Puttin’ on The Ritz
Jul 8, 2011 Travel
I’m just going to say it right at the beginning: we’re not Ritz-Carlton people. I want to be a Ritz Carlton person, but I’m not and I don’t think I ever will be. I’m the kind of person who will say “Screw it!” and book a really expensive hotel room for no reason other than I like to treat myself sometimes. And believe me, the Ritz-Carlton St. Thomas is a huge treat. But staying there causes a few problems if you’re not “one of them.”
Arriving at the Ritz-Carlton is like arriving at no other hotel. We pulled up to the entrance and were met immediately with damp towels and drinks. Our luggage was taken and our car whisked away. We were checked in and brought on a small tour on the way to our room.
This was without a doubt the most beautiful hotel I’ve ever stayed in. Our room was fantastic,
our balcony was huge,
and the view was breathtaking.
It was the bathroom, however, that made me not want to leave.
I’m that person who leaves every hotel with as many toiletries as possible, and the toiletries in this bathroom almost caused me to pass out.
At some point during check in we had been asked if we were here to celebrate anything special, and the answers were “No” “No” “No” and “I’m turning seven in only ten days!!!” Which of course was not why we were in St. Thomas, and was not happening while we would be at the Ritz, but nevertheless this appeared in our hotel room later:
It was Rice Krispies Treats made to look like coral, and it was delicious! A great way to start our stay.
The pool area was just perfect. There were thick, lush chair covers and big, fluffy towels, and lots of floating lounge chairs that the kids loved piling on top of each other to make big rafts.
The gorgeous beach is just steps away from the pool, with more comfy chairs.
The hotel’s resort fee is mandatory, so take full advantage of it. On the beach it covers snorkel gear, paddleboards, and several kinds of small watercraft. You just have to sign them out. Be aware, though, that there is a “rescue fee” if you take out more boat than you can handle.
We took out paddleboards. That’s my husband in the picture below, the only one of us who was able to successfully stand up for more than a few seconds. He was actually quite good at it.
I was not. I mostly paddled around on my knees, because if I even thought about standing up, I would fall over. And let me tell you, heaving yourself back onto that thing and getting into a kneeling position half a dozen times is worth about an hour in the gym. Plus, the waves kept pushing me towards a big patch of coral and rocks, which we were warned to stay away from. I tried! I paddled in the other direction as hard as I could! But I ended up running my paddleboard into a big rock and getting thrown off into a bunch of sea urchins. If you’ve never seen a sea urchin, imagine a big chestnut with spikes that break off in your skin.
So there I was, trying to hold on to my paddle board, trying not to move my legs at all because they were touching the sea urchins, and trying not to panic. The waves were pushing me harder, so I had to give myself one good push off of the coral (I know! I know! I’m so sorry!) so that I could start kicking and get myself away from that spot. Finally I got far enough away to get myself back on my board.
When I got back to shore I examined my legs and found a few spots on my ankle where the sea urchin spikes had broken off. This had happened to my sister before, and she told me there’s nothing you can really do except wait while they get absorbed into your body. It took about a month. Fun.
Service everywhere at the hotel was exemplary. Even the kids’ souvenirs were taken good care of.
The trouble we ran into though, what I was alluding to at the top of the page, was that the hotel was just a bit too formal for us. During the day it was fine, but after 5pm I felt out of place. The first night I took the kids around to the different restaurants trying to get something to eat. There was not a single casual place open for dinner. We didn’t have clothes with us that were nice enough for a couple of the restaurants, and even if we could’ve sat down, the food was just too fancy for my kids (and, honestly, for me too). We ended up ordering room service for dinner twice. I love room service, but it’s kind-of a bummer when it’s not your first choice.
This is a first-class hotel and if your family is used to that kind of atmosphere, you will absolutely love it there. But when I go on a beach vacation I like to relax as much as possible – I don’t want to worry about what I’m wearing to dinner. Other than that, though, we had a thoroughly enjoyable time in one of the most picturesque places I’ve ever visited.
Next up: Easter at the Ritz
Thank you to the Ritz-Carlton for upgrading our room to one with a water view, and to the USVI Department of Tourism.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 1. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Tags: Kids, St. Thomas, Travel
The drool-worthy food of Cape May
Jun 28, 2011 Travel
As a vegetarian I’m used to compromising a little bit on blogger trips. I genuinely enjoy side dishes, usually more than whatever special vegetarian concoction is whipped up in my honor. So I try to stay quiet about it, and am always happy if I have more than one main dish to choose from on the menu, especially when that one thing is “Selection of Steamed Vegetables.” As if being vegetarian automatically means that I want no butter, no calories, and no taste.
Well. This was one trip where absolutely no compromise was necessary. In the short time I was in Cape May earlier this month, I got to sample a couple of great Cape May restaurants plus an amazing lunch al fresco, right there in the middle of the farm where Congress Hall’s veggies are grown.
The Rusty Nail
Our first evening in Cape May we took a short walk over to The Beach Shack, a hotel owned by the Cape Resorts Group. This is the same company that owns Congress Hall, where we were staying. This hotel is even more relaxed than Congress Hall, with a fire pit and outdoor restaurant, as well as mini kitchens in the rooms complete with fridges, microwaves, plates, and flatware. A huge plus for families.
Our big group had dinner at The Rusty Nail, home of the longest bar in Cape May (they measured!). The first thing I noticed was all of the kids’ meals being served at other tables. Why did they catch my eye? Because they’re served on Frisbees, which the kids get to keep!
Remember what I said about enjoying side dishes? Despite there being some yummy looking pasta and a grilled vegetable sandwich on the menu, I was salivating over the huge side dish menu! I ordered several and was not sorry. The vegetables were so fresh, as if they’d come straight from a farm (uh, more on that the next section…).
The vast majority of our party were not vegetarians, and they all seemed pretty happy as well, eating things like Surf & Turf, Steak & Cake, and Fish Tacos. You can see the full Rusty Nail menu here.
Beach Plum Farm
The next afternoon we took a very short drive to Beach Plum Farm, an easy bike ride or even a nice walk from the heart of Cape May.
Know what I’m holding in that picture? Asparagus. It had just been picked a few minutes before, and we were grabbing it from a bin like it was candy. I’d never tasted raw asparagus before, and it was so tender and yummy! They cut asparagus for eight weeks last year and couldn’t use it all, so they blanched and froze the extra to use in winter soups.
There are about fifteen acres being farmed, which is roughly one-quarter of the farm (half of the land is marsh). All of the properties of the Cape Resorts Group share the produce. Now in its fourth year of being farmed, Beach Plum is producing all of the greens and herbs used by their hotels, as well as grapes, four or five kinds of berries, lots of different vegetables (including those famous Jersey tomatoes), and even Christmas trees! There are two bee hives, and lots of flowers are cut for use in the hotels (owner Curtis Bashaw likes to arrange them himself).
There are pigs on the farm that eat all of the leftovers from the restaurants. That’s kind-of brilliant. There’s even a new chicken coop, built to look like the cutest little schoolhouse ever. Of course, I totally forgot to take a picture of the outside in my rush to get inside and see the cute little chicks, but you can see it on Ellen’s post – she was smart enough to get a great picture of it (and also took the picture of me and my asparagus). By the end of the summer these chicks will be producing eggs.
Owner Curtis Bashaw (below) answered our questions and explained to us what a learning experience the farm has been for the kitchens of the different properties, as the chefs figure out who gets what. Everything we saw on the tour was simply picture-postcard beautiful.
After our tour we were treated to a lunch that was like something out of a movie. It was the most beautiful setting, with the freshest ingredients, and was served to us by cowboys. Yes, you read that right. Lots of pictures were taken by middle-aged moms with rodeo fantasies. And that’s all I’m going to say about that, because my husband reads my blog.
Our fabulous lunch was made for us by Chef Lucas Manteca, who is the executive chef for the Cape May Group. That’s him at the head of the table below, describing to a bunch of hungry bloggers in mouth-watering detail what we were about to eat.
The potato salad – which I think I had three servings of – was the best potato salad I’ve ever had. And I’ve had a lot of potato salad. It was made with crème fraiche instead of mayonnaise, and I will pry the recipe out of Chef Lucas’ hands and post it if it’s the last thing I do.
Visiting Beach Plum Farm wasn’t just a fantastic perk for bloggers on a press trip. Hotel guests are welcome to check out the farm for themselves at certain times, and bike tours and picnic packages are also offered. Check with the hotel staff for details.
Sad as I was to get up from the table and head back to town, I had a massage appointment to get to at the fabulous Sea Spa, so don’t feel too sorry for me.
The Blue Pig Tavern
After my relaxing massage I met the group at the Blue Pig Tavern, Congress Hall’s restaurant. The smartest thing I’ve ever done was sit next to Ellen, and we shared several dishes so that we didn’t have to do too much deciding, since our brains were still mushy from the spa. I highly recommend the macaroni and cheese. The Blue Pig’s menu is huge, and there really is something for everyone.
All in all this was a fantastic two days of food. I can’t wait to bring my husband, who loves seafood, since everyone was raving about how fresh it was. There’s a restaurant to fit every budget and style, which is important, because when I go on a beach vacation I don’t usually want to dress up or do any more primping than putting my hair in a pony tail. I was able to stay in beach casual clothes the entire trip while still eating like I was in a fancy restaurant.
Next up: the history and people of Congress Hall.
Special Offer for my readers: Book a stay at Congress Hall, or one of its sister properties, The Virginia Hotel or The Beach Shack, using the code MOMBLOG before July 31st (for travel anytime in 2011) and receive a $100 resort credit. Complete details of this offer can be found here.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 7. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Diary of a Disney Princess Half Marathoner – part 2
Feb 27, 2011 Posted From My Phone, Travel
It’s 5:40 and @DisneyDeborah and I are in our corral near the back. I can see on the big TV screen that the wheelchair racers are about to start. I see these guys go by each year at the NYC Marathon, and they’re amazing.
Fireworks go off as each coral starts. That’s so cool.
OK, it’s 6am and our corral is next! Here we go! (picture 1)
This is crazy, there are photo ops all along the route with Disney characters. I can’t wait in line for a picture, the sweeper bus will come pick me up! Although I did stop to take a picture of the bouncing men in spandex. (picture 2) That was pretty awesome. This is definitely a race for women.
We’re running a little, then walking, then running. We can keep this up for 13.1 miles.
There are a lot of volunteers out here cheering us on, and people taking pictures from the monorail.
Running through the Magic Kingdom now! (picture 3)
Just passed about forty runners. They were waiting in line for the port-a-potties, but still, I’m ahead of them.
Mile nine can kiss my ass. It’s getting a lot harder now. Not much jogging going on at all.
I feel a little better after sitting down for twenty seconds. I was peeing, but sitting is sitting. It was refreshing. (No picture. You’re welcome.)
Home stretch. Pretty impossible to jog now, it’s a bottleneck of walkers. I’m going to get the lead out for the last stretch though.
Finish line. (picture 4)
Medal. (picture 5)
Originally posted on SelfishMom.com, from Amy’s cell phone (so please excuse any weird formatting). All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has Compensation Levels of 7 & 8. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information. Amy also blogs at Filming In Brooklyn, Behind the Screen, and Momtourage, and podcasts with The Blogging Angels.
Want to catch up on my runDisney adventures? Here are the other posts (newest first):
Disney’s Tangled Royal Family 5K
Disney’s Fit for a Princess Expo
From bad, to worse, to great with runDisney
And then a few zebra wandered by
A half marathon that fits on a t-shirt
From couch potato to 26K with runDisney
Disney Princess Half Marathon: Done
Diary of a Disney Princess Half Marathoner – Part 1
So this is what Disney does to me
Disney Princess Half Marathon: DONE
Feb 27, 2011 Posted From My Phone, Travel
Originally posted on SelfishMom.com, from Amy’s cell phone (so please excuse any weird formatting). All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has Compensation Levels of 7 & 8. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information. Amy also blogs at Filming In Brooklyn, Behind the Screen, and Momtourage, and podcasts with The Blogging Angels.
Want to catch up on my runDisney adventures? Here are the other posts (newest first):
Disney’s Tangled Royal Family 5K
Disney’s Fit for a Princess Expo
From bad, to worse, to great with runDisney
And then a few zebra wandered by
A half marathon that fits on a t-shirt
From couch potato to 26K with runDisney
Diary of a Disney Princess Half Marathoner – Part 2
Diary of a Disney Princess Half Marathoner – Part 1
So this is what Disney does to me
Diary of a Disney Princess Half Marathoner – part 1
Feb 27, 2011 Posted From My Phone, Travel
It’s 11:30 and I’m going to bed. I have all of my stuff laid out for the morning. I don’t want go risk being late. (picture 1)
Woke up at 2:40am, which is pretty close to when I normally go to bed. And I slept terribly. I went to bed at 11:30, and it took me about half an hour to fall asleep, then I woke up every half hour. I was just so nervous about oversleeping! I had two alarms and a wake-up call set!
My running pants say it all. (picture 2)
It’s 3:30 and I’m on a bus headed to the race. There were race buses lined up as far as I could see, and that was just for one hotel! Seventeen thousand people run this race, almost all of them women. And from the look of this bus, most of them are in tiaras and tutus. I’m wearing big silver mouse ears that are probably going to drive me crazy during the race.
It’s 3:45 and this is just crazy. Running princesses as far as the eye can see, walking to the race start. (picture 3)
It’s 4:20 and I finally found the media tent. It was worth the walk though: I was the first one to use a port-a-potty. That’s never happened before, and will never happen again. Disney is totally spoiling me.
I just passed by a table full of pastries. I didn’t even want one. What’s the matter with me? Oh yeah, I remember: I don’t want to throw up a cheese Danish on the race.
4:45 Headed to the start. It’s a 25 minute walk. That’s so not right. I’m so tired!
Originally posted on SelfishMom.com, from Amy’s cell phone (so please excuse any weird formatting). All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has Compensation Levels of 7 & 8. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information. Amy also blogs at Filming In Brooklyn, Behind the Screen, and Momtourage, and podcasts with The Blogging Angels.
Want to catch up on my runDisney adventures? Here are the other posts (newest first):
Disney’s Tangled Royal Family 5K
Disney’s Fit for a Princess Expo
From bad, to worse, to great with runDisney
And then a few zebra wandered by
A half marathon that fits on a t-shirt
From couch potato to 26K with runDisney
Diary of a Disney Princess Half Marathoner – Part 2
Disney Princess Half Marathon: Done
So this is what Disney does to me
I just designed my own shirt!
Feb 25, 2011 Posted From My Phone, Travel
This is so cool! This is my first time at Downtown Disney, so I didn’t know what was here. I just designed my own tee shirt at the Hanes Design a Tee store! I’m going to wear it during the Princess Half Marathon on Sunday.
I just hope the shirt doesn’t jinx me!
Originally posted on SelfishMom.com, from Amy’s cell phone (so please excuse any weird formatting). All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has Compensation Levels of 7 & 8. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information. Amy also blogs at Filming In Brooklyn, Behind the Screen, and Momtourage, and podcasts with The Blogging Angels.
Want to catch up on my runDisney adventures? Here are the other posts (newest first):
Disney’s Tangled Royal Family 5K
Disney’s Fit for a Princess Expo
From bad, to worse, to great with runDisney
And then a few zebra wandered by
A half marathon that fits on a t-shirt
From couch potato to 26K with runDisney
Diary of a Disney Princess Half Marathoner – Part 2
Disney Princess Half Marathon: Done
Diary of a Disney Princess Half Marathoner – Part 1
So this is what Disney does to me
The Disney Wonder…lobby?
Feb 1, 2009 Travel
I have no idea what you call this part of a ship. In a hotel it would be the lobby, but on a ship I’m not so sure. It’s where we entered the first time (each party was announced as they entered, and everyone within earshot clapped and cheered – fantastic for the families, but a little weird when boarding by yourself), where the statue of Ariel is, where the big staircase is…Anyway, I’ve been absolutely terrible about posting my pictures and writing my review of the amazing cruise I took last weekend on board The Disney Wonder. Ugh, was it just last weekend? Yup, last Saturday I spent the day swimming with stingrays and relaxing on the beach of Castaway Cay. Sigh.
I sat down a couple hours ago to upload photos and get to writing but got sidetracked by many, many things. So I’m just going to post this, a photosynth of the “lobby” of the ship, and talk about the embarkation and disembarkation process, since they were the first and last times I saw this lobby. (If you’ve never seen a photosynth, they’re very cool. They mash together a bunch of pictures of the same place. This is a basic one, because I took all of these standing in one place. Now that I know how cool photosynths are I’m going to take more pictures with that in mind. If you’d like to learn more about photosynths, visit their site, photosynth.net. Very cool.)
I arrived at the dock around 12:45pm. I waited in a short line to check in, then another short line to get my picture taken for security purposes, then I walked on to the ship. That was it. The whole thing took less than fifteen minutes. I’ve never boarded a ship that quickly. My checked bag had been picked up at the airport by Disney, so me and my carry-on entered the ship’s lobby and sat down on a couch for a few minutes. My room wouldn’t be ready until 1:30, so I took out my phone and took advantage of the last little bit of “free” phone service I would have for a few days (using my cell phone on the ship would have cost me $2.49/minute – thanks Verizon!).
At 1:20 I decided to wander up to my room to see if it was ready, and it was. Others from our group who boarded later said that it took them way longer, so my advice is to get to the ship as early as they will let you. It won’t be crowded, you won’t have to wait, and while your room won’t be ready, you won’t have all of your luggage with you so you can chill out, eat lunch, read a book, whatever you need to do to start getting into vacation mode.
At the end of the trip, I totally held everyone up when it was time to go through customs and get off of the ship. I had forgotten to fill out my customs papers the night before, but I wasn’t worried, I thought I’d have plenty of time the next morning during the long wait to disembark. The absolute worst part of the cruises I’ve taken in the past has been the end. I’ve had to wait hours before being let off of the ship, kicked out of my room at 7am, with just a continental breakfast to keep me entertained. But that’s not how they do it on The Disney Wonder! They understand families! Full breakfasts were available in several different dining rooms (we chose to end our trip with a buffet), and then when we were done, we walked off of the ship. That was it! No waiting for your color or number or letter to be called, no crush of people, we just left. We did have to wait in a line at customs, but to my dismay it moved very fast (too fast to stop and write), so finally I just had to step to the side and fill out my paperwork.
Waiting for the shuttle back to the airport and saying goodbye to my new friends just sucked. I wanted to be back on the ship! It was right there, so close.
Maybe if I made a run for it, like a little kid…I was sad to leave, but thrilled that it was so quick and painless.
To read more about this cruise from the amazing group of women I cruised with, visit their sites:
Originally posted on Selfish Mom
Tags: photosynth, The Disney Wonder
