Portofino Bay

[Scott W.]

View attachment 4604 New Electric Car Chargers in the parking lot at Portofino.

That's awesome.

 

[1.21Gigawatts]

Has anyone here stayed in a club level room. I'm wondering how Portofino's Club lounge compares to Royal Pacific's lounge. Will be istying for 4 nights in September. So excited. I heard the happy hour is 3 hrs at Portofino instead of two and they also have bacon or sausage and scrambled eggs for breakfast....

 

[n i c k]

Has anyone here stayed in a club level room. I'm wondering how Portofino's Club lounge compares to Royal Pacific's lounge. Will be istying for 4 nights in September. So excited. I heard the happy hour is 3 hrs at Portofino instead of two and they also have bacon or sausage and scrambled eggs for breakfast....

When I was considering Club Level last year, I found a lot of information on other forums and TripAdvisor.

 

[Ridgepole]

Has anyone here stayed in a club level room. I'm wondering how Portofino's Club lounge compares to Royal Pacific's lounge. Will be istying for 4 nights in September. So excited. I heard the happy hour is 3 hrs at Portofino instead of two and they also have bacon or sausage and scrambled eggs for breakfast....

Club "level" rooms are spread around the hotel, unlike RP. Also the club lounge is next to the main lobby, unlike RP.

 

[Mad Dog]

Theme Park Insider, in their annual world Theme Park Awards, named Portofino Bay the Best Theme Park Resort Hotel in the world. That's Portofino's 6th win in a row and 8th win total.

 

[Suprachica79]

After initially booking at the Aventura Hotel and contemplating moving up to Sapphire Falls, I took the plunge and booked a club level deluxe room at Portofino Bay!!! As there were no regular guest rooms available at the stay more, save more rate and the difference between the deluxe room and club level deluxe was only about $50 a day, I thought it was a great value to save on Breakfast, some lunches and some dinners. Looks like the spread for club level is the best at PBH as well which is really nice. Can’t wait for this trip!

 

[Frank Drackman]

After initially booking at the Aventura Hotel and contemplating moving up to Sapphire Falls, I took the plunge and booked a club level deluxe room at Portofino Bay!!! As there were no regular guest rooms available at the stay more, save more rate and the difference between the deluxe room and club level deluxe was only about $50 a day, I thought it was a great value to save on Breakfast, some lunches and some dinners. Looks like the spread for club level is the best at PBR as well which is really nice. Can’t wait for this trip!

Portofino Bay is where we stayed last time we were there. They where working on the Live Tree outside, inside was wonderful as well (late NOV)...it is just so pretty there!!

 

[JoeCamel]

After initially booking at the Aventura Hotel and contemplating moving up to Sapphire Falls, I took the plunge and booked a club level deluxe room at Portofino Bay!!! As there were no regular guest rooms available at the stay more, save more rate and the difference between the deluxe room and club level deluxe was only about $50 a day, I thought it was a great value to save on Breakfast, some lunches and some dinners. Looks like the spread for club level is the best at PBR as well which is really nice. Can’t wait for this trip!

You are never going to leave the hotel grounds.....

 

[Mad Dog]

You are never going to leave the hotel grounds.....

You have a good point there. Though, with the cooler Dec. weather it will probably put a crimp in pool time.

 

[Universal 4 Life]

Just wait until you walk into the lobby and you smell the air!! The most amazing scent you can imagine. It's called Bright Sunshine I believe. I've been meaning to purchase it for years.

 

[Suprachica79]

You are never going to leave the hotel grounds.....

Hahaha, we definitely will to enjoy the express pass at the parks, but there is a great chance we don’t leave the Universal Resort once. Just how UOR wants it.

You have a good point there. Though, with the cooler Dec. weather it will probably put a crimp in pool time.

Yea, we are big fans of 65-70 degree weather so we are hoping for that which wouldn’t mean tons of pool time, but could mean a lot of hot tub time.

Just wait until you walk into the lobby and you smell the air!! The most amazing scent you can imagine. It's called Bright Sunshine I believe. I've been meaning to purchase it for years.

Can’t wait! I have instructed my car service that the hotel choice is a surprise for my wife so I can’t wait to see the look on her face when we pull up in front of the resort.

 

[Mad Dog]

Hahaha, we definitely will to enjoy the express pass at the parks, but there is a great chance we don’t leave the Universal Resort once. Just how UOR wants it.



Yea, we are big fans of 65-70 degree weather so we are hoping for that which wouldn’t mean tons of pool time, but could mean a lot of hot tub time.



Can’t wait! I have instructed my car service that the hotel choice is a surprise for my wife so I can’t wait to see the look on her face when we pull up in front of the resort.

We rarely ever move our car out of the original parking space.....Hot tubs at the Family pool and the Formal pool. Not sure about the third unthemed private pool since we rarely go there....Even if the lines are short, Express pass comes in handy in the afternoon when lines get a bit longer. And, no need for early entry because of Express, feel free to sleep in a bit, or get a nice long breakfast at the Club lounge.....and when the stand by lines are short, the express lines are generally walk ons, not even a 5 minute wait.

 

[Ridgepole]

Ahhh express! Hard to convey how nice the deluxe resorts are.

 

[Scott W.]

Ahhh express! Hard to convey how nice the deluxe resorts are.

I’m currently experiencing it for the first time. It changes everything.

 

[Suprachica79]

I’m currently experiencing it for the first time. It changes everything.

That’s almost what I’m afraid of, that we will never be able to go back to non-express experience after this. First world problems.

 

[Suprachica79]

During our first stay at Portofino, we stayed in a club level room and received a couple small bottles of water every day after room cleaning was complete. On this last trip, we stayed on a bay view king and did not receive any complimentary water. Normally, I would not say anything about it but I had several little issues arise on this latest stay so I will be sending an email regarding my most recent stay. I am wondering if the small bottles of water are provided just to club level rooms, or if that is a service that everyone gets and we somehow missed. Thanks in advance!

 

[Mad Dog]

During our first stay at Portofino, we stayed in a club level room and received a couple small bottles of water every day after room cleaning was complete. On this last trip, we stayed on a bay view king and did not receive any complimentary water. Normally, I would not say anything about it but I had several little issues arise on this latest stay so I will be sending an email regarding my most recent stay. I am wondering if the small bottles of water are provided just to club level rooms, or if that is a service that everyone gets and we somehow missed. Thanks in advance!

The free water is usually provided when they do the turn down service. I believe that's only available for Club, Deluxe and Suite level rooms. They used to also provide free turn down service for gold & platinum You First members, but that rewards program has been discontinued as of Dec. 2018. We received turn down service (and free water) when we were gold & platinum level but not when we were only 'blue level' members. So I would guess no turn down service or free water in the evenings is the normal situation for regular bay or garden view rooms.

 

[Ridgepole]

My experience at club level at Royal P and HR ( not Porto yet) has been all the free water you want in the club lounges when they are open. Stock up the room, bath in it, take to the parks....whatever.

 

[Suprachica79]

The free water is usually provided when they do the turn down service. I believe that's only available for Club, Deluxe and Suite level rooms. They used to also provide free turn down service for gold & platinum You First members, but that rewards program has been discontinued as of Dec. 2018. We received turn down service (and free water) when we were gold & platinum level but not when we were only 'blue level' members. So I would guess no turn down service or free water in the evenings is the normal situation for regular bay or garden view rooms.

I knew you’d know the answer maddog! Thanks for the speedy reply as always.

 

[Mad Dog]

I knew you’d know the answer maddog! Thanks for the speedy reply as always.

:thumbsup: Hope you're enjoying you vacation. We're just missing you. We're arriving On May 16th, and for a change of pace we're doing Royal Pacific (got a good price on a suite) and finishing up with a few nights at Cabana Bay. Every now and then I like to switch hotels just to keep the experience fresh.