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Sapphire Falls Resort

The Universal site doesn't really have much pictures online of their hotels,hotel maps, etc. What building/location do you guys think is the best?
 
I brought this up but idk if it got lost. I've heard reviews about rooms having up close views of the parking garage, making for a weird and awkward view. Which rooms are these and what tower is the best overall to stay in?
 
I'm hearing many people saying they like Cabana Bay overall compared to SF. The exterior looks more luxurious at SF but is that all?

Sounds like I made the correct choice in picking SF over CBBR when I was offered the same rate for each. The water taxi was the deciding factor for me ( although I did forget that SF charges more for parking than CBBR does).

Your points are very valid @martymcflyy85! We have not been since SF opened so any opinion we had of CBBR was made without comparison. We tend to go in less crowded times. The buses always seemed to come quick and the only time we had lines leaving the park was when we stayed at CBBR for HHN and even then, the buses can quickly, but we still needed to wait for the 4th or so bus.

Last time we were up there was for Mardi Gras and it was the first time we experienced the metal detectors at the parking hub. One day was miserable where the line extended back further than the stairs you come up from where the bus drops you off. The next day we got there with no line at all...but that first day made us feel it was not worth it to leave the park in the afternoon to chill at the hotel for a while.

I still like the walking path, even at the end of a long day, but my family does not see this the same way I do. Since the walking path is to the side of Margaritaville, it is less of a walk to there (or the water taxi) when leaving IOA....so leaving one night, they went that way, and then made me pay for a lift over to the walkway bridge....but those folks stop working earlier than the buses/water taxis so it might not always be an option.

I still love CBBR and I am sure we will stay there again, but yes, it does add some additional pressures of trying to time arrival and departure methods.

Also, I'm not sure they always had valet, so never experienced that aspect, and we only went to that Starbucks once so maybe that helped as well with our opinion of CBBR.

I've been an AVID Sapphire Falls supporter over CBBR. If you go back through the pages you can see my reviews as well. For the same price and for the same reasons (and more) you've stated, I'm SF all the way. I even switched my Portofino reservation for HHN to SF because it's so nice and half the price.

I wonder if Universal ever considered having dedicated water taxi service for Cabana Bay guests running to and from the Sapphire Falls lagoon? Maybe a separate CB-only dock with a new path that leads directly to the CB walking path? I've not been to SF yet so I have no idea of the logistical feasibility, but if a large % of CB guests are "illegally" using the SF boats, maybe it would be a good idea? I imagine SF guests must be complaining if they are finding that their water taxi waits are longer than those of the other onsite hotels because of the CB guests?

It's still early in the ballgame, so there might only be a small percentage of CBBR guests that are aware of the water taxi at Sapphire. But once word spreads, the Sapphire boats might get overwhelmed by the influx of CBBR guests (2200 rooms once the towers are completed, most of the rooms are suites, so there's probably more guests per room than the other resorts). That could be a hellava lot of people. Not counting the Adventura Hotel once it's completed. That could require a 'lot' of boats running constantly. And these hotels are all a long walk, as opposed to Royal Pacific which has a very short walk, so a good number of RP guests walk instead of ride a boat. Looking at the raw numbers, this could get crazy busy if they don't block CBBR access.

If this happened and there's more boats added for CBBR to the SF dock, the traffic through the bridges would become extremely backed up; it's just not feasible. As it is, SF / RPR boats have to wait 5-10 minutes for the oncoming traffic to clear 4 bridges before going through (I posted a map a few pages back if you care to look).
 
If I stay af SF and eat/drink at Strong Water Tavern during both days of my stay, is it true that I can have the parking waved? I'd rather spend $44 on drinks than on parking.
 
I agree with Frippery.

I have stayed at the Cabana on a few occassions from 3 days to 2 weeks. I have just returned from two weeks at Sapphire Falls and was very impressed and have already booked for 2017.

It was just the wife and I on this occassion and one of the main reasons we enjoyed Sapphire Falls more that CBBR is the staff/customer service, maybe as it is new they are trying to over service but the difference was huge from the check in desk to the restaurants/bars. It was over labour day weekend and they were at full capacity but always so friendly.

Have to admit I did enjoy it more when they advised we had free breakfast for the two weeks even though this was not the offer or included when we booked, was a nice surprise and was more than happy to spend the money saved at the Cool Water Tavern.
 
If I stay af SF and eat/drink at Strong Water Tavern during both days of my stay, is it true that I can have the parking waved? I'd rather spend $44 on drinks than on parking.
Not sure it works that way for overnight stays but we did park in the Sapphire garage yesterday. We took the boat to the parks, grabbed a drink/dessert at Strong Water on the way out and they waived our $25 parking fee when we exited the garage. It's a nice alternative to parking in the main garage on some days.
 
My husband has been reading some reviews on SF and is a little anxious about our upcoming stay. I'd say the majority of the issues being discussed (delayed check ins, minor maintenance issues) don't concern me, but has anyone had any trouble getting the $150 dining credit, if you booked with it?
 
My husband has been reading some reviews on SF and is a little anxious about our upcoming stay. I'd say the majority of the issues being discussed (delayed check ins, minor maintenance issues) don't concern me, but has anyone had any trouble getting the $150 dining credit, if you booked with it?

I will find out next week
 
I wouldn't say I had "trouble", other than the fact that it didn't show up on my reservation - they had no problem giving me the credit though. All I had to do was show that I booked within the required offer window (book by July 31 I believe) as an APH and just explain I had done everything I thought necessary but it just didn't show up. Took them 5 minutes to sort it out, but it would've take much less time if I had done it when checking in. It was late at night when we checked in so I went back the next morning and the representative had to talk to her manager for 5 minutes; because they had already checked me in, they wrote a note on my account to just credit my account $75 at checkout (and they did) instead of there already being a credit at check in.

If you look at the reservation confirmation email you received, it should say whether you have the dining credit on there. If it doesn't that means you'll have to do what I did, if it does you're all set.
 
I wouldn't say I had "trouble", other than the fact that it didn't show up on my reservation - they had no problem giving me the credit though. All I had to do was show that I booked within the required offer window (book by July 31 I believe) as an APH and just explain I had done everything I thought necessary but it just didn't show up. Took them 5 minutes to sort it out, but it would've take much less time if I had done it when checking in. It was late at night when we checked in so I went back the next morning and the representative had to talk to her manager for 5 minutes; because they had already checked me in, they wrote a note on my account to just credit my account $75 at checkout (and they did) instead of there already being a credit at check in.

If you look at the reservation confirmation email you received, it should say whether you have the dining credit on there. If it doesn't that means you'll have to do what I did, if it does you're all set.
Sounds like they gave you a break. The reason it probably didn't show up on your reservation is that you booked using an AP discount, and it was not available with AP discounts. The site, when booking, stated that. The credit only appeared on the site when you didn't use the AP code. As soon as you plugged an AP in the code, the offer disappeared from the screen. You could only do one or the other. Then I found a section that read saying it could not be combined with other discounts. I know since I tried. So I took the dining credit since it was more than the AP discount would have been.
 
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I wouldn't say I had "trouble", other than the fact that it didn't show up on my reservation - they had no problem giving me the credit though. All I had to do was show that I booked within the required offer window (book by July 31 I believe) as an APH and just explain I had done everything I thought necessary but it just didn't show up. Took them 5 minutes to sort it out, but it would've take much less time if I had done it when checking in. It was late at night when we checked in so I went back the next morning and the representative had to talk to her manager for 5 minutes; because they had already checked me in, they wrote a note on my account to just credit my account $75 at checkout (and they did) instead of there already being a credit at check in.

If you look at the reservation confirmation email you received, it should say whether you have the dining credit on there. If it doesn't that means you'll have to do what I did, if it does you're all set.

Weird. I think Loew's uses Opera, so they should have been able to just set up the credit in the system and have it be retroactive from check-in rather than manually adjusting the bill at checkout.

Sounds like they gave you a break. The reason it probably didn't show up on your reservation is that you booked using an AP discount, and it was not available with AP discounts. The site, when booking, stated that. The credit only appeared on the site when you didn't use the AP code. As soon as you plugged an AP in the code, the offer disappeared from the screen. You could only do one or the other. Then I found a section that read saying it could not be combined with other discounts. I know since I tried. So I took the dining credit since it was more than the AP discount would have been.

I know there was an AP offer that gave a $75 credit at Sapphire Falls at one point, but I got a better deal by booking under the intro rate with the $150 credit.
 
Weird. I think Loew's uses Opera, so they should have been able to just set up the credit in the system and have it be retroactive from check-in rather than manually adjusting the bill at checkout.



I know there was an AP offer that gave a $75 credit at Sapphire Falls at one point, but I got a better deal by booking under the intro rate with the $150 credit.
They may have been just too new to know about the retroactive credit?
 
Sounds like they gave you a break. The reason it probably didn't show up on your reservation is that you booked using an AP discount, and it was not available with AP discounts. The site, when booking, stated that. The credit only appeared on the site when you didn't use the AP code. As soon as you plugged an AP in the code, the offer disappeared from the screen. You could only do one or the other. Then I found a section that read saying it could not be combined with other discounts. I know since I tried. So I took the dining credit since it was more than the AP discount would have been.

Some time after the $150 credit for three or more nights, they had an AP/FL Res one w/ a discount and $75 dollar credit on a two or more night stay.
 
I have stayed at every resort at universal, except SF. We usually stay at Hard Rock (our favorite hotel for many reasons), but decided on SF this HHN trip. We wanted to see the new resort, got $150 credit, and were only only planning on going to the parks for one day and did not need express (going one day to see Kong and wanted to see the queue). I will give a review after our stay as we will be there for 4 nights. Very excited for Strong Water Tavern.
 
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