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Are there different floor plans for the GulfFront villas at Marriott's Crystal Shores? If so, would you recommend requesting one over the other? Thanks for any input!
Yes, there are split plans where the bedrooms are split by the living room. Then there are some where the two bedrooms are together with the living room on one end. I beleive the corner units are split and the middle stack have the bedrooms together. If you have two couples traveling together, the split floor plan will give you more privacy.
Finishing our week at Crystal Shores and checking out tomorrow; first time at this resort. The beach area is flat and beautiful and kept very clean. The pool areas and other resort amenities are beautiful. The villas a spacious and beautifully appointed. Rental fees for loungers and umbrellas was reasonable, and we really liked that they had loungers so a person could lie down & nap if they wanted to. Rental fees can be charged to your room. A good number of restaurants are within walking distance.
If we were to return to Crystal Shores, we would only consider using the necessary points to be placed in the Gulf front Osprey Tower. We were told during the presentation we attended that legacy owners trading in would never be placed in the gulf front building.
Our experience this January week at Crystal Shores.....We were placed in villa 911, which is in the Osprey Tower with Gulf views. The weather during our stay has been unusually cold and had frequent rain events, so we've spent more time in the villa than any of our other trips. With temps in the 60's and a stiff breeze all week but for one day, it's been too cool to comfortably be on the beach or at any of the pools (a beach umbrella just turned inside out from the winds!). The Gulf view Osprey and Egret buildings face a service road as well as, the public access walkway. If you are a person who likes to sit on the balcony in the morning and read or have coffee/breakfast, you will be greeted almost daily with either the banging of trash containers being picked up by garbage trucks (Marriott's & Hilton next property over); Marriott staff letting the trash container lids bang close; large trucks making deliveries; or loud vehicle noise on Collier Blvd. Unfortunately, we didn't know Villa 911 is immediately adjacent to a staff service elevator, which began frequently being used daily at 6am, so sleeping in wasn't possible. For us, Ocean Pointe is preferred over Crystal Shores.
If we were to return to Crystal Shores, we would only consider using the necessary points to be placed in the Gulf front Osprey Tower. We were told during the presentation we attended that legacy owners trading in would never be placed in the gulf front building.
This certainly isn't the case. Being placed into Gulf Front at Crystal Shores on an II exchange is going to be mostly about luck and what the owner deposited. First, II exchanges are hard there to begin with and require a lot of trade power, but if the week you traded into was a gulf front deposit, you will get the gulf front villa. They don't move unit types around just based on how you booked. So if your Unit Code from the II exchange is TBOF, you will have a gulf front villa. This was our experience in September.
Our experience this January week at Crystal Shores.....We were placed in villa 911, which is in the Osprey Tower with Gulf views. The weather during our stay has been unusually cold and had frequent rain events, so we've spent more time in the villa than any of our other trips. With temps in the 60's and a stiff breeze all week but for one day, it's been too cool to comfortably be on the beach or at any of the pools (a beach umbrella just turned inside out from the winds!). The Gulf view Osprey and Egret buildings face a service road as well as, the public access walkway. If you are a person who likes to sit on the balcony in the morning and read or have coffee/breakfast, you will be greeted almost daily with either the banging of trash containers being picked up by garbage trucks (Marriott's & Hilton next property over); Marriott staff letting the trash container lids bang close; large trucks making deliveries; or loud vehicle noise on Collier Blvd. Unfortunately, we didn't know Villa 911 is immediately adjacent to a staff service elevator, which began frequently being used daily at 6am, so sleeping in wasn't possible. For us, Ocean Pointe is preferred over Crystal Shores.
Oddly enough, villa 911 was the exact same villa we had back in mid-November and we didn't notice any of the noise issues you experienced, at least we didn't notice it enough for it to be a bother. I think we may have heard the service elevator once or twice but didn't consider it a problem and we easily slept in to at least 9 most days. Did hear a couple ambulance or fire truck sirens on Collier, but wasn't a big deal. The balconies do face north, so no sun on the balcony, but we had the beach for that. Still a great view of the Gulf and we wouldn't hesitate to book Gulf Side again for the point savings.
We'll be at Ocean Pointe in early March for the first time. Just found an Ocean Front Studio there within the 60 day 30% points discount booking window, so decided to go for it.
We were 916 in Sept and had no issues but it's pool side. I have seen quite a few people complain about the noise from the service road when on the north side of the building.
This certainly isn't the case. Being placed into Gulf Front at Crystal Shores on an II exchange is going to be mostly about luck and what the owner deposited. First, II exchanges are hard there to begin with and require a lot of trade power, but if the week you traded into was a gulf front deposit, you will get the gulf front villa. They don't move unit types around just based on how you booked. So if your Unit Code from the II exchange is TBOF, you will have a gulf front villa. This was our experience in September.
Oddly enough, villa 911 was the exact same villa we had back in mid-November and we didn't notice any of the noise issues you experienced, at least we didn't notice it enough for it to be a bother. I think we may have heard the service elevator once or twice but didn't consider it a problem and we easily slept in to at least 9 most days. Did hear a couple ambulance or fire truck sirens on Collier, but wasn't a big deal. The balconies do face north, so no sun on the balcony, but we had the beach for that. Still a great view of the Gulf and we wouldn't hesitate to book Gulf Side again for the point savings.
We'll be at Ocean Pointe in early March for the first time. Just found an Ocean Front Studio there within the 60 day 30% points discount booking window, so decided to go for it.
We were placed in the Osprey bldg near to the Egret bldg; I don't remember what floor we were on. Balcony was fairly large and view was angle view of the ocean and another hotel in the straight view. We were happy with our placement. We were told ocean front units were strictly for Crystal Shore owners. In looking at the resort map, I don't see that the two bldgs are connected and I remember using the elevator quite a bit.
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