Canopy by Hilton - Philadelphia

Our home in Philadelphia was the Canopy by Hilton.  We booked it directly using Chase cc points.  One of the selling points for this location were the Canopy Bikes!  We had access to urban bikes once before at an AirBNB in Hiroshima and really enjoyed them.  

The service we received at the Canopy was excellent.  We were allowed to check in upon arrival just before noon and took the following photos of our very stylish room!

The wall-mounted TV even welcomed us by name into our temporary home.  

One bummer of booking via the Chase portal is that though our stay was eventually added to our Hilton account, we didn't get all the perks that typically accompany our Hilton status ... specifically a daily food/drink credit that can be used in the hotel restaurant.  Bummer, but fair I guess?  

We had a brief miscommunication regarding the Canopy bikes - apparently they are put away each winter which was a huge disappointment.  Later, however, the staff called and let us know this was incorrect and they can still be used, they are just stored indoors instead of outside in the weather all winter.  This is certainly fair.  Our visit to NY and Philly happened during a rather freak warm streak in February and temperatures reached the high 60s. 

Just the cutest phone ever!

Wyoming

 We left Yellowstone via the east exit and headed towards our lunch plans in Cody WY at the Irma Restaurant and Grill.  The Irma hotel was famous for Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show back in the early 1900's.  Apparently tons of famous folks visited here including British royalty. We were not impressed.

Cherrywood bar - a gift from Queen Victoria

COntinuing from Cody, we headed to Steamboat Point.  The weather did not agree ... check out our awesome visit:

At this point in our vacation, and after a ton of driving, we're pretty worn out. We were super excited to find another local in-grocery starbucks celebrating Friday Love!  

We had a one night stop-over at an AirBNB in Buffalo, WY.   Best parts of this home were there Washer/Dryer and Freezer.  We did all our laundry during our one night stay and re-froze our water bottles that serve to keep our cooler cool! 

Embarkation - Independence of the Seas

 Wifey chose Independence of the Seas for our 3rd cruise because it has a Sorentos Pizza onboard and had an itinerary available with only one sea day which was the very last day of the cruise.  

We started at our hotel lobby and loaded into a van with a few other folks heading to Port! 

5 minutes later we had exited the van, dropped our checked luggage off with the luggage handlers and were walking towards check-in.  Lines were minimal and we made it through with no problems!

First steps onto Independence!  And a quick snap of the Monday Elevator!

We managed to embark too early for Muster so we started our vacation with PIZZA!!!

Orlando Airport; Cape Canaveral Hilton

Blog post written 2 months in arrears.  Apologies for lack of detail.  

On Feb. 6, 2022 we flew to Orlando Florida on our way to cruise to the Bahamas on Independence of the Seas.  We were upgraded into first class IIRC resulting in seats that were one row apart instead of next to each other. 

The luggage pick up experience at Orlando was by far the worst we've ever experienced.  We waited over an hour.  But our bags did arrive at long last.  

We immediately caught an Uber over to Port Canaveral so we'd be positioned close to our cruise ship embarkation the next morning.  We'd been able to snag an 11:00 embarkation time by waking up at midnight to check into our cruise.  Our Hotel offered port transfers for $8 each which we took advantage of.  

The next morning we enjoyed free breakfast at our Homewood Suites by Hilton.  The hotel provided gloves for COVID safety at the breakfast area.  

Breakfast was pretty standard Hilton hotel fare. MYO Waffles; a meat, and a premade omelet.  Considering it was truly free (we had paid for the night using points) nothing to complain about!

 

Seattle WA - Hilton

 We headed to the airport dark and early on Thursday morning with a collection of luggage that reminded me of our early-marriage travels!  (Not clearly visible - our stuffed backpacks)

After landing in Seattle via Chicago about 12 hours later, we walked to our airport hotel ... which was a depressinging long walk.  In reality it wasn't THAT bad, but considering expectations of it being on-site it wasn't great. Wifey was 'over-it' so the pictures below also aren't great.  

Due to the new Hilton policy, instead of receiving free breakfast due to our Diamond status, we received two food/drink credits.  We had left-over quesadillas we brought from home that satiated our hunger and were able to use the credit for fancy coffee, candy bars, a one breakfast sandwich, and a fruit, granola, and yogurt parfait.  All-in-all a win!

Sadly, just as we prepared to walk back to the airport to catch our train to downtown it began raining.  Instead, we took the hotel's shuttle back to the airport (saving us a few hundred yards in the rain, and probably doubling our commute).  

Big Island Hilton Options

Hilton Ocean Tower - we stayed here 2 nights early in our visit.  This was planned.  Ocean Tower is the farthest lodging option accessible by a tram of art hallway walk.  This is a bit of a pain moving in/out with luggage.  But you still get full access to the resort amenities at a more reasonable cost.  The rooms are so-so, though with our Hilton Gold status we did get access to free laundry facilities and a late checkout time.  If you like hanging out by the pool or salt-water lagoon, stay here.  Otherwise, skip it.  

view from our room.  

bathroom vanity.

closet

bathroom

mini-fridge.  No microwave.

King bed and front door

king bed and couch view

Hilo DoubleTree by Hilton. -  We booked here last minute after our 3rd AirBNB fiasco.  Our status got us preferred room location (specifically a 10th floor ocean view).  Our room had both mini-fridge/freezer and a microwave.  The shower even had a mirrored glass wall so you could see the ocean FROM the shower.  We easily walked from our hotel along Banyon Tree Drive and over to Coconut Island.  I'd stay here again, though it was expensive.  Kee was apparently 'over it' and took exactly - pictures OF our room.  

ours was the third floor from the top, 5th window from the right.

View from our room.

Coconut Island

Statue and view of the ocean from our hotel lobby.

Kings Land by Hilton -  We didn't mean to book here.  It was a last minute booking error, but alas.  Kings Land is the Hilton properties that are technically part of Waikoloa Village (where Oceans Tower is located at the end), but Kings Land are about a half mile to a mile away and are nearer a golf course.  King's Land are condos (mostly vacation rentals).  The space we stayed in at Kings Land was lovely, however, the staff couldn't care less if we are frequent Hilton guests.  They were not having a late checkout beyond 11 am.  Also, check-in time is 4:00 and pretty strict.  In most hotels, if you arrive early, we've round they'll put you in some room a bit early within reason.  Not so much here.  We literally killed almost 2 hours waiting for our unit to be ready.  Each unit has an in-unit washer/dryer.  We're guessing they get a-lot of Japanese visitors.  Ours also had toilets like we're used to seeing in Japan.   GREAT space.  Poor(ish) location and services.  The hospitality suite (see separate post) was a nice perk, however the annoyance of an outdoor airport almost made it moot. 

Front door - Hilton clean

Full Kitchen (dining room table barely visible too)

vanity

shower and fancy toilet

living room and balcony

bedroom