Trying to decide on hotel. Here are the logistics:
3 nights/6 people. Through my company, a discount makes both hotels same cost.
Normally would go for the more upscale option but Royal Pacific looks cool and is in walking distance to everything. So for same cost, do i go for luxury or cool/convenient?
We have stayed at both and prefer Portofino. It is just so beautiful when you approach from the boats! Royal Pacific is okay too, but Portofino is a step above.
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We have stayed at both and Portofino is a nicer hotel. It is beautiful. The rooms, the grounds, the poolsâeverything is more upscale than RP. And Portifino is really not inconvenientâthe boats at Universal are very efficient. Itâs not a long ride to the parks.
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Does Royal Pacific have external vanities in the bathroom (ie, the sinks are in separate area from the toilet/shower? Our massive bathroom at Portofino had the shower/toilet/sinks all in one room and that definitely impacted showering and getting ready in the morning. I would have been happier with a smaller bathroom divided into sections.
For my family of 5 adults, the price worked out to be the same at Royal Pacific (RP) and Portofino Bay (PB) because Portofino had an AP discount. Portofino Bay is basically a perfect resort in my mind (theming, pool, grounds, boat transport).That said, I found our PB room layout lacking. We ended up in a Deluxe room. My father insisted on upgrading us to a Deluxe room for an extra $45/night because the Deluxe room had an extra sink in the bathroom to help everyone get ready in the morning and extra space. Well, the bathroom was huge, but all that space is pointless when both sinks are inside it. There was no external vanity. The sinks, shower and toilet were all in one (large) room. Also, our shower door didnât seal and the water pressure was poor. Given Touring Planâs description about the awesome water pressure in the Portofino showers, I think we just got unlucky. However, I think the vanities are usually inside the bathrooms at PB.
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If price wasnât an issue, it would absolutely be Portofino, but price IS an issueâŚ
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Donât know about PB or RP but Hard Rock has a sink outside the shower area and a sink in with the shower and toilet. It was awesome for getting ready in the morning. There is even a mirror in both spots.
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This is my NUMBER ONE pet peeve! Why, WHY would you do this??? How can a family of five get ready when only ONE person can be showering, toileting or using the sink at a time???
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It sounds as though you have met my DSđ.
Does DS feel the same way I do, or have no problem with multiple people in the bathroom at one time?
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DS20 is a bathroom hogger. Sometimes I think he is never re emerging. So I empathise with you completely!
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LOL! Then, yes, you get it!
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Exactly! Any hotel catering to families should think about the layout.
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That is an excellent bathroom configuration. Cabana Bay family suites have a similar layout. This may convince my mother to give Hard Rock a try on our next trip. She was concerned that HRH was a bit too cool for our family.
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I love HRH and I am pretty certain no one would ever describe me as âcoolâ. The bathroom configuration has been well thought out.
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Totally agree about Hard Rock. It is such a convenient location and the rooms are fantastic. The âcoolâ parts are mostly up near the lobby and we were really only there for checkin and checkout.
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As someone who mostly travels solo - or at most only with DW, bathroom configuration has never been an issue to me. Iâm usually up and done in the bathroom before I am able to coax her out of bedâŚ
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Agreed. Iâve gone on Disney trips with just my dad and it was not an issue. With 3 family member, it is occasionally annoying. With 4, it impacts ability to get ready in morning and how quickly we can get to bed at night.
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What was the noise situation in the rooms like at HRH? We have one person who is very sensitive to any kind of noises. PB was wonderfully quiet.
HRH was very quiet for us both times we stayed there. I too am very sensitive to noise and do not sleep well with any distractions. The only problem we had was the inroom speaker the rooms have, so when there was an alarm at the crack of dawn on our last day, we had to listen to âan alarm has been activated, please stay nearby and wait for further instructionsâ. I get the need for alerting us to possible danger (assume it was a fire alarm that was pulled), but the message was on constant repeat for about 20 minutes. Finally âthere is no issueâ and back to bed we tried to go, which is a tad hard when the entire room is wide awake. There was no way to not be disturbed. I donât know if they have these speakers to Portofino or not, I never noticed them at any of the 3 deluxe hotels before this last trip with the issue at HRH.
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