janT

luv2go, I just now saw this post with your questions, and I hope I'm not too late to answer them! Actually, the Noga Hilton was pretty great. We had a very nice room, almost a suite. It was a separate bedroom/living room combo, even with separate AC controls, so it was quite large and we had the ability to let one of us sleep while the other read, if we needed to. I don't know if all the rooms were configured that way, but we couldn't complain. It was on the first floor with no view (but a patio), and I started to raise a fuss about that, but then I figured we weren't going to be in the room that much , so oh well.

The valet parking made it easy to get in and out every day, though at a rather hefty cost, I think about $20 a day. But in Cannes, it's worth it. The concierge was quite helpful everyday, and actually getting to and from the hotel from the A8 became old hat. It's also an easy walk to lots of good restaurants. Although I must tell you, we ate at their restaurant the last night we were there, and it was a bit of a disaster. Our order took for absolutely EVER, we ordered a glass of champagne each before dinner, then 2 more with dessert. Dessert then took forever, and when the waiter brought the second glass of champagne, he accidentally spilled them all over us...no kidding! We were soaked! Now, with the tardiness of the food, and then the royal soaking, you would think that maybe they'd comp the dessert, or the second round of champagne (that we were now wearing), but we got the full bill...and the champagne ended up being $15 a glass, for house champagne no less. That was $60 in champagne alone! We argued it a little, then just decided not to spoil our last night. I was not pleased with all that, though.

As for pool and beach, the beaches in Cannes are practically non-existent compared to American beaches, and the people are packed like sardines with beach chairs butted right up next to each other. We passed, though I did go up to the rooftop pool one morning for a splash, and it was quite nice, though a tiny pool. But the views were magnificent.

All in all, I would recommend the Noga, and our "free" status did not not seem to impact our treatment. Oh, one more thing...if you use the mini-fridge to store picnic items (as we did), be sure to check your bill when checking out. It is computer generated, and everytime we tipped an item in that fridge it registered as a purchase. Our mini-bar bill was about $75, and we had only gotten one water from it! I argued that one and got it taken off without any quibbling.

Have fun!

janT

Opops, missed one question. Yes, we drove to Orange and back in one day. It was a long day, but we got back in plenty of time to clean up for dinner. We really wanted to see the Roman antiquities there, so I guess I'd say that unless that's burning desire, it did make for a long day and I would not recommend it for everyone.