Portofino Bay or Royal Pacific?

[Guest]

I have stayed at both. We booked a suite at RPR so we had plenty of space, but I can imagine that comparing like for like the rooms at Portofino would be bigger, certainly the bathroom was probably double the size. For a suite we might have expected a slightly better bathroom than we got.

I don't have a preference in the theming, I liked the court yard food options at Portofino, didn't think much of the options at RPR.

We had a number of service issues at Portofino, starting with an unfriendly unhelpful check in process. Didn't have any issues at RPR, although didn't interact with staff that much either.

Much preferred the location of RPR and that would be the deciding factor (between those two) for us were we to go onsite again (which we almost certainly will next year). We walked to and from the parks twice a day every day from RPR, whereas we found the walk from Portofino a bit draining in Orlando weather.

[Jimsdadhalifax]

Stayed at both - love Royal Pacific but prefer Portofino.

The rooms are bigger and the bathroom is huge. In terms of the quality of the room (beds and furnishings etc) they are both great.

Portofino has 3 pools. The pool at RPR is excellent but i preferred the main pool at Portofino with the slide. I also liked the option of the second quieter pool which is great for some quiet time.

The theming at both is excellent. The bridge approach to the RPR entrance is great, the lobby is nice and the outside feature with the water and the stone elephants looks great. Portofino has a less impressive lobby (though lots of lovely marble and it smells amazing) but is a nicer hotel to walk round in my opinion. It also has the wonderful view of the bay as you approach by ferry - breathtaking.

Portofino is further away from the parks - not a problem if you get the ferry but when it is busy the choosing to walk option is worse than RPR on a hot afternoon. Only an extra 5 to 10 mins so not a deal breaker though.

Overall they are both great. If they were the same price i would choose Portofino every time.

[Fefster]

We stayed at RPR and there were very fews cons to this hotel. It really is excellent.
We've decided on Portofino for a change this time, but we would be quite happy with either.

[IndianaMac]

We did a night Hard Rock in '16, then in '18 two nights RPR; no experience of Portofino Bay I'm afraid.

Much preferred RPR to Hard Rock - the grounds are beautiful, the walk to CitiWalk pleasant, water taxi, well we did it once just to experience it, but for the queuing and wait, once was enough, may as well walk.

We were there just for Express passes so didn't eat there, and didn't do the pool either (not enough time when the sole purpose was rides at Universal!) - although I did prefer the look of the pool to the one at HR from the trip before.

We did have a fancy Jurassic World suite, where tyke's bed was modelled on a Gyrosphere, and we had a fantastic view over the pool and towards the parks/CitiWalk (including a fantastic storm rolling in - great light show and bouncing rain... unfortunately that night we had a reservation at Hard Rock Café, and had left our Walmart ponchos in POR, so got stung in the gift shop for new Universal ones).

For our next trip in 2020, we'll do a couple of nights again, and RPR will be our choice simply because we preferred it to HR, and PB is currently tracking at a greater cost - no ridiculously fancy room next time, just a standard as it'll just be a head resting place for a couple of nights.

[mrsgiggs]

Just had a week at sapphire falls had to change plans because of Dorian. If express line not a necessity this was a beautiful resort and I would stay here again. Didn’t need express last week everything was a walk on or 10 minute wait all day except the Saturday and the hagrid ride. Have stayed at RPR and is great was meant to do Portofino but worked out so expensive after cancelling and rebooking due to Dorian.

[Squidgyness]

Originally Posted by mrsgiggs

Just had a week at sapphire falls had to change plans because of Dorian. If express line not a necessity this was a beautiful resort and I would stay here again. Didn’t need express last week everything was a walk on or 10 minute wait all day except the Saturday and the gringotts ride. Have stayed at RPR and is great was meant to do Portofino but worked out so expensive after cancelling and rebooking due to Dorian.

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Forgot to mention, we were actually booked at Sapphire Falls for 2018 as not much savings due to going one year after the other, however Thomas Cook couldn't fulfill the allocation (I think the massive Microsoft/tech crowds we saw headed into Universal had something to do with that) so they upped us to RPR.

Having watched a tour of Sapphire it's a lovely hotel and were I not bothered about Express passes I absolutely agree I'd choose it with no qualms. I'm just hooked on the passes now I guess.

[welsh wizard]

Thanks everyone we’ve decided on RPR; all booked 😊

[sophiepop]

We have stayed at both in club and we much prefer PBH. We don't have young children though and didn't use the pool either.

PBH seemed much quieter which for us is brilliant.

[Daza]

I’ve stayed in all 3 of the deluxe Universal Hotels. We had 5 nights at The Portofino Bay last year. The Deluxe room is a lot bigger than a standard room at HRH and RPR.

Getting about wasn’t a problem...it’s not that massive...2 or 3 mins to reception where we were

The Beach Pool is great and the bar and food there is tremendous.

The Villa pool is beautiful and a bit quieter.

The main square at the hotel is delightful, Starbucks and a few restaurants here

I would make this my choice of Universal hotels but it is very pricey

[Squidgyness]

Originally Posted by welsh wizard

Thanks everyone we’ve decided on RPR; all booked 😊

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Fantastic! You'll really enjoy it. They're putting a new grab n go place in the lobby too I believe - though from the lack of photos you'd think it was some top secret place. I've only seen one blurry shot of the walls up whilst they are installing it.