The Fairmont Algonquin: A fading lady

The Fairmont Algonquin in St. Andrews-by-the Sea, New Brunswick

It’s been a long time since we got behind the wheel of our car and headed out on the open road – instead of to the airport – for a travel getaway.  But autumn came upon us, and the thoughts of a foliage tour took over our good sense and we headed toward northern New England.  Along the way we stopped in St. Andrews-by-the Sea in New Brunswick, home to one of the grand dames of Canadian hotels: the Fairmont Algonquin.

Originally opened in 1889, the Algonquin Hotel was one of Canada’s first resort hotels.  Built by American businessmen, it was taken over by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1903.[1]  The hotel eventually made its way into the hands of the New Brunswick provincial government in 1984.  The Fairmont Hotel group currently runs the hotel (and has for a number of years); however, that relationship comes to an end on December 31, 2011.  Our recent stay there provided us with several clues to the answer to our question: why is Fairmont not renewing its contract to run the historic property?
We might be wrong, but we’d have to wager a guess that it has something to do with the Fairmont brand and that this property doesn’t live up to the brand expectations of its clientele.

Evoking a bygone era of travel

These discerning travelers booked themselves into what is called a medium suite located in the main historic building.  The two-room suite was quaint as expected (although not the kind of décor we are usually drawn to), furnished with what appeared to us to be either antiques or cast-offs from an estate sale.  Although everything was sparkling clean, when Art walked out of the bathroom for the first time he said, “If Ian [our 22-year-old son] rented an apartment with a bathroom like that, we’d think he lived in a slum.”  It had not had benefit of a renovation in at least 40 years.  Need we say more?

The main rooms of the hotel and the grounds evoke a sense of eras past when travel was more leisurely, and activities to while away the time were more gentile: reading, strolling, sitting in Adirondack chairs in front of wood fires in the evening.

The real highlight of the stay was our anniversary dinner at the hotel’s main dining room, The Library.  The day happened to be Canadian Thanksgiving and the chef was offering his version of the traditional turkey dinner, finished off by pumpkin crème brulée that was exquisite and worth every last calorie.

What will happen to the hotel after the Fairmont folks pull out is anyone’s guess.  We did ask several employees who indicated that it will definitely remain open, but there was no word on who would be managing it. We only hope that the new operator has deep pockets, because this fading lady will fade off the radar of discerning travelers everywhere without the makeover she so desperately needs – and deserves.

the creepy corridor
The creepy corridor: Like a scene right out of "The Shining"

Stonehenge: Mystical or just mysterious?

Stonehenge on a dull morning in July

It had always been on Art’s list of places to see before you die.  It was on mine as well, I’ll admit, but it wasn’t as high up on the priority list. Always the opportunist, though, when I noticed that it was possible to take a side trip to Stonehenge on the way from London to board the Queen Mary 2 in Southampton, I decided that it was now or never.  And so we made the pilgrimage to Stonehenge.

As we drove through the countryside from London, our driver waxed rapturously about the “feeling” of standing there near the stones of unknown origin (make no mistake, despite what you’ve read, no one really knows why they were placed there.  Indeed, the Druid connection has actually been disproven, information that came as a surprise to me and that alien theory – the scholars don’t believe it!).  The fact that the stones were brought somehow from far afield is, however, impressive.  The driver called it eerie, unusual and unique; so we were ready to be wowed.

We parked in the designated parking lot across the road from the stone circle which is widely enclosed by a chain-link fence.  We then walked to the entrance which led to an underground pedestrian walkway (actually under the road) so that no cars came close to the site.  After picking up our audio-self-tour headsets (a necessity if you really want to learn anything at all), we made our way to the first stop on the audio-tour.  It was early in the day  (highly recommended) so that there were few others around.  This is the best way to experience these places in my opinion.  By the time we were leaving about an hour later, the place was really filling up (that was 11 am).

So we did the tour around the circle.  And we waited for the “feeling.”  I’m sorry to say that the tour was very interesting, but to tell you the truth, we were all (wife, husband, 22-year-old son) underwhelmed by the experience.  We never really did feel the mysticism and we were very surprised at how small the stones really are.  I’m not sure what we expected, but this wasn’t it.  That said, I wouldn’t have wanted to miss the experience.

Discerning travelers that we are, we booked this private tour/transfer through the online service London Tool-Kit which I used twice on this trip.  It’s an aggregator for a wide variety of service providers.  Paid for in advance, the private tour began at our hotel in London and took the detour to Stonehenge on the Salisbury plain on the way to Southampton.  The drive to Stonehenge (almost 90 miles west of London) takes just under 2 hours.  The drive from Stonehenge to the cruise terminal in Southampton was an hour.

With the tourists milling about, you can get a better sense of the size.

The Queen Mary 2: Cross another one off the bucket list

Our masks for the masquerade ball. Be sure to take your own. Our son was in Venice a month before the voyage and picked these up for us.

We weren’t supposed to set foot on a ship this summer – but let’s just say the timing worked out impeccably and there we were in late July, stepping onto the gangway of the Queen Mary 2 for one of her classic transatlantic voyages.

And what a beauty she is!

As I counted on my fingers, it occurred to me that this was our tenth cruise on a total of six different cruise lines.  Six!  I think that makes us credible commentators on the comparative experiences.  What I really hate is those Readers’ Choice lists each year in the travel magazines, several of which I otherwise find useful and informative.  Readers vote on their favorite cruise line for example and there is no way of knowing if they have ever traveled on any other to be able to make such a statement via their voting.  After our first cruise many years ago (on Carnival) we would have said it was our favorite.  Today, we have so much more experience and wouldn’t be caught dead on Carnival.

So, back to the Queen Mary 2.  Decorated in tastefully elegant art deco style (my personal favorite), she is a true ocean-going beauty.  We’re told that she was the first purpose-built ocean liner (in contrast to a cruise ship) that had been built in 50 years.  That means that she’s built for the North Atlantic crossing rather than for fun-in-the-sun stuff.  The décor, inside and out, is understated, just the way we like it, with a few eye-popping wall murals and scads of wonderful artwork and photographs of the storied history of Cunard Line.

The hall outside our suite.

In an attempt to recreate the trans-Atlantic crossings of yesteryear, Cunard has done its best on this seven-day voyage from Southampton to New York to evoke the time of the great sailings.  To that end, the entertainment is refined and relatively low key.  There are, however, four formal (read black-tie formal) and one informal (read cocktail dresses) on this voyage, unusual for such a short time but reminiscent of what it was like in bygone years.  So, if you do not like to get dressed up, find another ship to take you where you want to go.  Those of us who chose the experience just as it was sold do not want you there!  The truth is that there were very few people who did not dress up as “required”, but there were evening venues for those who chose more casual approaches to dining – they were not, however, allowed in the dining rooms and had to pay a surcharge to be served in the casual dining space.

This brings me to dining rooms – or should I say classes of service.  Cunard is the only line in service today that actually has three classes of service (although you won’t see this verbiage in their literature. (Others have diffeerent level of service, but this does not extend to the same level.  I’ll tell you about the suite life on other lines in later posts.)

They have the Britannia class with its large (and truly beautiful) dining room with traditional two-seating dining. There is also an option in Britannia to have a more open dining experience (for a price) and this is called Britannia Club.  The accommodations are the same, the dining is different.

If you choose to travel in what I would call a small suite, you will choose Princess Grill accommodations and will dine in the Princess Grill.  Much smaller and more intimate than Britannia, the Princess Grill provides you with a table to which you can go any time the dining room is open (breakfast, lunch & diner): it is always yours.

If you choose the larger suite accommodation, you will choose Queen’s Grill and you will dine in the Queen’s Grill (same table arrangement as the Princess Grill).  This is what we chose.  So any comments I make from here on in are related to being in what others might call first-class.

The suite was beautiful as the photos show.  The service was impeccable.  The experience was divine.  We will go on Cunard again – when the itinerary is right.

A picture is worth a thousand words…

The Veuve Clicquot champagne bar
About a half of the suite bathroom
The living area of our Queen's Grill suite
Queen Mary 2 art gallery

The world of the discerning traveler

Lunching in Sorrento, Italy

There is adventure travel, eco-travel, budget travel, family travel, and the list goes on.  This site is not about any of these.  This site is for the discerning traveler, the discriminating traveler.  This is the traveler who is astute, judicious, perceptive, sensitive, insightful. It’s not necessarily for the ‘luxury’ traveler specifically, but luxury is part of what the discriminating traveler will want to know about.  This is for travelers who want to see the world and want to do it in a way that is comfortable and makes them feel that travel itself is a luxury that cannot necessarily be accessed by everyone.  The reviews here are all based on travel experiences that we paid for ourselves – no travel companies have provided goods or services to us.

Who are we?  We are a Canadian husband and wife team in our late careers. We are a physician and a university professor.  We are not billionaire business people – we are clearly in service industries ourselves and when we travel, service is one of the most important concerns we have.  We like to travel in style and are willing to pay for style and service, but we work hard for our money and are irritated when we waste it.  Come along with us as we turn a discerning eye to traveling the world!