Spending another 8 nights in Ocean City, Maryland: 5 nights free compliments of Hilton and 3 nights paid…
As our free 15 nights at the Home2 Suites Ocean City was coming to an end, my wife and I were looking forward to 8 more nights in Ocean City. Why Ocean City again, after staying there for 15 nights?
That’s easy: Ocean City has a beautiful ocean with a really well maintained boardwalk, and during the offseason, prices are tempting. Why stay elsewhere when you can have the ocean view with about the same price range as a non ocean view hotel?
Thanks to all the Hilton points we had accrued during the year, we still had well over 200,000 points to use even after accounting for the free 15 nights stay at the Home2 Suites. We would be using roughly 120,000 for this 5 nights stay.
Our hotel of choice would be one of our favorites in Ocean City: Hilton Garden Inn Oceanfront. This is a hotel we know well, after staying there just the previous year on a 4 nights stay. We really liked the all oceanfront rooms at the hotel, the restaurant, and the modern, clean, beautiful rooms.
After checking out of Home2 Suites, we headed out towards our lunch destination, to an Italian restaurant called Sophia’s Italian Restaurant located inside the Gold Coast Mall. We knew we had something like 3 hours before we can check into our hotel, so we needed to kill some time.
We arrived at the restaurant in under 20 minutes, then walked inside. The place was bigger than we thought, and one of the owners greeted us, then took our order.
We ordered couple of pasta dishes (shrimp fra diavolo, chicken cacciatore), then chomped on the delicious free bread before our main dishes arrived.. Food was delicious, fresh, and we were in hog heaven!
With excellent service from the owner, a nicely decorated interior, and excellent quality of foods, we were really happy. It’s always a treat to find a good Italian restaurant anywhere. Now, we have a go-to Italian restaurant in Ocean City area.
What’s the purpose of living, if not to find good restaurants and to savor every bite of their tasty, aromatic dishes? I’m definitely a foodie, and I don’t apologize for being one.
After our delicious lunch, we headed out towards the Worcester County Library to kill another hour or two. At the library, we opened a library card for something like $10 for a year, then borrowed several books to take to our hotel.
We read our books while waiting for our hotel to be ready for check in. That ready notice came after about an hour or so, so we packed up to check into our temporary home for the next 5 days.
Hilton Garden Inn Oceanfront
One of the best things about having the Hilton Diamond status is the ability to check in earlier. We didn’t ask to do so, but the hotel got our room ready way before 3 p.m. (it was something like 1 p.m. or so).
As is always the case with checking into a hotel, we were excited! We arrived at our hotel within 10 minutes, got our keys, then took the elevator to our room.
The hotel room was exactly how we remembered it. It was airy, bright, clean, but most of all, it has that fantastic ocean view!
We settled in nicely soon thereafter. We of course took rejuvenating warm showers, then we made some decaf coffees for us to enjoy on the balcony. The view was beautiful as ever, just how we remember it.
Yup, life was good…
We spent the next 5 days just watching the ocean, relaxing to the sound of waves crashing the shore, and just enjoying our stay at an oceanfront hotel. One of the highlights of each day was going downstairs to the hotel lobby to eat at their fantastic restaurant, the Solstice Bar and Grill.
Thanks to our $20 food & beverage credit each day thanks to our Hilton Diamond status, we ate there every day, sometimes for dinner, other times for breakfast. *The restaurant closes for dinners on certain nights during the offseason. Do make backup plans for that.
We would enjoy epic sunsets from the dining area, and after dinners, we would walk outside on the hotel balcony for some crisp, fresh air. We also braved the cold on one of the five days to walk the boardwalk, and we were glad we did. We love the ocean, anytime of the year…
Verdict: We really like this hotel!
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| View from the restaurant during sunset |
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| Just outside the restaurant |
Double Tree by Hilton Ocean City Oceanfront
When we signed up for Hilton Honors program, we knew we wanted to stay at most, if not all the hotels under the Hilton umbrella in Ocean City. So began our quest to stay at Hilton Garden Inn, Home2 Suites, and Hilton. We still had few others, but the one that we really wanted to stay at was the Double Tree by Hilton Ocean City Oceanfront.
Like the name implies, the oceanfront location was the primary reason why we wanted to stay there. I mean, we love the ocean, and who doesn’t???
After checking out of Hilton Garden Inn Oceanfront hotel around 10:30 a.m., we faced a similar situation like we had encountered just 5 days prior. We needed to kill few hours before we can check in to our new temporary home for the next 3 nights.
So, what did we do? Well, we went to the library once again. It is as a perfect place to kill few hours as it can be, thanks to air conditioned habitat of a library. And, we can read books sitting on a comfortable chair.
Adapting to early retirement, and of course life in general, means we have to be flexible. Living like we do, on the road for better part of 8 months out of the year, means plans can always change. We can moan and complain about that, but in the end, what good does that do?
It’s better to take a moment to get over that hurdle, to think of workable solutions so we can be on our way. We’ve learned to stand by somewhere like the library, a park, or a cafe as needs arise. We’ve had to make last minute decisions, on the fly, as our plans changed. This is all just a part of life.
You can either cry about it like little kids, or you can act like adults and take charge. Life will always throw curveballs at you. It’s better to adapt, improvise, then overcome those things. We’re adults. That means taking full responsibility for our actions, that means being able to make things work, and that also means being able to stop complaining like little kids!
When we got the notification from the hotel that our room was ready, we were already moving. What’s better than to hear our room is ready, especially for nomadic people like us?
On the way to the hotel, we picked up one of our favorite takeout foods, Chick Fil A. We ordered the usual: a salad, couple of sandwiches, waffle fries, and nuggets.
We drove along Coastal Highway, made a quick detour first to pick up our foods, then arrived at the hotel, Double Tree by Hilton Ocean City Oceanfront. We knew the location well, as it’s located adjacent to the Hilton Ocean City Oceanfront Suites.
We found the parking lot to be mostly empty, and found a spot near the entrance to the hotel. We walked inside the lobby to the aroma of baking cookies! This is of course one of the signature things about the Double Tree Hotel brand.
During our check in, the front desk staff got us some cookies, which we saved for my father, who loves all things sweet! We got keys to our room then got ready to relax.
We had booked a corner one bedroom suite with both ocean and bay views for about $450 for 3 nights. We thought the price was too good to pass up as we had seen this room go for well over $300 per night during peak season.
When we opened the door to our room, we were impressed. The long hallway reminded us an apartment with the bedroom with 2 beds on our right. Straight ahead, the open concept living room with the full kitchen/dining room, and a king size bed greeted us.
The suite was so big, we seriously thought we could actually stay there on a permanent basis. It was that spacious and airy.
The absolute center piece of the suite had to be the views. It had panoramic views of the ocean, as well as the bay. We went outside to check out the balcony overlooking the ocean on our right. Wow, what a view!
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| View from the balcony |
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| View of the bay |
We settled in for some relaxation with some coffees in our hands. We relaxed on the comfortable sofa while admiring the incredible views surrounding us. The sun started to set around 5 p.m., and we watched it in its full glory until night came just several minutes later…
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| Sunset in Ocean City |
One of the reasons we had booked this particular hotel was for its well reviewed hotel restaurant, Marlin Moon. Because we get a $30 per night food & beverage credit thanks to our Hilton Diamond status, we were eager to try out their offerings.
We walked in to the restaurant to a large gathering of fellow diners on a weekday. Place was happening, but not overly loud. The restaurant’s foods didn’t disappoint this foodie, as they were so delicious! I ordered the blackened scallops with pasta while my wife ordered the jumbo Gulf shrimp, grilled.
We savored every bite of our delicious offerings feeling like we were living the high life! Tasty foods eaten at a beautiful restaurant can definitely make you feel like a million bucks!
After a satisfying meal, we went back upstairs to our wonderful room to unwind for the rest of the evening. We turned off all the room lights so we can view the skyline of Ocean City, twinkling in the dark.
This is something we do often when we’re relaxing at night. There’s just something so beautiful and satisfying about looking out the windows at night. It’s life’s little pleasure that we should enjoy. We always try to…
We slept well in our hotel room, with the ocean’s gentle waves acting as a lullaby. The beds were super comfortable, as is the case with good hotels, and we had a wonderful stay. It was as though we were simply relaxing at a resort, a beachfront resort at that, on a vacation.
The next day we had lunch at Marlin Moon, just to change things up, and found the lunch menu a bit disappointing. The shrimp tacos I ordered were just ok, on par with what I can find in any restaurant.
The following day, we went back to the restaurant for dinner, and ordered the same meal from the first night there. That, didn’t disappoint. They were so good…again…
If you’re planning to eat there, we personally recommend going there for dinner, and not lunch. Sure, lunch is cheaper, but dinner options are much better in terms of quality and taste.
In conclusion:
Ocean City Maryland has become our go-to destination whenever we’re traveling along the east coast. With its perfect location, sort of midway between New York and North Carolina, and with its beautiful beach and boardwalk, we’ve been making Ocean City our yearly must visit destination.
Being near the ocean provides a very calming, pleasant, and relaxing experience which we’ve come to enjoy. There’s just something magical about the ocean, anytime of the year.
As long as we’re near an ocean, we feel happy. What more can we ask for?
It was such a joy to be able to spend 23 nights in Ocean City while staying at 3 different hotels (Home2 Suites, Hilton Garden Inn Oceanfront, and Double Tree by Hilton Oceanfront). I think we may do something similar in the near future, especially when the prices are so tempting during the offseason.
Thank you for reading and happy trails!
Jake
Wandering Money Pig
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