More about Embassy Suites Hotel Orlando - International Drive / Jamaican
Excellent Service and Value equals a great experience
by TripAdvisor Member HareWeGo
Embassy Suites Jamaican Court
This is just an update to the many positive reviews for this hotel. As with other Embassy Suites, the quality of service and cleanliness exceeds expectations.
The location is also critical, especially on International Drive, which can become incredibly congestive. 2 miles from Universal and Wet’n’Wild, less than 5 miles from SeaWorld, and straight down I4 to all Disney locations.
The décor is more businesslike than Disney / vacation like.
A couple of points:
The hotel is located on a Court road, which is off of International Drive thus very quiet at night. You will not hear the International Drive traffic (which can be extensive during peak season), from the hotel.
TIP: Keep in mind the hotels West side faces Interstate 4. If you have a room on the sixth, seventh or eighth floors facing west, you may hear the I4 traffic, especially at night. We were located on the 8th floor and heard many of the trucks that utilize the I4 corridor. Not extensively loud but enough if you were sleeping in a bed closest to the window. Speaking of beds, the pullout sofa bed should only be used for kids. There was really no support for any type of adult.
We had no issues with the “cook to order” breakfast; excellent service and the waits only vary up to about 10 minutes.
TIP: Get breakfast before 8:30 am and you will have no wait. Breakfast went till 10 am.
I was somewhat disappointed with the indoor / outdoor pool. Very, very small for a Florida / Disney location. The indoor / outdoor is actually the same pool. I’m guessing about 12’ x 25’ rectangle shape with the middle splitting the indoor with outdoor sections.
Compared to other “suites” that I have stayed at, I was surprised to see the size of the living room area was relatively smaller than what I expected. The bed room size was spacious. I had a corner room that shared a primary door entrance with another room. My room had a door the opened into an entrance way that was shared with another room. I had to use my key twice to enter my room. There were probably no more than four of these types of entrances / rooms per floor. Fitting two adults and two kids was just adequate.
If you drive, take advantage of your location when leaving and returning to your hotel. If you do it correctly, you can avoid most of the International Drive traffic. Do you homework with the local maps.
Also, take advantage of eateries located east on West Salt Lake Road, (See my Dining Tips). Approx. 5 miles east of the hotel is the Florida Mall. It will have just about every type of eatery that International Drive has to offer, with the exceptions of the long waiting crowds.
We booked our hotel through a SeaWorld Vacation package which made the cost of the room a great value. (Look into SeaWorld Vacations, great service).
Great service and value makes this a great buy for staying off-site of Disney.
Very pleased with the Embassy Suites
by TripAdvisor Member eternaltourist
We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at this hotel.Rooms were very clean and spacious and the staff were very helpful at all times. Complimentary breakfast was more than adequate with cooked to order breakfast, fruit ,muffins,toast,bagels,pancakes,cereals etc. Free beer, cocktails, soft drinks every evening from 5.30 pm until 7.30 pm. The pool was a little on the small size but never got busy so we found it more than adequate.Hotel was close to all amenities and I would definately stay here again.
Not a bad deal
by TripAdvisor Member lunachick73
I booked it through Universal Studios and got 6 nights plus Universal 5 day tickets for 2 adults and 1 child for just under $1000.00 The included breakfast was very good(fresh made to order omlettes every morning) and the managers reception in the evening was abonus(free beer, soda, mixed drinks).
Room could have been cleaned a little better. When we got to our room my husband noticed 2 M&Ms under the table(but in plain view) and we left them just to see if they would be there all week. They were there when we checked out. Oh well.
Jacuzzi was nice the first day. By the second or third day it needed more water in it . Pool was OK. My son enjoyed it.
The room layout was excellent. There was a seperate living room area from the bedroom. Each area had it's own TV which is perfect after walking around the parks all day and the kids want to watch cartoons and mom and dad want to catch the news.
I would definately stay again and would reccommend this hotel to anyone.
nice hotel, but some problems
by TripAdvisor Member holsmania
we stayed here for weeks in sept/oct
its a nice hotel, rooms good, tv in each room.
breakfast was very good .
free bar each day at 5.30 to 7.30 was good but service was slow the days janice was serving, she liked to talk more than serve.
our room backed onto a road which was quite noisy in mornings, and our front room overlooked hotels indoor water fountain which came on at 6.30 in morning and was very loud, it went off after midnight which was too late. bar closed at 11.oo pm which was a little early if you wanted to sit in and have a drink, although nobody seemed to use the bar after the free drinks time.
overall we were happy here but it was not really a holiday like hotel, would maybe stay somewhere else next time, but i would not deter anyone from staying here
Will a different Orlando Embassy Suites next time
by TripAdvisor Member mj1990
This was our first time staying at an Embassy Suites in Orlando as we usually stay onsite at Disney World hotel resorts, but we wanted to visit Universal Orlando. We selected this one as it is the one of the three Orlando Embassy Suites which is located closest to Universal and they even have a daily Universal shuttle BUT we never did use the it as you need to call in a reservation first! It only runs once or twice in the morning there and once or twice in the evening back. This Embassy Suites needs updating. In our first room the A/C unit was so loud that we couldn't carry on a conversation and the bathtub drain would barely drain for even just a shower. They had other rooms, fortunately, so they immediately switched us out. The second room was better in that the A/C noise and bathtub drainage were no longer issues, but it still needed updating. However, the second room opened into a common area which was shared by the room next door ... this seems to allow for if 2 groups want semi-inter-connecting rooms. Each room still had its own individual locking door so we didn't really think much of it other than this was our first time seeing this configuration. We were here 4 nights and beginning on the 3rd night a group moved into the room next door. There must've been a family of 10 in there because we'd see them going in and out and they would let the door bang at all hours of the day and night! We were out theme-parking all day so we decided to grin and bear it. The 4th night was really bad, they were constantly banging the door (or letting it bang as the doors don't have any hydraulics to soften the closure) but we consoled ourselves with the fact that we were leaving the next morning to check into a Disney resort hotel. Anyhow, upon check-out we complained to the manager and she agreeably waived our last night's hotel fee. That appeased us, however, we'll try a different Embassy Suites next time around. The 3 that are located within Orlando are all not that far from Disney nor Universal especially with a car. I don't think you are more than 20 mins. if staying at any of those 3. We may try the convention center one next time.
A Universal Partner Hotel!!! Excellent!!
by TripAdvisor Member crazyforthemeparks
Heard this was a Universal Partner Hotel meaning an approved hotel of Universal Orlando Resort because of its quality, reputation and customer service. They were right!! What a great hotel! It offered FREE scheduled transportation to the Universal theme parks, a desk in the lobby to purchase your theme park tickets and food and merchandise discounts redeemable at the park just because we stayed at a Universal Partner Hotel. Definately recommend this hotel --Look at all the perks you get!
good value
by TripAdvisor Member jajones42
A good value .Certainly is not the nicest E. S. that I have stayed in but a good value and good location. It is the process of an update now and should improve.Public areas,breakfast ,free happy hour ,and service were above average.Reported a bug problem in the first room and was promptly moved.Would stay here again.
fantastic hotel kids loved it!!!!
by TripAdvisor Member jay.gorman
This hotel is right in the heart of everything, staff very helpful and friendly always smiling. Free drinks and snacks every night between 5.30 and 7.30pm at the bar. The free breakfast is the best you get everything you want and the waiters even tidy up after you. Couldnt of asked for any more would definately stay here again very child friendly. We stayed here for 2 weeks in sept 06 a little out of season but fantastic weather most of hotel had conventions going on and staying here but still made welcome and not made to feel out of place. There were 2 adults and 4 very lively children staying would recommend it to everyone.
No problems at all
by TripAdvisor Member wizard9999
Loved the stay here. With a family of two kids, we wanted some flexibility and a bit of extra space. This hotel provided that. The free breakfast was awesome - it was very well put together. It was close to everywhere we wanted to go. The staff was courteous. We didnt end up using the pool. The rooms were spacious. We really enjoyed it and would go there again in a heartbeat.
