Race in Baltimore

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van lafermine

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Anyone planning on heading to Baltimore for the Labor Day weekend and viewing the race? We have a slip at Inner Harbor East for 3 nights.

I am more curious than anything, we are not really race fans but looking forward to the experience. I am sure the Inner Harbor will be a zoo. Hope we can get into resaurants and water taxi without to much difficulty!
 
You have a slip for 3 nights? They told me there was a 4-night minimum for race weekend.
 
It probably depends on when you booked the slip. Earlier may have had less of a requirement.

I think we'll avoid the whole thing. I hope it's a success, but I'm not one for crowds.
 
I was actually on the waiting list and they called me last week. I originally had 3 nights at Harborview and got a credit for a future date.
 
Joe,
You got me thinking so I just called IHE to see if my res. was what I wanted. Milly told me originally it was a 7 night min. then went to 4 and now they just want to fill the slips. She still has 40' slips available. They charge by the slip not the boat LOA. So if anyone is looking for a slip in the Inner Harbor they have some availability.
 
See that kind of pisses me off, because I put myself on the "wait-list" around Memorial Day. Same story: 7-day only, then they dropped the minimum to 4 days. Guess I should have guessed they would drop it lower.
 
http://www.baltimoregrandprix.com/
 
quote:
Originally posted by JoeBTB

See that kind of pisses me off, because I put myself on the "wait-list" around Memorial Day. Same story: 7-day only, then they dropped the minimum to 4 days. Guess I should have guessed they would drop it lower.

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Here’s why we did this….We thought about raising the rate per slip higher but some of our boaters planned on being here long before the race, or had no interest in the race and we weren’t sure when to start charging the higher rate. Then we kicked around the idea of starting with a 7 day requirement and see how that went. It was all new to us and we weren’t sure of the demand or results. We certainly didn’t plan on pissing off anybody and anyone willing to wait did stand the chance of getting a slip for fewer days, (sort of like getting discount air fare). Next year we’ll probably do things differently. We’re going to take customer feedback and go from there. If they had the race on a non-holiday weekend the whole thing might have been easier to plan but being Labor Day it had us scratching our head on how to handle it all.
 
quote:
Originally posted by westrong
Here’s why we did this….We thought about raising the rate per slip higher but some of our boaters planned on being here long before the race, or had no interest in the race and we weren’t sure when to start charging the higher rate. Then we kicked around the idea of starting with a 7 day requirement and see how that went. It was all new to us and we weren’t sure of the demand or results. We certainly didn’t plan on pissing off anybody and anyone willing to wait did stand the chance of getting a slip for fewer days, (sort of like getting discount air fare). Next year we’ll probably do things differently. We’re going to take customer feedback and go from there. If they had the race on a non-holiday weekend the whole thing might have been easier to plan but being Labor Day it had us scratching our head on how to handle it all.

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Thanks for posting. Since you're looking for customer feedback, my thought is that it is a 3-day weekend, so a 3-day minimum is reasonable, but more than that just seems to give the impression that you're trying to squeeze extra from customers.

My wife and I will be there 4 days, and I'm sure we'll enjoy it. For this particular weekend, we wanted to be in close because we have friends staying in a nearby hotel, plus we've wanted to give Inner Harbor East a try, because we've heard good things. So we sucked it up and took an extra day off work.

Most of the time, however, we'd opt to be farther out and just take the water taxi, rather than take extra time off work.

Looking forward to it; seems like it will be a lot of fun!
 
I will be interested in seeing how this goes for all. I might want to be there myself next year. I may even be able to qualify for media credentials still. Had I thought about it before I moved here I would have done it this year instead of a half marathon in Virginia Beach.
 
Went to the race on Sunday. Had a great time. Watched qualifying on Sat as well. Looked like a sell out crowd, every grandstand was packed. Baltimore inner harbor is a fantastic venue to watch the Indy cars scream through the streets of the inner harbor. I would definitely go back again next year.
 
Awesone! Glad they are bringing that kind of stuff locally!

quote:
Originally posted by Silver Lining

Went to the race on Sunday. Had a great time. Watched qualifying on Sat as well. Looked like a sell out crowd, every grandstand was packed. Baltimore inner harbor is a fantastic venue to watch the Indy cars scream through the streets of the inner harbor. I would definitely go back again next year.

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Good, Rick. I'm glad to know it turned out well. I heard business was down in some parts of the harbor due to people being scared off by traffic issues. Hopefully that can be resolved in the future.
 
so who all else had thier dink boarded for absolutely no reason? Sure the guys were nice but damn.. its getting old!
 
Rick: Could you see the race from the Inner Harbor? Or was it closed off except for paying folks?
 
Chris, you could not see the race from a boat in the inner harbor. But, there were a few areas outside the paying infield and grand stands that did offer an OK view. On Saturday we watched qualifying by the hill near the Hooters and actually had a good view. Infield tickets were pretty low price, but a grand stand definitely offered the best views. We watched the race on Sunday at the entry to turn 1 at the end of the front straight. 190 mph down Pratt St was pretty cool.

Kurt I talked to a guy who worked at Phillips and he said business was down there and at Cheesecake Factory, probably due to traffic concerns, but from what I read business overall was up and the city and most local businesses were very pleased with the event and turnout.
 
Rick,

The feedback I heard was from Harbor East. Roy's had the worst Friday night they'd ever had. That area was a ghost town from what I hear.
 
I was put off by the 7-night minimum so when they called back and said it was a 4-night min we decided to go to St Michaels, instead. Friends that did attend by boat however, said it's on their list to do again next year...they had a great time.
 
quote:
Originally posted by msalow

I was put off by the 7-night minimum so when they called back and said it was a 4-night min we decided to go to St Michaels, instead. Friends that did attend by boat however, said it's on their list to do again next year...they had a great time.

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We escaped to St Mike's as well. Great weekend for it, too. The Maritime Museum annual boat auction was quite a find! Walked away with an 2003 Avon Seasport for 6K, and that was almost the most expensive thing there!

We were unsure of how the race would play out for the first time in Baltimore, but definitely will be doing it next year given all the positive press.
 
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