Duck overkill
Me and MrsGus were on the first leg of our honeymooon on a lovely island in the Caribbean. The second leg was to move on to New York which involved a stay in a very nice hotel for a few days each side of the New Year celebrations.

Problem was we (I) had nothing arranged for the actual new year's celebrations so I did a bit of last minute looking around on the internet and found that the Marriott had a revolving restaurant on the top, was overlooking Times Square and had a special dinner for New Year's eve, starting at 5.30pm. Mrs Gus would love this!

A bit desperate and with option running out I booked it. A mere US$350 EACH. It was our honeymoon and it was not about the food but a once in a lifetime experience. So I told myself as I melted my credit card.

New year's eve arrived. We thought we'd go to china town for lunch to try this special duck thing our friends had recommended. By the time we found the restaurant it was about 1.30pm. The duck was lovely and we ate loads.

Might it ruin our dinner thought I? No course not. We could have a cocktail or two first then start dining later.

We arrived at the Marriott after a nightmare passage through time square to be told that dinner was 5.30 sharp as they had three seatings that evening. Eat now or not at all.

We felt a little full from lunch but for $700 we thought we better try. A seven course extravaganza of beautiful food followed in quick succession. It was produced, picked at then left while we held our bellies. The main course (which we knew about in advance but completely forgot) was duck. Duck, duck duck. We just could not finish anything we were offered.

Oh well. It's not all about the food we thought. There is still the atmosphere of the New Years eve party that had been promised. We had seen some very lovely looking ball rooms on the way up and were looking forward to being ushered down to join New York's great and good.

Nope. Upstairs to a low ceilinged room with chairs stacked at the side, a crap DJ, no view of times square and the shitty TV they had showing the festivities going on 30 floors below us had almost no reception.

Add on drinks, cocktails, fancy new dress for MrsGus. Probably $1,200 for one night! Not exactly wasted but not exactly as planned.
(Gusofnavarone always makes a map of france from sarnies, Mon 17 May 2010, 11:09, 1 reply)

Not a criticism.
But I think simple is better for special occasions. Something without time constraints is also great in my book.
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Mon 17 May 2010, 18:26, closed)