Buccaneer State Park, Waveland, Mississippi

[Chillaxin' III]

This place is located in S.W. Mississippi; very close to the LA border.

Well, we read all the reviews, and even after reading the negative ones, we decided to book our annual RV vacation at Buccaneer. We camped for 1 week in spot #117, which is in the Treasure Bay Loop of the park. There were plenty of trees in that loop, so plenty of shade in the AM and PM. Yes, the train tracks were very close-by, but it didn't bother us--we like the trains.

Power, water and sewer were all very easy to hook into. There was plenty of room for the 2 slide-out rooms, and only 1 tree that obstructed fully opening our awning.

As for the campsites themselves, they leave a lot to be desired. There was very little grass, and the dirt (dried mud) had TONS of trash and debris embedded in it. And we're not talking post-Katrina debris, we're talking lots of trash, broken glass, pop tops, bottle caps, etc. It seemed that everywhere I looked in this park, there were cigarette butts.

The paved RV pad was very narrow and drops-off; so you have to set up your awning and patio rug / chairs on top of dirt--which turns into a lot of mud when it rains. Most campgrounds have a paved pad for the patio area.

As other reviews have said, it is unbelievable that paying campers have to pay to use the 3' deep wading pool. I can see charging for the water park (which was nice) but the wading pool should be included for paying campers.

There was very little patrolling / oversight from the rangers and staff. Quiet hours are completely ignored by many of the campers. Screaming, yelling, arguing and loud music at all hours of the night. People were letting their dogs run free more than I've ever seen anywhere else.

The park is not very well maintained; including the showers and restrooms. This place seemed like chaos most of the time. It seems like we enjoyed our vacation when we were away from the campsite--or inside our camper. We won't be camping at Buccaneer State Park again.

We camped here for 1 week in a 31' travel trailer with 2 slide-outs.

On a positive note: The Silver Slipper Casino is 5 minutes away (West)and has a great buffet. If you head East, Bay St. Louis has a lot of antique shops and quaint little restaurants. New Orleans is only 35 minutes away.

If you're towing a travel trailer or driving a long motorhome, get off on exit #2 off of I-10. Get onto Hwy 607, and turn onto Lakeshore Drive. The RR crossing at Lakeshore is nearly dead flat. All others in the area are elevated and could damage the belly of your RV!

OnStar even tailored the end of my route to include Lakeshore Drive; since I read about it somewhere else online.

[CaptnJohn]

Thanks for the review Sarge. We started looking for a CG near NO. I rarely look at state parks as they seem a crap shoot ~~ most are great but when you get a bad one they are generally real bad. Then there is the length problem at times.
I think our 1st fall trip will be to Jekyll Island GA. Then at least 1 more before we leave for FL in January.

[coop]

We camped there a few years ago, before they reopened the water park. It wasn't clean then but the worst of it was the staff, they weren't rude but they just didn't care about the park or what was going on. Fortunately for us we only used it as a place to sleep, spent most of our time getting reacquainted with Mississippi.