Tampa, Florida: Holiday Inn Express & Suites, Tampa East Ybor City

 

January 2023, Sunday night, one night

Holiday Inn Express & Suites Ybor City, Florida

King suite walk-in shower

I do not recall our guestroom number at this hotel, and I neglected to write it down. Our room was on the front side of the building facing the parking lot. I used a free night certificate for the room, and paid only the cruise parking fee. The parking charge of $53.75 shows in my IHG account activity; however, there is no hotel bill available to check the guestroom number.

King suite in Holiday Inn Express & Suites Ybor City, Florida

Carnival Elation 7 Day Eastern Caribbean Ports of Call: Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay, Nassau

January 2023

We have been to all of these ports more than once prior to this trip. We did not book any excursions this time, and you can find more information about any of these ports by clicking on labels of interest at the bottom of this post.

 Carnival Elation in Grand Turk January 2023 

Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos: 7:00 AM - 2:00 PM

You are supposed to have had COVID-19 vaccinations to disembark in Grand Turk. We received a letter the day before our arrival, saying that we needed to go to guest services to show our vaccination cards, if we wanted to go ashore. This information was then linked to our sail and sign cards that are scanned when disembarking. When we disembarked, people in the line next to ours were not being allowed off because they had not done this. This caused a brief holdup in that line while they were taken out of line to return to guest services or stay on the ship. Different passengers on shore told us they had not received the letter, and that they had not shown proof of their vaccination to anyone. They said they are vaccinated, so I am not sure if this had been taken care of by their travel agent, or another way, and they just did not recall it.

Carnival Elation in Grand Turk January 2023

Our experience in Grand Turk was peaceful, and we enjoyed it more than prior visits. We walked on the beach on both sides of the port, and not one person tried to rent us overpriced chairs or umbrellas. There is no charge to use lounge chairs at the cruise center or Margaritaville. You can find more information about this in my posts from February 2020 and 2022. The beach area to the right after you get ashore is less crowded; however, the swimming area on this side is also stonier, than the busier area on the left. You can read about the Junkanoo Party Bus, Rum Mixology & Beach shore excursion that we took last year in the February 2022 blog post.

Carnival Elation at Half Moon Cay January 2023

Florida: Jacksonville Airport Residence Inn

 January 2023, weekend, one-night

We chose this property for a couple of reasons: the hotel has units with two bedrooms and a full kitchen, and hotel cleanliness and elite member service is usually better at Marriott properties. Our experience at this hotel fell short in a few areas.

Arrival and check-in

When I made our reservation, and when I checked in online the day before, I chose 1:00 PM for our check-in time. Usually when I do this at a Marriott property, I receive a text via the app telling me when our room is ready. This has always been before my requested check-in time, so I was surprised when I did not receive any communication from this hotel. Our room had not yet been assigned when we arrived at 2:45 PM. The front desk agent assigned us guestroom 211, and we proceeded to the room. She had recognized my gold status, although we did not receive any extra perks.

Guestroom 211 at Residence Inn Jacksonville airport

Guestroom 211, 2 bedrooms   

The layout of this guestroom was as expected; however, that was about the only thing we liked about this room. The room did not smell fresh when we first entered. After checking both beds to ensure that they were clean, we decided to settle in and make the best of it.

Some of the grime and filth in guestroom 211 at Residence Inn Jacksonville airport

A few hours later, we wished we had asked for a different room, because things progressively declined. The sofa was stained and uncomfortable, we observed filth around the vent above the fireplace and on the ceiling above, and there was a large stain splatter on one of the bedroom walls.

Larger bathroom in guestroom 211 at Residence Inn Jacksonville airport

Carnival Elation: 7-day Eastern Caribbean cruise from Jacksonville, Florida

January 2023

Carnival Elation in Grand Turk

Arrival and check-in ~ Jacksonville cruise port

We opted to park at the Parking Mall across from the cruise port, as the cost was $7 less per day. The parking area is fenced in; however, we would not choose this option again for a couple of reasons. I am providing the details here, to assist others in making their own decision. If you do plan to park there, I suggest NOT booking in advance, like we did. Pay when you arrive, and have exact cash for the cost. The cost is $70 for a 7-day cruise, if you pay when you arrive. If you book an advance reservation online, you will be charged $75. This is extremely unfair, because our check-in process to board the shuttle was a quick click by the worker on his tablet. We then had to wait an unreasonable amount of time for people checking in that day, who needed change, or to run their credit cards. The second thing we did not like about this business, was the return shuttle pickup process. There was no organization at the cruise port, so each time the bus arrived, people who had just gotten off the boat were trying to shove in to the line to board, when there were already too many people trying to board who had been waiting two runs or more. Some of you may think the return chaos cannot be controlled by the shuttle service, and I would disagree with that to some extent. We have observed other shuttle services that have someone at the port, and/or more than one bus running during busy times. When the first bus arrived after we got to the pickup area, we observed a few people who seemed quite annoyed with the wait, so possibly they waited even longer than we did (we got on the third pickup after arriving). A second bus did start running this day just before we got on our shuttle, so things may have run smoother after we departed. Unfortunately, there is not a pedestrian walkway to get from the cruise port to the parking lot.  

The boarding process to get on Elation in Jacksonville was efficient, and one of the easiest we have ever experienced. Our credit card authorization was processed before 8:00 AM. Our check-in time was 10:00 AM - 10:30 AM, and we were on board before 11:00 AM.

 

Carnival Elation cabin R26

Porthole cabin R-26, deck 4

We usually prefer a balcony cabin when on a cruise of 7 days or more; however, this time we went with an interior less expensive room. Overall, we were quite happy with this cabin. We liked the windows, and we liked having the ledge in front of the windows.

Carnival Elation cabin R26, small stool in corner of top photo

Florida: Jacksonville Airport Hilton Garden Inn

January 2023, weekend, one night

View facing SW from guestroom 526 at Hilton Garden Inn Jacksonville airport

Arrival and diamond perks

Our check-in experience at this hotel was not the best. We arrived around 2:45 PM, and the agent said our room would not be ready until after 4:00 PM (check-in time). He did not confirm any details after he requested my name, and he did not offer a different available room. I had checked in on the app, and I did not receive any notifications from this hotel, even after our room became available. 

After he had said it would be awhile, we walked around the hotel to check out the pool area, and the activity on our guestroom floor, before we sat down in the lobby. We observed housekeeping cleaning guestrooms near the elevator on our floor, so we assumed they were working toward the end of the hall, where our room was located. 

I then returned to the front desk to ask for the wifi code, because my phone was not working. The agent said this area is in a "dead zone," and that often happens. He apparently started checking on our room at some point after we had first arrived, because when I returned to the lobby, I received a notification that the credit card authorization had gone through. A few minutes after this, the agent called out to us, and said our room was ready. This was before 3:00 PM, so not much time had passed since we arrived. When we got to our floor, housekeeping was still cleaning in the same area. It appeared to us, that our room had been ready when we arrived.

Above: screenshot from my phone showing the diagram on the Hilton app
Below: no diagram in guestroom 526 Hilton Garden Inn Jacksonville airport

Guestroom 526

I chose this guestroom because of the diagram on the Hilton app, and the diagram is incorrect. There are two more guestrooms at the end of the hall next to rooms 526 and 525.

Guestroom 526 in Hilton Garden Inn Jacksonville airport

Activities in Jekyll Island, Georgia

January 2023, weekdays, Tuesday - Friday

Views from observation platform at information center
Bridge in distance in bottom photo is the bridge to Brunswick

I discovered this island purely by accident while researching another area nearby. We visited during off-season, so our experience is likely different than during busy times. Overall, we had a great visit, and I am sure we will visit again. The information center at the island entrance is more of a gift shop than a place for information. We were unable to get trail maps, or any better maps than the ones shown online. If you want printed maps, I suggest printing the online maps before arrival. There is a nice observation platform beside the information center, and there are restrooms inside the building. As I mentioned in my previous post, there is an $8 entrance fee to drive out to the island. I assume the entrance fee does not apply to bikers and walkers, as the only fees listed at the gate are for vehicles. We observed many people on bikes every time we arrived or departed the island.

Jekyll Island trails and signs on south portion of island

South Jekyll Island hiking, biking, beaches

The main island roads (Riverview Dr. and Beachview Dr.) go pretty much around the perimeter of the entire island. There are hiking trails in the center of the island between the roads. We stayed at Hampton Inn & Suites, and spent two days hiking the south portions directly from the hotel. 

St. Andrews Beach Park entrance and Wanderer Memory Trail

Jekyll Island, Georgia: Hampton Inn & Suites

January 2023, weekdays, 3-nights

Tree outside our balcony in Hampton Inn Jekyll Island guestroom 404

Reservations, arrival, diamond perks

I booked a king standard guestroom with Friends of Jekyll Island promotional rate, which was less than the AAA rate. Before check-in, I received several notifications to upgrade to a larger balcony room for $16 more per night. I did not really want to spend another $50; however, we decided we definitely wanted a balcony guestroom, so I paid for the upgrade. My advice, if you are a diamond member visiting during off-season--do not pay for the upgrade! The cost is worth it when visiting during the busy season; however, since the hotel was mostly empty during our stay, I was quite upset with myself for this extra expense. Also, this was after just finding out about the $8 daily fee to be on the island (more info about that at the end of this post). The Hilton app check-in process did not work at this hotel, and it took about 15 minutes to complete check-in at the front desk after we arrived (two different systems, apparently). I received two bottles of water and two snacks.

Hampton Inn Jekyll Island king guestroom 404