Schenectady, New York / Holiday Inn

Status perks and check-in

I received a BOGO beverage coupon for the lounge, a free appetizer with entree purchase, free breakfast, and two bottles of water from the gift shop. I am not sure if these were all Platinum perks, or if some items were executive room perks--the lounge on the executive floor was not open during my stay even though this was a weekday. 

I had reserved a king executive room because the rate was good, and I did not want to have any problems with noise like I had experienced at the Holiday Inn in Oneonta. I arrived about 1/2 hour early, and my room was not ready yet. This hotel has a comfortable sitting area between the lobby and pool area, so I was happy to sit down and wait. Before I sat down, I decided to make sure my room did not have a connecting room door, and that it was in a quiet area. I was assured that it was.

After waiting an hour and observing several other guests checking in, I checked back with the front desk and my room was still not ready yet. Check-in time for this hotel is 3:00 p.m., and I did not receive my room until almost 4:30 p.m. Even though I was seated just around the corner from the front desk, and I checked on the status of my room a couple times after check-in time, no one came to let me know when my room became available.

Guestroom

When I finally entered my room, I saw that it had a connecting room door, and that there was nothing upgraded or special about the room other than the fact that it was on a keyed access floor. It contained a king size bed, flatscreen TV, extremely stained chair with a footstool, a couple of end tables/nightstands, a desk with chair, and a suitcase bench. 

guestroom chair

The bed was comfortable, and fortunately, I did not hear any noise through the connecting room door. The Internet connection speed was pretty good--much faster than the hotel I had just checked out of.

Food & Beverage

This hotel website says that there is an executive lounge with free drinks and continental breakfast; however, this room was not open at any time during my stay. In fact, the front desk employees did not even mention it to me. It is across from one of the elevators, so I looked in the room a few times, to see if it was in use.

I had dinner in the lounge, and was happy with the dinner salad and the salmon. Both items were prepared with fresh ingredients and had good flavor. I used my appetizer coupon for quesadillas, which were "okay." There were not many appetizer choices, so I did not think this perk was very valuable. I would rather have received 500 points.

Breakfast was fresh the next morning; however, the service was lousy. I stood near the host stand several minutes and no one acknowledged me. There was no sign stating whether I should seat myself or wait to be seated. I was hoping an employee would at least make eye contact with me before I sat down; however, after another guest arrived, and walked right past me to sit down, I seated myself as well. The service did not improve any after this.

Fitness center

The fitness center was located off the pool area, and was extremely hot. I was not able to walk more than 15 minutes because of the temperature. There was a TV in the room; however, there was no remote in the room, so I was not able to watch anything.

Pool & public areas

I was impressed with the public areas at this hotel. Everything was clean and well maintained. The landscaped entrance contained healthy and colorful plants. The lobby area where I sat while waiting for my room was clean and comfortable. I observed guests enter the bar to purchase beverages to take out to the seating outside the bar along the perimeter of the pool area.

Overall

I thought this hotel provided some nice tangible perks; however, I would have preferred some improvements in the way of service. I think the front desk staff could have called housekeeping about my room when I arrived, and they also could have let me know when it was available. I think something should have been said about the executive lounge, since this is listed on their website, and I paid for an executive floor room. I fault myself for not stopping back at the front desk to ask about the lounge. Since I received so many coupons in my welcome pack, I am inclined to think these were in lieu of the executive lounge, rather than Platinum PCR perks.

I moved to this hotel because I was not happy with the sleep or Internet quality at the Holiday Inn in Oneonta. Even though this was a farther drive for me, and still not a great hotel, it was a much better choice. And, the room cost was $60 less per night! I did not see any other options in this area except a Hampton Inn, which is probably where I would choose to stay next time I visit this area. There were many hotel choices at the Albany airport, Clifton Park, and Sarasota Springs; however, I did not want to drive the extra distance.

Oneonta, New York -- Holiday Inn

Status perks

I received two beverage coupons at check-in. These were both on one coupon, and initially I was told that I needed to have both beverages the same night. After I inquired further, an employee who was working both nights said that I could have one beverage each night and then turn in my coupon the second night. The first bill I received the second night had my beverage on it, even though that is the day I gave her my coupon. The server removed it after I reminded her about the coupon.

Guestroom

I received a basic room on the ground floor. This hotel does not have an executive floor, and when I inquired about a higher floor room, I was told that the rooms on the second floor are usually rented to groups and that the rooms on the bottom floor are saved for PCR guests because they are nicer, and this hotel does not have an elevator.

I did not care for my room at this hotel, and I checked out a day earlier than I had planned because I was not able to sleep well. I received a room in the main hall with a connecting room door. Since the agent had convinced me I was receiving a "better than average" room, I did not request a different room after I saw the room location and the connecting door. Later, I wished I had gone back to see if a corner room at the end of the hall had been available because it was quite noisy in my guestroom. I could hear families in the rooms on both sides of my room, and I was disrupted by guests running up and down the hall. The Internet connection speed was incredibly slow. I was not able to complete much of my online work because of the slow Internet connection. 

Food & Beverage

I ate in the dining room both nights, and the food was fair to average. I don't usually order steak at hotel restaurants; however, when my server told me that a female guest the night before had raved about it, I decided to try the steak. I would not recommend it. It was low quality. I did not think the spinach salad I had the next night was any better because the ingredients were not fresh. Buffet breakfast is included with the room at this hotel. Prepared toast and plain bagels were available from a server, and scrambled eggs were available on the buffet along with cereals and fruit juices. I chose to have breakfast off site the second morning of my stay.

Fitness center

The fitness center was a small room with a couple cardio machines and weights. The AC did not work properly, and one time when I used the room, the outside door was propped open as though someone had been trying to get air into the room.

Business center

There was not a separate business center in this hotel, although there was a printer in the lobby across from the front desk where I was able to print a couple documents.

Overall

I was seriously disappointed with the amenities and my room at this hotel. I did not think my room was hardly worth $100 a night, let alone the $180 AAA rate I paid. I suppose this area is frequently visited in the summer during vacation time, which is why the rate was so high, and why there were so many families in the hotel. I had thought this property would be a better choice than the nearby Hampton Inn; however, if I am traveling to this area again, I will choose a different hotel.  

Albany, New York / ALB airport -- Holiday Inn

Status perks

I received a coupon good for a beverage in the gift shop. I wanted to redeem the coupon for Starbucks coffee in the morning; however, there was not any available at the time I stayed at this property, so I got bottled water instead. I observed a Starbucks sign and brewer in the gift shop; however, the front desk agent told me this was not available.

Room

I stayed in an upgraded tower room. I honestly don't remember if that is the room type I booked, or if I received an upgrade. The AAA rate I paid was $147, which I think is pretty steep. I would not usually pay that much for an upgraded room unless the difference was only a few dollars more than the standard rate. I was glad I was not staying in a standard room because I thought the room I received left a lot to be desired. The room had a connecting door, the fridge did not work, and it did not smell fresh. Since it was 11:00 PM, and I was departing early in the morning (and the bed sheets looked fresh), I did not go back to the front desk or complain about these discomforts. The room was large, and the bed was comfortable. I heard a little bit of noise from the connecting room door, although it was not too disruptive.

I think the reason the room did not smell fresh is because someone had previously smoked in the non-smoking room. It would appear that housekeeping knew about this because when I arrived, the window was cracked open, and the AC was blowing on high as if someone had been trying to air out the room. Unfortunately, I was not able to sleep with the window open to enjoy the fresh air because my room was above the outside pool/courtyard area, and there was noise from guests visiting outside for several hours after I arrived. I had a room on the top floor, so the guests were not directly outside my window. I had cheese and snacks left over from an in-flight purchase that I put in the fridge. I adjusted the temperature control with the hopes that my warm fridge would cool off before morning, and the temperature remained the same.

I liked that the room contained a large suitcase bench and two soft chairs. Other than the non-working fridge, stale smoke smell, and noise, this would have been a great room. I thought it was laid out well.

Food & Beverage

Since I did not receive any perks for dining onsite, I can not comment on the dining room because I chose to have breakfast elsewhere. There is not an executive floor or lounge at this hotel.

Fitness center

The cardio machines in the fitness center had cardio theater; however, this was not working on two of the machines. I was the only one using the room in the morning, so fortunately I was able to change machines.

Public areas & misc.

I did not use the pool or public areas at this hotel; however, they looked great. There was a large open courtyard and pool area in the center of the hotel where the fitness center was located, and the outside area outside my room looked comfortable.  This hotel was easy  to get to from the airport. 

Carnival Spirit -- 7-night Alaska cruise, May 2011

glacier at the end of Tracy Arm Fjord

I have shared a few photos in this blog post, and there are many more in the Alaska Facebook album.

Check-in

We experienced a couple of "firsts" this cruise. This was our first cruise as VIPs, and this was our first cruise out of Seattle.

We arrived by taxi around noon. On all of our previous cruises, there have always been porters to take our bags right at the curb when we arrive. This was not the case this time. We were slightly confused as we headed toward the building with our bags in tow because we did not see any luggage ahead either. After entering the building and finding a Carnival representative (who was wearing a cruise line competitor jacket!), we learned we needed to wait in a baggage drop line to leave our bags before going to check-in. I do not know if this is the way luggage is always handled in Seattle, or if this is something new Carnival is trying. We have another cruise planned this winter, so we shall see what happens when we arrive at Port Everglades. Even though there was not a VIP line to drop bags, this did not take long. 

After dropping our bags, we headed to the security check point, where again there was no VIP line. After we went through security, we found the VIP check-in line, and the check-in process went quickly. We were given a Zone 1 card and proceeded to the waiting area. I observed guests boarding, so I asked a Carnival representative if Zone 1 had been called yet. It had, so we boarded immediately.

Overall, the check-in process was very confusing. Usually, when we arrive at a port, a Carnival representative greets us (after dropping our bags at the curb), and directs us to the appropriate area. This time, we had to find a representative to ask about where to drop our luggage, and we had to find someone to ask about boarding. We would not have known what to look and listen for if this had been our first cruise. Since there was no VIP line until after security, I think it would have taken much longer to get on board, if we had arrived after noon. We were on board just under an hour after we had arrived.

Carnival Spirit premium balcony cabin 8237, category 9B

We had originally booked cabin 5243, which is the same room type we ended up with except it has an obstructed view. The lifeboats are at floor level in cabin 5243, which also makes the balcony not quite as deep. We upgraded our room type and also ended up with an on board credit because we had booked the Early Saver rate. I will talk more about booking the Early Saver rate at the end of this review. 

Seattle, Washington / Crowne Plaza

May 2011, Memorial Weekend, 2-nights

Status perks

I redeemed points for a 2-night stay at this hotel, and the only room type I could reserve with points was a basic room. Some IHG properties do not provide an upgrade when staying with points, so I was not sure what to expect. I decided to send an email to the hotel before this stay to request a high floor and/or executive floor upgrade. I did not receive a reply to my email; however, we received an executive floor corner room, and the Club Lounge was open during our stay.

Room

We were very happy with the large corner room. In fact, our guestroom at this hotel seemed larger than the suite we had just checked out of at the Renaissance. There was a closet and room for our large suitcase in the entrance outside the bathroom. The closet contained two plush CP bathrobes.

There was one large window on both outside walls of the spacious guestroom. The guestroom contained a king bed, one soft chair, one straight backed chair, a desk and chair, a flat screen TV, two night stands, a large armoire, and a small fridge. The guestroom was comfortable, clean, and quiet. We slept very well. There was plenty of space in the guestroom, so two soft chairs, or a small sofa or loveseat would have made it even more comfortable. We did not request turndown service; it was automatically provided. We received 2 local chocolates and 2 bottles water, and the guestroom was refreshed both nights.

local chocolates

Club Lounge

The lounge was open both evenings of our stay, and it was open for continental breakfast in the mornings. The food in the evening included sushi and small pizza wedges, as well as cold snacks like cut fruit, vegetables, cheese, and crackers. Assorted non-alcoholic beverages were included, and beer and wine were available for purchase. The morning food items included assorted bagels, breads, and pastries, as well as fresh fruit, cereal, and hot oatmeal.

Overall / Seattle area
I was very happy with the service, comfort, and cleanliness of the Crowne Plaza, and would definitely stay at this property again. This property was in a good location for us. We walked to the waterfront, shopping and dining is only a couple blocks away, and we walked to the Space Needle.

We did not have any food or beverages in the hotel restaurant or lounge during or stay. The Club Lounge was great for morning and evening, and I recommend Ivar's House of Clams on the water during Happy Hour. Ivar's offers food and beverage discounts from 3 PM - 6PM. The prices were excellent, and so was the food--especially the Seafood Cocktail!

If planning to visit the Space Needle, I suggest going for lunch. The cost of a ticket to the top of the Space Needle is $16 a person, and this is included when you dine in the revolving restaurant--Sky City. The only requirement we had, is that we had to spend $50 in the restaurant, and that our dining time was limited to 2 hours. It was not difficult to spend $50. Yes, the food was kind of pricey, although not much higher than we would have paid at the Renaissance, if we had not used coupons, and the food was excellent. We were very happy with our decision to go for lunch. You can make reservations online for no charge.

Seattle, Washington / Renaissance

May 2011, Memorial weekend

Status perks

I did not initially receive any perks as a Gold member. In fact, I did not even receive the corner suite I had reserved until after I inquired about this. When the front desk agent provided our keys and said we had a king room on one of the higher floors, I said, "We have a corner king executive suite, don't we?" She said that there were not any available. I told her that I had booked an executive corner suite; the Seattle Pride Package. She checked the computer again, and then provided keys for a corner suite on the 19th floor, along with a coupon booklet. This was not as high of a floor as we had originally been given; however, it was a suite.

The agent did not code our keys for access to the concierge lounge, nor did she mention it. She had talked about how to access the Internet as a Gold member, so I thought that maybe the lounge was not open for the holiday weekend. Later that day, I learned that the concierge lounge was accessible for water and soda even though it was not staffed, so I stopped back at the front desk to inquire about this. The employee at that time, apologized that we had not been given access at check-in, and she coded our keys for lounge access.

Guestroom

facing entrance &
connecting guestroom

The guestroom was comfortable; however, it was not as impressive as I had expected. The room description on the website and on our reservation confirmation listed the room as 497 square feet, and the room we received was NOT 497 square feet. It was more like 350 square feet. When looking at a photo of a king corner suite on the website, the description is 335 square feet, although all the other areas list the suites as 497 sq. ft. I am not sure if there are two different corner suite rooms, or if the description needs to be changed on the website. It is possible we received a king corner suite (335 sq. ft.) instead of the executive king corner suite (497 sq. ft.) that we had reserved since our room was not on the concierge floor. The website only lists five suites though, and I could not find two different suite types. I wish I had been more diligent about the details and differences at the time of our stay, because I would have inquired whether we had been given the correct room type. I did not scrutinize all the details until after we had returned home. My suggestion for guests who reserve an executive king corner suite--bring your printed reservation with you!

facing toward beverage center
across from bathroom

There was a comfortable sitting area when entering the suite, which included a couch, floor lamp, one end table, desk and chair, and flat screen TV. The suite had a connecting door to the guestroom next door. I liked the exterior wall of windows, which made the room look larger.

The bathroom was located between the sitting area and the bedroom, and there was a beverage center and closet across from the bathroom. The small fridge never got cold, and we tried adjusting the thermostat several different ways. The safe in the closet was large enough to hold a laptop. A second smaller flat screen TV was located in the bedroom. It was mounted on the wall in the corner since the bedroom was quite small. There was just enough room to walk around the foot of the bed, with a small nightstand on each side of the bed. Large windows made up both exterior bedroom walls; however, they needed to be cleaned. There was a nice suitcase bench/window seat on one wall. This guestroom did not have any Renaissance bathrobes, which I observed other guests wearing to and from the pool. I missed that because I had packed light this trip, and did not have a warm swimsuit coverup to wear.

bedroom

I had filled out the Virtual Concierge form online a few days before our arrival, requesting turndown service and early check-in at 1 p.m. Since our key packet had not been prepared, and we were initially given the incorrect room type when we checked in at 1 p.m., I was not too confident that we would receive turndown service that evening. When we returned from dinner, turndown service had been provided. Amenities included two local chocolates, and two bottles of water. Our room had not been refreshed. I'm not sure if the bottled water was part of turndown service, or if those had been delivered to the room because of my Gold status. The water bottles were not left next to the chocolates.

Food & Beverage

view from lounge/dinner

Marriott had an online offer for a free entree for Gold members--buy one, get one free. We dined in the R View restaurant/lounge on the top floor that evening. The food was excellent quality, and this was an excellent value with our coupons. The only disappointment was that I ordered the Seafood Cioppino, and the restaurant did not have any mussels. Extra fish was included in the dish to make up for this. My husband ordered the Halibut, and we had two Happy Hour beverages. We also had a free appetizer coupon with the Seattle Pride package we had booked. Since the restaurant was not open for lunch the next day, our server let us use the coupon for the Slider Sampler to-go. The Slider Sampler included two each of the following sliders: salmon, chicken, and beef. They were delicious! Seating in the lounge was self-seating, and we chose a table on the highest level with corner windows. We had an excellent view. The windows were much cleaner than the windows in our guestroom.

Pool

The pool and hot tub were located on the top floor just down the hall from the restaurant/lounge. The exterior walls were all windows with another great view. We did not stay long because the hot tub was not very warm. We were fortunate that we had been able to enjoy the view without a lot of commotion while we were there. There was only one guest/child in the pool area when we first arrived. We observed several families and children heading to the pool area while we dined. I had noticed when we reserved our room at this hotel, that not many hotels in downtown Seattle have a pool or hot tub.

Business center and Concierge lounge

I was finishing up some business at the start of this leisure trip and needed to print several documents. First, I tried to print them in the concierge lounge. The desk computer required a signon, and I did not notice the computer for guest use, which was turned off against the wall. I then tried the business center on the bottom floor, and found there was a charge for printing documents. I stopped at the Concierge stand in the lobby to ask if he knew the signon for the concierge lounge computer, so I could print from there. He told me about the guest computer in that room that was against the wall, and he also showed me a computer in the lobby near the front desk. I was surprised to learn I could print as much as I wanted from the lobby computer for no charge! I used that computer and did not try the one in the concierge lounge.

When I first checked the fridge in the lounge after the Front Desk agent coded my key for access, it was empty. Later that day and the next morning, it was stocked with bottled water and soda. I was happy to be able to get a couple bottles of water during our stay. The room looked comfortable, and there was also a table and seats outside. We had thought we might take advantage of the sitting areas to relax that evening; however, we ran out of time.

Overall
I was happy with our room for the price we paid. I was glad I had not paid full price because I would have been seriously disappointed. Before I discovered the Seattle Pride Package, all the room rates I found at this hotel were over $200, and the corner executive suites were over $250. My husband always likes to have a pool, so I booked this hotel mainly because of the pool--and, because I am a Marriott Gold member.

Our room rate with the package was $151, which made this stay a good value. Other than the free appetizer coupon that we used in R View, our package did not include much of anything except a better room rate. The coupon booklet we were given with the appetizer coupon contained mostly ads for Happy Hour specials, and a couple small discounts. We used only one of the discounts; 15% off at Sazerac. Since we only stayed at the Renaissance one night, we used our coupon after we checked out because we stayed at a different hotel for two nights after this stay. That review will be next!

Seattle, Washighton -- Light Rail from SEATAC to downtown

I read many different comments about the ease of using the Light Rail to get downtown before we took this trip, so I am sharing our experience.

Here is a little information about us and our situation: We are two healthy adults used to walking. We often take brisk 4 - 6 mile walks for exercise, in addition to leisure walks for entertainment or pleasure. I am a frequent traveler used to different airports and many modes of transportation; often lugging around a laptop and luggage. I have visited all 50 US states--Alaska was the last state for me, which we visited on this trip. My husband has also experienced many of these things, and we both look forward to new experiences.

We had two roller suitcases--one large and one small, and two carry-on size bags--one laptop and another shoulder bag, which could be slid on the roller bags. I also had a small purse. Our flight was due to arrive before 11:00 AM, so we had decided that for $2.50 per person we would take the Light Rail. Our destination was the Renaissance, which is less than 1/2 mile [4 - 5 blocks] from University Station. Not far, although it was uphill, which we were aware of before making this choice.

Departing from SEA airport

We flew Delta, and our luggage arrived at baggage claim 4. The signs to the rail were well posted and highly visible (I had read that signs are not visible), and it was easy to get to. We went up the escalator right next to our baggage claim, walked the perimeter of the parking garage, and crossed a short overpass to the rail station. It would have been a very short walk directly across the parking garage; however, we opted to take the bit longer way around on the sidewalk as was intended for pedestrians.

There were three self-serve kiosks after we got to the station to purchase tickets. I observed a group of people standing near a counter north of the escalator, so there may have been additional kiosks as well. I thought the ticket purchasing instructions were easy and purchased our tickets in less than 30 seconds. Apparently, other passengers did not have the same experience, because we waited in line over 10 minutes behind 4 or 5 passengers, and one of them walked the line after he had made his purchase to give away extra tickets he ended up with. You can use cash or a credit card at the kiosk. After we had our tickets, we went up the escalator behind the kiosks to board the train.

The train ride

We rode on Saturday of Memorial weekend. Since I have never been on the Light Rail before this trip, I do not know if our experience was different because of the holiday weekend. It would have been an enjoyable ride, except that it was extremely crowded. There were no seats when we boarded. There were passengers taking up available seats with their luggage and such, so there could have been more people sitting down. At most of the stops before we got off, more people boarded, and hardly anyone got off. The ride was smooth, quiet, and passed pretty quickly. We got off at University Station.

Arrival downtown and walk to hotel

There are a couple different street exists from the station. I had looked at the street and station maps before the trip, so I knew which street corner was closest to our hotel. We were the only passengers who took the elevator up to 3rd Avenue and Seneca. Nobody collected our tickets on the train or after we got off. I don't know if the ride was free Memorial weekend, or if the train always operates on the honor system.

Yes, the walk to our hotel was uphill, and many people advised visitors NOT to walk with luggage from the train station. We did not have any difficulty, and we did not regret our decision. We did not see any taxis when we came out of the station, which surprised me. Maybe the exit we took was not the normal station exit.

Overall

I was happy with the ease and speed of the trip. It looked to me like the train ride was quicker than a car ride would have been. I think if you don't have much luggage, and know where you want to get on and off the train, taking the Light Rail is the way to go. The comments I read online before making this trip did not help me at all. If anything, they made me question whether the signs I was reading at the airport were correct, since many people had made this trip sound like a difficult task.

I thought this was an easy trip--the signs in the airport were visible and easy to understand, and the kiosk ticket purchase was easy as well. I would do it again, as long as I did not have much luggage. The only suggestion I have for travelers, is to make sure you look at the street and station maps before your trip. Here is the link to the downtown stations:

--> http://metro.kingcounty.gov/tops/tunnel/tunnel-stations.html