Cabana Bay Beach Resort?? Is it really all that??

[PrincesaMama]

DH and I stayed at CB on our first stay to Universal. It was not a peak time and we had EP for one day of our park visit. While we really enjoyed our stay it would not be cost effective for our family of 5 to stay there. The cost of EPs would make this more expensive than an premium hotel stay.
CB itself was great. We really enjoyed the amenities and the room was very spacious and comfortable. The bowling alley was really nice (we didn't bowl, just looked), the gym was nicely done and everything was very well themed.
When we took our kids we stayed at RPH and loved the option to walk to the parks. However, CB would absolutely be our option for a non or minimal park stay.

 

[kohlby]

CB is an excellent hotel for the money. I did like it much better than POR - we were in Alligator Bayou and I was not overly impressed there. We were there this past October. However, CB is a noticeable step down from Royal Pacific Resort or any of the other three top tier Universal resorts.

 

[smallworldnh]

We will be staying there for the first time this year (actually first time ever onsite)! Two of my coworkers have stayed there, one of them 3 times, and recommend it highly - they LOVE it! It looks awesome to me!

 

[EveDallas]

I'll be there Saturday!! Can't wait

 

[RalphinSC]

Just confirmed as well from looking at videos of new signage yesterday. Cabana Bay will have a direct walking path to Volcano Bay. Still not sure if all the other onsite resorts will have direct buses to Volcano Bay (seems most likely) or will require transfer through Citiwalk to the new bus set-up. Either way, I think that is one nice little plus for Cabana Bay.

 

[kace08]

I stayed at Portofino in December and I loved it. It was so elegant and beautiful and peaceful. But one night my husband and I visited Cabana Bay to check out their Christmas decorations, have a drink at their Swizzle Bar Lounge and shop at their gift shop. It is a totally different vibe but just as amazing! In fact their gift shop is probably my favorite in all of Universal unless you need specific Harry Potter items. We can't wait to stay there, but my kids kind of got hooked on the express passes....

 

[kbelle8995]

I stayed at Portofino in December and I loved it. It was so elegant and beautiful and peaceful. But one night my husband and I visited Cabana Bay to check out their Christmas decorations, have a drink at their Swizzle Bar Lounge and shop at their gift shop. It is a totally different vibe but just as amazing! In fact their gift shop is probably my favorite in all of Universal unless you need specific Harry Potter items. We can't wait to stay there, but my kids kind of got hooked on the express passes....

Oh I just love their gift shop. I really just love Their Cabana Bay merch. I have a beach towel and it is my favorite.

 

[pigletto]

Having stayed at Portifino and at RPR several times, Cabana Bay has become our new home. It checks all the vacation boxes at this point for us. The biggest one being the family suite. We have a 20 year old dd and a 13 year old ds. In the family suite they get their own sleeping spaces and morning prep space.

We used to tack a few days at Universal on to the end of a Disney trip and would stay at a Deluxe for the Express passes. Now that the kids are older, we are taking Universal only trips and staying for a week. The price point at CBBR makes more frequent trips possible. We spent 7 nights there in October and had a fabulous time. So fabulous in fact, that we are going for another 7 nights this month. We don't need Express passes when we go during lower crowd times and stay for 7 nights. We had free flight credit and Seasonal AP's for this trip. It would not be in the budget if we were staying at the Deluxe properties the whole time.

So while I loved my Portifino and RPR stays, I just don't find they work best for us for a longer trip with the whole family. We will certainly return to the Deluxe properties at some point, especially for shorter trips. But CBBR is great for us at this time and we are so excited to go back in 11 more sleeps!

 

[jeffbeardreams]

I've stayed at every Universal Resort except for HRH, which just doesn't do anything for me for some reason. There's just kind of one thing about each resort that I love .. different for each one. My favorite is probably Portofino for the HUGE rooms and the loveliness of the exterior theming. That said, Cabana Bay is the one that just makes me smile. The styling is probably either your thing or isn't but I was born in the mid-60s and their late century modern vibe with the bright Miami resort color scheme just nails all of my nostalgia buttons. The family suites are particularly good value too. LOVE that resort.

 

[wgeo]

If it was up to me, I'd probably pick Royal Pacific for the EP and closer to the parks. BUT the price point at Cabana Bay is incredible, especially for the room size. We are getting a room with 3 beds and over 400 sq feet for $130/night. You can't even get anywhere close to that at any of the other properties. Since my kids can not stand sharing a bed, they are 12 and 13 year old boy and girl, having a place that they can go back to and get a good nights sleep is very important. If everyone is happy, well rested, and well fed then standing in longer lines isn't that big of a deal. And since it's so cheap to stay at CB we are able to stay for longer visits, so time isn't as important. If money wasn't important we'd stay at the top tier places and get a suite or at least a roll away, but money still talks right now.

 

[shh]

For us, it's also what we'll be doing on that particular trip that determines which resort is the best choice. All our trips are just 2-3 days max, since we live in driving distance of Orlando and can go more often.

We tried RPR for the first time during Mardi Gras and loved it! . Worth every penny to walk to the parks and have the EPs, even when we didn't always need them. What a gorgeous resort.

But next visit will be HHN in Sept or 1st week of Nov. As much as I'll miss staying at RPR, I'll probably opt to save money with a CB stay, since I still have to buy those fairly pricey HHN express pass separately and we'll probably spend less time in the parks during the heat of the day that trip. (Plus hoping won't need Express pass as much that time of year).

But then we're back in Feb for mardi gras - and it's RPR all the way!

One question for anyone familiar w/Lowe's loyalty program. We only stayed once at Lowe's (RPR). Do I have to complete one more stay before the program's benefits kick in or do they kick in on the 2nd stay? And what more do you get after they do kick in? I know CB doesn't count, so if there's anything included on my 2nd stay at RPR, that might be worth it as well. Thanks!

 

[jeffbeardreams]

One question for anyone familiar w/Lowe's loyalty program. We only stayed once at Lowe's (RPR). Do I have to complete one more stay before the program's benefits kick in or do they kick in on the 2nd stay? And what more do you get after they do kick in? I know CB doesn't count, so if there's anything included on my 2nd stay at RPR, that might be worth it as well. Thanks!

Here's a link to their loyalty program details page
benefits

IIRC your stays don't "count" until completed so you would have to finish the second one to be in that second tier of benefits. But if your first stay is for five nights, you get credited for 2 upon completion.

 

[theterms]

We've stayed at all the resorts - and love them all. Our favorite is Hard Rock, but stay where the best AP deal is, what we're in the mood for or how long or short our stay is. We come from New Jersey and usually drive and bring our dogs, so CBBR is usually when DH and I just want a quick getaway and fly down (they don't allow dogs). We stayed at Sapphire Falls last October for our annual anniversary/HHN trip and loved it there as well. Great AP rates also available.

 

[Laura_Dee_]

I liked Cabana Bay! This time we are going in June so I’m considering doing a split stay between one of the deluxes and Cabana Bay to get 4 days of express. 3 nights at one and 3 nights at the other. Just not sure how much of the day would be wasted switching resorts.

 

[wendlle]

I've stayed at Royal Pacific and have a stay at Hard Rock coming up and we spent 7 nights at Cabana Bay in a family suite in 2017. We really enjoyed the resort, the only thing I didn't like was that you had to walk thru the lobby to get to the other side of the resort - we were staying on the "pool" side so had to walk thru the lobby with swim floats etc to get to the lazy river. It was a little annoying. Also the rooms are really noisy, you can hear everything from next door - but sadly that is how most hotels and resorts are these days anyway.

 

[EnchantedRoses]

We are Disney Veterans...and last year we had our first Universal Vacation. We booked a Suite at Cabana Bay, and let me tell you....my family enjoyed that hotel more than any of our stays at Disney. Our walk to Transportation took minutes, we never waited more than 5 minutes for a bus to and from the parks. My boys (11,6) loved the Pool, the fact that they could use tubes, and went around the lazy river more than 100 times! lol. We always did Value/Moderate rooms at Disney, and I have to say that for this to be considered "value" we loved all the room we had in our suite. Having two separate spaces in the room was great, especially when getting ready. I feel like in Disney we were always in each other's way....even in the Moderate resorts.


At the end of our vacation, my kids and husband couldn't stop raving about not only the hotel but how this was their best vacation ever....mind you we have gone to Disney about 10 times!! So much than when given the option for this years vacation (We let the kids decide) between a cruise, Disney or Universal they all said (including the husband) Universal and Cabana bay.

Hopefully you enjoy it if you end up deciding to go with Cabana Bay!!