During a weeklong training in Sturgeon Bay, our course housed the attendees at the Stone Harbor Resort. It may have helped the resort was a 8 minute walk to the classroom and they have a government rate, plus they could accommodate the 25+ attendees. The best thing going for Stone Harbor Resort is its waterfront location, ease of walking to downtown, and plethora of food and drinks in the area.
I stayed in room 318 which is a 2 queen bed balcony room with a partial water view. The room itself is dated and there were some interesting features. Walking into the bathroom to find the toilet seat propped open and someone's long red hair in the toilet, was not the best start. The iron rod banisters appeared to be from the 90's and based upon someone etching their name and 1991, I'd say it's accurate. The room has a small mini-fridge that frequently unplugs itself, which can be an issue. I found the bedside lamp cords wrapped around the banisters and under my mattress, looking haphazardly and clunky. The room included a small desk, a feature I always enjoy while working away from home. The missing feature was a chair which I appropriated from the hallway later my first night. The bathroom is adequate, but again it's 20+ years old with the sliding glass door and intermittent water pressure. A microwave would be a nice touch, but I did appreciate a coffee maker and daily Door County Tea and Coffee Company samples.
The property from the outside is beautiful, but inside there's many open spaces where random tables and easy chairs are plunked down. In some ways, it reminded me of living in the barracks again. There is an indoor pool onsite, but each time I went to swim I was greeted by families with children randomly jumping in and parents drinking in the hot tub. I'm all for unwinding, but the small space makes it difficult for everyone to have their corner. I found the sauna did not work 2 / 3 of my visits, and after 15 minutes of the pool being tagged as "Polo" I was good for my swims.
My biggest concern was safety at this property. The first being when house cleaning came to my room on day 2, they propped open the door with the interior lock and never returned. I fortunately did come back on lunch break to find my room unlocked and no one from cleaning staff within 50 feet. I understand things happen and they have a way of doing things, but staff needs to secure each room and clearly someone didn't after cleaning my room. The second issue was a fire alarm our final day of class. At 2AM the alarm went off in our wing, later learning from classmates it did not alarm throughout the property. Even rooms in our wing where it did go off did not have visual or audible alarms within the rooms. Several of us who are first responders wondered if there are rooms for the hearing and visual impaired, because clearly we did not have those.
I think this property could be the pearl of Sturgeon Bay with its location on the water. Instead I found it like the Stanley Hotel, often not hearing or seeing anyone for hours. I would recommend other non-traditional hotels in the area.
