2024 USS Yosemite Reunion Update

The Hotel is beautiful, just renovated during COVID. I looked at all the rooms that we would have for our events. In all cases, the rooms are bigger and better than the rooms of our previous Reunion in Jacksonville. I was particularly impressed with the room for our Banquet Dinner. it is best described as a “Ball Room” with beautiful giant glass chandeliers. I was given the option of selecting the rooms I was shown, I feel sure all of you will be pleased. The good news is they are included at no additional charge to us, including the Hospitality Room, which will easily support 60 People.

To download and print this information, click on 2024 Reunion Hotel and Tour Information

Details of interest:

Crowne Plaza Hotel

Check-in Time: 3:00 PM
Check-out Time: 11:00 AM
Room Cost: Sunday through Thursday is $139 and Friday through Saturday is $159 (the average of $149 per night if you stayed the 4 days)
Our Reunion Room Rate is the OFF Season Rate even though during our event, it is the peak season for the Hotel. Our pricing is good for 3 days prior to and three days after the normal Wednesday through Saturday Reunion. To learn more about the hotel, click on Crowne Plaza Providence-Warwick (Airport)

When you book rooms, use a YOS code, and have several ways to book rooms. You can call (401) 732- 6000 or Toll-free (800) 227-6963; we will also have a link to click on. We will cover that in the next Newsletter. Unlike Florida, this Hotel prefers to see over time the rooms are booked to keep our numbers estimated in place. They start with 271-365 days, our they would like to see 10% of bookings done, and 181-270 days out, they would like to see 20% of the booking done. Normally people seem to wait till the last minute weeks out to book. We need be aggressively using all Military Related Sites to get the word out about our Reunion. I would also encourage booking to begin in the next month.

Hospitality Room: Our group includes Breakfast Served in our Hospitality Room Only. Food from the hotel restaurant.
Scrambled Eggs, Bacon, Sausage,(alternating days) Home Fries, Breakfast Pastries, Hot / Cold Cereal, Fresh Fruit, Juice, Coffie, Tea,
The hotel has two restaurants, and we will be given a 20% Discount on all food should you use them, but you must tell them you are with Yosemite Reunion upfront.

Amenities:
Free Parking and Complementary WiFi in all Guest Rooms and Meeting Spaces and Support Equipment (Podiums, Mic, Flags, Special tables, etc.)
They will designate a special table at the main lobby for our guests to pick up name tags. We are allowed to have banners which they will hang / Yosemite Posters.

The hotel will provide free transportation to and from the Airport. Our Reunion guests will call the Hotel, and they will send a small bus or vehicle to pick them up (usually a 15-minute wait).

We will be allowed to conduct our Raffle & Auction without any licenses/permits as a Military Group. Once again, this is an exception for our group.
We can have our own food (Pizza etc.), snacks, and drinks, including Alcoholic, in our Hospitality Room. Additionally, they have created a special package of Hourdorves they offer only to Military Groups that we will most likely consider for Wednesday afternoon in our Hospitality Room. It consists of International Cheese, and Cracker Display / Vegetable Crudité display that they will offer us for $ 210 and not available to normal guests and priced very well. Will nicely support our Hospitality room Wednesday late afternoon say 4:00 PM. While I do prefer to purchase our snacks and food on our own, this does not even compare to their normal items. it is a really nice spread.

Banquet Dinner:
Cost: $44 per person Beef is $8 Extra
First Course: Garden Salad
Dinner Choice: Chicken, Fish, Beef or Vegetarian
Sautéed Chicken Francaise with lemon butter, or Baked New England Scrod with lemon herb butter, or Petite Sirloin with Roasted Shallot and Burgundy Demi-Glaze or Mushroom Ravioli, Potato & Vegetable, Rolls & Butter
Desert: New York Cheesecake

I also met with the Sales Manager for the Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau to lay out a plan for tours starting with a Casino Trip Wednesday evening. Please review the following, and hopefully, it will meet your expectations. I hope it goes without saying that I want to make sure that this turns out to be one of our better Reunions, if not the Best. We will receive a gift bag with all kinds of local information that each arriving guest can pick up at the table I eluded to in the Hotel Lobby. The Visitors Bureau is providing it and will include the little pin we all like so much to go on our name tag holder. The tours listed below are what I proposed based on input I received from most of you.

Casino

The Casino we have selected is the best from a very good source, and it is a 40-minute ride to and from the Casino. But they have great shows, a great place, and great food. If you are going to go to a Casino, you should go to a good one!

Wednesday, April 24th, 2024:
Departure from the Hotel: 5:00 PM – approx. 30 people – depart Crowne Plaza to Foxwood Casino
Departure from the Casino: 9:00 PM – depart Casino for Crowne Plaza

Expect Fee: $35 per person (includes round-trip transportation)

USS Nautilus Tour and Olde Mystic Village

Thursday, April 25th, 2024:
Agenda:
9:30 AM – 80 people – depart Crowne Plaza for USS Nautilus in Groton, CT
11:40 AM – Depart Groton for Olde Mystic Village in Mystic, CT
1:00 PM – Depart Olde Mystic Village for Mystic Seaport
3:00 PM – Depart for Crowne Plaza

Expected Fee: $60 per person (includes round-trip transportation + admission to Mystic Seaport Museum)

Battleship Cove and Newport Naval War College

Friday, April 26th, 2024:
Agenda:
9:30 AM – 80 people – depart Crowne Plaza for Battleship Cove Group only wants to do USS Massachusetts
11:00 AM – Depart Battleship Cove for Newport Naval War College
1:30 PM – Depart Naval War College for Free Time in Downtown Newport
3:00 PM – Depart for Crowne Plaza
*Group has a 4:00 PM Board meeting on Friday at Crowne Plaza

Expected Fee: $55 per person (includes round-trip transportation + admission to Battleship Cove)

Last but not least, I traveled to the Naval Base to ensure our group could go to the Nautilus in Groton and look at the base. We will not have a problem doing what we want to do. I am sure that most of you are thinking of things I have not, so feel free to contact me with any suggestions or ideas, and I will try to work them in.

All the Best,
Bill Krug III

USS Yosemite Association President

2 Comments

atm on 2023-10-20 at 10:13 pm

Monny,
I vigorously disagree with you. I think if you take a closer look at our Reunion Planning, it will reveal the our next Reunion at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in the Providence-Warwick area is actually a better deal and far superior than our last Reunion in Jacksonville. The following are the proof-points of why our next Reunion provides a better value for the buck:

The Crowne Plaza Hotel is the same price as Jacksonville Sunday – Thursday and $10.00 more for Friday & Saturday than it was in Jacksonville. The Crowne Plaza not only is higher quality hotel, they also provide a free shuttle service for all our guest from the Airport to the Hotel.
Last year we subsidized the Banquet Dinner and had we not done so the pricing would have been very similar to this year.
At the Crowne Plaza Hotel, every morning you get full breakfast for free just for our group in our Hospitality Room.
Also, the Crowne Plaza Hotel has two restaurants that offer only our group a discount on all food purchased.
The meeting room spaces are all much larger than in Jacksonville, and the Banquet Dinner is the size of a Ball Room and much more elegant.
Tours in Jacksonville were $88.00 and $78.00 as opposed to $60.00 and $55.00 in the Providence-Warwick Area.
On Wednesday, we have transportation ($35 per person) to and from the best Casino in the area not the closest but the best well known Casino.
Airfare for those in the North when they traveled to Jacksonville would be equivalent to those in the South traveling to Providence with free shuttle service to and from the Crowne Plaza Hotel.
Our leadership team has put a lot of effort into making the next Reunion very cost effective for our Members by negotiating for off-season pricing for the rooms when in fact they are in peak season.
The Crowne Plaza Hotel rooms are larger

The hope is that you and all of your Jacksonville Shipmates will have a new adventure, a wonderful time and help make this a very successful and fun Reunion. You in particular, we are counting on you to attend, because you are a Association member in good standing and you are well liked and at the top of the list for a leadership position in our Association.

I look forward to seeing you at our next Reunion. Thank you for your comment.

Monny Hanna on 2023-08-01 at 9:22 am

I think this will be a very expensive reunion for some. The prices up in the north seem to always be higher than I have seen for reunions. To put in perspective, cost for airfares, hotel cost for event, transportation and more cost for events. I feel this will deter many from attending the reunion. I for one. I don’t feel the hotel is giving us a good rate for a military reunion. And the events are costly too. By the time this all adds up it is pushing the limits on someone on a budget such as many of us here.

atm on 2023-10-20 at 10:13 pm
Monny,
I vigorously disagree with you. I think if you take a closer look at our Reunion Planning, it will reveal the our next Reunion at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in the Providence-Warwick area is actually a better deal and far superior than our last Reunion in Jacksonville. The following are the proof-points of why our next Reunion provides a better value for the buck:
1. The Crowne Plaza Hotel is the same price as Jacksonville Sunday – Thursday and $10.00 more for Friday & Saturday than it was in Jacksonville. The Crowne Plaza not only is higher quality hotel, they also provide a free shuttle service for all our guest from the Airport to the Hotel.
2. Last year we subsidized the Banquet Dinner and had we not done so the pricing would have been very similar to this year.
3. At the Crowne Plaza Hotel, every morning you get full breakfast for free just for our group in our Hospitality Room.
4. Also, the Crowne Plaza Hotel has two restaurants that offer only our group a discount on all food purchased.
5. The meeting room spaces are all much larger than in Jacksonville, and the Banquet Dinner is the size of a Ball Room and much more elegant.
6. Tours in Jacksonville were $88.00 and $78.00 as opposed to $60.00 and $55.00 in the Providence-Warwick Area.
7. On Wednesday, we have transportation ($35 per person) to and from the best Casino in the area not the closest but the best well known Casino.
8. Airfare for those in the North when they traveled to Jacksonville would be equivalent to those in the South traveling to Providence with free shuttle service to and from the Crowne Plaza Hotel.
9. Our leadership team has put a lot of effort into making the next Reunion very cost effective for our Members by negotiating for off-season pricing for the rooms when in fact they are in peak season.
10. The Crowne Plaza Hotel rooms are larger
The hope is that you and all of your Jacksonville Shipmates will have a new adventure, a wonderful time and help make this a very successful and fun Reunion. You in particular, we are counting on you to attend, because you are a Association member in good standing and you are well liked and at the top of the list for a leadership position in our Association.

I look forward to seeing you at our next Reunion. Thank you for your comment.
Monny Hanna on 2023-08-01 at 9:22 am

I think this will be a very expensive reunion for some. The prices up in the north seem to always be higher than I have seen for reunions. To put in perspective, cost for airfares, hotel cost for event, transportation and more cost for events. I feel this will deter many from attending the reunion. I for one. I don’t feel the hotel is giving us a good rate for a military reunion. And the events are costly too. By the time this all adds up it is pushing the limits on someone on a budget such as many of us here.