Alabama Recreation: Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge and Gulf State Park

November 2018, weekend and weekdays

View from platform overlooking Gator Lake and
Little Lagoon in Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge

Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge

We only visited a small portion of Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge, which is HUGE! Specifically, 7,157-acres located in five separate units in Baldwin and Mobile Counties, United States, directly west of Gulf Shores, Alabama on the Fort Morgan Peninsula.

Start of Pine Beach Trail near parking lot

We hiked Pine Beach Trail, which starts at Fort Morgan Road and runs between Gator Lake and Little Lagoon out to the gulf. It is beautiful! The trail is a fairly easy hike of less than 4 miles round trip. Only a small portion of the trail is beach sand near the end.

We saw an eagle in the swampy area near the start of the trail before reaching the lake and lagoon. Unfortunately, I did not get any good photos of the eagle. Following are a couple more trail photos.

Alabama: Dauphin Island & Mobile Bay Ferry

November 2018

We learned about Mobile Bay Ferry when we were deciding upon our route to Orange Beach, Alabama from Mobile, Alabama. Since we had previously traveled around the top of the bay, and also visited USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park, we decided to take the ferry from Dauphin Island across this time. We always like to try new things! Taking the ferry added less than ½ hour to our travel time.

Bridge to Dauphin Island

Dauphin Island 

Getting to Dauphin Island from Mobile was easy. The traffic was minimal, and the drive was less than 45 minutes from the Renaissance Riverview in Mobile. The island is not very big, and we walked around for a bit after we paid and parked for the next ferry departure. There is a paved trail, which goes as far as Fort Gaines at the east end, and almost to West End Public Beach at the opposite end of the island. There is a bicycle lane for a short distance where the paved trail ends before the beach.

Entrance to Fort Gaines

A private campground is located near the ferry dock, and there is a short trail across from the campground on the north side of Bienville Rd. called Magnolia Park. I was surprised there were not any businesses or tourist type shops near the ferry dock.

Carnival Fantasy Cruise ~ 6 - Day Western Caribbean [Cozumel Plus] from Mobile, Alabama

November 2018

This was our first experience on Carnival Fantasy, and our first time cruising out of Mobile, Alabama. You can find additional pictures and information about Carnival Fantasy in my Facebook album. 

Carnival Fantasy atrium steps and elevator behind bar.

Pre-cruise

This cruise was kind of a last minute decision for us. We initially thought we would rent a condo in Orange Beach, Alabama for two weeks; however, the cost was quite high. We rented a condo last year for a week, and my husband said he wanted to go for two weeks this time to make the drive from Michigan worth it. I am the one who usually does all our vacation research; however, he found this cruise! The cruise was a much better value than booking the condo for a second week. 

View of Carnival Fantasy in Mobile showing location
of cabin E244. Click photo to enlarge it.

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

Fultondale, Alabama / Holiday Inn Express & Suites Birmingham North -

November, Weekend, 1-night, Extended king guestroom 519

Sunset from guestroom 519

Platinum perks and check-in

The morning of our arrival, I noticed that the AAA rate for a king guestroom had dropped $5. Rather than redoing our reservation to save the $5, I decided to call the hotel to see if we could secure an upgrade instead. The person I spoke with said she would change our reservation to a suite right then. When we arrived, we were not able to get the suite (guestroom 430, I think it was) that the agent had assigned us because another staff member told her the A/C unit in that guestroom was not working. That must have been the only suite guestroom left, because we were then reassigned a different guestroom type. I think the original guestroom was a larger corner suite; however, I forgot to take a photo of the guestroom diagram when we got to our room, and now I do not recall the exact details. I chose 500 bonus points for my Platinum perk.

View from entrance guestroom 519

Guestroom 519

Although the agent had referred to this guestroom as a suite also, it looked like an extended guestroom, to me. I would not be too happy, if I had booked and paid for a suite, and then received this type of guestroom. As far as a regular guestroom goes though, this one was fabulous. It was almost exactly the same as the one I'd had at the Holiday Inn Express in Evansville two days prior (except this is a king guestroom, rather than two queen beds). 

Jeffersonville, Indiana / Sheraton Louisville Riverside Hotel

November 2018, Weekday, 1-Night, King guestroom 812

River and sunset is visible from riverview and rooms on west side.
This photo taken from parking lot across Riverside Drive from hotel.

Gold perks and check-in

This hotel provided the worst service and Gold member recognition I have ever received at a Marriott or Starwood hotel. The agent did not recognize my status, and when I inquired about an upgrade, I was told that Marriott does not allow them to give upgrades to Gold members; only Platinum members. I told the agent that could not be correct, because I receive upgrades at Starwood and Marriott hotels all the time. She went to get the manager, who then told me the same thing.

When I had checked in on the Marriott app before my arrival, the screen showed I was eligible for an upgrade. I did not take a snapshot of  that screen, although I have taken one for every stay since then. The screen shot above was taken after I checked in for my next Marriott stay, one day after I checked out of Sheraton. The screenshot below shows Gold member perks listed on Marriott's website. Although no one mentioned the 500 Gold bonus points, these posted to my account when this stay posted.

Gold upgrade perks from Marriott/SPG website 11/11/2019
Click to enlarge

King guestroom 812

This guestroom is on the 8th floor of this 10 floor hotel. It has a connecting room door, and it faces the expressway. The bridge view from the guestroom was nice; however, we could hear traffic through the window. The expressway is fully visible to the left of the building shown in the photo below.

View from guestroom 812

The king size bed in the guestroom was comfortable, and the full length windows offered good visibility. The desk and chair were strategically placed facing out the window. The guestroom also contained nightstands with lamps, a soft chair and foot stool, flatscreen TV on an armoire, ice bucket, and coffeemaker with supplies. The coffee was good quality. The guestroom was smaller than I had expected from viewing the photos on the hotel website.

Guestroom 812; view from in front of desk

Evansville, Indiana / Holiday Inn Express

November 2018, Weekday, 1-Night, Queen guestroom #427

Wow, this was the most comfortable, clean, and well-appointed Holiday Inn Express I have ever stayed in!

Sunset from guestroom 427

Advance reservations, check-in, platinum perks

I called this hotel to make my reservation because the online rates were much higher than neighboring hotels--about $40 more per night than Hampton Inn, Fairfield Inn, Residence Inn, Marriott Courtyard... The agent I spoke with said the least expensive room type is 2-queen beds, and that he had one available he could give me. The online system had not shown me this guestroom type was available, and I did not know he was booking me an accessible/handicap guestroom until I looked at the reservation the next day under my IHG profile. I had asked him to request a top floor guestroom for me, so I hoped someone would cancel before my stay, and I could end up in a regular guestroom on a higher floor.

When I arrived, I received a top floor non-handicap guestroom. The agent did not recognize my status or mention any IHG perks, although 500 Platinum bonus points posted to my account before I checked out.

Microwave, Keurig coffee, fridge
Located in hall entrance between bathroom and beds

Guestroom 427

This guestroom is on the top floor near the end of the hall (exactly my preference!). The sunset view was beautiful, and the room quality was excellent. I cannot say enough nice things about the quality of the guestroom at this hotel. I wish all Holiday Inn Express hotels offered this same comfort.