All Categories

Review: Hyatt the Pike Long Beach

4/26/2015

We spent a weekend in LA a while back and decided to stay at Hyatt the Pike Long Beach. LA hotels are typically extremely expensive and we liked the idea of being a bit closer to Orange County, so we went with Hyatt the Pike. The hotel is located right in the middle of downtown Long Beach and it's actually pretty much across the street from another Hyatt property, the Hyatt Regency Long Beach, which is older and larger than the Pike.

Hyatt the Pike Exterior

Hyatt the Pike Lobby Area

We arrived at the hotel in the evening and were able to park our rental car out front and unload our stuff. Parking at this hotel is done across the street in a city parking garage, but overnight parking was only $7, so it was actually quite a good deal. Unfortunately, check-in was very slow and the front desk agent didn't seem to know much about what he was doing. He forgot to mention the Diamond amenity, so I had to go back later for that, and overall, it just took far too long to check in. I was actually in the early stages of being very sick and my entire body was aching, so all I wanted to do was check in quickly and efficiently and get upstairs to lie down.

Once we finally got our room key, we headed upstairs where we had a room on the 6th floor. The hallways were dark, but had lighted numbers on all of the doors and were fairly nicely decorated with some playful mirrors and sconces. We had been upgraded slightly but I honestly can't remember if it was to a Deluxe King room or an Executive King room. The room was a good size and had a desk with a minibar to the left and couch right in front when you walked in the room, then to the right was the bedroom area and bathroom. The bedroom had a closet with the safe, an iron and ironing board, and extra bedding. It was all one space and wasn't fully closed off, but the room was nicely divided by a swiveling TV so it could be watched either from the couch or the bed.

Hyatt the Pike Hallway

King Guest Room

The bathroom was gorgeous and bright with gray and white tiles all around and a glass enclosed rain shower. It was one of my favorite parts of the room.

King Guest Room Bathroom

We had a pretty quiet night and got dinner to go from a nearby restaurant because it actually hurt for me to move at this point. Little did I know that the full body aches meant I was in the early stages of a flu and I was scheduled to fly to China for work two days later.

By the next morning, I wasn't as achy, but I started feeling nauseous, so I wasn't very interested in breakfast. As a Diamond, we had $24.50 each to spend at the hotel restaurant, Bay Street Kitchen, so I went along anyway and tried to find something simple to eat. Chris went for the Cinnamon French Toast and I tried (and failed) to eat the Yogurt Parfait. The restaurant was bright and cutely decorated and service was attentive, so it was still a nice space to sit for a little while.

Bay Street Kitchen Restaurant

Bay Street Kitchen Breakfast Menu

Bay Street Kitchen Yogurt Parfait

Bay Street Kitchen Cinnamon French Toast

After breakfast, we quickly checked out the rooftop pool, which was small, but deserted so early in the morning. It had a great view and some nice seating available and would have been nice if I was feeling a little bit better.

Hyatt the Pike Pool

Overall, the hotel was very nice. It had a bit of a boutique feel to it and it was a good option for our trip. The rooms were quiet and everything was comfortable. Aside from the slight service issue with our check-in taking longer than it should have, everything went smoothly. This hotel is a great option if you're in the area and it has a nicer, more personal feel than the massive Hyatt Regency down the street.

Happy Travels!

1 Comment

Review: Cathay Pacific First Class HKG - SFO

4/7/2015

0 Comments

Travel Planning: Fall in Asia
Review: LAX Star Alliance Lounge
Review: Singapore Airlines Suites Class LAX - NRT
Review: Park Hyatt Tokyo
Recap: Time in Tokyo
Review: HND JAL First Class Lounge
Review: JAL Business Class HND - GMP
Review: IP Boutique Hotel Seoul
Recap: Time in Seoul
Review: ICN Cathay Pacific Lounge
Review: Cathay Pacific Business Class ICN - HKG
Review: Hyatt Regency Tsim Sha Tsui
Recap: Time in Hong Kong
Review: HKG Cathay Pacific “The Wing” First Class Lounge
Review: Cathay Pacific First Class HKG - SFO

At the beginning of our trip, we flew Singapore Airlines Suites class to Tokyo, so I drew a lot of comparisons between that and the Cathay Pacific First class experience during the flight home. Singapore Airlines has gotten a massive amount of attention lately for their Suites class, but you might be surprised when you find out which I preferred between what are considered two of the best First Class products in the world.

Background

We knew we wanted to visit Asia last fall since I had never been, and we had a few ideas of where we would like to visit, but in the end, we booked our trip solely around the premium award availability we were able to find on Singapore Airlines and on Cathay Pacific. We worked with Alex over at Points Pros and he did an amazing job - he booked us on our top two preferred awards - Singapore Airlines Suites class and Cathay Pacific First class. Both are consistently chosen as the best international first class products in the world, so we were extremely excited, to say the least.

For this award, we were able to reserve two first class seats from HKG - SFO for 67,500 AAdvantage miles + $56.60 taxes each. Honestly, this was quite a bargain and I was very happy to be flying directly in to SFO rather than having to connect via LAX. However, the availability is what you will find most tricky when booking this award. Per Alex: "It’s been a LONG time since I’ve seen two first class seats this far out, and these are the only premium cabin award seats on HKG - LAX/SFO for the entire month of October," so we got really lucky!

The Flight

Cathay Pacific Airlines #872
Hong Kong (HKG) - San Francisco (SFO)
Thursday, October 7th, 2014
12:30 AM - 10:15 PM (-1): 12 hours, 45 minutes
Boeing 777-300ER: Seat 2A (First Class)

We arrived at the airport quite ahead of when we needed to be there because our flight was so late at night and we had run out of things to do while we were waiting. We headed straight for the First Class check-in area, which is located all the way to the left when entering the HKG international terminal. The First Class check-in area is very large and has more agents to help than you could ever need. When we checked, we noticed that somehow I had been bumped from my confirmed seat, 2A. Since Chris was in 1A, this was a bit of a problem because we did want to sit near each other on the flight. The reason for the bump, I expect, is that Cathay typically reserves 1A and 2A for Oneworld Emeralds and I was but a mere Sapphire. However, Alex had worked some magic for us after we made our reservation and confirmed me into seat 2A regardless of my lowly status. After bringing up the issue during check-in, the agent was able to correct things and gave me back my original seat. We received our boarding passes and our lounge invitations and were on our merry way.

Cathay Pacific First Class Check In HKG

We spent several hours in The Wing First Class Lounge prior to boarding which was luckily right by our gate by the time we were ready to board. A rather annoying aspect of boarding flights to the US from HKG is the need to go through a secondary screening once arriving at the gate so that it can be ensured you are bringing no liquids on-board the aircraft. Once we had cleared the screening, we waited for about 10 more minutes and then were allowed to board.

This flight is flown on a Boeing 777, so it's not as exciting as the A380 double-decker we had flown on our way to Tokyo, but the first class section was set up very nicely. For this flight, Cathay's first class is set up in a 1-1-1 configuration with only two rows, so there are only six first class passengers. On our flight, four out of the six seats were full, so the middle seats remained empty. One of the reasons we pushed to get my seat switched back to 2A is that 1A and 2A are arguably the most private seats in first. The middle seats face the other side of the aircraft, so 1A and 2A each face a wall, which means you won't see any of the other passengers at all.

The seats were large and plush with a footrest directly across from the seat and a TV, which could be pulled out, to the right of the footrest. The footrest could also be used as another seat if you want to dine with another passenger at their seat. It's also possible to place small items underneath the footrest so that you don't have to store them overhead, which I always appreciate since I don't like having to get up if I want my Kindle or some other device. The fresh flowers placed in the small vases above each seat were also an extremely classy touch. While these seats were not fully enclosed suites like Singapore Airlines, they were still extremely comfortable and since we were in 1A and 2A, we still experienced plenty of privacy.

Cathay Pacific First Class Cabin

Cathay Pacific First Class Seat

Cathay Pacific First Class Seat Footrest

Cathay Pacific First Class Seat 2A View

Cathay Pacific First Class In-Flight Entertainment

Cathay Pacific First Class Seat Reading Material

Despite how late at night it now was, we were both energized for the flight and were excited to get underway.

Shortly after we boarded, the first class crew came around and introduced themselves and welcomed us aboard by name, which was very nice. A few minutes later, they passed out our pajamas, which came in a nice matching tote bag, and amenity kits. Unlike the Singapore Suites amenity kits, I thought these ones were much more useful. Instead of being filled with perfume and lotion, the kits had things you would want on a long haul flight: a brush, toothbrush, face cream, etc.

Cathay Pacific First Class Pajamas

Cathay Pacific First Class Womens Amenity Kit and Pajamas

Cathay Pacific First Class Mens Amenity Kit

Before takeoff, we were also offered a pre-departure beverage and an amuse-bouche, which had mango and some kind of shellfish along with a cracker. I don't like shellfish, but it was admittedly pretty good. I tend to nurse my drinks, so since I knew I wouldn't have much time, I just went with a water to start.

0 Comments

Review: HKG Cathay Pacific “The Wing” First Class Lounge

3/29/2015

3 Comments

The Wing First Class Lounge Entrance

The Wing essentially covers two levels of the airport and has both a first and a business class lounge. There's a clear delineation between the two and unless you're flying in first class on any Oneworld airline or you have Oneworld Emerald status, you will not be able to enter the first class section. There are two entrances to the lounge, one on the level directly on the other side of immigration, and one on the level below. The entrance on the top level can be accessed by first class passengers and Oneworld Emeralds only, so since it was right there, we went right in.

Immediately upon entering, you will be greeted with plush leather club chairs and a champagne bar. The lounge itself is quite narrow and is open to the terminal below on one side so it's not extremely large, although it seems like it is because it keeps going and has a series of rooms. After the champagne bar, you will see more seating, plus another staffed bar. Along the wall to your left, you'll see the entrance to the famed shower cabanas (more on those later) and bathrooms. Beyond that, more seating, and then you'll reach the first class dining room, where you can have a sit down dinner before the flight.

The Wing First Class Lounge Champagne Bar

The Wing First Class Lounge Seating

The Wing First Class Lounge Bar

The Wing First Class Lounge Signage

In the dining room, you can order from the a la carte menu or just eat the food from the buffet. We opted for the buffet because we didn't want to eat too much before our flight and honestly, I was quite disappointed. The buffet presentation was quite awful and had been very picked over, which is understandable, since it was after dinner time, but you would think that in a lounge like this, they would be meticulous about keeping the buffet looking nice. The food also was nothing to write home about and neither of us were very impressed. There were some hot dishes like roast chicken and fish, salads, sushi, some meats, fruit, then desserts and cheeses.

The Wing First Class Lounge Dining Area

The Wing First Class Lounge Dining Area Menu

The Wing First Class Lounge Buffet

After a small bit of food, we decided to try our luck at getting a cabana to freshen up before our flight. The cabanas are quite large, featuring a shower, a bath tub, a couch, and a vanity, and The Wing has several of them and then quite a few shower rooms, which are much smaller. From what I understand, the cabanas go quickly, so if you're interested in reserving one, you will want to do so immediately upon arriving at the lounge. Luckily, we were able to get right in.

The decor inside the cabanas is minimal with wood accents and stone tiles. Overall, they are clean and relaxing and a nice place to freshen up after a long day.

The Wing First Class Lounge Cabana

Once we had freshened up, we took a seat in the lounge to get some work done. As is the case with Hong Kong, the plugs are all UK style, so you'll need an adapter if you want to plug anything in. I had packed mine in my checked baggage and had a difficult time, but I asked a lounge attendant and sure enough, they had an adapter for me, so that worked out well.

I then used the time to explore the business class section of the lounge. Once you pass through, you'll see signage for the IT Zone, which features multiple Mac and PC computers (there is also one in the first class lounge), the Noodle Bar, the Coffee Loft, and the Long Bar.

The top floor of the business class lounge was just as crowded as the first class lounge, or maybe a bit more-so. However, since it was past dinnertime, the Noodle Bar was nearly empty. The Coffee Loft as well was not particularly busy. There, you can have a barista (who was not around when I was there) prepare an espresso drink for you. There are also various wrapped sandwiches and snacks along with juices, cheese, pastries, and soft drinks. The lounge also had several hot dishes available along the wall, which were similar to those in the first class dining room.

The Wing Business Class Lounge Signage

The Wing Business Class Lounge

The Wing Business Class Lounge Noodle Bar

The Wing Business Class Lounge Seating

The Wing Business Class Lounge Noodle Bar

The Wing Business Class Lounge Coffee Loft

The Wing Business Class Lounge Buffet

I didn't spend any time on the bottom floor of the lounge, but there, you will find more seating, another IT Zone, and more drinks and snacks to grab while you are waiting.

Overall, The Wing is an extensive lounge with many different areas to hang out in before your flight. It's also extremely convenient for flights to the US, which typically depart from the gates nearest to the lounge. That being said, it can be extremely crowded and is one of the more popular lounges in the Hong Kong airport. Cathay Pacific actually operates four lounges airside and one landside. While The Wing and The Pier are the only lounges with dedicated first class sections, I actually preferred The Bridge, which I visited on a second trip to Hong Kong and reviewed here.

Happy Travels!

3 Comments

Recap: Time in Hong Kong

3/11/2015

0 Comments

Hong Kong Light Show from Kowloon

The next morning, we planned to visit the Tian Tan Buddha, a.k.a. the “Big Buddha”, on Lantau Island, which can be reached by several methods including a cable car. Somewhere in my reading of things to do in Hong Kong, I read that you should get there as early as possible to get on the cable car, get out to the island, and get back before it gets too busy and boy am I glad we did! (By the time we left the island and headed back via the cable car somewhere between 11 AM and 12 PM, there were hundreds and hundreds of people in line just to buy tickets, then more to get in a car.) To get to the cable cars, we took MTR to Tung Chung station and then walked a short way to the NP360 station, arriving right around when it opened at 10 AM. We had to wait in a short line to buy tickets, but if you can, I would recommend buying online ahead of time.

There are two types of cable cars that you can ride in - a glass bottom cabin, and a traditional cabin. Of course, the glass bottom cabin allows you to see below, but it’s more expensive, so we opted to ride out in the glass bottom cabin and back in the traditional cabin, which was about $230HK. This also turned out to be a good idea, because there was a much shorter line for the glass bottom cabin than for the traditional cabin and we got on quickly. The ride actually is quite long and takes about 25 minutes. If you have a fear of heights or enclosed spaces, this would not be the best way for you to go, since you’re in a small cabin very high up for a fairly long period of time. That being said, it was absolutely beautiful and there were many amazing views along the way.

NP360 Gondola

Cheesing on the NP360 Gondola

Big Buddha from NP360 Gondola

Once we arrived on Lantau Island, we found that it’s set up in a very touristy way. You will get off the cable car and then walk through a “village” of sorts, which has lots of souvenir shops and some restaurants. There was even a Starbucks! Once through the village, you’ll see the buddha looming ahead of you and beyond that, a monastery, which I believe you can visit. We climbed the steps to the top of the buddha, took a few pictures, and were ready to go back. Again, as we were leaving, things got much much busier and I was very glad that we arrived early and were some of the first to the top of the buddha, which means less people in all of your pictures!

Tian Tan Buddha

Statues Next to Tian Tan Buddha

Tian Tan Buddha

Post-Apocalyptic Empty Hong Kong Streets

Hong Kong from Victoria Peak

After the buddha, we wanted to visit the top of Victoria Peak, which almost could not be further away from where we were over by Lantau Island, so we began the long journey via MTR. Once we arrived on Hong Kong island, we went straight for the Peak Tram, which is a funicular railway that takes you to the top of Victoria Peak. For some reason, we were under the impression that this was the only way to get to the top of the peak, so we freaked out when we saw the massive line of people that would mean a two hour wait. We did a few searches and realized that you can easily take a taxi to the top of the peak, so we quickly abandoned the idea of the Peak Tram and set off in search of a taxi. Interestingly, we were in Hong Kong during the beginning of the protests being led by students in downtown Hong Kong, so many of the streets were completely closed off and it was incredibly difficult to find a taxi as many other streets were also completely abandoned. Finally, we found one and made it to the top of the Peak, which we found had yet another mall on top! Luckily, it was an absolutely beautiful, clear day, so we could see for miles. At this point, it was already later in the afternoon, so we decided to make our way back to our hotel to get ready for the evening.

That night, we had booked a sunset cruise on Aqua Luna, which you will become familiar with very quickly as it sails every night on the harbour and is a very distinctive traditional Chinese junk boat with bright red sails. The sunset cruise was perfect because we also caught the beginning of the light show and we really enjoyed the chance to see the views from both sides of the island and now the harbour. It was a fairly quick 45 minute ride, but we had a lot of fun.

Victoria Peak

View of Hong Kong Island at Sunset

Aqua Luna Boat Cruise

After the cruise ended, we grabbed dinner and then headed to Ozone after a recommendation from a friend, which boasts the title of “highest bar in the world” on the 118th floor of the Ritz Carlton Hong Kong. It was an incredible looking bar with a fascinating aesthetic, but the drinks cost $25 each and it was really not my scene. Probably one of those do it to say you’ve done it things, but not a place to spend much time.

Kowloon Streets at Night

Ozone Bar

Ozone Bar Drinks

View from Ritz Carlton Hong Kong Driveway

The next day, we had a very late red eye flight back to the states, so we figured we could see more touristy things in Hong Kong like the Ladies Market or Nan Lian Garden or we could go to Hong Kong Disneyland, or we could spend the day in Macau. After taking a quick poll on Facebook, Macau won, so we headed to the ferry terminal to buy tickets. This was quite the ordeal. Of course, there are tons and tons of people trying to sell you their ferry tickets and trying to give you “good deal”, which makes things incredibly overwhelming. The ferry terminal itself is really not that easy to navigate and we weren’t sure what to do, so we eventually decided to choose someone at random and hope their ferry tickets were legit. We got on the ferry and headed to Macau, which took about an hour by boat.

Once we arrived, we realized that we had tickets into one ferry terminal and out of another, but our second ticket wasn’t valid yet (or something), so we spent the first hour and a half on the island going from one terminal to another to fix our tickets. Once we did that, we decided to check out a few of the resorts on the island (more to see what they looked like rather than to gamble) because that’s really all there is to do while you’re there. Once nice thing is that all of the hotels have massive luxury shuttle buses waiting at each ferry terminal which will take you to their property for free, so we got on the shuttle for the Venetian and decided to check it out. The Venetian Macau was incredibly bizarre. It’s absolutely massive and it looks identical to the Venetian in Las Vegas, which is even weirder because it’s like a replica of a replica and then you’re in China. We also checked out the Wynn (which is another replica) and wandered down the street to the old town part of Macau, but at that point, had to turn back so that we wouldn’t miss our ferry back to Hong Kong.

The Venetian Macau

Wynn Macau

Once we got back to Hong Kong, we headed to our hotel to pick up our baggage and then went to the airport. So came the end of our excellent Asia trip, but we had one more exciting thing to experience - Cathay Pacific First Class on our way home!

0 Comments

Review: Hyatt Regency Tsim Sha Tsui

3/5/2015

0 Comments

Hyatt Regency TST Street Entrance

Anyway, our taxi driver apparently wasn’t completely sure where we were going, so he dropped us off on the street in front of the hotel. (If your driver actually knows where he’s going, there’s an underground driveway that you can be dropped off in.) So, when you enter from the street, you’ll find yourself in a small lobby and the bellman there can help direct you to the hotel. You’ll take the elevator up to the third floor (which, I think, is as far as it goes) and arrive in the main lobby area. From there, we approached the front desk and since Chris was a Diamond member, we were offered to complete check-in from the Regency Club on the 23rd floor. We figured we might as well, so one of the associates took us up with our bags and found us a seat while they processed our check in. After checking us in and going over the Regency Club features (more on that later), we were assigned to room 2011, a Harbour View King Room.

Hyatt Regency TST Street Level Lobby

Hyatt Regency TST Hallway

Hyatt Regency TST Lobby

We entered the room and found the bathroom and a closet on the left with the rest of the room laid out in front. The room was crisp, clean, and tastefully decorated and after our last hotel in Seoul, it was an incredibly refreshing change. The room had a king bed with a chair and ottoman situated by the window, a desk, and a console housing the safe, coffee and tea set up, and minibar. The room also had a nice view of the harbour, but since the hotel itself is located a few blocks back from the water, the view was slightly obstructed by other buildings, though still impressive.

Hyatt Regency TST Harbour View King Room Entrance

Hyatt Regency TST Harbour View King Room Closet

Hyatt Regency TST Harbour View King Room

Hyatt Regency TST Harbour View King Room Minibar

Hyatt Regency TST Harbour View King Room Safe

Hyatt Regency TST Harbour View King Room

Hyatt Regency TST Harbour View King Room Minibar

Hyatt Regency TST Harbour View King Room View

One of the coolest parts of the room was undoubtedly the “Handy” phone they provide you to use during your stay. It’s an Android cell phone that you can use for free loaded with city guides, advertising, etc, but the BEST part is that you can tether to the phone’s 3G wifi for free. This is literally how we did all Instagramming, Facebook-checking, and map-checking we needed while we were in Hong Kong and it was awesome! You can also use it to make free calls to the US, UK, Australia, Singapore, and China, which I didn’t try, but I’m sure it would have been great - sorry mom!

Hyatt Regency TST Handy Phone

The most unique part of the room was the partition between the bedroom and bathroom that could be opened so you could, in theory, see the view from the bathtub or shower. Honestly, I didn’t really see much of the point of it, but it was a novelty that I’ve seen repeated in a few other hotels and can be fun.

The bathroom was quite large and featured a standalone tub, a walk in shower, and a fairly large sink and counter space. The toiletries were Portico branded and seemed pretty standard, but were nice enough.