Why Would You/ Why Do You Continue to Sail?

[CowPrincess]

Oh please tell us and I promise to buy you a drink if we ever meet on a cruise:)

 

Oh, well if you insist :D (and thanks for asking :D)

 

Tofino. Sigh.... a beautiful little spot by the ocean. Appeared to be just down the road from Pt. Alberni, a major centre in the area with lots of restaurants and hotels. DH & I had no idea that what was shown on the map didn't really SHOW the road, just the "crow flying" distance. So we headed to Tofino from Pt. Alberni, saying we could come back to Pt. A if there wasn't space available in Tofino.

 

After about 3 hours of creeping around hairpin turns, 360* corners, switchbacks, whatever, staring into the abyss where a shoulder would be on a normal road, we arrived in Tofino. It was getting late and NO WAY would we do that road back to Pt. A in the dark!

 

The only place that had a vacancy was Pacific Breeze, where we were charged $125/night (which at the time was the going rate for any of the 4 star resorts that had NO vacancy!). DH went in to arrange for the room, and the owner wanted to know if I was "wife" or "girlfriend". Not wife then but DH knew better than to tell the truth. So after taking cash (no credit cards accepted) the owner issued DH a TV remote, 2 batteries for the remote, a part-roll of toilet paper and one ashtray for our "smoking" room.

 

We got to the room -- no screen on the window, the carpet looked and smelled as though it had been recycled from a bar (smell of mold and stale beer, in varying shades of dirt-gray with bits of dirty red and green peeking thru the dirt). The night tables were 2x4s nailed to the walls. It was obvious they'd been salvaged from the ocean. The bedspread was mud-colored. Seriously. In a previous century, it had been new and colorful, I'm sure.

 

The bathroom floor was peeling and torn and missing chunks and filthy. The shower floor was rust-colored, accented with black grime. The one towel and facecloth were both so thin you could literally see through them. The sink hadn't been cleaned that season. We will NOT discuss the toilet.

 

Not scared enough yet, we went back to the main area, to find out that we had an adjoining room. The door to the other room was held closed with peeling masking tape -- no lock, no handle in place, just the masking tape keeping the people in the other room out of our room.

 

We turned on some lights, closed the window glass and went for dinner, and on the way to dinner saw the Visitor Centre. We stopped, and I went to the desk, begging for help to find a different place to stay. "He's making me stay in Motel Hell" I said, and the woman at the counter said "Oh, you must be staying at Pacific Breeze, sorry, there's nothing else vacant in town". At dinner, when the server tried to give us our bill, I said, "No, I need more wine before I'm drunk enough to go back to our motel", and the server said "Oh, you must be at Pacific Breeze! Let me see if my sister can put you up in her spare bedroom". Darn, no room at the sister's, so back to the motel.

 

When we arrived back, the owner had been in our room going through our stuff, and had turned off the lights. Ugh.

 

The sheets were SO gross -- they were some sort of pattern (to hide stains) and so discolored that I wouldn't sleep on them. We took our clothes and laid them on the bed to give us a layer of protection from whatever might be in/on the bed and used the towel from the bathroom as a cover. And we pushed all the furniture we could move against the door to outside, just in case the owner decided to visit again.

 

Next morning as we left we saw the owner "washing" the linens in a plastic basin on a table -- swish, swish, hang up to dry. We headed to the nearest laundromat to wash everything that had touched ANYTHING in that room.

[Jana White]

CowPrincess, THAT story is priceless! We have a similar one in Big Bear City, California, though yours does top ours hands down. Stories like this are a nightmare when you are going through them, but hilarious after the fact. Thank you SO SO much for sharing. :D:D:D

[CowPrincess]

Glad you enjoyed it, Jana White! You're correct, it is funny now :D Copper10-8, we didn't see an old lady in a rocker, but then we didn't go looking either . . . (afraid we MIGHT have found her!)

[Copper10-8]

Because of that lady---- to this day I cannot shower alone in a motel room.:eek::eek::eek:

 

[mudscraper]

I googled Pacific Breeze Motel-Vancouver

 

WOWWWW!

 

The reviews are something else.

 

 

Rich

[rita_charlie]

We cruise because it is fun and being retired, we are free to see this beautiful world. We have been with Holland American Lines and it is a nice line to cruise with. We have yet to try Carnival or any or the others, but we imagine that they are ok too! Life is to enjoy and we are. Good Crusing to everyone..

 

Rita & Charlie

[CowPrincess]

I googled Pacific Breeze Motel-Vancouver

 

WOWWWW!

 

The reviews are something else.

 

 

Rich

 

Ohmigoodness, I just googled too, and see that there's now a restaurant attached to the motel. EWWWWWWWWW! :eek: :eek: :eek:

[Jana White]

WOWWWWW is right. I do not think I have EVER seen reviews on TripAdvisor like that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[CowPrincess]

WOWWWWW is right. I do not think I have EVER seen reviews on TripAdvisor like that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Interesting that the only review on TA that is at all favorable is written in German, and gives fairly high scores. The owner was German, in his early 80s or late 70s. I wonder if he "planted" that fairly good review?

[sapper1]

That was a good one. Not so much fun while enduring it but fun to tell about afterwards. I will trust you to remind me about the drink I owe you if I forget.:)

[Jana White]

That German review is actually quite good. Clean rooms, friendly staff, maybe it is a plant. :)

[Jana White]

So CowPrincess, you made me look up the review for our fun experience motel to see if it is still in existence as this was 15 years ago. It has one decent review and the rest pretty much like the Pacific Breeze. It's called Big Bear Cool Cabins in Big Bear City, CA and we were put in a quonset hut which they "called" their master suite. :) It included a fireplace with what turned out to be totally wet wood and it smoked out the whole "suite" and set off the smoke alarm. We had to pull it off the ceiling to turn it off. A filthy shower with a mildewed shower curtain that was half hung (held on by one small screw on one side only). We did not even attempt to turn the bed down as the bedspread was so stained we did not want to touch it. Luckily we had towels and blankets with us as my husband is always mega prepared and we slept on them. And like your experience, the front desk clerk was worthless.

 

We had been hiking all day and at the last minute decided we were too tired to drive the 2 hour drive home and this was all that we could find available. We should have driven home. :) Still your story is better.

[cigarman]

Dear Sail,:eek:

While I do not peruse the boards as often as my DW, I do stop in once and a while to see what is up.

As we approach our sail date I am interested in knowing what to expect that might be different on our next cruise.

We have sailed more then a few times and we come back to HAL because we find the staff to be first class and the cabins well maintained. I have NEVER had a bad meal on HAL. (Once I thought I did, but I was wrong, it was just two lobster tails on my plate). We cruise because the Mrs, does not like to fly and our experience on the Am-track is another story in it self. We do not so much go for the shows, and I have never watched the Art Auction.

Why anyone would keep coming back to a company that they do not like is beyond my understanding. Rather then constant complaining please choose another Cruise line.

The question of "Why do they roll up the sidewalks on HAL ships so early?" is answered by me with politeness, what I really want to say is "Please go cruise with another company".

 

To answer the question of why we cruise is really very simple. To see places and meet people. To be free on the high seas and enjoy each other watching both a sunrise and sunset over the ocean, on the same day without having to drive to the Florida Keys every week. To awaken to a new port of call each day and not know what to expect. The excitement of exploring in new countries instead of watching the Nat Geo channel. To see how other people live and to know that we are blessed to be Americans (no offense to anyone else). To get away from anyone that wants or needs to speak to me "right now". And, to do it because I can. And we love cruising. And we do love cruising on HAL. (upgrade fairy are you reading this?)

 

My wife and I both were in the Hotel business for more then 20 years and we can find the worst in any "hotel" situation, believe me. I find myself moving a finger along the top edge of the paintings to check for dust. I look to see if I can see me in the brass of the elevator buttons. To run a floating hotel that exists in the worst environment on earth,(the seas) and to be able to keep so many varied people happy, let alone in a good mood is very special. We have learned to book direct with HAL and I will never book with TA again. There I have had bad things happen. So any TA reading this post, I have listened to myself and now book without your help or input. So there.

 

Well I have gone on long enough and I am sure I have once again made a segment of this board's population a little ticked off. Get over it people. The age of political correctness has gone way too far in my humble opinion. (Take that David Letterman)

Cigarman.

See you in October on our next wonderful HAL 14 day cruise.:D

[jimmy2x]

Because of that lady---- to this day I cannot shower alone in a motel room.:eek::eek::eek:

 

About ten years ago a local theater had a showing of Psycho with the big draw being a live appearance by Janet Leigh. Took my daughter,who is also a Hitchcock fan. Ms. Leigh was very gracious and took a number of questions from the audience prior to the movie. She confirmed that she had never been able to take a shower after making the movie.

[Soundsgreat6]

Re the road to Tofino: The first time we went to long beach, in my early 20's. I drove a Corvaire in those days and was into Sports Car Rally's and such. I loved it. All those twisty turns etc. Well It was quite foggy in the evening so we tucked in early. Was tenting in a small pup tent. With the 2 of us in and the moisture from the fog by 10pm we where quite damp. I looked over at my wife and she said your right let's go. We just managed to get out of the park before the Ranger closed the gate for the night. Well we did drive that road in the night. Plus I was having such a good time we made it to the other side of Vancouver Island by 4 am lol. Found an all night laudrymat and throw the sleeping bags tent and all in a big commercial dryer. By 6:00 am we were at my wife's Uncle's in Ladysmith enjoying fresh Oysters for breakfast. Great remainder of the week also.

[shandryl]

I see people expressing their opinions - good and bad. I haven't seen whining about poor cruises, only whining about others whining. When that gets too bad, I find the "Ignore" feature is my friend. :D

 

 

I hear you! "I love the Ignore feature" When I get sick of seeing the same negitive posts I just put thier name in the required field & click ignore LOL:D