I was up early YET AGAIN and having some quiet alone time on the sofa, occasionally interrupted by some snoring noises coming from across the room, when all of a sudden I noticed that the light next to the bed I had turned on, went out. I thought maybe it was on a timer and I had left it on too long. The Sheraton Resort that we are staying at is really into conservation efforts – I was reading in their brochures how much they recycle and also there are 1.5 litre bottles in the room where you can fill them with water from water stations around the property – such as downstairs by the elevator. You actually can choose between chilled still, sparkling or ambient temperature water! Quite fancy! I continued to work away on my laptop as I was already using it not plugged in and was happy on the couch!
A couple of hours later, Andrew got up and was frustrated as he could not use his shaver as there was no charge left in it and the charger was not working. This was about 7 am. In Australia, the shaver plugs are 110/220 volt and a North American 2 prong shaver plug can fit into them. I suggested that he use my converter plug that goes from an Aussie plug to North American plug instead at a different spot in the room and it did not work. Then I plugged in my laptop to the converter plug as I knew it had charged my laptop overnight and it was not charging the laptop now… At that point the light bulb came on in my MIND – I remembered the light going off – I think the power is out! I tried messaging the front desk through the Marriott app on my phone but that did not work so then I phoned them (thank goodness for the International Phone plan that Telus came out with the month before I left) and sure enough the power is out to the hotel. That means I am now stuck in our room unless I want to go down 6 flights of stairs as the elevator is not working either!
I called the hotel back after a while and mentioned that we cannot get to the buffet breakfast due to this and they offered Room Service and took our order and we had a lovely breakfast in the room! I felt for the guy who brought the trays and had to climb the 6 flights of stairs! Breakfast in the room was a nice experience! The only thing that was missing from our order was Andrew’s coffee and my apple juice. I called them again to remind them that those items were missing and at the same time the lights came back on! Andrew at this point was DESPERATE for some caffeine so he made some coffee in the room and within 10 minutes another cup arrived along with my bottle of apple juice!
Now, for a tour of the hotel! First our room…
We, after successfully taking the elevator downstairs, walked out of the North Tower that we were in and around one of the pools to 4 Mile Beach which runs from the town of Port Douglas, north of the hotel, along towards the Sheraton Hotel and a bit further south down the beach. Right now, you cannot swim in the ocean as there are jelly fish with deadly stingers on them – they come out from November to March – tourist season! Here is a picture of 4 Mile Beach –
The hotel has salt water pools and lots of them – some have beach access and some have access from wharf like structures. There is a swim up bar and a restaurant near the pool along with, we soon found, the Feast Restaurant, where the morning buffet breakfast is served. However by the time we got from our hotel room around to the Feast Restaurant and up the ramp – I was both covered in perspiration and exhausted! I decided to go up to the lobby which is above the Feast Restaurant to chat with the Elite Members desk where I checked in. Last night, when I asked them (as they had neglected to tell me) where the breakfast was, they told me there was an elevator in the lobby that went down to the Feast Restaurant.
I asked a server in the Feast Restaurant where the elevator to the lobby was and she looked at me kind of strange while at the same time Andrew said he found the elevator – it was right next to the restaurant called Harrison’s where we were planning on going for dinner on Friday night. I went up the elevator while Andrew climbed the stairs. Out the elevator I walked and there were more stairs to get to the lobby – no ramp to be found! Very bizarre! I called the hotel on my phone (again happy I have this Telus plan) and the operator came out and said I had to take the elevator I came up in back down to the Feast Restaurant and then go into the restaurant and by the washrooms there is a DIFFERENT elevator that goes to the lobby. Why the server did not tell me that I have no idea. I got into the elevator to go down and Andrew went back down the stairs. The elevator would not move. I got out of the elevator and then the door closed and it went down to where Andrew was! Go figure! He sent it back up for me and I repeated and it would not go down. Andrew even tried calling the elevator and it would not go down. I called the operator again and said there is a minor situation with the elevator not working… Soon a front desk clerk arrived and he tried to help however he also was shocked that there was no ramp up to the reception area! The Chief Engineer was called and when he arrived – guess what happened? The elevator behaved! I then got back into the elevator with him and then went to the other elevator and went to the lobby. At this point – this “exercise” had taken over 30 minutes. I was furious.
I spoke to a very nice Manager on Duty named Jaime and explained how wonderful the correspondence with the hotel had been, I let them know what my accessibility needs were, however being placed at the far corner of the hotel on the 3rd floor with a power outage is not a good start! Also, I was having some issues finding my way around the hotel grounds from an accessibility standpoint – I had found the ramp to the Feast Restaurant now, however the distance to travel is quite far and my expectation from the discussions that I had with the staff were that I would be closer and that the hotel was WAY more accessible, based on what is listed on the website, than it currently is. Such as the bump to get into the room – why does it exist where the rooms in the hallways that are Air Conditioned have a flat entry? Bizarre planning when building the hotel! I could see the lip on the 1st floor but not the 2nd or 3rd floors.
Long story short, I pointed out the room type I had originally booked and where I ended up was not really an upgrade but a downgrade and I was perplexed with what happened and that no one had mentioned to me how to get around the property from an accessibility standpoint when it is obvious that it is not very accessible compared to what is listed on the website. She agreed and found a closer room for us, which funny enough, was a similar room type that I had booked and even funnier – had a walk in shower! It was an identical room to the one we were in on the 3rd floor however it has a swim-up balcony with a ladder to get into the pool (which would not work for me). I had booked a lagoon/pool view with a balcony. Sometimes I wonder about my communication skills vs. people’s reading and listening skills.
We then went out to the local grocery store – Coles to get some groceries and beverages for our stay. As always, I enjoy shopping in different countries to find different gluten free items and I found a WONDERFUL soft, squishy set of 4 brioche buns to make sandwiches! I was so excited! After Andrew patronized the Bottle Store, we went back, dripping wet yet again, to the comfort of our hotel room to relax and have some dinner!
Now that we have wasted 1/2 of a day, we went back to our 3rd floor room and packed up (well Andrew packed as I had not unpacked) so that they could move us to a different room. Eventually that happened and Jaime and Allan, who had checked me in and is new to the hotel, came with her so that he could learn better the needs of people who use wheelchairs or walkers like me. The new room as I mentioned was just perfect and very similar – only negative is it still had the little bump up to get into the room. I can handle that if I pay attention! The benefit is that about 200 feet away is a ramp into the Ballroom space and through that corridor, is the Feast Restaurant where we need to go for Breakfast. It is not a kilometer walk sweating away, around all the pools to get there each morning! We thought we would celebrate this achievement of moving rooms and a quasi relaxation day buy going to the Lagoon Restaurant which serves Asian Small plates. We got there and it was closed as it was a Tuesday! Again, the website failed us – now it is only open Wednesday through Sunday. Oh dear. Andrew deserved a drink so we went into the Feast Restaurant, up the elevator to the lobby and to the Rain Tree Bar where they were supposed to have drink specials on.
We found a ramp! There is a ramp from the lobby to the entrance to the Daintree Bar – unfortunately the ramp does not go down any further so unless you like sitting at high tables or at the bar (both of which have tall chairs) again, not very accessible as the main part of the bar is down some stairs! Oh this hotel is sure not what the website indicated! We enjoyed a nice drink and then went on our way back to our hotel room. That said, the bar was pretty impressive with its wall of alcohol bottles that Andrew and I gazed over and tried to figure out how they were arranged!
Well, back to our “lagoon view” room now to get some sleep as tomorrow is going to be a busy day! We are off to the Great Barrier Reef!