Portland Harbor Hotel

Ralphie and I planned a trip to Portland to see our friends who had a place for us to stay for the weekend. However, Portland Harbor Hotel was nice enough to give us a discounted rate for the weekend in one of their rooms. As always, we remain objective in our stays. A discounted stay does not equal a positive review.

Portland Harbor Hotel is located in the Old Port District on Fore Street. It's one of several hotels in the areas, across from a Hyatt and down the street from a Westin. It's only a few blocks away from the waterfront, which was important because Ralphie loves the water!

Photo by Amy Humphries on Unsplash

We arrived at 3pm to check in to a beautifully decorated modern hotel lobby. It has all the classic colors you think of when it comes to the ocean. Navy blue, coral, white, and plenty of natural light. In fact, the lobby looks out towards the street and the rest of Portland.

The staff were warm and welcoming when we arrived. The Portland Harbor Hotel is, without a doubt, the poshest place I've been. I had to stop myself from telling the bellboy not to take my bags. They have a bar and restaurant in the hotel as well where we can order room service. The staff really loved seeing Ralphie and he definitely loved all the attention. I could barely get him off his back to come to the room!

That nautical theme continues throughout the hotel towards the rooms with muted navy blue doors and blue carpeting. Our room had the same modern theme as well.

It's important for me when traveling is that Ralphie has enough space to roam around. We plan activities for the weekend, but weather in New England is unpredictable. I want Ralphie to get his zoomies out when he needs to. Our room are spacious and open with a beautiful view towards the ports. Most of you know how much I love the ocean, so being in Portland was extra exciting.

Ralphie knows if we travel that he has to be on his best behavior. When he's cranky at home, he barks and scratches the couch. He's the best boy when we take our trips. He doesn't bark often or scratch any of the furniture. One time, he did break a vase running into a table, but I paid for the damages. Every restaurant and trip is different because Ralphie is a person just like me. We don't start everyday at 100%, but I do my best to read him when he walks up in the morning.

I took Ralphie for a walk after getting settled in and he had time to explore the room. We went to a dog park close by for some ball. Portland has a lot of dog friendly areas that leave water bowls outside for pups. Ralphie would stop for them when I didn't even notice. He likes to chase the birds too, especially the sassy seagulls.

I don't feed Ralphie a strict diet of kibble. Typically, I prepackage his food in a cooler when we go on trips just in case I can't get ingredients for his meals. Thankfully, room service were super nice and allowed me to customize some of the dishes so I could get his food together. They even have dog friendly desserts, like an in house cooked biscuit that knocked Ralphie out for the night. He was living his best life.

Ralphie had to go out one more time before we hit the hay. The hotel has a patio outside, which at first I was uncomfortable to let Ralphie pee anywhere but then I saw another woman's dog doing it and no one said anything. I pick up his poop anyways, so it wasn't like I was leaving anything there.

Overall, Ralphie seemed to enjoy the food and the fluffy pillows the most. I enjoyed the location, the interior design of the room, and how accommodating the staff were. There was no hesitation or slight objection to any request I had.

Had we not had a discount, I probably would not have stayed here. You get what you pay for, but it doesn't seem like the place you go to just to have your dog. This hotel seems like the place you go to because you want something higher scale. That's totally fine. But I've gotten woodland routes where the windows are drafty and our furniture is from the 1980s.