Difference Between Portofino Bay and Loews Royal Pacific

[sicjoy]

Greetings all,

Just returned from from a Universal stay at RPR and am curious if anyone can explain the main differences between RPR and PBH: rooms, restaurants, pools, staff, amenities, noise, events, etc. Thank you for your time in advance.

 

[mjohnson96]

I can give you some of the differences from our trip this year.

Pools - the RPR pool is geared toward smaller kids with the boat that they can play on. No slide at this hotel but the pool is larger and is more lively. I did like the small kids play area at PBH pool, the kiddie pool was lots of fun and the playground area was a nice plus. I don't like that there is not a pool bar really at PBH, I love going over to HRH for their pool bar and then we like to relax at RPR near the bar area to have a drink at night.

Staff - I just felt the staff at RPR was much better than the ones I encountered at PBH. No one at PBH had a clue when we asked were the path was to the pool, the trail to the park or HRH, or were the pizza place was on property. When we did go to Sal's the pizza was great but my sister ordered 2 salads and they never showed, they said they would remove them from our charge but when I checked out RPR was nice enough to take it off for us since they never did. I also thought the staff at the PRP pool were more outgoing and friendly, we saw them all the time when there but once you walked into PBH pool we didn't see anyone again.

Amentities - I like the kids area at PBH with the kiddie pool and play area. I do know that PBH does not have laundry facilities and when staying more than a few days I like to wash clothes.

Noise - very quiet , they even had an adult type pool that was very quiet and my mom and sister liked it over there when we went to the pool at PBH. You also cannot hear any of the park noise since you are pretty far away.

Events - Since we used the pool area the most the events were lacking. The only thing they did was bring around smoothies once but no activities for the kids like HRH and RPR has. I also like that RPR has the pool table and ping pong table outside by the pool to use.

 

[damo]

Biggest difference to me is the size of the bathrooms. PBH has HUGE bathrooms and RPR has teeny bathrooms.

 

[sicjoy]

Thank you both for the input. Looks like RPR will stay the place of choice for us. Thanks again!

 

[tony67]

Personally I found the PBH a bit stuffy, not what I would expect from an Italian Fishing Village.
It was really nice, but not really kid friendly IMO.
I did stay their twice.

I found the RPR to be very laid back and comfortable.
Much more kid friendly as well and have stayed there several times.

It is one of my favorite places to stay.

 

[sicjoy]

Personally I found the PBH a bit stuffy, not what I would expect from an Italian Fishing Village.
It was really nice, but not really kid friendly IMO.
I did stay their twice.

I found the RPR to be very laid back and comfortable.
Much more kid friendly as well and have stayed there several times.

It is one of my favorite places to stay.

Thanks Tony67!

 

[jtopicz1]

I too, prefer RPR over PBH. RPR just seems to have the right blend of upscale, fun, and laid back, where as to me, at least, PBH seems to try to hard to be upscale, and in doing so may come across as bit stuffy.

That being said, I love all three Universal hotels, but honestly prefer RPR or HRH over PBH. I think many people are conditioned by Disney to automatically think that onsite hotels come in three varieties - budget, moderate, and deluxe - and while that may seem true at Universal as the properties have essentially a three tiered rate structure, I would classify all three properties as deluxe. In my opinion, the price difference between the three is based more on room size, where RPR is the smalles, than service or amenities.

Jim

 

[damo]

I prefer PBH. I prefer the rooms, the bathrooms, the restaurants, the pool. I have never had any issue with employees...they have always said "Bonjourno" whenever we came across one. We have had wonderful upgrades and I don't mind the walk at all. It is my hotel of choice of the three.

 

[sicjoy]

Thank you all for your contributions and opinions. They have been very helpful and informative.

 

[kirbsam]

Personally I found the PBH a bit stuffy, not what I would expect from an Italian Fishing Village.
It was really nice, but not really kid friendly IMO.
I did stay their twice.

I found the RPR to be very laid back and comfortable.
Much more kid friendly as well and have stayed there several times.

It is one of my favorite places to stay.

and my kids loved pbh. activities at the main pool all day. bocce ball for the adults. loved it.

 

[yourgoingagain?]

I prefer PBH. I prefer the rooms, the bathrooms, the restaurants, the pool. I have never had any issue with employees...they have always said "Bonjourno" whenever we came across one. We have had wonderful upgrades and I don't mind the walk at all. It is my hotel of choice of the three.

Agree 100%

We have stayed at RPR several times and at PBH over 20 times so I will admit to being somewhat biased.

The best thing about RPR is the pool which is geared more towards young children. Aside from that, I cannot think of one area related to the physical property that RPR has over PBH. PBH has more restaurants, bars, and pools.
The hallways are even larger at PBH.

Some prefer the South Pacific theme over the Italian theme and base their choice on that.

I also believe there is an on-site laundry facility and the main pool does have a bar. The resort actually has 3 pools. The Villa pool does not have a pool bar.

 

[damo]

PBH does not have laundry.

 

[yourgoingagain?]

PBH does not have laundry.

Sorry, my mistake.

 

[disneyfan67]

I stayed at both RPR and the PBH and I have to say the PBH is a great choice. After staying at most of the Disney deluxe resorts over the years, I think the Portofino stacks up and or in some cases, beats most of them as well. I firmly believe if WDW had of built the Portofino on their property and duplicated it exactly, you would see people on the Disney boards going nuts over it.

The bed room and bathroom size at the PBH is a big factor for me and of course the theming. The pool choice is one of the best around too. When the beach pool closes, you can go to the villa pool which is open 24 hours and is beyond beautiful. To each their own, but the Portofino is my favorite.

 

[ChrisFL]

I stayed at both RPR and the PBH and I have to say the PBH is a great choice. After staying at most of the Disney deluxe resorts over the years, I think the Portofino stacks up and or in some cases, beats most of them as well. I firmly believe if WDW had of built the Portofino on their property and duplicated it exactly, you would see people on the Disney boards going nuts over it.

Disney did build it on their property...kinda. The MiraCosta hotel in Tokyo DisneySea is very similar, but much bigger and more elaborate.

It's also a LOT more expensive than PBH though

 

[dsmom]

Thanks for clearing that up Chris! I have been reading Lurkyloos Tokyo Disney trip report and I thought I must be crazy but that resort looks a LOT like Portofino Bay!

We have stayed at every resort on Disney property and all three Universal resorts and LOVE Portofino Bay! It is hands down our favorite resort ever. (Loews Miami Beach is a close second.)

 

[ChrisFL]

Thanks for clearing that up Chris! I have been reading Lurkyloos Tokyo Disney trip report and I thought I must be crazy but that resort looks a LOT like Portofino Bay!

We have stayed at every resort on Disney property and all three Universal resorts and LOVE Portofino Bay! It is hands down our favorite resort ever. (Loews Miami Beach is a close second.)

Yep, they are very similar, except MiraCosta is much larger, but a very similar port area...

Now this all could be more than just coincidence because both hotels were being designed in the mid 90's, around the same time that Eisner let go of several imagineers that made their way to Universal Creative...the rest is all speculation, but I wouldn't be surprised if both sides started with the same project.

 

[keishashadow]

Biggest difference to me is the size of the bathrooms. PBH has HUGE bathrooms and RPR has teeny bathrooms.

we joke that you could fit a twin size blow up mattress bed easily into it...not that im suggesting it to get around the stated room occupancy

I prefer PBH. I prefer the rooms, the bathrooms, the restaurants, the pool. I have never had any issue with employees...they have always said "Bonjourno" whenever we came across one. We have had wonderful upgrades and I don't mind the walk at all. It is my hotel of choice of the three.

even my non-flappable DH is 'floored' by the space in the suitesand the gracious service

I stayed at both RPR and the PBH and I have to say the PBH is a great choice. After staying at most of the Disney deluxe resorts over the years, I think the Portofino stacks up and or in some cases, beats most of them as well. I firmly believe if WDW had of built the Portofino on their property and duplicated it exactly, you would see people on the Disney boards going nuts over it.

The bed room and bathroom size at the PBH is a big factor for me and of course the theming. The pool choice is one of the best around too. When the beach pool closes, you can go to the villa pool which is open 24 hours and is beyond beautiful. To each their own, but the Portofino is my favorite.

100% it is a true deluxe experience

the main pool area does have lots of games for the kids in the afternoons we've been pool-side...enough peals of marco - polo to entice us to retreat to quiet pool area lol. You don't have that option @ RP, the pool area gets very energetic in the afternoons and seems way more crowded than PB

RP is very nice and so well-themed (even moreso before they went tropical on the bed linens), it compaes favorably to most disney deluxe resorts.

 

[drag n' fly]

I would love love love to stay at PBH. The only thing that is stopping me is no laundry facilities. Any suggestions?

 

[dsmom]

Do a split stay with Royal Pacific! People think I am crazy but we stay one night at RP each trip so I can get all the laundry done before we go home. I love the laundry room on the 2nd floor in tower three. I am usually the only one in there and it is so relaxing!