Ballaine House Lodging is simply the best B&B we have ever stayed in, bar none. That is because the hostess, Marilee, went so unbelievably far out of her way to make the visit to her B&B and her town the best experience possible.
Our visit started with Marilee picking us up at the train station. (There is now a free shuttle bus provided by the town during the summer, but we were not aware of that and it was raining, so Marilee just came down herself and picked us up.) We were very interested in doing a dog sled ride at “Mitch Seavey’s Iditaride,” and she called and booked the event for us, making sure that we were given the 10% discount she was entitled to for referring clients to them. The company offers free pick up service in town.
Then we decided that the following day we would like to visit and take a hike at the Exit Glacier, located about 11 miles out of town. Marilee made sure we had transportation to the glacier. We did this the next day, and upon returning to town it was time to have lunch, and she asked where we would like to go and what type of food we wanted. She then recommended a waterfront restaurant that met our needs perfectly.
Marilee wanted to know what we intended to do on the following day, which was the day of departure for our cruise ship. We responded that we would not be able to do anything, because boarding for our ship began at about 11 a.m., even though the ship was not scheduled to leave until evening. Marilee explained the procedure for boarding cruise ships. She said we could simply drop off our luggage about 11:00 or 11:30, register for the ship, get our boarding passes, and then we had the afternoon free, as all we had to do then was return later and go straight to security and board the ship before departure. With this knowledge, we decided to use the next day to take a three-hour wildlife cruise in Resurrection Bay after we had registered for the ship. Marilee booked the cruise for us and got us a 20% discount on that trip. The wildlife cruise was every bit as good as Marilee said it would be; Resurrection Bay was truly beautiful, and we saw various kinds of birds, two different kinds of seals, and some sea otters. (Warning: We were fortunate to have good weather, and this helped a great deal; the trip might not have been as inviting if the weather was foggy.) We followed the planned cruise ship boarding procedure, and it worked like clockwork! We quickly boarded through the security entrance with no waiting line. What a breeze!
Oh yes….the daily breakfast. Marilee asked us each night what we wanted for breakfast: e.g., eggs, pancakes (regular or blueberry?), fruit, bacon, coffee (or tea or hot chocolate?), and what time we would like to eat. Great breakfasts! Did we mention that Marilee also offered to do laundry for use (which we declined as we did not have enough dirty clothes at that point to justify a load)?
As you can see, it would be difficult to imagine a more accommodating hostess. She made our visit to Seward a thoroughly enjoyable experience, and we could not recommend Ballaine House Lodging more highly!
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