Originally Posted by
ab007
Aware I would be using the shuttle bus I didn't really worry too much about the distance, but it takes a good 10mins - the drivers do seem to take back road/ short cuts at rush hour/ peak times which is useful. The shuttle runs every 45mins during the day. There is a timetable (which to be fair it adhered to) but you wouldn't know that on arrival at the airport so if like me you unknowingly miss one by a couple of mins then you're in for quite a wait - which is made considerably more frustrating by the fact that every other hotel chain shuttle will pass numerous times during that wait! There is a 2 euro charge for journeys from the hotel to the airport - although I wasn't always charged that.
Breakfast was average. There was a nice selection and everything you’d expect from a Hilton breakfast, but in comparison to somewhere like Tower Bridge where the scrambled egg etc. seems to be spot on every time, it just wasn’t anything special. Interestingly on the first morning I ate fairly late and the service was excellent (filling my OJ, offering more tea etc.), on the second morning after being shown to a table, I wasn’t spoken to again and not offered any tea/ coffee for the entire time I was in there.
Interestingly having walked across to the Tesco on the first night for some bits, I was told by a colleague the next day that the area wasn’t the best for wandering around in the evening, albeit on a bright summers evening I can’t say I felt uncomfortable or at risk walking across to the shops!
I agree with much of your review but I thought I would mention a couple things from my experience. A few of us stayed there back in April. As it turned out we actually arrived less than 2 minutes after the shuttle had left. Not knowing this we called and asked when the shuttle would arrive and they told us it would be about 40 minutes. About 10 minutes later a shuttle turned up just to pick us up, which was a welcome surprise.
Our tastes may be different but everyone in our group found the breakfasts exceptional(better than other hotels/restaurants we ate at while in Ireland), with the service being hit or miss.
As for the area not being that safe, we had heard the same thing but we saw/experienced nothing that would prevent me from walking around. Being a group of 4 guys around 30 though, we may have a different sense of security.