Radisson Blu Marseille, Vieux Port
38040 Quai Rive Neuve
13007 Marseille, France
Tel: +33 4 88 92 19 50
Fax: +33 4 88 92 19 51
E-mail: [email protected]

General Manager: Fabrizio Castellorizos

This hotel is not in the Viex Port, but rather across the marina / bay from the vieux port (old port) area of Marseille. Access is a bit tricky due to low-profile signage and currently, due to extensive construction throughout the entire port area (putting all vehicular traffic underground so the port area will be made into a pedestrian mall in time for the 2013 Capitale Européenne de la Culture designation). The nearby morning fish market (Quai des Belges) is worth a look... and Marseille is growing better, has some decent offerings and is well worth a stay of 2-3 days IMO.

The Radisson itself is quite unprepossessing, with a nearly garish and spare environment from lobby on up. We had booked a Vieux Port view room, but were given a Fort St. Nicolas view - quieter, given the chaos of the waterfront, so we kept it. It seems its guests include a variation of tourists on packages, businesspeople, a collection of Orthodox priests right at the moment, etc. It's not necessarily cheap - 250 Euro per day all inclusive with breakfast and all taxes. It's not so easy to spot from the street - but it is adjacent to the old fish market / CRIéE theatre.

The room itself (mid-400s) billed as a "business room" (bathrobes and slippers seem do be the differentiating factor) is spare with colors in a light yellow wall, reddish raspberry rug and orange / umber highlights. The room has the usual European master light switch requiring activation with a plastic keycard, and is furnished with a queen bed with duvet (overkill in these temperatures), four pillows, night stands (no drawers), master light switch panel, LCD lamps for each guest; a split low bench type set of half-arm chairs (very low - not so good for elderly people,) with a small table in between; a flat trestle type desk with complimentary Ethernet (WiFi also, but it intermittently stutters,) lamp, Nespresso coffee maker, phone, and a floor lamp. Lighting is adequate, and a blackout drape works well - looking through the openable window are the pool and the fort. There is a multichannel Philips LCD television mounted on the wall, with a remote.

The closet has a safe, a couple of shelves and one drawer, a luggage jack. This room has no chest of drawers, and room for one's clothing is quite sparse - almost as if they expected anyone to be here for a day or two only.

The bath is large and bright, has the usual Anne Semonin amenities, very nice, but only two small soaps and no wash cloths (not unusual in Europe). The shower tub has a nice Grohe telephone type shower and an efficient half-partition made of glass; the tub surface is quite slippery. Linens are of good quality.

The HVAC works, several outlets for power of the usual European two round pin variety supplying 220 volts.

Lady JDiver had some serious coughing etc. so we got a late start Monday and were contacted by housekeeping via telephone about doing up our room. I told them we were to be out within twenty minutes and we would like them to clean the room - but they never did clean it today.

The restaurant situation: breakfast is taken in the Terracotta Café downstairs, and is an expansive buffet - extensive breads, some cut fresh and preserved fruit, muesli and cereals, juices, salmon, cheeses that seem to run out on occasion, etc. as well as premade waffles and pancakes (cold), treacly scrambled eggs, sausages and very crisp, if not burnt, bacon, and a selection of toppings, yoghurts. It's a decent albeit not overly impressive breakfast. Open 7 - 10 AM and until 10:30 weekends.

The Solaris restaurant, much ballyhooed, is not open at all Sunday, and is open from 7:30 PM for dinner, albeit with a quite limited menu and high prices - there are so many better places nearby it's not worth my time. The "Lounge Bar Scirocco" seems to have a limited pub menu and does not seem extensively stocked with beverages. We much prefer waling a block to la Taverne de Maître Kanter.

There is a pricey room service menu available 24/7. There is an exercise room and the Spa 5 Mondes, the conciergerie is knowledgeable and helpful - and don't forget, this is France: some better restaurants are closed Monday, and bookings are always taken seriously (and are preferred to merely dropping in, even if there are tables available).

The construction for 2013 Capitale Européenne de la Culture has really obstructed pedestrian (and vehicular) traffic, and the free transbay ferry seems to just sit and sit with no set schedule.

For more to see and do in Marseille and environs, see the France Forum thread Tourist Question about Marseille and the Provence Area.