Just got back from a three night stay at the Manoir Richelieu. It was incredible. We were there for the Gala des Grands Chefs. If you want to visit and ensure that all the amenities are open and the food is good - I recommend this event as a good time to go.

Valet parking was efficient and check in was smooth.

We got a large Corner Suite with two rooms (and a set of doors) - which was appreciated because we have a small baby. Crib was already set up in the room with a mini robe for the little guy. Welcome amenity was two bottles of cider and foie gras macaroons (given my previous experiences with Platinum amenities - I have a feeling that this amenity it was probably upgraded at part of our Gala arrangements). As previously mentioned, these rooms have been renovated and they are nice - but they are not at the level of the Fairmont Pacific Rim or the Frontenac. We did not have a river view - but we were told that the two-room configuration corner rooms are not available with a river view- so we were happy to have the extra room instead of the view.

I am still annoyed about the new Fairmont "bar fridges" that charge you if you open them - and so you cannot store food in them. Especially, since we were in Charlevois and we wanted to buy Brasserie Charlevois beer (best beer in Quebec), some cheese and some Viandes Biologic de Charlevois (charcuterie). So, we asked for a fridge to be delivered to the room and it was delivered within 10 minutes.

The Pools and Steam Room at this resort are excellent. Two of the pools were open while we were there and the steam room looks to be newly renovated. I hate steam rooms that do not get hot enough - but this one was perfect. I used it once or twice every day for some circuits. There was also a great room full of toys and activities for our little guy that we could access early in the morning. Also took the little guy on a hike and on the horse drawn wagon tour.

We ate buffet breakfast at Belle Rive - which is standard Fairmont fare (meaning pretty good). We also had the buffet breakfast on Sunday at the Saint Laurent which included shrimp cocktail, rare roast beef (yes - it was rare!), roast pork, a cheese station, an amazing dessert station etc. It was an incredible buffet - but I think it was part of the Gala des Grands Chefs.

Lunch at Belle-rive was OK. We also had dinner there - I would recommend the Pizza with the meats from Viandes Charlevois. Room service turned out to be a treat. For $20 you could get a large pizza delivered to the room with a can of pop for each person. So, we went for that.

Used our $25 certificates to pay for some of our food costs for the 3 day stay (thanks to Penguin for pointing out they are in US dollars - the front desk did not know - but they honored the US amounts).

I can't comment on the Gala dinner - because my wife went alone - while the little guy and I stayed in the room and had room service pizza. Although, she said it was excellent.

One other thing to mention about this property: Babysitting. They offer babysitting for only $9 an hour. Yes, $9 an hour. Which we took advantage of 1 night - we should have booked it for all three nights. The babysitter was someone who worked at the hotel and she did a great job. We provided quite a large tip because $9 an hour is just slightly below slave labour level

We had none of the experiences of other travelers of the people visiting the casino.

Great experience and we are already thinking about when we will go back next.