| Hotel being reviewed: Portofino Bay Hotel |
| Reviewer: Jennifer Lovesee-Mast |
| Date(s) of Stay: 4/12/2003 to 4/14/2003 |
Overall Rating
(10 out of 10)
Overall Rating of lodging facility.
Staffing Efficiency/Courtesy:
(8 out of 10)
Was the staff friendly and courteous, and where they efficient in their work habits, including check in/check out efficiency?
Cleanliness:
(10 out of 10)
Was the lodging facility and room kept up to good cleaning standards?
Room Quality:
(9 out of 10)
The overall room quality.
Overall Location
(10 out of 10)
Was the lodging facility conveniently located in regards to the park or other final destination?
Overall Value
(8 out of 10)
Was the lodging facility a good value?
Reviewer's Comments:
We were again traveling to Orlando to cover Islands of Adventure and had the chance to stay at this beautiful hotel again. By the time we booked they no longer had any rooms available under the Season Pass discount (book early!), but were still able to get a room for a half way decent rate, again based on the quality of this hotel. I have to commend the reservations office they do try to get the best rate possible for were you want to stay.
Beautiful hotel room, I can't say enough about the beds, they are wonderful! Since I wasn't feeling well one night we decided to try room service. I've had some experience with room service before at other hotels, usually the service is not that good, and the food is not that great.
Forget any past experiences with room service before though. The food was good, but the service was amazing. The delivery person, came up with a fold up table, the dinner was served with china, silver utensils arranged to conform with emily post, and yes even a white table cloth. When we where done room service came and took the whole thing away promptly. Wow, the experience just shocked me.
Another great thing about the hotel is easy access to the parks, you get on a boat and go. We only saw a small problem with this when we left the park and closing and there was a long line for the boats. We probably would have had to wait 45 minutes to get on a boat and get back to the hotel. However, we decided to walk back, and the walk was not terribly long and very nice, landscaped, near the waters edge, wonderful experience.
Last thing I have to comment on, if you stay at the hotel use the front of the line perk that you get with your key card. On most of the big rides at Universal and Islands of Adventure they offer a service called Universal Express. Most guests have to insert their park pass into a machine and then it pops out a time for them to come back and have a short wait for the ride. (no more then 15 minutes). Your room card gives you the same advantage, but you can use it at any time you want, you don't have to wait for a specific time to come back. This is great for the busy season, when most of the rides have waits between 45 minutes to 90 minutes, your room key gets you onto most rides within five minutes. This is absolutly, positively worth all the money that you might spend on the hotel. If you are going to Universal during the busy season stay at one of their on-site hotels!
