I had the opportunity to visit Portland, Maine back in November during Veteran's Day Weekend. Before this visit, I had only been once prior for a day-trip with Jackie. Fortunately for me, I partnered with Portland Harbor Hotel, where the team provided me accommodations in a perfect and central location within the city in exchange for a write-up of my experience.

Upon checking-in and heading up to my room, my sister and I were immediately greeted with a Starbucks Coffee machine that brews individual-sized drinks in 8 oz portions. There is a machine located on every floor, so you can easily get your coffee fix regardless of the floor you stay on.

I had a strenuous work week leading up to my way weekend in Portland, so I was pleasantly thankful to find that the bathroom has both a giant bubble bath-friendly tub and a glass standing shower – granted, the shower did leak out on my sister and me and we had to lay down some towels to prevent from slipping out of the shower. The mirror was quite large, perfect for both my sister and me to utilize the mirror and get ready simultaneously if we wanted to do so.

And then there was the bed, the glorious, glorious bed. King-sized, firm mattress, lots of pillows – what more would you ask for? (A lot, probably, people ask for a lot of things, but I was content with what I had.) I don’t often stay in hotel rooms, but after laying on this bed, I should stay in hotels more often.

Inside of Portland Harbor Hotel is their dine-in restaurant, BlueFin Restaurant. BlueFin also provides room service for the hotel, which seems like a fantastic option for these upcoming cold, chilly days when all I would want to do is curl up under my blankets (because hello, let’s talk about that King-sized bed again). I tried an assortment of dishes, such as the Lobster Popover, the seafood bisque special, the calamari, but let’s not forget the dessert… the beautiful s’mores dessert. It is too bad that the wind was rough and the temperatures were as low as 3 degrees Fahrenheit, otherwise I would have taken advantage of the roaring fire pit behind my seat at the restaurant and made my own s’more!

I did have trouble getting in touch with room service the next day, so I could not enjoy breakfast in bed unfortunately, but like I said – this hotel was centrally located to everything, so I walked down the streets for five minutes, picked up some Holy Donuts, and ended up eating donuts in bed instead. This does not sound like the worst life. 

Also, something incredibly bizarre happened to me! When I got back late Saturday evening to return to my room, the swing bar somehow latched over behind me when I closed the door,because when I came back to open the door, I couldn’t get in! This was certainly a bizarre instance, and I can’t imagine that this would happen on a typical basis.

Fortunately, I called the lobby from one of the hallway phones (and it is a good thing I remembered the extension of the lobby from reading the phone listings earlier in the morning when I was attempting room service), and forty-five minutes later, they removed the swing bar lock, and my sister and I could return to our room. Truly a bizarre experience, I have never heard of the swing bar locking upon itself.

During this weekend in Portland, my sister, her husband, and our friend roamed the streets for some great eats. I certainly want to go back to Portland soon. It is not that far from Boston, so I should make a point to head up again for more foodventures, once I do return, I'll do a full recap of all of the places I have been visiting to eat in Portland.

I will likely stay at Portland Harbor Hotel again, and I am not just saying that because they accommodated my stay last time, I am saying it because the location could not be more perfect (I literally walked everywhere and our friend kept the car in valet the entire weekend), the accommodations were incredible (aside from that one bizarre experience with the lock), and the dine-in restaurant fulfilled all my seafood diet goals, where I see food and eat food (ha).

Portland Harbor Hotel
468 Fore Street
Portland, Maine
(207) 775-9090
www.portlandharborhotel.com
#harborstateofmind