zondag 28 juni 2009

Sheraton Fuerteventura Beach, Golf & Spa Resort Canary Isle

For a short family vacation we chose to go to Fuerteventura for a week. We had 2 rooms one paid and one on Cash&Points. For the paid room we took advantage of the eternal summer rate of 30% off for a total of 92 Euro per night. Online I could see that both two rooms were upgraded to a junior suite. on arrival we were greeted by the manager on duty and the guest relations manager with champagne. BOth rooms got a welcome amenity and we chose the local gift.

In this stay report I will share my experiences at this great hotel with the help of some pictures all shot with my new Canon D1000 (USA= Rebel XT) DSLR.

During this week I can count the number of guests on 2 hands. the occupancy was only about 10-20% during the whole stay. Most of the times we had the whole pool for ourselves. I talked to the front desk agent and she said that it has been like that for more than a year, due to the economic downturn and because Ryanair has ceased all operations out of Fuerteventura. Its very sad that a great hotel like this is doing so badly, and there wasn't really anything in which I could fault the hotel.

It's a short 10 minute walk to the little town centre which isn't anything special but had some nice restaurants and pubs.

All in all a very nice hotel but to bad that it was so quite I would have liked some more people around me. I can really recommend this hotel to any family with children or teens or just anyone who would really like to relax.

(Please click on the pictures to get a bigger shot)

Hotel entrance and guest parking
The Sheraton Fuerteventura
Hotel grounds
Lobby/Atrium
I was given a junior suite in one of the towers.
The hallway
Bed/living room
Bed
Bathroom with jacuzzi
Welcome gift on arrivalBalcony
View from room
Pool
The poolside restaurant/bar
Hotel grounds
Buffet restaurantBeach
Shuttle bus to golf course and town centre
The Tower rooms
Game room
Kids club
Piano bar outside


dinsdag 28 april 2009

Ryanair FR 6242 Edinburgh - Weeze

First of all my apologies for taking so long till finishing this trip report.

Time to head back home. Now I actually had to take a suitcase back with me so airport check in it is. It will probably be my last Ryanair airport check in experience of my life as Ryanair is closing all its check in desks this spring.

Some of the following pictures are quite blurry. I don't really like standing around for a couple of seconds to take pictures so I just made them while walking by.

Check in went smoothly, I even was overweight by a kilo (my suitcase of course) and they didn't even charge me anything!
Edinburgh Ryanair check in desks. No one in line!!!

Edinburgh airport is actually quite a nice airport and has many international departures. It has a few shops and restaurants.


As I had some time to spare before my flight I decided to do a bit of plane spotting.

Our Ryanair plane taxiing to the gate.

A Ryanair plane boarding.

Soon it was time to start boarding and I got in line at the Priority boarding que.

Boarding area.

Our plane.

Departures.

The flight back was uneventful it was a light load and the seat next to me was free.

Ryanair seats.
Seat pitch and Boeing 737 safety card.

View out of the window.
Boeing 737 safety card attached to seat.
Ryanair FA waiting for passengers to board.


And after a short uneventful flight back I arrived back in Weeze. There was a long line for immigration but due to Germany effeciancy they managed to deal with the whole plane within 15 minutes.

Thanks for reading my trip report. I'm sure a few will follow in the future.

zaterdag 11 april 2009

Sheraton Edinburgh

Sheraton
The Sheraton Edinburgh

Took a taxi from the Novotel to the Sheraton to carry the bags. It's only a 10 minute walk but to much of a hassle to take all the bags. We were greeted by the doorman who took our bags and brought them to our rooms.

At check in we were in for a not so pleasant surprise. "I'm sorry sir but we have no upgrades available, as were are at a 100%". He did gave my a choice of Plat amenity's and I chose the 500 points. It went very fast and we were in no time in our room.

Hmm well the normal rooms should be okay as well. The rooms were okay but nothing special and they can do with a renovation as I think the last one was about 15 years ago. All the furniture had bits off and chips ff it. And the bathroom was very old as well.

Bedroom

Old school TV

Bathroom

As me and my dad needed internet access we went back to the reception. It costs 30 pounds for a whole week so that's not to bad. Now a really friendly woman was at the desk. When she saw our room numbers she looked at her pc and told us she was sorry she couldn't upgrade us but I'll look if anything is available tomorrow she said. Remember we were only there for internet access and didn't ask anything else so this is all form her. She told us to come back tomorrow and she'll make sure they had a upgraded room waiting for us in the afternoon.

She asked if we were already given the code for the Club room. As we didn't have it she printed one out. She really covered all the bases and was much more attentive than her male colleague.

The next day They only had one upgrade available so I said my dad could have it. He was upgraded to the Iona suite.






A really nice suite and very well maintained.

The club lounge was small but quite nice. it was only open from 7-9 am and 5-7 pm. I only went there in the afternoon as breakfast was to early for me. they did have a lounge attendant who made sure every one has something to drink. It can get quite crowded in the afternoon.

As Platinum guests we could check out at 4 pm without a problem. we made use of this as our flight back was only at 8pm. Checkout went as a breeze and I was glad I choose for the Sheraton.