Islandia Marriott - The "Re-do" Weekend

Image via WikipediaDo we all remember the "birthday stay" at Marriott back in November? If not, I invite you to read about the massive "screw ups" that happened on that weekend here --> Birthday at Marriott. Well, after I contacted corporate, who then contacted the GM Dan Waters at the Islandia Marriott, we got a lovely phone call apologizing and an offer from them to stay at the hotel for an entire weekend ON THEM. I thought that was very sweet, especially since they were going to get the Nickelodeon packages my children were suppose to receive on the big, birthday overnight stay.
I called my husband, we figured out a weekend and then I waited for the certificate to arrive in the mail. Soon, it came and I booked the weekend for December. I doubled checked that we would be getting the Nickelodeon package and was assured it would be in the room when we arrived.
Another week of packing suitcases, this time for two nights at the hotel. Snacks, drinks, cups and all the comforts of home were packed up and ready to go on Friday after Daddy got home from work.
Off we went for our free weekend, along with two free dinners and two free breakfasts. EXCITING for the kids to eat at the restaurants, they love doing that, plus get to swim in the pool with their cousins on Saturday.
We checked in, got to our room and found two green SpongeBob bags packed with a book, pillowcase, plastic cup and a TON of snacks..........but missing from these packages were the sunglasses, Build your own SpongeBob activity and a Splash Ball. My heart kind of sank. I felt a little let down for about a minute, then we got everyone together to head down to dinner.
The staff was great. There weren't a lot of people in the restaurant, we got seated super fast, orders taken and happy to know we didn't have to pay for it. The food was REALLY good. The French Onion Soup was awesome, my burger was delicious, the fries are great - even the chicken was good for the kids. Of course, my husband loved his fillet mignon.
We ate, left the tip and went back to our room. No sleep, as the kids were just too excited about swimming the next day with their cousins. And Little Miss was excited to pick out her breakfast in the morning.
After about an hour of sleep for me, everyone got up, dressed and downstairs for breakfast. The head of the restaurant remembered us from our previous stay and seated us at the same table from last month. Off Little Miss went to pick out her banana, yogurt and cereal for herself and a cereal for her brother. Daddy went with her and got eggs and a HUGE waffle made for him. Then off I went and of course, got bacon and sausage with my eggs that my son was ecstatic to eat.
We all finished, left our tip and headed upstairs to change for the pool and wait for my sister, brother-in-law and nephews to arrive so we could go swimming. First, Little Miss showed them her SpongeBob pillowcase and bag then everyone got their suits on and we all headed down to the pool. They had a BLAST in the heated pool. We all enjoyed it.
After that, everyone got dressed, we tried to take some pix by the Christmas Tree, had some hot chocolate and off the family went while we got ready for dinner.
Dinner, back to the room, PJs and it was a little easier to get them down for bed Saturday night after all that fun! Sunday, up early, breakfast and checking out.
Just being able to swim in the pool and pick her breakfast each morning made my daughter's whole year! The Boy loved swimming and running around the hotel room. Doesn't take much for the kids to be happy!!!
Thank you to the staff at the Marriott in Islandia - and to Dan Waters who truly made this a very special weekend for my kids.