http://www.luxurylink.com/community/blogs/dhdanner%40verizon-net/ en Tue, 21 May 2013 10:57:01 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.luxurylink.com/community/images/misc/rss.jpg http://www.luxurylink.com/community/blogs/dhdanner%40verizon-net/ http://www.luxurylink.com/community/blogs/dhdanner%40verizon-net/aqua-wellness-resort-1604/ Tue, 26 Mar 2013 19:30:30 GMT Aqua Wellness Resort – Redondo Bay, Gigante, Nicaragua Aqua Wellness Resort is located on the pacific coast about 1 hour north of San Juan del Sur... Aqua Wellness Resort – Redondo Bay, Gigante, Nicaragua

Aqua Wellness Resort is located on the pacific coast about 1 hour north of San Juan del Sur and about a 2 hour drive south of Managua in a fairly remote area. The nearest large town is Tola about 1 hour away and the village of Gigante is about a 15 minute walk. There is not much in Gigante – a few restaurants and hostels – there are about 500 residents.

Our LL package was for 5 nights, breakfast each morning, dinner one night, a 50 minute spa treatment, and a 1 way transfer from the international airport. We arrived in Managua around 12:30pm, customs was easy and our Aqua driver was waiting for us. The driver was very nice and did not speak much English and my Spanish is very rusty, however, we had a very pleasant and scenic 2 hour drive to the resort – we practiced our language skills! We also stopped for a brief grocery store on the way to stock up on some supplies since we knew we had a full kitchen at the resort.

Aqua bills itself as luxury treehouses and if you are in one of the penthouses, luxury suites or tree house rooms situated higher up on the hillside, then you do feel like you are living in the trees. Every villa complex is crafted from native hardwoods, stone and glass and are all connected to the beach and the resort common areas via elevated wooden walkways, stairs and pathways. There are stairs and depending on which room you are located in, there could be quite a few, however, if you get to know the layout of the resort you can find shortcuts that avoid many of the steps. If stairs are a big problem for you, then you may want to avoid this resort or make sure you request a room on the beach – beach front rooms do not require a lot of stairs and they are very close to the restaurant and bar areas.

The Aracari penthouse complex is the highest on the hill and is one of the few that has both rainforest and ocean views – if monkey sighting is important to you, request a rainforest room. It is important to understand the resort configurations as far as the rooms go. Each complex usually consists of a penthouse room and 2 tree house rooms or a luxury suite (there are 2 luxury suites) and 1 tree house room. A whole complex is called a villa. Penthouse rooms are 2 floors with the living area and full kitchen on the 1st floor and the king bed bedroom and bathroom on the 2nd floor. The luxury suites also have a full kitchen; however, instead of being on 2 floors, they have 2 separate buildings connected by an L shaped deck. One building contains the full kitchen and the other contains the bedroom and bathroom. Tree house rooms have no kitchen – it is a single queen bed room with a full bathroom. All types of rooms have an outside deck and some have their own plunge pool. If a pool is important to you then you need to make sure when arranging for your room, to ask for one with a private plunge pool. Not all penthouse rooms have a private plunge pool and not all tree house rooms have a private plunge pool. Both luxury suites have a pool. Some pools seem to be shared.

Our package was for an oceanview penthouse with private plunge pool, however, we requested a rainforest penthouse since we wanted monkey contact and we were assured we would have a rainforest penthouse with a private deck and plunge pool. When we checked in we were shown to a rainforest penthouse with an evidently shared pool since there were folks towels and slippers arranged by the pool. I went back to the reception area and told them this was not what we had requested nor was it what the LL package indicated. This particular penthouse did not have a pool – it ended up belonging to the tree house room that was part of this particular complex (I believe it was the orchid penthouse). This is one of the places where Aqua needs some customer service training – they seemed to freeze up and were not sure how to handle a situation like this. I kept saying we are supposed to have our own penthouse with private pool and deck and finally after about an hour of phone calls, etc. on their part, they told us they had a penthouse for us that has a pool – the pool actually belonged to one of the tree houses but they said they would not rent out either of the tree house rooms so that we could have the whole complex to ourselves – worked for us – we had the penthouse with big wrap around deck and the plunge pool was on the deck below next to the unoccupied tree house and as we discovered conveniently located next to the dirt road that you use to get to El Gigante village and you could also use this road to get to the resort restaurant and beach area – no stairs for us! It is not real clear on either the Luxury Link posting or on Aqua’s own website how the complex is laid out – the LL package stated you would have a penthouse villa with private wrap around deck and plunge pool but not many of the penthouse rooms actually have their own wrap around deck or private plunge pool since they all have at least 1 tree house room on part of the deck area – I did not go around and examine each of the room complexes but this is how it appeared from what we did see.

All room types include air conditioning (which we did not need), ceiling fans, on demand hot water, very comfortable Serta mattresses with nice, soft linens, coffee maker, refrigerator in the penthouse and luxury suites and a wine chiller/mini bar in the tree house rooms, in room safe, desk, chair and reading lamp and slate or teak rain showers. Each unit also has an outdoor deck with at least 2 chairs and a table.

The penthouse we finally ended up in was the Jicaro penthouse and it was very nice. Great rainforest views and many, many monkeys visited each morning and evening. It had a wraparound deck so we actually had 2 Adirondack chairs and a table on one side and 2 Adirondack cushioned rocking chairs and a table on the other side. We spent most of our time sitting on the deck monkey and bird watching. On one side of the deck was a tree house room which we were able to look at – a bit small with a queen bed, desk, chair and small bathroom and outside the entrance door were 2 chairs and a table. Also outside the tree house entrance were stairs leading down to the next deck where there was another tree house room with a plunge pool which was the pool we were using. At the very bottom of the stairs at ground level is a large stone patio with a barbeque pit and wraparound wood benches – not all of the villa complexes have this feature.

Our penthouse was very nice with modern appliances in the kitchen, dishes and cutlery for 4, plenty of pots and pans, coffee maker and tea kettle. They also supplied dish washing liquid for washing dishes – everything you would need for cooking and cleaning up. There was also a nice round table and 4 chairs for dining, a full size sofa and coffee table. Sliding screened doors led out on to the deck.
The 2nd floor bedroom contained a king size bed, ample storage space, desk and the bathroom with a nice sink and counter area and a large teak shower. Very comfy bedding and plenty of soft towels.
There are also sliding screened doors in the bedroom leading to a very small balcony. I really liked the penthouses. Evidently these are private residences where the owners get to use them for around 108 days per year and Aqua (the management company) rents them out the rest of the time. Since they are private, each room may have a little more or less than the others, for example, we had a washer and dryer in our penthouse which came in handy. All the kitchens do have appliances, dishes, etc.

The beach area, beach front bar and restaurant area are all very nice with ample seating. The restaurant serves very good food at reasonable prices. The menu is varied, however, they always seemed to be out of shrimp and lobster. Portions are a nice size and I liked everything I tried. Alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks are also reasonably priced. There are also a few private seating areas scattered about around the bar and restaurant. The beach is exclusive to Aqua, however, you do get the occasional visitor from Gigante since Aqua’s beach is nicer. During the time we were there, the beach and seating areas were never crowded.

The spa is great and is located on the hillside with wonderful views. We each had a 50 minute massage and they were so good……………….. The spa also offers facials, manicures and pedicures.

There were a few glitches: the problem we had with getting the penthouse room we were supposed to get, the water going out for a day and 1 of the luxury suites that was occupied had a rodent problem – in each of these cases, the staff seemed like they were not sure what to do. When I called to tell them there was no water, they hesitated and then finally said it was being looked at but not sure when it would be fixed – they were getting ready to just hang up the phone but I said what about drinking water, flushing the toilets and that I had a sink full of dirty dishes – they said someone would come to our PH and someone did within 10 minutes – they filled a bucket with pool water and washed the dishes and flushed the toilet and they put a new big bottle of water on our water cooler and then just left with no other explanation – very confusing! The water did come back on the next morning and everyone was treated to a free lunch – evidently there was a broken pipe. We met the couple who had the rodent problem in their luxury suite and from what they told us we gather that they saw the rodent one night and called reception, reception had maintenance come and they found the hole where the rodent got in and sealed the hole, however, evidently they did not check inside the suite to make sure the rodent was not still in the suite – it was and for some reason the couple did not get moved to another room for 2 more nights – I think the resort was trying to find a similar room to the one they were in, however, there are only 2 luxury suites and the other one was occupied. When the 2nd luxury suite opened up, the resort actually moved my husband and I to that one for our last night as their way of apologizing for the penthouse room screw up we had on check in. Why they did not move the folks with the rodent in the luxury suite they were in, I could not tell you – all confused at this point. Around midnight, I heard a noise and someone trying to open our suite doors and saw people with flashlights on our deck, I screamed “hey get out of here” and woke my husband up – we ran out on the deck and started asking a man and woman “what are you doing” but they just mumbled sorry and took off – weird! We then noticed that the lights were on in the tree house that was part of our luxury suite complex and walked over to see who was in there since it was supposed to be unoccupied – it turns out it was the couple that had the rodent in their room – we asked why did the resort wait until midnight to move them and the lady said she could no longer stay in their room with a rodent – they should have insisted much sooner that they be moved – I would have! Again it seems like the resort does not know how to handle a crisis.

The luxury suite we were moved to for our last night was called Tortuga and was very nice with an amazing ocean view, wraparound deck connecting the bedroom and kitchen buildings and a much larger plunge pool than the older part of the resort. This suite was part of the newer end of the resort and was pretty much just built – there were 2 more under construction in this area. A pretty nice place!

Even with the glitches, this is a very nice resort and the penthouses and luxury suites are very, very nice. It is clear the staff and management could use some additional training to make it a 1st rate resort, however, glitches and all; we would go back to Aqua. The staff, as are all the people we interacted with in Nicaragua, very nice, the food is good, the beach is beautiful and the accommodations are very comfortable. Tour arrangements are easily managed at decent prices and there are a good variety of options to choose from. Transfers to and from the airport are easy – we used them to transfer to the Jicaro Eco Island Lodge and the price was around $85 for the 1 ½ - 2 hour drive.

Here is the link to the Aqua Resort pictures:

https://plus.google.com/photos/10126...MCs_pmV-pSr5QE ]]> dhdanner@verizon.net http://www.luxurylink.com/community/blogs/dhdanner%40verizon-net/aqua-wellness-resort-1604/ http://www.luxurylink.com/community/blogs/dhdanner%40verizon-net/jicaro-island-eco-lodge-%96-sustainable-luxury-1602/ Mon, 25 Mar 2013 15:57:34 GMT A British tourist (Karen) arrived in Nicaragua with a vision of an eco-friendly, small & upscale lodge. She found and purchased a small isleta in Lake Nicaragua. She hired and architect and Cayuga Sustainable Hospitality to manage the place. Thanks to them and Howard, ctavio, Claudia and the rest of the Jicaro staff – a small slice of heaven was born in Nicaragua! Cayuga has been recognized as a world leader in upscale, sustainable tourism for more than 10 years. This is their 1st place in Nicaragua – they manage other lodges in Costa Rica – Lapo Rios being one of them.

Our LL package included 5 nights in one of the 9 private casitas with all meals and non-alcoholic beverages, as well as a choice of either a 30 minute massage or a couple of different tours – we chose the massage and even though it was only 30 minutes it was very relaxing. The spa is small and offers a few different massage options from 50 – 90 minutes long.

The casitas are all identical 2 story structures built from re-claimed wood with a small outside deck containing 2 chairs, a table, and a large hammock. Each casita has a private entrance reached via a winding stone pathway with natural rock formations and nice landscaping features. The 1st floor contains a seating area with a couch that cleverly rolls out to a full size bed and a coffee table. From this area you go up 2 steps to the bathroom area with ample storage space and a safe. A partition separates the couch from the sink and counter area and a sliding, louvered door opens into a large open shower with a rainshower and the toilet area. Very nice soft, fluffy towels and a bathrobe were provided. The 1st floor has large, screened windows which can be cleverly closed with sliding, louvered shutters. There are also small screened vents in the floor around the shower area for ventilation. The rest of the walls are made of wood and have opaque panels for light which are made of the sort of material you may see in a greenhouse. With a ceiling fan and the large windows letting in a nice lake breeze the temperatures were quite comfortable.

At the back of the 1st floor, there is an open wooden stairway leading to the 2nd floor bedroom area of the casita. There is a king size bed with a very comfortable mattress and very soft sheets – pretty close to the great beds we experienced in the Lumina Luxury Suites in Mexico City. Most of Latin America seems to like firm, hard beds, so for me at least, a nice, soft, pillow top mattress is always a pleasure. Each side of the bed has a built in side table and there is also a small desk and chair. My only comment would be to include some shelves or hooks on the 2nd floor to hang clothes, etc. on. All shelves and hooks are on the 1st floor. The 2nd floor also has very large screened windows with wonderful views which can also be closed off with sliding, louvered shutters – we never had to since privacy was never an issue for us. A ceiling fan keeps things cool. Even though Nica was a bit hot – especially in Granada, the heat was never an issue on Jicaro due to the nice lake breeze.
Privacy screens artfully arranged on the outside ensure that you never really notice the neighboring casitas. So even though you are on a small island, you never really felt crowded expect on a day where everyone decided they wanted to sit around the pool at the same time.

An open air kitchen and restaurant with nine tables, an open air seating area with comfy seating & with books to borrow, a small gift shop, and an open bar and comfy seating area surround the pool area which is more or less in the center of the island. There is a large open deck down a few stairs from the dining area with great views of the lake where you can have yoga lessons in the morning, watch the sunset, stargaze or just sit and read a book. We liked to sit on this deck each evening – the sunsets were beautiful and the stargazing was awesome!

The spa is off to the side of the open deck. There is another deck with a comfy couch and 2 massage treatment rooms. A very relaxing place. The medium size pool is surrounded with nice landscaping, cushioned lounge chairs and some Adirondack type chairs and a table. If a good portion of the guests decide to stay on the island and lounge around the pool during the day, then there may be some seating issues – this was not an issue for us since we are not the lounging around in the bright sunshine type of folks but was an issue for a couple of the guests since they wanted a lounge chair and they were all in use.

The island is small – maybe a bit over an acre, and the architect did a wonderful job blending in everything with the trees, plants and rocks on the island – they did everything they could possibly do to not remove many trees or native plantings and rocks. And it looks wonderful. Stone walkways wind around the island leading to the casitas, the main lodge areas and a wonderful observation platform with amazing 360 views of the lake, neighboring islands, volcanoes, birds and stars at night.

Each morning we were awakened by birdsong – and there are many, many different birds! Coffee and tea are delivered at the time of your choosing to your casita each morning (the time is arranged the evening before) and it was very nice sitting on the deck listening and watching the birds while having our morning beverages. We tend to be early risers and we had ours delivered each morning at 6:30am. There are set times for meals – 7-10:30 for breakfast, lunch is 12 to around 3pm, and dinner begins around 6pm with the last seating around 8:30pm, however, if you arrive a little after 8:30pm you will still get your dinner. There are also snacks and various beverages available throughout the day. As I am a tea drinker, it was nice to know that all I had to do was ask and a pot of tea appeared before me. It was very nice to see a Latin American place that knows how to prepare a pot of good black tea – piping hot water, tea in the water and not just a teabag on the side, warmed milk and sugar. We also indulged in great fresh fruit smoothies!

Each morning at breakfast you also ordered your lunch and dinner selections, this way if you were not going to be on the island for lunch and dinner, then they did not need to prepare anything for you – great way to control food waste! There are a decent number of meal selections to provide enough variety each day and many of the other guests would get something different each day so they could try everything on the menu. While not everything was to my personal liking, I did discover that you could customize the menu items to your taste and if they have the ingredients, you could also order “off menu”. All dished were nicely presented and were large portions – we ended up getting ½ portions since after a day or two we were feeling stuffed! My husband especially liked the fish tacos which he had a few times at lunch; the beef was very, very good as was the chicken, fresh vegetables, breads, etc. I included pictures of the menu in my link. All wines are from Argentina and Chile and they seemed to have a good selection at good prices. There are also a variety of local beers, traditional cocktails, after dinner coffee drinks, and Jicaro creations. My husband tried a few of the coffee drinks and said they were great. On the few times that I drink alcohol, I stick to Pina Coladas and these were good and refreshing at only $4.50.

The lodge remains true to their eco tenants – the water in the casitas is solar heated and hot water was never an issue. The lighting is LED and halogen. All waste water is filtered and used to water the plants. The water for drinking is also filtered and safe to drink and they also have water containers dotted around to refill your Jicaro water bottle that is given to you on arrival. The lodge also participates in Pack for a Purpose and we packed items for the local school that they support.

Jicaro also provides a variety of tours and can also arrange transport to/from the international airport. We could have easily stayed on the island for our 5 nights but we wanted to get in a bit of shopping so we arranged a day trip to Granada and another trip to Masaya Market. There are also tours to hike, climb volcanoes, visit coffee plantations, etc. Our 2 day trips as well as our transportation to the airport and the few alcoholic drinks came to $184 – much less than we expected!

A nice well rounded group of fellow guests (including another LL couple) made for some nice and interesting conversations. The service was excellent with a few minor, quickly fixed glitches. The staff is very friendly and the ones that deal directly with the guests speak fairly good English. The drivers that took us on our day trips did not speak English, however, since they are your personal driver, the lodge tells them exactly where you want to go and working out where to get picked up (where you get dropped off) is easy. The late afternoon/evening manager, Octavio, is especially helpful – he is a Nicaraguan native who lived in Miami for 20 years and moved back to Nica in 2007. He can tell you all sorts of things about where to visit, history of the country, what different birds and plants are – a great guy! Each time you arrive at the island – when you 1st get there, when coming back from a tour, etc. you are met at the dock with cool, refreshing drinks – the staff always know when you are arriving back – they have a good system of cell phoning each other so they pretty much know exactly when you will pull up at the dock.

We loved, loved, loved Jicaro – it has entered my top 5 list of LL trips and we were very sad when it was departure day! Go and go now before the hordes discover this place and it becomes hard to get a reservation. Next time we go, I don’t even think we will leave the island. This was one of the most memorable and relaxing trips we have done. Never felt the urge to get up and go, go, go that we usually feel. Just sitting around and watching the lake, birds, local fisherman and having the attentive staff to bring you your next drink was so relaxing……………..

When we arrived home, we received a nice email from Jicaro thanking us for visiting them; asking if there were any suggestions we had to make the place even more enjoyable and that they hope to see us again. When we arrived, Karen, the owner was actually there for one of her 2-3 yearly visits and we had a few good conversations with her and I mentioned a few suggestions for some slight improvements ;-)

Nicaragua is a wonderful place and we would not hesitate to go again – especially to Jicaro.

Here's a link to my pictures. ]]> dhdanner@verizon.net http://www.luxurylink.com/community/blogs/dhdanner%40verizon-net/jicaro-island-eco-lodge-%96-sustainable-luxury-1602/ http://www.luxurylink.com/community/blogs/dhdanner%40verizon-net/el-gigante-san-juan-del-sur-nicaragua-1596/ Thu, 21 Mar 2013 18:34:57 GMT We did a day trip to San Juan del Sur from the Aqua Wellness Resort & it was about a 1 hour drive. We were actually not too impressed with the town – the beach was dirty and the ocean/bay looked oily – there are many boats in the bay and this could be the reason. One tourist told me she did take a swim in the ocean and when she came out she felt really slimy and had to go back to her hotel to shower – yuck ;-(

There are a good number of beachfront restaurants and the prices were about the same as similar places in beach towns in Costa Rica – maybe a tad bit less. We ended up eating in a small, open air local eatery that we happened to see a lot of locals eating in and the food was great – we had quesadillas and fresh fruit smoothies to drink and it was a lot less than the larger restaurants that tried to hustle and entice the few tourists into them.

There are a few shops and local grocery stores – we ended up going to the local produce market to bring back some fresh fruit and salad fixings to our Aqua villa – we had a kitchen so we might as well use it ;-) As far as little Latin American beach towns go, we much prefer Manuel Antonio in Costa Rica and Progresso in the Yucatan, Mexico.

Playa Gigante is a neat little village about a 10-15 minute walk on a dirt road from the Aqua Resort. The village has a population of just under 500 with 25 of them being American ex-pats. This is one of those neat, little funky towns that end up being fun to hang around in. There are a few restaurants with surprisingly good food! We went to a great place called Gigante Bay Southside Village which is a sort of hostel/hotel complex owned by an American ex-pat – he got a job offer here in 2007 and ended up buying the place – never been back to the states since.
We talked with John (the owner) and he gave us a tour of the whole complex – the Camino del Gigante hostel with rooms, dorms, hammocks & camping facilities for the backpackers, the Colorline Lodge with single & double rooms with private bath and Casa Amariffa which is a private house that rents for around $150/night – he is in the process of putting a pool in for the house which makes it even better. John even took us to his home which was quite interesting – all open air with no walls! The only room that had walls was his office. It overlooks a lagoon and forest so there were not many privacy issues – I asked him what he did during the rainy season and he showed me the tarps that roll down from the ceiling and anchor to the floor – interesting set up but I would need walls in my house!

The complex also has a bar/restaurant/lounge area – neat surfer dιcor with surfboards hanging from the ceiling, posters of Hendrix, Bob Marley and even a poster that said “surfers for Ron Paul”. Lots of California surfer dudes hanging around as well as quite a few Europeans that were staying in the village. Excellent food and I mentioned to John that I was surprised at the varied menu and really good food at great prices and he said that he gets lots of folks from Aqua coming over and he needs to have good food at good prices to please the more affluent Aqua crowd as well as the backpacker crowd – good marketing skills! John also offers tours, surfing lessons, and yoga (yoga seems to be a big deal in Nica – everyone offers yoga). He even had a live reggae band one night and the place was jumping.

The house for rent was very nice and a place that we would stay in. His website is Gigante Bay


Link for pictures pertaining to this blog:
https://picasaweb.google.com/1012675...eat=directlink ]]> dhdanner@verizon.net http://www.luxurylink.com/community/blogs/dhdanner%40verizon-net/el-gigante-san-juan-del-sur-nicaragua-1596/ http://www.luxurylink.com/community/blogs/dhdanner%40verizon-net/granada-masaya-market-managua-international-airport-1595/ Thu, 21 Mar 2013 18:01:29 GMT The last time we visited Granada, Nicaragua was 10 years ago on a day trip from Costa Rica & there were very few tourists – mostly of the backpacker variety, few restaurants and few shops. In the past 10 years there have been many changes! There are now vendors in the central park, new hotels & restaurants & colonial homes being renovated. Granada is becoming a vibrant city and I predict in another 10 years (or less), it well be as visited as Antigua, Guatemala & Cuzco, Peru.

There are many places to sit and people watch, dine or have a cool, refreshing drink. Restaurants are plentiful and cover all price ranges. Not many artisan shops in town – you will need to go to Masaya market for handicrafts but there are a few in town – there are some nice leather goods shops in Granada, however, I thought they were a bit pricey.

The city has the traditional Spanish colonial feel like Antigua & Cuzco but without the indigenous populations that make Antigua & Cuzco so much more colorful. There are quite a few hotels that could easily be Luxury Link packages – we visited the Hotel Dario which is in an old renovated colonial mansion and the La Gran Francia which is also housed in a restored colonial building and bills itself as a colonial boutique hotel. Both are very nice with the La Gran Francia seeming to be the more upscale of these two. The Francia has 21 rooms decorated to preserve the original charm & style of the Spanish colonial period. The pub used to be a 19th century jail – very cool with old leg irons hanging near the entrance. The Dario is similar in style but appears to be a bit less upscale. I would stay in either place.

Masaya market is about 20 minutes outside of Granada and is housed in an old Spanish colonial fort. Handicrafts abound, especially beautiful baskets and wood crafts. Lots of oil and watercolor paintings but they tend to be much more pricey than other paintings in markets around Central & South America. Vendors for the most part will bargain but not as easily as in other Latin American handicraft markets. We did purchase some baskets, wooden bowls, splurged on an oil painting and of course the hubby got lots of coffee! Both Granada and Masaya market are an easily arranged day trip from Jicaro Eco Lodge.

I thought this blog would be a good place to mention the international airport – I like it! I am one of those people who like airports that have not been renovated and homogenized to look like every other airport in the USA. It reminds me of the way the international airport in Guatemala City used to be like before they “modernized” it. When you enter the Managua airport there are check in stations for the various airlines, numerous vendors selling, coffee, handicrafts, chocolate, etc. all before you even get to security. Security was pretty easy and the security folks are very friendly. No huge body scanners like most US airports have now – just the old fashioned walk through scanner and the hand held scanners. I did not have to take my shoes off but my husband did – I am not even sure if they even noticed I had shoes on ;-) Once through security, there are more vendors, little eateries, pubs and a private smoking lounge. At the gate there was another brief security check of your carryon baggage – nothing at all like our experience in Costa Rica last year! I hope this airport does not change too much when tourism starts to increase. They have all the necessary modern conveniences – clean bathrooms, neat little shops and friendly workers. We found it a nice airport to hang around in while waiting for our flight – I think they have a VIP lounge but we did not even bother to look for it since we were having too much fun just wandering around the place.

Link to our pictures for this blog
https://picasaweb.google.com/1012675...eat=directlink ]]> dhdanner@verizon.net http://www.luxurylink.com/community/blogs/dhdanner%40verizon-net/granada-masaya-market-managua-international-airport-1595/ http://www.luxurylink.com/community/blogs/dhdanner%40verizon-net/cuna-del-angel-hotel-south-pacific-area-cr-1528/ Tue, 13 Nov 2012 01:08:02 GMT Our LL package included a 5 night stay in an angel room, breakfast, $75 credit to use in the spa or dining room and taxes. We arrived at the hotel... Our LL package included a 5 night stay in an angel room, breakfast, $75 credit to use in the spa or dining room and taxes.

We arrived at the hotel around 4:30pm after a short local Sansa flight to Quepos to pick up our rental car. The drive from Quepos was around 45 minutes on a nice, scenic highway with views of the ocean, jungle and many palm oil plantations.

Check in was effortless thanks to Angelica the very personable front desk manager. She had all of our Ll details recorded and had arranged our rental car from Solid Rental car ahead of time – everything went very smoothly.

Our room was on the ground floor and had 2 queen beds, a large combination TV stand and wardrobe with plenty of storage, a refrigerator and a desk and chair. All made of local hardwood. The bathroom was a nice size with a full size bathtub and nice pedestal sink. Nice toilet articles and a hairdryer. It would have been nice if bathrobes and slippers were provided. There were sliding glass doors leading out onto a nice size patio with a table and 2 chairs.

The dining room was open and airy with nice views of the jungle and ocean. There is also a very comfortable lounge area, gift shop and computer. There is a staircase in between the lounge and dining area leading to the upper floor rooms and a rooftop viewing platform. The hotel is built on a hillside surrounded by jungle with no direct access to the beach. The pool area is very nice with pretty landscaping and plenty of seating areas.

There is also a jungle room complex further down the hill. We were not able to see one of these rooms but from what we could tell they are smaller than the angel rooms and have fewer amenities. They do have nice small balconies overlooking the jungle. The jazuzzi is in the jungle complex which is a short walk from the main hotel.

The spa is located under the dining room. We did not use any spa facilities so cannot comment on the treatment rooms. There is also a covered walkway at the back of the hotel which is perfect for wildlife viewing. I would recommend renting a car if staying at this hotel as nothing is within walking distance – it is about a 25 minute ride to Playa Dominical, 30 minutes to Uvita and about 45 minutes to Quepos and Manuel Antonio NP. This is a nice hotel and with a few tweaks would be a true luxury hotel. We would stay here again if in the area.

Our included breakfast was buffet style and adequate with scrambled eggs, sausage, rice and beans, bread, fruit, tea, coffee, fruit juice, fruit, yogurt, slices of local cheese and ham and cereal. We used our $75 credit for dinner and 1 dinner easily uses the credit. Food was very good but a bit pricey; however, I did notice that prices in CR have increased in the local supermarkets, shops and restaurants since our trip in March 2012.

Our 1st full day we drove to Uvita, checked out Marina Ballena NP (very nice) and continued all the way south to Sierpe – a small village which is a way station for boat tours into the mangrove river area and down into Corcovado NP. A sleepy, cute little place about a 2 hour drive from Dominical. We were going to do the turtle patrol at Reserva Tortuga this night however it got rained out as did our night hike at Hacienda Baru – 2 nights we had virtual monsoon rains!

The 2nd day we drove to the cloud forest area and Los Quetzales NP. No quetzal sightings but an interesting and remote park. Very narrow roads up through the cloud forests and we had to drive through a few rivers as some bridges were washed out. A few small towns were scattered throughout the valleys. We were up around 10,000 feet and it was a bit scary driving when the clouds rolled in – everything disappeared!

Day 3 was Quepos and Manuel Antonio NP. If you have never been to Manuel Antonio – go! I can see why this is the most popular park in CR – beautiful beaches and trails with plentiful wildlife. Clean bathrooms and shower facilities and very friendly park staff and police. $10/pp entrance fee was well worth it. We did see 3 silky anteaters, however, they were all dead on the side of the road after being hit by cars – I would have loved to see one of these beautiful animals alive! The town of Manuel Antonio has plenty of hotel and dining options.

Day 4 was Corcovado day and it lived up to my expectations. We were picked up at our hotel by our Bahia Adventures guide and drove to Uvita to catch the boat to Corcovado. No dock in Uvita so it was a very wet walk through the ocean to get onto the 8 passenger boat. 2 hour boat ride and we entered the Corcovado area – another wild entrance with the boat surfing the waves to get close enough for us to get off the boat and walk to the beach through knee high surf.

A short walk took us to the Pedrillo ranger station for a brief orientation – stay together and do not wander off alone as this park can be dangerous. Off we went for the 1st 2 hour hike through the jungle – many, many monkeys, birds and other wildlife to be seen. We did see tapir and cat tracks but did not see any – bummer ;-(
The 2 hour hike ended back on the beach and on to the ranger station for a picnic lunch. After about 1 hour we started off on our next 2 hour hike – this one was even more rugged trails and we had to walk through a few streams and saw many crocs! We ended up at a beautiful waterfall with a nice pool underneath for a bit of swimming for about 45 minutes. Back to the beach for the trip back to the hotel.

I loved this park and I know where we are staying on our next trip to CR – anyplace right near Corcovado. LL please bring back the Lapos Rios package! Lapos Rios is right near the Sirena ranger station which is deeper in the park and our guide told us we would see cats and tapirs here. You can also stay in hostel type accommodations at Sirena ranger station. This adventure traveler is up for this! Just as a side note, our guide had mentioned there were Fer-de-Lance snakes in the park so watch your footing. Well we did not come across any in the park but actually did encounter one in of all places, the Quepos airport when we were leaving to go back home. I saw all the staff getting very excited about something right outside of the waiting pavilion so I went to see what all the commotion was about and they pointed to the snake and said it was the very poisonous fer-de-lance and to stand back. The airport maintenance guy finally managed to pick it up with a rake and he took it across the street and deposited it safely in the jungle – nice to see they did not kill it!

Link to all our pictures
https://picasaweb.google.com/1012675...eat=directlink ]]> dhdanner@verizon.net http://www.luxurylink.com/community/blogs/dhdanner%40verizon-net/cuna-del-angel-hotel-south-pacific-area-cr-1528/ http://www.luxurylink.com/community/blogs/dhdanner%40verizon-net/spotlight-philadelphia-1496/ Tue, 04 Sep 2012 18:38:29 GMT For anyone who keeps up with the entertainment news, Labor Day weekend was a big weekend for Philadelphia. Jay Z and Philadelphia hosted the Made in... For anyone who keeps up with the entertainment news, Labor Day weekend was a big weekend for Philadelphia. Jay Z and Philadelphia hosted the Made in America Festival and I was there for the festivities as a guest of one of the bands. Ron Howard was on hand to film a documentary to come out in 2013.

The talent stayed in the Four Seasons and I have to say this hotel would be a nice addition to LL. Right on the Parkway where the Art Museum, Barnes Foundation, Rodin Museum and The Franklin Institute are all located. The festival was also on the parkway.

Lately Philadelphia has been on the news for much gun play so it was nice to have our 1st huge festival go off with out a hitch - no shootings, no drunken idiots and the mayor and police department were very pleased.

https://plus.google.com/photos/116899577227558130803/albums/5784403321891604993?authkey=CKmWmraavcrV4gE



I spoke with folks from all over the USA that came just for the festival and they were very pleasantly suprised at all the city had to offer.

My Labor Day weekend was heavy on the music since I also attended the Bruce Springsteen concert at Citizens Bank Park on 9-3-12. Bruce as always wowed the crowd. Not many musical acts get to play at the Phillies ballpark!

I will post some pix of the festival in the photo gallery since I can not seem to copy them into this blog! ]]> dhdanner@verizon.net http://www.luxurylink.com/community/blogs/dhdanner%40verizon-net/spotlight-philadelphia-1496/ http://www.luxurylink.com/community/blogs/dhdanner%40verizon-net/madison-hotel-washington-dc-1447/ Mon, 28 May 2012 21:49:29 GMT Our 2 night LL package included a deluxe room, breakfast, taxes and a $50 mini bar credit. We went to DC over the Memorial Day weekend which is a... Our 2 night LL package included a deluxe room, breakfast, taxes and a $50 mini bar credit.

We went to DC over the Memorial Day weekend which is a very nice time to go to Washington - much to do and see. Unfortunately there was a sudden change in the weather from beautiful spring weather to very hot & humid. If you have ever been to DC in the summer you know what it is like when the double Hs strike!

The Madison is located at 15th & M street, 3 blocks from the McPherson Square metro station. This is mostly a business district so there is not much right around the hotel in the way of shops or dining, however, $9 buys you an all day metro pass and it is so easy to use the DC metro system and a short ride to all major attractions and areas of the district. The White House is a short 4 block walk from the hotel.

We used the metro system to go to the Smithsonian Mall area, Chinatown, Dupont Circle and Embassy Row, National Zoo, The Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery. We crammed alot in during our 1 1/2 day trip to DC!

We arrived at the Madison around noon and check in was efficient and quick. The lobby and restaurant areas are nicely appointed and decorated in muted, neutral colors. There are 2 restaurants - the Postscript where breakfast is served and also for casual dining and the Federalist for more upscale dining. We only ate breakfast at the hotel and we were glad it was included since it is quite expensive - the 1st day, I had a basic plain omelet, potatoes and a piece of toast and my husband had an mushroom egg fritata. I had a pot of tea and tomato juice and the hybby had coffee and OJ - the total bill was $53! Our 2nd morning I was not very hungry so had a croissant and tea and the hubby had pancakes and coffee. I expected a traditional flaky croissant but it was very small - about the diameter of a tennis ball and not very good. My husband had pancakes which he said were fine - the bill was $29! We did not eat lunch or dinner but the menu was varied and expensive.

Our room was on the 14th floor and had 1 queen beds, a desk & chair, 1 wing chair, bureau with a flat screen TV on top and refrigerator underneath - very small and I felt cramped. The bathroom was small but well appointed - marble topped single sink with plenty of counter space, traditional bath tub (no mat so the tub was slippery), Bigelow toilet articles, hairdryer, and big fluffy towels. There was also an iron and ironing board which is a nice touch. There is a large closet with plentry of hangers and a safe. There was 1 fluffy bathrobe in the closet - we thought one was missing so I mentioned to the desk that there was only one robe - did not want them to think we took one, however, to my surprise they said each room only has one robe - a bit strange since there are usually 2 people in a room - guess you were supposed to share the robe. No view - all we could see was the rooms on the opposite side which was being renovated - so lots of workmen - kept the blinds closed!
We did have a bathroom glitch - we ran out of toilet paper - so called down to the desk and he said it would be right up - 20 minutes later, still no TP so I had to go down to reception and mention it again - he said he would call the manager to see whay itwas taking so long - a few minutes later we had our TP - thank goodness!

We did not use the concierge, however, at breakfast we heard a few folks asking the waiter when the concierge was coming since they had lots of questions, etc. and they were told he comes on duty at 11am - seems like a late time for a concierge to come on duty on a Saturday holiday weekend. I also came back to the hotel around 2pm to cool down and the concierge was not there. So not sure exactly what his hours are.

The doormen and waiters were very friendly and helpful. Checkout was easy.
For a hotel that is supposed to be at least a 4 star hotel, I felt they were lacking a bit. There was no turn down service, no chocolates on the pillow, no little extras like a fruit basket, etc. I had also mentioned that we were celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary and my birthday - but no mention of either event by anyone or any little perk that a really good hotel would include for a special occasion.

There were quite a few international guests at the hotel and I did ask some how they liked the hotel and most said it was nice & the price was right, however, not much around in the way of dining, etc. Also since we are smokers and many of the international guests were smokers, I always like to mention the smoking policy - they did have a nice size alcove on the side of the hotel and many of us thought it would have been nice to have some outdoor seating in this area.

Our package was priced right, however, if we had to do it again we wuld pick a different hotel. We were not especially impressed by the hotel or the service.

Here is a link to some of our pictures

https://picasaweb.google.com/1012675...eat=directlink

We explored the Chinatown area and there are many restaraunts in the area - we ate dinner at Clydes, which I recommend - a very good dinner with drinks for $100. Nice decor! ]]> dhdanner@verizon.net http://www.luxurylink.com/community/blogs/dhdanner%40verizon-net/madison-hotel-washington-dc-1447/ http://www.luxurylink.com/community/blogs/dhdanner%40verizon-net/madison-hotel-washington-dc-1446/ Mon, 28 May 2012 21:43:13 GMT Our 2 night LL package included a deluxe room, breakfast, taxes and a $50 mini bar credit. We went to DC over the Memorial Day weekend which is a... Our 2 night LL package included a deluxe room, breakfast, taxes and a $50 mini bar credit.

We went to DC over the Memorial Day weekend which is a very nice time to go to Washington - much to do and see. Unfortunately there was a sudden change in the weather from beautiful spring weather to very hot & humid. If you have ever been to DC in the summer you know what it is like when the double Hs strike!

The Madison is located at 15th & M street, 3 blocks from the McPherson Square metro station. This is mostly a business district so there is not much right around the hotel in the way of shops or dining, however, $9 buys you an all day metro pass and it is so easy to use the DC metro system and a short ride to all major attractions and areas of the district. The White House is a short 4 block walk from the hotel.

We used the metro system to go to the Smithsonian Mall area, Chinatown, Dupont Circle and Embassy Row, National Zoo, The Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery. We crammed alot in during our 1 1/2 day trip to DC!

We arrived at the Madison around noon and check in was efficient and quick. The lobby and restaurant areas are nicely appointed and decorated in muted, neutral colors. There are 2 restaurants - the Postscript where breakfast is served and also for casual dining and the Federalist for more upscale dining. We only ate breakfast at the hotel and we were glad it was included since it is quite expensive - the 1st day, I had a basic plain omelet, potatoes and a piece of toast and my husband had an mushroom egg fritata. I had a pot of tea and tomato juice and the hybby had coffee and OJ - the total bill was $53! Our 2nd morning I was not very hungry so had a croissant and tea and the hubby had pancakes and coffee. I expected a traditional flaky croissant but it was very small - about the diameter of a tennis ball and not very good. My husband had pancakes which he said were fine - the bill was $29! We did not eat lunch or dinner but the menu was varied and expensive.

Our room was on the 14th floor and had 1 queen beds, a desk & chair, 1 wing chair, bureau with a flat screen TV on top and refrigerator underneath - very small and I felt cramped. The bathroom was small but well appointed - marble topped single sink with plenty of counter space, traditional bath tub (no mat so the tub was slippery), Bigelow toilet articles, hairdryer, and big fluffy towels. There was also an iron and ironing board which is a nice touch. There is a large closet with plentry of hangers and a safe. There was 1 fluffy bathrobe in the closet - we thought one was missing so I mentioned to the desk that there was only one robe - did not want them to think we took one, however, to my surprise they said each room only has one robe - a bit strange since there are usually 2 people in a room - guess you were supposed to share the robe. No view - all we could see was the rooms on the opposite side which was being renovated - so lots of workmen - kept the blinds closed!
We did have a bathroom glitch - we ran out of toilet paper - so called down to the desk and he said it would be right up - 20 minutes later, still no TP so I had to go down to reception and mention it again - he said he would call the manager to see whay itwas taking so long - a few minutes later we had our TP - thank goodness!

We did not use the concierge, however, at breakfast we heard a few folks asking the waiter when the concierge was coming since they had lots of questions, etc. and they were told he comes on duty at 11am - seems like a late time for a concierge to come on duty on a Saturday holiday weekend. I also came back to the hotel around 2pm to cool down and the concierge was not there. So not sure exactly what his hours are.

The doormen and waiters were very friendly and helpful. Checkout was easy.
For a hotel that is supposed to be at least a 4 star hotel, I felt they were lacking a bit. There was no turn down service, no chocolates on the pillow, no little extras like a fruit basket, etc. I had also mentioned that we were celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary and my birthday - but no mention of either event by anyone or any little perk that a really good hotel would include for a special occasion.

there were quite a few international guests at the hotel and I did ask some how they liked the hotel and most said it was nice & the price was right, however, not much around in the way of dining, etc. Also since we are smokers and many of the international guests were smokers, I always like to mention the smoking policy - they did have a nice size alcove on the side of the hotel and many of us thought it would have been nice to have some outdoor seating in this area.

Our package was priced right, however, if we had to do it again we wuld pick a different hotel. We were not especially impressed by the hotel or the service.

Here is a link to some of our pictures

https://picasaweb.google.com/1012675...eat=directlink

We explored the Chinatown area and there are many restaraunts in the area - we ate dinner at Clydes, which I recommend - a very good dinner with drinks for $100. Nice decor! ]]> dhdanner@verizon.net http://www.luxurylink.com/community/blogs/dhdanner%40verizon-net/madison-hotel-washington-dc-1446/ http://www.luxurylink.com/community/blogs/dhdanner%40verizon-net/costa-rica-expeditions-rain-cloud-forest-odyssey-part-2-1418/ Wed, 21 Mar 2012 21:44:12 GMT On day 4 we left Tortuga Lodge for our 3 night stay at the MonteverdeLodge & Gardens. After breakfast we boated across the river to the airstrip to catch our flight to San Jose – there were quite a few of us leaving Tortuga the same day so CRE had chartered 3 planes for us. There was only one other couple going to Monteverde (the couple I mentioned earlier) so we had a plane to ourselves. After a 35 minute flight, we were met in San Jose by yet another excellent CRE guide (who also happened to be named Jonathan) for our 3 hour van ride to Monteverde Lodge & Gardens.
We arrived at ML&G around lunch time (the only meal not included in our package) and check in was a bit chaotic since a large tour group had arrived at the same time. We were given our room key and the luggage guy took us to our room. This is where some of the problems started – the room was small and did not have 2 beds (at least we did have the balcony upgrade that we had paid for). I went downstairs to see about changing our room and reception was still a bit chaotic – lucky for me I overheard one of the tour group folks complaining that he had requested a room with 1 bed but he had 2 beds instead, I quickly went over to him and we exchanged rooms – a good thing since the hotel was fully booked. I told reception that we had changed rooms so they could update their system and I also asked for an ashtray for our outdoor deck – now remember that when I asked the main office in my initial emails that we specifically wanted to upgrade since we were smokers and were told no problem – we were told that a few weeks earlier a guest had complained that someone was smoking on the balcony so they said no one could smoke on their room balconies anymore – did not make much sense to me since the balconies are private and fairly distant from each other – they said there was a bench outside the front door where we could smoke (we were not the only smokers at the hotel either). When we went back to our room, I discovered a brochure on the desk for the lodge and on the front page it was stated pretty clearly that this hotel was nonsmoking – the brochure was obviously printed more than a few weeks ago – so why did reception say that smoking on the balconies was stopped a few weeks ago due to a guest complaining and why didn’t the person in San Jose know anything about these policies since I specifically told her we were smokers – lack of communication here!
We had as earlier mentioned that we were celebrating a special occasion (our 25th wedding anniversary & my birthday) and while looking through the brochure, I discovered that we could have had a special day where all our meals would have been privately served out in the gardens – this would have been nice had the lodge been told of the special request. At this point, I did not even want to bother saying anything to the reception folks. The other couple who were on the same tour also had problems – they had booked directly through CRE and their Tortuga portion was fine, however, when they booked they were told that ML&G was full so they were put up in a nearby hotel in the area. Their tour was identical to ours – all meals included and the tours in Monteverde were to be the same also. Somehow this was not communicated in Monteverde – the other hotel had no idea they had included meals and the couple was not told they could come to the ML&G for their meals and on the 2nd day, no one in the main CRE office in San Jose knew anything about their 2nd included tour – they ended up paying for all their meals and their 2nd tour. They were on the tours with us and on the 2nd day, we invited them to ML&G to have dinner with us and they accepted so we made a reservation for 6:30 (when the lodge is full you need to make a dinner reservation). The 4 of us also met a Canadian guy who was traveling through CR alone and was staying at ML&G, so over pre dinner drinks we invited him to join us for dinner since he also had a 6:30 dinner reservation – he was quite happy not to have to eat alone again. MY husband went up to the restaurant manager and told him there would be 5 of us instead of 4 and the hubby was told very rudely “no way, could not be done” The hubby said we have a table, this other guy has a table – just put them together – you would think it would be easy but again were told “no way”. I finally went to the reception desk but the reception lady (Cindy) said she had no control over the restaurant manager. By this time, we were all pretty upset, so I resorted to telling Cindy that I was going to write a review and this was no way to treat their guests. She then told me to wait a few minutes and the manager would come over. Julio the hotel manager, who turned out to handle the situation in a very discreet and capable manner, soon had our table for 5 set up – thank you Julio! When the other couple went to pay for their dinner, to their surprise and our, they were told no charge since all meals were included both at ML&G and at the hotel they were placed in– we all wondered why they had not been told this when they arrived. They also mentioned they had to pay for their 2nd tour and after a few calls to the main CRE office, they were told reimbursements for the meals and tours were in order. Again there seems to have been some problem in the communication chain. This was not the only dining room incident we had, 1 morning for breakfast we were the 2nd couple seated but after others came in we were ignored and ended up being the last to order and the last to get served. To make matters worse, there were ants all over the table (we were sitting at a table near the wall and a few ants are to be expected in a jungle area) we lifted up the table linen and there were swarms of ants. We showed the waiter, when he finally came over, and he just laughed and brushed some of them off the table. In a place that is supposed to be upscale, we should have been shown to a different table or at the least; he should have cleared the table, wiped it off and re set it. I for one do not like ants crawling about in my food.Another strange thing was that I asked for salt & pepper and the waiter said “why – the chef already seasoned the food” – I just replied “please bring me some salt and pepper” and he finally did – they seem to have 1 pepper mill and 1 salt shaker, so if you like to use these condiments, you will need to ask at every meal – never experienced this before. The dining room was fine, however it is brightly lit in the evening and for some reason they had a radio playing all the time during meals so in between the smooth jazz you heard annoying commercials – a CD player would have been a better option. Menu options were varied and the food was actually pretty good. Bartenders were good and there was a varied wine and cocktail selection. If you need breakfast before 6am, you just need to let them know the night before and they will prepare a light breakfast for you.
On to the lodge description…… after the room change we had a good size room with 2 beds, a desk and chair with a coffee maker. The small balcony has 2 uncomfortable chairs and a table with a wonderful view of the forest. There is also a large bathroom and sink area and a large closet. No air conditioning but there is a ceiling fan; however, in this cloud forest climate air conditioners are not needed. If you ever stay here, definitely upgrade to a 2nd floor balcony room since the ground floor rooms have a large corner window with not much of a view. The public areas are nice and there is a large fireplace which is lit in the evening, however, when the hotel is full, there is not enough seating and a few times, I thought there would be a fight to sit near the fire – much jockeying around for the few chairs available. There is also a nice 15 person Jacuzzi in an airy atrium – you kind of have to walk through the reception area to get to the Jacuzzi so it would have been nice if the lodge had provided robes in the room.
The lodge gardens are very beautiful and we spent most of our time outside in the gardens when we were not hiking around or on a tour, however, there needs to be more seating in the garden areas – just a few metal benches scattered around and the patio area has 2 chairs and a love seat. There are no TVs in the room but there is a conference room where we watched a video on the Monteverde Cloud Forest with fruit drinks and popcorn provided – this was a nice touch. There is also a private sanctuary reserve next to the lodge where we went on our night tour – excellent tour and guide and if we had been told the sanctuary was right next door, we would have spent a day there also to hike around.
ML&G is a nice place – they describe it as “rustic elegance” – I don’t quite agree with this description. A nice, comfortable lodge with beautiful gardens but if we were to go to the Monteverde area we would not stay here. The lodge is showing its age and needs some maintenance work. My husband is in the construction business and noticed many things that I did not – poor quality materials, roof overhangs missing their under coverings, laminate wood flooring instead of real wood – most of these things the average person would probably not even notice but he said for the prices charged here, I should mention this stuff since better quality should be expected at a supposedly upscale lodge.
In conclusion, CRE is a good tour operator with excellent drivers, guides and tours. Tortuga Lodge is fantastic and we would go back there any time – informative and very friendly staff and an all-around fun experience. Monteverde Lodge & Gardens on the other hand is in a beautiful area and has wonderful gardens and their tour guides are very good, however the other staff, especially the dining room staff, needs some customer service training.
Link to ML&G pictures
https://picasaweb.google.com/1012675...eat=directlink ]]> dhdanner@verizon.net http://www.luxurylink.com/community/blogs/dhdanner%40verizon-net/costa-rica-expeditions-rain-cloud-forest-odyssey-part-2-1418/ http://www.luxurylink.com/community/blogs/dhdanner%40verizon-net/costa-rica-expeditions-rain-cloud-forest-odyssey-part-1-1417/ Wed, 21 Mar 2012 21:42:40 GMT Our CRE tour included all meals except for lunch the 1st day in Monteverde, all transportation – van, boat and plane, 2 tours at Tortuga and 2 tours... Our CRE tour included all meals except for lunch the 1st day in Monteverde, all transportation – van, boat and plane, 2 tours at Tortuga and 2 tours and a visit to the butterfly farm in Monteverde.
In the March 2012 issue of Travel & Leisure, CRE was rated #2 of tour and safari operators and all my initial emails to Nadia in CRE’s San Jose main office and mostly good reviews on TripAdvisor gave me high expectations for this tour. I communicated with CRE’s main office quite a few times with some specific requests and Nadia assured me all were noted and there would be no problem. My requests were: we would like a room with 2 beds in each lodge, there were some specific food items we could not eat (we knew Tortuga Lodge had a set menu so we wanted to let them know this information) and I also quite specifically mentioned that we wanted to upgrade to a balcony room at Monteverde Lodge since we are smokers & do not smoke in our hotel rooms. Again we were assured that there would be no problem and I paid the extra $45/per night for the upgrade. We also mentioned that were were celebrating 2 special occasions. We were always told in her replies that all was noted and would be communicated to the lodges.
When we arrived at Xandari Resort on our 1st day in CR, there was a fax from CRE waiting for us explaining that they would be there to pick us up at 7:30am the next morning to begin our journey to the Tortuga Lodge. The van picked us up right on time and we stopped at another nearby hotel to pick up another couple who were doing the same tour. The driver (Fernando) and service guide (Jonathan) were excellent – Jonathan handed each couple their packet of personalized information. During the approximately 2 ½ hour drive to the boat dock Jonathan pointed out many items of interest and we also stopped at a working banana plantation – quite interesting to see everything was being done manually!. We arrived at the river dock and boarded the Tortuga Lodge boat for the 2 hour boat ride to the lodge. On the boat we again had an excellent local guide who pointed out things along the way. From the time we were picked up at Xandari, we did not have to worry about our luggage so we could just sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.
We arrived at Tortuga Lodge around lunchtime and all the check in staff were lined up on the dock to welcome us with a refreshing fruit drink and to escort us in to lunch – I would have preferred to go to my room 1st and freshen up but this was not really a big deal. Lunch was delicious and when we were finished our own personal check in person (in our case, Silvia) escorted us around the lodge and took up to our room – having your own personal check in person is a nice touch! Our luggage was already in the room when we got there. I had mentioned earlier in this article some of the requests we had made to the CRE main office and our room did not have 2 beds so this request never made it to the lodge staff. We decided not to bother asking for a different room since the room was very large and the king bed was fine. It was on the upper deck of the bungalow and quite nice. Each bungalow has 4 rooms – 2 on the top and 2 on the bottom – I would highly recommend asking for one on the top floor. Top floor rooms have a deck that runs the length of the building and each room has 2 Adirondack chairs, a table and a hammock. The ground floor rooms have a patio with the same furnishings. The rooms are well ventilated with large screened windows all around and a ceiling fan – we never felt hot or stuffy in our room even when it was hot & humid. The room also had a desk and chair and a large bathroom with a big shower and sink area, plenty of towels and a large closet. There is one larger bungalow that can accommodate families. You do not need an alarm clock since the howler monkeys pretty much wake you up each morning.
The lodge has very comfortable seating areas around the pool and around the bar area and a computer room for guests to use. The bulk of the lodge is a semi indoor/outdoor type of construction mostly made of all local hardwoods – the outdoor bar area and outdoor dining area are covered in case of the occasional tropical rain shower. The dining area has a lovely terrace overlooking the river – great views! Meals are at set times: breakfast is 6:30-8am, lunch is 12:30-1:30pm and dinner is 6:30-8pm. There is a set menu (except for breakfast where there are different choices) but don’t let this put you off – as mentioned earlier, we had told them there were a few foods we did not/could not eat and this part of our email was noted and the lodge had our food preferences. If they do serve something you do not care for, just let them know and the chef will gladly prepare something else for you. One night they served a Caribbean type of chicken for dinner and I did not really care for it so did not eat it, our waiter was very concerned and asked if I wanted something else instead. Since I had filled up on the great bread, soup and salad, I was not really hungry and told him that I was fine and did not need anything else. He must have thought I was just being polite in declining because in a few minutes, Julian, the hotel manager came over to make sure I was really OK – he was very concerned that I might not be happy and wanted to make sure that I really did not want another dinner selection – I told him I was really OK and not to worry – I think this was pretty good customer service! We later chatted with him for a while and he told us some funny stories about the area and all about what it was like working in the lodge – a really great guy. There is also a coffee/tea station set up from 5am – 10pm that the staff keeps replenished and there are also some pretty tasty cookies. They also do light hors d’oeuvres before dinner each night. Edgar & Francisco manned the bar area and were very friendly, courteous and made a great pina colada (my tropical drink of choice). The bar also has a pretty decent wine list and local beer selections. You can also drink the water here – no bottled stuff needed which is great for the environment.
We had 1 morning boat tour and Norton our local guide from the nearby village was very informative and a great wildlife spotter – I do not know how he managed to spot some of the things we saw! The boat tour was about 3 hours long and the lodge keeps each boat tour to 10 or less people. The next day, we did not want to do another day boat tour so Silvia the assistant manager did a great job in arranging a night boat tour for us – again Norton was our guide and we had the boat all to ourselves – another great experience – on both the day & night tour we saw much wildlife – birds, caymans, lizards, monkeys and a mother & baby sloth. The lodge sits on 45 acres and has a nice trail system for guided or self guided walks. The trails can be muddy and the lodge provides rubber boots. The trails are also one of the places in the area where there are mosquitos so bug repellant is a must. I had sprayed my clothes with permithren so I was fine, however, my husband chose neither option and did get bit – I told him, to use the bug repellant wipes I had brought along but he said no – sometimes the guys just don’t want to listen to us ladies!
There are also many optional activities you can do – sportfishing (ask for Captain Eddie – he is a great guy and really knows the area and the fish to catch – many repeat customers here), kayaking, etc. You can also go to the village of Tortuga which we did on our own. The lodge has a boat that goes to the town each day around 2pm and you can catch a ride (it is about a 10 minute boat ride), you can wait for the return boat which comes around 5:30 but the village is pretty small (but interesting) so you don’t really need more than an hour or 2 to see everything. We opted to walk back which is quite the interesting experience. You can walk along the beach or back a bit on a trail that winds through the forest – we went back & forth between trail & beach. You keep on walking until you get to the Tortuga airstrip which is right across the river from the lodge and when you get to the clearing you jump up and down and wave your arms to catch their attention and the lodge sends the boat across the river to pick you up – it was very fun! The walk can take 1-2 hours depending on how slow you walk or if you decide to stop along the way to check out the sights. During turtle season (July-October), the lodge also has a variety of activities geared to turtle watching, nesting, hatching, etc.
During our stay there was a documentary filmmaker there making his 2nd documentary about Costa Rica – this time he was concentrating on the Tortuguero area and was staying at the lodge. His film will be shown on PBS and you can check out his web site for further information on viewing dates and times and I believe you can watch his 1st documentary. Nick MolleProductions -www.nickmolle.com
Tortuga Lodge is a wonderful place and we would definitely go back again. It was the 1st lodge built in the area and Michael Kay the CEO & Founder of CRE has done a great job blending the lodge in with the natural surroundings. He happened to be there during our stay and he is an interesting man. Here is the link to the Tortuga Lodge pictures. https://picasaweb.google.com/1012675...eat=directlink

see the next blog for part 2 ]]> dhdanner@verizon.net http://www.luxurylink.com/community/blogs/dhdanner%40verizon-net/costa-rica-expeditions-rain-cloud-forest-odyssey-part-1-1417/ http://www.luxurylink.com/community/blogs/dhdanner%40verizon-net/xandari-resort-spa-1409/ Sun, 11 Mar 2012 18:33:19 GMT Xandari Resort & Spa, Alajuela, Costa Rica

Xandari is a true tropical paradise consisting of 23 individually designed villas on 45 acres overlooking the central valley of Costa Rica. The resort is conveniently located around 20 minutes from San Jose International airport and around a 10 minute ride to the colonial city of Alajuela (Costa Rica's 2nd largest city).

The resort features trails with 5 beautiful waterfalls, fantastic gardens, 3 pools and jacuzzis, a working farm and orchards. At an elevation of around 3900 feet, the temperatures are delightful - it was around 70 - 80F during our stay and cool in the evening. Individual villas, original artworks and the unique architectural design make Xandari a wonderful experience.

Our package was for 3 nights in a Prima Villa (there are also Premium Plus and Ultra villas, a unique round villa and a larger villa for a large group or family). The package included breakfast each morning - many choices of breads, bagels, fruit, muffins, yogurt, smoothies. You could add eggs or more substantial fare for an additional cost but we did not need to since the complimentary breakfast was more than adequate and very good. Also included was 1 tour you could pick from 4 choices - we did not avail ourselves of this since we did all 4 of the options self guided. All 4 tours were on the property grounds and included an early morning bird tour, farm and gardens tour, trails and waterfalls and medicinal plant tour. There are around 85 species of birds and it was wonderful to wake up to the delightful birdsongs each morning. The trails and waterfalls are great and we did all the trails which took us around 2 hours round trip. The farm has chickens, turkeys, goats (Sparkle & Twinkle), and ducks. There is quite an extensive orchard with various fruit trees. Most of the salads at mealtimes come straight from the garden to the table!

Our Prima Villa was very spacious with colorful artwork, great design, 2 queen beds (you could also ask for a villa with 1 king bed), a generous seating area, coffee maker with complimentary coffee and tea, a refrigerator with complimentary water and fruit juices. The bathroom was very nice with bathrobes, a generous closet, a huge shower with full windows overlooking our private garden - what a nice way to take a shower! Our patio was very spacious with 2 lounge chairs and a table with 2 chairs overlooking the valley - the view was amazing as was the stargazing at night. We even had our own hummingbird who lived in the banana tree next to our patio. Every villa has its own private entrance and you never hear your neighbors and the patios are all private (if you like to air dry after your shower - no one will see you ;-)

The dining room was an indoor/outdoor combination - again with the great central valley views. The menu features an extensive variety of healthy and not so healthy choices - from Costa Rican dishes to filet mignon, chicken and pasta dishes. There are also creative vegetarian dishes and salads. Everything we had was very good and reasonably priced.

The common areas are very nice, reception was very friendly and efficient, there is a small shop featuring local crafts (we purchased a nice locally made blanket) and of course coffee! There is a computer and printer setup for guests to use and WiFi in the common areas. No TV in the rooms but there is a TV room in the common area with DVDs, etc. for guests to use - but who wants to or needs to when you are in this place with all there is to do. The pool and jacuzzi areas (there are 3) are nicely landscaped with plenty of lounge chairs and tables and chairs to use and big, fluffy towels and again with the amazing views of the valley. The only complaint we had was that the jacuzzi could have been a bit hotter.

I did partake of some of the spa treatments and Konrad, the spa manager & Carla, my therapist, were great. The spa itself is very nicely designed with 5 individual treatment palapas with jacuzzis and great views. There is even a resident spa cat, Pancha, who greets the guests (she likes to have her belly rubbed and her ears scratched). Prices are competitive and it was well worth it. I was so relaxed, I availed myself of the chauffer driven eco friendly golf cart to take me back to my villa.

Xandari has a pretty comprehensive program of sustainable tourism - solar power, irrigation system, etc. When the owners purchased the land it was a coffee plantation and everything had been cleared for coffee plants. They have planted hundreds of native trees & plants in an effort to restore the area to its native diversity and they succeeded -- this is now a wonderful habitat for birds, butterflies and other wildlife. Guests can participate in the reforestation effort by planting a tree. The owners, Californian architect, Sherrill Boudy & his wife Charlene, who created much of the artwork, have done a fantastic job in creating this wonderful oasis.

Thanks to Lucy Alfaro, the reservation manager, for helping us plan our Xandari stay around our Costa Rica Expeditions tour to Tortuga Lodge and Monteverde Lodge and Gardens and for arranging our airport transportation. All the staff at the resort were great! HIghly recommend this place - perfect for before and after explorations of other areas in Costa Rica since it is close to the airport but far enough away to be tranquil and peaceful.

Pictures coming soon - our villa, the grounds, dining room and menus, pool area, etc. We took so many pictures this trip that we have to get them organized before posting the link. Also stay tuned for my story (still writing it) of the Costa Rica Expeditions portion of our trip to Tortuga Lodge and Monteverde Lodge & Gardens.

We had not been back to Costa Rica for about 5-6 years and this trip was well worth it and very enjoyable.

here is the link to pictures
https://picasaweb.google.com/1012675...eat=directlink ]]> dhdanner@verizon.net http://www.luxurylink.com/community/blogs/dhdanner%40verizon-net/xandari-resort-spa-1409/ http://www.luxurylink.com/community/blogs/dhdanner%40verizon-net/i-attended-my-1st-travel-show-philadelphia-travel-show-1371/ Sun, 15 Jan 2012 19:53:56 GMT I have never attended a travel show and never really had any reason to do so since I do most of my travel research online and most of my trips in the... I have never attended a travel show and never really had any reason to do so since I do most of my travel research online and most of my trips in the past years have been planned around LL auctions that I have won.

The Philadelphia Inquirer sent me 2 free tickets, so the hubby & I decided to go and she who, what, and where was represented.

They did have some interesting speakers:
Arthur Frommer at 82 is still going strong - he spoke on when to splurge and when to scrimp on vacations, get out of your vacation rut and try some new and interesting destinations.
Andrew McCarthy has morphed from actor to travel writer and spoke on The Transformative Power of Travel
Grannies on Safari spoke about their Trans-Siberian railroad adventures
Christopher Elliott "the Travel Troubleshooter" spoke on how to get the best travel deals and how not be scammed.
Andrew Evans - the Digital Nomad, spoke on his journey to 7 continents while on assignment for National Geo Traveller.
The Traveling Professor spoke on Peru & Machu Picchu - he does some interesting trips - travelingprofessor.com
Peggy Goldman of Friendly Planet Travel spoke on her top 10 affordable destinations for 2012 - lots of Latin American destinations made her list and she has some interesting trips. Friendlyplanet.com - they were giving away a great trip to Ecuador!
Many other speakers on specific destinations - China, Israel, Italy, etc.

Most of the booths were manned by the typical destination places that most Americans seem to want to travel to - big cruise lines like Disney, Celebrity, Norwegian, Princess and tour operators like Apple Vacations, Breezes and Sandals - wake up American and get out of your travel rut!!!

Caribbean destinations were represented by Barbados, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Aruba, Antigua, Anguilla.
The Mexican Tourism booth was pretty good with information on many areas of Mexico other than Cancun - nice to see this. However, not many folks were visiting their booth and I spent some time chatting with the reps and they mentioned that the negative US press has been keeping tourism to Mexico way down -this is a shame!
One of the big sponsors that I was suprised to see was the South African Tourism Ministry and SA air - giving away a great trip to S Africa which I of course entered! Not many visitors to their booth either.
The Israel Ministry of Tourism had some good and informative literature.
The Africa Travel Association had some really great deals to places in West Africa like Senegal - very good prices that included airfare from NYC or Washington DC.
One big suprise was to see a booth for Himalaya Holiday Services - this put Bhutan on my radar! Not a tour operator I would have ever expected to see in Philadelphia

All in all, we had a pretty good time and got some good information on some more exotic destinations that most Philadelphians would probably never consider.

It would have been nice to see a LL booth! We were talking to the St. Lucia folks that were representing Anse Chastenet and Jade Mountain and I mentioned that I have seen these destinations on LL and they said LL does some good business for them!

Maybe next year, The Philadelphia Travel Show will be more expansive and have more destinations in Latin America and Africa and Asia represented.
I forgot to add that Arthur Frommer mentioned someone lesser know web sites for airfare:
dohop.com
momondo.com ]]> dhdanner@verizon.net http://www.luxurylink.com/community/blogs/dhdanner%40verizon-net/i-attended-my-1st-travel-show-philadelphia-travel-show-1371/ http://www.luxurylink.com/community/blogs/dhdanner%40verizon-net/anticipation-excitement-trip-planning-1345/ Thu, 20 Oct 2011 18:11:17 GMT Many travel articles mention the fact that one of the most exciting aspects of travel is the planning of the trip itself and I could not agree more.... Many travel articles mention the fact that one of the most exciting aspects of travel is the planning of the trip itself and I could not agree more.

I like the planning portion of travel and find it presents many opportunities for daydreaming and creating a mental vsion of the upcoming event. The decision on where to go, the research on the chosen place, the preparations, telling your friends, the shopping, and the daydreaming all add to the excitement and anticipation of finally arriving at your chosen destination.

I even mentally start planning what I am going to wear for the different activities I imagine I will participate in - admit it - you do it too!

Our trip to Costa Rica is not until March 2012 and since we have been to CR before, we do not have to do much research on CR itself since we more or less know what to expect in the weather and local food department. I have done reading on Trip Advisor on the particular destinations and lodges we will be using and discovered that for the most part they all have excellent ratings and I did not expect less from a LL auction. The trip we are doing includes most meals, so no research on local place to eat is needed. I did and still am sending emails to the folks at the lodges asking about their menus, rooms, tours, etc. and they have been very responsive to my many questions - kudos to Nadya Shaw and Costa Rica Expeditions for being so helpful - already 5 stars in my book and we have not even done the trip yet!

After much reading of CR Expeditions literature, I did discover that Tortuguero Park has many mosquitos which leads me to the start of my mental "what to take" list and "to deet or not to deet" is one of the questions. I hate mosquitos and I know they are an important part of the food chain since they are a food source for many bird and bat species but I do not want to be part of that food chain! Deet is very effective but not very environmentally safe so I am leaning towards the spray the permithren on the clothes and use a non deet repellant on exposed skin method - it was effective when we were in the Amazon so I think this question is settled.

Reading more lead me to discover that the portion of the trip that takes us from lodge A to lodge B involves travel on a local flight with a 25lb luggage limit - oh no - panic time and out comes the mental "what to take" list again to see what can be eliminated. Easy for me but not for the hubby since he likes to pack for every eventuality and packs a lot of stuff. Pull out the old, wheeled duffle bags and discover that empty they weigh 7-8lbs. so now it is "to buy or not to buy new lightweight luggage" We have not purchased luggage in a long time and discover there are many new lightweight options out there - oh the excitement of surfing EBAY for travel related goodies is kicking in!

I finally decided today to put the mental "what to take" list back in the closet of my mind and let it ferment for a bit and just let the daydreaming portion of trip planning take over. Having endless daydreams and recurring images and thoughts flit through the ole brain - especially "will I see a Quetzal? I better!" (I put a picture of a Quetzal on my computer as a reminder of things to come).

So as I am sitting here imaging Quetzals, sloths and sitting in the hot tub after a stroll through the rainforest, I will sign off with this "Happy travels to all and plan well my friends"

I am feeling confident that the real trip will live up to the trip that has been replaying in my mind during this anticipatory stage. ]]> dhdanner@verizon.net http://www.luxurylink.com/community/blogs/dhdanner%40verizon-net/anticipation-excitement-trip-planning-1345/ http://www.luxurylink.com/community/blogs/dhdanner%40verizon-net/villa-premiere-hotel-spa-puerta-vallarta-1324/ Mon, 21 Mar 2011 18:47:56 GMT Our LL package included: 3 nights in a deluxe ocean view room full American breakfast bottle of sparkling wine taxes We arrived at the hotel... Our LL package included:
3 nights in a deluxe ocean view room
full American breakfast
bottle of sparkling wine
taxes

We arrived at the hotel after our internal flight from Mexico City on AeroMexico around 11am - since check in is actually 3pm, we were told that our room would not be ready for about 1 hour but that we could use the hospitality suite, however, after our refreshing mimosa and 5-10 minute neck and shoulder massage (part of the check in process) our room was ready. We were shown to our room by one of the butler staff and our bags immediately followed. Check in was very nice and efficient and the massage was a nice little treat!
The deluxe ocean front rooms are nice with a king or 2 full size beds but nothing really spectacular. The room had a coffee maker, refrigerator (with a pricey mini bar) and a sink with plenty of cabinet space. The closets had ample clothing and suitcase storage space and a nice surprise - an ironing board and iron. Our balcony had 2 chairs and a table and great ocean views. Large bathroom with bathrobe, slippers, hairdryer, lighted makeup mirror and nice toliet articles. The towels and bathrobes were nice and fluffy. After this trip we have quite a collection of hotel bedroom slippers!
On the same floor as ours there were rooms that had a private jacuzzi on their balcony - I wish we had upgraded to one of these rooms!
The hotel also has a full spa, beauty salon, 2 pools, and an internet room with 3 full size computers for the use of guests (no charge for the internet & computers). The hotel also offers an all inclusive option if you are so inclined.
Lots of Americans at this hotel - unfortuantely this was our 1st glimpse of the "ugly American tourist" on this whole trip - loud, rude, drunk and obnoxious - our 1st night we were awakened at 2am by our next door neighbors coming home and screaming and cursing at each other - the hubby went over and knocked on their door and that put a stop to that. I was surprised there were so many from the US considering all the bad press Mexico has been getting lately. The hotel could use better sound proofing since you could hear the folks walking around in the rooms above you and hear the TVs in the rooms next door - rugs on the floors may help this problem.
We only had breakfast in the hotel and food and service were excellent - served in their outdoor eating area with nice ocean views. Overall, the hotel staff went our of their way to be helpful and if you had any special requests - they tried to accomadate you - we actually had a request - each night at dusk - all the lights on the balconys and around the hotel automatically go on and they use halogen bulbs (kudos for trying to be green) but they are very bright and it kind of spoiled the experience of sitting on your balcony at night - so we asked if they could turn their off and we were told no - but - within 2 minutes - the concierge called us back and said they were sending a maintenance guy up to unscrew the bulb - we had nice evenings on the balcony after that!

There are so many dining options in PV and we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the offerings and great prices (I was expecting lots of Senor Frog types of restaurants). We really enjoyed Vitea Oceanfron Bistro on the Malecon which served "European Rivieria Cusine" Vitea Puerto Vallarta
We also really enjoyed Tomatillo which was traditional Mexican cusine and Mexican tapas with lots of steaks, chilies, sauces, etc. We had dinner on their 2nd floor oceanview terrace. La Esquina del Tomatillo, Puerto Vallarta and they are on Facebook and Trip Advisor.
Plenty of shopping with crafts from all different areas of Mexico and some local Huichicol indigenous beaded art which was very beautiful. Lots of combination Tequilla/time share seller shops - I think the idea is to get you in for free Tequilla and then they sell you a time share - quickly learn to say "no gracias" ;-)
This was our 1st trip to PV and we liked it much better than Cancun, although Cancun does have better beaches, PV is a nice blend of the old and new - if we had more time, we wuld have liked to go up into the hills and see some of the small villages. Since we were there in early March and it was still whale watching season, we booked the services of Vallarta Adventures for a day of whale watching and snorkling - for around $90US we had continental breakfast, lunch and full open bar and the tour lasted about 6 1/2 hours - saw mother and baby whales, lots of dolphins, went to the Marietas Island which are protected and saw lots of birds - even the blue footed Booby.
This was our 1st trip to PV and we would go back since there is still much to see in the area - the hotel was very nice and service was excellent - it lived up to its 5 star reputation, however, we prefer a hotel with a bit more international flavor. If you want a really nice beach resort hotel, then I recommend the Villa Premiere. Lots of options in PV and everyone has their own tastes and preferences.

https://picasaweb.google.com/1012675...eat=directlink ]]> dhdanner@verizon.net http://www.luxurylink.com/community/blogs/dhdanner%40verizon-net/villa-premiere-hotel-spa-puerta-vallarta-1324/ http://www.luxurylink.com/community/blogs/dhdanner%40verizon-net/lumina-luxury-suites-mexico-city-environs-1323/ Mon, 21 Mar 2011 17:19:32 GMT Our LL package to the Lumina Suites in Mexico City included: 2 nights in a 2 bedroom suite Continental breakfast in our room Airport transfers... Our LL package to the Lumina Suites in Mexico City included:
2 nights in a 2 bedroom suite
Continental breakfast in our room
Airport transfers
Taxes

The Lumina Luxury Suites Hotel is a modern, 8 month old private enclave in the Polanco section of Mexico City. The hotel is within walking distance (10-15 min walk) of Chapultapec Park - the zoo and many of the major museums are in the park.

The Lumina is a true oasis in the hustle & bustle of Mexico City. It is for residents only and you get buzzed in - reception is manned 24/7. The hotel & decor is modern with lots of black, white, silver, and pale pastels in the color scheme. On check in you are greeted by Barbara, the hotel manager and shown to your room and given a tour of this wonderful hotel. Check in is quick, pleasant and very efficient. Right now most of the guests are business travelers with a few of us leisure travelers - they would love to start getting more leisure travelers and Barbara was happy that I was going to do a write up of the place.

There are 12 suites in total - 1 and 2 bedroom. All of the 2 bedroom suites have private courtyards and only 1 of the 1 bedroom suites has a private courtyard. We had a 2 bedroom and I highly recommend the 2 bedroom suite - a true home away from home. Our suite had 1 bedroom with a king bed and the other bedroom had 2 twin beds. There is a living/dining room combination, a full kitchenette, 2 bathrooms and 1 large courtyard and a smaller courtyard. All areas of the suite were tastefully and comfortably furnished and the kitchen came equipped with china and silverware for 4, pots and pans, microwave, coffee and tea maker and a reasonably priced fully stocked mini bar. The bathrooms are large and had robes, slippers, hairdryer and nice toiletry articles - very soft and fluffy towels too! Even q-tips and cotton pads for wiping your face. The living area had a comfy leather couch and the dining area had a table and chairs for 4. Everything you would need for an extended stay. Bose sound system with a removable Ipod that you could take for your walks around the city and what was really neat - when you check in there is mobile concierge service - they give you a mobile phone that is programmed with the Lumina's number that you can take with you on your travels around MC -if you get lost or just tired - hit the number for Lumina and they will immediately send a cab to pick you up - we did not need to use this but it was nice to know that we had this option if we needed it!.
The courtyard off the living area was truly private with comfortable chairs and a table and we enjoyed sitting out there in the mornings and evenings. The smaller courtyard had 2 chairs and a table if you wanted to eat outside. The courtyard walls are composed of Lumina's signature living garden walls - pretty neat concept - concrete walls entirely planted with flowers. The beds were the most comfortable hotel beds I have ever slept on - soft as silk linens and a very fluffy comforter - I felt like I was sleeping on a cloud all enveloped in my cozy nest - did not want to get out of bed in the morning!!! On check in they ask what time you would like your continental breakfast and what kind of juice, teac, coffee, etc. you would like - it is delivered and they set the table for you and you are ready to eat - good selection of breads, rolls, fruit and excellent service. The hotel also has a small gym, steam and sauna rooms, great spa (we did not have time to use the services but the information they sent me had some very enticing treatments listed) and a real nice rooftop deck.
The restaurant is for guests and their friends only and since we only had 2 nights we ate in the restaurant both nights and food and service were excellent.
We arrived around 12 noon and wanted to go to the museum - the concierge got a map and great directions all ready for us and away we went to Chapultapec park - walking throught the park is very pleasant with lots of statues lining the way. We passed the zoo which was huge and wished we had time for a visit. We arrived at the National Museum of Anthropology and it is a must see for any visitor to Mexico City - wonderful exhibits of all the different time periods and indigenous people of Mexico. After about 4 hours in the museum we headed back to Lumina for a wonderful dinner and a comfy nights rest. 2 nights dinner and laundry services ran us about $130US - pretty reasonably priced for a 5 star hotel.
The next day we used the services of Wayak tours for a trip to Teotihuacan - Wayak has very reasonably priced tours and very informative guides - I would recommend them for your stay in Mexico City - they also have tours in many other places in Mexico and a whole fleet of buses that can take you all over Mexico. Our tour not only included Teotihuacan but the Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe and a brief 45 min stop in the main zocalo of MC. All place that any visitor to MC should see. Teotihuacan is awesome and so big!
I am sorry we only had 2 nights in this wonderful hotel & city - we could have easily spent a week at Lumina! I am not usually a big fan of real modern hotels and decor but it worked well here and you felt at home - we absolutely loved it and would go back again!

https://picasaweb.google.com/1012675...eat=directlink ]]> dhdanner@verizon.net http://www.luxurylink.com/community/blogs/dhdanner%40verizon-net/lumina-luxury-suites-mexico-city-environs-1323/