Penthouse Suites at CSS

[mhw]

Can anyone tell me about the penthouse suites at CSS? We just booked one for next year and I was wondering about the differences. From what I have been able to gather no two are alike. The only pictures I have been able to find are on flikr and are of the Prime Minister's Suite. Thanks in advance!

[rjammin]

Do a search, "CSS Penthouse" and you'll see about 100+ pictures, comments etc. Everything you ever wanted to know about the Penthouses at CSS

[suzyQ]

Hi mhw!
My husband and I stayed in the Steve McQueen Suite in February and had a fabulous time. The Steve McQueen Suite is in Block D, room 14. We are heading back to CSS for New Years 2010 and for my 50th birthday in July 2011, and have booked Penthouse Suites for both trips. I don't think that you can go wrong staying in any of the Penthouse Suites!

Take care,
suzyQ

[mhw]

Thanks so much! I am sure we will love whichever one we get!

[sunstarsmoon]

Hi mhw!
My husband and I stayed in the Steve McQueen Suite in February and had a fabulous time. The Steve McQueen Suite is in Block D, room 14. We are heading back to CSS for New Years 2010 and for my 50th birthday in July 2011, and have booked Penthouse Suites for both trips. I don't think that you can go wrong staying in any of the Penthouse Suites!

Take care,
suzyQ

SuzyQ We are also going to be booking for July 2011 and I will be turning 50 as well. (also getting married at Css)

wow what a small world!

[jcjcnj]

We stayed in the Franginpani Suite on our trip the end of Jan. The living room was spacious, the view wonderful. But everything else about the room was not to our liking. It was not private except for when you kept the side window curtains drawn closed and stayed inside the living room. The bedroom had one small window that overlooked the stairs to the Balloon Bar and Lobby. The small window in the bath had the same issue. So the curtains and blinds had to be closed over, making the room dark and any benefit of having windows on the outside wall null. The second window in the bedroom overlooked the parking lot off the Balloon Bar and the walkway and there were people constantly coming and going. I learned I could close over the shutters so that I did not have to leave the darkening drapes closed at all times.

The bathroom was a tiny, basic motel bathroom. No water issues, tho, so can't complain too much.

The balcony was open on one side to be at eye level to the entertainment stage. Since the wall does not go up all the way on the side that boarded our neighbors, who were out there all the time, it made standing at the railing uncomfortable. The balcony was ok for sitting at the table. Not good for using the loungers. Did sit in them one early morning and once late at night. We felt that we spent too much of our time in the living room to avoid feeling out in the open. Not our idea of getting out of the winter months weather. Fortunately the glass doors are huge and we could open them wide and enjoy some fresh air.

We did not request a location. We just reserved a penthouse suite. We spent time on this board and on TA and did the search of the penthouse suites, we just felt that they all seemed good so we just decided to go with whatever we got. I suspect we got the worst one on the property.

I know that people say you don't spend much time in your room. But you spend too much time in your room to have it not be a pleasant experience. I did not go to spend time in a living room as if I were in some sort of high rise building without an outside.

The room situation pretty much soured the entire trip. I have not sent in my review of our trip as I wanted to give some time to settle down and try to have it be beyond the initial disappointment. It is written and I plan on sending it to management.

We had been to CSA twice before and decided to try Ocho. We lived on our veranda there. We had a corner both times. Privacy was never an issue. We stayed in an Ocean Veranda both times so we are not ones to go for the top rooms. We did here and were disappointed.

Our friends who were repeaters on our recommendation, had a suite in D, I believe it was the Harry Belafonte Suite and it was more convenient to both areas of the resort. The living room was smaller than ours, but their outside space was huge. They had one and a half baths. The full bath had a huge tiled walk in shower. They by far had a better room, although for hanging out late at night when things were quiet, our living room was a great spot to be comfortable.

I know you are not able to reserve a specific room, but had I known that there were penthouse suites that had so many negative aspects to it we would have gone for the Oceanview, 1 Bedroom. Which we went back and forth on.

We would have requested a change in room but we had already moved on our second day to the room category we had reserved 7 months earlier. Upon check in we were informed that the rooms we had reserved would not be available to us for the week. They had set us up in the Beachfront Suite and would reimburse us the difference. It was not about the money, the difference in the room cost was so small it was a non-issue there, but we had never considered the Beachfront as we planned to spend some time with our friends and those balconies are set up for two. Stayed our first night there. Moved the second day as two rooms somehow became available.

Live and learn. One of the things I remember about CSA was being completely happy in the small room with no seating because we could spend time outside on the veranda. What a disappointment this suite was at CSS.