Starting summer on a bike on Cape Cod

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By Toni Salama
Tribune staff reporter
Published March 19, 2007

If you haven't been watching the calendar, start now by highlighting May 26-29, Memorial Day Weekend. One place to celebrate the traditional start of the summer vacation season is on Cape Cod, one of America's most time-honored vacation spots. The revered Massachusetts peninsula, a 90-mile drive from Boston-Logan, doesn't need to offer package deals in summer; people will come anyway. So we were a bit surprised to find that one of the region's most prestigious resorts, Ocean Edge Resort & Golf Club in Brewster, is offering the "Explore Package," good April 21-Oct. 10. Naturally, the deal's high-season rates kick in on Memorial Day Weekend, precisely when people are looking not for just a hotel room but a summer experience, and hoping for . . . well, if not a basement bargain then at least a good value. Will they find it here?

EXPLORE PACKAGE

With high-season rates applying May 26-Sept. 5, at Ocean Edge.

$1,153 per couple, staying the nights of May 26, 27 and 28.

Includes: three nights in a Premier Guest Room King at Ocean Edge; breakfast each morning; excursion with Dolphin Fleet Whale Watching; bike rentals.

Doesn't include: transportation to or in the destination; hotel taxes of 9.5 percent; package resort fee of 12 percent.

Contact: 800-343-6074; www.oceanedge.com

THE VALUE

Of items similar or equal to those of the package, if purchased separately.

Hotel: $1,203 (three nights at $401/night, using the Bed & Breakfast rate) for a Premier Guest Room King at Ocean Edge, assuming a stay the nights of May 26, 27 and 28.

Breakfast: included in B&B rate.

Whale watching: $54 ($30/person, less $3/person discount for booking online) with Dolphin Fleet Whale Watching of Provincetown.

Bike rentals: $50-$150 ($25/person per 24-hours), depending on whether the rental is for 24, 48 or 72 hours, using rates from Cape Cod Rail Trail Bike & Kayak in Brewster.

Total: $1,307-$1,407, depending on length of bike rental.

Difference: $154-$254 less with the package.

BEHIND THE DOLLAR SIGNS

When we called the resort's reservations desk, the agent seemed a little unsure about the duration of the bicycle rental. On one hand, the package is described as an overnight, or a single-night stay, suggesting that the rental would be for 24 hours. On the other hand, the "standard stay" for the package is between 2 and 10 nights, suggesting that the bicycle day would be equal to the number of hotel nights. So we figured it both ways in our price comparison.

The agent was more confident about the whale-watching trip: It takes a full day. When we called Dolphin Fleet Whale Watching for their description of the outing, we learned that the cruise itself lasts three to four hours, depending on weather and water conditions. It takes at least 45 minutes one way between the dock and Ocean Edge, and it's necessary to arrive at least 30 minutes early to pick up tickets. That's five to six hours, minimum, for the outing.

THE BOTTOM LINE

The package savings would be remarkable anywhere, anytime of year; but it's especially so during high season in a popular destination. That being said, a room that costs $1,153 for a three-night stay is far from cheap. To soften the blow, what you get for the money, in addition to a nice room and the package items, is a stay in a 400-acre beachfront resort that straddles the Cape Cod Bike Trail and claims a 6,665-yard, 18-hole PGA championship golf course; 11 tennis courts; six swimming pools; four restaurants; maybe a clambake; and the sense of tradition that comes from staying in a place that's on the National Register of Historic Places.

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