I’ve been at the Renaissance Sea World in Orlando, Florida since late Thursday night for IzeaFest09.

Price: I found a pretty sweet deal for Florida residents only, so I’m paying $100 a night plus tax, and that includes free parking. More on the free parking later. Considering this hotel is within walking distance to Sea World (it’s literally across the street and just steps away from the Sea World parking lot) you can’t beat the price. It’s a more upscale hotel and I’m sure a room normally goes for closer to $150.

Location: See comments on price above. International Drive is just a few blocks away, but it’s the end of I-Drive without many dining options. If you were here without a car, you could walk to Sea World but not much else. There are dining options in the hotel, but they are vastly overpriced.

Cleanliness: The room looks clean…but appearances can be deceiving! When we checked in on Thursday I noticed a room service breakfast menu on my pillow. I opened it up to check out the options and noticed it was used – a previous guest had filled in her name and all of the food choices she wanted for delivery. I dumped the menu into the trash. When we returned to the room the next day, I noticed a room service menu on the pillow of the other bed. I again opened it up and it was the SAME MENU I had thrown into the trash the day before! It really creeped me out to think of a housekeeper removing items from the trash and placing them back on our bedding. Blech.

Staff: No issues at check in, but obviously I did call and complain about the trashed menu on the bed. While I was doing that, I brought up the fact that a staff member representing the timeshare program called our room and left a message at 8:43am. We were up and gone, but seriously? Do you want anyone calling your room to push a timeshare on you at that hour? The staff member asked what he could do to make the situation better, and I suggested free internet access. (The hotel charges $15 per DAY!) He agreed and here I am.

Amenities: There’s a great pool outdoors that I can see from my room, and it’s surrounded by a beautiful manicured lawn. There’s an overpriced spa as well – I won’t be taking advantage of any of that on this trip. There’s also a Starbucks in the lobby where we grabbed $3 muffins on day 1 for our breakfast. The hotel charges you for self parking which is regularly $12 a day I think – a complete rip-off in my opinion, since you are PAYING to stay here. My Florida resident deal included free parking. However, the gate to the self parking is wide open so apparently everyone is getting it this weekend. Is it wrong to feel like the deal I got really wasn’t that special after all?

Comfort: The room we’ve got seems a bit bigger than most regular hotel rooms. It has 2 queen beds, a large bathroom with double sinks, and a sitting area by the window. The bedding is very nice – high thread count and all that.

Overall rank: On a scale of 1 to 10, the Renaissance Sea World receives a 7.

Back in July, I had the opportunity to visit Pittsburgh for 2 nights due to a business event I needed to attend. It was my first experience seeing Pittsburgh, and this is one city that doesn’t get enough credit! My friend Marisa was nice enough to pick me up at the airport, and we cruised through the rolling hills outside town, past the Ikea where I’ve shopped with Sindy and into the tunnel. Coming out of the tunnel, you’ve got a beautiful view of the rivers and downtown, and bridges as far as the eye can see. Someone described this to me as “Pittsburgh’s front door” and I agree!

Price: I paid $200 a night for this hotel. Actually, my company paid. Based on the location of my event and not having my own car, I needed to be able to walk to PNC Park, and this hotel fit the bill.

Location: Marisa quickly navigated through town and we drove over the Sixth Street Bridge to the North Shore area, where we quickly located the Springhill Suites North Shore and checked in. The hotel is located on a lovely quiet street just north of PNC Park – literally, a block away. While there are bars and restaurants and pubs on the street, there wasn’t much traffic and it was a quiet area.

Cleanliness: Everything was new, or looked new, from the carpet to the wallpaper to the furniture. The room was very clean, as were the common areas.

Staff: The staff was quick to check me in and helpful upon check out. Other than that, I didn’t interact with them too often.

Amenities: The hotel has an indoor pool and hot tub which I didn’t take advantage of, as well as a free continental breakfast. The hotel is also connected to a restaurant, which made for each access for dinner each night.

Comfort: I checked in and found my room to be larger than a standard room, due to being next to the elevators. Apparently rooms on either side of the elevator shaft end up with some extra square footage, and I had a great view of the city. The room featured a small living room with wet bar and desk, a large soaking tub, an even larger bathroom with a regular tub and shower, and huge, plush king bed. One of the reasons I love chains like this is that you won’t find low thread count sheets and those nasty polyester bedspreads. The sheets, pillow, and crisp white duvet were amazing.

Here’s a picture of that nice big kind sized bed:

And the soaking tub:

The living room and work space, as seen from the bedroom area:

A view from the door into the suite:

My very own jacuzzi:

Overall rank: On a scale of 1 to 10, the SpringHill Suites Pittsburgh North Shore receives a 10!

We had a bunch of my husband’s buddies over this weekend, and of course, the talk turned to their next “guy trip”. They’re thinking, Costa Rica. I’m thinking, with what money? HA! I’d be al for it if I were going too! These are the same guys my husband went to Amsterdam with back in 1999. They flew into Amsterdam, spent a few days seeing the sites, and then bought rail passes to travel through the rest of Europe. Nice, huh? Of course these guys did a lot of sleeping in train stations and hostels. They’re not exactly the type who would use an Amsterdam hotel guide to plan out anything in advance. Me? I’m exactly that type. When I plan my next trip to London, I also plan on pouring over a London hotel guide for several weeks before making my hotel selection. Where you stay, as far as location, is VERY important to me. I’ll stay at a hotel with fewer amenities, or pay a little more, simply for having a great location. The last time we visited London, we stayed in a great hotel down a side street, which happened to end at Buckingham Palace. Talk about a fabulous location! Quiet, but literally close to EVERYTHING. It was called Buckingham Palace Road for heavens sake, and in a lovely area called Westminster.

Maybe my next trip won’t be to London. No worries – there’s a Europe hotels guide to give me information on any city I could hope to ever visit!

This is a sponsored review.

I absolutely love London. I’ve been there twice (with my mom in 1995, and again with my mom and husband-to-be in 1996) and found it to be delightful both times. It’s rich in history, which I so appreciate, and a very hip, fun city to visit. We enjoyed seeing the Tower of London, and a play in the theater district, and touring Buckingham Castle. Something that wasn’t there when I visited is the London Eye – you may know it as the big ferris wheel. The London Eye gives you a birds eye view of all the city has to offer, and on clear days, you can see as far as Windsor Castle, located 25 miles away. (Been there, toured that!) The eye is 135 meters high, and overlooks the banks of the Thames River, which I’ve enjoyed a river cruise on. Over 3.5 million people visit the London Eye each year, and should you wish to see it, you can easily find a London hotel within close proximity to the eye. Did you know, you can even get MARRIED on the London Eye? It’s true! Wouldn’t that be something to tell the grandkids?

The last stop on our vacation in Canada was Niagara Falls, where we stayed at the Hilton Fallsview on the Canadian side. This was, by far, the nicest hotel we stayed at during our trip to Canada. We stayed for 2 nights, from June 25th through June 26th. The hotel is located at 6361 Fallsview Boulevard in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Having never been to Niagara Falls, we had no idea what to expect. The picture on the hotel website is a *bit* misleading, as it shows nothing but trees between the hotel and the falls. While I’m sure that would be lovely, it’s not true. There are several other buildings, including a hotel, between the Hilton Fallsview and the falls. That said, we still had a fantastic view from our room of the falls. Considering the view on half of the hotel was a run down motel and a parking lot, I’d say we lucked out.

But alas – I’m getting ahead of myself!

Price: This was the best deal of our stay. We got our rooms for around $120 per night, and considering that this was quite possibly THE nicest hotel in Niagara Falls, I was quite pleased with what we paid for our stay. The price also included the breakfast buffet, which was in the hotel restaurant on one of the highest floors.

Location: You can’t beat the location of the Hilton Niagara Fallsview. If you like to gamble, you can cross through the covered walkway from the hotel to the casino across the street, without even leaving the comfort of air conditioning. The Skylon Tower and IMAX are just a block away. There is a park just 2 blocks down the hill where you can view the falls, and the dining / entertainment district is just a few blocks past that. There is plenty of dining to walk to as well.

Cleanliness: Our hotel room did smell like cigarette smoke when we checked in. We complained immediately to the front desk and asked for another room but they said they were full and couldn’t accommodate us. Considering it was only 4pm, I was more than surprised that EVERY single guest had already checked in, causing the hotel to be out of rooms. Instead, the front desk sent up a maid to spray the room with Febreeze. It helped, temporarily, but each time we entered the room we were hit with the stink. I realize this isn’t the fault of the hotel entirely, since it was a non smoking hotel, but I sure wish they had given us another room.

Other than that, the room was perfect. Beautiful bedding, clean, high end fixtures – everything was perfect. The public areas were beautifully maintained and had a rich, luxurious feeling.

Staff: See above comments about the smoky room. Also, when we checked in, at 4pm, we were told our rooms weren’t ready yet and to come back. WHAT? I hate that. The concierge desk was fabulous and a big help in booking our tours and filling us in on what Niagara had to offer.

Amenities: We specifically picked this resort because of the fabulous pool complex. We knew after 1 1/2 weeks on vacation, the kids would appreciate some down time in a great pool. And it was GREAT! There’s a huge waterfall, and an even bigger slide, plenty of seating, and the kids had a blast.

We also took advantage of the free breakfast. If you paid for the buffet, it was $10 per adult, and it is NOT worth it. For free, it was acceptable. It was a pretty lean buffet, and didn’t even have a make your own waffle machine, just some pre-made waffles out under the heat lamps. The restaurant is located on one of the highest floors of the hotel, and affords a wonderful view though. I would have liked to have had dinner there with Jim if we had more time.

The hotel also offers a free shuttle to the entertainment area, should you not wish to walk there. We took it over a few times, but ended up getting a cab back the first night since we grew tired of waiting for the shuttle.

Comfort: Cold a/c, nice sheets and a duvet – this camper was quite please!

Overall rank: On a scale of 1 to 10, the Hilton Fallsview receives a 9.

Around the same time I submitted a complaint about our stay at the Doubletree in Montreal, I submitted a complaint about our stay at the Best Western in Toronto. A manager from the Best Western called me last week to inquire about the issues we experienced, and said that the hotel is NOT completely renovated. No, really? Gosh, I wouldn’t have guessed that from the cracked and dirty tiles in our bathroom. I pointed out that the corporate website states:

This Best Western hotel features renovated guest rooms and suites with all the right amenities including high-speed Internet access and cable television.

If you read that, would you take it to mean some of the rooms were renovated? Or that ALL of the rooms were renovated? We took it to mean all.

He got a little flustered at that point and said he’d check into it and call me back.

It pays to bitch! (And by “bitch”, I mean write a well thought out letter of complaint that is not overly emotional, but details what you found to be unacceptable.)

If you’re not happy with a hotel stay, and the manager doesn’t do anything to help you, always follow up with the corporate office. I submitted a letter of complaint to Hilton.com last week about our stay at the Doubletree in Montreal. I received an email this morning stating that I would receive a credit on my charge card for one night of our stay. I’m quite pleased!

In a few short months, I’ll be whooping it up in Vegas. I’ll be there for a big blogging conference and a little bit of R&R and gambling and I’m sure I’ll be doing some shopping in Las Vegas, too! We haven’t even looked at hotels yet, but I want to stay somewhere nice, right on the strip. When I read about the pool complex at the MGM Grand – sold. 5 pools, 3 whirlpools, a lazy river, fountains, and waterfalls. That’s my kind of resort! The kids won’t be coming on this trip either, so I’ll have plenty of time to chill by the pool without playing referee.

Our second stop on our Canadian vacation was Montreal. We left Toronto and made the drive east towards the city, arriving in the late afternoon. We stayed for 3 nights, beginning Friday June 22nd, at the Doubletree by Hilton Montreal Centre-Ville, located at 505 Sherbrooke Street East in Montreal.

Price: After comparing prices on the major travel websites, I booked the room directly through the Doubletree website, paying $125USD per night, for 2 rooms. The rooms at this hotel were not suites, but the hotel did offer free breakfast and a coin laundry, which we felt was a good trade off for not having a microwave and fridge in the room. We received a small discount off the regular room rate by selecting the “Get Going Canada” rate.

Location: While the hotel wasn’t located right downtown, in the middle of the hustle and bustle, the location was excellent. Two metro stops away from the center of Montreal, and the metro station was under our hotel! It was nice being on a quiet street, filled with residences and offices. My only complaint about the location is that there wasn’t much to eat in the immediate area. It was perhaps a 10 minute walk away, but not bad.

Cleanliness: This hotel was perfect. Beautiful lobby, clean corridors (with fresh paint, even!) and perfect rooms. I let out a huge sigh of relief when we entered our room and saw that everything in it, from the bedding to the furniture was in pristine condition.

Staff: Here’s where I have mixed feelings. Some of the staff was helpful, others…well, they were clueless. The hotel website stated there was a coin laundry, so my husband inquired about it, only to be told it was 5 blocks away! I looked at the website again and verified it said coin laundry on site, and called the front desk again to inquire. The first person I talked to claimed there wasn’t one, then the manager said there WAS one, but they weren’t sure where it was – perhaps the 2nd or 3rd floor? (How exactly does one manage a hotel without knowing where the coin laundry is?) When I had an issue with the laundry (see below) their response was apathetic.

Amenities: The pool was inside but large, and heated. The kids enjoyed it quite a bit. We had fantastic views of the city from our room as well. After searching the 2nd and 3rd floor for the coin laundry, I went back to the front desk to inquire where exactly it was – keep in mind I was dragging a bag containing dirty laundry and detergent. One of the staff finally left the desk to walk me upstairs, where we found the laundry on the 4th floor. I put in clothing, and put in soap, and put in coins…and discovered it was BROKEN! Thoroughly infuriated by now, I trudged back downstairs and complained that now I had dirty, soapy clothes. Their response was that they would let me know when the machine was fixed. Grrr!

The hotel also boasted free breakfast, but the first person we asked about it said they would have to check our “room plan” to see if we were eligible. Again, I verified on the website that continental breakfast was offered to all guest, and complained, and magically our breakfast passes appeared.

Comfort: Doubletree excels when it comes to comfort. The bedding and mattress we slept on were FABULOUS. However, the a/c didn’t work right in our room for the duration our stay. Despite multiple complaints, the manager’s only solution was to provide a single fan for our room.

Overall rank: On a scale of 1 to 10, the Doubletree by Hilton Montreal Centre-Ville receives a 7. It could be much higher, had the staff not been quite so inept.

I’m currently working on my review of the Doubletree we stayed at in Montreal, and when I’m finished with the review, I’ll be publishing it here AND printing 2 copies to mail. One will go to the corporate offices of Doubletree, and the other will be sent to hotel management. No, we were not happy with our room, and yes, I am the type to complain in writing

I figure that the worst thing that can happen is they won’t do a thing. The best case scenario would be a credit for part of our stay, our a credit towards a future stay.

This will hopefully be the first of many hotel reviews, and since I plan to do this more than once, I’m attempting to adopt a format that I can use for all future hotel reviews. I’ll be using the following criteria to give each hotel a ranking, on a scale of 1 to 10:

• Price
• Location
• Cleanliness
• Staff
• Amenities
• Comfort

Our first stop during our trip to Canada was in Toronto, and our home away from home for 3 nights was the Best Western Primrose, located at 111 Carlton Street, in downtown Toronto. We arrived on Tuesday, June 19th and checked out on Friday, June 22nd.

Price: We paid approximately $115 a night for our room with 2 double beds, and a street view. My mother paid $20 more per night, because she requested a room with a microwave and fridge. Upon checking in, my husband and I were also given a room with a microwave and fridge, and we weren’t charged any additional money for the upgrade. Overall, the price isn’t bad for a downtown hotel, but other factors, like cleanliness will, and DID affect how we viewed the price. Read on!

Location: We couldn’t have asked for a better location. For those of you who don’t know Toronto, Yonge Street is considered to be the backbone of the city. Walk north on Yonge Street and you’ll hit shopping and Bloor Street. Walk south and you’ll come to Eaton Center and the Hockey Hall of Fame. Our hotel was on Carlton Street, just about 3 blocks off Yonge – it was a very do-able walk, and if we didn’t want to walk, there was a metro station at the intersection of Carlton and Yonge we could go to. The hotel was in the so called “gay district”, and had 2 gay clubs within a block away, but we’re not offended by alternative lifestyles. I only mention it in case some are. The neighborhood felt safe, and there was a park (Allen Gardens)across the street where my husband jogged and took the kids to play. The old Maple Leaf Gardens was across the street, too.

Cleanliness: This is an older hotel, and it shows. While the lobby has been renovated at some point, the guest rooms we stayed in on the 6th floor had not been. The carpet was older, but in good shape, the bedding was a typical polyester hotel spread, and the bathroom…well, the bathroom had seen better days. While our room was clean enough, the bathroom had some mold issues in the shower grout, and the tile and grout was cracked and bulging away from the walls in some places. It was an unattractive bathroom, to say the least, and mold grosses me out.

Staff: Some of the staff was extremely friendly, like the concierge who booked our tour for us. Others…well, they could take us or leave us, and vice versa. For instance, a parking spot wasn’t available when we checked in, so we were told to use one of the public pay lots in the area. That’s ok – it’s just the manner in which this information was conveyed to us could have been a bit warmer and friendlier. We never saw our maid, but the room was done each day when we returned, and that’s all that matters to me.

Amenities: Where to begin? The pool is located on the 3rd floor, and gives you a nice view of the city. While the pool was large, the area around it for seating was extremely small – perhaps 4 feet on all sides. It was older looking too, and there was no slide. The kids enjoyed it, but it wasn’t a place to hang out for hours on end catching the rays. (Fine for the purposes of our trip!) You can see from the picture below that the area around the pool is just big enough for chairs and for one person to pass by:

While there was a restaurant in the hotel, there wasn’t any type of free breakfast offered. Thankfully, there was also a Tim Horton’s attached to the hotel, so we were able to find cheap eats each morning. While I’m on the subject of amenities, the hotel DID offer free wireless internet. The issue for me however, was that there was no outlet at the desk in the room. The only extra outlet was behind the bed, which mean moving the laptop to the nightstand between the beds to be charged. A small pain in the rear, but the free internet was nice.

Comfort: What bothers me the most about this hotel is that on the hotel website, it states:

Our newly renovated rooms offer all the conveniences of a luxury hotel, coupled with the conveniences of home.

Obviously, neither of the rooms we had for our group had been renovated, ever.

I also found this tidbit on the website:

Duvets with a 250 thread count are the standard at the Best Western Primrose

The picture of the guest rooms on the main page of the hotel website shows this image:

Lovely, isn’t it? Too bad our room looked nothing like it. I would have been quite pleased if it had. There’s nothing like a comfy bed with cushy white sheets and a duvet! However, our room looked like this picture found a bit deeper in on the website:

Those bedspreads leave a lot to be desired. And while I’m on the subject of comfort, the beds were not. The sheets were ill fitting, the pillows were lumpy, and the blankets were older and wash worn. The towels in the bathroom had seen better days as well. We “borrowed” more towels from the pool area so that’d we would have extra, but didn’t ever need them. I didn’t complain about the bedding issue while we were there, simply because I never saw the areas of the website I’ve referenced above. I certainly would have loved to have the duvets they feature and the renovated rooms mentioned!

I’m not really sure where to put the elevators, but they’re worth mentioning. It’s funny that in a city that has the CN Tower, with elevators speeding upwards at the speed of car, we stayed in a hotel with the slowest elevators I’ve EVER experienced. It became the joke during our 3 day stay. It wasn’t uncommon to wait for 5 minutes for one of the 4 elevators to come to our floor, or to the lobby.

The hair dryer also broke in our room after the first day. I was lucky that I always pack my own, and didn’t need it, but it just drove home the age of the hotel and the real need for updated rooms.

Overall rank: On a scale of 1 to 10, the Best Western Primrose in Toronto receives a 6. Had we stayed in a renovated room, I could see that rating going up, but sadly, we did not. The location was excellent, but I wouldn’t chose those hotel again if I were to go to Toronto, because there are simply so many other choices in the area. The bedding and bathroom were a big turn off for me, and the location and free internet access can’t make up for the run down feeling that our room had. As one traveler stated on Travelocity, if you’re looking for pampering and a high class feeling, this is not the hotel for you.

I hate it when you enter a non smoking hotel room, in a NON smoking hotel, and some idiot who stayed in the room before you decided to smoke in it. Not cool. On top of that, the hotel is fully booked, and they couldn’t switch us to another room. (Seriously – at 5pm in the afternoon? You have not a SINGLE room that you haven’t given out yet? Right.)

We’ve had the maid up to Febreze the room, but I just came in from the pool and it stinks.

Looks can be deceiving.

I say that, having typed on my other blog this afternoon that our hotel here in Montreal was stunning. And it is, visually. As far as the amenities and staff – I’m unimpressed.

For starters, when we were looking online, weeks ago, for a hotel in Montreal, we specifically chose THIS hotel because it had several things we not only needed, but wanted. In the needs columns:

• Free breakfast (eating out gets to be expensive each morning)
• Coin laundry in the hotel (we knew bringing enough clothing to last the whole 9 days would be too much, so we packed enough to get us halfway through)

In the wants columns:

• Close to downtown, or in downtown
• A pool for the kids

When we checked in, my husband asked the front desk about the coin laundry, and was told there wasn’t one, but that we could walk 5 blocks to one. He was also told there was a breakfast, but it wasn’t free. Hmm…that didn’t sound right, but we needed to eat and laundry and food for the morning wasn’t the priority right then and there. We set the a/c in our room to frigid and left to find some grub. When we returned, the a/c wasn’t really blowing, and it was downright warm in our room. It was almost 11pm, so I called the front desk and asked about 3 things – the a/c, the laundry, and the breakfast.

The front desk clerk told me he would send someone up within 10 minutes to check the a/c, and that our ‘package’ didn’t include breakfast, and that the coin laundry was on either floor 2, or floor 3. The problem with that is that the website says, “FREE BREAKFAST” without a mention of a package. The other problem? I searched floors 2 and 3 and found no laundry. I went to the front desk and complained in person. I was told that we could get free breakfast after all (squeaky wheel?) and that the laundry was on the 4th floor. (How does the hotel staff NOT know where the coin laundry is?

So I go BACK upstairs to my room, get the laundry, the soap, and go to the 4th floor. Dump in the soap, clothing, and put in the money – nothing. Wait, do a dance, sing a song – still nothing. Go back down to 1st floor, and now I am irritated, as you can only imagine. Their solution? Check into it tomorrow and reimburse me the $2.

Again, I’m not impressed with that.

So I go back to the 4th floor, stuff clothes back into bags, and head to my room, where I rinse soap off my jeans. You can BET that the hotel chain is getting a letter from me once our stay is over. Not only were both of the machines for laundry not working, but one wasn’t marked, so I’m stuck with soapy clothes and a trip to a coin laundry five blocks away.

Oh, and that a/c issue? Our thermostat is set on 10 degrees C. I should have icicles coming off my nose at that temp. Instead, it’s barely cool, and the hotel’s solution was to give us a fan to make it through the night. A freaking fan?! I’m way hot, and I don’t mean just from the broken a/c, either.

I absolutely hate issues like this, and it’s inexcusable when you’re paying close to $150 a night for your room. The fact that the staff had an apathetic “oh well” attitude about everything makes me even more upset.

We’ve booked the rest of our hotels for our trip to Canada this month, and it’s a relief to have that over and done with. Because we’re going with my mother and the kids, and booking 2 rooms everywhere, and we’re going to be gone for over a week…well, it wasn’t as easy as it normally is when I book a hotel room. Instead of me being in charge, we had to get the approval of 3 adults on each hotel, and it had to have laundry facilities so we don’t need to bring 2 weeks worth of clothing, and a pool for the kids.

Luckily, we found something that would fit our needs in each of the cities we’ll be staying in – Toronto, Montreal, and Niagara Falls, and online, all of the hotels looked just perfect. I’m hoping they’re as good in person!

I stayed at the Port Orleans Riverside Resort in Walt Disney World for the 3rd time last weekend, and the third time was really the charm. We didn’t have a loud and clunky a/c unit, or a slow maid. The only issue we had was entirely our fault. My oldest daughter dropped an earring into the sink, so we had to call maintenance to remove it for us. We ate our fill of beignets, we enjoyed Star Wars Weekend at MGM, and had a very relaxing (and somewhat rainy) weekend.

We’ve booked one hotel for our 8 night trip to Canada next month. (Note to self: trip is only 3 weeks away – get moving on booking other hotels!) We’re still debating on using Priceline for our 3 night stays in Toronto and Montreal (if anyone has a recommendation for a great downtown neighborhood to stay in for either city, let me know!) but we knew we didn’t want to gamble with Priceline for Niagara Falls. We wanted a hotel with a great view of the falls, and we wanted a big name brand. We ended up booking rooms at the Hilton Niagara Falls Fallsview and because my mother is coming with, we snagged a substantial AARP thanks to her membership with the group. Score! The hotel is connected to a casino (I love the slots!)and has a gorgeous indoor pool with a great slide to keep the kids busy.

Home again, home again, jiggity jig.

The weather was perfect this weekend, we were kid free, we ate, we drank, we laughed. What more could you ask for?

I will be calling the resort with a few small complaints. The first one is that we were out of our room from 8am til 3pm on Saturday. When we returned, I was a little disappointed to see our room hadn’t been cleaned yet, but no big deal. We really only needed fresh towels. Jim left, and I laid down, after I put the do not disturb sign in the door. No sooner did I doze off…and the maid was knocking. Ugh! Do not disturb means DON’T disturb!

Also, when we kicked on the a/c Saturday night, it was SO loud. Like someone was running a vacuum in the room. We sucked it up and didn’t do anything about it then, because it was midnight. I didn’t want someone up to fix it at midnight, and I didn’t want to move to a new room at midnight. But, I will be calling to let them know!