PORTOFINO BAY HOTEL Information

[jcvalenti]

We are staying at Portofino in less than two weeks. I am very excited. It sounds like a lovely place. I am glad to see others trying to reactivate this thread. I have been longing for some Portofino info, and it seems most people want to talk about the other two Universal hotels. Anyone been there recently and want to tell us about your stay?

We were there from 6/20 to 6/23 - my first stay on property at Universal. We really enjoyed it - the hotel was large, clean, well appointed and the staff was friendly. I kind of wish I upgraded to a bay view room - they looked really cool ... but since we were barely in our room, I guess it didn't matter.

If you've got the time, I highly recommend you eat at Mama Della's at Portofino. We ate there and just loved it. One of our favorite meals of the whole trip.

The only complaints I had were that (a) the boats simply don't run often enough to Portofino, or they need to add more, (b) the hotel charged my $10 / day for internet access which was essentially so slow as to be worthless on my iPad and (c) the phenomenally neat little wine bar on the bay had about the most ridiculously limited list of wine I've ever seen.

 

[jedi jen]

Thanks for the report! It sounds nice. So much for hitting the wine bar to take away the frustration from there not being enough boats. I would love to try Momma Della sometime. It sounds great. I have heard only positive things about it. This time we are going with five people (two grown and hungry boys) and I booked club level to try not to lose my shirt getting them fed each day. I am not sure I can afford to take them to Mamma Della this trip. Next time DBF and I go by ourselves, it looks like a must do.

Glad you had a great trip. I am counting down the days until ours and we are within two weeks. I am getting very excitied. We are going to both Universal and WDW. It is my kids first time to Universal, and I am really looking forward to seeing them experience it. They have been to WDW when they were younger. This is the first time we are going when they are tall enough and brave enough (we will see about that--they are used to seeing WDW coasters) to ride the faster rides.

 

[damo]

Thanks for the report! It sounds nice. So much for hitting the wine bar to take away the frustration from there not being enough boats. I would love to try Momma Della sometime. It sounds great. I have heard only positive things about it. This time we are going with five people (two grown and hungry boys) and I booked club level to try not to lose my shirt getting them fed each day. I am not sure I can afford to take them to Mamma Della this trip. Next time DBF and I go by ourselves, it looks like a must do.

Glad you had a great trip. I am counting down the days until ours and we are within two weeks. I am getting very excitied. We are going to both Universal and WDW. It is my kids first time to Universal, and I am really looking forward to seeing them experience it. They have been to WDW when they were younger. This is the first time we are going when they are tall enough and brave enough (we will see about that--they are used to seeing WDW coasters) to ride the faster rides.

a) We walk way more than we take the boat. I hate waiting for the boat. We find that if you cut through the Hard Rock Parking lot, you can walk faster than the boat can go.

b) If you are a YouFirst member, after two stays internet is free. I know that doesn't help you now, but in the future it may. I would have complained about the slow internet...they probably would have comped it. Internet is free in the lobby.

c) You should make your feelings known about the wine list.

 

[jedi jen]

damo,

Thanks for the tips. I think you were responding to jc (above my post). I have never been to Portofino....yet.....less than two weeks baby!!!

Would love to hear more tips. Is there music in the evening by the pool? I thought I saw that somewhere. I am also interested in knowing if they have any activities and an activity calendar for PBH?

 

[damo]

damo,

Thanks for the tips. I think you were responding to jc (above my post). I have never been to Portofino....yet.....less than two weeks baby!!!

Would love to hear more tips. Is there music in the evening by the pool? I thought I saw that somewhere. I am also interested in knowing if they have any activities and an activity calendar for PBH?

oops....yup I quoted the wrong post!!!

There is an evening opera performance not by the pool but in the courtyard and the opera singer is up on one of the balconies. There are lots of daily activities by the pool. I think they are posted daily.

 

[LMO429]

Is there anyway to put a link on the front page of this thread of the pictues of the short cut to get to the parks. I keep forgetting what page its on. Thanks

 

[MOM2MC2]

We are staying at Portofino in less than two weeks. I am very excited. It sounds like a lovely place. I am glad to see others trying to reactivate this thread. I have been longing for some Portofino info, and it seems most people want to talk about the other two Universal hotels. Anyone been there recently and want to tell us about your stay?

Just got back from Portofino Bay. Stayed at Royal Pacific last year and must say I really liked this hotel better. We really enjoyed the Italian theme. My son loved the pizza at Sal's Deli. They have a pool menu, but the pizza is different, so just ask your server to order from Sal's and they'll place your order & pick-up for you (thanks Luis!). The kids loved the water slide and it was nice to have complimentary sunscreen and lemon water available at the main pool. The hillside pool is very quiet if you need a break from the noise. We never walked, but took the water taxi, which came quite often. A few times we had to wait for the 2nd boat at City Walk, but it normally only took 8 minutes. Also took the rickshaw once, which the kids loved - the drivers work off of tips only. Would recommend this hotel.

 

[bumbershoot]

FWIW, I never felt the boats were too infrequent. They basically have one boat (as far as I could tell) for each resort, and they simply go back and forth from their dock slip to their hotel all day long. Not sure there would be room for more boats, and since they do wait for a bit on each side of the trip, which is nice when you're running to the dock let me tell you!, it seems to be a set schedule.

I walked one day, and while I didn't take the HRH shortcut, it was a LOVELY walk that I was happy to take.


Sal's is so good, but we've had some pretty bad service there. We always get our pizza and salad to go, and twice now they've entirely forgotten about our order. This last time was particularly bad; we were sitting right outside, immediately in front of the door, with our number placard prominently displayed, and every time the servers came outside we made eye contact with them. I checked in with them inside once, to see where our order might be, at about the half hour mark. Please note, this was February, there was almost no one at the restaurant and maybe one other person seated outside...it was not a rush period. I went back inside when it was closing in on an hour. The woman who took our order was confused, and then aghast that we had been sitting out there the whole time.

What happened was...they gave our order to someone else. I guess that person came back with the wrong order, told them the problem, got their proper order made and took it away, and the staff never once thought to wonder what the people with that order were doing. They never looked to see if they'd missed someone.

Making us a new pizza was mishandled as they made a small instead of what we ordered. They did deliver it to us to our room, which was nice since it was after 9 and COLD by then. But when we called to complain about the size, they basically accused us of lying, though they did make another one, and then still felt we were lying even when DH laid the small pizza slice over the newly brought one, to show them that they had brought a small pizza...

They made it more than right, but had such attitude that it certainly didn't feel like it was made right for us. But our original order-taker sent up a gift basket with a *sincere* apology the next day, and THAT felt nice.



Their pizza and simple salads are SO GOOD...but we will be dining in, not waiting for to-go, in the future, so we can keep an eye on what's happening.



Sorry for the novel especially since it's just about a restaurant and not THE hotel!


We love the feel of the hotel, we love the quiet pool and their hot tub and colder tub (not sure if it's supposed to be a cold plunge pool but that's what it felt like!). The staff of the hotel is lovely and kind. We love the music playing. The one night during our September stay when we got to hear the music that plays some/all? evenings in the piazza was fun.

For anyone staying with kids, give yourself some time-padding on the way to/from the parks so your kids can play on the Vespa-type scooters bolted to the ground in the piazza.

 

[damo]

Is there anyway to put a link on the front page of this thread of the pictues of the short cut to get to the parks. I keep forgetting what page its on. Thanks

That's a great suggestion!

 

[jedi jen]

Thanks everyone for the info. Sal's pizza sounds like a must do for us. I love salad, so I will have to try Sal's salad too. We are staying 5 nights, so we can enjoy the resort and have some down time. I have only been to Universal once before and only stayed one night at RPR. It was a lovely resort and we wish we had more time to enjoy it. So, PBH...here we come.

I am also glad to see people posting on this thread. I have been watching it for awhile and it was not getting many posts. Thanks again all!!

 

[damo]

Thanks everyone for the info. Sal's pizza sounds like a must do for us. I love salad, so I will have to try Sal's salad too. We are staying 5 nights, so we can enjoy the resort and have some down time. I have only been to Universal once before and only stayed one night at RPR. It was a lovely resort and we wish we had more time to enjoy it. So, PBH...here we come.

I am also glad to see people posting on this thread. I have been watching it for awhile and it was not getting many posts. Thanks again all!!

We love Sal's Pizza and salad. They also serve a quick breakfast there in the morning.

Take a little walk around the area surrounding the lobby (inside). They've done a really neat job in there!

 

[LMO429]

How far in advance can you make mamma della reservations on open table?

 

[JessicaR]

How far in advance can you make mamma della reservations on open table?

3 months usually. We have a reservation for the end of September that I made a month ago.

 

[LMO429]

3 months usually. We have a reservation for the end of September that I made a month ago.

Hmm Let me try again I am not having any luck for the end of oct

 

[nemofans]

Are the rickshaws out in the early morning?

 

[JessicaR]

Are the rickshaws out in the early morning?

The answer is sometimes. Depends on the season.

 

[nemofans]

How about in October? That would be better than walking to IoA in the early morning for early entry.

 

[stepdisney]

We leave in a few days and I am very nervous about staying at PBH this year. We have stayed at RPR 3 times and my DS's LOVE the pool activities and the theme of the resort. My DH and I know that we need a larger room (the RPR rooms are IMHO waaay small. We are excited to stay in a larger room but the distance from the parks and the Italian Villa vs. Tropical Resort feel of the pool bothers me some. I tried to switch to HRH (pool looks very nice) but there are no rooms available. Please tell me what you like about PBH. Also, how early do the boats begin? If the park opens for resort guests at 7:00, then do the boats begin at 6:00? Thanks.

 

[Akwafunk]

We leave in a few days and I am very nervous about staying at PBH this year. We have stayed at RPR 3 times and my DS's LOVE the pool activities and the theme of the resort. My DH and I know that we need a larger room (the RPR rooms are IMHO waaay small. We are excited to stay in a larger room but the distance from the parks and the Italian Villa vs. Tropical Resort feel of the pool bothers me some. I tried to switch to HRH (pool looks very nice) but there are no rooms available. Please tell me what you like about PBH. Also, how early do the boats begin? If the park opens for resort guests at 7:00, then do the boats begin at 6:00? Thanks.

I've stayed at both, and for the third trip had no reservations about picking PBH. With two boys, 4 and 7.

• Great pool - slide!!! Of course - you are welcome to pool hop, so don't forget about that.
• I like the relative quiet of the place. It's spacious and calm, but not in a stuffy way.
• The walk is barely longer really - it's not the big deal it's made out to be. I hardly noticed that it was further, and I tended to walk more than taxi. (OK so it's 4/5ths of a mile as opposed to 1/3rd of a mile.)
• I don't recall when the boats start, but I never missed a rope drop, and generally got there 15 to 20 minutes before they opened up. They take this into account, since getting to the park in time for early opening is kindof a major perk of staying onsite. They don't mess it up, honest. (Oh - found it, they start 30 minutes before parks open)

 

[damo]

We leave in a few days and I am very nervous about staying at PBH this year. We have stayed at RPR 3 times and my DS's LOVE the pool activities and the theme of the resort. My DH and I know that we need a larger room (the RPR rooms are IMHO waaay small. We are excited to stay in a larger room but the distance from the parks and the Italian Villa vs. Tropical Resort feel of the pool bothers me some. I tried to switch to HRH (pool looks very nice) but there are no rooms available. Please tell me what you like about PBH. Also, how early do the boats begin? If the park opens for resort guests at 7:00, then do the boats begin at 6:00? Thanks.

If you want to walk, there is a shortcut. Just go back in this thread a bit and someone will have linked to it. You cut out through the main road into PBH, through the HRH parking lot and you end up right outsite USF. Takes about 7 minutes.