Embassy suites Fort Lauderdale

[ballonewb]

Can anyone confirm if the embassy suites near port Everglades is undergoing a refurbishment?

[Itchy&Scratchy]

can't confirm, but when we were there on March 29, they told us the refurbishment was supposed to start in April.

[d9704011]

We were there in April; the guest elevators were being refurbished (nearly complete at that time).  Service elevator was available for guest use and, overall, we had zero problems.  Did not see any preparation for additional refurbishment.

[NHNEV2003]

Yes they are--we were just there 2 weeks ago.

Floors 12-10 were closed--they are working their way down from the top.

[ballonewb]

That’s great. They got a great location and pool. Glad the rooms are getting much needed love. 

[wwcruisers]

Hope that people will post more on the ES renovation, as it happens. We used to love the ES for a pre-cruise stay of a night or two. But when we were there in Feb.'23, we were horrified by the hotel's condition. At that time, the manager told us that they were planning a major re-do, later that same year. I was sad to see that it didn't happen. So, I guess that this is better-late-than-never. But, I will have to see some very positive post-renovation reviews, before I would consider booking that ES again.🫤

Edited Saturday at 05:59 PM by wwcruisers

[ilv4cruising]

21 hours ago, wwcruisers said:

Hope that people will post more on the ES renovation, as it happens. We used to love the ES for a pre-cruise stay of a night or two. But when we were there in Feb.'23, we were horrified by the hotel's condition. At that time, the manager told us that they were planning a major re-do, later that same year. I was sad to see that it didn't happen. So, I guess that this is better-late-than-never. But, I will have to see some very positive post-renovation reviews, before I would consider booking that ES again.🫤

We also liked to stay at the ES pre-cruise for a few nights but we haven't been back since 2019.  We have a cruise coming up in January and we are hoping to stay there again.

 

We are also hoping others will post updates on the hotel's condition or I will have to look for somewhere else to stay 😞 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

23 hours ago, ilv4cruising said:

We are also hoping others will post updates on the hotel's condition or I will have to look for somewhere else to stay

it wasn't awful-awful in April of this year. Not worth more than $150 during peak season, but I paid $160+tax when all the other hotels around were $289+, so I am not complaining.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/3002524-a-great-first-cruise-on-celebrity-reflection-review-dailies-menus-food-and-cabin-pics-march-2024/#comment-67222827

 

Surprisingly, it wasn't the worst hotel we stayed at.

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

We have come to prefer the Doubletree GalleryOne.  Better location, larger rooms, and great service.  Plus several nice places to eat across the street and the water taxi stops in front.  

[wwcruisers]

7 minutes ago, ATSEAMYLIFE said:

We have come to prefer the Doubletree GalleryOne.  Better location, larger rooms, and great service.  Plus several nice places to eat across the street and the water taxi stops in front.  

Thank you -- didn't know that there was a Doubletree in that area!

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

6 minutes ago, wwcruisers said:

Thank you -- didn't know that there was a Doubletree in that area!

Great little French Bakery "Anna's" across the street.  There's the Galleria Mall for shopping.  PF Chang's, Blue Martini, Season's 52 at the Mall or take the water taxi to other stops.  

[ilv4cruising]

58 minutes ago, ATSEAMYLIFE said:

We have come to prefer the Doubletree GalleryOne.  Better location, larger rooms, and great service.  Plus several nice places to eat across the street and the water taxi stops in front.  

Thank you. I’ll check it out. 

[George C]

19 hours ago, ATSEAMYLIFE said:

We have come to prefer the Doubletree GalleryOne.  Better location, larger rooms, and great service.  Plus several nice places to eat across the street and the water taxi stops in front.  

I will also check this our for our March cruise , had a terrible stay at EB , last few times we did Hilton marina.

[ilv4cruising]

1 hour ago, George C said:

I will also check this our for our March cruise , had a terrible stay at EB , last few times we did Hilton marina.

Hi,

 

I'm curious to know how long ago you stayed at EB.  It has been years since we did the HIlton marina but, for the price of the room, we weren't that impressed. 

[wwcruisers]

3 hours ago, George C said:

I will also check this our for our March cruise , had a terrible stay at EB , last few times we did Hilton marina.

George -- we're trying to decide between the Hyatt Place (10th St) and the Hilton Marina -- have never stayed at either one. If you could answer a couple of questions about the Hilton Marina, it would help me immensely:

-- is there a free/low-cost airport shuttle?

-- do they offer a shuttle (for a fee) to the pier?

-- what is within walking distance, in the way of shops/restaurants/liquor stores?

Among the things that we used to love about the ES (before they ran it into the ground) was the location -- walking distance from everything. Plus, they had reasonably priced transportation to both the airport and cruise ports.

[George C]

5 minutes ago, wwcruisers said:

George -- we're trying to decide between the Hyatt Place (10th St) and the Hilton Marina -- have never stayed at either one. If you could answer a couple of questions about the Hilton Marina, it would help me immensely:

-- is there a free/low-cost airport shuttle?

-- do they offer a shuttle (for a fee) to the pier?

-- what is within walking distance, in the way of shops/restaurants/liquor stores?

Among the things that we used to love about the ES (before they ran it into the ground) was the location -- walking distance from everything. Plus, they had reasonably priced transportation to both the airport and cruise ports.

Embassy suites definitely has more walkable restaurants and bars , neither offers a free shuttle but both are a short distance from pier , I love that Hilton marina is on the water and there is a outside bar by the water and you can see ship from hotel in the morning. 

[George C]

2 hours ago, ilv4cruising said:

Hi,

 

I'm curious to know how long ago you stayed at EB.  It has been years since we did the HIlton marina but, for the price of the room, we weren't that impressed. 

It was after sailing resumed after covid, staff was terrible, breakfast eggs etc were cold . We stayed there many times before covid and never had a problem.

[Hlitner]

We have had a long-time love/hate relationship with this Embassy Suite property.  The location is perfect, for us, since it is within easy walking distance of Kelly's Landing (the best Maine lobster and chowder), close to Total Wines, etc.  A few years ago, they did a major renovation to their lobby area.  But we have also found that many of the rooms are somewhat "worn" or even shabby, furniture is often old and stained or chipped, etc.  IMHO, the rooms are not up to the usual ES standards.  If they are truly in the process of renovating their rooms, our thought is "it is about time!"

 

As to the breakfast , one can have eggs made to order (such as omelets) and they come right off the grill to a plate to your hand.  If one chooses to take the pre-made scrambled eggs, they get what they get!  To us, it is the typical ES breakfast, but on weekends the venue is packed with cruisers and can take some patience to deal with the crowd.  The evening cocktail time (2 free drinks per person) is also typical ES.  

 

There are no free shuttles for this ES, but they do offer paid shuttles.  We avoid those shuttles because they are crowded, folks must wait around until the vans are loaded, and may find themselves going to 3 or 4 stops at the port before finally getting to their ship.  We simply use Uber/Lyft, which is reasonably priced, and takes us from the hotel door to our ship.  

 

I will add that we have never found the ideal property, from a quality/value perspective, in a convenient location.  The ES is better than many, not as good as many others, but apparently good enough for many as the place is usually full or near full.

 

Hank