4 Hotels + Aer Lingus Question
 

I am leaving next Saturday and have made reservations at: Ballynahinch Castle, Greenmount House (Dingle), Ballymakeigh House (Yougal) and Belcamp-Hutchinson (Dublin). Anyone have any experiances with these hotels? Also, I am flying out of JFK with Aer Lingus-does anyone know if there are TVs in each seat or if I can listen to a portable CD player onboard? Thanks!!

Can only help you on C.D. question.Forget the C.D. player....for reasons known only to Aer Lingus....you can't use them.You may want to purchase a cassette player.

I forgot.....they don't have t.v's on the backs of seats.

As far as Aer Lingus, they are currently putting in seat videos on all aircraft so it will all depend on if they've upgraded your aircraft yet. the last time I flew them you were not allowed to use a CD player during the flight.

I can only speak for myself re: hotels in that unless I'm staying at one for 2 nites or more, I would do more research/seek input. The exent of my hotel concerns involve finding the place by nightfall, decent sleeping accommodations, and then heading out after some form of breakfast to tour again. I frankly couldn't care less about the ambience, maid service, etc. given my typical stays in Ireland. You may be lucky and get someone to reply about their experiences with these locations - recent or "x" years ago (nothwithstanding any management/ ownership changes over the years.

Shelly - not sure but I may be to late for you but can highly recommend Greenmount House - it has to be one of the B&B's in Ireland, with top marks for their breakfast.....huge selection! Sorry have not stayed at the other sites - but have just returned from Ireland so my recommendation on Greenmount is very current. Have a great trip!

Is the Belcamp Hutchinson a B&amp;B ?? I have never heard of a hotel with that name. WHat location is it in? Let me know and I will ask around.<BR><BR>

Just got back last Friday! Greenmount and Belcamp-Hutchinson were dreams! At Greenmount, we could walk onto our balcony on a sunny evening and view all of Dingle harbor below-plus it had all the nice extras: TV, CD player, mini refrigerator, etc. Lots to choose from at breakfast! At Belcamp, my favorite, we were treated like old friends-gorgeous house in it's own garden oasis outside Dublin. Our room was very romantic: 4 poster bed draped in blue curtains, a bath with a view of the garden outside, a vanity, a massive antique armoire, a REAL blow dryer (that's not attached to the wall)-even bubble bath! Deliciously decadent! And it was a 2-minute drive to Malahide which has a surprisingly good selection of restaraunts (try Orangerie's chicken-it will melt in your mouth!). At Ballynahinch we had the smallest room, but with a gorgeous view of the river (&quot;Salmon's Leap&quot; room)-but it very cozy with a large bathroom and an excellent breakfast (try the smoked salmon!). We were disappointed with Ballynahinch-but, it was due to lack of our own research-no TV on a farm drove us a bit crazy when we came back to our room at night and the room was very small (my husband hit his hand on the ceiling when he put on his shirt).

Error: We were disappointed with BALLYMAKEIGH not BALLYNAHINCH!

I flew Aer Lingus in April.

NO to CD players or using the CD/DVD feature on a laptop.

As far as the video screen - we didn't have them on the way over, but DID have them on the way back ( that was a newer Airbus 330-200)
It is a crap shoot. They seem pretty new - even the flight attendants didn't seem to know how to work the controls.

very nice though- every person can choose between 10 Video &amp; 10 Audio channels , as well as 10 different games to play.