Usually for our anniversary, we go see a play. I don't know how that tradition got started, but it is what we do. This year, we decided to shake things up. Instead of a play, we decided to spend the night at the
Hotel Del Coronado, the crown jewel of San Diego hotels.
Now The Hotel Del (or just The Del as San Diegans call it) isn't actually in San Diego. It is actually in the city of Coronado, which is on Coronado Island, which actually isn't an island but a penninsula. Oh, the illusions of San Diego life. In any case, The Del is the pinnacle of hotels in the San Diego area. You could ask any San Diegan what one hotel they would keep in San Diego if all the rest in the area were to disappear, and they would keep The Del without a doubt.
So we thought it would be only right that we give it a go and see exactly what it was like. After all, if we are going to talk intelligently about it with visitors, we should know of what we speak. So here's a little photo tour of the room, taken right after our arrival at The Hotel Del. The photo to the right is to the right of the bed. The door apparently connects to the next room over.
This photo is to the left of the bed. In case you make reservations, the room we signed up for was the "Victorian 1 Queen Bed". This was the only choice that guaranteed us a room in the original building, aka the Victorian building. This part was built 120 years ago and still has all the charm it had back then.
Standing towards the headboard and looking the other direction, one would see the entry door (to the left of my wife), then the closet door (just to the right of my wife), then the bathroom door.
The desk area.
And the floor plan of the Victorian building, stolen from the emergency instructions on the back of the door.
Some of the amenities in the room at the Hotel Del Coronado included this CD player/alarm clock....
...and this phone. I recently read a survey of freshman entering college and they stated that they had never used a phone with a cord. Well, a few said they had at their grandparent's house. I was amazed, then I thought about it, then I believed it. After a night at The Del, I think they have short memories. All phones in hotel rooms still have cords, as far as I can remember! Did they not stay in hotels while growing up?
The A/C controls. It was off when we entered, but we turned it on to 70 degrees and it worked fine. AC was quick to cool the room, it was quiet at night, and it was painless to operate. Well done!
And just to be thorough, I looked up....
...and down. This room was immaculate, I tell you. No dirt or signs of wear anywhere. It was like it was brand new.
And here is our view. Probably about the worst, if not the worst, view in the Victorian building. This is the laundry building, if I'm not mistaken. A parking lot is just to the left. We were disappointed yes, but at least the website did not mislead...it stated right up front that our room would not have an ocean view. We're fine with that, since we spent most of our waking moments out and about.
Now let's take a peek in the bathroom, shall we? Yes, it was as narrow as it looks. But again, it was squeaky clean and looked brand new. But narrow.
The toilet flush was unusual....to do it, pull up on the silver knob on the top.
Pedestal sink.
Shower stall was very narrow also.
Tub drained a little slow, but we've found this is a feature of all older hotels that we stay in, no matter what the city or the price range.
Looking back out towards the main room.
Just to be thorough, let's check out the closet!
Safe? Check. Blow Drier? Check.
Iron and board? Check.
Robe? Check.
And believe it or not, everything except the robe is important to us. We actually look for them when we check in. Not so much the robe, though. Methinks it would feel a bit odd to wear someone else's robe.
So there you have it! A room at the Hotel Del Coronado.
Would we recommend it? Absolutely!
