Review: Renaissance Aix-En-Provence Hotel, France

Posted on May 12, 2024 By World Traveller 73 in Cote D'Azur & Cinque Terre via British Airways Business Class + Hotels + Renaissance + Trip Report

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World Traveller 73

May 12, 2024

10–15 minutes

The city of Aix – En – Provence is one of the great cities in the Provence / Côte d’Azur region that is well worth exploring on your travels through the region. Often, there can lack hotel loyalty point opportunities when travelling through old world France. Our discovery of the Renaissance Aix – En – Provence was a terrific steal and represented an excellent value on Marriott Bonvoy points.

This post is one chapter on a trip to the South of France and Cinque Terre, Italy. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status and Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan. For information on how this trip was booked, please see our introduction. For parts of the trip, please see this index.

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Review: Renaissance Aix – En – Provence Hotel, France

“The Renaissance Aix – En – Provence Hotel represented a sparkling new Renaissance with spacious rooms, a sunny pool area that is within walking distance to Aix – En – Provence; an excellent value”

Booking the Renaissance Aix – En – Provence Hotel:

Our visit to the Aix – En – Provence region of France was part of a larger tour through te Côte d’Azur region of France. When reseraching places to stay during our two day stay in Aix – En – Provence, I came across the Renaissance Aix – En – Provence Hotel.

The Renaissance Aix – En – Provence Hotel can be an exceptional deal on points. During our visit, I was able to redeem a free night awards courtesy of the American Express Marriott Bonvoy Credit Card, and a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium requalification night.

The Renaissance Aix – En – Provence can represent an excellent value on Marriott Bonvoy Points

Locating availability approximately 5 months in advance, I was able to locate an upgraded Superior King Size Guest room for 45,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per night. The cash rate during this period was 375 € ($410 USD), making using otherwise free points an excellent choice for a free redemption.

Cash Rates are Substantially More Expensive

Our stay cost 17.28€, and 90,000 Marriott Bonvoy points for the two nights. I had to pay an extra 10,000 Marriott Bonvoy points to make up the shortfall from the 35,000 point free night award.

Our booking strategy was to book the cheapest room possible and hope for a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium upgrade to a better room.

In the end, we would end up getting upgraded through pre-assignment into the nicest available room, a 1 King Bed Skyline View, Panoramic Room on the top floor. Although the pricing had softened a little since we initially booked, we were still placed in a 270€ room which is a terrific value and use of a free night award.

Our Free Room was Ultimately valued at 270€ per night

Marriott Bonvoy Opportunities:

The heart of Aix – En – Provence in France remains a popular spring, summer and fall destination for many international travellers. Given that there are limited Marriott Bonvoy properties in this region, it’s important to book early.

Rooms at the Renaissance Aix – En – Provence are typically available for a low of 40,00 points in off season. The room rates jump up to 50,000 to 59,000 during the summer months and seem to be fairly static on both weekdays and weekends.

If you value Marriott Bonvoy points at 0.8 cents per point, it only makes sense to redeem points under the right circumstances. If rooms are pricing at 50,000, it makes sense to redeem points if room rates are over 400€. In our circumstances, with free nights available through Marriott Bonvoy Re-Qualification and Marriott Bonvoy American Express Cards, it made sense to redeem against rates above 375€.

Marriott Bonvoy members get the fifth night free when redeeming five or more day stay. Keep in mind that by redeeming five nights, and getting the fifth night free, will increase the value proposition by lowering the average number of points per night.

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Getting to the Renaissance Aix – En – Provence:

We departed from the Le Méridien Nice. We picked up a rental car from Sixt – Nice International Airport and drove into Aix – En – Provence. It was about a two hour drive

The hotel is located in a central part of Aix – En – Provence and conveniently located in a walkable distance from the historic Aix – En – Provence old town.

Arriving to the hotel by car, I parked out front in order to check in. There was a small vehicle security gate that required a buzz to get in.

Arriving to the Renaissance Aix – En – Provence, France

After parking my car, I was promptly attended to and offered assistance with the luggage. While I was offered valet parking service, I ended up checking in and dealing with the parking of the car later.

After checking in, I ended up parking the car in the underground garage. The entrance to the garage was a little tricky to locate. It was completely around an entire city block and down several levels, since the Renaissance Aix – En – Provence hotel was built into an integrated slope.

As a result of the convenient location of the hotel that is walkable to almost all central sights, I would end up leaving the car in the garage for the entire stay.

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Checking into the Renaissance Aix – En – Provence:

After our arrival, I attended to the front desk. We had a very easy check in at 2:30 PM. Fortunately, our room was ready and available for us to check in.

We had a polite explanation of the hotel’s features and locations. We were explained that breakfast was complimentary and part of room rate; despite being on an award stay.

Courtesy of Marriott Bonvoy Titanium status, we were also provided with a choice of 1,000 Marriott Bonvoy points, or a “one time” 10€ food and beverage credit that was valid for the entire stay, (not per person nor stackable) day over day.

We were also explained that self parking was charged at a rate of 25€ per day. Lastly, we were given some towel cards, which was a slightly low rent touch in my humble opinion.

Towel Cards and Upgraded Rooms, Renaissance Aix – En – Provence, France

Overall, the check in process was pleasant, quick and professional. Every point of contact from the moment we arrived was engaged and pleasant.

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The Room: 1 King Bed Skyline View Panoramic

We self navigated up to Room #511, which was on the top floor of the property. The hallways were a little dark but contemporary in colours.

The first impressions of the room were quite impressive. The room was much more spacious than you’d typically expect for a hotel in Europe where rooms are usually much smaller.

1 King Bed Skyline Panoramic, Renaissance Aix – En – Provence, France

The room was decorated greys with crisp white sheets. The colours of the room made a great first impression. The central feature was a giant comfortable bed that looked exceptionally plush.

In addition to a terrific king size bed, there was a fabulous panoramic view across the roof tops of Aix – En – Provence.

The room offered the usual small desk, with sufficient charging ports for a leisure or business traveler. Given that this was not strictly a business hotel, I wasn’t expecting much different than the current configuration.

The room featured smaller occasional chairs that were a little flat looking. The room chairs were more glamorous and featured style over comfort.

A small amount of tetra pack water was also placed in the room. There was also a proper set of glassware, which is always appreciated in any hotel room.

The room featured a Nespresso Classic coffee maker, along with a tea kettle. We didn’t end up using either feature.

The room also featured a small mini bar for charge. We didn’t end up consuming any items, but used the fridge for a little wine on the second day of our stay.

Management dropped off a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium welcome gift shortly after we arrived. It consisted of some locally produced olive tapenade, some local crackers and a pleasant welcome note from the manager.

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The panoramic room also featured a small outdoor seating area with two relaxing chairs. It was warm enough to enjoy the chairs outside for a pre supper drink. Despite this, we had some Texan’s on the patio next to us that were engaged in deep conversations about politics and whether Nikki Hailey had the power to unseat Donald Trump in the presidential nominations for 2024.

The room bathroom featured a spacious stand up shower with a single vanity. The bathroom was a little tight on storage space with having to balance toiletries on the sink countertop to due a lack of overall space. It wasn’t a deal breaker but it was noticeable.

The room was also serviced with twice daily housekeeping, something that was unexpected for a hotel at this particular level based on my experience.

In terms of sleep quality, I had a really good sleep at the Renaissance Aix – En – Provence. Being on the top floor, there was almost no noise. With the room facing on to a pedestrian concourse, there was limited street noise. I have to give the property high marks for a quiet restful sleep.

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Around the Hotel Property:

The Renaissance Aix – En – Provence is a fully featured hotel property. It draws on all the features of a full service hotel but is not quite as large as to describe it as a resort.

Outdoor Pool:

The Renaissance Aix – En Provence Hotel featured a great outdoor pool area. Access to the pool was off the main lobby down a series of stairs that led directly outside.

We visited the pool after sight seeing one day around Aix – En – Provence. It wasn’t apparent, but the building facing the pool belonged to another apartment complex that was completely un related from the hotel.

Outdoor Pool, Renaissance Aix – En – Provence, France

While the pool wasn’t very large, the pool had strong sun facing exposure for most of the afternoon until about 5 PM. It was a little challenging to get a spot to sit in the sun when we stopped by.

We would end up using our 10€ credit at the pool at their outlet Le Bar Palm’s Pool Club, for an afternoon drink while we killed off the day.

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Food and Beverage:

The Renaissance Aix – En – Provence hotel contains one restaurant and one bar lounge. The hotel restaurant is Atmosph’R, located off the hotel lobby. The hotel offers a lobby lounge entitled Bar L’avant Scene, along with a poolside restaurant entitled Le Palm’s Pool Club.

While there were only a few restaurants within the hotel, it’s worth mentioning that the Renaissance Aix – En – Provence was steps from dozens of restaurants within Aix – En – Provence. As a result, you’re not likely to be dining at the restaurant all that much anyway.

Atmoshp’R Restaurant:

Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Breakfast

The Atmosph’r restaurant the hotels’ breakfast, lunch and dinner restaurant. Atmosph’R was located just off the lobby, which made it easy to find. Atmpsph’R has to contain probably the strangest hotel restaurant name I’ve ever encountered.

Atmosph’R Restaurant, Renaissance Aix – En – Provence, France

Atmosph’R Restaurant Menu, Renaissance Aix – En – Provence, France

The Atmosph’R Restaurant offered indoor and outdoor seating areas. We arrived for a later breakfast at 9:30 AM during our stay and never usually had any issues getting a place to seat.

The brekfast at Atmosph’R was a buffet style; allowing for a quick collection of items. The coffee station offered commercial sized Nepresso stations, and the first Americano coffee that we had seen in quite a while.

In addition to the buffet items, there were eggs cooked to order which included omelettes.

For those that were unable to get breakfast within the room rate, the full buffet was charged at 30 €. Unlike our other breakfast at Le Méridien Nice, there was no sparkling wine offered at breakfast at the Renaissance Aix – En – Provence Hotel.

Bar L’Avant Scene:

The lobby bar, Bar L’Avant Scene, provided a spot to get a drink prior to heading out. The space was pretty small, but it did get a fair amount of use by guests during the stay.

Bar L’Avant, Renaissance Aix – En – Provence, France

Le Bar Palm’s Pool Club

During our stay, we visited the pool and enjoyed the sun deck. Since we had a 10€ food and beverage credit to use, we enjoyed two 16€ drinks out by the pool.

It was a little slow going at the pool deck in order to get served. I went to get a drink menu and there were all out of them. It involved me headed back up to the kiosk a few times. While it wasn’t a major issue, it wasn’t completely pain free experience either.

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Bottom Line: The Renaissance Aix – En – Provence

The Renaissance Aix – En – Provence hotel was a remarkable surprise for a hotel in Aix – En – Provence.

Back in North America, the Renaissance brand tends to be one of the Marriott portfolios a little more tired brands. Instead of getting a dated and worn hotel, we actually had a pretty sparkling new experience will great service by staff.

The ability to redeem Marriott Bonvoy Free Night Awards Certificates at this property made it an especially good value.

If you have stayed at the Renaissance Aix – En – Provence, where you surprised by the quality of the hotel ?

Tags: Hotel Review, Marriott Bonvoy, Marriott Platinum

Day Trip from Nice to Cannes – France by Train

Posted on May 10, 2024 By World Traveller 73 in Activity + City Visit + Cote D'Azur & Cinque Terre via British Airways Business Class + Europe + France + Region Visit + Trip Report

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World Traveller 73

May 10, 2024

5–7 minutes

The City of Cannes, France had been on my radar as a place to visit. The city has evaded my travel schedule, despite MrsWT73 having visited several times throughout her work travels to and from Marseilles, France. While I’ve never been famous enough to be invited to the Cannes International Film festival, it’s always been of interest. Our day trip to Cannes allowed us the opportunity to get a feel for the city, and whether it was worthwhile for a return visit.

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Day Trip from Nice to Cannes – France, by Train

During our time in the Côte d’Azur, MrsWT73 was able to take me on a trip to Cannes. I had never had the opportunity to visit Cannes, which is more famously known as the home to the International Film Festival.

The glitz and glamour of Cannes, France wasn’t strong enough to attract us away from the charm of Nice, France when choosing a place to stay. Ultimately, I was happy to have chosen Nice over Cannes when coming to a place to stay.

Getting to Cannes:

On our third day in Nice, we left our hotel where we were staying at Le Méridien Nice and headed off to the Nice Ville Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer (SNCF) train station. It was again about a ten minute walk from our hotel inland.

Much like our day visit to Nice,wWe had purchased our Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer (SNCF) tickets on line through the iPhone SNCF app. It was especially easy to pay through Apple Pay and receive tickets directly into your Apple Wallet. Even with international credit cards, it was much more functional than neighbourhing Italy’s TrenItalia app that had limited support for Canadian credit card payments.

There were trains to and from Cannas train station almost every thirty minutes. We didn’t have any challenges in purchasing a train ticket on the day of travel.

Riding the Train to Cannes:

On arrival to Nice Ville train station, we had a bit of a queue to actually get on to the platform. At around noon, many people were travelling which seemed to cause a bit of confusion with the entry gates which required a bar code in order to gain access to the platforms.

We had booked ourselves onto the faster and more comfortable Train a Grande Vitesse (TGV) high speed train service between Nice and Cannes. This was a preferred option to the local train route, which involved many stops.

Train a Grande Vitesse – France
TGV InOui 6176 (Nice Ville – Cannes)
Oct 4, 2023
12:02 PM – 12:29 PM

Coach 13, Seat 44

It was a short walk towards our assigned car, with plenty of time to get towards the assigned seating space.

We didn’t spring for first class for this short thirty minute route. Instead, we set up in assigned seats in the second class cabin.

The TGV Train offered wifi, along with access to the TGV Portal inOUI to stream some movies, as a form of entertainment.

I ended up just enjoying the sea side views outside of the window. The train line skirted some of the coast line, allowing you to follow some of your progress along the way.

We eventually arrived in to Cannes train station for a brief stop. As a secondary or transitory stop, there wasn’t too many people getting on or off the train in Cannes.

The TGV Train was pretty comfortable and an elegant way to travel between two cities. As one of the great high speed trains in the world, it’s always worth a ride.

Exploring Cannes:

After getting off the train at Cannes train station, we set off towards the town. The Cannes train station is located a short walk from the sea shore. We set off on a short walk through about four blocks of Cannes city centre which was littered with urban cafés and other commercial stores.

In less than ten minutes, we were at the Cannes waterfront. It was nice to have finally seen the Cannes waterfront, after hearing all of the stories over the years.

The beach itself was well maintained and raked clean. While the beach itself was much sandier than it’s Nice counterpart, the ocean didn’t have a spectacular island view that you might find at some other more tropical locations.

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Walking the Cannes Waterfront Promenade:

In order to orientate ourselves, we took a walk down the Cannes waterfront promenade. The walkway is anchored by several major hotels such as the JW Marriott Cannes and the Hotel Martinez Cannes by Hyatt.

The price point of these hotels is quite a bit steeper than in neighbouring Nice or nearby Antibes and I am not completely convinced the area has a much better personality than Nice. Perhaps it does for the exclusivity and smaller format city. However, I preferred the atmosphere of Nice much better.

The waterfront featured a number of beach cafés that were eager to sell expensive lounge chairs and offer over priced cocktail drinks. While we didn’t settle into a restaurant, we meandered through the promenade.

While the views were great, as I mentioned earlier, the waterfront views were nice but not super aspirational. Staring at endless sea is great in the Maldives, but it wasn’t super exciting in France.

We ended up navigating to the beach and dropping down to spend the day on the water. We joined many other beach goers who were out enjoying the day.

After a dip in the ocean, we wandered back through town towards the train station.

Cannes appeared to have a lot of interesting dining options. With home to several restaurants with Michelin stars, the city seemed to have a lot of establishments that were well worth exploring.

The city of Cannes was an interesting visit for the day. While it was a nicer, more smaller format city to visit (as compared to Nice) the charm of Cannes didn’t really win me over. As a result, I was happy to have visited for the day, instead of basing myself there for the week.

We returned to our hotel at Le Méridien Nice before heading off to our next adventure.

My Thoughts on Visiting Cannes, France:

The city of Cannes, France represented my first visit to the exotic city most known for the film festival. We took the convenient SNCF train from Nice, which marked the easiest way to get to town.

While I enjoyed the walk along the promenade, and a dip in the ocean, the town was pretty uneventful and quiet. The main advantage was the smaller format, allowing for a quieter experience than you might find elsewhere.

If you’ve visited the city of Cannes, do your prefer it over neighbouring Nice?

Tags: Walking Tour

Day Trip from Nice – France to Monaco, by Train

Posted on May 8, 2024 By World Traveller 73 in Activity + City Visit + Cote D'Azur & Cinque Terre via British Airways Business Class + Europe + France + Monaco + Region Visit + Trip Report

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World Traveller 73

May 8, 2024

6–9 minutes

The neighbouring principality of Monaco is a stone’s through from the town of Nice on the Côte d’Azur in France. With MrsWT73 never having visited Monaco, our trip through Nice marked a perfect time for us to go and visit the country. Since we didn’t have a vehicle for this portion of the trip, we ended up taking the convenient train from Nice to Monaco for a whole day of exploring.

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Day Trip from Nice – France to Monaco, by Train

My wife MrsWT73 had never visited the Principality of Monaco in the French Riveria. During our stay at Le Méridien Nice, we opted for a day visit over to Monaco.

Arguably one of the most popular attractions in Nice is the city of Vieux Nice, or old Nice, France. It remains one of the most quaint and popular old cities in France and greater Western Europe. We designed our stay to take advantage of some of the features and attractions of old Nice.

Nice, France holds a special place in my heart. I first visited in the year 2006 when I was attending business school nearby at the Grenoble Graduate School of Business. At the time, I would end up visiting Nice, France on a weekend day trip down from the school. I always knew that I’d return to Nice one day, but I was never sure exactly when that would be. Today’s visit marked my return to Nice some seventeen years after my first visit.

About the Principality of Monaco:

Officially the Principality of Monaco, is a sovereign city-state on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Liguria, on the Mediterranean Sea. It is bordered by France to the north, east and west. The principality is home to about 38,682 residents. Monaco is widely recognised as one of the most expensive and wealthiest places in the world.

With an area of 2.02 km² (0.78 sq mi), it is the second-smallest sovereign state in the world, after Vatican City. Its 19,009 inhabitants /km² (49,230/sq mi) make it the most densely-populated sovereign state in the world.

Getting to Monaco:

We set out from our hotel at Le Méridien Nice, and walked up to Nice Ville train station. The Nice Ville train station was located in land off the waterfront, which about a ten minute walk.

We had purchased our Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer (SNCF) tickets on line through the iPhone SNCF app. It was especially easy to pay through Apple Pay and receive tickets directly into your Apple Wallet. Even with international credit cards, it was much more functional than neighbourhin Italy’s TrenItalia app that had limited support for Canadian credit card payments.

There were trains to and from Monaco train station every thirty minutes. With some of the busier frequencies, it was standing room only. However, on our trip to Monaco in the late morning, there were plenty of seats available being a less busy travel period outside of a weekday rush hour.

Visiting the Monte Carlo Casino:

After arriving into Monaco, we walked two blocks over towards the street leading down to the Monte Carlo Casino. Although Monaco is it’s own separate country, it integrates seamlessly with France.

After a few steps, we were at the gardens of the Monte Carlo casino. I had visited the casino about seventeen years ago, but it would mark MrsWT73’s first visit to the place.

Since my last visit, the front of the casino had been tiled over. The place was more of a tourist attraction than an actual a display of wealth and glamour. Perhaps evening visits may be different. . .

At the time of our visit, it cost 18€ for a visit to the casino. The casino advertises free admission for loyalty members of it’s casino loyalty program. However, they seem to batch process membership sign ups. When I signed up that morning at the hotel, the casino had not processed our membership some six hours later when we arrived to the Monte Carlo casino. As a result, we had to pay the entry fee.

The passports were validated in the general hall (which is free to enter). After validation, we were given access to the casino.

I was able to snap just one photograph inside the Monte Carlo casino before getting told to stop by the casino security staff. Despite the rule on “No Photography”, it was neat to take in the environment of the whole old world casino.

Despite the old world casino being a famous place of luxury, it was pretty quiet during our daytime weekday visit. I would imagine that it might be a different scene on a weekend or during an event.

After we took in the casino, we took a walk around the outside of the opulent building. The Monte Carlo casino had beautifully restored it to a world class facility.

The Monte Carlo casino was one of the must see attractions while in Monaco. I could have likely survived without going inside of the casino, but since you only live once, we made sure we actually went in for a visit.

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Monte Carlo Hairpin Turn:

After the casino visit, we briefly stopped by the Monte Carlo Raceway Hairpin. Just a short walk away from the Monte Carlo casino was the hairpin turn.

The hairpin turn marked the front entrance to the Fairmont Monte Carlo hotel. It was also the site of many automotive enthusiasts checking out the physics and geography of the area.

ething for everyone to look at and enjoy while walking through Vieux Nice.

Descending to Monte Carlo’s Harbour:

We continued our day of walking by heading down from the casino towards the harbour. The Monte Carlo Yacht shows were just in the process of wrapping up during our visit, with many tents and other exhibitioners in the harbour.

The views around the Monaco Harbour are pretty enjoyable. There aren’t many places in the world where you can see these kinds of boats.

After admiring the hillside views of the Principality of Monaco, we came to the Juan Manuel Fangio Statue. Juan Manuel Fangio was a five-time Formula One world champion. The sculpture depicts Fangio leaning on his Mercedes Benz W196 which earned him one of his victories at the Monaco Grand Prix, with a life-sized bronze statue of the Argentine driver. It was at this location that he won races in 1950 and 1957

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Climbing up to Monaco City:

From the statue, we climbed up the hill to Monaco City. On our walk up, we were treated to gorgeous world class Monaco Harbour Views that just got better and better the higher up that we went.

Once we got to the top, we pretty much had the whole of the harbour at our feet. It’s quite an amazing panorama that you can only experience by being on foot due to a lack of parking lots in the area.

Exploring Monaco City:

Once we were at the top of the hill, we set out to Explore Monaco City. The streets of Monaco City are pedestrian only, which made for a quaint and neat change from the streets from back home. Although today’s visit was filled with school children on a field trip, there were a few interesting restaurants hidden around corners.

We passed by the Cathedrale de Monaco. It was an imposing structure and is known for the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Monaco in Monaco-Ville, Monaco, where many of the Grimaldis are buried, including Grace Kelly and Rainier III.

We eventually arrived to the Palace of the Prince of Monaco, which occupied a commanding spot in Monaco City. The Palace of the Prince of Monaco is the primary residence of the Prince of Monaco and provides the necessary palatial surroundings for a royalty figurehead of a wealthy country.

The views from up top by the Palace of Monaco were absolutely stunning.

What a terrific second day for visiting Nice, France.

My Thoughts on Visiting Monaco:

While it wasnt my first time visiting Monaco, it’s still a pretty unique place to visit for a day. Aside from being cut into the side of the hill, and being surrounded by many of riches, and featuring a unique casino, the city and hills are filled with interesting landmarks.

It is a perfect day trip from Nice. I cannot really imagine myself visiting Monaco in any other way, other than a day trip.

If you’ve visited Monaco, what did you make of the city ?

Tags: Walking Tour

Restaurant Review: Rouge Restaurant – Bar à Vin, Nice, France

Posted on May 6, 2024 By World Traveller 73 in Activity + Cote D'Azur & Cinque Terre via British Airways Business Class + Restaurant Review + Trip Report

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World Traveller 73

May 6, 2024

3–4 minutes

At times, travel attractions you to a great restaurant dining experience. On our travels through Nice, France, we had the opportunity to stop in Rouge Restaurant – Bar à Vin. It’s always a terrific discovery when you’re able to locate a hidden gem that might be off the beaten path. In this case, our discovery led us to explore one of the largest wine lists I’ve seen in a restaurant in recent years.

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Restaurant Review: Rouge Restaurant – Bar à Vin Wine Bar, Nice, France

After sightseeing around Vieux Nice, it was time to recharge with a few great wines and snacks. With a little advance research, I discovered Rouge Restaurant – Bar à Vin wine bar near the port of Vieux Nice.

About Rouge Restaurant – Bar à Vin Wine Bar:

I discovered the Rouge Bar à Vin through the Michelin Guide and it’s related application for iPhone when I was searching for great restaurants in Nice to experience. The Michelin Guide had rated the Rouge Restaurant – Bar à Vin with a Bib Gourmand, representing good quality, good value cooking.

The Rouge Bar à Vin offers almost one hundred bottles of wine by the glass, along with snacks that are described as being between appetizers and tapas presented either as hot or cold.

With a description like this, it fit the bill for a visit.

Locating the Rouge Restaurant – Bar à Vin:

The Rouge Restaurant – Bar à Vin is located just off from the Vieux Port of Nice. It’s tucked away one block off of the harbour. Scrambling down from the Colline du Château, we had no problem locating the restaurant.

The Rouge Restaurant is easy to find on Rue de Foresta in the antiques district. Rouge has a large patio offering outdoor tables, with makes for a collegial environment.

Inside Rouge Restaurant:

While we didn’t sit inside the Rouge Restaurant, the interior of the restaurant is strictly bistro style. The Rouge Restaurant interior showcases the wine fridges, which are some of the most impressive wine fridges I’ve seen at a restaurant.

Despite the simple nature of the restaurant interior, it would mark the foundation for the excellent wines and snacks we’d soon enjoy.

On the Menu:

The menu was approachable and full of all things terrific that you’d expect from a wine bar.

The wine list at Rouge was absolutely massive; consisting of over one hundred different bottles of wine. All of the bottles of wine under 50€ were open for wines by the glass, with pricing at one quarter of the full bottle size per glass.

The list of wines was completely impressive and the perfect introduction to wines in France.

We started off with a glass each of the Domaine Ray Jane and Michel Laroche Petit Chablis. Both were perfectly crisp and chilled for our minor sweat that we had worked up.

Feeling a little hungry we went with puffed cheese ravioli’s; a great finger food snack.

We followed this with some spinach in pastry. It was presented with a light filo styped pastry with crisp sea salt over top.

The wine and food was so terrific, it was time for a second round. It was Joseph Drouin Macon – Lungy Les Cray and l’Orphelin whites. Both were presented well and fresh.

The cheque was a reasonable 55€ for four wines and two appetizer courses. It was a solid value for the product delivered.

I was really happy with the visit to Rouge Restaurant – Bar à Vin. It’s unusual to get the opportunity to get so many wines to chose from.

My Thoughts on Visiting Rouge Restaurant – Bar à Vin:

The Rouge Restaurant – Bar à Vin was a great neighbourhood bistro offering terrific wines and snacks.

The Michelin Guide gave the Rouge Restaurant – Bar à Vin a well deserved Bib Gourmand rating for offering excellent value in the category.

If you have visited Rouge Restaurant – Bar à Vin, did you find it represented a great value dining experience ?

Tags: Restaurant Review

Walking the Streets of Vieux Nice and the Old Port of Nice, France

Posted on May 4, 2024 By World Traveller 73 in Activity + City Visit + Cote D'Azur & Cinque Terre via British Airways Business Class + Europe + France + Region Visit + Trip Report

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World Traveller 73

May 4, 2024

4–6 minutes

The city of Nice, France holds a great memory in my heart. Having previously visited the city during my time in business school at Grenoble – France, it was a place that I’d always known that I would return to at some point in the future. I never knew exactly when that was going to be. However, on this trip, I would get that opportunity to revisit some of the places that I had visited seventeen years ago. Our first day in Nice marked a visit to these wonderful destinations.

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Walking the Streets of Vieux Nice and the Old Port of Nice, France

Visiting Vieux Nice, France:

We set out from our hotel at Le Méridien Nice, which was conveniently located down the street from Vieux Nice. From the hotel, it as a short walk across the street to the Promenade des Anglais.

It was a gorgeous sunny fall day on October 1st when we set out, with short sleeve weather and temperatures in the mid twenties Celsius. Our walk took us along the Promenade towards Vieux Nice.

Stepping off the Promenade des Anglais, we walked inland towards the Place Pierre Gauthier next to the Palais de la Prefecture. There was a small market set up selling all sorts of different used items; books, furniture accent pieces, old coins. It was a great day for window shopping as we wandered the streets settling into Vieux Nice.

We started walking into the streets of Vieux Nice. It was a stark contrast from the usual streets back home. Tiny narrow passage ways formed the heart of this old world neighbourhood, layouts that have withstood the time of centuries.

We wandered into the heart of Vieux Nice with some window shopping and restaurant looking along the way. With five days in the area, we had some situating and orienting to do in order to be organized for a stay.

With dozens of shops and restaurants, there was something for everyone to look at and enjoy while walking through Vieux Nice.

Climbing Up to Nice’s Chateau:

We eventually started the slow climb up the Rue de Chateau. Fortunately, the walk uphill was in the shade, which helped off set some of the heat of the climb.

Using the help of Google Maps offline, we meandered our way up towards the Castle. Shaking off the jet lag, we took it pretty easy on our climb. With great views along the way, there were plenty of opportunities to stop to appreciate the sights.

Viewpoint at Colline du Château:

We eventually arrived over to the Colline du Château. The Colline du Château is a terraced area with outstanding views over Vieux Nice and the Promenade des Anglais.

Mission Accomplished. A climb celebrated with a victory photograph.

On such a picturesque day, there was nothing not to like about seeing these terrific views. The view from the terrace stretched for miles along the shoreline towards the airport in the distance.

No trip to the top of the Château de Colline wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the fountain. We paused briefly for a view of this landscape castle feature.

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Descending to the Port of Vieux Nice:

After our time at the Colline du Château, we descended the other side of the hill to take us towards the Vieux Port de Nice. The Vieux Port de Nice was an area that I had missed on my last visit. As a result, my visit marked new territory.

We briefly stopped at Rouge Wine Bar, a hip wine bar for a few snacks in order to allow us to recharge for the day.

Having been refilled, we left Rouge and wandered down to the old port. The Vieux Port of Nice is set out in a large square format, allowing boats to port up spread all around the harbour.

Being the end of yachting season, there were always some impressive harbour metal around the dock. Without much security around, no one seemed to mind us wandering through the harbour admiring all the impressive yachts.

Eventually, we walked the shoreline back towards the Promenade des Anglais. It was another spectacular view of the Mediterranean Sea and it’s coastal shoreline on the south of France.

The Promenade des Anglais is a terrific shoreline walk that can be appreciated by anyone.

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Sunset on the Beach in Nice:

With such terrific weather, we aimed to make the most of our time outside. On an impromptu basis, it was time for a bottle of wine outside along the shoreline. With MrsWT73 selecting a bottle of her favorite Aix en Provence rosé, we navigated down to the shoreline with towels courtesy of the Le Méridien Nice for some terrific sunset reds.

What a terrific first day for visiting Nice, France.

My Thoughts on Visiting Vieux Nice, France:

The city of Vieux Nice in France is always a special experience. The old city is an area full of exploration. The Colline de Château is well worth clambering over, and the Vieux Port was an area I previously hadn’t had the opportunity to visit.

If you’ve visited the city of Nice, what is your favorite part of the city ?

Tags: Vieux Nice, Walking Tour

Review: Le Méridien Nice, France

Posted on May 2, 2024 By World Traveller 73 in Cote D'Azur & Cinque Terre via British Airways Business Class + Hotels + Le Meridien + Trip Report

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World Traveller 73

May 2, 2024

13–20 minutes

The city of Nice, France on the Côte d’Azur remains one of the most popular old world European holiday gateways. It’s long shoreline along the Promenade des Anglais is one of the greatst sights in the region. We would end up basing ourselves in Nice for seven days while we toured around the region. We would end up at the Le Méridien Nice for our five day tour of the area. Hoping for an elevated experience courtesy of Marriott Bonvoy benefits, would the Le Méridien Nice deliver?

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Review: Le Méridien Nice, Côte d’Azur, France

“The Le Meridien Nice offered an ideal location for exploring Vieux Nice with exploration, restaurants and a stony beach, located just steps from the hotels’ doorsteps”

Booking Le Méridien Nice:

Our visit to this property was over a five day stay. We were looking for a centrally located place to base ourselves for our stay in the Côte d’Azur region. With the Le Méridien Nice being centrally located within walking distance to many Nice and Vieux Nice sights, in addition to being near the bus and the Nice Tramway, it made sense to chose the Le Méridien Nice.

We were able to book five months early and locked in a AAA Rate of 218 € ($240 USD) per night for a basic Classic, Guest Room 1 King with a Courtyard View. Our booking strategy was to book the cheapest room possible, and hope for a Marriott Bonvoy Platinum upgrade to a better room. The basic room was a Courtyard View, which wasn’t very inspiring.

I was hoping that the room rate would come down a little bit. Instead, between the five months in advance that we had booked, the base rate ended up climbing up from 218€ ($240 USD) to well over 330€ ($364 USD) a night. If you’re booking a cash rate, I recommend that you book as early as possible.

Prices can be highly variable at the Le Méridien Nice, France

It’s worth mentioning that as a seasonal property, the rates vary considerably based on demand. During the summer season, rates can go from a low of 515€ ($568 USD), all the way up to 765€ ($884 USD) a night during holiday periods. In the winter season, I found rates as cheap as 179€ ($197 USD). Given the price variability, if you are looking for a discounted rate, it’s best to book early.

As always, I booked through the Marriott Bonvoy website, which as a Marriott Titanium Member, entitled me to a complimentary upgrade to the best available room, including select suites, and a complimentary late check out up to 4 PM. We would end up getting upgraded through pre-assignment into a Deluxe Ocean View; a great value representing savings of over 117€ ($130 USD) per night.

We were upgraded courtesy of Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status to this Deluxe Sea View

Several days before our arrival, I received an pre-arrival email from Le Méridien Nice. The email provided information about the high number of elite members staying and the hotel would do their upmost to provide an Marriott Bonvoy elite upgrade. While this type of tone setting is never great news, it must reflect the number of Marriott Bonvoy elite members staying at the Le Méridien Nice.

Marriott Bonvoy Opportunities:

The sea side resort of the Côte d’Azur and the city of Nice Ville, France remains a popular spring, summer and fall destination for many international travellers. Given the cost of getting here, it can be worthwhile exploring your point redemption options for a week long stay in Nice, France.

Rooms at the Le Méridien Nice are typically available for a low of 52,000 points in off season. The room rates jump up to 70,000 during the summer months and seem to be fairly static on both weekdays and weekends.

If you value Marriott Bonvoy points at 0.8 cents per point, it only makes sense to redeem points under the right circumstances. For example, it didn’t seem to make sense to redeem 52,000 Marriott Bonvoy points for a room valued at 179€ ($197 USD) when cash rates were under $200 CAD during my low season visit.

During the summer holiday season, if a room was available for 70,000 points (worth 507€ / $560 USD), you’ll have to take a close look to see which combination offered the best value.

Nightly Upgrade Awards:

The Le Meridien Nice participates in the Marriott Bonvoy Suite Night Awards or Nightly Upgrade Award Program. At the time of our visit, we applied Suite Night Awards to all of these suite upgrade categories.

The Le Méridien Suite Night Award (Nightly Upgrade Award) Inventory Pool

Unfortunately, we didn’t get the opportunity to upgrade into a suite. Instead, we ended up with a Deluxe Sea View Room, which was more than pleasant.

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Getting to Le Méridien Nice:

After arriving off British Airways Club Europe London Heathrow – Nice, instead of taking a 32€ + baggage with a night surcharge taxi, we ended up going for the more economical option by taking the Nice Tramway from immediately outside the Nice Côte d’Azur International Airport.

Our tram ride was 5€ each, or 10€ round trip. There is also the option of taking the #12 bus (at 1.70€ per person) along Promenade d’Anglais after taking a short walk towards the walkway towards the Sheraton Nice Airport hotel.

After taking the tram, we disembarked at Jean Médecin and walked with our suitcases through the streets of Nice. It was about 11 PM by the time we arrived. We didn’t have any security issues walking through the residential and commercial area with our luggages.

The Le Méridien Nice is well located across from the Oceanfront on Promenade des Anglais. I couldn’t imagine a more conveniently located hotel for exploring around the Nice and Cote d’Azur area.

Later on in the trip, I ended up renting a Sixt car for the week in order to do a little exploring. The hotel has a parking garage, which is occasionally full in the late afternoon. I would end up having to park the car a few blocks away. Parking in the Nice Ville area is set at a standard 35€ a night. If arriving by car, I would anticipate the possibility of having to park off property after you’ve unloaded your vehicle. The hotel does offer Valet for 42€, if self parking and walking isn’t to your liking.

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Checking into the Le Mériden Nice:

The Le Méridien Nice is located right across from the oceanfront on le Promenade des Anglais. The property is impressive on appearance, and has recently been refurbished top to bottom on the outside and on the inside.

On arrival to the Le Méridien Nice, we led ourselves up the escalators to the first floor (or second floor from the North American perspective) where the lobby was located.

At the top of the escalators, we navigated over to the front desk. We were met by three reception staff working. There was no dedicated Marriott Bonvoy Elite line, but we were promptly checked in.

Compared to other properties in France, the staff at Le Méridien Nice were professional and exceptionally friendly. The reception agent acknowledged our Marriott Bonvoy Titanium status. He confirmed through language that they had “managed to provide an upgrade” through the Marriott Bonvoy Elite program to the deluxe Sea View Room. While this wasn’t an upgrade in terms of room size, this was a major upgrade in terms of room view.

It’s worth mentioning that, along with our arrival email, the upgrade opportunities (to a view) are likely quite limited at this property. The ocean view rooms only consist of one eighth of the hotel rooms at the property. The hotel is configured in a square format. Four sides of the square face inwards to a boring courtyard. The other four outer sides of the hotel only has one side that faces the ocean. The eastern facing side of the hotel has peek a boo views with partial ocean views facing across the garden.

During check in, we also selected the breakfast benefit as the welcome amenity for our Marriott Bonvoy Elite welcome amenity. At times, this often slows down the check in process after staff have to complete breakfast coupons for each day’s stay.

In this case, there were no breakfast coupons and the information was recorded in their reservations system. Anything that speeds up the hotel check in process is great and I applaud the Le Méridien Nice for this electronic solution.

After a pleasant check in, we passed the hotel lobby bar and headed up to room #624. We declined any luggage assistance and self navigated ourselves up to the room. The lobby space was typically busy throughout or stay, and remained a gathering spot for guests, friends and colleagues.

Lobby Seating – Le Méridien Nice, France

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The Room: A Deluxe Sea View, 1 King

After getting off on the sixth floor, we navigated over to Room #624. The hallways at the hotel had been recently renovated in modern colours, although the plush carpet on the floor was a little difficult for rolling suitcases. Room #624 was located almost at the western end of the hallway, and marked a quiet place to spend a week.

Arriving to a Deluxe Sea View – Le Méridien Nice, France

Our deluxe sea view room with one king bed was a compact room measuring about 27sqm/291sqft. The room featured a king bed that was fairly firm compared to North American standards (no Sheraton Sweet Sleeper bed plushness).

A Deluxe Sea View – Le Méridien Nice, France

The bedside was marked with small wooden tables that were more aesthetically pleasing than functional, since they were so small.

A small table and two occasional chairs marked the accents for the room. Since the room was so small, there was no space for larger couches or upholstered chairs.

Towards the entrance of the room, there was the usual in room closet. The closet featured a wall unit that featured an classic Nespresso coffee maker, along with a small in room fridge that was empty. There was also an in room combination safe

In a great gesture, the hotel offered us an additional welcome amenity in the form of a complimentary bottle of rosé wine, along with some tetra packed water. We were also provided an information sheet that set out all the hotel’s hours of operation for it’s facilities.

The Deluxe Sea View Bathroom featured a single vanity sink, along with a stand up shower. Much like the smaller size of the room, the bathroom was a single person affair to to its compact space.

The hotel provided Aqua Senses toiletries, which was a departure than the usual Malin and Goetz toiletries that we’ve previously seen at Le Méridien properties.

Aqua Senses Toiletries – Le Méridien Nice, France

The room also featured a floor plan map of the property. The map demostrated the limited upgrade opportunities of only one side of the hotel facing the water. All other rooms are facing the city or the courtyard, making ocean view upgrades likely very limited.

The next day, we enjoyed absolutely spectacular 180 degree views from our room. It was really beautiful to have an ocean view for our stay. This particular view was one that I had a tough time tearing myself away from, considering how long it was from end to end.

In terms of sleep quality, I had a really good sleep at Le Méridien Nice. I would have thought that were would have been a lot of street noise with the Promenade des Anglais right underneath the room. However, it was relatively quiet after dark and aside from a few partiers or the occasional ambulances, we didn’t have much interruption of our sleep.

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Around the Hotel Property:

The Le Méridien Nice is a fully featured resort property. It contains all the features of a full service hotel in a smaller urban footprint. While we were drawn to the hotel for all of it’s features, we ultimately didn’t end up using many of them. Instead, we spent our time exploring the areas off property and around the Côte d’Azur at large.

Outdoor Pool:

The roof top contained the hotel’s outdoor pool. It was a fairly small place, and we didn’t end up swimming in the hotel pool.

The Roof Top Pool Area – Le Méridien Nice, France

The roof top also contained the hotels’ Peska by La Terrasse rooftop restaurant. The restaurant is Mediterranean seafood featured. With all the terrific restaurants located throughout Nice, we didn’t end up returning to Peska by La Terrasse.

The pool itself was set back from the ocean front. As a result, it didn’t contain an infiniti pool feature or anything deluxe along those lines.

The views of the Promenade des Anglais from the roof top were spectacular, and a great reminder of why Nice is so popular with visitors.

Hotel Gym:

Much like other international hotels, the hotel offered a small gym. The gym space appeared to be in a converted and expanded hotel room.

In the case of the Le Méridien Nice, this space appeared to be a bit of an after thought, as it was located well away from the pool. The gym also offered a view of the hotel’s interior courtyard, which was decidedly austere.

The Views of the Courtyard Rooms – Le Méridien Nice, France

Access to the gym was by room key fob. The gym was manned by an attendant during my visit.

The Beach:

Immediately across the street from the Le Méridien Nice is the ocean front beach. While the beach in Nice will never be known as one of the world’s best beaches due to it’s stony shoreline, it’s still a spectacular water front that stretches for miles.

The Promenade des Anglais Beach Area – Le Méridien Nice, France

For those that didn’t enjoy sitting directly on the rocks, the hotel has partnered with “La Plage”, which offered a slightly discounted percentage rate for a beach chair and umbrella rental.

During our visit, the posted rates were:

Sunbed 22€ a person
First Line Sunbed 25€ a person
Double Bed at 55€ a person
Parasol / Umbrella at 6€
Beach Towel at 6€

The rates can add up quickly for comfort, but it looked like a very pleasant and comfortable experience.

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Food and Beverage:

The Le Méridien Nice contains two restaurants, the Mediterranean oriented rooftop Peska by La Terrasse and the Breakfast @ Le Riviera. There is also the on property lobby lounge of Latitude 43°4′, which proved to be quite popular throughout our stay.

If these restaurants aren’t to your liking, the Le Méridien Nice is steps away from heaps of restaurants located just off the property behind the hotel on Rue Massena.

Breakfast @ Le Riviera:

Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Breakfast

The Breakfast @ Le Riviera represented the hotels’ breakfast restaurant. It occupied a panoramic view space immediately fronting the ocean, making for a terrific breakfast space to start any day.

Le Riviera Restaurant – Le Méridien Nice, France

The breakfast was offered between 7:00 AM and 10:30 AM. As Marriott Bonvoy Titanium level members whom had selected the breakfast benefit as part of the welcome gift, we were given full access to the breakfast buffet. Breakfast buffet was otherwise charged at 29€ ($32 USD) if breakfast wasn’t covered as part of your room rate.

During our visits at a leisurely 9 AM, it was a bit of a mayhem experience. There was lots of crowding and families trying to get organized. While we never had a wait for a table, it was a busy experience. As a result, I wouldn’t expect a quiet or tranquil dining environment over the breakfast period.

We were given instructions to order eggs ordered off the menu, although there were some soft scrambled eggs on the breakfast buffet. In particular, the breakfast omelettes were really well presented. All the staff were exceptionally pleasant despite the face paced environment.

The breakfast buffet offered flaky and tasty croissants; the kind you would expect to get in France and that can’t be replicated anywhere else. We were given full reign of the buffet. I might add that the buffet didn’t change at all in terms of content during our five night stay, unlike what you’d see at some resorts that shuffle the food items a little bit in order to add a bit of variety.

Breakfast Buffet at Le Riviera Restaurant – Le Méridien Nice, France

I was happy to report that Bottega Prosecco Sparking wine was also available daily on free flow. Although, a shortage of stemware made it often a less than easy experience actually getting a glass. At times, bottles ran empty; although I didn’t actually see many partaking in sparkling indulgence on a weekday morning.

The Breakfast @ Le Riviera was a fantastic way to start a holiday in a comfortable environment. I really enjoyed the environment and the food quality. Starting your day off with a glass of Prosecco and a cappuccino in Europe, is a great way to start.

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Bottom Line: The Le Méridien Nice

The Le Méridien Nice was a great hotel to be based in during our visit in Nice.

While it wasn’t the most luxurious hotel, it offered the right combination of a convenient location, friendly staff and the right ambience. The ability to be upgraded into a terrific ocean view courtesy of Marriott Bonvoy Elite benefits was a value added experience that made the stay much more enjoyable.

Overall, I would happily return again to this property.

If you have stayed at Le Meridien Nice, was the location of the property to your liking ?

Tags: Hotel Review, Marriott Bonvoy, Marriott Platinum

Review: British Airways Club Europe A321-2, London Heathrow – Nice

Posted on April 30, 2024 By World Traveller 73 in Airbus 321 + Airline + British Airways + Business Class + Cote D'Azur & Cinque Terre via British Airways Business Class + Trip Report

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World Traveller 73

April 30, 2024

5–7 minutes

On our trip to Nice, France, we flew British Airways and connected through London Heathrow airport. After a comfortable wide body flight in British Airways Club Suite Business Class product, it was time to enjoy their narrow body intra Europe option of British Airways Club Europe. In a continent where airlines are trying to compete against more convenient trains, you might think that air carriers might be trying to make business class more upscale. Business Class in Europe is never very exciting and British Airways wasn’t much exception to this. Read on to see what our connecting British Airways Club Europe flight was like.

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Review: British Airways Club Europe Business Class, Airbus 321-2, London Heathrow Terminal Five – Nice Côte d’Azur Airport

After arriving into London Heathrow on British Airways Club Suites Business Class Vancouver – London and spending a little time at the British Airways Galleries South Lounge, we headed off to locate our connecting flight of British Airways Club Europe London Heathrow – Nice.

Connecting to Our Departing Gate – London Heathrow

London Heathrow doesn’t publish the departure gate until about one hour before the scheduled flight departure, resulting in a bit of a scramble out to your departing gate. It’s a strange system, but it seems to work for them.

Departing from the Outer Concourse – London Heathrow Terminal Five – B Gates

Our flight was published to depart from Heathrow’s Terminal 5 Gate B39. As a result, we took the basement train out to the second Heathrow concourse, in order to locate the gate.

Our aircraft was delayed coming in from Corfu, Greece. As a result, we had a small flight delay. There was a bit of a confused (but more likely apathetic) boarding process by the Heathrow ground staff, but we eventually got on board our Airbus 321 that was taking us to Nice, France this evening.

Our Departing British Airways Airbus 321-2

British Airways
BA 356 – Business Class (D)
LHR – NCE (London Heathrow Terminal 5 – Nice Côte d’Azur)
Oct 1, 2023
1:30 PM – 5:00 PM
Booked: Airbus 321-2
Flown: Airbus 321-2

On Board British Airways Club Europe:

On board, we found our seats in 2A / 2C. The British Airways Club Europe is the typical economy class seat in a 3 – 3 configuration with a blocked middle seat.

British Airways Club Europe A321-2 Cabin

The British Airways Airbus 321-2 series aircraft offers individual air nozzles, which make for a more comfortable ride.

I’m still baffled as to how European airlines manage to survive with selling business class travel into economy class seats for flights lasting up to three quarters of an hour or more.

The British Airways Club Europe cabin does feature in seat power. The Empower port is located under the seat in a rather inconvenient location. The power poert offered both plug in and USB A charging.

The British Airways Club Europe cabin on an Airbus 321-2 offers a large fourteen rows of business class, or a cabin of fifty four standard Club Europe seats. The seats offer the same pitch and width of the economy class seats. Although the seats offer a little more leg room than the standard economy class seat.

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Pre – Departure Services:

British Airways didn’t offer a pre-departure beverage service.

Instead, we had a pilot announcement indicating that pilots would do their best to make up for lost time.

During the time while we settled in, I took a browse through the menu. British Airways doesn’t always provide a printed menu for Club Europe (for flights within continental Europe) and I was hoping to get an idea of what was being served. I found a heap of breakfast, lunch and dinner items.

British Airways also offered a pretty comprensive drink menu. Despite browsing through it, I wasn’t able to locate any information on what we might be enjoying up front.

In Flight Entertainment:

With no monitors in the seat backs in the cabin, in flight entertainment is limited to whatever you brought with you on your own smartphone.

Our aircraft was also BA.air enabled, allowing us to connect to wifi. While I didn’t test this out to see how the streaming opportunities were, this is likely your only other audio video entertainment option if you didn’t get organized enough to bring content on your device.

The wifi price on the shorter flight was more reasonable than on the international flight. Despite the better price, i didn’t test out the streaming services.

The Meal: A Light Dinner

The service was a bit slow to start on this particular flight. Service started about forty five minutes into the flight, for a flight that was only one hour and a half in length.

The dinner options today were a chicken with a lobster pasta sauce or a vegetarian curry dinner. I went with the chicken and it was pretty tasty for a regional flight.

Chicken with a Lobster Pasta – British Airways Club Europe Dinner

Dinner was served with an individual bottle of red wine with a choice of Shiraz or Cabernet Sauvingon. I went with the Shiraz, which was reasonable but unmemorable.

Overall, the British Airways Club Europe service was a reasonable and comfortable flight that was complimented by fairly good catering and drinks that were tasty and cold.

Arriving to Nice Côte d’Azur International Airport:

We arrived into Nice Côte d’Azur International Airport. On arrival, we parked next to an El Al Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

An El Al Boeing 737-8 at Nice C’ote D’Azur International Airport

Once we arrived into the arrivals hall, we proceeded through immigration. I was stamped into the European Union, with probably among my final EU passport stamps.

It took a long time for the baggage to be put out for collection. It was almost 30 minutes wait before we were able to collect them.

My Thoughts on British Airways Club Europe:

The British Airways Club Europe flight from London Heathrow to Paris offered a more comfortable way to travel. While the service contained a proper meal, it was still a little cramped and missing of most of the features like a larger seat that make business class more comfortable. Despite this, I wouldn’t hesitate to fly British Airways Club Europe again in the future.

If you have flown British Airways between France and London, do you regularly spring for Club Europe Business Class?

Tags: BA 356, Club Europe, LHR, NCE, One World

Review: Plaza Premium Lounge – London Heathrow Terminal Five, United Kingdom

Posted on April 28, 2024 By World Traveller 73 in Cote D'Azur & Cinque Terre via British Airways Business Class + Lounges + Plaza Premium Lounge + Priority Pass Lounge + Trip Report

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World Traveller 73

April 28, 2024

7–10 minutes

The Plaza Premium Lounge network operates over sixty lounges under the Plaza Premium Name worldwide. The Plaza Premium Lounges typically offer a consistent lounge experience with a broad food presentation, even when visiting outside of regular meal hours. Today’s travel took me through the Plaza Premium London Heathrow Lounge on a connecting flight from London Heathrow Terminal Five. How would the Plaza Premium Lounge London Heathrow fare for a connecting traveler ?

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Review: Plaza Premium Lounge – London Heathrow Terminal Five, United Kingdom

I arrived into London Heathrow on a British Airways Club Suite Business Class Vancouver – London flight, and I was connecting onwards to British Airways Club Europe London Heathrow – Nice. While we had access to the British Airways Galleries South Lounge – London Heathrow, I was curious to see how the Plaza Premium London Heathrow Terminal Five lounge would compare.

Plaza Premium operates several lounges in the United Kingdom. You may also be interested in our review of the Plaza Premium London Heathrow Terminal Two and Plaza Premium London Heathrow Terminal Two Arrivals Lounge, that we have previously visited in adjacent terminals.

Locating the Plaza Premium Lounge:

The Plaza Premium Lounge London Heathrow is tucked away in a corner of the main London Heathrow Terminal Five building. It’s location seems to be almost an after thought, since it’s anything from being centrally located.

The Plaza Premium Lounge London Heathrow Terminal 5 is located in the far corner

Leaving the British Airways Galleries South Lounge, I passed through the main retail heaven (or hell) of the London Heathrow Terminal Five concourse. Heading towards the far end of the concourse, I spotted signs for the Plaza Premium Pay-To-Use Lounge.

Locating the Plaza Premium London Heathrow Terminal Five Lounge

Heading toward the end of the concourse, it was a hard right turn towards the front reception.

The Plaza Premium Pay-to-Use Lounge isn’t very well marked compared to other London Heathrow features. If you’ve mapped it out in advance of your journey, you shouldn’t have any troubles.

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Accessing The Plaza Premium Lounge:

There are several ways to access the Plaza Premium Lounge.

The Plaza Premium Lounge accepts reservations for entry on it’s website. The reservations are split into blocks of time ranging from two, three and six hours. As of the time of writing, the prices was as follows:

Two Hours = $40.60 GBP or $51.71 USD
Six Hours. = $67.50 GBP or $86.00 USD

The above pricing includes applicable taxes and fees. While there are no three hour time slots like at other Plaza Premium Lounges, I can’t actually imagine anyone wanting to stay inside the Plaza Premium Lounge for a full six hours. The lounge must be making a little profit over those wanting a longer three or four hour stay.

Lining Up at the Plaza Premium Lounge London Heathrow

The Plaza Premium Lounge network also partners with several credit cards to provide access. This includes many credit cards worldwide, which include DragonPass, LoungeKey, LoungeClub, and the Club. You do not need to make an advance reservation while using these systems.

Within North America, the lounge is also part of the American Express Global Lounge Collection, which offers a suite of lounges available for access with it’s premium American Express Platinum Card and American Express Centurion Cards. Access can be granted by presenting one of these cards.

The lounge has recently rejoined Priority Pass. As a result, if you have a Priority Pass membership, you can gain access to the lounge.

I gained access to the Plaza Premium Lounge as a result of my American Express Platinum Card as part of the American Express Global Lounge membership.

There was a substantial line to gain access access today with a line of about ten people deep. Fortunately, the line moved really quickly. I suspect many decided to abandon their plans to access the lounge after learning of how long the wait may have been.

After my digital membership card and boarding pass was validated, I was invited into the lounge as a single travellers without any additional wait.

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Inside The Plaza Premium Lounge:

The Plaza Premium Lounge London Heathrow Terminal Five occupies a much smaller space than I would have expected. Despite this, the space that they do have is bright and has pleasant views.

After passing through lounge reception, you’ll head down a long thin hallway that leads into an “L” shaped space.

The first lounge room offers small booth, individual lounge chair, and carrel styled seating. All the seats had great daylight exposure, being close to the glass of the terminal wall. Being right next to the front door, these seats were completely full.

Moving around the “L” shape corner of the lounge, visitors were led into a very long rectangular room that formed the main portion of the lounge space. The width of the space was pretty tiny, and smaller than I would have expected for such a high volume place.

The first feature in the long room was a large bar. On my visit, the lounge was full enough that people were seated at the bar as a result of there being no where else to sit.

Moving through the lounge past the bar, the lounge continued on with a small snack area followed by additional seating. Following a snack area, there was a high counter top communal table, followed by additional high density lounge seating.

The lounge ended shortly after the communal table zone. Looking down the length of the lounge, high backed individual chair spaces filled out the rest of the seating in approximately four rows of chairs.

The lounge seating was particularly high density for this particular location. Much like my experience at the Plaza Premium Lounge at Heathrow Terminal Two, this Terminal Five version was full of people. As a result, I wouldn’t expect a large spacious environment on your visit to this space, but a more compact and urban one, with shared spaces.

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Food and Beverage:

The Plaza Premium Lounge networks are normally pretty generous on food. On today’s visit, they had a substantial offering.

I think the Plaza Premium Lounges might improve the way their cuisine is presented, even though they do offer a little bit more food. There are instances when the cuisine appears more cafeteria-styled, than it does elsewhere.

Today’s food presentation was from islands surrounding the rear interior portion of the building. Given the high volume of visitors to the lounge, the area was packed throughout my visit.

On the hot side, there were a variety of options available for visitors. There was penne pasta with tomato sauce, chicken in mushroom sauce with basmati rice, along with potato wedges.

In addition to the hot items, there were a number of salad items. Most of the items were enjoyed by many customers. In a twist, there were a number of bread stations located throughout the lounge. Like my past Plaza Premium Lounge experiences, the food didn’t look all too appetizing with a “well worn” sort of look to it.

In terms of drinks, the lounge featured a number of self service coffee machines. We didn’t see any branded Union Hand Roasted Coffee like at the nearby British Airways Galleries Lounge. However, it’s nice to have the option for something to wake you up.

The lounge also featured a number of water and juice stations, in addition to tinned pop.

Much like many other Plaza Premium Lounges, Plaza Premium offers some complimentary spirits, a complimentary draught beer and a house red and white wine. Additional “top shelf” drinks are chargeable.

The Plaza Premium Lounge met all expectations of what you’d need from an international pay – to – use departures lounge. There was enough to eat food-wise, and there was a reasonable amount of beverages available.

I would end up departing on British Airways Club Europe London Heathrow – Nice shortly after my visit.

My Thoughts on the Plaza Premium Lounge London Heathrow:

Plaza Premium Lounges have a fairly solid footprint in London Heathrow airport. Much like the Plaza Premium Lounge in London Heathrow Terminal Two, the Terminal Five version had a high amount of visitors.

With a high density seating area, the lounge doesn’t offer large relaxing spaces. What it does offer is a place to recharge after your overseas international flight, along with a reasonable amount of food and beverage that can be expected from an international departures lounge.

If you’ve visited the Plaza Premium London Heathrow Lounge, did you find the lounge met your needs ?

Tags: American Express Global Lounge Collection, LHR, Plaza Premium Lounge

Review: British Airways Galleries South Lounge, London Heathrow Terminal 5, United Kingdom

Posted on April 26, 2024 By World Traveller 73 in British Airways Lounge + Cote D'Azur & Cinque Terre via British Airways Business Class + Lounges + Trip Report

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World Traveller 73

April 26, 2024

8–12 minutes

British Airways’s route network takes it through one of London’s two airports; its primary base at London Heathrow and it’s secondary base at London Gatwick. London Heathrow’s Terminal Five represents the flagship of it’s lounge network. British Airways offers its primary business class lounges, it’s first class lounges and it’s exclusive Concorde Room First Class Lounge. As connecting passengers like we were, we’d stop in to visit the British Airways Galleries South Lounge at London Heathrow airport.

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Review: British Airways Galleries South Lounge – London Heathrow Terminal 5, United Kingdom

The British Airways Galleries Lounge forms part of the primary lounge network for the British Airways Lounges at London Heathrow Terminal Five. If you’re very lucky, you’ll have access to the British Airways Concorde Room – London Heathrow that we’d visited previously.

Locating the British Airways Galleries Lounge:

We arrived into London Heathrow Terminal Five on a British Airways Club Suite Business Class Vancouver – London flight. Since we were lucky enough to arrive into Heathrow in Terminal Five, it was a short train ride back to the main terminal. We had a security screening, then we were up to the main concourse level.

The British Airways Galleries Lounge South – London Heathrow Terminal Five is located on the immediate right hand side of the aircraft terminal. From the main concourse level, its a medium length walk and wander through retail and duty free heaven, towards the lounge escalators.

After heading up a level, you’ll find yourself in a corridor between the British Airways Concorde Room – London Heathrow and the British Airways First Class Lounge. If you take a further right turn, you’ll pass to a second set of escalators taking you up to the top floor for the British Airways South Galleries Lounge – London Heathrow.

As you pass by the entry ways to the two lounges, there is a lounge occupancy chart that allows you to take a look to see how busy the various lounges are.

Lounge Wait Times and Occupancy Charts – London Heathrow

Passing by the entrance to the British Airways Concorde Room, visitors to the British Airways Galleries Lounge continue towards the right, and up the second set of escalators up to the top level.

The British Airways Concorde Room Entrance – London Heathrow

Ascending to the British Airways Galleries Lounge South – London Heathrow

Arriving to the top level, you’ll find the charmed black horse that occupies the entrance of many British Airways lounges. It over looks a covered roof area that features an British Airbus 380 model.

The Black Horse, British Airways Galleries Lounge, London Heathrow.

Rounding the corner, you’ll find a bank of lounge reception desks ready to scan you in.

Lounge Entrance – British Airways Galleries Lounge London Heathrow

How to Access the British Airways Galleries Lounge:

It’s fairly straight forward to access the British Airways Galleries Lounge.

Lounge access is available to:

British Airways customers flying on a scheduled flight in Club or First
Silver and Gold Executive Club Members on scheduled flights operated by British Airways or one of our oneworld® partners
Emerald and Sapphire level Members of any oneworld airline frequent flyer programme on a scheduled flight operated by British Airways or one of our oneworld partners
As a Sapphire or Emerald member you are welcome to invite one single guest per each departure flight to join you in the lounge. (Guest must be travelling on British Airways or one of our oneworld partners).
All lounge access is subject to capacity restrictions.

If you’re a premium credit card holder and looking for access, you’ll have to visit the Plaza Premium Lounge London Heathrow Terminal 5 as the British Airways Lounge network doesn’t partner with Priority Pass or many credit cards that come with access.

Inside the British Airways Galleries South Lounge:

There are two British Airways Galleries Lounges, split into a “South” and a “North” version. While there isn’t one that is prominently featured over another, the Galleries South Lounge tends to get most of the attention as a result of being situated next to the other British Airways Lounges, such as the British Airways Concorde Room and the British Airways First Class Lounge.

Lounge Seating – British Airways Galleries Lounge, London Heathrow Terminal Five

The British Airways Galleries South Lounge is divided into two separate areas. The left hand side of the lounge is situated amongst most of the windows and natural light, whereas the right hand side of the lounge offers lounge seating that is oriented more towards into the terminal.

We headed over and found a seat on the left hand side of the lounge. On our mid afternoon visit, the British Airways Galleries South Lounge was absolutely packed. We had some challenges actually locating a seat. We ended up grabbing one that was currently being vacated by departing guests.

The lounge seating in the British Airways Galleries Lounge consisted of lounge chairs oriented in a four persons configuration. While this was well designed, it often led to a lot of people having bags placed on seats, making it a little challenging to find seating when the lounge was near capacity.

Each end of the lounge featured the traditional British Airways Galleries bar. The bar was stocked with self service wines for pour, along with some regional bottled beer.

The Long Bar – British Airways Galleries Lounge, London Heathrow Terminal Five

Towards the centre of the lounge, the lounge offered a seating area near the food service zone. Passing through to the right hand side of the lounge, I passed through the food and buffet area. I’ll talk more about the food that was available shortly. The food service space was decorated with wine bottles, similar to that you’d find in a casual dining restaurant or lounge.

Dining Zone – British Airways Galleries Lounge, London Heathrow Terminal Five

The food service area in the lounge featured a promotional display from Bottega sparkling wine. This was a creative product placement on the part of the lounge. Since they were featuring a sparkling wine, British Airways didn’t need to feature a champagne in the lounge.

Bottega Sparkling Lounge Display – British Airways Galleries Lounge, London Heathrow Terminal Five

Passing over to the quieter right hand side of the lounge, the British Airways Galleries South Lounge offered additional lounge seating. While the area was substantially darker (as a result of not having outwards facing windows), the lounge was equally as packed with a challenge of finding a seat still more present.

Towards the very back of the lounge, lounge seating opened up. Several communal couch style benches were available, making this a quieter place to set up away from all the crowds.

The London Heathrow airport authority doesn’t post flight gates until about one hour before the flight. This seems to be a very disorganized way to run an airport, but it seems to work for them. The late announcements of the flight gates mean that the lonuge tends to have a lot of travellers crowded around the screens.

Checking the Gate – London Heathrow Terminal Five

The seating at the British Airways Galleries Lounge was diverse and substantial. Despite this, it was really crowded when it came time to our visit, making locating a seat sometimes of a challenge.

Food and Beverage:

One of the British Airways Galleries Lounges greatest strength’s is the amount of food that’s on offer to travellers. During our visit in the late afternoon that was between the usual meal times, the lounge had a substantial amount of food available for consumption.

For an afternoon snack, the British Airways Galleries Lounge was offering mashed potatoes. mushy peas, yorkshire puddings and freshly made ceasar salads.

As if that light meal wasn’t enough, there were also options for warm pasta, chili and and various cold salads. These also included a salty and savory section that included nacho crisps, jalapeños and other sauces.

The amount of food available in the lounge was much more than I would have expected for an international business class departures lounge. While they were clearly focused on quantity, the taste of the food that I enjoyed was actually pretty good as well.

You won’t go hungry while you’re visiting this lounge. I would end up enjoying that light steak pie with a yorkshire pudding with gravy, mashed potatoes and mushy peas. It was a particularly filling snack that replenished me more than I would have expected from a business lounge.

It’s hard to pass up yorkshire pudding and mashed potatoes and gravy

In terms of beverages, the lounge offered the usual food and beverage items. Particularly of interest, is the gin and tonic bar located in the lounge. The British Airways Galleries Lounge offered a self service gin and tonic bar that offered a whole variety of Gordon and Tanqueray Gins.

Gin and Tonic Bar – British Airways Galleries Lounge London Heathrow Terminal Five

MrsWT73 enjoyed the CIROC Vodka that was available throughout the lounge; making it the perfect cocktail for a layover.

The lounge also featured some Union Hand Roasted Coffee stations throughout the lounge. While Union Hand Roasted Coffee is popular through the United Kingdom, South American and Africa, it hasn’t branched out to mainstream acceptance in North America.

Union Coffee Bar – British Airways Galleries Lounge London Heathrow Terminal Five

After killing off a three hour connection, we headed off on our connecting British Airways Club Europe London Heathrow – Nice flight.

My Thoughts on the British Airways Galleries Lounge:

The British Airways Galleries Lounge offered everything that you’d expect from a solid international business lounge.

The British Airways Galleries Lounge’s best feature was the quality and quantity of food that was available to its visitors. The lounge exceeded all expectations in this regard.

The main disadvantage of the lounge was the busy nature of the place, making it a little difficult to easily find a seat.

If you’ve visited London Heathrow, do you have a favorite British Airways Galleries Lounge ?

Tags: British Airways, LHR, One World

Review: British Airways Club Suite Business Class A350-1000, Vancouver – London Heathrow

Posted on April 24, 2024 By World Traveller 73 in Airbus 350 + Airline + British Airways + Business Class + Cote D'Azur & Cinque Terre via British Airways Business Class + Trip Report

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World Traveller 73

April 24, 2024

13–20 minutes

British Airways has re-invited their business class product into a newly designed British Airways Club Suite. The British Airways Club Suite product is currently featured on their new Airbus 350-1000 series and Boeing 787-10 aircraft, in addition to select other aircraft that are under refurbishment. These include the Boeing 777-200 ER’s and the Boeing 777-300 ER’s. Each Club Suite offers what had been missing from the old Club World Product; direct aisle access and a privacy door. The new product offers enhanced food and beverage. Let’s test out the new product to see how it measures up.

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Review: British Airways Club World Suite Business Class, Airbus 350-1000, Vancouver International Airport – London Heathrow Terminal 5

“British Airways Club Suites brings their business class cabin into the twenty first century, with a modern seating arrangement that offers direct aisle access, a fully flat bed and a privacy door, befitting of an world class international business class offering”

I was really looking forward to this flight. Having flown this route many times before on British Airways Business Class and British Airways First Class, I was looking forward to testing out the British Airways Club Suites.

About the British Airways Club Suites:

The British Airways Club Suites is British Airways’ newest business class offering, which offers a more spacious and functional business class seat when compared to their old higher density Club World Business Class offering. Instead of being packed into a seating arrangement with eight seats across the cabin, we’d enjoy a more comfortable four across configuration in a reverse herringbone business class seat. Each seat offers a fully flat bed, direct to aisle access and a privacy door.

The British Airways Club Suites are appearing on many British Airways’ newer aircraft. British Airways has them installed on all their Boeing 787-1000 series aircraft, all their Airbus 350-1000 series aircraft, and most of their Boeing 777-200 ER and Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft. If you are flying these aircraft, check your seat mant

Currently, there are no Club Suites installed on Boeing 787-800, Boeing 787-900 series or Airbus 380-8 series aircraft. British Airways is planning to retrofit these aircraft, although the time line remain to be seen when this will be fully completed.

Boarding British Airways Club Suites:

Having checked in and spending some time at the decidedly average Plaza Premium Lounge – Vancouver International “Pop Up”, we headed down towards the gate. Today’s flight was departing from Gate 64, which was at the far most end of the Vancouver International Airport.

British Airways Departure Gate D64 at Vancouver International Airport

Although we were scheduled to board at 8:05 PM, our scheduled departure time of 9:00 PM came and went. Eventually, we had a gate announcement that the flight was delayed due to the late arrival of the crew bus. We eventually boarded the aircraft with Group 1 at around 8:40 PM.

British Airways
BA 84 – Business Class (D)
YVR – LHR (Vancouver International – London Heathrow Terminal 5)
Sept 30, 2023
8:55 PM – 2:05 PM + 1
Booked: Airbus 350-1000
Flown: Airbus 350-1000

We had a single jet bridge for boarding today, although two jet bridges were connected. Once we stepped on board, we turned left towards our seats.

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On Board British Airways Club Suites:

British Airways has modernized it’s business class services. British Airways used to offer an exceptionally high density Club World business class product on its Airbus 380-8 and Boeing 747-4 series aircraft. The old version featured Business Class seating as dense as eight persons across.

British Airways took this feedback to heart and has recently unveiled its new business class offering in the form of British Airways Club Suites. The British Airways Club Suite offers a Collins Aerospace Business Class seat that you’ll find on other international carriers such as Air Canada, in their long range aircraft.

British Airways Club Suites Business Class Cabin – Airbus 350-1000

The British Airways Club Suites Business Class on the A350-1000 is located in the forward part of the aircraft in a 1 – 2 – 1 configuration. The Club Suite cabin is split across two cabins. The first cabin is between rows 1 – 11, whereas the second mini cabin is located between rows 15 – 17. A galley separates the two cabins between rows normally that would normally be occupied by rows 12 – 14.

The newer seats are substantially more comfortable and spacious than the last version. The new suites offer a fully flat seat, with substantial storage and space to work around the suite itself.

When choosing a seat, the centre seats offer less privacy than the aisle suites. The centre suites offer a partition divider that allows you to wall yourself off from the other centre facing traveler. Despite the ability to open the divider, it’s not an ideal configuration to have conversations with your seat mate.

Instead, with two of us traveling together, we opted for seating on the outer window seats one behind another. While we didn’t get the opportunity to have discussions during the flight, we both appreciated having access to the window.

I located my assigned Club Suite in 2A. Each Club Suite offers a private door, which comes up to just above head hight when seated in the seat, or chest height if you are standing in the aisles. It’s not as tall as the doors that you might find in a Qatar Airways Q Suite. However, it does offer an element of privacy if you chose to sleep.

The reverse herringbone seat itself is exceptionally comfortable. The seat offers a slight line view out of the windows, with a small counter space next to the seat itself. The seat The Collins Aerospace seat is the current “best in class” business class seat, in my humble opinion.

On our arrival, waiting on the seat was a pillow, sleep set and headphones.

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The seat offered counter space which was handy for resting a laptop, passport or other items in flight or while you got settled. There was also a small compartment that allowed for in flight charging for cellphones and accessories. The Empower power port offered both plug in charging and USB A standard charging.

British Airways Club Suites Business Class Seat – Airbus 350-1000

A wired remote also existed inside this space, that could be used to control the in flight entertainment system. The controller was high resolution, and could be controlled through buttons or touch screen. The Empower charging port was also located in this space featuring both plug in power charging and USB A Charging.

Immediately next to the primary charging space, there was a secondary smaller space that could be used to place a wallet or other smaller items. Both spaces offered a functionality to the seat, that was missing from the previous British Airways Club World product.

Rounding out the space of the Club Suite, there was a small cupboard that held a bottle of water. There was also an Elemis in flight amenity kit that was hidden away in the cupboard.

The sightline out of the seat itself offers a reasonable amount of privacy. Seated in the cavity of the seat, the walls of the British Airways Club Suite are pretty high without feeling confining.

The British Airways Airbus 350-1000 has individual reading lights. British Airways did not install individual air nozzles in this particular aircraft. While this can make for a warmer journey, I didn’t miss them on this particular trip.

British Airways Club Suites Business Class Air Nozzles – Airbus 350-1000

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Pre – Departure Services:

A pre – departure beverage was offered, which is always a great way to start any international flight. Today’s pre-departure beverage choice consisted of orange juice or champagne. I went with the champagne, which was unfortunately served at room temperature. Despite this, service was prompt although re-fills were not offered given that the flight was already about thirty minutes late.

While we were waiting for flights to depart, we had an announcement by our First Officer Rebecca Pathrow, accompanied by Justin Merger as capitan. We had an announcement of a sched-jeweled flight time of eight hours and twenty five minutes. The First Officer announced that there would be a second announcement about forty minutes prior to landing at London Heathrow. There was also a brief weather update for conditions at London Heathrow.

Food and Beverage:

After the pre – flight announcement, the menus were presented while on the ground. The menus consisted of a long thin design, starting with the bar and flight cocktails list.

British Airways Business Class Menu: Vancouver – London Heathrow

For the first course, a lunch and dinner was offered. With a flight time departure of nine PM, it was nice to have a combination of lighter and heavier options.

British Airways also offered a second service prior to landing at London Heathrow. British Airways has been known for a lighter second service. However, I was happier to see that there was something more substantial that just a continental breakfast offered for the second service.

British Airways also offered a dedicated wine list. The wine list focused on both old world and new world wines. Being a European carrier, I appreciate that they offered old world wine options from France. My travels lately have taken me on many carriesr that typically offer the most economical new world options as perhaps a cost cutting incentive.

British Airways Business Class Wine List: Vancouver – London Heathrow

There was always something interesting on the wine list. Most of the wine list was interesting as it featured bottles that we wouldn’t typically get in Canada.

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The Amenity Kits: “The White Company”

While I waited for the flight to get underway, I explored the amenity kits. The British Airways amenty kits have substantially changed much over the years. The British Airways kits are still branded with The White Company.

British Airways Business Class Amenity Kits

The British Airways “The White Company” amenity kits offered Spa Resort Lip Balm, Moisturizer and Power Point, a sleep mask, a toothbrush and toothpaste and eye mask.

It’s not essentially to have a robust amenity kit. But it’s surely something that you miss when it’s gone.

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The Entertainment System:

The British Airways Club Suite offers an entertainment system that is controlled through the hand controller or via the touch screen. The system offered a number of movies and had enough entertainment on it to keep a traveler entertained.

The system also featured a moving map, which allowed you to follow along on the journey.

The British Airways Airbus 350-1000 is equipped with BA .air in flight wifi. The wifi system is set on a pay per use format. While British Airways offers free wifi in First Class, the aircraft didn’t offer that cabin in its configuration. Instead, wifi was available for purchase for between 2.99 and 11.99 GBP.

Since I was headed off on holiday, I didn’t need to partake in the wifi.

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The First Service: “Dinner”

The meal service started almost immediately after we had reached cruising altitude and were comfortably on our way towards London. We were presented with a towel service; a nice way to start any inflight service.

British Airways Business Class Towel Service

I was offered a drink to start, and selected the Aviation Gin and Tonic in true British style (despite being an American Gin). The flight attendant came back with apologies that they hadn’t loaded any and offered Tangueray Gin instead. This was presented at about sixty five minutes into the flight with Penn State Sour Cream and Chive Pretzels.

The Gin and Tonic was a nice way to start the flight. Much like the champagne, it was not super cold. As a result, I ended up switching to Heidsieck and Co Monopole Silver Top Brut NV champagne after I had finished.

The champagne was great, although the glass was a little on the small side. I enjoyed this with the familiar favorite movie “Crazy Rich Asians”.

Switching to Champagne with Crazy Rich Asians

For the starter course, I was presented with smoked salmon celery and apple saffron salad with red pepper coulis. It was actually quite a refreshing version of a dish that I wouldn’t normally expect on an airline.

I don’t typically turn down the opportunity to seat a steak on an airplane. In this case, I went with the typically British pan seared beef tenderloin, with creamed spinach, polenta cake and spiced butter sauce.

British Pan Seared Beef Tenderloin, Creamed Spinach, Polenta Cake and Spiced Butter Sauce

I had no complaints about this dish, although the steak was a little chewy and it was a little tricky to eat such a saucy dish on an aircraft. Truth be told, despite being careful, I did end up spilling some on my shirt which would accompany me all the way to France.

I finished the dinner service with cheesecake. It was a little on the smaller side so I might recommend getting a second desert serving if you’re really hungry.

The dinner service was done at 1:35 AM PST, making the full serving a bit of a late experience for those looking to maximize rest.

Dinner was finished over Manitoba, Canada

We were about 40% through the flight by the time dinner service was completed. This meant that I had about five hours of sleep time remaining.

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British Airways Business Class bedding:

British Airways Business Class offers a bedding suite for its suites. The bedding is a top of a fully flat bed that offers plenty of room.

After I finished the meal service, I was asked if I should be woken up for breakfast. I did ask to be served breakfast.

I unbundled the sleep set, which is a thin mattress pad. The mattress pad is more like a thin cloth rather than a pad itself. It is a much thinner version of what you might find on Qatar Airways.

There are no British Airways Pyjamas offered in Business Class. You’ll have to spring up to First Class for that luxury.

The British Airways Club Suite offers a privacy door that allows you to close the door of your Club Suite. These are typically locked for take off and landing. Unfortunately, mine happened to be stuck in the open position and I wasn’t able to get it closed. I didn’t bother following up so I ended up just going to sleep with it open.

British Airways Club Suites Privacy Doors

I ended up heading off to sleep around 2 AM Pacific Time. The British Airways Club Suites is compact in size for side sleepers like myself. I should mention that I’m also quite tall at 6ft 2 inches, and I found the space to be relatively tight.

It was heaps better than the upright lounger in my recent Icelandair Saga Business class flight to Europe. However, within the British Airways Club Suite, my knees kept bumping into the side of the walls in a very thin foot cavity well. As a result, I didn’t get a terrific sleep due to comfort reasons.

The Second Service: “Breakfast”

At about ninety minutes to landing, I ended up waking up just south of Iceland. The cabin started to get a little louder with the sounds of breakfast being served.

We were served breakfast on approach to the United Kingdom

I ordered and enjoyed the hot breakfast option which was presented as a fried egg and tomato relish ciabatta. It was paired with an excellent freshly squeezed orange juice and Union freshly roasted coffee.

Breakfast on Board – Fried Egg and Tomato Relish Ciabatta

While we typically would have had access to British Airways’ Business Class Lounge arrival facilities in London Heathrow, it was nice to be able to get off the plane with a little something in your stomach.

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Landing at London Heathrow:

We had no apparent delays landing at London Heathrow and were brought straight in from the west. I enjoyed peering out the window to see the London row homes just outside of the airport.

On Approach to London Heathrow, United Kingdom

I always find it to be a super impressive facility with British Airways’ home at London Heathrow International Airport. They have a really impressive set up with the corresponding infrastructure to go with it.

After landing, we taxied over to London Heathrow’s Terminal 5 C Concourse, which was the most outward gate concourse. We ended up parking near a British Airways Airbus 380; which always looks super impressive.

On the Ground at London Heathrow International Airport, United Kingdom

We deplaned pretty quickly and took the train to the main Terminal 5 building. We called on the British Airways Galleries Lounge South for our layover, prior to heading off to our connecting flight on British Airways Club Europe London Heathrow – Nice and our final destination.

The Bottom Line: British Airways Club Suite Business Class

The British Airways Club Suite Business Class is a welcome addition to the British Airways fleet. The Club Suite offers a vastly improved and functional business class experience when traveling with British Airways as compared to their legacy Club World product. The seating density makes for a much more comfortable flight and the Club Suite offers space that actually allows you to work.

The in flight amenities were reasonable. While the sleep set was not very comprehensive, it’s better than offering absolutely nothing. The food and beverage has seen recent improvements, making it a more substantial offering than in years past.

If you’ve flown British Airways Club Suite, did you find the product much better than their legacy Club World Business Class product ?

Tags: Alaska Mileage Plan, BA 84, LHR, YVR

Review: Plaza Premium Lounge “Pop Up”- Vancouver International Airport, Canada

Posted on April 22, 2024 By World Traveller 73 in Cote D'Azur & Cinque Terre via British Airways Business Class + Lounges + Plaza Premium Lounge + Priority Pass Lounge + Trip Report

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World Traveller 73

April 22, 2024

10–15 minutes

The Plaza Premium Lounge network operates over sixty lounges under the Plaza Premium Name worldwide. The Plaza Premium Lounges typically offer a consistent lounge experience with a broad food presentation, even when visiting outside of regular meal hours. Today’s travel took me through the Plaza Premium Vancouver International lounge where they have constructed a temporary pop up lounge during their transition to their new Plaza Premium Vancouver International space. How would their temporary solution work out for our international departure flight?

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Review: Plaza Premium Lounge “Pop Up” – International Departures, Vancouver International Airport, Canada

Our departing flight today was on British Airways Club Suite Business Class Vancouver – London Heathrow. We had flown this route several times on British Airways between Vancouver – London in both Club World Business Class and British Airways First Class.

About Plaza Premium Lounges in Vancouver:

Previously, British Airways has operated it’s own British Airways Galleries Lounge – Vancouver in the Vancouver International Airport International Departures concourse, despite only operating one to three flights a day. At its peak, British Airways used to operate three Boeing 747 flights per day between London Heathrow and Vancouver. More recently, British Airways has scheduled its Airbus 380 aircraft to service Vancouver during the summer months.

Sadly, there has been a change of environment after the pandemic. British Airways has elected to permanently close its British Airways Galleries Lounge – Vancouver, in favour of contracting its lounge services locally with a local provider.

Despite having an excellent and spacious Cathay Pacific Business Lounge – Vancouver nearby, British Airways has contracted with independent lounge provider Plaza Premium in order to offer lounge space for passengers departing on their British Airways flights to London.

On top of this arrangement, Plaza Premium has elected to move their lounge product into the space previously vacated by the British Galleries Lounge. Instead of doing a seamless move, they’ve elected to close their regular Plaza Premium International Lounge – Vancouver International lounge space and install a temporary pop up lounge on the concourse. This couldn’t be a more complicated manner of doing things, but it does allow passengers to relax closer to their British Airways departure gate.

Plaza Premium must anticipate that a lot of travellers prefer a lounge that is further out on the concourse that is closer to departure gates, than one that is closer to the initial retail area.

Checking into British Airways Club World:

We arrived to the Vancouver International Airport using public transit today. It was a gorgeous sunny fall day outside. As a result, we took in the last of the great weather before our travel over to Europe.

Departing Vancouver International Airport, Canada

We entered the international departures concourse at the Vancouver International Airport. I was not able to fully check in online using the British Airways app without a passport verification check. As a result, I had to locate the counters and complete check in “the old fashioned” way.

There was quite a long queue for British Airways travellers. Fortunately, there were only three persons in the British Airways Club World check in line. We were handled very promptly. Our sole checked bag was accepted and checked all the way through to Nice.

Our printed boarding cards were stamped with Plaza Premium Lounge. We were given verbal instructions on where to access the lounge. With boarding cards in hand, we headed off to security.

Locating the Plaza Premium Lounge:

The Plaza Premium Lounge Vancouver International “Pop Up” is located within the post security International Concourse area of the gates at Vancouver International Airport. The Vancouver International Airport – International Concourse has recently gotten longer with the addition of four additional gates partially constructed during the pandemic.

Plaza Premium “Pop – Up” Vancouver International Lounge
Map Courtesy of yvr.ca

The “Pop Up” version of the lounge is quite a ways out on the concourse, and is actually at a disadvantage as a result of it being located so far out and less conveniently located. The Plaza Premium “Pop Up” Lounge – Vancouver International is located next to Gate 67, which is a substantial ten minute walk from the security screening check point.

Passing by the shuttered Plaza Premium Lounge – Vancouver International, Canada

Locating the Plaza Premium Lounge – Vancouver International “Pop Up”

After clearing security, we passed by the old Plaza Premium Lounge that has permanently closed. The new lounge is located well past the duty free and retail zone of the airport. It’s approximately at ten minute walk out on the concourse.

We eventually made it past the old British Airways Galleries Lounge – Vancouver. It will be the home of the new Plaza Premium Lounge – Vancouver International, once they’ve completed construction.

After approaching Gate 67, we finally made it to the Plaza Premium Lounge – Vancouver International Pop Up. The lounge was easy to locate, taking over a large footprint in an outer Vancouver International Airport atrium that filled the space with natural light.

Locating the Plaza Premium Lounge – Vancouver International Airport, Canada

Overall, I had no problems locating the lounge. The lounge is quite a walk from security screening and the commercial duty free area. If you’re headed out here, make sure that you’ve completed your shopping. I’d also recommend making sure that the lounge is close to your departure gate, as it’s “outer” location can be a bit of a disadvantage.

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Accessing The Plaza Premium Lounge:

There are several ways to access the Plaza Premium Lounge. It’s worth mentioning that Plaza Premium “Pop Up” lounge acknowledges on it’s website. We have moved to a temporary location with restricted services and amenities as we prepare to unveil our new space in the upcoming year. Unfortunately, this hasn’t yielded a corresponding price discount.

Two Hours = $46.33 USD or $61.92 CAD
Three Hours = $56.56 USD or $75.60 CAD
Six Hours. = $75.42 USD or $100.80 CAD

The above pricing includes applicable taxes and fees.

The Plaza Premium Lounge also appeared to have partnered with many other international airline partners for lounge access. At the time of my visit, the lounge was offering access to the following airline partners:

Air China
ANA All Nippon Airways
British Airways
Capital Airlines
Eva Air
Hainan Airlines
Icelandair
Japan Airlines
Sichuan Airlines
Singapore Airlines
Sunwing
Westjet

The lounge has recently rejoined Priority Pass. As a result, if you have a Priority Pass membership, you can gain access to the lounge.

I gained access to the Plaza premium Lounge as a result of my departing flight on a British Airways Club Suite Business Class Vancouver – London Heathrow flight.

There was no line to gain access access today. After my boarding card was validated, I was invited into the lounge.

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Inside The Plaza Premium Lounge:

The new Plaza Premium Lounge “Pop – Up” Vancouver International occupies a space on the concourse floor. Plaza Premium is quite entrepreneurial and we’ve seen them construct Plaza Premium Plaza Premium “Pop Up” Toronto Pearson International Airport Lounges before under similar circumstances.

While the idea is a great one in concept, the idea of sitting in a walled of area on an airport concourse has never been really appealing.

Food and Beverage Island – Plaza Premium Lounge – Vancouver International “Pop Up”, Canada

Immediately open entering the pop up lounge, there was a case of sandwiches and tinned self service soft drinks. I eventually wandered past that and headed over to the main lounge seating area.

Lounge Seating – Plaza Premium Lounge – Vancouver International “Pop Up”, Canada

The lounge seating consisted of tables and chairs located closer to the middle of the atrium. The lounge offered the conventional Plaza Premium Lounge chairs that were located in towards the glass. During my visit, at about two and a half hours prior to my British Airways flight, the lounge was almost at capacity with almost no where to sit.

Eventually, as other international flights left, the lounge seating began to open up. Given the amount of glass surrounding the lounge, the environment offered a tremendous amount of natural light. This allowed us to take in a great northern sunset.

Eventually, the lounge space got pretty dark consistent with a northern fall evening. Since this space is a pop up lounge located in an atrium, the area wasn’t designed for night time viewing or reading. As a result, it got pretty dark quite quickly. Plaza Premium could have run to Ikea for a few reading lights for tables or loungers to make the space a little more liveable.

The tables and chairs portion of the lounge offered a view over the Vancouver International Airport’s outdoor Atrium. The atrium was supposed to allow for travellers to experience the outdoor forests of Vancouver, while waiting for a departing flight. While the atrium is a terrific idea, it does make the space look a little dark and spooky at night time while we visited the Plaza Premium lounge.

The lounge seating was more than adequate for this particular lounge. While it was pretty busy during our visit, we ended up seated at a table for our visit. I did find the space a little dark after the sun went down. The space could use a little extra lighting for those after dark visitors.

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Food and Beverage:

The Plaza Premium Lounge networks are normally pretty generous on food. On today’s visit, they had a substantial offering that is typically more in quantity than the nearby Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Vancouver International between regular meal times.

Food & Beverage – Plaza Premium Lounge – Vancouver International “Pop Up”, Canada

All the food on offer at the Plaza Premium Lounge – Vancouver International Pop Up is located around the centre island and reception area. Plaza Premium have set up a refrigerated bar area, in addition to coolers for drinks.

The lounge was serving some hot beef peppercorn, along with some rainbow tortellini pasta with artichokes. The lounge was also serving some mashed potatoes along with garlic sauteed green beans. There was also a soup offering of tomato and basil soup.

The lounge also offered wrapped sandwiches and tinned soft drinks. There were also some manufactured commercial type cookies that were available, along with a few cereal silo styled snacks.

Similar to other Plaza Premium Lounges, the bar service is split into complimentary beverages and paid beverages. The complimentary beverages were pretty basic, whereas the premium beverages were around $13 CAD per beverage.

Food and Beverage Bar List – Plaza Premium Lounge – Vancouver International “Pop Up”, Canada

I ended up enjoying a complimentary glass of wine. Unfortunately, this was served in a plastic cup which definitely provided a low rent touch to the place.

The Plaza Premium Lounge offered a substantial amount of snack food. The once concern that I have about Plaza Premium Lounges is that while they offer a lot of food, I don’t usually find it that appealing or tasty.

Lounge Views – Plaza Premium Lounge – Vancouver International “Pop Up”, Canada

As a result, I didn’t end up snacking on any food. Instead, I enjoyed the views out of the window where I was able to see an Eva Air B777 parked at Gate 68 getting ready for it’s departure to Taipei.

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My Thoughts on the Plaza Premium Lounge Vancouver:

The Plaza Premium Lounge – Vancouver International has migrated to a temporary pop up concept lounge while the group finalizes refurbishment of the old British Airways Galleries Lounge space in Vancouver.

While the pop up lounge offers everything that you might need out of an international departures lounge, it was a little crowded in space when we arrived. The lounge space has brilliant windows, but it can tend to get a little dark after the sun goes down.

While there is a substantial amount of food offered, I didn’t find much of it too appealing. While it’s a first world problem, it’s never too exciting to have wine served in a plastic disposable cup when you’re excited for an international business class flight.

In summary, it’s an average place to stop by, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to get here in advance of your international flight just for the experience.

If you’ve recently visited the Plaza Premium Vancouver International Pop Up Lounge, did the lounge meet your expectations ?

Tags: Plaza Premium Lounge, YVR

Trip Introduction: Cote d’Azur, France & Cinque Terre, Italy via British Airways Club Suites Business Class

Posted on April 20, 2024 By World Traveller 73 in Cote D'Azur & Cinque Terre via British Airways Business Class + Trip Report + Trip Report Introduction

2 Comments

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World Traveller 73

April 20, 2024

6–9 minutes

The South of France always holds a special place in my heart. The Rhônes Alpes Region was my home to business school residencies in Grenoble, France. During that period in my early thirties, I was able to spend some time exploring the Cote d’Azur region, including travels through Nice and Monaco. I am happy that I get to return to this region for a repeat visit.

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Trip Introduction: Cote d’Azur, France & Cinque Terre, Italy via British Airways Club Suites Business Class

Planning the Trip:

MrsWT73 and I have always had an affinity for France. We met there when we were both attending the Grenoble Graduate School of Business for a post grad Diploma in Management Consulting. Although this was over fifteen years ago, aside from our initial time there, we had never had the opportunity to return to the region.

After a deeply discounted business class fare came up on British Airways for departures out of Vancouver, we ended up deciding to return for a little exploring. MrsWT73 had Cinque Terre, Italy on the travel list for quite some time. While we had previously booked a visit to this region in summer of 2020, that trip was completely shelved and cancelled as a result of the pandemic.

Planning Flights:

Flights from Canada to France

Continuing my love affair with Alaska Airlines as a result of it’s generous Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan frequent flier program, we ended up booking onto British Airways in discounted business class.

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan offers a very generous mileage accumulation for paid business class fares. Most discounted business class fares earn 250% Redeemable Miles and 150% Elite Qualifying Miles with an MVP Elite Status Bonus of 50 – 100% on top of that.

This is a much more competitive earn rate as compared to Air Canada’s Aeroplan frequent flier program that offer a basic 150% Redeemable and Elite Qualifying Miles. Competing Starr Alliance partner’s Lufthansa Airlines offered discounted business Class fares earn a paltry 100% Redeemable and Elite Qualifying Miles with most Air Canada Aeroplan carriers offering a 25 – 100% Elite Status bonus on top of that.

MrsWT73 had done quite well over the past few years earning several hundred thousand Alaska Mileage Plan miles as a result of work travel from Vancouver to Germany. When we discovered this British Airways fare for a little over three thousand Canadian Dollars, when it usually commanded five thousand or up, we jumped on the opportunity.

Our discounted fare would have us connecting through Seattle Tacoma International Airport onwards to London Heathrow. From London Heathrow, we would connect down to Nice Cote D’Azur Airport on British Airways Club Europe aircraft. This was booked about 6 months in advance of travel. We credited these flights to Alaska Mileage Plan.

We have flown this route between Vancouver and London several times in British Airways First Class Boeing 747, British Airways Business Class Airbus 380 and British Airways First Class Airbus 380.

Our travels this time would have us in the newest British Airways aircraft – the Airbus 350-1000. This particular aircraft featured the British Airways Club Suite, a Collins Aerospace Business Class Suite featuring a much more spacious environment including a privacy door.

Our intra Europe flights were on the less exciting British Airways Club Europe product on Airbus 319 and 321 aircraft.

About three months before travel, we received a schedule change notice for our Alaska Airlines Vancouver – Seattle partner flight. As we had booked through American Express Travel Canada, I contacted the travel agency as instructed. The resolution of the schedule change was not to be placed on an Alaska Airlines flight, but rather British Airways elected to open up space on the non stop Vancouver – London Heathrow flight in a higher fare earning “D” class. This allowed us to earn 350% miles on this overwater segment instead of our booked 250%; a great inadvertent score.

The routing ended up looking like this at the time of travel.

YVR- LHR – NCE – LHR – YVR (paid)

Getting To Cote d’Azur from Vancouver, Canada

Planning Trains:

Planning Trains from Nice France to Cinque Terre, Italy.

MrsWT73 was keen on getting to Cinque Terre, Italy. Since it is located a short 300 kilometres away from Nice, France on the Italian Riviera, we thought that this would be a fairly easy trip. It ended up being a little more complicated and difficult than we initially imagined.

The trip involved two separate train companies: SNCF in France and TrenItalia in Italy. With no actual method to purchase a singular through ticket plated by one company, we ended up going through Rail Europe- an online travel agency of train tickets.

We ended up with one SNCF Train Ticket from Nice St Augustin to the Italian Train Border town of Ventimigilia, followed by a second TrenItalia ticket from Ventimigilia to Manarola, Italy. Since most major train travel within Europe is between major city to major city, this “rural to rural” connection left few good options.

This local train journey would end up being about 7 hours and involve 41 stops. The whole thing fell apart during the journey as a result of several missing and cancelled trains. Overall, it wasn’t the smoothest way to travel.

Planning Hotels:

With my Marriott Bonvoy account well on track for Titanium status re-qualification this year, I had no particular travel objectives on this trip. MrsWT73 happened to be short a few nights for her Marriott Bonvoy Platinum re-qualification. As a result, we structured our travel to take advantage of earning a few Marriott Bonvoy Elite Qualifying Nights and placed all reservations in her name.

With a five day stay in Nice, France, we had Marriott Bonvoy options between the Le Meridien Nice, the AC Hotels by Marriott Nice, and the Sheraton Nice Airport. We ended up staying at the perfectly located Le Meridien Nice for a five night stay. While we considered the AC Nice, we were seeking a more full hotel experience during our longer week long stay. Given the aim of exploring the area, we didn’t particularly care for the idea of staying out at the Sheraton Nice Airport and travelling into Vieux Nice on a daily SNCF train.

We would end up staying at the brand new Sheraton Nice Airport for two nights on two separate stays. We would end up staying there prior to travelling by train onwards to Cinque Terre, Italy as a result of it’s exceptionally close proximity to the Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer (SNCF) Nice St Augustin station. We also stayed for one night after returning from Cinque Terre, Italy, on our way out of town before our British Airways flight. We really enjoyed this property as a result of their spacious new world rooms, outstanding airport views, it’s available Sheraton Club Lounge and convenient location to Nice’s SNCF transportation networks.

With two days in Aix en Provence, we ended up at the value oriented on Marriott Bonvoy points Renaissance Aix en Provence. With its base rooms available normally at under 35,000 points, I ended up redeeming two free night certificates from the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card for a two night stay. These rooms go especially quickly. When I booked almost five months in advance, the room had limited rooms available during our fall travel dates. I ended up having to top up this redemption by 10,000 additional Marriott Bonvoy points as a each night came to 45,000 points.

Our travels took to Grenoble, France in the Rhone Alpes for one night. With no major hotel chain options int he area, we opted to stay with Accor Hotels at the well located Novotel Grenoble adjacent to the SNCF Train Station and close to the Grenoble Ecole to Management.

For our longer time in Cinque Terre, Italy, we booked at the independent La Toretta Hotel in Manarola, Italy. We had initially chosen this hotel for our past trip during the pandemic. As a result of excellent goodwill on the part of the hotel, they honoured our forfeited first night deposit on our stay in the future.

Our points and miles redemption summary:

With mostly paid tickets, we ended up earning a number of miles on this trip. In addition to the miles earned, we topped up on the hard to accumulate Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles.

In summary, we earned and redeemed:

Earned: 38,426 Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Miles (18,896 + 2,589 + 2,589 + 14,172) on British Airways Business Class as an Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan MVP
And a whole stack of Marriott Bonvoy points on an earn and redemption basis.

Overall, I was pretty happy with this combination of earning versus redemption. The set up also allowed us to save some Marriott Bonvoy points for the more aspirational Marriott properties.

If you visit Europe on a leisure basis, what tips do you use to get outsized value ?

Tags: Alaska Airlines Companion Fare, Alaska Mileage Plan, featured, Marriott Bonvoy, Trip Report Introduction

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Review: Renaissance Aix – En – Provence Hotel, France

Booking the Renaissance Aix – En – Provence Hotel:

Marriott Bonvoy Opportunities:

Getting to the Renaissance Aix – En – Provence:

Checking into the Renaissance Aix – En – Provence:

The Room: 1 King Bed Skyline View Panoramic

Around the Hotel Property:

Outdoor Pool:

Food and Beverage:

Atmoshp’R Restaurant:

Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Breakfast

Bar L’Avant Scene:

Le Bar Palm’s Pool Club

Bottom Line: The Renaissance Aix – En – Provence

If you have stayed at the Renaissance Aix – En – Provence, where you surprised by the quality of the hotel ?

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Day Trip from Nice to Cannes – France, by Train

Getting to Cannes:

Riding the Train to Cannes:

Train a Grande Vitesse – FranceTGV InOui 6176 (Nice Ville – Cannes) Oct 4, 202312:02 PM – 12:29 PM

Coach 13, Seat 44

Exploring Cannes:

Walking the Cannes Waterfront Promenade:

My Thoughts on Visiting Cannes, France:

If you’ve visited the city of Cannes, do your prefer it over neighbouring Nice?

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Day Trip from Nice – France to Monaco, by Train

About the Principality of Monaco:

Getting to Monaco:

Visiting the Monte Carlo Casino:

Monte Carlo Hairpin Turn:

Descending to Monte Carlo’s Harbour:

Climbing up to Monaco City:

Exploring Monaco City:

My Thoughts on Visiting Monaco:

If you’ve visited Monaco, what did you make of the city ?

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Restaurant Review: Rouge Restaurant – Bar à Vin Wine Bar, Nice, France

About Rouge Restaurant – Bar à Vin Wine Bar:

Locating the Rouge Restaurant – Bar à Vin:

Inside Rouge Restaurant:

On the Menu:

My Thoughts on Visiting Rouge Restaurant – Bar à Vin:

If you have visited Rouge Restaurant – Bar à Vin, did you find it represented a great value dining experience ?

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Walking the Streets of Vieux Nice and the Old Port of Nice, France

Visiting Vieux Nice, France:

Climbing Up to Nice’s Chateau:

Viewpoint at Colline du Château:

Descending to the Port of Vieux Nice:

Sunset on the Beach in Nice:

My Thoughts on Visiting Vieux Nice, France:

If you’ve visited the city of Nice, what is your favorite part of the city ?

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Review: Le Méridien Nice, Côte d’Azur, France

Booking Le Méridien Nice:

Marriott Bonvoy Opportunities:

Nightly Upgrade Awards:

Getting to Le Méridien Nice:

Checking into the Le Mériden Nice:

The Room: A Deluxe Sea View, 1 King

Around the Hotel Property:

Outdoor Pool:

Hotel Gym:

The Beach:

Food and Beverage:

Breakfast @ Le Riviera:

Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Breakfast

Bottom Line: The Le Méridien Nice

If you have stayed at Le Meridien Nice, was the location of the property to your liking ?

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Review: British Airways Club Europe Business Class, Airbus 321-2, London Heathrow Terminal Five – Nice Côte d’Azur Airport

British AirwaysBA 356 – Business Class (D)LHR – NCE (London Heathrow Terminal 5 – Nice Côte d’Azur)Oct 1, 20231:30 PM – 5:00 PMBooked: Airbus 321-2Flown: Airbus 321-2

On Board British Airways Club Europe:

Pre – Departure Services:

In Flight Entertainment:

The Meal: A Light Dinner

Arriving to Nice Côte d’Azur International Airport:

My Thoughts on British Airways Club Europe:

If you have flown British Airways between France and London, do you regularly spring for Club Europe Business Class?

Train a Grande Vitesse – France
TGV InOui 6176 (Nice Ville – Cannes)
Oct 4, 2023
12:02 PM – 12:29 PM

British Airways
BA 356 – Business Class (D)
LHR – NCE (London Heathrow Terminal 5 – Nice Côte d’Azur)
Oct 1, 2023
1:30 PM – 5:00 PM
Booked: Airbus 321-2
Flown: Airbus 321-2

British Airways
BA 84 – Business Class (D)
YVR – LHR (Vancouver International – London Heathrow Terminal 5)
Sept 30, 2023
8:55 PM – 2:05 PM + 1
Booked: Airbus 350-1000
Flown: Airbus 350-1000