BobT172

We have booked Embassy Suites for 1 night pre-cruise. Question: Is there a door separating the living room from the bed room? We feel we really need to be able to have a quiet sleeping area for the little one. If you have stayed there, please describe the suite lay-out.

 

Thanks in advance.

The suites are typical Embassy Suites...deep and narrow. The living room area is immediately as you walk in...couch, desk, chairs, etc.... the bathroom is off a small "transiton area" where the wet bar is located (in some rooms it is located off the bedroom).. then into the bedroom area...yes..it does have doors...TV in both the living room and bedroom...

The last two times we have stayed there (this past March and August), the Manager's Recpetion was held at the pool bar and not out in the atrium. Don't know why. It is much more conjested and less seating. However, the atrium is still open so you could still get your drinks and play there.

The Embassy Suites is nice, but be forewarned if you are going to eat there. The food is very expensive. We stayed there last year after a cruise and had a sandwich in the restaurant. Two turkey sandwiches and tea was $40+. A little steep for me. We had a room with a small balcony. The door was stuck, and we developed muscles trying to get it open.

We never eat at tghe ES... there are several good resturants in the immediate area... we always favor the Outback Steakhouse which is right out the side door and thru the parking lot...3 minute walk.

Here is a map of the port...17th ST and the Embassy Suites is at the top. You can see pier two which Princess uses most of the time...but we have also boarded on Pier 29 when two was also in use.

It is a large port... even tho you might think it is walkable, it is a distance with luggage and all...worth the few bucks for a shuttle or taxi.

At Pier Two, you will be the first ones dropped off by the shuttle.

The shuttle from Embassy Suites to the port is continuous... the hotel is very popular with cruisers so it is a large minivan that will make multiple stops. You sign up for it with your selected time at the Concierge desk right next to check in... it is $7pp.

I would recommend that you verify which pier your ship is at. There is a very large lightbopard as you enter the port that tells which pier each ship is at. Make sure your friver is taking you to the right pier.

The only reason I caution that is a few years ago we were sailing Princess and didn't know there was more than one Princess ship in port. The driver dropped us off at the wrong one and it took hours to find our luggage again and get to the proper pier.

We have never had a problem at this Embassy Suites.

We have stayed there about 10 times prior to our cruises. It has become part of our cruise tradition... but I agree with both of the above posts... the place is alittle tired and there are a few things that need improvement but the location and bennies are great. There is an Outback Steakhouse right out the back door, a Waxy Oconnors across the street, a Publix, Total Wine, Walgreens,e tc all within an easy walk.

They discontinued the shuttle from the airport a few years ago but its only $15. Transportation to the port is $7 per person.

We will be staying there again for our next cruise.

We've been to princess Cays about 6 times. We are not beach type people but we always get off to enjoy the area for awhile... wife checks the shops... we enjoy a drink or two at the bar... the barbque is nice (never had sand in food)...tenders always have gone pretty smoothly..

We may only go ashore for two hours or so but we do enjoy it. We've been to other cruise lines beaches and Princess Cays is by far the best.

I can understand many folks take advantage of the day to enjoy the less crowded pools on board.

My boyfriend and I just got engaged on the Crown Princess sailing 4/24-5/1. We both love cruising and I'm debating if we should get married on the ship.

 

Those of you who have gotten married on the ship, would you recommend it? I'm just worried that some of my family is going to be upset because they can't afford to come and see the wedding.

 

Any thoughts or comments would be appreciated! :)

Our daughter was married on the Ruby Princess (twin sister to the Crown) in 2009. It was the greatest experience and we would highly recommend it but there are several things you must be aware of.

There was a post on the Princess web site that had some discussion on it. Check it out here

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1182890&highlight=

If you have any questions, we would be glad to answer them.

Check out Vines on Deck 5. The sushi should be complimentary with your purchase of a glass of wine.

The cruise line's Wedding Department is completely separate from the cruise line itself, and has an additional charge.

I agree imsulin... I think the onshore wedding people we dealt with were not Princess employees...probably had never been on a ship They could not answer alot of our questions... we had to deal with a supervisor and even that was not the best. That is why I highly recommend that the first thing when getting on board is to get with the ship's wedding coordinator and go over your paperwork/contract and make sure he has all the info he needs. He will make it right if there are any disconncets. The communications between the onshore people and the onboard coordinator left something to be desired.

The onboard wedding coordinator was a ships officer...uniform and all. Did a great job.

If I remember there we several picture options available in the paperwork. You should get that from Princess ASAP and nail down a date. We picked a package in the range of $200-250...I forget what it entailed. But after seeing all the great work the photog did (her name was Lucille) she printed additonal pictures taken of the entire group (one for each attendee) at no cost then offered us a disc of all the pics she took (800+) for about $350-400 more. We got them all.

She took numerous pics at the wedding preparation, at the ceremony, on the Bridge ( a special visit there for the wedding couple) walking throughout the ship, in the main Piazza areas ( a pic of each attendee or couple separately with the bride/groom plus group shots), and at the reception. The quality was top shelf.

Here are a few more to show you what she did..

this is the one we had printed into a canvas portrait

Hope this helps....

Our daughter got married by the Captain on the Ruby Princess January 2009. We had about 30 guests total. In a word, it was "FANTASTIC"!

We picked Princess, not only because we like the line but mainly because its the only one who married at sea. It has to do with the princess ships being registered in Bermuda. All the other lines did not offer any marriages by the Captain but did have arrangements for marriages at dockside or, if you wished, you could arrange your own wedding somewhere on land. I have seen more than one bride running off the ship in her gown to her wedding in a hassle.

Our on board wedding coordinator, Luis Renna, and the crew did an outstanding job...we were so pleased. Our wishes went beyond just the wedding which was held in the Hearts and Minds chapel, ...we had a pianist at the wedding, an hour reception in the Wheelhouse Lounge (closed to other for our private event) with h'oderves (sp?), cake, open bar, pictures, flowers, DJ... tho it was priced for an hour, it actually went about 1 1/2.

Then later that evening we had a wedding dinner in the Crown Grill and had a wine/liquor package as part of it.

We got the photo package that was offered but it actually turned out better, The pics were professionally perfect... over 800 pics throughout the ship..we bought them all on a disc... the resolution is so great that we had one made into a 16x20 portrait on canvas thru CVS Pharmacy web site for like $70...would have been hundreds on board ship.

The only negative thing was all the hassle with the arrangements. You deal with a group that I think are not Princess employees... they were not able to answer many of the detailed questions you would have for such an event... there is a ton pf paperwork to complete (over 20 pages)...

Despite that, I would higly recommend to go this way...being married by the Captain at sea was so great... they only do 2 per sea day so plan way ahead...the demand is high.

I would recommend that as soon as you get on board to meet with the wedding coordination and go over the details of what you ordered and expect. The onshore folks did not communicate very well with the onboard coordinator but he worked hardo make things perfect.

Being on the cruise, it turned out to be like a week long wedding ... a good time was hard by all.

On other thing I would recommend (and to any cruiser) is to fly in at least a day ahead. We all flew into FLL a day early, stayed at the Embassy Suites, and all had a great evening socializing.

I would be glad to try to answer any questions you have.

Good luck.

About 4 years ago on the Crown Princess...$500 in the slot tournament.

AS a VP player, in 8 Princess cruises on 8 different ships, I have not seen any VP tourneys offered.

Plenty of slot tourneys and BJ tourneys, but never one for VP.

Ditto that!! Haven't seen a VP tournament in 15 Princess cruises...

I am usually a VP player in Vegas and other places but the payback on the cruise VPs is pathetic, IMHO. I switch to other slots on a cruise.