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Departure Bay Motel – reviews, photos

2011 Estevan Road, Nanaimo, British Columbia V9S 3Y9, Canada
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Ranked #12 of 19 hotels in Nanaimo
3.5 of 5 stars 2 Reviews
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2 reviews from our community

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BC
Contributor
16 reviews 16 reviews
Reviews in 15 cities Reviews in 15 cities
27 helpful votes 27 helpful votes
“Unpleasant Stay”
1 of 5 stars Reviewed 21 July 2008
7
people found this review helpful

High season rate was $80 plus tax. I should have known better. But, it said it was a family run motel and I just thought it would be fine. Rooms were tiny. We had two double beds as I was travelling with two children. I was the sole adult. We weren't spending any time in the room except for sleep so I didn't think it would be a problem. I hadn't booked the second night stay as I wanted to make sure it was an ok place to stay.

We had non-smoking rooms which stunk of cigarette smoke when you walked in. That was the first thing we noticed. Not much point in having a non-smoking room when resident manager(s) smoke in the same building. We had a ground floor room so were a little nervous about leaving windows open to air them out. There wasn't very many people staying at the motel so we were pretty confident we'd have a quiet night and get a good sleep at least.

The beds were ROCK HARD. I sat down on one not expecting it to be so hard and almost winded myself.

There was a vanity next to the bathroom that had overhead lights and a mirror, however, when you sit on the bench provided, it is not tall enough to see your face to apply makeup and do hair and I am 6ft tall!

The topper of our night was at 5:00 AM, some idiot in a diesel pick up truck decided to warm up his vehicle right outside our door. I guess he was catching the morning ferry out. The racket/smell woke me and one of the children up and it took a while for us to settle down and get back to sleep after the truck left. So, if you DO decide to stay here, I'd suggest a top floor room.

Needless to say, I didn't stay a second night here.

  • Liked — price
  • Disliked — dark and dingy.
  • Stayed July 2008, travelled on business
    • 1 of 5 stars Value
    • 3 of 5 stars Location
    • 3 of 5 stars Check-in / front desk
    • 1 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 2 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 2 of 5 stars Business service (e.g., internet access)
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
Hamburg
Senior Reviewer
7 reviews 7 reviews
Reviews in 7 cities Reviews in 7 cities
2 helpful votes 2 helpful votes
“Tolles Motel direkt an der Fähre”
5 of 5 stars Reviewed 16 August 2009
2
people found this review helpful
Google Translation

  • Stayed July 2009, travelled as a couple
    • 4 of 5 stars Value
    • 5 of 5 stars Location
    • 5 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 5 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 4 of 5 stars Service
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Ask Franzi_Jan about Departure Bay Motel
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC

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