Final part of my Seychelles-South Africa-Hong Kong trip review!
I’ve sat on my HK review for weeks. Obviously. Maybe it was out of laziness but I kinda think it’s because I didn’t know how to preface it. And preface it I must. I won’t delve into the why because we don’t do politics on the boards and those interested can easily google it. The reality is there is an unfolding political situation causing mass protests and violence has occurred on a small scale. Due to a couple recent events I cannot recommend anyone travel to Hong Kong as I did in May and I don’t care that every travel blog out there says “Good To Go. Remain Cautious.” I will paste my full preface on DISchurners News and Discussion thread as I do not want to anger the DIS gods that insist on no politics in case anyone wants my opinion on why I don’t recommend travel to HK at this time.
Onwards to my trip review!
Last leg: Hong Kong. 8 days.
Flights: JNB-HKG-LAX = 70k AS miles + $100 taxes + $150 change fee when F opened HKG-LAX. I reviewed HKG-LAX already so here’s the rest...
JNB-HKG, CX J. No F on this plane. 1-2-1. Slept ok on this one, no PJs or turn down service. My issue was lack of food. It was fine but there was very little of it. I ordered the duck and was left rather hungry after my meal (and I am a VERY light eater, but even I need more than 4 bites for my entree). There wasn’t any other food service until breakfast and I really felt awkward going up to a FA asking about snacks when none were listed on the menu so I just got a snack out my backpack- and I saw another person in J do the same thing.
Before boarding the train into town I bought an Octopus card and loaded extra money on it. You can only buy and load it with cash so hit an ATM first. BEST decision I made the whole trip! So easy to use, made my life easy at subways and bus stops. I even paid a couple times at stores when I didn’t want to go to the effort to get my cc out lol. Absolutely get one if you go to HK, they’re cheap. Although I forgot to turn mine in and get my remaining money back before leaving. I think I’m out like $10 so not beating myself up too much! Train to town was easy and they have free buses that go from there to various hotels, including mine.
I stayed at JW Marriott Hong Kong on my 7 night cert acquired before the deval (RIP SPG). Located in Admiralty district near Central, it’s next to Conrad & Shangri-La. It was marvelous! I’d never stayed at a luxury-level property before so I have nothing to compare it to but I certainly loved it. On check they offered an upgrade to Executive Level for about $50/day USD saying they were running a half price special. I had wanted this but wasn’t willing to pay the $100/day they were charging when I booked- $50 was what I was willing to pay so good on JW Marriott they made the upsale. 2nd best decision I made that trip behind my Octopus Card. The lady ran me through the Executive benefits that were now open to me (discounted laundry turned out to be good as my single use Woolite packs made my clothes bleed when I tried to DIY my wash!) and then said she could now upgrade my room and I got a corner view of the Harbor (had booked mountains. Omg this was SO MUCH BETTER).
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Executive Lounge: 8/10. Breakfast and dinner were AWESOME, I would totally book this again even solo at this price for these 2 meals (HK lives up to its expensive reputation btw. In this area there isn’t easily accessible street food, I had planned on hitting up Starbucks for breakfast as a coffee/pastry type person but I did so much walking a full, massive breakfast turned out to be a necessity so I was very happy I upgraded.) Dessert was awful, gummy bears, nuts and bad cookies. Alcohol is only served during cocktail hour and appetizer time. Kids aren’t allowed in after 6:30pm so you can do “dinner” with them but you must get there early. Large selection of liquor, 3 wines and 1 sparkling, they are too good at refills FYI. Alcohol is expensive in HK so if you like a cocktail and/or wine with dinner there’s extra value here.
Breakfast: fruit, baked goods, cereals, Asian breakfast (fried rice, dumplings, etc), American breakfast (bacon, sauasage, hash brown like things), smoked salmon, egg custard & what was apparently made to order eggs but no one told me I read it on Trip Advisor after- staff wasn’t the most communicative.
Appetizers (dinner): smoked salmon, cheeses, crackers, fruits, a couple desserts, a couple small plates, Asian station dumplings, dim sums, etc. dishes changed every night. One night they did egg waffles!!
Breakfast Pastry section:
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8/10 rating because there was no view out of the lounge, dessert sucked, and I like having the chance at a glass of wine or nightcap upon returning from an evening outing on vacation. (Disney Club Level spoiled me in that, who knew?)
Pool: busy during the day- go at night! Nighttime city view was beautiful, no need for sunblock, temperature was basically the same as during the day. They shut down if lightening is in the area and that happened a couple times to me.
All in all I loved my first luxury hotel experience and hope to stay at a JW Marriott again someday.
I booked my tours through Chase UR with my CSR here as well. I highly recommend Urban Adventures! They apparently operate in multiple cities. I did a night tour of the city and the other person cancelled and I was the only one- it was awesome! Many tours will cancel if not enough people book but not this outfit as small groups are what they do. I also did a Food Safari tour- YUM! It was basically a 101 on the best street and casual dining food in Kowloon. Signs are in Traditional Chinese with little English so I would have been pretty lost knowing anything about most of the food but having a guide walk us through a lot of it was awesome. Only regret is I didn’t do the Food Tour first thing so I could go back to those places. After both tours the guides gave us their WhatsApp phone numbers if we had more questions or needed more help while we were in Hong Kong.
Photo spot my Night Tour took me too:
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Macau- I did a day trip to Macau booked through Chase UR. It was very meh. The “historical” stuff is better read on Wikipedia. Seriously. Do. Not. Bother. The UNESCO World Heritage sight is a church that burned down twice and is some tallish ruins now and everyone and their brother and sister and aunt are trying to get the same picture of it- because really there isn’t much else. The tour included a 360 degree rotating buffet lunch on the top of a tall building and I was very happy I took my motion sickness meds for the speed boat ride to Macau. I won’t be doing one of those rotating restaurants again.
I stayed in Macau after my tour (I felt bad for the people who didn’t, they missed out on the best stuff leaving before night even hit) as I wanted to see House of Dancing water over in Cotai- awesome! It was like Cirque with water. Got tickets via Chase UR. I would love to see it again. Also, Cotai is where it is AT on Macau, all the new builds are there, all the fancy shots you see of Macau- that’s Cotai. I love walking around and gawking at Casinos (I don’t gamble, but spending a lot of time in NV I respect the industry & don’t judge those who do
I felt it was rather busy at the tables that weekday but on weekends it’s apparently a mad house) so my favorite part of the day was night when I got dropped off in the Cotai area and wandered The Venetian and taxied to my show (don’t count on the free buses between casinos for transit, that line was stupid long. And outside.). Oh, keep your passport handy as it is checked almost every time you enter a gaming floor (crossing the floor is how you save yourself a lot of walking. And it’s where I found the best bathrooms. Just sayin.) They have water taxis running like every hour back to HK so even though it was like 11pm by the time I finished the show and made it back to the pier I still bought my ticket and caught one no problems (90 mins between HK and Macau FYI). On the go I found out I could wait in the standby line for the earlier boat leaving and use my later ticket so that was cool. Conclusion: I wouldn’t mind spending a couple days chilling and gawking around Cotai if the opportunity arises someday.
Oh- how did I forget my first day? My first full day in country I did an “easy” hike to the tallest waterfall booked with URs- do not do this unless you’re an actual hiker. It says “easy” on the tour page. It LIES. This guy on the trip said his Fitbit-like thing clocked us climbing 90 flights from start to finish. And summer in HK had started. If you decide you must hike in a humid jungle environment: wear yoga type pants (I watched the big spray dripping off my legs about 20 mins in to this 4 hour ordeal, the bugs realized this about 2 mins later), bring a change of clothes (I bought a clean shirt in the subway station. Our guide said sometimes people throw up in the subway after hiking due to wet clothes + freezing subway AC), wipes to clean your arms and face, and spray on deodorant. I knew none of this, thankfully the other 2 people on the hike did and were generous with wiped and spray deodorant.
In the mall I walked through to get back to the hotel there was a Shake Shack. I grabbed sustenance without shame and took it back to the hotel to devour before collapsing for the evening. To make that churning related Pei tracked
For my last day I went to HK
Disneyland!!And for the night I stayed at HK Disneyland Hotel. Park: fun! And OMG I loved Mystic Manor! And a close second was Grizzly Gultch (I got on so fast I did not look at it much before boarding. The seats were like Everest level restraints and I was riding thinking “jeez this is overkill. It’s cute in a lame Big Thunder sort of- uh. What.. AAAHHHHH!!!!!!! ...Turns out the thing goes backwards). Mystic Manor is totally different from Haunted Mansion and should be in all Disney Parks. I booked a Sea View hotel room so I could get extra FPs- don’t do that. Unless it’s Chinese New Year you can walk into most everything. Surprisingly busy: Toy Story Army Men parachute drop (which I single ridered and avoided the 30 min line) and Winnie The Pooh (I pulled an old school FP for it- the hotel ones weren’t valid on that ride). Disappointing: Iron Man ride. SO disappointing. Basically Star Tours but Iron Man saving Hong Kong themed. Iron Man cannot be voiced by anyone but Robert Downey Jr. apparently because he didn’t do the voice and it ruined the whole thing for me.
Disneyland Hotel: pass. I did it because I dreamed of swimming in that beautiful indoor pool. And it was closed for “refurbishment”. They suckered me into an upgraded room because I didn’t trust my research that said I didn’t need FPs. Explorers Lodge all the way next time. The theming is much more appealing and they can’t refurb the whole theme at the same time!
I already covered my flight home in Cathay First as I could not wait to share that with you guys
But I'd love a small contract at BWV just for dh and I or 100-150 points at BLT or VGF that we'd use once every 3 years when traveling with (potential) grandchildren and/or our adult kids.
Anyway, no statement credit for my offer so I won't know about the MSR until I hit the spend.
