Petoskey, Michigan: Stafford's Perry Hotel, downtown, shopping, winery, brewery

March 2024, weekday, one night

We had a wonderful stay in Stafford's Perry Hotel in 2021, so we decided to book the spring getaway package for this stay. The weeknight Classic King room rate of $159 included: a $25 breakfast voucher, $40 in Noggin Bucks, and $50 in downtown shopping dollars. We thought this was a fabulous rate!

Views from guestroom 426 in Stafford's Perry Hotel

Stafford's Perry Hotel classic king guestroom #426

This guestroom is located on the top floor in the northwest corner of the hotel. We had a partial view of downtown and of the bay. Although it was not as spacious as the bay view guestroom we had in 2021, and it did not have a balcony, this was still a great room. It was clean, and we appreciated the views. 

Guestroom 426 in Stafford's Perry Hotel in Petoskey, Michigan

The comfortable bed was topped with good quality sheets and pillows. The room was well soundproofed, and the sleep quality was excellent.

Guestroom diagram on back of door in guestroom 426 in Stafford's Perry Hotel
Below: entrance to library across the hall from guestroom 426

Niles, Michigan: Holiday Inn Express

February 2024, weekday, one night

Platinum perks and arrival

I reserved a 2 queen bed suite at this location because the price was reasonable, and we wanted a room with a sitting area (there were no king suites available). We had an excellent arrival experience and received an upgrade to a family suite. Before the front desk agent gave us the upgrade, she asked if a room on the second floor was okay, since my profile request is for the top floor. 

Suite 213 in Holiday Inn Express in Niles, Michigan

Queen family suite #213

This guestroom is huge! We loved the sitting area, and the separate bedroom. The guestroom diagram, which shows that this guestroom has a connecting door is incorrect. This room does not have a connecting room door.

Suite 213 in Holiday Inn Express in Niles, Michigan

Plainfield, Indiana: Staybridge Suites

February 2024, weekdays, 2 nights

View from guestroom 418 in Staybridge Suites Plainfield, Indiana

Platinum perks and check in

I reserved a king studio, and received a nice upgrade to a one bedroom suite before arrival. Check-in was efficient, and I received my bonus points within a few hours of check-in.

Guestroom 418 in Staybridge Suites Plainfield, Indiana

King one bedroom suite 418

This guestroom is located on the top floor. The sunset both nights of our stay was amazing. The couple of photos I am sharing do not fully capture the beauty we witnessed.

Guestroom 418 in Staybridge Suites Plainfield, Indiana

Holland, Michigan: Marriott Courtyard, hiking, downtown

February 2024, weekday, one-night

View from guestroom 509 in Holland Marriott Courtyard
Above: sunset           Below: sunrise

Double queen guestroom 509 in Marriott Courtyard

Using points, I reserved a two queen bed guestroom with a balcony. We did not need two beds; however, a king bed guestroom with a balcony was not available. I was glad that we were able to reserve a balcony guestroom using points.

Guestroom 509 in Holland Marriott Courtyard

This guestroom is on the top floor, and overlooks downtown. It was clean, comfortable, quiet, and spacious. Refreshment amenities in the guestroom included a Keurig coffeemaker with supplies, ice bucket, and small fridge.

Guestroom 509 in Holland Marriott Courtyard

Ports of Call from Carnival Venezia: Princess Cay, Grand Turk, Amber Cove, San Juan, Miami, Nassau, Freeport

January and February 2024

Princess Cays on Carnival Venezia January 2024

Princess Cays, Bahamas: January 8AM - 4PM

Princess Cays is a tender port, and we received a printed paper with tender instructions the night before. The paper actually contained information about priority tender boarding for passengers with excursions. I presume they just used the same notice for platinum and diamond guests, too. After breakfast, we walked to the showroom boarding area, where boarding was already in process. We arrived on the island before 9AM.

Princess Cays January 2024

We walked to the right after getting off the tender boat, as we had heard this area is less crowded than the main side. It was definitely less crowded. In fact, we decided not to have lunch on the island after we saw how crowded and busy the main area was later in the day. The lines for lunch looked like utter chaos. Some in our group stayed; however, my husband and I returned to the ship.

Princess Cays January 2024 from the less visited side of the island

This was our first visit to Princess Cays. The water is beautiful; however, the island and beach area is much smaller than Half Moon Cay. If you just want to enjoy the beach and water, there are plenty of lounge chairs available on both sides of the port dock.

View from our pool chairs at Margaritaville in Grand Turk

Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos: 11AM - 6PM

We have been to Grand Turk several times, and you can find more information about this port by clicking on the label at the bottom of the post. We have previously done beach days at this port, as well as the Junkanoo Party Bus, Rum Mixology & Beach shore excursion. This time, we decided to just have margaritas at Margaritaville. 

Carnival Venezia at Amber Cove January 2024
Below: Amber Cove pricing - visible if you click on it to enlarge

Carnival Venezia Cruise: 10-day Eastern Caribbean and 9-day Bahamas from Manhattan

January and February 2024

There are literally hundreds of posts and comments about this new Carnival ship. I tried to focus this post on some of the less talked about things; however, it is still a bit lengthy. There is lots of info, if you are looking!

We added a second cruise to our original booking a bit after we had booked the first itinerary. The cabin we had for the first cruise was not available the second week, so we had to change rooms on our back-to-back cruise. You can find more info about B2B details near the end of this post.

Above: Manhattan pier 88 as Venezia is pulling away
Below: the walkway as we are boarding

Arrival and platinum check-in ~ Manhattan cruise terminal

We walked one mile to the cruise port from DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel New York Times Square West. This was pretty easy without many pedestrians until we got close to the port. Our check-in time was one of the earliest, 10AM - 10:30AM, and there were quite a few guests wheeling their luggage away from the port when we were trying to enter the port area. We felt a bit like fish swimming upstream.  😄

The check-in process and security screening went quickly, and then we took a seat in the general waiting area until boarding started. We did not hear any special groups board, like wedding parties; just handicap and diamond guests before platinum guests boarded. We were on board around 10:45 AM. Guests boarded later than this for our second cruise, because our B2B process had not been completed yet at 10:30 AM.

 

Balcony cabin 7209 on Carnival Venezia

Balcony cabin 7209 category 8G

We felt like this cabin should be listed as an obstructed view cabin with a lower price than an 8G balcony cabin. We would have chosen the cabin next door, #7215, if we had realized the information I am sharing here.

Balcony cabin category 8G #7209 on Carnival Venezia

The balcony in this cabin is about 1' shorter than the rest of the balconies because of the way it starts out since it is the first cabin. Also, since the bridge is on deck 8, we had an extreme overhead roof, and some obstructions from the navigation equipment. The overhead roof was not as much of a hinderance to us as the equipment. If you prefer sun, you will definitely not like this room.

Balcony cabin category 8G #7209 on Carnival Venezia

New York: DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel New York Times Square West

January 2023, weekday, one night, two double beds city view

View from guestroom 3110 DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel
New York Times Square West (photo credit goes to our son) 

Arrival and diamond perks

We reserved a basic double bed guestroom for three adults, and received an upgrade to a city view guestroom three days before arrival. This hotel was an easy half mile walk from Moynihan Train Hall. We exited the train hall on 9th Street, and headed north. 

I had the mobile key, and stopped at the front desk to get waters and cookies before going to the guestroom. This took almost five minutes, even though there were five or six agents behind the front desk and no guests in the area. The agent who assisted me did not smile, request my name, or look up my reservation. The reason it took so long is because staff members were looking at their computers or otherwise pre-occupied, rather than paying attention to lobby activity.

Guestroom 3110 and diagram in DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel 
New York Times Square West

Two double beds city view 3110

This is a basic tiny guestroom in New York City. There was barely enough room for our luggage and three guests. The only seat in the guestroom was a chair at the desk next to the TV. It would be difficult, if not impossible, for a large person to sit in the desk chair at the foot of the bed and work. The guestroom was satisfactory, at best. The bed was not very comfy, although it was not awful, either. 

Guestroom 3110 in DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel New York Times Square West

New York City: Moynihan Hall lounge and Amtrak to Toledo

February 2023

View of New York from Manhattan cruise terminal

Our cruise ship arrived at the Manhattan terminal and was ready for passengers to disembark before 8:00 AM. Our Amtrak ride was not until 3:40 PM, so we took our time disembarking, and then walked to Moynihan Train Hall. The walk was 1½ miles, which was not difficult even with our luggage. 

I am sharing info about the train station, and just a bit about the train ride in this post. You can find additional information about the train ride in my previous post about our train ride from Toledo to New York City.

Moynihan Train Hall in New York City

Metropolitan lounge, baggage check, and boarding in Moynihan Train Hall

The following passengers have access to the lounge in New York City: Amtrak Guest Rewards members with Select Plus or Select Executive status, Amtrak Guest Rewards station lounge pass holders, and passengers with first class or private room tickets. A roomette is a private room, so we had access to the lounge. Fortunately, there was not a time limit for how long we could be in the lounge, because we arrived before noon. 

Metropolitan Lounge in Moynihan Train Hall 

Once we checked in at the lounge, we were able to come and go, if we did not want to remain in the lounge the entire time. We had entered Moynihan Hall from 9th Street, so we saw Metropolitan Lounge before the baggage check area. Once inside the lounge, we observed an escalator from the lounge to the boarding area, which is also where the checked baggage counter is located. We were able to use the lounge escalator to access baggage check, and check our bags several hours before our trip. The agent in the lounge told us we could check our bags 24 hours ahead of time, if we wanted. When we first purchased our coach seats (before upgrading to a roomette), I had tried to find this information on Amtrak's website without success. I even called the train station to ask how far in advance we could check our bags, and I never reached a person. I left two messages, and no one ever called me back. It is great to know that bag check is available early, for passengers who want to explore the city until departure. 

We were a bit concerned about the weight of our larger bag, since it had weighed 49 lbs. on our trip out. There is a scale on the customer side of the counter to check bag weight and size (like the photo I shared in the Toledo station); however, it was not working. The person who took our bag did not seem to care; he merely hoisted the bag right over the working scale without weighing it, and then provided tags.

Looking toward balcony seating and boarding area from Metropolitan Lounge in Moynihan Train Hall

Amtrak: Roomette on Lake Shore Limited from Toledo to New York City

January 2023, 16-hour [actually 18-hour] Amtrak ride from Toledo 

View from Lake Shore Limited Car 4812 Roomette 1

Ticket purchase and Toledo station

We initially purchased coach seats online, and then upgraded to a roomette via telephone a few weeks before our trip when Amtrak was running a Buy 1 Get 1 special. The Amtrak representative had told me we did not need to pay the balance due until the day of our travel, and she had said we could pay the balance online. After we completed the upgrade process, I could not find our trip online [to view or to pay the balance]. I ended up calling back to pay the balance right away because we wanted to be able to view the trip details. I presume the trip needs to be booked online in order to pay the balance online, although this is not what we were told. This was our first experience upgrading and booking a roomette, so I had chosen to call. In the future, I think I would just complete everything online. After we paid in full, we received an email confirmation, which showed we had been assigned a roomette in car 4812. Apparently, the Amtrak system does not update throughout, because in the days leading up to our trip, we received several emails with upgrade offers for a roomette or sleeper car. This was a bit alarming before I double-checked the Amtrak website to confirm that our upgraded booking was in fact there. 

Baggage policy sign in Toledo station

Although we live in Michigan, we chose Toledo, Ohio for our starting point because this station has baggage check, and it is open 24 hours. The station is a mile from the Hilton Garden Inn downtown where we had stayed the night before. The agent in Toledo was helpful and professional. He clearly explained where to board the train when it arrived, at the far right end. When the train arrived in Toledo, there were about 10 passengers waiting to board in coach, and we were the only roomette passengers to board at this station.

Lake Shore Limited Car 4812 Roomette 1

Roomette #1 in car 4812

We were in room #1, and we were the only passengers in our car for most of our ride. Although this car was not a remodeled newer style, we had a great experience concerning our room. It was comfortable and quiet. The bed was made up when we entered at 3 AM. Four pillows and wrapped blankets were provided, along with two bottles of water. The photos above are what the room looked like when we arrived.

View from Lake Shore Limited Car 4812 Roomette 1

Toledo, Ohio: Hilton Garden Inn Downtown

January 2023, Sunday, one-night, two queen bed river view guestroom #1009

View from guestroom 1009 in Hilton Garden Inn Toledo, Ohio

Arrival and diamond perks

We booked this hotel because we wanted a hotel close to the Amtrak station where we were departing at 3:15 AM. Our plan was to sleep a few hours not too far away, and then have a short drive to the station. About a week before departure, we changed our reservation to a pre-pay rate. We do not usually book pre-pay rates; however, the rate was more than $20 less, so we decided to go for it. I did not check-in on the app, because the only rooms showing had connecting room doors. I called the hotel to ask for help with a room assignment. The agent sounded like she was going to assign me a room on the 15th floor without a connecting room door; however, when I looked on the app after this call, the guestroom I was assigned had a connecting room door. 

When we arrived, I experienced the worst hotel arrival experience ever. The two front desk agents did not know anything about the guestrooms, and then I was assigned a room on the 10th floor that might have a connecting room door. They merely said that if I did not like the room I could come back to the front desk. I was not welcomed when I arrived, and I received no acknowledgment for being a loyal member. I received two bottles of water after I inquired about diamond member waters at the end of the interaction. When I had inquired about a room without a connecting door, I mentioned that we wanted a quiet room because we were going to be sleeping early and then departing around 2:30 AM, yet, the only hotel feature the agent told me about was breakfast in the morning at 6:00 AM. I had also told her we wanted only one room key when she asked how many we wanted, and she gave me two keys. 😲 Wow, great listening skills. 

Guestroom 1009 in Hilton Garden Inn downtown Toledo, Ohio