Posted by Seth on March 19, 2012 under Dining, Flying, Mileage Run, Review, Trip Reports | 
I never actually bought the ticket from Newark to Brussels. I didn’t even buy a ticket from United Airlines. And yet, on a Friday afternoon, I found myself sitting in the lounge at Newark airport, watching basketball on TV and waiting for my flight to Belgium in the new business class seats that United has on their Boeing 777-200 airplanes.
I originally purchased a flight on Air Canada, connecting in Montreal. I was going to spend the day out sight-seeing prior to my onward journey across the Atlantic. That plan came screeching to a halt when I woke up to an email alert from AC that my flight was cancelled. Oh well. I made use of their excellent online rebooking engine and scheduled myself out of Newark instead. When I got to the airport the agents were chatting about the flights being overbooked and I offered up that I’d be happy to take the non-stop flight on United, if they wanted to free up a seat. Much to my surprise – and great pleasure – they agreed.
Once I had the ticket pushed over to United I was able to apply an upgrade voucher and so it was that I found myself in seat 10K, a rear-facing window, for the hop across the pond.
The Seat
This was my first experience in the new United configuration and my first time flying facing backwards since the party seats on Southwest 737s so it was a good opportunity to try something different. The flying backwards part didn’t bother me at all. I honestly don’t think I noticed, other than while trying to look out the window (not particularly easy from this seat as there is no window aligned with where you are when upright) and during takeoff/landing. From that perspective I’ve got no issues with the United product. There are a couple areas where I do, however.
The width of the seat is pretty tight. The 2-4-2 layout across in business class means that they necessarily have to make the seats narrower to fit that many in. I’d read the specs and understood that, by the measuring tape, they aren’t too cramped, but actually sitting in one it felt like I was. When upright I felt that I was pressed into the side wall of the airplane, with my shoulder resting against it. When in the sleep position the seat was slightly wider thanks to the armrest moving out of the way, but it wasn’t fantastic.
I was somewhat surprised to find that the foot well when fully reclined was a tight fit. It makes sense, I suppose, as when the seats meet each other in the adjacent rows the feet sections can be split between the two sides, reducing the pitch a few inches while still keeping the overall length high. But at the bulkheads, where there is no need to save those 6 inches, the foot wells are still half size, unlike other carriers with a similar product. Probably a few dollars saved on the engineering and manufacturing side there, but a definite loss on the comfort side.
Finally, there is virtually zero storage space available at the seat. The photo below shows my Kindle resting in basically the only place it could. And it was too big to fully fit there. I certainly wouldn’t leave it there longer than a few minutes here or there. Not so great for passengers.
Food & Beverage
Like most business class products, the meal was a multi-course affair. A number of carriers have been stepping things up on the meal service lately (I was quite pleasantly surprised with the Lufthansa meal EWR-FRA a few months ago) and the new United has the advantage of owning the their own catering company with operations in Newark so I was looking forward to trying the meal. The flight attendants took orders by asking for first and second choices, the legacy United approach where they reconcile things in the galley and prioritize by status. In this case it probably worked in my favor as I was one of the last to order, but I don’t know that anyone actually didn’t get their first choice; the cabin was only booked 33/40 so there was some wiggle room.
Like always, dinner started with a beverage and nuts in a warmed ramekin. I don’t get the obsession with this part of the service, other than that some people really love salt. Beyond that, it is really a strange thing to me, I picked out a few nuts and waited for the real meal to begin.
The first course was a salmon appetizer along with a salad. Both were fine, but nothing particularly special. I was definitely missing the Continental version of the appetizers with a few more choices and larger servings offered, especially on the salad.
For my main course I had the Beef Short Ribs. The flavor was actually quite nice, though the meet a tad over-cooked. More sauce would have been useful for helping out with the fact that the meat was a bit dry but no real complaints there. The portion size on the beef seemed quite reasonable as well. The bread basket options were basically white or wheat. No pretzel roll nor garlic bread on offer. Most unfortunate.
Finally, for dessert, the offering was a cheese cart and ice cream. This is a course that I look forward to on most flights. I was rather disappointed. One of the two cheese options (a Manchengo, if I had to guess, and I do because no one knew what they were) was OK. The second cheese was some sort of sun-dried tomato flavored goat cheese-ish spread that seemed more like an Alouette container in the store than good cheese. I like both, but one is for pre-dinner snacks and the other is for dessert with a drink before sleep. This was the wrong one. And the ice cream is just a scoop of ice cream, not a sundae. That was most disappointing. Oh, and seedless grapes, which I like for the convenience, but the flavor of which wasn’t as good. At least the flight attendant was able to find the after-dinner drink I ordered, after initially claiming they don’t stock Grand Marnier on the flights.
Also of note, my seatmate ordered the express meal service. I think he finished no more than 10 minutes earlier than I did. Not that his wasn’t fast but the regular meal service on this particular night was also quite quick, without feeling rushed. I was done well before we cleared Gander, meaning 4+ hours to sleep.
In-flight Entertainment
I was mostly sleeping during the flight so I didn’t play around with the IFE system too much, but I did like what I saw. The screens are large and the movie selection was reasonable. My seatmate watched The Adventures of Tin Tin which meant that I also watched it, though I did so without the audio track. I actually think I came out ahead in that regard, though the animation was pretty good. I’d place the IFE towards the top in terms of relative rankings, though that is also generally pretty low on my priority list. Give me a decent moving map and a plug for my laptop and I’ll stay entertained for hours.
Lounge/Ground Services
The lounge in Newark is nothing special. Never has been. I like the views, but otherwise just somewhere to sit before the flight. I actually got bored and left early to go walk the terminal before my flight. Not bad, just not particularly good. At least I had a couple packs of carrots to up my vitamin intake for the day.
One thing that I’ve always loved about flying Business Class on Continental was the arrivals service they offer. You get access to a shower or day room at most destinations if you’re flying up front. I inquired about this at the lounge (twice, because the first agent was a bit unconvincing) and was told, as usual, to ask at the gate and then again upon arrival in Brussels, but that the facility was the Sheraton hotel (they were reading this out of the DRS screen). I asked at the gate and the lead agent made a call to operations who confirmed that I should ask the arrivals agent and that the Sheraton was the facility. I asked upon landing and the agent confirmed that they had day rooms at the Sheraton and that I should go to the ticket counter to get a voucher.
Imagine my surprise when I showed up at the ticket counter (after a rather ridiculous immigration experience) and the woman informed me that she had never heard of such a thing and that there was no way it was accurate. Oy. After 10 minutes of calling around and checking on various things they confirmed that assessment, leaving me out in the cold, so to speak, without a shower. A rather unfortunate conclusion to the trip on two levels, both that I didn’t get the shower and that no one seems to know what’s going on. The good news is that I was in Belgium for the day and there was plenty of beer and fun to be had.
Overall, I rate the trip as a pretty mediocre business class experience. The flat seats are nice for being flat, but I would imagine that folks taller or wider than me would find them rather confining. And the meal was fine, but nothing special; with both the appetizers and the desserts I think they missed the mark.
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Tags: Air Canada, Belgium, Boeing, BRU2012, Brussels, Dining, Flying, IFE, in flight, Lounge, Lufthansa, Mileage Run, Newark, Photos, review, Trip Report, United, United Airlines, upgrade
Posted by Seth on February 20, 2012 under Dining, Trip Reports |
I arrived in Istanbul on a crisp, cool afternoon following a short flight in from Skopje, finally finishing off my four day journey that started in Stockholm. I had managed to parlay a single one-way award ticket into a three-night adventure where every stop was wonderful in its own way. Istanbul, however, was the jewel in the crown, so to speak. It was wonderful. It was beautiful. And it was snowing.
Apparently snow is rare in Istanbul. This was my 5th consecutive city over the previous 7 days where my arrival was heralded by snow. It was a light flurry, no real accumulation, and it gave the city a beautiful glow, over and above the regular level of amazing that its history and culture provide.
I watched the sun set as I rode the metro into town from the airport and quickly dropped my bag off in the hotel room in order to enjoy the sights at night, a view I had not previously experienced. It was awesome.
The streets of the Sultanahmet were quiet, save for the occasional taksi or streetcar rolling through. A few tourists wandered about near me but nothing like the crowds of a summer day. I was nearly alone with the Blue Mosque and Topkapi Sarai, able to celebrate them all by myself.
The cold eventually started to set in, as did hunger; it was time to find dinner. As I walked back towards my hotel – I had seen plenty of restaurants in the neighboring streets – I happened past an outdoor café with a group of musicians playing in the back. And there was just enough heat available that I figured I probably wouldn’t completely freeze. I settled in for an Iskender, an Effes and a set with the band.
I’m sure that it wasn’t the best music ever, but they were clearly enjoying themselves and that was all it took for me to also enjoy the experience. Not every night on every trip has that magical sensation. This was a special night in many ways.
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Posted by Seth on February 17, 2012 under Dining, Flying, Review, Trip Reports |
Apparently I have a habit of downgrading my travel experience almost as much as I upgrade it. Today’s flight to the Pacific Northwest was another in which the promise of a big, comfy seat on a long-haul flight somehow ended up with me sitting in seat 25E – a middle – in the back of a 737-500. Huh??
It started last night, as I was contemplating the 4am wake-up that would be required for my scheduled 6am flight on United’s p.s. 757-200 from JFK to San Francisco. I had applied an upgrade certificate and booked seat 9D, arguably one of the best in the domestic United fleet. My trip was full of win. Except for that 4am wake-up. It was after 10pm and I was nowhere close to heading to bed. The 6am flight was a bad idea. Fortunately the folks in reservations were able to let me apply the same-day change policy and switch my flight. The only option available was via Houston (more miles!) but also only with a middle seat in coach for the first segment. I decided sleep was more important and confirmed the change.
The new flight was the scheduled 5:25pm departure from Newark to Houston. The aircraft was the 757-200, equipped with AVOD and power. Even stuck in a middle seat, at least the amenities weren’t awful. Besides, it gave me a few hours to hang out at the airport in the afternoon and people-watch. Then I checked the schedule again and realized that if I stuck with the newly booked itinerary I wouldn’t have time for dinner. Not a huge deal and I’m sure I could scrounge something from my bag or the Buy on Board offerings on the flights, but it still wasn’t particularly appealing. Besides, I’d rather spend the time in the Houston airport than Newark; the food options down there are better and the terminal is nicer. Perhaps an earlier flight would be possible.
I listed for the 1:47pm departure as a standby passenger and half-way through the boarding process cleared the waitlist. My seat assignment stayed the same – still 25E – but now I was boarding a 737-500 with no IFE at all. It has certainly been a while since I had a boarding pass print with "Group 7" on it, but they had already called for all passengers so no big deal there.
And so here I sit, somewhere over Virginia if I had to guess by looking out the window, eating and enjoying my Asian Noodle Salad lunch (thanks, AmEx, for the $200 credit!) and generally being happy that I’m getting where I want to be sooner. Sure, the nicer plane is, well, nicer. But being able to have a proper meal on the ground or get where I’m going at a time that is more convenient is even nicer than that.
I’d make this trade just about every time.
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Tags: American Express, Dining, elite status, Flying, houston, in flight, Newark, Photos, Portland, review, United, United Airlines, upgrade
Posted by Seth on February 13, 2012 under Dining, Flying, Review, Trip Reports |
Day number four of my January Euro Hopping trip saw the end of my visit to Ljubljana, Slovenia and another flight, again on Adria Airways, to Skopje Macedonia. Before the flight I actually had a bit of time at the airport and got to visit the observation deck café at Ljubljana’s airport. The views were great, even with the relative lack of activity at the airport.
I also hit up the lounge at LJU for a few minutes before the flight. Nothing special to speak of and the terminal is nice enough, but there is something there with snacks, soup and booze if you want it.
Much like the inbound flight to Ljubljana, the departure was rather uneventful once I wedged myself into the annoyance that is a window seat on the CRJ-200 aircraft. And, once again, I had the seat next to me open, which helped to mitigate the pain a bit. And, much like the flight in, the scenery was top notch throughout the flight.
This flight was also long enough to rate a snack service. It was, ummm, interesting. Neither good nor bad and it had flavors that seemed to match what was printed on the label, but it certainly isn’t something I’d go out of my way to try again.
And then we were on final into Skopje’s Alexander the Great airport. It is a brand new terminal and pretty nice overall. Getting through immigration took about 3 minutes and the agent barely looked at my passport before waving me through.
Another successful trip in the coach cabin, along with arrival at a new (to me) airport and a new (to me) country. No complaints at all.
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Tags: Adria Airways, Dining, EuroHopping, Flying, Ljubljana, Macedonia, Photos, review, Skopje, Slovenia, Trip Report, video
Posted by Seth on January 25, 2012 under Dining, Flying, Review, Trip Reports |
A trip from Stockholm to Istanbul shouldn’t take 4 days. That said, it can if you want it to thanks to the joys of airline scheduling and the rather impressive route network of Star Alliance within Europe, I managed to schedule just such a trip, with stops along to way to see friends and also three new (to me) cities. First on that list was Berlin and the flight down was on SAS.
The flight was relatively quick and uneventful. I actually remember very little of it thanks, in part, to a rocking hangover. But nothing really happened that was at all special. I was hungry so I bought the chicken salad snack box during the flight (all food AND beverages were BoB only!). The Swedish version of pasta salad isn’t really my thing, but it wasn’t bad. The chicken and the lettuce part of the salad were pretty good. I’d call it overpriced in general, though not really so bad once you figure in both the Scandinavia and airplane markups.
The most memorable bit of the flight for me was the final approach into Berlin’s Tegel airport. It was right a sunset and that let to some great views of the suburbs, Tegel airport and the general area as we made our way down.
Like most flights, this one wasn’t really all that special, either good or bad. That’s just the way I like them.
Tags: Berlin, Dining, EuroHopping, Flying, in flight, Photos, review, Star Alliance, Stockholm, Sweden, Trip Report
Posted by Seth on January 20, 2012 under Dining, Flying, Review, Trip Reports |
Any trip that starts with a dozen folks hanging out in the lounge, enjoying a few drinks before the flight, has strong potential. That I had already been in the lounge 2+ hours when the others started to arrive didn’t hurt the situation either. And the fact that my upgrade into the BusinessFirst cabin on the 757-200 had cleared at the time of booking made things even better. So it was slightly lubricated that I made my way down to the duty free shop and then to the gate for a flight from Newark to Stockholm.
Boarding was a bit of a mess, even though we arrived at the gate towards the end of the process. We were awaiting the last of the duty free deliveries which took us precariously close to departure time and my mobile boarding pass failed, causing me to hunt down a printed one while the gate agent dealt with some other issues which involved the police. Still, I had sufficient time to stow my bags in the overhead and settle in to 1E with a glass of champagne prior to departure.
I also was able to find the International Concierge working the flight, despite his best efforts to remain invisible in the cabin. Somewhat critical to the success of our first day in Stockholm, I requested access to the arrivals facility that the BusinessFirst service provides. In Stockholm this is a day room at the Radisson Blu hotel in the airport. There were four of us in the forward cabin so four rooms were requested. And he actually followed through on the request; the agent meeting the flight knew that we needed the rooms and was ready for us (sortof).
I chatted with my seatmate a bit during our short taxi out to Runway 22R and the ~7.5 hour flight to Sweden began.
It turns out that there are only two bottles of Heidsieck Monopole catered in the forward cabin on a 752. Those went pretty quickly, starting with the warmed nuts service and lasting part of the way through the appetizer service. The nuts were not particularly memorable but the apps were. Both the cold seafood soup and the beef empanada were quite nice. There was a salad, too.
I took a risk when ordering dinner: I chose the miSteak. It is a complete crap-shoot taking that route. Sometimes the meat is horribly overcooked and miserable. For this flight, however, it was cooked to a reasonable medium doneness (still way overcooked for my tastes, but at least edible) and actually tasted pretty good. The accompanying sides (creamed spinach, asparagus and a potato patty of some sort) were not particularly memorable, either for being good or bad.
And then there is the hour-long foodgasm that is dessert on the BF flights. First was the cheese plate, served with a reasonable glass of Port. Not particularly great cheeses, but the flavors were where they should be for the types served. Next up was the ice cream sundaes. I only had one (caramel and chocolate, thank you very much), but there were extras making their way back to the galley which may have been waylaid by a couple of the other guys. And then there were the pastries. They’ve got nothing on Austrian, to be sure, but they were pretty tasty.
And then it was time to try for some much needed sleep. I actually managed to get 3-4 hours which is pretty good for an eastbound redeye; it helps that this is one of the longer flights being run out of Newark to Europe. Plus, I managed to sleep through the relatively poor breakfast offering which was a good plan based on the reports I got from the others.
The food was fine, as was the seat and the sleep. What truly made the flight for me, however, was the crew. It is usually easy to tell at the beginning of a flight if the crew is enjoying themselves or not, and that generally translates into a better in flight experience. This crew was having a great time from the get go and it really did play out through the rest of the flight. It really is great to fly with a crew that enjoys their job.
Overall the trip was a very good one. Most of that is attributable to the crew, combined with having a bunch of friends on board, but I’m not so sure the reasoning matters as much as the fact that it was a nice flight. Even with the very recent surprisingly nice flight on Lufthansa, I have to say that the legacy Continental product that United is offering these days tops it, both in food and seat. It is one of the better business products across the pond.
Tags: Continental, Dining, EuroHopping, Flying, in flight, Lounge, Lufthansa, Newark, Photos, review, Stockholm, Sweden, Trip Report, United, United Airlines, upgrade
Posted by Seth on January 18, 2012 under Dining, Flying, Review, Trip Reports |
By the time we got to London we had been on the go roughly 34 hours. Sure, a decent amount of that time was spent in the glorious confines of Emirates‘ A380 First Class Suites but we were still pretty beat. The last flight of our vacation was all that remained – British Airways from Heathrow to JFK – in first class on the 747-400. When booking the flights I did my best to ensure that we would have the new first class product so as to hopefully experience the best that BA has to offer. When we got home I actually had to go back and double check to make sure that the product we saw was the new one; the experience itself wasn’t defining enough that I knew.
Yes, I had just come off of Emirates and their Suite so I’m sure that my point of reference is somewhat skewed. And I’m a bit disappointed that we couldn’t get a spa treatment in the Concorde Room lounge, though that is in part due to our short connection and my not pre-booking because of uncertainty with the connection times. But the seat itself was not particularly impressive, especially not for a first class product.
There is no doubt that the seat is good on privacy, but it isn’t particularly large. And, unlike other first class seats I’ve flown in, the British Airways seat tapers somewhat dramatically at the foot. Not enough to be uncomfortable to fly in, but I’m also not nearly the tallest or widest passenger they’re going to be dealing with; I’m actually probably smaller than average for the F cabin.
On the plus side, the soft product on board was incredibly good. I slept nearly the entire flight in the quite comfy PJs I was offered so I didn’t really eat or drink much, but the bits I had were very tasty. At the top of my list was one of the appetizers, a seafood dish that was delicious and also quite nicely presented.
I’ll give a bit of a pass on the lounge bit as missing the spa treatment was at least partially my fault. That said, the quality of the food served was, well, British. Not bad, but also not particularly awesome or inspired. And the soft product was very, very nice, definitely first class. But the hard product on board – the seat – really was a bit of a let down. I understand that the new seat – particularly the iFE options are better than the old one. To me that’s more a comment on how bad the old one was than an endorsement of the new product.
At this point I’d say that there are a number of business class products that I’d probably take over the BA first option, unless BA is pricing first at the business class price. In this case it was more or less free as an add-on to the Emirates fare home from Sri Lanka so I’m not really upset about it, but I was definitely expecting better from BA. I literally had to check after the flight to figure out if I really was on the new product. That’s probably not the impression they’re trying to leave with customers.
On the plus side, snagging seat 1K and getting to look out the front of the plane was pretty awesome.
Tags: A380, Airbus, Boeing, British Airways, Dining, Emirates, in flight, London, NYE2011, Photos, review, Trip Report
Posted by Seth on January 17, 2012 under Dining, Flying, Review, Trip Reports |
It took a long time before I managed to get myself into a proper first class cabin on a long-haul flight. I still haven’t actually done it all that often. And now I believe myself wholly spoiled from enjoying it in the future. I’ve had the great pleasure of flying in the Emirates A380 First Class Suite.
Coming home from Sri Lanka actually involved two flights in Emirates First, one on a 777-300 which is a proper F cabin and pretty impressive on its own. The seat is huge and offers a decent amount of privacy, though the 2-2-2 configuration does mean that the outside pairs involve climbing over someone or having someone climb over you for window/aisle access. As we were a couple traveling together it wasn’t a huge deal.
The other amenities on the 773 are comparable in many ways to the A380. Each seat has a private bar, though the good stuff comes from the flight attendants, not pre-stocked at the seat. And the ICE entertainment system is awesome in so many ways. Huge screens and options for both movies and music.
My only minor complaint on the first flight is that there was no meal service at departure. It is only a 3:30 flight and it leaves around 3am local time from Colombo. Still, the food options in the airport sucked and I was hungry. I chose to sleep through breakfast to try to actually get a couple hours of sleep so I basically had no food on the flight. Other than that, lots of fun.
Our layover in Dubai was just long enough to get lost in the lounge (I’ll post about that later) and then it was time for the crown jewel of the trip: A380 Suites.
The 773 provided a lot of space and privacy. The A380 bested it by far. The closing doors on the suites, in particular, was a nice touch for privacy. Also the 1-2-1 layout allows for isolation quite well, Sitting in the middle we were unable to actually see out the windows at all which was slightly annoying, but that’s how much privacy it afforded passengers. The photo below shows just how much space there is; my 22" TravelPro fit nicely under the desk at my seat, with plenty of room for the seat to still recline into bed mode.
The service started with the purser presenting our menus for the day and offering up some quite lovely advice, "The champagne today is, of course, Dom 2002." Suffice it to say, a bottle or two of that ended up in my belly. There’s a 21 year Single Malt and an 8 year rum, too, if that’s your thing. And the wine list was pretty impressive as well.
The food service was also at the top of my experiences, with a couple minor caveats. I liked the meals better than those I had in Lufthansa First last year. There were more choices, we were served more of them, and I thought that the quality of the food was slightly better.
My wife did remind me that the Lufthansa options are a bit more of a stretch in terms of providing a fine dining experience – fancier preparations and presentations – but I think that Emirates is nearly at the same level there and delivered on the attempt much better. Even the caviar service appeared better to me on Emirates.
You can eat anything you want off the menu whenever you want to. I understand that there is some flexibility to that effect on Lufty but they weren’t nearly as happy about providing it. And when I couldn’t make up my mind between the lobster and the lamb, the flight attendant solved that problem quite quickly, serving up both. They were delicious, though the lobster truly shined.
Oh, and then there was the shower. At roughly 35,000 feet over Ankara I stepped into my "spa experience" and enjoyed a quick rinse. We had been on the go for about 30 hours at that point and the shower was quite refreshing. I was somewhat concerned about the 5 minute limit on water but I ultimately found that by turning it off when soaping it was more than enough for me. There are a full set of shower amenities provided and the flight attendants are happy to explain the process to you, including the instructions to sit down on the bench should the plane encounter turbulence.
The flight attendant also made sure to ask what beverage I’d like to have when I finished my shower, and I came out to not only the aged rum that I had requested but also a fruit plate to have as a snack. She was top notch.
While she was great I cannot really say the same for her colleague across the aisle. My wife and I received notably different levels of service. Even when we specifically requested to dine at the same time we had issues with the timing of the food. Not the end of the world by any stretch, but it was a bit annoying. She was good, but not effusively so like the FA on my side.
There are some other things that are a little different with Emirates. There isn’t a proper amenity kit, per se, in that there is no little bag to take home with you.That said, everything you need – and then some – is provided either at your seat or in the lav.
And then, all too quickly, we were on final approach into London. The flight was only 7.5 hours. They were 7.5 hours of aerophillic bliss, but it was done. And now I am spoiled rotten. Flying in First will never be the same (though I’m more than willing to try just to confirm that concern).
Tags: A380, Airbus, Colombo, Dining, Dubai, Emirates, in flight, London, Lufthansa, NYE2011, Photos, review, Trip Report
Posted by Seth on January 5, 2012 under Dining, Hotel, Review, Trip Reports |
On our second stay in Chennai on this trip we wanted to be more in the center of town than the Radisson Blu at the airport could offer. There were a few options available to us towards the center of the sprawling metropolis and, on the recommendation of a good friend, we chose the GRT Grand hotel.
The GRT Grand is a mid-range, utilitarian business-class hotel located in a reasonably busy area of town. It is not far from a number of western branded hotels (we could see the brand new Hyatt from our window and had drinks there on a couple of the nights) but doesn’t suffer from the same pricing issues those seem to (we were in for about $130/night including tax via hotels.com; could have booked slightly cheaper as a non-refundable rate directly with the hotel but wanted the flexibility). Not being a western brand also means a bit of character that I nearly always find lacking in those hotels, charms I usually enjoy.
The hotel itself is pretty big, with three restaurants, a night club and a huge atrium that extends up the entire interior of the building.
The check-in process was a bit frazzled as they were swapping our room and that of another guy around because he needed an extra bed but it was eventually squared away and we were escorted up to our room on the 6th floor. I’m not sure if they have upgrades or suites but the superior room we were booked in to was decently sized, with a separate tiny couch (both of us on it was a bit tight) and desk area.
Yes, the décor is a bit dated, but it was a pretty comfy bed and the desk had outlets above, not below, for charging my gear.
The bathroom was similarly dated in style but functional in its facilities.
We had meals at all of the restaurants on the property. Breakfast each morning (included in the rate) was a at the all day lobby buffet. It was passable, barely. Cooked to order eggs was a bit of a saving grace there, really, giving us enough sustenance to get out on the road and find other options.
We dined at the Indian restaurant for lunch on two days. The menu is vast, inspiring great curiosity in how all of it could be good and challenging us to guess at what might be. I don’t know that we guessed right either time but we also didn’t guess particularly wrong. The food was fine, though hardly memorable. I actually don’t remember now what we had, but I know it wasn’t so great that I needed to.
Finally, they gave us coupons at check in for the Mediterranean restaurant in the hotel. Figuring that we wanted a bit of variety (but not so much that we were willing to venture out into the rains of Cyclone Thane) we gave it a try. It was surprisingly delicious. We learned why about half-way through the meal when the chef came out to say hi and ask how things were. He’s a native of Turkey and has spent a few years in Uzbekistan, too. The menu here was even broader than in the Indian restaurant; it is literally a bound book about 80 pages long including sections on the history and cuisine of the various countries around the Med that they are serving from. We were, again, hesitant, but the choices we tried were all delicious. Oh, and there was a weird stage show at various points throughout dinner where a young woman came in and danced a bit in a relatively skimpy outfit. Best we could figure is that it was their version of the Moroccan belly dancer option; it was a bit strange but didn’t detract from the food.
My only real complaint about the property was some frustration that I had with the travel desk and concierge services. Not surprisingly they don’t like their guests going out of their purview for day trips or really anything else and they were less than helpful in making arrangements. When it came to things like getting movie tickets – something that I was told the hotel guys should be able to handle quickly and easily – it actually turned into a bit of a fiasco with promises of seats three different times which were never delivered upon. We eventually figured that out on our own via a pretty web booking engine; I’m shocked that the guy didn’t know it existed and they had a computer sitting there for them to use. On the plus side, they did have an umbrella to loan us when we headed out into the Cyclone.
And even on the day trips front, the driver was less than stellar. Our tour was supposed to include all tolls and parking. The driver insisted we pay. I didn’t mind as I was collecting the receipts and that would be enough to get it handled back at the hotel. But I also called to make sure I understood the tour correctly as I didn’t want any more surprises. When we got back in the car the driver insisted on paying us back immediately (admission of first attempt to screw us) and then tried to short-change me on the reimbursement. Funny thing is that trying to screw me out of 10 rupees cost him 50 times that in tip; I had intended on giving a rather generous tip but that plan went out the window in a hurry as soon as the guy tried to short-change me. On the plus side, he did a great job of getting us to and from our intended destination without any incidents on the road.
Overall the hotel was pretty much exactly as I expected and it was perfectly functional and the price was right. Even the couple minor inconveniences were trivial relative to the value we got. I still think that the Radisson Blu was a much nicer property near the same price point, but the location – all the way out at the airport – isn’t great for being a tourist in town.
Posted by Seth on December 22, 2011 under Dining, Flying, Trip Reports |
Flights from New York City to western Europe are generally too short for anything remotely resembling a good night’s rest. In many cases even a chance of a decent nap is pretty low. The key to having a chance, however, is to be done eating before clearing the edge of Canada. That generally means at least 4.5 hours until landing, leaving a 4 hour window for sleep before the attendants have to put the cabin back together for arrival.
And so I was watching the in-flight map as we departed Newark for Frankfurt last night, trying to figure out how we were doing on the meal as we headed east. When the appetizers showed up we were over Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Not good for hoping to be done with the meal before clearing Canada. On the plus side, the food was quite good, a pleasant surprise in quality and quantity. I even managed to skip the Fernet Branca, going to sleep without that flavor in my mouth for the first time in a long time on a Lufthansa long-haul flight.
By the time the meal was done we were 3:45 out from landing. I slept almost all of that, even in the angled seats of Lufthansa business class. We were fortunate to arrive to a gate at the terminal rather than a remote stand and from there wended our way through the terminals and the SkyTrain to find some lounge time.
Our onward flight to Chennai departed from B42, directly adjacent to the new Terminal B Senator Lounge. The new lounge is quite a welcome improvement over the old B lounge, though it still suffers from crowding at the peak morning departure bank; the wait for a shower was about 30 minutes and our layover wasn’t long enough to make that work.
And then it was time to head out to the gate and board our flight to Chennai. Another 8.5 hours in the sky with Lufthansa as we begin this crazy adventure.
Tags: Canada, Chennai, Dining, Frankfurt, in flight, India, Lounge, Lufthansa, New York City, Newark, NYE2011, Photos
