January 3, 2019, my wife and I called Princess Cruises to book an Alaskan cruise. There were a number of complicating issues, like cancelling an prior cruise, non refundable deposit on the prior cruise, cabin location, etc. The lady who answered the phone, Regina #1, was the most amazing person I have ever interfaced with from a corporation. Typically corporate sales people come across as worn down by the job. Not Regina. She was amazing in every regard. She understood each issue we presented her with and deftly dealt with each one. She seemed to have all the time in the world to help us with planning and executing the trip. She had answers for every issue and made the trip planning a wonderful experience. We have traveled with Princess Cruises before and have found them very good. My impression of Princess Cruises has gone up with this experience.
I came across a couple of men doing survey work in Amsterdam. They were measuring the subsidence of Amsterdam buildings which can result in any building to tilt or pitch in any direction. As you walk through this city you should take special attention to detect buildings that are not lined up correctly with buildings next door.
In the image above, you can see that the near building and next building are not lined up properly due to subsidence.
In the image above, the near worker is using a survey transit to take site readings at the stick being held by the worker in the far right distance. In the image below the worker is holding a bar code survey level rod, that rests upon a special bolt that is attached to the building.
The individual seen in the picture above places his survey level rod upon a bolt that is driven into the side of the building.
The survey level rod is placed on top of the bolt in the image above. Not every building has this bolt, just selected buildings.
Also, there is a mirror that is mounted on the building wall just above the survey stick.
As you walk through Amsterdam, you might take note of gaps and tilting among some of the buildings.
After more than two hours of research (Nov. 29, 2013) looking at about 15 hotels, my daughter came up with her top 3 choices. We removed much of her research comments such as prices, reviews and any other information that is time dependent. The comments below do not show our hidden requirements of location near the Dam and the central location close to sight seeing locations.
Radisson Blu Hotel, Amsterdam: Free Wifi; 6 min. walking distance from Dam Square; 17 min. walk from Anne Frank House.
Hotel Estherea (on canal) Has internet (wired) in room, when booking, we can get a discount on breakfast. Cancelations are free of charge up to 24 hours before arrival. “Special gifts” available if staying more than 3 nights. 4 night gift is a custom canal cruise. 6 min. from Dam Square; 10 min. from Anne Frank House
Inntel Hotel Amsterdam Centre
No Free Wireless internet in room. ?6 min. walking distance from Dam Square; 13 min. walk from Anne Frank House
November 29, 2013 we booked a stay at Hotel Estherea.
The spread sheet below was done by my daughter, November 29, 2013. The data in the table may very well become less accurate as time moves on. We offer this data only as an example of one method for deciding upon a place to stay in a foreign country. Not stated in the data sheet is the fact that we did some reading about Amsterdam and found that there are certain city sections that we wish to be close to. I strongly recommend that you do the same. First, look to see the sights that interest you and you just might decide to stay at a hotel that is within walking distance.
The Amsterdam Hotel spread sheet below is an example of how complicated finding just the right hotel in Amsterdam can be. The fields shown along the top will probably not be as important to you. For example, we have one party member that has a walking problem so we need a hotel elevator. We also want to know how close the hotel is to the attractions we wish to visit so we added distances. I have removed the hotel cost from this sheet as they would be out of date by the time you read this post. The ratings are from the Internet web sites and is subjective. I really recommend that you read the reviews that are posted and you can detect that there are some pretty tough individuals that are hard to please.
Need Advice For Visiting First Part Of Tip: Amsterdam?
A group of 8 adults will be visiting Amsterdam, May 2014. We need hotel, restaurant, and points of interest ideas in Amsterdam. We would love to stay 4 days in a hotel by a canal. We need 4 rooms. If you have a recommendation to make, please share with us. Send an e-mail to captain.mclaren@gmail.com
We plan on sharing our reviews of everything about the trip including travel, hotel, restaurant, and places we visit and make reviews in this web site.
Following is what we have discovered so far during the planning for this trip (End of November 2013):
Flights into Amsterdam typically arrive early in the morning. Hotel rooms do not offer up their rooms until about 3pm. Hotels charge about $40 to $50 for early book in. Our AAA travel agent said that this is a money maker for the hotels. My daughter came up with this solution. Because we need 4 rooms, only pay for one room early book in and everyone store luggage and freshen up during the early hours using this single room.
Tip from my son: Use Firefox browser and go to File > New Private Window. This method should keep the web site booking companies form seeing your interest in any particular hotel and raising the rates if you visit a page frequently.
Our top recommended trip web sites for Amsterdam:
Booking.com. I just love the Amsterdam map with all the hotel pins. I can zoom in and out. When I pass my computer mouse over any map pin, I get a quick look at price. We want to stay in the “Canal Belt”, 16 and 17th century waterways and Booking.com worked for me:
Singel
Herengracht
Keizersgracht
Prinsengracht
Kayak.com does a good job of presenting all your choices.
After using a good web site search and finding your top three or more hotel picks, then go to the hotel web sites directly and see if you can get any better deals. In the United States, this almost always works but we have never been to Europe before. Here are the reasons why we like to compare web vacation web sites and hotel web sites. The booking web site has to make a profit. Some times the rooms are located in less desirable locations. Some times the hotel can offer better prices, secret offers or perks. My daughter discovered that some hotels give better rates for AAA, senior citizens and advanced purchase by visiting the hotel web sites directly. When you go to any hotel web site examine it carefully as some money saving promotions are another page or two away from the home page.
We have been very impressed with AAA travel agents. We have booked our flights and tour in November 2013.
Look into getting a credit card with an imbedded chip and rewards. AAA is not offering a Visa card with some pretty nifty rewards. Europe is not credit card magnetic strip friendly. We applied and got accepted for AAA Member Reward Visa cards. The rub is that you must ask for the chip. We had to ask Bank of America for the chip after we received the cards without it; quite annoying.
Asilomar Conference Center, for me is a bit strange and many of its strange components are very much appreciated by me. First, this is a government facility, owned by the State of California. It is a state park run by a private company contracted to manage the facility. It is a conference center that is quite large and located in a terrific plot of land between Carmel and Monterey right on the beach. In years past you typically can not plan to stay here if you are not part of a pre planned conference so booking a room can only take place within a few weeks of your arrival. It was really difficult to plan to stay here months in advance. They only open rooms when large groups do not fill up the place, like for conferences. This place validates those, like me, who can not or do not like to plan ahead. I call the center or use my computer to see if I can get a booking just days before arriving. It is a dice roll whether you will be able to book a room. I feel like I win the lottery when I can get a room. However, since Aramark took over running this facility, it appears to me that booking into this resort can be done at any time. I really recommend that you go to their web site as it shows days that are available. http://www.visitasilomar.com/accommodations.aspx
P.A. Hearst Social Hall is where you check in.
Positives
Location, location, location. You simply can not conceive any better spot in California for this conference center. You are so darn close to the ocean, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Point Pinos Lighthouse, Pacific Grove shops and down town Monterey. There are many wonderful restaurants in the area.
The Asilomar grounds is a real positive and they are large. This is a terrific spot to just hang out and vegetate. The Asilomar property is right on the beach. Only a road separates the Asilomar grounds and the Asilomar State Beach. There are numerous hiking opportunities along the beach and on the Asilomar grounds. They also have special information posts just outside some Asilomar buildings where you can use your cell phone to scan and launch a web site to learn about items close to where you are standing.
You may possibly save money by lodging at Asilomar when you compare total pricing with other facilities. The rooms are about $130 for 2 people (this price can change) but this includes a terrific breakfast valued around $20 for each person. So doing the math, you are getting the room for about $90 when not including meals.
No TV except in the bar (no audio). I list this as a positive if family members wish to discover one another again and not be distracted by the idiot box.
Free wifi and the signal is really strong. I was able to play the computer game, World of Warcraft, a most impressive indicator.
Many rooms come with a decent size balcony with two chairs.
Many rooms come with a fireplace stocked with paper and wood ready to light. They give you a combination to a storage locker typically located quite close to your room so you can pull out extra fire place fuel. We build a fire every night that we stay at Asilomar and really enjoy the smell, added warmth and crackling sounds.
I really value being able to open a window to get fresh air. Most rooms come with sliding glass doors and windows that can be cracked open for fresh air.
The air is clean and free of noise. For those who remember the fog horn located rather close to Asilomar, it has been removed.
The heater in our last room was terrific and quiet. I have stayed in many hotels and motor inns where the air conditioner and heater was way too loud.
Social Hall is where you check in and it contains a gift shop, pool tables, coffee shop with coffee drinks and full bar.
Asilomar also offers a swimming pool.
Crocker Dining Hall
Negatives:
The rooms are a bit Spartan. The room furnishings are really basic. The rugs on the floor are not thick.
With each visit to Asilomar, you will not have any idea of what building and room you will be staying in. Some buildings and rooms are better than others.
You may have to lug your luggage a distance from vehicle to room.
No TV,
No radio,
No refrigerator.
No coffee maker.
Pocket door to bathroom is a negative for me. I really do not like pocket doors as they have issues for not completely functioning properly. They will make noise, not slide, not lock.
The grounds, roads, buildings seem to be laid out by someone who had no sense of proper organization. At Asilomar, the most direct and closest path is not in a straight line.
Finding a parking place is sometimes a challenge.
Path to coastal dunes.
Other Issues:
If you rely on WiFi to get cell phone e-mail due to lousy cell tower signal, you must use your cell phone web browser to log into the Asilomar authorization web site and enter the user name and password given to you when you got your packet of information. If you notice that the e-mail messages have not been updating, you might have lost this link and need to start it up again. I found their Wifi coverage to be excellent.
Asilomar beach and shoreline.
Summary:
For the rich, famous, and pampered this place will disappoint. For the budget conscious, progressive hippie, ecologically and environmentally sensitive and appreciative of weird, this place may appeal. From my budget conscious, affinity for the unique, this place gets my approval. I really love having breakfast in the Checker Dining Hall where muffins, toast, cereal, drinks are laid out on a huge lazy Susan on top of a larger round table. As you enter the dining hall you meet a person who takes your meal ticket given to you when you registered for your room Seating is designated by this person. They may ask you if you are participating in a group or conference. If you are, you will be sent to tables reserved for the appropriate group. If you are independent from any group as we always are, you will be told to go to a table for open seating. Remember the table number this person tells you. You then walk into a cafeteria type line where you can select from a limited menu of items and are handed your food on a plate. You get to sit at a large table with off the road people you do not know if you are not part of a group. These people are sometimes quite a surprise and enjoyable or dreadfully boring. The feeling is like being at a summer camp, instead of being waited upon like a typical restaurant.
