Atlantic Oceanside Hotel & Event Center — Hotel in Bar Harbor

As part of a 2 week road trip through New Hampshire and Maine in celebration of our 40th anniversary, my husband and I booked 6 nights at the Atlantic Oceanside Hotel (AOH). We did a great deal of online research, visiting at least 2 dozen websites (and reading numerous reviews for each) before choosing the AOH. Given that this was a gift to ourselves for our anniversary, we wanted it to be special, and indeed it was! Let's start with the location...|The AOH is on Route 3, about a mile before you get to the downtown/waterfront area. It's also very close to one of the entrance points to Acadia. There is plenty of (free) parking. Not sure why I started with that though...let's talk about the view!! Most of the rooms (including ours) have a beautiful view of Frenchmen's Bay. The higher your room, the greater the view! Our room was on the second floor of the main building. I'll post photos, keeping in mind that although "a picture is worth a thousand words" there really is nothing like actually being there to see it for yourself!|| Our room...as mentioned above, we were in the main building, which is also where the restaurants and indoor pool are. (Keep reading for more on that.) We'd hoped to book a King room, but none were available, so we had a room with 2 queens, which worked out fine. The bed was very comfortable and had an assortment of pillows. The room was impeccably clean and smelled wonderful!! The bathroom vanity is a little small, but wide enough that I was able to leave my curling iron in there. I don't recall the brand of amenities, but they seemed to be good quality. Specifically, there was a wall dispenser in the tub/shower that had shampoo, conditioner and body wash. There was a bottle of hand soap by the sink. They also provided makeup wipes, a disposable shower cap and a little personal care kit that included a few sewing notions, a tiny emery board, Q tips and a little makeup pad. The towels and other bath linens were good quality. There was a little sign indicating that if you wanted fresh towels, leave them on the floor and they'd be replaced, but if we hung them on a rod that would mean we were OK with reusing them. (This was part of their environmental initiative to save water). We hung our up, but the housekeeping staff replaced them anyway, which I definitely didn't mind. I don't know if all the housekeeping staff arranges the towels in a pretty way, but ours did. Our room had a balcony equipped with 2 wicker chairs. One is a rocker. We found cushions for them in the closet. With the exception of one rainy night, every evening we'd relax out on the balcony awaiting the return of the sunset cruise. (Bar Harbor Cruises has its wharf on the AOH property. They offer discounted rates to AOH guests if you book through the hotel). |The staff - we've never been to a hotel with friendlier staff! Everyone, and I do mean EVERYONE, was cheerful, polite and helpful! The young man who greets guests at the front doorband serves as a bell hop was exceptional! His name is Nick. He helped us with some heavy luggage and was so appreciative when we offered him a gratuity. One night, while out on the balcony, we observed him delivering a rollaway cot to another building. It started to rain a little, but he was prepared for that and stopped to adjust the tarp over it to ensure it didn't get wet. That's just one of dozens of examples of how service oriented the staff is at AOH. This review is getting lengthy, so I'm going to try to move along a bit! |The pools...we saw the outside pool, but were too busy running around Acadia to use it. It looked very inviting though with only one minor caveat. There's no poolhouse/changing room, however, one of the nearby building does have a restroom in the lobby area, which could probably be used if needed.| Inside pool.. I used this once and enjoyed it! The pool was clean and reasonably warm. There was generous supply of pool towels. Unfortunately the jets to the hot tub weren't working, but I did see a sign indicating that the pool area would be closed later that week for maintenance, so I'm assuming the hot tub is probably working again by now. I did plan to change into dry clothes in the bathroom in the pool area, but I couldn't find a light switch for it anywhere. My guess is that the light was motion operated but needed a new sensor. Not sure. If so, I'm hopeful this was also addressed during the scheduled maintenance. |Food service - To help abbreviate this lengthy commentary, I'll refer you to everyone else's glowing reviews of breakfast. They are spot on! Be sure to try the freshly baked breads. Although you have the option to eat inside or out, go outside if you can! As for the restaurants, we ate lunch twice in the Bistro. The first time we shared a flatbread. It was a little small for the price but delicious! On the second visit we each had a bowl of clam chowder, which was so creamy and seasoned perfectly! I highly recommend it! As for other highlights...one day at breakfast, I was surprised and delighted when a staff member handed me a stamped post card. I sent it to myself as souvenir.| Each morning, out in the hallway adjacent to the breakfast area, there was a station set up where you make your own trail mix...free to guests of the hotel. In the afternoon, freshly baked cookies are available in the lobby. We absolutely loved the AOH! I hope we can go...

I am not ever one to make any type of bad review.... and this is NOT meant to be but some things just can't go unsaid Clearly, they were super busy and it just got missed, but if someone with arachnophobia had been in there and seen the spider in the sink, probably would have had a stroke ran out of the bathroom, and slipped into the pool or hot tub. I understand more than anyone what happens when you have short staff... and with a place this size, it's up to everyone to be aware of things. So these things happen i got rid of it with no issues but there was an actual web formed, I was there as part of a wedding party, and I think it was A bit overpriced. Little things like they had the wedding at the venue beautiful views, But I guess we weren't allowed to set up the way we wanted they had to do it. The reception was the same as they had to set it up. And dinner... at basically 150$ per person there was no consistency with the food never asked a cook level on meat and other plates were just completely different. My biggest thing was with the steak, I love steak more than anything. And crushed peppercorn steak Def one of my 😍. But this was whole peppercorns like a huge handful in the sauce on top of the steak I had at least 2 tablespoons of whole peppercorns. They were barely broken up at all... I only say this because I am a cook myself, and peppercorns are so aggressive.... any recipe I've ever seen had a minor amount and is fully crushed so u can chew it in with each bite.... the 2 people beside me couldn't even eat it until they scraped it all off because it was too much on their plate.... my boyfriend and his friends at another table mentioned a huge fat back on each steak along with the inedible peppercorn sauce. I genuinely feel awful saying this, but as a restaurant owner and chef myself, we have to get the good and the bad or we will not be able to change things that need changing. And I'm not saying it needs to be changed, perhaps that recipe was meant to be that way, but it should have been specifically noted that it's whole peppercorns, and the steak should have been cooked for whoever ordered it specifications.... the place was absolutely beautiful truly and the woman who organized things the bride said was so wonderful, helpful and attentive, I saw it as well. But many of the waitstaff just seemed put out that they were there, aggravated that we were there at all... I had asked a few different staff questions (about the wedding and a few other reasonable questions pertaining to the wedding party) and one of them verbatim said how the hell should I know that.... 😳 I get we all have bad days and if I had been an asshole to them completely would understand 🙃 but I wad just asking some simple questions trying to help the bride and that was the response? Cmon bud do better.... But even still I would come back with others just would need to negotiate the things I found troublesome. Anyone reading this, DO NOT take any of this as I'm saying not to go or try it, not at all what I mean. PLEASE go and have YOUR experience, everyone is different and wants and expects different things. And my apologies to anyone who this possibly upset was not an intention to hurt only to let them know how I felt about it. Doesn't make it right or absolute. The bride ultimately had an AMAZING TIME so that is absolute.... and all that...

Unfortunately, bad weather stuck with us during our entire stay at Atlantic Oceandside. We made the best of it. The hotel has several buildings from which to choose a room. We stayed in the Atlantic View building, and highly recommend it. All rooms face Frenchman Bay and come with a balcony/patio to further enhance the view. It would've been great to have my morning coffee out on the balcony had the weather cooperated! We stayed in one of 8 suites in this building, which consisted of two queen beds in the main room, and a king in a separate spacious bedroom. The suite itself was very spacious, nicely appointed, quiet, and clean. Another nice touch--My wife really appreciated the cosmetic magnified and illuminated mirror in the bathroom. At the time of our stay, they were experimenting with streaming technology which would allow you to cast/stream apps, such as Netflix and Google Photos, on your phone to a very big TV. This would've been a great way to review the day's photos and videos gathered while hiking through Acadia National Park (we did have intermittent dry spells to do so). Unfortunately, it was not working. I strongly encourage the proprietors to see this through and get it working. I have seen it work in another hotel and is a great piece of tech when it works! The included morning breakfast in the main building was perfect, too! Various egg dishes, bacon, sausages, breakfast rolls, coffee cakes....oatmeal on request! Could not ask for more. All staff were courteous and attentive. The heated indoor pool looked inviting, though we did not bring our swim suits to use it...same goes for the outdoor pool. A workout facility appeared well-equipped, too. Location was also a plus. Just a few minutes outside of Bar Harbor gets you away from the crowds after a busy day when you want a little piece and quiet...far from the maddening crowd! Even in early June with the awful weather we had, Bar Harbor and Acadia were getting crowded. The relative peace and quiet of the hotel and its grounds was a great respite from all of that. My only criticism, if any, was the price. The suite, with all fees and taxes, cost just over $500/night. By comparison, we can rent an on-the-beach condo with two BRs, full kitchen, dining area, living area and screened lanai on Sanibel Island, FL (a gem of a place to vacation) for about $1500/week--including tourist tax! That said, if ever we return to Bar Harbor, perhaps to take the ferry right next door to Nova Scotia, we would still return to...