Kids at Heart, Gluttons for Punishment, or just plain Idiots? We report. You decide.
- Thread starter AlexandNessa
- Start date
AlexandNessa
<font color=red>Proud Redhead<br><font color=green
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2003
I awoke the following morning before Mike, which is not unusual, and I continued to lay in bed awake. I was really not feeling up to doing anything, but I was vacillating between being a woos and continuing to ruin what was left of this vacation or trying to buck it up so that our trip would not end on a whimper.
Mike woke up a bit later and made my decision for me: I am not wheeling you back from the park again today. Its going to be a pool day.
Feel the love?
He wasnt actually that callous. He just didnt want to stray that far from the room knowing that I still was not up to par. That certainly worked for me as I was feeling that I had pushed myself too far and was looking forward to doing absolutely nothing except reading the trash entertainment magazines we bought while hanging out at the pool. Its always better outside.
I was still moving slowly, so Mike decided to head down to the Beach Club first for his morning soda and to see his new girlfriend Natasha.
Really, it was quite a wonderful day of doing nothing but enjoying the sun and the weather and just plain, old relaxing.
Health Services had put a Sponge Bob band-aid on my scraped up knee the day before, and when I took it off at the end of pool time, we were laughing that I actually had a tan line around the band-aid. This also humored the man sitting next to me at the pool bar. His name was Rob and he had just managed to sell 10,000 shares of Google at $650-something a share and was celebrating. (Can you imagine that? I mean math isnt my strongest subject, but it doesnt take a wily genius to tack on 5 zeros to 650 and figure out that is a boatload of mullah!).
Now, I wish I had a picture of this guy because I will not do justice in describing him. But, Rob was a middle-aged guy in good shape, a full head of hair, and tattoos covering the full length of his arms. He also had a voice that sounded like Wolfgang Jack and was a chain smoker. Looked like a total biker dude.
So when this man told Natasha that he wanted to buy me a Tooty Fruity, I nearly spit out my water.
I was trying to slyly shake my head no to Natasha since I didnt feel like drinking, but Rob was hearing none of it and pretty soon I found myself being forced to drink whatever in the world was in a Tooty Fruity. I think it was Grey Goose, orange juice and a splash of cranberry? Maybe cranberry with a splash of orange? I dunno.
Rob had his wife and his body guard and another couple with him. Ill stop for a moment to give you a chance to let it sink in that this man was traveling with a body guard.
Rob and his body guard told me that the HRH pool gets rather hedonistic with staff and hangers-on after the Velvet Bar closes. Apparently, he and his body guard had a wild night in the hot tub. Ill not go into further details on that since this is a family board.
He invited us to dinner at the Kitchen, but we declined. They had reservations at the Chefs Table, but we just wanted to do something quiet. We did decide to have dinner at the Kitchen by ourselves though.
I went upstairs to shower and change, and I ran into Scooby in the elevator:
Before we headed down to The Kitchen, I stopped at the front desk to let them know I wanted a late check out. I told them I only needed till one oclock. I got a cold, I can only give you till 12:30.
At first I just said, OK, I guess. But then I got a little annoyed. Wed had trouble getting turn-down service, getting robes in the room, having crummy room service, and now this girl is giving me tude about denying me a late check out.
She offered, You can call down again in the morning and see if you can get it later, but I cant give it to you right now.
That was it. Now I was definitely going to say something.
Really? Because Im platinum, and I paid a qualifying rate, and I thought I was automatically entitled to a 2 pm checkout?
Ohhhhh. Youre platinum? Let me check (I have no doubt she was verifying my status). Oh, yes, I can give you till 1 oclock.
Hmmmm. I bet if I had that 1 on my key card, shed have known and not given me grief.
I know it seems like a little thing, but weve grown accustomed to how well Loews Hotels generally treat us, and this stay was a bit under par as far as the inconveniences and inconsistencies we experienced. We may sound high maintenance, but honestly, we are true Platinum. Our Platinum status wasnt accumulated over years. We stay at the Orlando Loews 15-18 nights per year. So, if I dont expect grief trying to get something Im entitled to. I shouldnt have to remind anyone that were platinum. Personally, I think that when we check in or ask for something PLATINUM!! should show up in big, flashing letters on their monitor. Is that wrong?! I dont want or need anything special. Just what were entitled to in the first place.
I also stopped at the concierge desk to have them print our airline tickets, and Erick was much more pleasant than the shrew at the front desk.
And, heres another thing: there was a couple also using the concierge to check in 24 hours before their Southwest flight. If the concierge does you a favor like that and prints your boarding passes and puts them in a nice envelope for you, throw the guy a tip, you cheap jerk.
A buck or three for the convenience surely would not have broken you. (And, they were both American. No cultural barriers there.). Really, dont I sound so nosy, but they were actually crowding my personal space and I couldnt help but notice as his empty, open hand reached for the envelope and he went off with barely a thanks. I suppose, why go down to the business center for a small fee and do it yourself, when you can have the concierge do it for you for free?
At The Kitchen, we did see our new friends at the Chefs Table. Rob again invited us over, but we again declined and just sent a drink over to his table.
Dinner was very good. We shared a chicken quesadilla for an appetizer. Mike had the crab cakes. I had the salmon. We didnt have room for dessert. We were just looking forward to calling it an early night. This time, we had an excellent server (Robin), and she saw my AP hanging around my neck, and offered, Hey, give that to me. Its worth 10%! Much better than our lunch server from earlier in the week who ignored it when I handed it to him with our bill.
As we were trying to leave The Kitchen, Rob plopped himself into our booth to thank us for the drink and invite us up to the suites he had on the 7th floor to smoke some pot. It made us laugh, but thats just something we dont do, and even if we did, it certainly wouldnt be something that wed admit to publicly. He also invited us to dinner again the following night as he had somehow managed to get the Kitchen staff to let him cook. But, alas, we were leaving the following afternoon and would not be able to join him.
I wont bore you much with the rest of our trip as it primarily consisted of getting to bed early, sleeping in, packing up, and catching our pick up back to the airport.
Now, let me ask: does anyone else have trouble checking out on the TV when you have a late check out?
This would be the 3rd or 4th time we have not been able to do so.
So, we never wind up checking out. We just leave; theyll figure out were gone. I used to go to the Front Desk to check out, but they always want to reprint my portfolio, or theres a line and I dont feel like waiting to check out. I never leave keys with charging privileges lying around anywhere. Im sure theyll know were gone eventually.
We checked our flight status on the way to the airport, and everything looked to be on time.
Security was pretty much a breeze. We checked the flight monitors again to find that our flight was now delayed about an hour an a half. Bummer.
We called our cat sitter to ask if she could attend to the kitties that evening since we were going to be delayed, and thankfully it was not a problem. We cant have hungry kids on our hands!
I settled in with yet another entertainment rag.
Lately, the wind has been a little persnickety at Newark Airport and thats what was holding us up. They did wind up moving the flight from 3:50 to 3:30 eventually when the wind subsided. That was fine, except that screwed up our car service that was picking us up in Newark.
He got caught in traffic too and so was late, and we were left with trying to collect luggage ourselves, bringing it outside, and trying to figure out which driver was ours. We had called the service and they suggested this course of action. We figured wed be waiting around a lot longer if he had to park, but it was a bit stressful trying to find our driver in the busy pick up section of the airport.
We eventually made it home, safe and sound and didnt think about laundry or cooking dinner. Our biggest decision was where we were ordering dinner, based on who delivers.
A day later, I got a post-stay survey from the HRH. I let them know the good and the not-so-good. After all, nothing was bad. Well, except for room service. I told them I was disappointed they didnt send me a post-stay survey after our visit in May because everything was just about perfect then.
I actually received an email back from Carlton Hudson himself to apologize for the inconsistencies we experienced. They thrive on repeat visitors like us, and he would personally insure we have our old room back for our next trip in just a couple of weeks. I have no doubt our next trip will be top notch!
Well, thanks everyone for reading and staying with me! It was a busy couple of weeks, and it usually doesnt take me a month to finish a trip report. Oh, and, please dont hate me because I hate those silly wedding ears!
xx
Mike woke up a bit later and made my decision for me: I am not wheeling you back from the park again today. Its going to be a pool day.
Feel the love?
He wasnt actually that callous. He just didnt want to stray that far from the room knowing that I still was not up to par. That certainly worked for me as I was feeling that I had pushed myself too far and was looking forward to doing absolutely nothing except reading the trash entertainment magazines we bought while hanging out at the pool. Its always better outside.
I was still moving slowly, so Mike decided to head down to the Beach Club first for his morning soda and to see his new girlfriend Natasha.
Really, it was quite a wonderful day of doing nothing but enjoying the sun and the weather and just plain, old relaxing.
Health Services had put a Sponge Bob band-aid on my scraped up knee the day before, and when I took it off at the end of pool time, we were laughing that I actually had a tan line around the band-aid. This also humored the man sitting next to me at the pool bar. His name was Rob and he had just managed to sell 10,000 shares of Google at $650-something a share and was celebrating. (Can you imagine that? I mean math isnt my strongest subject, but it doesnt take a wily genius to tack on 5 zeros to 650 and figure out that is a boatload of mullah!).
Now, I wish I had a picture of this guy because I will not do justice in describing him. But, Rob was a middle-aged guy in good shape, a full head of hair, and tattoos covering the full length of his arms. He also had a voice that sounded like Wolfgang Jack and was a chain smoker. Looked like a total biker dude.
So when this man told Natasha that he wanted to buy me a Tooty Fruity, I nearly spit out my water.
I was trying to slyly shake my head no to Natasha since I didnt feel like drinking, but Rob was hearing none of it and pretty soon I found myself being forced to drink whatever in the world was in a Tooty Fruity. I think it was Grey Goose, orange juice and a splash of cranberry? Maybe cranberry with a splash of orange? I dunno.
Rob had his wife and his body guard and another couple with him. Ill stop for a moment to give you a chance to let it sink in that this man was traveling with a body guard.
Rob and his body guard told me that the HRH pool gets rather hedonistic with staff and hangers-on after the Velvet Bar closes. Apparently, he and his body guard had a wild night in the hot tub. Ill not go into further details on that since this is a family board.
He invited us to dinner at the Kitchen, but we declined. They had reservations at the Chefs Table, but we just wanted to do something quiet. We did decide to have dinner at the Kitchen by ourselves though.
I went upstairs to shower and change, and I ran into Scooby in the elevator:
Before we headed down to The Kitchen, I stopped at the front desk to let them know I wanted a late check out. I told them I only needed till one oclock. I got a cold, I can only give you till 12:30.
At first I just said, OK, I guess. But then I got a little annoyed. Wed had trouble getting turn-down service, getting robes in the room, having crummy room service, and now this girl is giving me tude about denying me a late check out.
She offered, You can call down again in the morning and see if you can get it later, but I cant give it to you right now.
That was it. Now I was definitely going to say something.
Really? Because Im platinum, and I paid a qualifying rate, and I thought I was automatically entitled to a 2 pm checkout?
Ohhhhh. Youre platinum? Let me check (I have no doubt she was verifying my status). Oh, yes, I can give you till 1 oclock.
Hmmmm. I bet if I had that 1 on my key card, shed have known and not given me grief.
I know it seems like a little thing, but weve grown accustomed to how well Loews Hotels generally treat us, and this stay was a bit under par as far as the inconveniences and inconsistencies we experienced. We may sound high maintenance, but honestly, we are true Platinum. Our Platinum status wasnt accumulated over years. We stay at the Orlando Loews 15-18 nights per year. So, if I dont expect grief trying to get something Im entitled to. I shouldnt have to remind anyone that were platinum. Personally, I think that when we check in or ask for something PLATINUM!! should show up in big, flashing letters on their monitor. Is that wrong?! I dont want or need anything special. Just what were entitled to in the first place.
I also stopped at the concierge desk to have them print our airline tickets, and Erick was much more pleasant than the shrew at the front desk.
And, heres another thing: there was a couple also using the concierge to check in 24 hours before their Southwest flight. If the concierge does you a favor like that and prints your boarding passes and puts them in a nice envelope for you, throw the guy a tip, you cheap jerk.
A buck or three for the convenience surely would not have broken you. (And, they were both American. No cultural barriers there.). Really, dont I sound so nosy, but they were actually crowding my personal space and I couldnt help but notice as his empty, open hand reached for the envelope and he went off with barely a thanks. I suppose, why go down to the business center for a small fee and do it yourself, when you can have the concierge do it for you for free?At The Kitchen, we did see our new friends at the Chefs Table. Rob again invited us over, but we again declined and just sent a drink over to his table.
Dinner was very good. We shared a chicken quesadilla for an appetizer. Mike had the crab cakes. I had the salmon. We didnt have room for dessert. We were just looking forward to calling it an early night. This time, we had an excellent server (Robin), and she saw my AP hanging around my neck, and offered, Hey, give that to me. Its worth 10%! Much better than our lunch server from earlier in the week who ignored it when I handed it to him with our bill.
As we were trying to leave The Kitchen, Rob plopped himself into our booth to thank us for the drink and invite us up to the suites he had on the 7th floor to smoke some pot. It made us laugh, but thats just something we dont do, and even if we did, it certainly wouldnt be something that wed admit to publicly. He also invited us to dinner again the following night as he had somehow managed to get the Kitchen staff to let him cook. But, alas, we were leaving the following afternoon and would not be able to join him.
I wont bore you much with the rest of our trip as it primarily consisted of getting to bed early, sleeping in, packing up, and catching our pick up back to the airport.
Now, let me ask: does anyone else have trouble checking out on the TV when you have a late check out?
This would be the 3rd or 4th time we have not been able to do so.
So, we never wind up checking out. We just leave; theyll figure out were gone. I used to go to the Front Desk to check out, but they always want to reprint my portfolio, or theres a line and I dont feel like waiting to check out. I never leave keys with charging privileges lying around anywhere. Im sure theyll know were gone eventually.
We checked our flight status on the way to the airport, and everything looked to be on time.
Security was pretty much a breeze. We checked the flight monitors again to find that our flight was now delayed about an hour an a half. Bummer.
We called our cat sitter to ask if she could attend to the kitties that evening since we were going to be delayed, and thankfully it was not a problem. We cant have hungry kids on our hands!
I settled in with yet another entertainment rag.
Lately, the wind has been a little persnickety at Newark Airport and thats what was holding us up. They did wind up moving the flight from 3:50 to 3:30 eventually when the wind subsided. That was fine, except that screwed up our car service that was picking us up in Newark.
He got caught in traffic too and so was late, and we were left with trying to collect luggage ourselves, bringing it outside, and trying to figure out which driver was ours. We had called the service and they suggested this course of action. We figured wed be waiting around a lot longer if he had to park, but it was a bit stressful trying to find our driver in the busy pick up section of the airport.
We eventually made it home, safe and sound and didnt think about laundry or cooking dinner. Our biggest decision was where we were ordering dinner, based on who delivers.
A day later, I got a post-stay survey from the HRH. I let them know the good and the not-so-good. After all, nothing was bad. Well, except for room service. I told them I was disappointed they didnt send me a post-stay survey after our visit in May because everything was just about perfect then.
I actually received an email back from Carlton Hudson himself to apologize for the inconsistencies we experienced. They thrive on repeat visitors like us, and he would personally insure we have our old room back for our next trip in just a couple of weeks. I have no doubt our next trip will be top notch!
Well, thanks everyone for reading and staying with me! It was a busy couple of weeks, and it usually doesnt take me a month to finish a trip report. Oh, and, please dont hate me because I hate those silly wedding ears!
xx
highlander447
<font color=green>It's a dirty job but someones go
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2003
really enjoyed your reports Jodie, thanks for sharing
totally agree about late checkout this trip we only got till 12:30 as well, and we could never review our account via TV at all during the week
Steve
totally agree about late checkout this trip we only got till 12:30 as well, and we could never review our account via TV at all during the weekSteve
RVGal
Whaaa?
- Joined
- Dec 24, 2005
I can feel the love! 
You ran into Scooby in the elevator. That should be a tag.
Rob sounds like quite the guy. Hey, if I had 6.5 mil to toss around, I'd be living it up too... just not in the hedonistic hot tub way...
I agree that if you have earned Platinum status, and there are perks attached to Platinum status, by golly you should get the perks... EVERY TIME!
It sounds like you had a relaxing end to your vacation. Nothing wrong with that. I don't understand the people that have to go, go, go, no matter what. Why? Just so you can come home feeling worse than when you left? Oh, but you do get to list off all the things you "accomplished" on vacation.
I don't hate you for hating the wedding ears. Hate away, my friend! They aren't going away any time soon, so they'll be there to bug you on your next visit... and your next... and your next...
At least I have a shot at Stitch losing popularity and the humping hats disappearing. Not that I'm rubbing it in or anything.
You ran into Scooby in the elevator. That should be a tag.
Rob sounds like quite the guy. Hey, if I had 6.5 mil to toss around, I'd be living it up too... just not in the hedonistic hot tub way...
I agree that if you have earned Platinum status, and there are perks attached to Platinum status, by golly you should get the perks... EVERY TIME!
It sounds like you had a relaxing end to your vacation. Nothing wrong with that. I don't understand the people that have to go, go, go, no matter what. Why? Just so you can come home feeling worse than when you left? Oh, but you do get to list off all the things you "accomplished" on vacation.
I don't hate you for hating the wedding ears. Hate away, my friend! They aren't going away any time soon, so they'll be there to bug you on your next visit... and your next... and your next...
At least I have a shot at Stitch losing popularity and the humping hats disappearing. Not that I'm rubbing it in or anything.
bubba's mom
<font color=red>Proud Redhead<br><font color=darko
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2004
who raven??
SPILL IT WOMAN!!! 
I agree...a great trip...except being sick
Now that you're done THAT trip report....I can't wait to read the next Oh...and we always checkout on the tv, but never late....heck! We usually checkout in the morning
bubba's mom
<font color=red>Proud Redhead<br><font color=darko
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2004
Motherfletcher
<font color=red>Proud Redhead<br><font color=peach
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2003
Do you want a helmet for this next trip?
AlexandNessa
<font color=red>Proud Redhead<br><font color=green
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2003
Hey, a helmet may be good! I knew I hit my head somewhere. I had the worst headache after that spill, but I couldn't tell where I hit my head. The next morning, I had a nice bruise under my chin! Are you offering me a helmet with a chin strap?!
Mac, I will keep it between you and me that you called Mike "Mr. Jodie."
Tricia, that would be a great tag .. but seriously, does the Tag Fairy even exist on the Universal side of the house? I think one used to in the long, long ago (hence my Mummy tag), but I think he was sent into banishment and he still being flogged somewhere in a dungeon.
Tracie, I dunno who exactly Rob was, but I also know he owned a lot of Birkenstock and Croc Stocks as well. Perhaps I should stop investing in just mutual funds?
Barb, do you think I've whined enough to get the "1" back?
Mac, I will keep it between you and me that you called Mike "Mr. Jodie."
Tricia, that would be a great tag .. but seriously, does the Tag Fairy even exist on the Universal side of the house? I think one used to in the long, long ago (hence my Mummy tag), but I think he was sent into banishment and he still being flogged somewhere in a dungeon.
Tracie, I dunno who exactly Rob was, but I also know he owned a lot of Birkenstock and Croc Stocks as well. Perhaps I should stop investing in just mutual funds?
Barb, do you think I've whined enough to get the "1" back?
bubba's mom
<font color=red>Proud Redhead<br><font color=darko
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2004
...but now the TR is over 
do we have to "answer" the question in the title?
AlexandNessa
<font color=red>Proud Redhead<br><font color=green
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2003
Yes, but not out loud. You can whisper it quietly to yourself.
bubba's mom
<font color=red>Proud Redhead<br><font color=darko
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2004
Jodie, your trip report was great, I wish I had the "trip reporting gene" that you and Barb have
Ahhhh.....but you DO!
(I write a mini-trippie each night on the laptop before going to bed...keeps the day fresh in my mind...that along with the "order" the pictures are in!)
tlinus
Forever a Proud Redhead
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2006
Jodie, your trip report was great, I wish I had the "trip reporting gene" that you and Barb have
*ahem*
bubba's mom
<font color=red>Proud Redhead<br><font color=darko
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2004
Well....of course YOU do too!! (we just didn't want to talk about you behind your back!)
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