07/18/2002

By KATHRYN STRAACH / Special Contributor

MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich. – Ship-shaped, surrounded by clear blue water and buoyed by attentive service, the Grand Hotel plays like a cruise vessel. And like an ocean liner, the elegant resort invites its guests to leave their worries on the mainland.

The stately four-story hotel made of Michigan white pine dominates the skyline of Mackinac (say MAC-a-gnaw) Island. The lush isle appears to ply the clear waters of Lake Huron where Michigan and its overarching Upper Peninsula meet. From the moment guests cross the Straits of Mackinac on a ferry, they embark on a glorious sojourn by the water.

Guests, which have included celebrities and presidents, have been "cruising" aboard the Grand, now a National Historic Landmark, since it opened July 10, 1887. By the turn of the last century, it was among more than 1,000 wood-frame hotels in the country catering to railroad and steamship companies. Now the Grand, which was built in 93 days, is one of about a dozen left – and one of only two privately owned.

Grand Hotel in Michigan. (File Photo)

That's when Dan Musser bought the hotel from his uncle, William Stewart Woodfill, who began his own career at the hotel as a desk clerk in 1919. In order to keep the hotel afloat, Mr. Musser embarked upon an aggressive program of renovation and expansion. He made sure the hotel was structurally sound and that each guest room had a private bath. He hired Carleton Varney, a world-renowned interior designer, to transform the hotel.

And transform the hotel he did. The New York designer says he strives for "magical sophistication." He loves color and uses it extensively throughout the hotel.

The decorator brings the outside indoors and has planted a geranium theme at the Grand. The bright red flower is incorporated into the décor from carpets and furniture to the scent of the soaps and shampoos in guest rooms. Two thousand geraniums line the hotel's famous veranda.

HOW TO GET THERE :

Getting to the Grand Hotel may require that you fly, shuttle, ferry and ride in a carriage. Your best bet: Fly to the Pellston, Mich., airport, 12 miles south of Mackinaw City. Commercial air service is available daily from Northwest Airlink through Detroit Metropolitan Airport and Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. (Air service taxi is available from Pellston Airport and from St. Ignace Airport to Mackinac Island Airport 24 hours daily. Call 906-643-7165.)

Wolverine Stages will shuttle you between Pellston Airport and the Mackinaw City ferry docks on a 24-hour basis, although reservations are recommended (1-800-825-1450). Ferry service to Mackinac Island from Mackinaw City and St. Ignace is provided by three boat lines from May to November. (With Arnold Transit, round-trip fare is $16 for adults, $8 for ages 5-12, free for younger than 5.) The ferries offer frequent crossings from early morning until early evening. If you drive, the docks offer ample parking. "Taxis" – horse-drawn carriages – are available at the docks. (The carriage to the Grand is $3.50 per person, one way.)

WHEN TO GO :

The Grand is open from May through October. Packages are available. A children's program is offered at no charge to registered guests from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Children must be 4 or older.

LODGING COST:

Peak season rates begin at $390 per couple per night. Contact: 1-800-334-7263; www.grandhotel.com.

But Mr. Varney doesn't stop with geraniums. He brings the entire garden inside in some rooms and boasts: "I can use five prints in one room and make it work." And unlike the cabins of most cruise ships, the guest rooms in the Grand are not cookie-cutter repetitious. Mr. Varney makes a decorative statement in each living area, ensuring that guests remember their room at the Grand.

"It's an elegant hotel that doesn't take itself too seriously," says Bob Tagatz, resort historian. It's all about romance and music.

The romance begins the moment guests arrive by ferry from either Mackinac City or St. Ignace. Horse-drawn carriages (cars are banned on the island) commanded by a driver decked out in top hat and tails whisk guests to the hotel about a half-mile up a hill. Guests ascend the red-carpeted staircase onto the Grand's best-known feature, its 660-foot porch, longer than two football fields. In shiplike fashion, "deck" chairs – white-wicker rocking chairs – line the long veranda, which overlooks the tea garden, swimming pool, golf course and lake. Bright yellow awnings shade the windows, and about a dozen American flags hang from the porch.

Punctuating the postcard-perfect scenery from the veranda is the Mackinac Bridge, which connects Michigan's Lower and Upper peninsulas. Five miles long, the Mighty Mac is the nation's longest steel suspension bridge.

Music adds to the romance. Nineteen full-time musicians are on staff to accompany each day's schedule, which is printed and slipped under guest room doors each morning – just as is done aboard cruise ships.

The desire for diversion was something the hotel's second general manager, James Reddington Hayes, understood during the 1890s. Every day he staged sporting events in the tea garden. Guests were invited to participate or to watch from the veranda.

The tradition of diversion, sans cruise director, continues today. Dining accounts for a large part of that because at the Grand, each meal is an experience.

Breakfast and a gourmet five-course dinner in the 1,000-seat Salle á Manger are included in the cost of a stay. Although casual wear is acceptable during the day, guests must dress up beginning at 6 p.m., in time for dinner. It's coat and tie for men, and women are asked to wear their finest. But a nice pant suit will do.

Cruiselike, diners select from a few options in each menu category. But instead of baked Alaska, the Grand's signature dessert is the Grand Pecan Ball.

A popular midday choice is the 100-foot-long Grand Luncheon Buffet featuring salads, seafood and incredible desserts. The cost is $25 for registered guests and $45 for visitors, but the sizable price doesn't keep buffet cruisers from coming aboard.

Picnic lunches are available, and additional offerings can be found at the Jockey Club by the golf course, the pool grill, Fort Mackinac Tea Room, Carleton's Tea Store or the Woods, which is a Bavarian restaurant set in a Tudor Mansion a carriage ride away in the island's interior. Its bar has the nation's oldest operating duckpin bowling alley, and guests are encouraged to knock down a few – pins, that is. A traditional afternoon tea, featuring imported blends, champagne, finger sandwiches and sweets, is served in the parlor each day by uniformed staff.

Then there are amenities you'd never find on a cruise ship.

Choices include an 18-hole golf course, four clay tennis courts, a 220-foot serpentine heated pool, an exercise room, and croquet and bocce games on a manicured lawn. A labyrinth path, made of stones in a clearing among the trees, provides a place for meditation.

The 167-acre grounds feature elaborate gardens filled with more than 100,000 bedding plants. One ton of bulbs are planted in the fall, including 24,000 tulips and 3,000 daffodils. A focal point of the tea garden is a horse-and-carriage topiary.

Guests can rent bikes or horses to ride, or they can shop. The bottom floor of the hotel is filled with stores, selling items ranging from souvenirs to elegant clothing and fine jewelry. And, of course, every good "ship" has its beauty salon.

Exploring the Grand is an experience not to take for granted. Non-registered guests have to pay $10 for the privilege. The Greek Revival-style hotel is filled with rare antiques and artworks.

The hotel has undergone 30 major renovations in its life, but still has exposed pipes. However, exposed pipes (a feature also found on ships) are "in – very trendy," assures Mr. Varney.

The multiple renovations and additions have created a floor plan that is not all that straightforward. "I feel like I'm on a ship," a guest was overheard saying, while asking in jest if she was on the Lido or the Promenade deck.

The last renovation, completed in 2001, added 42 rooms and extra space to the dining room. The Millennium Wing brings the total of guest rooms to more than 350. Topping the hotel is the Cupola Bar, which offers a great view.

Movies are shown each evening. Some are recent releases, but two favorites shown repeatedly were filmed at the Grand: This Time for Keeps (1949), starring Esther Williams and Jimmy Durante, and Somewhere in Time (1979), starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour.

After dinner, guests are served demitasse in the parlor. And each evening, guests dance to big band sounds in the Terrace Room. (Mark Twain, was the first person to lecture in this room.)

Of course, a photographer snaps pictures of guests looking their best. Copies are available for purchase next to the concierge desk. And throughout most of the Grand experience – the meals, the tea, the demitasse – music fills the air. As well as the clip-clop of horses' hooves.

More than 500 horses live on Mackinac Island from May until the end of October to transport the 1 million island guests. The number of human residents who live here year-round is only about 600.

Cars frightened the horses when they were introduced to the island in the late 1800s, so the vehicles were banned. The ban remains, making the only means of transportation carriage, bike, horse or foot. The transportation limitations can factor into planning "shore excursions" away from the resort. But exploring Mackinac Island is a must.

A carriage tour takes visitors past summer "cottages" (one is owned by former Texas Gov. James Hogg's family) and through the deeply wooded, 1,800-acre state park, which makes up 80 percent of the island. It became the nation's second national park (after Yellowstone) in 1875, then was turned over to Michigan in 1895. It features Fort Mackinac, one of the best spots on the island for taking photos; Arch Rock, a natural formation; and historic cemeteries.

Guests young and old love to bike the eight-mile highway that rings the island. Its distinction is that it's America's only highway with no automobile collisions. And visitors must stroll Huron Street, the island's main avenue, which bustles with carriages and bikes.

Few can resist the island's best-known export: fudge. About a dozen shops, with their copper kettles and marble slabs, are generously sprinkled among souvenir stores and bed-and-breakfast inns. Some visitors joke that the two most distinct scents on the island are fudge and horses.

Upon returning to the hotel, guests must have their "boarding passes" out (or at least be prepared to be quizzed) in order to avoid paying the $10 non-guest gawking fee. Guests are generally eager to return to the pampering provided by the Grand.

To ensure that the day's diversions are going swimmingly, the hotel employs nearly 600 well-trained staff members – almost two for every room – most of them from Jamaica. Ice buckets are filled each afternoon, and beds are turned down each night, with a chocolate left on the pillow.

Only animals fashioned out of towels would be needed to complete the cruise experience.