bikramaddict
mommy-to-be
Member since 8/06 4376 total posts
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My amazing 1st Anniversary at The Ritz Carlton Battery Park
Due to work, my husband and I could only spend one night away for our first anniversary so we opted for the Ritz Carlton in Battery Park. What a great decision we made!
Everything was amazing! As I work in the hotel/hospitality industry, I tend to nitpick more than others might but there was NOTHING to nitpick here. We were wished a happy anniversary immediately at check-in, and then the gentleman at the desk started playing on his keyboard. A moment later, he offered us a choice of two available upgrades, on a complimentary basis in celebration of our first anniversary. We opted for a harbor view guestroom on the club floor.
Incredible! The elevator, with which you need key access to, drops you at a foyer with a candy bar – the club lounge is to its right. There is a dedicated concierge there for Club level guests and a beautiful lounge that serves round-the-clock soft drinks, champagne and wine. Four times per day, they make “presentations” of food. Though we weren’t there long enough to see all four, the two we did see were incredible. In the early evening, hors d’oeurves were served. The presentation was as nice, if not nicer than a wedding. Fruits and cheeses, fresh vegetables, shrimp cocktail, bite-sized portions of filet of sole…the list goes on. We were also very impressed by their attention to detail – right down to the hulled strawberries that sat near where champagne was being served. That afternoon, we asked the concierge if it were possible to get a reservation at a very famous, hard-to-get-into Japanese restaurant. I really wasn’t expecting her to get us in, seeing as we made the request only a few hours in advance but she did!
The room was really nice. The view of the harbor was just breathtaking, and the room was outfitted with a telescope to get a better look at everything. The bathroom was marble-clad and tremendous, with one of the best showers I’ve ever been in and a huge soaking tub. The bed was unbelievably comfortable.
A few hours after check-in, we received a phone call, asking if someone could come by to drop off something from room service (we hadn’t ordered anything.) A minute later, a beautiful tray of chocolate covered strawberries and a card wishing us a happy anniversary was delivered.
Before we left for dinner, we ordered the “romantic bath” off the bath menu. When we got back, we found rose petals leading to the bathroom from the door. The petals were sprinkled in the tub and made into a heart shape over the bath mat. On the edge of the bathtub sat candles, roses and a variety of creams and massage oils. Heavenly! The only minor setback was the champagne and chocolates that were supposed to be included. The bath was drawn at 10pm, right as scheduled but it wasn’t until 11:30 that we received our champagne, at which point, we were out of the bath and ready for bed. We never saw the chocolates but were honestly so stuffed from the rest of the day that we probably wouldn’t have eaten them anyway. The lady in charge of the bath program apologized several times, and took the entire thing off the bill. The bath in itself was an incredible sight, and I didn’t miss those extra two elements at all.
We woke up on Monday and went to the breakfast presentation – also amazing. Parfaits, miniature fruit cups, sliced meats, salmon, oatmeal…just about every breakfast item you could think of was there. And the staff was only too happy to bring tea or anything else we liked. The experience was so good that I started to cry at breakfast because it was so perfect and I didn’t want to leave (we both had to go to work.)
The Ritz-Carlton Battery Park made our first anniversary better than I ever could’ve expected! Even though we were there for a very brief period of time, we were more relaxed than we’d been in a long time. And, even more importantly, it was one of the best days my husband and I have ever spent together.
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