked?" and other accusatory statements. Her tone was angry, loud, and evil. I won't go through all the gory details of what transpired that night, but we endured her ranting and arguing and accusatory comments the entire night via phone and in person until the door was finally unlocked at 11pm.

She came and left a couple of times that night because she had an "important meeting". Clearly her guests are not important. Meanwhile, my brother and his wife and two kids sat around in their bathing suits from the beach all night because their clothes were in the locked room and the kids had to be exposed to this horrible ranting woman's behavior. More importantly, she ruined one of the precious days of a short, but very important, 1-week family vacation. She was even trying to kick us out, threatening to call the police, as another reviewer mentioned that she said to his family. I, too, wondered why she thought she should call the police on us. I should have called the police on her. We were harassed and our rental agreement was not fulfilled. The type of lock on the bedroom door is not up to code. A small child could have been locked in that room and the story could have been much worse. We ended up just leaving the place because the negativity and emotional upset that she caused was too great. I should of know there was a problem with her when she I first reserved the place six months ago and I had to call her back three time to confirm my own reservation. She never sent us anything in the mail as she said she would. No less than four times over six months did she ask me for my credit card number. She would say, "Oh I am so security conscious that I shred the numbers". You would think she would charge the credit card before she shreds the number!

Oh, and then there is the gift basket. She asked me on four different occasions, twice in the week prior to our arrival, if I wanted vodka or tequila in the gift basket that we get with our place. I answered each time figuring she was a bit forgetful and probably busy. The funniest this is that there was no gift basket at all! There was no ocean view. There were no fresh flowers as advertised. There were four steep flights of stairs to climb to get to the apartment that were never mentioned. The house is apparently haunted (it's on the Cape May ghost tour) but that was left out of the advertising too, illegal not to disclose that in New Jersey. The plants on the deck are dead and the railings are falling off of the outside stairs. Don't look under the beds if you care about cleanliness. It’s very nasty! All of those things would have been tolerated, as although I am particular, I do go with the flow. However, the owner will make your stay unbearable. The coup-de-gras was her call at midnight that night after she had disrupted everyone to the point of tears and say "I'll meet you at 9 am tomorrow and bring your gift basket and get your credit card number". I simply said “No thank you, we are leaving.” What a joke. What an experience. Fortunately, we found a beautiful, clean, and friendly place in the John Wesley Inn for the remainder of our week in Cape May. You can't let someone like her ruin a good time-no matter how hard she tries.