*sigh* now it's San Diego indecision!
 

Currently I'm booked into 2 hotels ... the Marriott Coronado and the new Homewood Suites at Liberty Station. I've been yo-yo-ing between the two and now have both booked and unable to make a decision!

Marriott Coronado appears perfect. But something is nagging at me. We need to stay on a Saturday, Sunday and Monday. If I ask for just the Sunday and Monday, I get a nice package offered to me, which includes breakfast and parking. But when I add in the Saturday, the package disappears and the rate is higher without breakfast and parking, than with! I did phone and asked if there was any way of booking the Sunday and Monday on the package deal and paying the higher rate for the Saturday, but the person I spoke to didn't seem to understand my question, so I gave up.

Likewise, the Homewood Suites seem perfect, but people keep mentioning 'smells' and that it's not a very good area to stay. Well, I wouldn't know, not having been there before - anybody any thoughts?

I'd call again and talk to a different agent. Just say you want to book Sunday/Monday with the good package, and then the best rate available for Saturday. Sounds like you had a lousy agent taking the first call. They should be able to handle this.

Its a new area in terms of new hotels / restaurants. Its near the former Marine training center. But it is a perfect location for access to the downtown, airport, beaches, etc. I usually stay on Shelter Island, which isn't much farther past that. That being said, Coronado is a great area and a lot of fun. Its up to you. If you are happy with the rates on Coronado and get the package for Sunday / Monday, go for it. Either way, you should be able to enjoy SD as it is a great city.

I made the mistake of phoning the UK number on the back of my Rewards card. The person I spoke to didn't appear to speak English ... I'll maybe phone the hotel direct.

We're stopping at lots of Marriotts on our trip; love their beds! And, if we stay at the Marriott Coronado, we would have enough points for a free night at the Heathrow Marriott when we return. Alas though, your points need to be at least 7 days old. Grrh.

tchoiniere, yes I looked up a lot of info on Liberty Station, including the USS Recruit, which is 'parked' right next to the hotel. It all sounds very interesting, including the ship . I think it would be an ideal place for us to stay - lots of space, breakfast, free parking and a fridge, which the Marriott doesn't offer. Who cares about a 'funny smell'?! :)

was the funny smell a sewage smell. there is a pump station not far from there and sometimes when the wind switches you can get a "funny smell". but it's not an all the time occurance.

The Marriott Coronado is a much better location. It's close to downtown, you can get there by ferry/water taxi if you don't want to drive and park. The view of the San Diego downtown skyline is fantastic. Coronado is a lovely little town to stroll and the beach by the Hotel Del is one of the best in the world.

The Homewood Suites is on the site of the former Naval Training Center, San Deigo. Part of the site is preserved for historical importance, part has been developed. It isn't the most convenient area, IMO, for tourists, but it is closer to Point Loma and the Cabrillo National Monument.

Barbara, thanks for the correction. I couldn't remember if it was Marines or Navy. Of course, went for the wrong one...

Wild, dunno if you can use a UK credit card to book a hotel in the UK via Priceline. However, if you're looking for a room at Heathrow upon your return, I'd suggest giving it a try. 4-star properties at LHR are going for considerably less than $100.

Barbara is right about this, the hotel at Liberty Station would be a boring place to stay. I don't think it's a high crime area, but there's not a lot around there that would interest a toursist.

Like Barbara, I live in SD.

Hope you have a great trip.

Hi bookall
I've never gone through Priceline, simply because it's (I think) impossible to get triple rooms and there is myself, hub and adult son. We can't generally afford 2 rooms - although sometimes we splash out! I've got a room booked for when we return to the UK, but at a Travelodge (£15!!!). We're stopping at the Marriott Heathrow the night before our flight and we're parking our car with them. Total cost is about $400 for the night's accommodation + 4 weeks parking. The cost for a night's accommodation only, on our return, because it is a weekday, would be about the same. Too much!

Thanks Barbara and L8. Yes, I completely see where you're coming from, which is why I haven't (yet) cancelled the Coronado booking. However, we did a quick rundown of things last evening, and it stands out a mile which place we should stay booked with.

Price (3 nights, 3 adults)

Coronado Marriott $1215
Homewood Suites $1132

Breakfast

Marriott - No (purchase separately at around $18 pp)
Homewood - Included

Parking

Marriott - $20 per day
Homewood - Free parking

Locality

Marriott - 5.17 miles, 11 mins to Seaport Village
Homewood - 3.86 miles, 7 mins to Seaport Village

Sleeping arrangements

Marriott - one room with 2 double beds + rollaway bed.
Homewood - 2 x bedrooms, with K in one and Q in the other + 2 bathrooms + sofabed in sitting-room

Balcony and view

Marriott - balcony + bay view
Homewood - balcony + bay view (although not totally certain on that, but it doesn't matter overmuch)

Nearby

Marriott - shops and restaurants
Homewood - shops and restaurants

Fridge

Marriott - no - just a minibar, which you shouldn't touch!
Homewood - yes + full kitchen.

Bad

Marriott - nothing evident
Homewood - possible smell (could be sewage, somebody mentioned tidal - and somebody else mentioned 'dead fish')

Wifi

Marriott - pay (I think $9 per day)
Homewood - included

But I still haven't decided!! We are not too fussed about locality, as such - just as long as it's safe and within reasonable reach of most places.

Do yourself a favor and quit looking. Make a reservation and then STOP your search. You can obsess about this until the moment you arrive at the hotel.

Travel involves a few risks. Hotels are part of that risk. Just relax.

You're going to have a car right?

Then the Homewood will save you the money you spend on the car and Sport Arena area (Homewood) isn't far from anything.

Since I live in SD, I don't spend much time at hotels so I'm not sure what it's overlooking.

There are lots of stores and resturants in that area. Old Town is nearby, so is the airport, Sea World. It's not far from Balboa Park and the beaches.
Even though breakfast is included, you won't be far from one of my favorite breakfast places- Perry's. If you decide to go, order one frittata breakfast to split btwn 2. It's huge and it's good. PS don't let this info get out - go early.

The Homewood Suites should be fine. I didn't realise it's right on Harbor Drive. It's new, so everything should be in good condition, etc. It's less expensive so go for it. The outdoor firplace looks nice.

L84Sky,

I think you and I had the same idea of the location of the Homewood Suites. If you take a look at the map on the hotel web site, it's actually not a bad place.

Yep Barbara. I was curious about this hotel and went to Tripadvisor.
The guy who wrote about the dead fish said, "We walked over to the rocks where the water was and it smelled like dead fish" Doesn't sound like he went very far away from the hotel. Also, he heard airplanes "all day long". Again, he didn't get far away from the hotel during the day. Personally, I wouldn't trust that review as it sounds like wildblueyonder is going to have a lot more fun.

Won't ya?

BTW, wby, if you wanted to stock the fridge there's a trader joes pretty close to this location, For some organic food- People's Food Store in Ocean Beach is just a car ride away. Plus, a multitude of reasonably priced restaurants in the area.

Of course, you are going to hear planes all day long. Its about a mile from the airport. Its a convenient location to everything

I think I'll cancel the Marriott then, shall I?!

Did you know that SpongeBob is soon to invade San Diego, with a new Nickolodeon Resort being built at Liberty Station? Ooh!

L8 - yep, I'd noticed the Trader Joe's - it's our favourite place to grocery shop!

I think the bloke who did the 'fish smell' review might well have been writing on behalf of the Dana ... but, whatever, certainly he doesn't get out and about much if he listened to those planes all day!

Thanks guys! :)

don't worry about the planes you won't be in your room most of the day anyhow and they stop flying at 11:30 pm and do not resume flying til 6:30 am. it's really a very convientent location to a lot in San Diego.

Hope the weather is perfect for you wby. What do you plan to do while you're here?

Didn't know about this hotel since I live in the area and don't stay in hotels in SD. As much as I love Coronado, I think booking the Homewood Suites is a better deal for your family. You certainly will have more room and the fact that it includes breakfast, parking and internet will certainly save you money. The pictures look nice. I will have to check out the location next time I am in that area.

My aunt stayed at the Homewood Suites for 2 months due to the wildfires and damage to her house. The insurance company had to use a crowbar to get her out of the hotel because she loved it so much. The windows are well insulated so airplane noise is not an issue in the room. Crime is not a problem and as others mentioned there is new development all around the place.

I've been to lots of parties at the Marriot and it too is nice. The one thing it has over the homewood is views of san diego downtown. There will be more traffic issues for the Marriot because you have to go over the bridge as well as go through the freeway downtown. The extra space would be nice in the Homewood Suites. It just depends on what you want to do in SD and how much space you want.

Worse case scenario, flip a coin because you can't go wrong with either.

itsv - yes, that view of the city is a killer and the only reason I still have the booking! But I don't think that the small amount of time we'd sit on the balcony, admiring the view, would justify the extra cost and less space, alas. My ideal would be a place on the beach, but I've searched the coastline around on Google Earth and haven't come up with anything which is affordable, available and suitable. The closest I've come is Loews on Coronado, but, again, the space we would have wouldn't be as good as at the Homewood Suites.

L8 - can't say we've given this an awful lot of thought, as it's the last stop on our long cross-country trip. But we do have tickets for a baseball game and we'll 'do' Old Town, Balboa Park, Coronado, Pacific, Mission and Silver Sands beaches - probably Horton Place and Seaport Village. Maybe take a boat trip around the harbour. Probably won't go to the Zoo or SeaWorld, but maybe the Wild Animal Park. We only have 2.5 days and it will be nice to be able to just 'go easy'.

If you are looking for things to cut out, let me make some suggestions, even though you didn’t ask for them. I hope you don’t mind.

Go to Balboa Park on the same day you go to the Padres game, it’s fairly close.

First- Wild Animal Park is up in Escondido, about 35 miles from where you’ll be staying. If you want to take it easy, this might be a good thing to cut. The Zoo is almost a part of Balboa Park. It’s a great zoo, if you’re into them. If you are coming in the summer months both the zoo and WAP are open at night. It’s much better to take advantage of this b/c if it’s hot (and it very well may be) animals are lazy during the hot day. Best time to see big cats is at dusk.

If you like shopping Horton Plaza is a big mall with stores that you will see all across the US. (seems like you’re not from the States?), Seaport Village is a tourist trap of small shops with stuff that says, “San Diego” on it. (all made in China)

I haven’t been to the “new” Old Town but it’s an interesting look at old San Diego circa 1800’s . Hey, we get excited about anything over 100 years old. You’ll see.

I’d skip the Silver Strand and you wouldn’t be missing much. It’s a long stretch of beach, flanked on one side by a road.

La Jolla is the much more attractive beach. Ocean Beach is nearby where you’ll be staying and the tide pools and cliffs are interesting there.

Well you're just getting all kinds of advice from me today.

I saw on your other thread about scrapbooking. I've never been into this store but my sister used to go to this one and it's near where you'll be staying:

Scrapbook Your Life!
3655 Camino Del Rio W #A
San Diego CA 92110

located where the 5 & 8 Freeways meet Rosecrans St / Camino del Rio West! We're between Jefferson and Moore Street. Some of our neighbors are Marine Boat (formally Piano Exchange), B&L Bikes (formerly The Candle Factory) and Rent a Harley. And we're directly across the street from Denny's

The Piano Exchange isn't there any more? LOL! Shows how long it is since I drove that way!

I agree with everythng L84Sky wrote, but I'd suggest driving a little further north up the coast to Del Mar and having lunch at either Jake's or Poseidon. They're right next to the beach there and both have valet parking.It's a great beach and there's a little grassy park on the hillside too.

La Jolla is a lovely place to visit though. George's Terrace is a fabulous place for either lunch or dinner. I really prefer it to the main restaurant. Trattoria Aqua is also very good and they do wonderful Bellinis.

Barbara, when I cut and pasted the directions I noticed how many "formerlys" there were. LOL, I remember when it was formerly a travel store. It's just a lousy location for a business and the business has to be specific enough that people will put up with trying to get in there.

Del Mar is a great idea, and there's that little mall at the end of the main drag there. Do you know the place and what it's called? That would be a much better shopping venue than Seaport Village (IMO)

And they have a scrapbooking store
Flashbacks at 2673 Via De La Valle # F Del Mar, CA 92014
(858) 481-8878ý (It's gotten mixed reviews - never been there myself).

Great scrapbook info, L8 - thanks!
We're not terribly keen to go to the zoo or sea world. We have zoo's close by us (although they don't have pandas!) and one only a couple mile drive. It's an interesting place; a very small zoo, which the previous owner neglected so much that his license was taken away and the fate of the animals was very unclear, until somebody stepped in and bought the place. He's now trying his darndest to clean up the place. They made a documentary about the zoo on BBC (Ben's Zoo). We visited just before Christmas and we were the only people there! Now then, I love tigers and bears - but the tigers are in an enclosure which I don't consider terribly safe and I had the unnerving feeling that one was following me around - really gave me the creeps, especially when (I think the next day!) that tiger escaped at San Fran zoo! Also, here in Plymouth (UK), we have the National Marine Aquarium - so plenty of fishy stuff (love fishies and my last course towards my Earth Science degree was oceanography!) - but we've seen whale shows in the South of France and they're not really our thing, so we will pass on SeaWorld. The Wild Animal Park is still an option though. And I'll certainly be interested in the cliffs! Lunch at Del Mar sounds great - as does Perry's for breakfast!
Isn't everything made in China?! (way off topic) Yesterday, we bought a new vacuum cleaner. Almost the last bastion of British manufacture (we thought) "Hoover". Oh, a British company alright and the website is .co.uk. But the machine is made in China .... they made thousands of workers redundant in a small town in South Wales (Merthyr Tydfel), where there is about the highest unemployment rate in the country - and now get the cleaners made in China, because it's cheaper. What can you do?
I always look for locally handcrafted souvenirs. I wonder where those snowglobe-type-things, containing dead scorpions are made?

I think those scorpion things are still made in AZ. Oh boy, don't forget they make them with tarantulas inside too! How fun. My FIL brought me one once. I told him it will look great buried in the garage. Quirky, but I still adored him (but not always his gifts).

Sounds like you've got some good plans. If the cliffs and tide pools interests you- Cabrillo National Monument is right down the street from where you'll be, it's a nice hike.

There are places in SD where you can buy things made by local artisans.

Thanks L8. I did buy a scorpion thing - but I couldn't even pick up the tarantulas - could barely even look at them! Good to know that they're made in the US though! We will certainly look at Cabrillo National Monument - thank you.

I'll second the Cabrillo National Monument. Tidepools, plus the best view of the city.

Gotta agree about the Cabrillo Monument. I try to go there everytime I come to SD. Worth the few $ entry fee.