So many questions...

[LeeW]

We first started sailing on Princess and still do, but they don't go to Aruba much anymore.  Just some Winter longer sailings.  And much less to do for kids on Princess ships.

[RSS from SF]

54 minutes ago, LeeW said:

We first started sailing on Princess and still do, but they don't go to Aruba* much anymore.  Just some Winter longer sailings.  And much less to do for kids on Princess ships.

 

It's a little different for us.  We mostly stopped cruising Royal Caribbean while they stopped regular cruises from California for 10 years.  We don't have kids and haven't cruised with kids in our group of friends, so no problem there on Princess. 

 

*We did have a Royal Caribbean booking that included Aruba for my last milestone birthday, specifically because my birthday date coincided with our Aruba port stop (had a fancy exceptional dinner booked and everything).  However, this cruise was cancelled due to Hurricane Maria.

Now that Navigator of the Seas is coming to California we'll be cruising on Royal Caribbean again.  🙂

(In the interim we've done almost all Princess:  10 completed, 13 cancelled due to COVID, 11 more already booked.) 

 

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Edited April 14, 2021 by RSS from SF

[bourbon52]

On 4/13/2021 at 4:30 PM, Lynzeej said:

I'm curious about calling in to just get one drink package.  If it only took a phone call I think lots of people would be doing this to save money?  You'd have to prove you have a medical condition that proves you can't drink. 

 

What's Royal Up????

You can call and get one drink package, but they make you buy the soda/water/coffee package, at least that is what they had me do.

[LadyBerard]

I am a HUGE fan of the Sonesta on Fort Lauderdale Beach.  Many places to walk to......bars, restaurants, the Galleria Mall is just .7 miles from the hotel too.   https://www.sonesta.com/us/florida/fort-lauderdale/sonesta-fort-lauderdale-beach/our-hotel

 

[vacationlover_mn]

15 hours ago, Lynzeej said:

I've looked into this Embassy...kinda pricey ($330 per night)? Ouch.

Big free breakfast and pretty good free happy hour, nice location where you can walk to stuff.  It’s pricey, but we like it 🙂

[xpcdoojk]

On 4/13/2021 at 6:13 PM, Sunshine3601 said:

Embassy does have a great breakfast buffet and sometimes I stay here to use their laundry room in between cruises.   Also, a decent evening happy hour.    And shopping center behind it is easy walk to get my 2 bottles of wine to take on the cruise.   they offer the shuttle bus to the cruise port but I found it cheaper to take uber to the port.  

We stayed in two different Embassy Suites over Valentine’s Day weekend.  I booked the ES because of the superior breakfast.  Since it was the first time I had stayed in a hotel since one night last September in a full scale upscale Hilton.  The breakfasts were gooey eggs, canned biscuits, cold pancakes, cold bacon, and cups of yogurt.  It was worse than pre pandemic LQ breakfast.  Definitely not worth the upgrade.  The cocktail hour was so bad, we didn’t bother on the second night, just went to Ruth Chris and had a cocktail pre-dinner for Valentine’s Day.  

 

We stayed last month in St Louis to go to a Blues game (another bad experience in the Covid19 world)m the Hilton there is one of the best Hilton’s any where I have ever stayed including London, Versailles or Tokyo.  In the past they had a wonderful breakfast, and it was still good, but the fresh squeezed OJ was replaced with a bottle of Tropicana.😆

 

I am just saying, don’t book your hotel because of the food you remember.

[Sunshine3601]

17 hours ago, Lynzeej said:

I've looked into this Embassy...kinda pricey ($330 per night)? Ouch.

I just went onto embassy website and was quoted $222 per night for march 2022.     As this a suite hotel I am pretty sure all rooms consist of separate living room and bedroom with either 2 full or queens or 1 Ks bed and usually sofa in living room is a pullout sofa bed.

[RFerrington]

26 minutes ago, xpcdoojk said:

We stayed in two different Embassy Suites over Valentine’s Day weekend.  I booked the ES because of the superior breakfast.  Since it was the first time I had stayed in a hotel since one night last September in a full scale upscale Hilton.  The breakfasts were gooey eggs, canned biscuits, cold pancakes, cold bacon, and cups of yogurt.  It was worse than pre pandemic LQ breakfast.  Definitely not worth the upgrade.  The cocktail hour was so bad, we didn’t bother on the second night, just went to Ruth Chris and had a cocktail pre-dinner for Valentine’s Day.  

 

We stayed last month in St Louis to go to a Blues game (another bad experience in the Covid19 world)m the Hilton there is one of the best Hilton’s any where I have ever stayed including London, Versailles or Tokyo.  In the past they had a wonderful breakfast, and it was still good, but the fresh squeezed OJ was replaced with a bottle of Tropicana.😆

 

I am just saying, don’t book your hotel because of the food you remember.

I feel your pain.  We have had similar experiences lately with the Marriott Executive Lounges.  They used to be a really nice perk of being upper tier Marriott, but lately they are worse than a Holiday Express complimentary breakfast bar.  We no longer seek out the Marriotts that have Executive Lounges (there aren't many left anyway).  We still use Marriott b/c we have so many points and we still have our tier levels but once we lose our status, we will no longer use Marriott unless it just happens to be the best choice.  I'm sure they would blame the plague if we ever brought up the decline in service, but I believe that the plague is just an excuse at this point (last year, yes.  This year, nope).

[AF-1]

All the hotels by cruise port will vary in price.  Keep checking for prices drops.  Hope you find a nice hotel and a good price.  Have a great day.