Our Army Family Adventures: Cape Henry Inn

Cape Henry Inn, at Fort Story, Virginia, is one of 5 Armed Forces Recreation Center Resorts. The other 4 resorts are located in Florida, Hawaii, Korea, and Germany. These resorts are full service hotels are geared to provide affordable, family vacation locations for members of the military and their families as well as other authorized Department of Defense users. If you aren’t military, do not fully tune out at this point as I am dedicating the “Out & About” portion of the website this week to writing about things to do in the Southeastern Virginia area. Watch for future articles covering Fort Story Lighthouse & Cape Henry, Virginia Beach, Jamestowne Settlement and Yorktown Victory Center, the National Parks at Historic Jamestowne and Yorktown, and Busch Gardens in Williamsburg.

My inspiration for writing about the Cape Henry Inn is the fact that they are on their “off season” rates. My first instinct was, “Ooh- I need to get this information out!” as their off season rates are a good deal. However, the truth is that on our stay at Cape Henry Inn, I didn’t get much of a chance to look around as our trip was cut short by a somewhat unexpected blizzard. My older daughter has a birthday in December that always seems to get foreshadowed by the holidays…birthday parties never seem to turn out right as her friends’ families seem to have holiday commitments every weekend in December and other times we have needed to cancel parties due to weather. We thought we had the perfect plan- do a family trip instead of a party and then she would not be disappointed if another birthday party did not turn out right.

Since the trip was planned last minute, it did not have a big budget. The Cape Henry Inn with off season rates seemed like a nice affordable destination. We looked at other options, but was afraid that it may be too cold in December. With the Virginia Beach area, we thought we could see a few sites or play at the beach and then when we were too cold we could relax in our hotel room. I had checked forecasts for each of our possible destinations as I planned the trip; so, I do not know how I missed a snow storm headed our way. On our way to Virginia Beach, we stopped at a National Park to check out a historical site and it was there that a ranger warned us of the storm headed our way. The ranger told us that if we did not want to be stuck in the area then we needed to head home by the next morning as the snow was now scheduled to hit in the afternoon.

I really did not want to be out the money for the 4 day weekend that I had reserved. My head was spinning with what to do– I did not want to be stuck in the snow and possibly have to pay extra days, as well as mess up my husband’s leave dates, and at the same time I did not want to put the girls back into the car to drive several hours back home making it one extremely long day. Hesitantly, we went on to the Cape Henry Inn. In the back of my mind, I was hoping that the Inn would let us shorten our reservation given the situation. My hopes were dashed when we pulled into an empty parking lot. I thought that there was no way they would let me out of the reservation when we were their only guests. Defeated, I went to check in. I was wrong in my assumptions though. The first thing that the lady behind the counter made us aware of was that the snow storm headed that way. She said that they were not expecting much snow in Virginia Beach, but that if we stayed we may not be able to drive home on time. I was very thankful when she offered that we could shorten our trip to just that one night.

As for the room itself, you get what you pay for. It is a military hotel. I have read reviews that argue that as a military resort it should be higher quality. If I had paid “in season” rates, then I would probably agree. If you go during the “off season,” then the Cape Henry Inn is a good deal. For around $50 (rate varies by rank), we had a room with two full beds, a sleeper sofa, a kitchenette, and “private” balcony. The room quality was probably lower two star quality as the room itself was older and was starting to look a little worn; however, a lot of Army hotels are run down– unfortunate fact of military life. If we were trying to stay in a civilian hotel, without doing Priceline’s name your own price, we would have only found a one star hotel for this price.

The Real “Scoop”

Positives:

+The price during “off season” is definitely worth it.

+ The room had a great view of the Chesapeake bay from the balcony.

+While the room was a little rundown, it was clean.

Negatives:

-“In Season” prices may not be worth it.

-The television is in the living room section. However, there is a hook-up in the bedroom area and my husband temporarily moved the television so that the girls could snuggle and watch a movie.

-There is no type of breakfast included- which a lot of other hotels (even military ones) include breakfast these days.

*Note- There are other styles of rooms and cabins available. I would love input from others who have stayed there as well in order to give readers a well rounded view before they make reservations.