PORTOFINO BAY HOTEL INFO...FAQ`s and more.......

[francie]

Hello, i’m trying to find out what the most current newly renovated rooms in portofino bay look like. Do they have the blue/orange rugs or i’ve seen a photo of a room w/ a green color scheme/rug? Can anyone who has stayed recently tell me or have a photo? Thanks so much

 

[Deb1993]

Hello, i’m trying to find out what the most current newly renovated rooms in portofino bay look like. Do they have the blue/orange rugs or i’ve seen a photo of a room w/ a green color scheme/rug? Can anyone who has stayed recently tell me or have a photo? Thanks so much

Hi - don't think I have a photo but the renovated rooms have the blue/orange rugs.

 

[francie]

Hi - don't think I have a photo but the renovated rooms have the blue/orange rugs.

Thank you.

 

[gorkt]

Can anyone tell me what the fee is for a rollaway bed in one of the Portofino Suites?

 

[schumigirl]

Can anyone tell me what the fee is for a rollaway bed in one of the Portofino Suites?

Info is in the first post.......$35 per night

 

[gorkt]

Thank you for answering, sorry I couldn't find it!

I am currently booked at Surfside - trying to justify splurging on one of the these suites. With the express pass plus being able to walk to the park, I think its likely worth it.

 

[schumigirl]

Thank you for answering, sorry I couldn't find it!

I am currently booked at Surfside - trying to justify splurging on one of the these suites. With the express pass plus being able to walk to the park, I think its likely worth it.

No worries, there is a lot of info in there!

I would splurge........absolutely worth it.....you wouldn`t regret it

 

[gorkt]

Done! Booked a Portofino Suite with a roll away request.

Man, booking/cancelling with Universal is so much easier - its almost like WDW doesn't want you to go there....

 

[AngieInOH]

Done! Booked a Portofino Suite with a roll away request.

Man, booking/cancelling with Universal is so much easier - its almost like WDW doesn't want you to go there....

Looking at your Signature........ is this your first trip to Universal? We've booked our first trip for Feb 2023 also at Portofino.

 

[gorkt]

No I have been before. But I keep going deeper and deeper in. The first two times was day trips to the parks while staying at WDW. In 2019 I stayed at Surfside and bought a throwaway at Hard Rock for the pass and loved the EP experience. I was going to actually book at RPR, but their rooms for my dates are crazy expensive and Portofino was my back up choice. I had booked Endless summer a few months ago just to hold something for those dates.

 

[schumigirl]

Done! Booked a Portofino Suite with a roll away request.

Man, booking/cancelling with Universal is so much easier - its almost like WDW doesn't want you to go there....

Glad to hear it!!

 

[djmeredith]

I just returned from a 4 night stay at PFB in club level. I stayed at HRH last fall, and this was my third stay at PFB with the last stay being about 7 years ago. I was very disappointed in my stay and will not be going back anytime soon. Long story short, someone had thrown up in the room they gave us, it was not cleaned properly, and we had to move to a smaller non-club room (with a total $150 compensation). The shower had mold, the club was a big disappointment, and the boat service was slow.

The club renovation is beautiful, but the amount of food they served at each service was insufficient for the number of people they needed to serve. They ran out of food early at every service except breakfast. The boat service was terrible all week. We waited and waited and waited on boats. There was always a line, and one day we even shared a boat with HRH. We never made it on the first boat until our very last day when we left the parks in the middle of the afternoon. Leaving the parks at the end of the night was at least a 45 minute wait for a boat. One night it was longer and we had to wait until the 3rd boat. Not sure if it was a shortage of boat drivers or what, but it was a nightmare. You are better off walking or maybe even taking the bus.

ETA: my other big complaint was no USB ports for charging. A search of this thread reveals that detail, but I did not do that before my trip. I travel frequently and have literally not seen a hotel without them in several years, so I wrongly assumed they would be included in a $600+ room. While it isn't that huge of an inconvenience if you plan accordingly, it makes it very difficult if you forget your charger accessory bag at home like I did.

 

[ToadLives]

Hi all. Does anyone know if there is a fee for the Sea World shuttle from Portofino?

 

[schumigirl]

I just returned from a 4 night stay at PFB in club level. I stayed at HRH last fall, and this was my third stay at PFB with the last stay being about 7 years ago. I was very disappointed in my stay and will not be going back anytime soon. Long story short, someone had thrown up in the room they gave us, it was not cleaned properly, and we had to move to a smaller non-club room (with a total $150 compensation). The shower had mold, the club was a big disappointment, and the boat service was slow.

The club renovation is beautiful, but the amount of food they served at each service was insufficient for the number of people they needed to serve. They ran out of food early at every service except breakfast. The boat service was terrible all week. We waited and waited and waited on boats. There was always a line, and one day we even shared a boat with HRH. We never made it on the first boat until our very last day when we left the parks in the middle of the afternoon. Leaving the parks at the end of the night was at least a 45 minute wait for a boat. One night it was longer and we had to wait until the 3rd boat. Not sure if it was a shortage of boat drivers or what, but it was a nightmare. You are better off walking or maybe even taking the bus.

Oh what a shame you had such a poor stay! I`m sorry to hear that and sounds like the replacement room wasn`t up to much either. Compensation isn`t always wanted, just a good clean room that you paid for.

Yes, they are recruiting new Captains, several were being trained last month. Shame you had to wait for a boat often, we never had that issue last month even when we were at PB. But, it is annoying when it does happen.

Only on one occasion mid afternoon did we wait, we just missed a boat and maybe only waited 15 minutes for the next one......but it felt much longer, so I do sympathise!!

Not good on the Club Lounge either, sounds like it just wasn`t a fun vacation for you....hope you had some good times on your visit.

 

[TNKim]

I just returned from a 4 night stay at PFB in club level. I stayed at HRH last fall, and this was my third stay at PFB with the last stay being about 7 years ago. I was very disappointed in my stay and will not be going back anytime soon. Long story short, someone had thrown up in the room they gave us, it was not cleaned properly, and we had to move to a smaller non-club room (with a total $150 compensation). The shower had mold, the club was a big disappointment, and the boat service was slow.

The club renovation is beautiful, but the amount of food they served at each service was insufficient for the number of people they needed to serve. They ran out of food early at every service except breakfast. The boat service was terrible all week. We waited and waited and waited on boats. There was always a line, and one day we even shared a boat with HRH. We never made it on the first boat until our very last day when we left the parks in the middle of the afternoon. Leaving the parks at the end of the night was at least a 45 minute wait for a boat. One night it was longer and we had to wait until the 3rd boat. Not sure if it was a shortage of boat drivers or what, but it was a nightmare. You are better off walking or maybe even taking the bus.

ETA: my other big complaint was no USB ports for charging. A search of this thread reveals that detail, but I did not do that before my trip. I travel frequently and have literally not seen a hotel without them in several years, so I wrongly assumed they would be included in a $600+ room. While it isn't that huge of an inconvenience if you plan accordingly, it makes it very difficult if you forget your charger accessory bag at home like I did.

We just returned Saturday from 6 nights at Portofino, using the 15 month AP Seasonal Pass we bought last year. We booked Club Level and were very pleased with the Club offerings and the staff were very friendly and accommodating. If offerings ran low, they were quick to replenish them. Wine pours were very generous. The dessert offerings repeat every 3 days I think, so the 3 choices offered each night could have been more varied. Breakfast offerings were pretty much the same every morning and heavy on eggs, but again, was a wide array of choices from cereal, oatmeal, fruit, yogurt, pastries, bagels. And we never had trouble finding a table.

As for the water taxi service, we never had a wait, I guess we just lucked up. Our longest wait was returning from City Walk one night and it was no more than 15 minutes.

Our Club 2 Queen room was cleaned daily, and coffee/shampoos, lotions/towels/sheets replaced daily. One day they only left 2 wash cloths and a quick text was responded to quickly and the cloths were delivered in 10 minutes.

We loved our stay at Portofino and really had no complaints. It was one of the quietest hotels I've ever stayed at and I'm not sure we ever even saw another family coming or going, or closing doors on our floor. We at pizza from Sal's, had gelato, spent the day at the Beach Pool and a half day at the Villa Pool. We pool hopped to Hard Rock and loved their pool but there is visible construction on the outside of the hotel at the pool. We had lunch at their pool bar and it was very good. We ate at Cowfish, Cinnabon, and Antijitos at City Walk, and Mythos at IOA. Another night we took an Uber to Disney Springs to eat at our favorite, Homecomin. A treat was our first visit to Volcano Bay and thoroughly enjoyed the day, open to close! We had early entry and I followed a the directions to go to the left and got seats under the covered shelter.

All in all, we loved Portofino and would return in a heartbeat! Yes, it is a bit further from the parks, but honestly, the trip on the water taxi didn't seem to take much longer than the water tax from Royal Pacific. We had longer waits going through security and for the boats at Royal Pacific last year.

 

[Wakey]

We just returned Saturday from 6 nights at Portofino, using the 15 month AP Seasonal Pass we bought last year. We booked Club Level and were very pleased with the Club offerings and the staff were very friendly and accommodating. If offerings ran low, they were quick to replenish them. Wine pours were very generous. The dessert offerings repeat every 3 days I think, so the 3 choices offered each night could have been more varied. Breakfast offerings were pretty much the same every morning and heavy on eggs, but again, was a wide array of choices from cereal, oatmeal, fruit, yogurt, pastries, bagels. And we never had trouble finding a table.

As for the water taxi service, we never had a wait, I guess we just lucked up. Our longest wait was returning from City Walk one night and it was no more than 15 minutes.

Our Club 2 Queen room was cleaned daily, and coffee/shampoos, lotions/towels/sheets replaced daily. One day they only left 2 wash cloths and a quick text was responded to quickly and the cloths were delivered in 10 minutes.

We loved our stay at Portofino and really had no complaints. It was one of the quietest hotels I've ever stayed at and I'm not sure we ever even saw another family coming or going, or closing doors on our floor. We at pizza from Sal's, had gelato, spent the day at the Beach Pool and a half day at the Villa Pool. We pool hopped to Hard Rock and loved their pool but there is visible construction on the outside of the hotel at the pool. We had lunch at their pool bar and it was very good. We ate at Cowfish, Cinnabon, and Antijitos at City Walk, and Mythos at IOA. Another night we took an Uber to Disney Springs to eat at our favorite, Homecomin. A treat was our first visit to Volcano Bay and thoroughly enjoyed the day, open to close! We had early entry and I followed a the directions to go to the left and got seats under the covered shelter.

All in all, we loved Portofino and would return in a heartbeat! Yes, it is a bit further from the parks, but honestly, the trip on the water taxi didn't seem to take much longer than the water tax from Royal Pacific. We had longer waits going through security and for the boats at Royal Pacific last year.

Thanks. We have it booked for Xmas. What types of food did they have on an evening?

 

[lahobbs4]

We also just returned from 5 nights at Portofino Bay, and our water taxi service was zero problem! Our longest wait was about 20 minutes leaving the parks at around 4:00. We had one of the massive villa rooms with a patio. We do wish there were more restaurant options even though I know it's an Italian themed resort. We loved Sal's! The food we ordered from the pool bar was decent. Also, the desk in the room had quite a few USB charging ports, FYI. I had read somewhere that laundry was not an option at this resort and you needed to walk to Hard Rock. This is not true! We used the "Lavenderia" multiple times.

Our last night we walked in to find a snake on the floor of our room. We were very diligent on keeping the patio door closed unless we were using it. But, it's Florida. We saw a lot on our walks to the park and even in line for Hagrid's! They said it was the first time it's happened there. Lucky us!

 

[TNKim]

Thanks. We have it booked for Xmas. What types of food did they have on an evening?

We only ate at night twice. The first night there was pasta with beef ragu sauce and green beans, salad with toppings, bread, cheeses, Italian ham & salami. Another night it was Italian sausage with peppers & onion, squash & broccoli, ziti with marinara, salad, etc. I tried to attach the menu but it loads sideways. If you scroll back thru this thread, someone else posted it. One night for dessert they had tiramisu & cannoli! If you’re a big eater, it’s probably not going to fill you up, but the nights we went, we had eaten a big lunch so it was enough for us. Of course, some folks make it a meal.

 

[djmeredith]

@TNKim, so glad you guys had a great experience. I seriously must have had the worst luck last week. People can definitely have very different experiences. I fully admit the uncleaned vomit in my room and subsequent downgrade without adequate compensation (in my opinion) probably affected my overall ability to overlook any flaw.

I definitely did have a different experience with the club food being replenished. Three times we went to the club during service hours in the afternoon, but toward the end of that time (about a half hour before) and they had stopped replenishing. Twice they flat out told me they were out of the item that was empty with the sign still out. Our first day during the snack service the snack basket was empty so I asked for a couple of bags of Goldfish. The young lady nicely said she would refill the basket and took it to the back. I grabbed some veggies/dip, we finished our snacks and were ready to head out and she still had not come out with the basket. I asked another employee for the Goldfish and she went to the back and brought me two bags, while the basket was still not back out when we left. Also, the desk in my downgraded non-club room had NO USB ports. Trust me, my teens (and I) searched because they were desperate to charge their phones, lol.

To be fair, I agree that the wine pours in the club are generous and most of the staff in the club were very nice. We also had a very quiet experience at the resort. Only passed other families a few times and never had any noise issues. We also loved Volcano Bay and our park experiences. Riley the "party boat" driver was a highlight of our trip. He would crank up the music and dance. His enthusiasm truly did turn our frowns upside down after a very long wait at City Walk one night. Then we had him again the next night and he remembered us. All the front desk staff and concierge staff were also friendly and helpful.

PFB is a nice resort, assuming one's room is appropriately clean at check in (FYI there is another review about vomit in the room on Trip Advisor) and guests don't mind a possibly long wait for boats. I would not do club again though.

 

[SkyGuy]

@TNKim, so glad you guys had a great experience. I seriously must have had the worst luck last week. People can definitely have very different experiences. I fully admit the uncleaned vomit in my room and subsequent downgrade without adequate compensation (in my opinion) probably affected my overall ability to overlook any flaw.

I definitely did have a different experience with the club food being replenished. Three times we went to the club during service hours in the afternoon, but toward the end of that time (about a half hour before) and they had stopped replenishing. Twice they flat out told me they were out of the item that was empty with the sign still out. Our first day during the snack service the snack basket was empty so I asked for a couple of bags of Goldfish. The young lady nicely said she would refill the basket and took it to the back. I grabbed some veggies/dip, we finished our snacks and were ready to head out and she still had not come out with the basket. I asked another employee for the Goldfish and she went to the back and brought me two bags, while the basket was still not back out when we left. Also, the desk in my downgraded non-club room had NO USB ports. Trust me, my teens (and I) searched because they were desperate to charge their phones, lol.

To be fair, I agree that the wine pours in the club are generous and most of the staff in the club were very nice. We also had a very quiet experience at the resort. Only passed other families a few times and never had any noise issues. We also loved Volcano Bay and our park experiences. Riley the "party boat" driver was a highlight of our trip. He would crank up the music and dance. His enthusiasm truly did turn our frowns upside down after a very long wait at City Walk one night. Then we had him again the next night and he remembered us. All the front desk staff and concierge staff were also friendly and helpful.

PFB is a nice resort, assuming one's room is appropriately clean at check in (FYI there is another review about vomit in the room on Trip Advisor) and guests don't mind a possibly long wait for boats. I would not do club again though.

The club rooms have no USB ports either. We just stayed in a 2-queen club room beginning of May, and I threw in plugs at the last second just in case and was glad I did. I specifically remember commenting to my son, “What hotel doesn’t have USB ports?!” We also had some issue with food being gone, but it was more so due to guests taking outrageous amounts - granted the lounge attendants should be monitoring and replenishing the best they can, but there were several people that were downright rude. There was a woman my age right in front of me who took all the strawberries one morning at breakfast. I don’t mean there were five strawberries left; I mean she stood there and loaded up two plates and emptied the bowl as I was clearly standing there waiting. Dessert hour - forget it; people were loading plates, absolutely piling it on, and the attendants were bringing stuff out as quickly as they could, but it ran out fast. Breakfast was also very heavy on the eggs, as someone else mentioned. And I loathe eggs. Other than that, we had quite a nice trip. I’m sorry yours wasn’t so great (but I hear you!).