Mobile, Alabama / Renaissance Mobile Riverview Plaza

November, 1-night, weekend, king guestroom 1106

View from guestroom 1106 after check-in

Gold perks and check-in

We booked the pre-cruise package at this hotel, which includes parking while on the cruise. I had checked several area hotels, and decided this one provided the best value at $149. When I checked in on the app the morning of our arrival, I noticed our room was listed as a riverview guestroom, as if we had already received an upgrade. The app also said that the reservation was for only 1 guest, and my reservation was for 2 guests, so I was not sure how accurate the room type would be. Seems there is still some difficulty with information displaying correctly on the app since the Marriott/Starwood merger.

View from guestroom 1106 in the morning;
Carnival Fantasy in the distance returning to port.

I had received a notification via the app saying that our room was ready, so we went to the front desk when we arrived around 1:00 PM. Our room was not ready, and it took a bit of shuffling by the front desk agent to find us an available guestroom. She said she was giving us a riverview guestroom because we had booked the cruise package. I am not sure if all cruise guests get a riverview room (it did not say that when making the reservation), or if that was actually a Gold member upgrade. She provided a parking key card to exit the garage when we returned, and she said she would sign us up on the first shuttle to the cruise port (after I requested this).

Guestroom diagram from back of door

King guestroom 1106

Guestroom 1106 is a basic room on the 11th floor overlooking the river. The 11th floor is only about half way to the top of the building; however, I cannot really complain about not having a higher floor, since we arrived before check-in time, and the hotel was quite full. In fact, I had looked online to see if I could add a second night--the night before--to our stay, and there were no rooms available. The king corner rooms at this hotel look amazing!

Guestroom 1106

The guestroom had a connecting room door, which connected to a large suite. There did not appear to be anyone in the suite during our stay. The guestroom contained a soft chair and footstool, rather than a chaise lounge like shown in the diagram and photos on the website. Good quality coffee, glass glasses, and an ice bucket were provided in the armoire under the flatscreen TV. A safe was located in this area, as well.

Refreshment center in armoire

The guestroom was clean, and the bed was comfortable.

Safe in armoire

The bathroom and closet in the entrance looked exactly as shown in the photos and diagram on the hotel website. Although the bathroom was somewhat small, it met our needs.

I was able to request a robe to use in the guestroom during our stay. Turndown service was automatically provided, and included one store packaged Moon Pie.

Food & Beverage

We shared a small Loda pizza and brew in Fathom's Lounge in the lobby near the front desk. The food was good, although the service left something to be desired. The lounge had been very busy before our visit, and it was emptying out when we arrived. We did not observe anyone assisting guests at tables, so we stepped toward the bar to see about ordering beverages. We would have taken seats at the bar, if there had been two open seats. A server then appeared, and said she could bring drinks and a menu to a table. We sat down, and she walked over a few minutes later. She was not very knowledgable about which beers were on tap, and after we ordered, she returned to tell us that both beers we initially ordered were gone. There was not another beverage that I wanted, so we decided to just order one to share. When she served the pizza we ordered, she served it in a to-go box with no plates, silverware, napkins, or toppings. She did not give us the pizza as a to-go order, because I had to go to the bar to get our check at the end of the meal. We had gotten up for napkins before this, as well.

Outside pool

Outside pool

There was a sign at the entrance to the outside pool and whirlpool tub stating that it was closed because of high winds. I am not sure if this was mainly just a deterrent, because the door was not locked. The pool is on around the 4th floor on the side of the building facing the convention center and river. The side walls around the pool area are at least 4' tall, and it did not seem unsafe, to me. We could see the tub from our guestroom, and we observed people in the tub and on the patio when the sign was present.

View SW from pool patio

The water in the whirlpool tub was warm, and the view from the patio was excellent.

Cruise shuttle and misc.

I definitely suggest a hotel shuttle for transportation to and from the Mobile cruise port. Traffic was lined up as far down Water Street as one could see from the cruise terminal entrance in the morning of our departure. Our shuttle driver apparently had VIP access. He drove between traffic on Water Street to get to the terminal via Old Water Street. Police were directing traffic, so I assume this is the route the shuttle driver usually takes.

Map of Mobile cruise port area

We were able to get on the first shuttle that morning, although there was some kind of mix-up. It sounded like the driver did not initially have our names, and it sounded like some people that were on our shuttle were supposed to be on the next one. Two people whose names were on the list were not able to get on the shuttle. After the cruise, the shuttle driver must have already been on his way when I called. He arrived in less than two minutes, while I was trying to call the hotel back. It was noisy with bad reception at the cruise terminal, and I was not sure if the person I spoke with had gotten all the information he needed, or if we had gotten disconnected. It is about a half mile from the cruise port entrance to Renaissance Riverview, and we observed some people walking with their luggage before our cruise and afterward. We walked with our luggage to the New Orleans cruise port in 2014 because we had not booked a cruise hotel that trip.

Carnival Fantasy docked in Mobile.
Photo taken from behind Gulfcoast National Maritime Museum.

There are several restaurants, bars, and parks/squares within walking distance of Renaissance Riverview hotel. We visited Loda BierGarten, and several parks in the area. In the morning, we walked to Cooper Riverside Park for an up close view of Carnival Fantasy before our cruise.

I will be working on a cruise post next, which I hope to have out before Christmas! Let me know if you have any questions.