Moline, Illinois: Quad Cities International Airport, Holiday Inn Express, dining, and rental car

 July 2021, three days & one night

Arrival and check-in at Holiday Inn Express

The front desk agent (manager possibly) assigned my room during check-in. He did not really talk to me as he did this; he was apparently training a new employee, and was talking to her instead. I requested a top floor guestroom when it did not sound like that was what he was assigning me. The platinum 500 bonus points posted to my account the same day.

Entrance in guestroom 425 Holiday Inn Express Moline - Quad Cities
Connecting room door on left

King guestroom 425 at Holiday Inn Express

This guestroom was much smaller than the one I had just stayed in in Galesburg, and it was also much more soundproof. It was comfortable and perfect for sleeping. When I first entered the guestroom and observed the connecting room door, I was somewhat worried after the two noisy nights I had tried to work and sleep through before this stay. Fortunately, everything in this guestrom is soundproofed very well.

Refreshment area in room 425
Holiday Inn Express Moline - Quad Cities

The refreshment center outside the bathroom contained a K-cup machine with supplies, an ice bucket, microwave, and small fridge.

Columbus, Ohio / Fairfield Inn & Suites Columbus Airport

September 2018, Weeday, 1-night, King guestroom 319

Gold perks and check-in

Check-in went smoothly. The agent asked my preference for room location (yes, I had entered my requests online when I made the reservation). I told her I usually prefer a top floor corner room in a quiet area. I did not receive any extras for having Gold status, other than the automatic 250 bonus points.

Guestroom 319

This guestroom is located fairly close to the elevator on the third floor of this 4-floor hotel. If you enlarge the floor diagram farther down in this post, you can see the exact room location. During check-in, the agent had used positive words to tell me she had the perfect room for me, so I was surprised to see my room so close to the elevator. Fortunately, hallway noise was not a problem.

Bathroom in guestroom 319

This guestroom has a long entrance hall with a large bathroom off the hall. The bathroom is tile, it has a large vanity, and nice large shower with glass doors. I loved the bathroom in this guestroom! Bath amenities, good quality towels, and a hair dryer were provided.

Minneapolis-Edina, Minnesota / Residence Inn by Marriott

June 2018, Weekday, 2-nights, King studio #616

Gold perks and check-in

I did not receive an upgrade, or any status recognition. My keys were ready when I arrived, and the check-in process was efficient. 

Sunset from bedroom in suite 616.
Building in photo is Centennial Lakes Office Park

Guestroom 616

There are seven floors in this hotel, and this guestroom is located on floor six. The view overlooks Edinborough Park toward the northwest. The guestroom was comfortable, spacious, and clean, although the room scent had a strong perfumed odor. Fortunately, the bedroom window opened a few inches to allow some fresh air in.

Suite 616

The kitchen area was sufficient for one or two people, and everything worked. There is a small two-burner range top next to the full size fridge. The ice maker in the freezer made ice right away after I turned it on. Coffee with condiments, popcorn, and dishwashing products were provided upon arrival. The only item not replenished during stayover was the popcorn.

Transportation Choices: to/from Orlando Airport (MCO), Cape Canaveral, Port Canaveral

February 2018

We flew into the Orlando airport for a cruise from Port Canaveral. We needed transportation three different times: from the airport to Cape Canaveral, from our hotel in Cape Canaveral to the port, and from the port back to the airport. Following are the options we found, and our experiences.

Transportation for three from Orlando Airport (MCO) to Cape Canaveral

• If you are heading directly to the cruise port, the Carnival shared transfer service is $35.99 per person one-way. 
• There is also a link for a private car service on the Carnival page, which looked to be around $66 before tip. This seems like the best choice, if you do not want to use Uber.
• The online cab fare estimator said this trip would cost over $100 in a cab.
• We chose Uber, and the fare was less than $50 before tip. We were happy with the end result of this trip; however, we had some difficulty at the start. The first Uber driver who showed up refused to take us. We are three small to average size adults, and we had three pieces of luggage; one large bag, and two medium to large size bags. He said he did not have room, which was untrue. The second driver who showed up was Murat, and he was great. He had a smaller vehicle than the first driver, and we all easily fit in his car with our luggage in the trunk. I think the first driver did not want to take us that far, and then have to drive all the way back, most likely without a fare (it is about 45 miles one-way). I wanted to report the first driver; however, his name disappeared from the app as soon as he left. I had received a text from him before he arrived, and his number is (407) 439-2406. I will make sure I never do business with that number again, and I will advise others to avoid it. After we waited 10 minutes for him, we had to request the trip again via the app, and then wait for another driver. The Uber app says you have to be ready when requesting the ride; however, at MCO I observed three other passengers also waiting over 10 minutes for Uber drivers.

Map of the area

Transportation from Cape Canaveral hotel to Port Canaveral (Carnival cruise port)

Carnival Magic Cruise ~ 7-day Western Caribbean [Cozumel Plus] from Port Canaveral

February 2018

Sunrise from Carnival Magic cabin 7455

This is a long post, which covers our experience on the Carnival Magic. You can find additional photos in the Carnival Magic album on my Facebook travel page. I will have separate posts for the ports of call, and information about John Heald's For Fun Sake (FFS, formerly called bloggers cruise) activities. Being on this cruise to join the FFS group was an exciting coincidence for us, as we had this cruise booked long before it became designated as a FFS cruise.

Pre-cruise

We checked in online and printed our boarding passes, as usual. This was the first time we experienced "setting an appointment" for our arrival time. We have Platinum status, so I am not sure if we actually needed to schedule our arrival; I chose the first time slot available when I checked us in. 

We purchased the Cheers package, and one Carnival shore excursion beforehand. A better shore excursion price was offered through a different company, so after booking the excursion through Carnival, we filled out their "Best Price Guarantee" form. You can find details for their price guarantee in one of my previous blog posts. There was not much price difference; we received an onboard credit of $5.49 per person. The Cheers package cost including the 15% gratuity was $57.44 per day. Carnival raised the daily price to $59.74 (with the 15% gratuity) at the end of 2017, and it is 10% higher, if you purchase it onboard.  

Arrival and check-in ~ Port Canaveral

Our appointment time was scheduled for 11:30 AM - 12:00 PM, and we arrived around 11:15 AM. Everything was well marked for Priority Boarding, and we were on board in less than 20 minutes. Priority guests had already boarded when we arrived, so we were ushered into the priority lounge, where we had no wait to check-in, and then we boarded the ship. Our son was not able to board with us this time, even though we had our reservations linked together, so were not able to get our boarding photo taken together.

View from Carnival Magic cabin 7455 at Port Canaveral

Balcony Cabin 7455, category 8B

I did not take as many photos of our cabin as I usually do. We had this same cabin on the Carnival Breeze, and the layout is exactly the same. The furnishings in the Breeze cabin were a bit more deluxe than this one. For example, the in-room chair on Carnival Magic was a straight-backed chair with cushioned back and seat only, rather than the soft cozy seat and footstool on the Breeze. You can see the room layout and balcony photos for the Breeze cabin in that blog post.

Carnival Magic cabin 7455; balcony door open, bathroom door on right