Hi Jenny,  Thanks so much for setting this up!  I know it is a lot of work.

Quick question for anyone...I was looking to possibly stay over that night since I live about 1.5 hours from the shore.  Do you know of any other moderately priced hotels right in that area (walking preferably)?  It is $475 (incl tax, parking, gratuity, beach pass, etc.) for 2 adults and that's a bit high for me for a one night stay.  Thanks!

Holy crap, that's expensive. Hang tight for a couple days. I'll give Ocean Place a call on Tuesday after the holiday and see if we can get a block of rooms for our event at a better price.

In case it's still unreasonable, I'll search for other hotels nearby as well.

I checked for other hotels using hotels.com and expedia.com, but there is nothing within walking distance. There are a couple chains in West Long Branch that probably have reasonable rates, so you could check these out.

1. The LaQuinta is the closest and cheapest. It is a 3 mile cab ride away and $129 per night: Click here

2. The Holiday Inn Express and Suites is the same distance and $153 per night: Click here

There is also a cute B&B called Cedars and Beeches that is 2 miles away. A queen room is $239 per night: Click here

I put in a call to Ocean Place. They can give us a discounted rate, although I don't yet know what that will be, but we have to have 10 rooms to qualify.  I will put a note in the next email I send out for anyone who is looking for rooms for the night to contact me and we'll see if we can get 10 people together.

I'm just waiting for a return phone call to find out what the rate will be. I'll keep you posted!

Ocean court by the sea 1-732-728-1505

I think it's a few blocks from Ocean Place, website says rooms are 139-169

www.oceancourtmotel.net

I also checked out the Holiday inn express in west long branch, it's 153/night.

Hope this helps.

Ocean Place will give us a rate of $279/nt, but there is a two-night minimum that they will not waive.  So unless you want to stay two nights, it's not really a bargain.

Also, we will need to have at least 10 rooms to qualify for that rate.

I think the best option is to stay at one of the other hotels mentioned above and hook up with others who are staying at the same hotel via this message board to share cabs. If there are enough people at one hotel, I'm sure we can arrange a van service to shuttle everyone.

I'll also be happy to drive people back to their hotels at the end of the night, if need be. Since I'm knocked up, I can be an official designated driver. :)

Hello....Jenny - Do you want to start a survey/tally on where people are staying.  I know I will not be able to stay over 2 nights so it will not be worth it to stay at the Ocean Place, but  I would love to see where people are staying.  Can you add it to the sign up process for the reunion? 

Hey Bridget -

I don't know about adding it to the sign up process. That might be a bit much. Plus, the responses wouldn't be visible to everyone anyway.  But you could add a topic on the message board asking people where they are staying and I will put a link to the discussion in my next email to the class.

Thanks, Jenny.  Excellent idea!