Saturday, September 21, 2013

THE SAGAMORE RESORT AND SPA...... a review!


Here is our Tour Guide.....
Miss "B"...outside the front
driveway of the
Sagamore Resort and Spa in the
Adirondacks...
We took a little road trip on Labor Day
Weekend...
to someplace I had always wanted to visit...
I hope my big trip to visit the
"Hollywood Chimps"... another life long
Dream.....turns out to be more what I expect......
Come on....Monkeys dressed up in clothes
and roller skates....I can't wait!
Not terribly impressive from the outside...
I expected it to be nicer...
The pictures on the Internet make it look
Spectacular....not so much...
But this is only the entrance...
A short 4 hour drive from NYC....after you
get off the Highway you drive a ways and
you feel like your on the movie set
of "Dirty Dancing"....
In fact during our three day stay...
daughter must have said
"Nobody puts baby in the corner"
a half a dozen times....
Usually when we were being seated for a meal..
Listed on the Historic Hotels of America...
"National Trust for Historic Preservation"
They aren't doing a very good job of
preserving the joint..
Maybe I was wrong in thinking....
Your in the Adirondacks there should be
animal heads hanging and a huge stone
fireplace...Lot's of "twiggy" stuff....
Nope...the lobby was decorated with
odds and ends and no real style....
Daughter then pointed out that I was probably
thinking of the resort called...
"The Point"...
Oh well...if your at a historic hotel in the
Adirondacks.....give the guests some
taxidermy!!
Okay now your talking....
This is what you see when you walk out the
Back Door....
let me stop at this point and say...
beautiful scenery...
horrible for anyone with a disability...
This was ALL downhill...
Those are stairs at each break in the
landscaping...
You gotta get back up....
Certainly a place for people to go and
just sit and relax...although it was filled
with families with small children..
There was even a wedding going on...
The pool....and there are three of them...
sits way down on the edge of
Lake George....
I thought one was for children but it was not..
it was a "warming pool"....
probably temps in the 90's...
There was an infinity pool and also
 one under an enclosed area...
None the right depth for small children
who can't swim....
I found this odd..
Spectacular yes?
When I said right on the lake....it was
Right on the Lake...
No shortage of lounge chairs...
But can you tell by the picture how far up that hill
the Hotel sits....
They make no efforts to let people know there is
one small elevator behind the indoor pool
that will take to to the lower level of the hotel
Then you have to find your way up to the Lobby...
The elevator was very unkempt....
dirty carpet on the floor and bad walls...
Very surprising for what they charge.......
One of the restaurants down on the dock...
We had the 2 day meal plan which
included both a buffet breakfast
and a dinner...
Small Children eat and stay for free..
Poor B....all suited up and ready to take a swim...
How surprised was I that they did not provide
life vests for little ones...
I went in the warming pool with her only to
the step area...it started at a depth which was
her height...
They could have done away with some of those
lounge chairs and provided the kids with
safety in the water...
 They advertise it's a resort for
Families....
Who would have thought to bring your own
life vests....I mean B lives in NYC??
This was also very odd....this area was right out
in front of the hotel...
beautiful flowers...well maintained...
But if you walked around the rest of the resort
to go to the recreation facility for kids...
it was a mess....dead shrubs and plants...
very neglected...
And let's talk about the kids rec area....
A very large hanger style building
with a cute indoor mini-golf course...
basketball....ping pong...
Very cute idea...
dirty dirty dirty...
The carpet looked like they haven't cleaned it
since the 1960's...
the "Help"....all young kids...
very unfriendly and not helpful...
Of course "B" didn't care....
She beat me twice at mini-golf...
(she cheated!!)....that's my girl!
And here is the Only sign that you were in
the Adirondacks...
your bath supplies in a mini canoe...
I was so tempted to "borrow" this...
Nah....I left it....can't be tacky.

Okay let's talk food....here was our first
meal...a lunch of fried shrimp and fries..
Excellent shrimp...big and fresh...
This was good....feed us and we're happy!
Lunch was not included in the meal plan..
Lunch for the three of us was about $60.00
Dinner we got a choice of an appetizer
a main course and dessert...
I picked the Hummus which was very good.
Daughter had the shrimp cocktail....
I have no idea why I didn't take our
main course pictures....I had NY Strip steak
daughter had some sort of seafood stew...
B had a burger....of course...what else do kids
eat...
Here we are at Breakfast the next morning....
Me and B ate while Mom went for
a massage....She was not impressed for the $200 it
cost. She said she thought she saw the
massage girl working the front desk the day before....
Here's where I say the one really good thing about
the Sagamore...
The breakfast Buffet.....
FABULOUS!!!!!
another nice feature was a boat ride
around Lake George which came with your
room price...
It was a nice probably hour and a half
ride up the lake and back...
very relaxing...
Campers on the side of the lake!
the familiar Boathouses on the Lake...
Okay....I really am in the
Adirondacks!!
And these people put the
"A" in Adirondack!
and then there was this Kook who felt the need
to Meditate in the middle of the boat.
While sitting a top the Life Vests...
Plastic chairs????
this is what the whole lake looks like.
Rounding the bend to head back....

If you prefer the beach instead of the Lake....
they have a sand beach!!

And of course a lot of Flags......

And here is Sophie saying....
"This Place cost How much!!"
To sum up our stay at the Sagamore....
a nice getaway from the city... ( B-)
Me and Daughter were having our little
"birthday celebration" getaway which we mentioned
on check-in.....This meant nothing to these people.......even using
the American Express Platinum card...
No upgrade at this place...(D)
Our room....which was the best non-suite room I
could have booked....a King room with a lake view...
was so small it wouldn't fit the roll-away bed for
Sophie....
they moved us to a "slightly" larger room and the
air conditioning didn't work....
after they installed a window unit so we didn't
sweat to death....There went our
Million Dollar Lake View...(F)
The Help at the Front Desk....although nice enough..
They need to have people with Hospitality Skills
People maybe older then in their 20's.... ( C)

Same employees working the Host/Hostess desk
at the Restaurants...
We had a 7:00p.m. reservation made in advance
for dinner one night...with the request for an
outside table...
We had to wait behind other non-reservation
people for over 40 minutes to get an out door table. (D)

We met two Cornell University Professors on the
Boat ride...
We asked what their thoughts were and when asked
if they would ever come back....they said
"no'....
I think that is my thought...
A fun weekend with my girls....But they need to
step up their game and start maintaining
their property...
Or lower their prices
considerably....
Over all score....maybe a C ....the views were
gorgeous.