2/18 - 2/27 Trip Report in Progress: Jet Blue Air, Hyatt Fort Lauderdale and Miami Doral Golf and Spa - You can't always believe trip reports on Trip Advisor!
Feb 23rd, 2006, 12:29 PM
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2/18 - 2/27 Trip Report in Progress: Jet Blue Air, Hyatt Fort Lauderdale and Miami Doral Golf and Spa - You can't always believe trip reports on Trip Advisor!
Well, I feel like it's my duty to report what we've seen and done so far.
Jet Blue Airlines. I never thought I'd see live TV on an airplane. I will never fly any other airline to Florida other than Jet Blue again! I was so happy I thought I might cry! Live TV - we were blown away, and the time passed SO fast.
Hyatt Ft Lauderdale: We got the Hyatt Fort Lauderdale and were surprised how nice our $135 Priceline hotel was. We asked them as nicely as possible to be upgraded to the Tower Room and they kept saying that it was $40 more, but eventually they caved for some reason and let us have it. The hotel was very nice, for the price. So was the location, just minutes from the beach by car. We saw some pretty scathing reviews of this hotel on Trip Advisor but we just aren't that picky I guess. Yeah, the hallway had an ugly clorox stain on it's dated carpet, there were marks on the wall, some food trays now and then outside the rooms - so what! Our room was awesome even though there were some marks on the walls, and the bathroom was huge and very nice in creme marble with a separate toilet - we love this. There's something nice about going to the bathroom without kicking your spouse out of the bathroom as the room is separate.
The view was fantastic of the ocean from our lowly 5th floor room, and also the yachts, the lovely houses, and A1A. We loved this view and were grateful to be upgraded.
Food: We ate out at Casa De Angelo (I hope I remember this correctly) one night after getting lost on the way to Houston's Restaurant. We were glad we found it as our friend recommended it 2 nights before but we forgot about it. It was heavenly, with a $30 shrimp dish we split, split a broccoli rabe side dish and split a salad. All were amazing, as was the free brushetta and bread served with the meal. The chocolate flourless cake with vanilla gelato was a slice of heaven.
We also tried Mezzaluna one night on A1A and it was good, but highly overpriced. We split an excellent Caesar salad, got 2 pastas and a chocolate flourless cake with ice cream ($13!) for dessert. My wife didn't think the food was near as good as our other restaurant but it was fine with me.
Our first night we tried to get into Anthony's Runway 84 but were told to wait, that he'd try to fit us in... 45 minutes later, nothing! He kept saying he's trying, but meanwhile everyone who showed up apparantly knew the host and kissed him or shook his hand. We were outcasts, so we left and ate at... Lester's Diner which was excellent for what we got. Spanakopita platter for me and she got waffles with bacon.
Another night we met friends at Thai Spice, the best reviewed Thai restaurant in South Florida and it was most enjoyable. We split 5 dishes but should have got another. They were the best desserts we ever had at an ethnic restaurant. Key Lime pie, chocolate cake and pecan pie - perfection.
One day we drove to Palm Beach for the Breakers Hotel for lunch, but got sidetracked and saw the Four Seasons Palm Springs, were curious, and decided to eat there instead. $18 for a burger, so we split it as it came with a salad and were quite full afterwards, as this was accompanied by a huge salsa and bean dip with a full plate of tortilla chips.
When we finally got to the Breakers we were so excited, got out of the car, and they wanted $20 to valet the car. $20! We were shocked. No self park, no where else to park, and we couldn't justify it so we left fairly pi**ed off. We just wanted to look in the lobby and the gift shop for 5 minutes! They said we'd have to spend $20 to get validated, and we told them we already ate lunch. They said too bad, it was high season. Oh well - we'll go back for LUNCH next year when we come back.
We then went to Worth Ave to shop and my wife got a beautiful pearl on a necklace, probably the least expensive piece of jewelry on this entire street. I've never seen so many Bentley's on one street in my life. Talk about the "other half". I went to the Norton Museum for the Matisse exhibit and it was awesome. Such a lovely museum and that Chihuly ceiling with all the glass sea creatures - marvelous. Wish I had more time there. It's huge!
We also did the King Tut exhibit in Ft Lauderdale and that was really great too. The lines weren't too bad as we went on a tuesday in the middle of the day. They had alot more stuff in 1976 when it came to Washington DC, but it was still fantastic.
The hotel screwed up some stuff like we got 2 wake up calls at 625am over the course of 2 days while we wanted to sleep late and the shower knob and phone kept breaking, but they fixed most of it and credited us the $15 resort fee and $15 parking fee each of our 5 nights! We were happy...
We tried overlooking all the things that made the Hyatt bad, and due to the low price, we accepted it's deficiencies. The day before we left the whole hotel converted into a convention for the Osteopathic community, and we felt out of place, but it was still ok. I can see how some people would have been miffed if they experience the things we had, like a really disgusting ice machine room at the end of our hallway that had gross stains on the floors, but I just laughed at it due to our low room rate.
On to Miami next -
Steve R
Silver Spring MD
Jet Blue Airlines. I never thought I'd see live TV on an airplane. I will never fly any other airline to Florida other than Jet Blue again! I was so happy I thought I might cry! Live TV - we were blown away, and the time passed SO fast.
Hyatt Ft Lauderdale: We got the Hyatt Fort Lauderdale and were surprised how nice our $135 Priceline hotel was. We asked them as nicely as possible to be upgraded to the Tower Room and they kept saying that it was $40 more, but eventually they caved for some reason and let us have it. The hotel was very nice, for the price. So was the location, just minutes from the beach by car. We saw some pretty scathing reviews of this hotel on Trip Advisor but we just aren't that picky I guess. Yeah, the hallway had an ugly clorox stain on it's dated carpet, there were marks on the wall, some food trays now and then outside the rooms - so what! Our room was awesome even though there were some marks on the walls, and the bathroom was huge and very nice in creme marble with a separate toilet - we love this. There's something nice about going to the bathroom without kicking your spouse out of the bathroom as the room is separate.
The view was fantastic of the ocean from our lowly 5th floor room, and also the yachts, the lovely houses, and A1A. We loved this view and were grateful to be upgraded.
Food: We ate out at Casa De Angelo (I hope I remember this correctly) one night after getting lost on the way to Houston's Restaurant. We were glad we found it as our friend recommended it 2 nights before but we forgot about it. It was heavenly, with a $30 shrimp dish we split, split a broccoli rabe side dish and split a salad. All were amazing, as was the free brushetta and bread served with the meal. The chocolate flourless cake with vanilla gelato was a slice of heaven.
We also tried Mezzaluna one night on A1A and it was good, but highly overpriced. We split an excellent Caesar salad, got 2 pastas and a chocolate flourless cake with ice cream ($13!) for dessert. My wife didn't think the food was near as good as our other restaurant but it was fine with me.
Our first night we tried to get into Anthony's Runway 84 but were told to wait, that he'd try to fit us in... 45 minutes later, nothing! He kept saying he's trying, but meanwhile everyone who showed up apparantly knew the host and kissed him or shook his hand. We were outcasts, so we left and ate at... Lester's Diner which was excellent for what we got. Spanakopita platter for me and she got waffles with bacon.
Another night we met friends at Thai Spice, the best reviewed Thai restaurant in South Florida and it was most enjoyable. We split 5 dishes but should have got another. They were the best desserts we ever had at an ethnic restaurant. Key Lime pie, chocolate cake and pecan pie - perfection.
One day we drove to Palm Beach for the Breakers Hotel for lunch, but got sidetracked and saw the Four Seasons Palm Springs, were curious, and decided to eat there instead. $18 for a burger, so we split it as it came with a salad and were quite full afterwards, as this was accompanied by a huge salsa and bean dip with a full plate of tortilla chips.
When we finally got to the Breakers we were so excited, got out of the car, and they wanted $20 to valet the car. $20! We were shocked. No self park, no where else to park, and we couldn't justify it so we left fairly pi**ed off. We just wanted to look in the lobby and the gift shop for 5 minutes! They said we'd have to spend $20 to get validated, and we told them we already ate lunch. They said too bad, it was high season. Oh well - we'll go back for LUNCH next year when we come back.
We then went to Worth Ave to shop and my wife got a beautiful pearl on a necklace, probably the least expensive piece of jewelry on this entire street. I've never seen so many Bentley's on one street in my life. Talk about the "other half". I went to the Norton Museum for the Matisse exhibit and it was awesome. Such a lovely museum and that Chihuly ceiling with all the glass sea creatures - marvelous. Wish I had more time there. It's huge!
We also did the King Tut exhibit in Ft Lauderdale and that was really great too. The lines weren't too bad as we went on a tuesday in the middle of the day. They had alot more stuff in 1976 when it came to Washington DC, but it was still fantastic.
The hotel screwed up some stuff like we got 2 wake up calls at 625am over the course of 2 days while we wanted to sleep late and the shower knob and phone kept breaking, but they fixed most of it and credited us the $15 resort fee and $15 parking fee each of our 5 nights! We were happy...
We tried overlooking all the things that made the Hyatt bad, and due to the low price, we accepted it's deficiencies. The day before we left the whole hotel converted into a convention for the Osteopathic community, and we felt out of place, but it was still ok. I can see how some people would have been miffed if they experience the things we had, like a really disgusting ice machine room at the end of our hallway that had gross stains on the floors, but I just laughed at it due to our low room rate.
On to Miami next -
Steve R
Silver Spring MD
Feb 23rd, 2006, 01:04 PM
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Day 6 - Miami
So we just got to the Doral Golf and Spa hotel today and we are very, very surprised how nice it is here. We got a friends and family rate through our friend of $199 a night (instead of $319 regular rate) and it is a relative bargain. We checked our bags, and drove straight for the Seybold building in downtown Miami where my wife was going to pick out some earings she's been saving for since last February. We went to our favorite Joe the Jeweler at Buchwalds (no affiliation), and she got what she's been wanting there. We ate at a fantastic little lunch spot a few blocks away but I forget the name. It was heavenly - a huge tuna panini, salad and homemade chocolate truffle cookies.
We got a courtesy call from the Doral that our room was ready at 130pm so we headed back to the hotel to check in. We were amazed by how nice our room was as well as the entire property. Folks on Trip Advisor had said some fairly rude things about this hotel here and there, but I just can't figure out why. Granted, the whole hotel is taken over by Deloitte and Touche accounting firm with some 4 day conference right now, but so what. Yeah, there were about 100 businessmen jabbering away on their cell phones in the lobby when we got here as they were on break from meetings, but we tried not to pay any attention. I can just see how another reviewer might say "Gosh, the whole hotel was filled with businessmen and there was this huge business meeting 8 hours a day and we felt out of place while on vacation here." But to us, we just don't care about that stuff. It's all good, ya know? No worries, mon.
When the bellman showed us to our room overlooking the golf course on the 2nd floor, our jaws dropped. The room was like something out of a Four Seasons hotel brochure - VERY large, a sweeping golf course and lake view, beautiful linens, really tasteful and expensively framed artwork, a nice separate table area by the door for my wife to use with a stool... It had a sumptuous bathroom with incredible green marble sink (that's kind of unusual - green marble - a touch of class), separate shower and tub, separate toilet behind a door, creme colored marble floor, great bath/spa products - we were so happy.
The mini bar was a trip - it's clear glass in front and shows off the humongous king size candy bars and other decadent treats. It's not like you can hide from them, as it's right below the TV and is always in view - smart marketing. They're staring at you for hours as you watch tv calling out - "you want me, you need me, yeah, we cost alot, but he**, you're on vacation, go ahead and make your day."
The carpet in the room is amazing and the padding ultra thick. Can this really be a Marriott? Is this hotel really 40 years old? Such old world elegance. We just love it here. It's been sunny and beautiful for the 6 days of our trip so far and the pool was so hot today we only lasted 40 minutes out there.
To digress: we did the beach at Ft Lauderdale yesterday and that was MUCH better than expected. The beach service was great, the beach not that full, and the scene pretty interesting. The water felt wonderful and was shallow till very far out, making it very safe to swim. The pool at the Hyatt Ft Lauderdale was quite nice actually. Yes, they finally completed it (it was closed for many months) and it was fine for us. My wife loves the pool chairs so we spent 2 days at their pool hanging out for a couple of hours a day.
The pool area at the Doral wasn't as nice at first glance, but the pool by the Spa looked alot quieter and prettier. We'll try that Sunday maybe.
Another great thing about the Doral is that you can avoid the costly $23 a day valet park - with a tip $25 a day. We choose the self park instead for ... FREE. This is rare in Miami so we were pleased as punch. It's like a free lunch each day Yeah, it's a REALLY long walk back to the room, but I'm thrifty when I can be. If my wife only knew how far it was, she'd freak. I told her that whenever we need the car, I'd get it and then she could just meet me in the lobby 10 minutes later as I'd pull the car around. Little does she know I'll be huffing it over to the other side of the solar system to save this $25 a day. Call me cheap - I call it smart.
It's only our first 1/2 day here, so I'll update this post as the trip wears on, unless you guys are bored to tears by now due to my incessant typing.
Steve R
Silver Spring MD
So we just got to the Doral Golf and Spa hotel today and we are very, very surprised how nice it is here. We got a friends and family rate through our friend of $199 a night (instead of $319 regular rate) and it is a relative bargain. We checked our bags, and drove straight for the Seybold building in downtown Miami where my wife was going to pick out some earings she's been saving for since last February. We went to our favorite Joe the Jeweler at Buchwalds (no affiliation), and she got what she's been wanting there. We ate at a fantastic little lunch spot a few blocks away but I forget the name. It was heavenly - a huge tuna panini, salad and homemade chocolate truffle cookies.
We got a courtesy call from the Doral that our room was ready at 130pm so we headed back to the hotel to check in. We were amazed by how nice our room was as well as the entire property. Folks on Trip Advisor had said some fairly rude things about this hotel here and there, but I just can't figure out why. Granted, the whole hotel is taken over by Deloitte and Touche accounting firm with some 4 day conference right now, but so what. Yeah, there were about 100 businessmen jabbering away on their cell phones in the lobby when we got here as they were on break from meetings, but we tried not to pay any attention. I can just see how another reviewer might say "Gosh, the whole hotel was filled with businessmen and there was this huge business meeting 8 hours a day and we felt out of place while on vacation here." But to us, we just don't care about that stuff. It's all good, ya know? No worries, mon.
When the bellman showed us to our room overlooking the golf course on the 2nd floor, our jaws dropped. The room was like something out of a Four Seasons hotel brochure - VERY large, a sweeping golf course and lake view, beautiful linens, really tasteful and expensively framed artwork, a nice separate table area by the door for my wife to use with a stool... It had a sumptuous bathroom with incredible green marble sink (that's kind of unusual - green marble - a touch of class), separate shower and tub, separate toilet behind a door, creme colored marble floor, great bath/spa products - we were so happy.
The mini bar was a trip - it's clear glass in front and shows off the humongous king size candy bars and other decadent treats. It's not like you can hide from them, as it's right below the TV and is always in view - smart marketing. They're staring at you for hours as you watch tv calling out - "you want me, you need me, yeah, we cost alot, but he**, you're on vacation, go ahead and make your day."
The carpet in the room is amazing and the padding ultra thick. Can this really be a Marriott? Is this hotel really 40 years old? Such old world elegance. We just love it here. It's been sunny and beautiful for the 6 days of our trip so far and the pool was so hot today we only lasted 40 minutes out there.
To digress: we did the beach at Ft Lauderdale yesterday and that was MUCH better than expected. The beach service was great, the beach not that full, and the scene pretty interesting. The water felt wonderful and was shallow till very far out, making it very safe to swim. The pool at the Hyatt Ft Lauderdale was quite nice actually. Yes, they finally completed it (it was closed for many months) and it was fine for us. My wife loves the pool chairs so we spent 2 days at their pool hanging out for a couple of hours a day.
The pool area at the Doral wasn't as nice at first glance, but the pool by the Spa looked alot quieter and prettier. We'll try that Sunday maybe.
Another great thing about the Doral is that you can avoid the costly $23 a day valet park - with a tip $25 a day. We choose the self park instead for ... FREE. This is rare in Miami so we were pleased as punch. It's like a free lunch each day
Yeah, it's a REALLY long walk back to the room, but I'm thrifty when I can be. If my wife only knew how far it was, she'd freak. I told her that whenever we need the car, I'd get it and then she could just meet me in the lobby 10 minutes later as I'd pull the car around. Little does she know I'll be huffing it over to the other side of the solar system to save this $25 a day. Call me cheap - I call it smart.It's only our first 1/2 day here, so I'll update this post as the trip wears on, unless you guys are bored to tears by now due to my incessant typing.
Steve R
Silver Spring MD
Feb 23rd, 2006, 02:25 PM
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You make an interesting point about Tripadvisor. In researching a particular hotel I'm considering for an upcoming visit, I notice several of the reports from unhappy guests mentioned they paid $300 to $400 a night for their rooms. I wonder if the higher your room rate, the higher your expectation of the property is and the more you would be bothered by things that you might otherwise ignore if you paid half as much.
Feb 23rd, 2006, 02:33 PM
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Hi stever, I am so enjoying your trip report..always fun to read a report when one posts it during their trip! Oh how I envy you..I could stand a getaway as you two are having. For a few minutes I was mentally on your vacation.
Feb 23rd, 2006, 02:35 PM
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I am so jealous you are at the Doral and so glad you are enjoying yourself. We love it there. The spa is lovely, and yes the pool by there is far quieter - try and enjoy the spa if you can, their services are lovely and you can even lunch in your robe! how decadent....the gold courses are excellent also, but I don't get the feeling you'll be golfing - I have also been there when conferences were going on, as it is a popular location for that, and even on the golf course they fit us in before or after and it never interrupted our stay - so what if they are gabbing on cell phones in the lobby, I'm with you, I don't care and I don't plan on hanging around in the lobby - we did the same thing you did with the car, a minor inconvenience and the $ saved pays for something else - and the walking works off the lbs. gained on vacation !! Hope the rest of your stay is lovely as well -often they ahve the hors d'oeuvre room prior to dinner hour and if they are still doing that it is worth a drop by - if your room didn't include it inquire anyway, -we did that once and got a "pass" to try it -
Feb 24th, 2006, 09:04 AM
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This is fun, and thanks for the positive responses. So we decide to brave traffic and go to Lincoln Rd last night in South Beach and spend 45 minutes getting there. We wondered if it wouldn't have been better to just stay in South Beach but after a very crowded 2 hours on Lincoln Rd, my wife lovingly looked at me and said she's so glad we're at the Doral instead, away from the crowds and loudness. Gosh we're getting old
We found a meter spot 2 blocks from Lincoln Rd and rejoiced, parking and reparking closer and closer to the curb trying to get SO close. We go to pay the meter and alas, it's broken. Arghhh. We move the car and are lucky to find a meter spot just 1 block from Lincoln Rd now but it only has 2 hours on it. She says that should be fine (it's 7pm now) and I know differently, how distracted she gets with shopping but say fine. We walk past Sushi Samba I think it was called, near Cafeteria and decide to eat there as we've been eating SO much fattening food and this should be heathier. It was fantastic, but ... $12 for a 6 piece california roll? I had an avocado and cuke roll, my favorite, and we split some edame (sp?) beans in the shell, a fish and chips with plantains as the chips and very fresh fish lightly battered, a green salad and walked out for under $50. Awesome service though our inside table was tiny. Great sights of people walking outside, the sushi chefs working their magic right in front of us - they're such artists.
We got dessert at our favorite place in South Beach - the Ghiardelli shop. We got a chocolate milkshake as usual and some free sample squares. Oh, sooo good.
We walked Lincoln Rd to the end, shopped a bit, and high tailed it back to our meter. This will be the last trip to South Beach till next year. We considered doing the beach here tomorrow but the pool at the Doral looked so inviting and easy to get to for the limited 2 hours we had this morning.
We are breakfast in our room, cereal that we bring and milk we bought last night at a store and drank our own Starbucks we brought with us. We checked out the hotel today - what great looking restaurants. By the way, the bad... the hotel rooms aren't soundproofed that well and we heard the neighbors coughing and talking and their TV. If someone wrote this on Trip Advisor, they might go on and on about how THIN the walls were and say they would NEVER GO BACK! This would have freaked us out. We just turned on our portable fan we always bring with us, put my earplugs in and went to sleep. The sheets are ridiculously nice for a Marriott and the room felt luxurious deluxe. The toilet is one of those large commodious ones with the silent flush. Ahhhh - very nice.
We went to the Spa Pool today and it was heaven. So quiet, nice people all around us, the waterfalls with the little pools next to each one to soak in were fantastic, all off to the side of the main pool. We checked out the spa, but are the type of people that never pay money for spa services when away from home as they are so expensive. My wife needed her toenails repainted so we decided to pay the $15 to have it done and she said it was the most comfortable chair she'd ever been in in a nail salon. They had tea and coffee and fruit so we stocked up on plums, apples and oranges. Bargains are to be found everywhere in life.
The spa building is so handsome but we decided to eat at Champions restaurant next door but still at the Doral Resort. You know how people say sometimes in reviews "Great place but the food was too expensive, don't eat the food there, it wasn't worth it. Go here instead...."?
Well, we realized that for the most part these people are WRONG! We ate the food at Champions and paid $15 for a burger and salad on the side. They split it beautifully for us and it was so big, it felt like we each had a burger and salad. It was amazing, better than the one we split earlier in the week at the Four Seasons Palm Beach. We were stuffed afterwards. So see? It was a bargain in a way, plus, the beauty of the resort all around us, the lush landscaping, the watching the guys set up for some Ford Blue Monster Golf Tournament was cool. We didn't pay money to drive anywhere else, we didn't have to deal with the hassle of driving in mind blowing traffic, we didn't have to pay to park - so it was a GREAT deal. We're even considering eating dinner at Windows on the Green here as the menu is no more expensive than any nice place in South Beach, and it was great ambiance and no parking or driving hassles.
Eating at your own resort is highly underrated we figured.
Signing off for now. Time to meet our nieces in South Miami at a Toy's R Us in Kendall. They love this so much. We spend an hour picking out their Hanukkah, Birthday and all other holiday presents that we missed all year.
It would have been fun to have some Fodor's folks meet us at our resort for dinner one night. If I had thought of it in advance... oh well.
Signing off for now. Hope there weren't too many typing mistakes as I'm in a hurry to get back to the room and get out of this wet bathing suit!
Cheers,
Steve R
Silver Spring MD
We found a meter spot 2 blocks from Lincoln Rd and rejoiced, parking and reparking closer and closer to the curb trying to get SO close. We go to pay the meter and alas, it's broken. Arghhh. We move the car and are lucky to find a meter spot just 1 block from Lincoln Rd now but it only has 2 hours on it. She says that should be fine (it's 7pm now) and I know differently, how distracted she gets with shopping but say fine. We walk past Sushi Samba I think it was called, near Cafeteria and decide to eat there as we've been eating SO much fattening food and this should be heathier. It was fantastic, but ... $12 for a 6 piece california roll? I had an avocado and cuke roll, my favorite, and we split some edame (sp?) beans in the shell, a fish and chips with plantains as the chips and very fresh fish lightly battered, a green salad and walked out for under $50. Awesome service though our inside table was tiny. Great sights of people walking outside, the sushi chefs working their magic right in front of us - they're such artists.
We got dessert at our favorite place in South Beach - the Ghiardelli shop. We got a chocolate milkshake as usual and some free sample squares. Oh, sooo good.
We walked Lincoln Rd to the end, shopped a bit, and high tailed it back to our meter. This will be the last trip to South Beach till next year. We considered doing the beach here tomorrow but the pool at the Doral looked so inviting and easy to get to for the limited 2 hours we had this morning.
We are breakfast in our room, cereal that we bring and milk we bought last night at a store and drank our own Starbucks we brought with us. We checked out the hotel today - what great looking restaurants. By the way, the bad... the hotel rooms aren't soundproofed that well and we heard the neighbors coughing and talking and their TV. If someone wrote this on Trip Advisor, they might go on and on about how THIN the walls were and say they would NEVER GO BACK! This would have freaked us out. We just turned on our portable fan we always bring with us, put my earplugs in and went to sleep. The sheets are ridiculously nice for a Marriott and the room felt luxurious deluxe. The toilet is one of those large commodious ones with the silent flush. Ahhhh - very nice.
We went to the Spa Pool today and it was heaven. So quiet, nice people all around us, the waterfalls with the little pools next to each one to soak in were fantastic, all off to the side of the main pool. We checked out the spa, but are the type of people that never pay money for spa services when away from home as they are so expensive. My wife needed her toenails repainted so we decided to pay the $15 to have it done and she said it was the most comfortable chair she'd ever been in in a nail salon. They had tea and coffee and fruit so we stocked up on plums, apples and oranges
. Bargains are to be found everywhere in life.The spa building is so handsome but we decided to eat at Champions restaurant next door but still at the Doral Resort. You know how people say sometimes in reviews "Great place but the food was too expensive, don't eat the food there, it wasn't worth it. Go here instead...."?
Well, we realized that for the most part these people are WRONG! We ate the food at Champions and paid $15 for a burger and salad on the side. They split it beautifully for us and it was so big, it felt like we each had a burger and salad. It was amazing, better than the one we split earlier in the week at the Four Seasons Palm Beach. We were stuffed afterwards. So see? It was a bargain in a way, plus, the beauty of the resort all around us, the lush landscaping, the watching the guys set up for some Ford Blue Monster Golf Tournament was cool. We didn't pay money to drive anywhere else, we didn't have to deal with the hassle of driving in mind blowing traffic, we didn't have to pay to park - so it was a GREAT deal. We're even considering eating dinner at Windows on the Green here as the menu is no more expensive than any nice place in South Beach, and it was great ambiance and no parking or driving hassles.
Eating at your own resort is highly underrated we figured.
Signing off for now. Time to meet our nieces in South Miami at a Toy's R Us in Kendall. They love this so much. We spend an hour picking out their Hanukkah, Birthday and all other holiday presents that we missed all year.
It would have been fun to have some Fodor's folks meet us at our resort for dinner one night. If I had thought of it in advance... oh well.
Signing off for now. Hope there weren't too many typing mistakes as I'm in a hurry to get back to the room and get out of this wet bathing suit!
Cheers,
Steve R
Silver Spring MD
Feb 24th, 2006, 02:08 PM
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Hi Stever, your trip is so much fun to read about!! You two know how to travel and have fun. I found myself almost sitting in that comfy chair getting a pedicure!! Enjoy..and thanks for sharing.
Feb 25th, 2006, 01:48 PM
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Thanks LoveItaly. Wet to Max's Grille in Coral Gables last night - a new place that opened 4 weeks ago that we heard about on Chowhounds.com. It was fan freakin' tastic. Loved the ambience, the chopped salad that we split, the Sole fish special with stone crab topping on potatoes and stir fried vegetables (you know those dishes that every bite is savored so much that you want to figure out what's in it so you can make it at home? this was one of those). We also has a shrimp scampi that was marvelous and split the chocolate flourless torte with chocolate mousse on top and the creme brulee cake with berries INSIDE the cake. Ooh laa. Even got a spot a half block away on a busy friday night. The parking gods were on our side.
Went to The Falls shopping center today in South Miami - such a gorgeous way to do a shopping mall, outside.
It's dinner at Windows tonight at our hotel, so I'll try to report back on that. All these highways around the Doral are so complicated to remember, we'll be glad to be back home soon. This turnpike to that freeway to that interstate... it's hard for us 45 year olds to remember it all when coming from a different direction each time.
Steve R
Silver Spring MD
Went to The Falls shopping center today in South Miami - such a gorgeous way to do a shopping mall, outside.
It's dinner at Windows tonight at our hotel, so I'll try to report back on that. All these highways around the Doral are so complicated to remember, we'll be glad to be back home soon. This turnpike to that freeway to that interstate... it's hard for us 45 year olds to remember it all when coming from a different direction each time.
Steve R
Silver Spring MD
Feb 26th, 2006, 10:12 AM
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Well, then I'll keep posting. Ate at Windows last night at The Doral and it was most excellent. We had a killer jerk mahi mahi dish, poached pear salad, mushroom soup with a cheese crouton, and a huge dessert plate for dessert with a bunch of mixed dessert that they gave us for our anniversary and a chocolate bomb dessert after that because we're chocolate addicts.
Yesterday we checked out another room that didn't have a connecting door that we thought might be quieter, but it had a view of the putting green and every few seconds you'd hear a "thwack". We decided to keep our room with the view even though it's not well insulated at all due to the connecting door and just deal with it.
Went to the pool today and had my nieces over. The waterslide at the Doral is perfect for kids. They loved it till it started torentially pouring! We then got another cheeseburger split in half with fries at the Champions restaurant and loved it. My nieces got the macaroni and cheese and it was the best I'd ever tasted.
This is a really exciting place right now if you're into golf, (we're not) as most of the world's best players are coming in each day getting ready to play the Doral PGA tour, or something like that! They are driving really cool cars and all seem to have beautiful wives even though they aren't all that ... well, get the point. Tiger Woods is expected in a couple of days - too bad we'll be gone by then.
More to come... the weather just broke and the pool is calling.
Steve R
Yesterday we checked out another room that didn't have a connecting door that we thought might be quieter, but it had a view of the putting green and every few seconds you'd hear a "thwack". We decided to keep our room with the view even though it's not well insulated at all due to the connecting door and just deal with it.
Went to the pool today and had my nieces over. The waterslide at the Doral is perfect for kids. They loved it till it started torentially pouring! We then got another cheeseburger split in half with fries at the Champions restaurant and loved it. My nieces got the macaroni and cheese and it was the best I'd ever tasted.
This is a really exciting place right now if you're into golf, (we're not) as most of the world's best players are coming in each day getting ready to play the Doral PGA tour, or something like that! They are driving really cool cars and all seem to have beautiful wives even though they aren't all that ... well, get the point. Tiger Woods is expected in a couple of days - too bad we'll be gone by then.
More to come... the weather just broke and the pool is calling.
Steve R
Feb 28th, 2006, 08:09 PM
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Trip is over now and we're home. Lastly just want to say that the real downfall of the Doral is the extreme lack of soundproofing in between the rooms (adults and their kids in the room next door on the sounded like they were in our room when our fan wasn't on!) and the awful walk to the self parking area. There are no sidewalks for part of this walk and it's really kind of dangerous with all the traffic and electric maintenance carts running around this area all night and day.
Thanks again to all that helped us plan this trip. On the way out of town yesterday, we checked out the Bal Harbor Sheraton. There are some terrible Trip Reports on Trip Advisor about this place, but we asked to see a room and it looked KILLER! The pool, room and beach are NOT dated but look wonderful. Who knew? We're planning on staying there next year. We also ate at Wolfie's Rascal House on the way out of town and had the best corned beef I've had in years.
Till the next trip...
Steve R
Silver Spring MD
Thanks again to all that helped us plan this trip. On the way out of town yesterday, we checked out the Bal Harbor Sheraton. There are some terrible Trip Reports on Trip Advisor about this place, but we asked to see a room and it looked KILLER! The pool, room and beach are NOT dated but look wonderful. Who knew? We're planning on staying there next year. We also ate at Wolfie's Rascal House on the way out of town and had the best corned beef I've had in years.
Till the next trip...
Steve R
Silver Spring MD
Feb 28th, 2006, 08:14 PM
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Welcome home Stever, and thanks for sharing your anniversary trip. It sounded delightful (hope the children in the next room weren't too noisy!) And your description of food..yum! Kept making me hungry.
Mar 1st, 2006, 07:14 AM
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Sigh! You make me miss FL so badly stever. I want to feel that humid air and the sand between my toes. I enjoyed your whole report..including the burgers. 
I agree with your TripAdvisor observations too, by the way. I've seen so many things written there that are flat out wrong, bad info...not subjective things either, but factual errors. That said, Pier 66 is not my favorite Hyatt, although our room there was incredible and the view of the ocean, the canals and the port was wonderful! Sigh...I reeeeally need a Florida fix!!
I agree with your TripAdvisor observations too, by the way. I've seen so many things written there that are flat out wrong, bad info...not subjective things either, but factual errors. That said, Pier 66 is not my favorite Hyatt, although our room there was incredible and the view of the ocean, the canals and the port was wonderful! Sigh...I reeeeally need a Florida fix!!
