bookbabe626
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2006
Just returned from a long weekend at Universal. Stayed club level at Royal Pacific. This is a very nice hotel, and I’d happily stay there again, although I probably wouldn’t do club level there again.
We arrived very late Thursday night (okay, so More like 1am Friday morning) after an unexpectedly very expensive Uber from the airport (late night surge pricing doubled the $25 fare). Check in was easy, no problems. We hadn’t really made any requests other than “same floor as lounge” and our room reflected that. It was the very last room at the far end of the hall, the furthest from the elevators that you can get, with a “lovely” view of the highway and the convention center rooftops. Nice room, lots of space and a decent amount of storage. The bed was comfortable, housekeeping was unobtrusive and efficient, staff was friendly and helpful.
The club lounge was a nice space, but a bit underwhelming if you’ve done club level at Disney hotels.
The club lounge food is a bit more limited than at Disney. Breakfast was mostly pastries and such. There was a pancake machine but it was fairly slow and not worth lining up for, IMO. Coffee was good and always available. They’d hand out bottled waters if you asked or there was a jug of water if you just wanted a glass with your snack. Afternoon chips and trail mix were nice but nothing special. We never made it to the evening appetizers. The cookies and other desserts were nice in the evenings. Again, nothing special or unique, though.
The lounge staff were helpful in answering specific questions when you asked, but didn’t go above and beyond in any noticeable ways. My sandal started to come apart, and I stopped in the one afternoon looking for glue and was directed to the gift shop in the lobby to buy the overpriced glue there. They did have a piece of tape when I needed some to fix a postcard I was mailing, but unlike Disney they didn’t offer to take the card and put it in the mailbox for me, which the Disney CMs usually do. They were also late in setting up the offerings a few times, and just seemed to be working on their own schedule, without apology or even comment to the people who were obviously waiting there. It wasn’t like they were rude or anything, they were just pleasant and doing their jobs but that was it.
The pool was nice. No slide but a decent size and nicely heated. There are two hot tubs…look for the smaller hot tub hidden back between the cabanas and the kids play structure, the large one fills up with people faster since it’s easier to find. The free sunscreen at the towel hut is a nice touch. The assortment of beach balls floating around the pool is a major bonus for the kids, less so for the people who prefer fewer projectiles in their vicinity. There’s a good assortment of lounge chairs, definitely get one of the free chair covers at the towel hut. And the hours are fabulous…8am to 11pm, so you can get a swim in no matter what time you get back from the parks.
Location is great. The walk to the parks is quick and easy, or there’s the boat which seemed to run quite frequently, much more often than the advertised every 20 minutes. If you’re in tower three, cutting the the pool area to get to the walking path is a great tip that I picked up here. It saves a lot of steps, and the checkin folks won’t point out the shortcut, only the path via the main lobby, and it’s longer and has a hill. The bus to Volcano Bay was okay, but didn’t run as frequently as the park boats.
Overall, the hotel is very nice, although not as nice as the price would suggest, but that’s par for the course at theme parks. We toured the other hotels, and while they were nice enough, we agreed that we made the right choice with Royal Pacific. Thanks to everyone who has posted on this thread and the others in the forum. Your information and assistance was very helpful, and we really appreciate it.
We arrived very late Thursday night (okay, so More like 1am Friday morning) after an unexpectedly very expensive Uber from the airport (late night surge pricing doubled the $25 fare). Check in was easy, no problems. We hadn’t really made any requests other than “same floor as lounge” and our room reflected that. It was the very last room at the far end of the hall, the furthest from the elevators that you can get, with a “lovely” view of the highway and the convention center rooftops. Nice room, lots of space and a decent amount of storage. The bed was comfortable, housekeeping was unobtrusive and efficient, staff was friendly and helpful.
The club lounge was a nice space, but a bit underwhelming if you’ve done club level at Disney hotels.
The club lounge food is a bit more limited than at Disney. Breakfast was mostly pastries and such. There was a pancake machine but it was fairly slow and not worth lining up for, IMO. Coffee was good and always available. They’d hand out bottled waters if you asked or there was a jug of water if you just wanted a glass with your snack. Afternoon chips and trail mix were nice but nothing special. We never made it to the evening appetizers. The cookies and other desserts were nice in the evenings. Again, nothing special or unique, though.
The lounge staff were helpful in answering specific questions when you asked, but didn’t go above and beyond in any noticeable ways. My sandal started to come apart, and I stopped in the one afternoon looking for glue and was directed to the gift shop in the lobby to buy the overpriced glue there. They did have a piece of tape when I needed some to fix a postcard I was mailing, but unlike Disney they didn’t offer to take the card and put it in the mailbox for me, which the Disney CMs usually do. They were also late in setting up the offerings a few times, and just seemed to be working on their own schedule, without apology or even comment to the people who were obviously waiting there. It wasn’t like they were rude or anything, they were just pleasant and doing their jobs but that was it.
The pool was nice. No slide but a decent size and nicely heated. There are two hot tubs…look for the smaller hot tub hidden back between the cabanas and the kids play structure, the large one fills up with people faster since it’s easier to find. The free sunscreen at the towel hut is a nice touch. The assortment of beach balls floating around the pool is a major bonus for the kids, less so for the people who prefer fewer projectiles in their vicinity. There’s a good assortment of lounge chairs, definitely get one of the free chair covers at the towel hut. And the hours are fabulous…8am to 11pm, so you can get a swim in no matter what time you get back from the parks.
Location is great. The walk to the parks is quick and easy, or there’s the boat which seemed to run quite frequently, much more often than the advertised every 20 minutes. If you’re in tower three, cutting the the pool area to get to the walking path is a great tip that I picked up here. It saves a lot of steps, and the checkin folks won’t point out the shortcut, only the path via the main lobby, and it’s longer and has a hill. The bus to Volcano Bay was okay, but didn’t run as frequently as the park boats.
Overall, the hotel is very nice, although not as nice as the price would suggest, but that’s par for the course at theme parks. We toured the other hotels, and while they were nice enough, we agreed that we made the right choice with Royal Pacific. Thanks to everyone who has posted on this thread and the others in the forum. Your information and assistance was very helpful, and we really appreciate it.