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pleasant, quiet Barcelona and London hotels?


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Funny story but had a bad ending in Dukes. Two airline pilots staying at the Kensington Hilton got locked up accidentally in Dukes as they hid and could not get out and the flight ended up being cancelled and all were fired and they were to operate a 747 back to JFK. They had no cell phones with them and spent the night in Dukes when they opened. These guys did not think of using the phone and probably too wasted

 

Dukes is a nice place to go for a beer and visit with locals.

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Funny story but had a bad ending in Dukes. Two airline pilots staying at the Kensington Hilton got locked up accidentally in Dukes as they hid and could not get out and the flight ended up being cancelled and all were fired and they were to operate a 747 back to JFK. They had no cell phones with them and spent the night in Dukes when they opened. These guys did not think of using the phone and probably too wasted

 

Dukes is a nice place to go for a beer and visit with locals.

 

 

 

Omg!!!

 

 

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Poss, for what it's worth, we stayed in the Europark Hotel in the modernist Eixample area of Barcelona. It's close to La Sagrada Familia, walking distance to the quaint Gracia area and easy to get around by transit. Casa Mila and Casa Batlo are both within walking distance if your pins are still in good shape! I can't remember how big the beds are--they call them "doubles", but from the pictures they look huge; you could ask. Very nicely-run hotel, good breakfast, really nice area. More of a European-style hotel, not glitzy.

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I'd be especially pleased to find a good Starwood or Marriott hotel — would like to use points. Does anyone know anything good or bad about those hotel brands in those two cities? We like relaxing hotels, though I know a lot depends on what's going on at the time. I'd always avoid "W" hotels, for instance; my sense is that they're too "happening" for people who relish peace and quiet.

 

Many thanks for suggestions.

 

I have used SPG points to stay at the Barcelona Four points. Very nice area. Plenty of restaurants and shops. Close to the ocean. 7000 points. Hotel was clean, modern, and quiet. Great area. Not too loud or crowded.

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True story as a friend of ours was one of the cabin crew on that flight. Talk about ending a career. I’m glad they were caught.

 

If it was a US carrier, the boys probably got their jobs back after a hand slap and some persuasion from the Union. Other than that, the Dukes is a great place to smoke a cigar and have a Bond Martini!!

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If it was a US carrier, the boys probably got their jobs back after a hand slap and some persuasion from the Union. Other than that, the Dukes is a great place to smoke a cigar and have a Bond Martini!!

 

From what I heard they did not and even

ALPA could not help them in this particular case. If you recall the NW pilots lost their jobs for drinking.

 

Let’s go back to cruising discussions.

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I will be docking in Southampton on June 8 and headed into London. I certainly didn’t know that was the day for Trooping of the Colour In London! What an unfortunate day to need to drive into town.

Need advice on Hilton properties, have a ton of points which should give me 4 or 5 nites Free. We have been many places in the world but never London. We will want to do normal tourist 1st time visitor things. Already have Rick Steve’s 2019 London Book.

Any Hilton properties to suggest?

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From what I heard they did not and even

 

ALPA could not help them in this particular case. If you recall the NW pilots lost their jobs for drinking.

 

 

 

Let’s go back to cruising discussions.

 

 

 

Agree, cruising discussions are much more fun!! But just for the record Capt Lyle did get his job back at NWA after his jail sentence.. don’t ask me how I know [emoji16]

 

 

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Response to OP:

 

One Aldwych in London. Has a large subterranean swimming pool and great bar and very good restaurant too. Well located for West End theatre.

 

1898 Hotel and Hotel Arts in Barcelona are our favorites.

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Agree, cruising discussions are much more fun!! But just for the record Capt Lyle did get his job back at NWA after his jail sentence.. don’t ask me how I know [emoji16]

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Just my last comment on this. People have been fired for less offenses. I assume he would be with Delta now if he is not 65.

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I will be docking in Southampton on June 8 and headed into London. I certainly didn’t know that was the day for Trooping of the Colour In London! What an unfortunate day to need to drive into town.

Need advice on Hilton properties, have a ton of points which should give me 4 or 5 nites Free. We have been many places in the world but never London. We will want to do normal tourist 1st time visitor things. Already have Rick Steve’s 2019 London Book.

Any Hilton properties to suggest?

 

We stayed at the Double Tree Tower of London. It was very comfortable with train and subway stations maybe 5 min walk from the hotel. Has a lovely roof top lounge. The staff was some of the best i have ever encountered. It was also about a 5 minute walk to the Tower of London.

 

We were supposed to spend 5 or 6 days in London in the fall of 2017 but had to cancel the cruise and stay in London. We had booked a Double Tree property near the British Museum. We have always had good luck wtih Double Tree properties.

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Hopefully I'm not too late...I stayed at the Chesterfield Mayfair a few times and I loved it. Very British, it's in a quiet street, breakfast is great, good price for this location and the underground will take you directly to Heatrow. Hotels on the south bank are less expensive but when you stay close to Waterloo Station, you'll be close to everything. I hope this is helpful.

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................... and the underground will take you directly to Heathrow .......................

If using public transport from central London to Heathrow airport then the Heathrow Express is much faster and more comfortable than the tube (London Underground).

10 mins by cab from Waterloo to Paddington then 15 mins on the train to Heathrow.

Edited by flossie009
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As a loyal Marriott/SPG member, following this thread. I’ll be in Barcelona myself in June 2019 for the Med Cruise. Looks like there’s a ton of AC hotels, 2 Le Meridiens, a Renaissance, 1 W, and a Cottonwood Autograph collection. I pulled this from the Marriott app (assuming the SPG app will do the same). Price is in Euros. It will show you the category each hotel is in so that you know how much you’ll get back in reward points. If you’re going to Barcelona before me, let us know what you pick and if you liked it. :)

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Barcelona, ahhh Barcelona! One of our favorite cities. We last stayed at the Hotel Colon. A great location across from plaza from the gothic cathedral. It can be slightly noisy during the day if your room faces the cathedral but quiets down to nothing by 10:00 or so after the buskers call it a day. We’ve stayed facing the cathedral and stayed away from it where it is dead quiet in your room. The little noise is more than worth it to open the shutters in the morning and see the cathedral in all its silent beauty. Not the fanciest hotel in BCN but spotlessly clean, very nice and surprisingly large rooms, friendliest staff in Barcelona and a very nice included breakfast.

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I appreciate continued comments. Can't remember whether I've already mentioned it: We've decided on Le Meridien in Barcelona, primarily because we can use reward points, but also because the nice manager is giving us a room upgrade in honor of my husband's birthday.

 

I haven't chosen hotel in London, in part because I'm not sure how many days we'll want to spend there. In fact (and I may have said this already too), we're not so gung-ho on being in a big city. We used to love visiting such places, but as we've gotten older, it all seems so tiring. We would definitely take small group tours, but hope to do as much strolling as possible too. Not interested in theater, pubs, shopping, night-life. (We turn in around 9:00.) But will hope to see gardens and handsome areas and historical sites, etc. Haven't been to London in a very long time.

 

malily: The first time we were in Barcelona, we stayed at Hotel Colon (about 4 nights). We liked the place very much indeed, but were for sure bothered by the bells. In our stage now, it'd drive us absolutely batty (as in bats in their belfry!) :cool:

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I appreciate continued comments. Can't remember whether I've already mentioned it: We've decided on Le Meridien in Barcelona, primarily because we can use reward points, but also because the nice manager is giving us a room upgrade in honor of my husband's birthday.

 

 

 

Hey! We just booked the same hotel (Le Meridien in Barcelona) this weekend for our June 2019 trip. We might not be able to use reward points, but we’ll at least collect more.

 

We chose that particular hotel after much analysis because it was between the Plaça de Catalunya and the Gothic Quarter. We decided to spend one full day there after the cruise because late afternoon flights direct from CDG to SEA was so expensive and difficult to find. This way we could just get a very early flight out of BCN to catch a direct CDG-SEA (instead of trying to do so right after disembarking or the next day). Besides, we hear Barcelona is quite a nice city to see. Might as well utilize the little we remember from the 4 yrs of high school Español. [emoji38]

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  • 4 weeks later...

We just visited London this summer for 5 nights. We stayed at the Hampton by Hilton. It’s a next to the Old Vic theater and a block from the Waterloo Tube and train station. Location was great and easy to walk or take the tube or train to anywhere in London. 

 

This is is nothing like a Hampton Inn in the states, it’s a few steps above what you find here. Great breakfast buffet with really dishes. The rooms are tiny (cruise cabin small) but a lot of rooms in London are.

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