Review Rennaissance - Sea World

[Lauralee131]

We're recently back from a weekend stay at the Marriott's Rennaissance at Sea World and thought I'd share my thoughts and some photos with you all.

First of all, I highly recommend it. Let's get that out of the way. As far as accomodations go for staying off site, I'd stay there again in a heartbeat.

Now let me say that I'm NOT an off-site person. I don't care how close it is to my Happy Place, or how nice it is, I don't like staying off site. It's just not...what's the word I'm looking for? Oh yeah, magical. It's not magical.

BUT that being said, I'd definitely stay here again if I needed to stay off site for some reason or another. This particular weekend trip was to go to my DH's company Christmas party so it was a quick stay - Friday afternoon (12/12) to Sunday afternoon (12/14).

I left NC with the idea in my head of arriving and grabbing dinner at O'Hana's (if they could seat us) and then heading to MVMCP so I could get some park time in. The last time I was in WDW for the holidays was December of 06. Granted, we were just there for a big family trip from 11/15 thru 11/22, but all the Christmas decorations weren't quite up yet and the Osborn lights weren't on yet, etc...so it doesn't count.

Let me just say that once you've been to WDW in December, Christmas back at home is decidedly dull and will never be quite the same. So I arrived wild with expectations of seeing the castle lights and somehow squeezing a visit to see the Osborn lights as well. A girl can dream, can't she?

Once we arrived in Orlando and checked in at the hotel, the magic wasn't there. I felt so far away and non-motivated that we ended up going to nearby Kobe steakhouse for dinner and hanging out at the hotel for the night.

Oh wait, that's not why I'm here - this is a hotel review, not a trip report!

Ok, so first off, the hotel is directly across from Sea World. You could walk to the park if you wanted to. Very convenient. I however, can't seem to bring myself to go there as I feel like I'm cheating on the Mouse!

The reason I booked this place is because American Express sent us a gift check worth $100 to use at any Marriott hotel. Of course, once you read the fine print, it's not good anywhere except the Rennissance or Marriott - no Spring Hill, Fairfield or Courtyards...so that left our options limited. In my search I came upon this place and it looked nice.

Beyond nice.

And the rate?

$111/night. For weekend nights. Seriously? I thought there had to something wrong with this place. On a weekend night you can't even get a moderate at WDW for that, much less with an AP rate these days either.

So, after mulling it over quite a bit, I booked it.

They charge either $12 or $15 dollars a day for parking (self park/valet), which I wasn't thrilled about. But whatever. So now really the rate is $124. Still not bad I think.

Upon entering, the place is gorgeous. Simply said. I didn't take nearly enough pictures to show it off here...

There's huge screens everywhere that feature under-sea images (more like Discovery Channel footage) of coral reefs, tropical fish, sea turtles, etc...Even behind the check in desk. Really very lovely.

Oh - and speaking of check in...they give you a glass of champagne when you check in. Oooh...cheap rate AND free booze? I like this place already!

There's a few restaurants (which unfortunately we didn't eat at so I can't review those) and a spa and sushi bars...it really is lovely...but how about I let my pictures do the talking...

I didn't take as many as I normally would have, but if you want to see some really nice pictures, go to Marriott's website and check it out. We were in room 9003, with a Sea World view (which on the website was I believe $127/night so we got an upgrade), but this picture was taken looking down on the center of the hotel (which is completely open as you'll see).

And looking to the left from our room (in the bottom right hand corner is the entrance to Tradewinds, one of their restaurants)

There were 6 sets of glass elevators which really added a nice touch, not to mention no crowds and no waiting!

Looking down on one of the bars...this was the sushi & spirits bar

I have to apologize for not getting the greatest of pictures. They certainly don't do this lovely place justice, but again, check out Marriott's website for some really great images...

This is our room...9003

Very clean and everything was in good working order. Loved the flat screen TV...(Hey WDW - wake up - put these in ALL your rooms please!)

And the bathroom was HUGE...and brightly lit, great for putting on my "game face"...

Did you notice the little Shamu on the tub? It's stamped on the belly with the name of the hotel, and yes, I took it. My son plays with it in the tub...it squirts water, etc...

The room, which was very large, was fully equipped with a coffee maker, mini fridge, bathrobe in the huge closet and tons of hangers. We had a balcony and this was our view...

Daytime:

And...nighttime...

Our 2nd day we'd gone to DTD to do some shopping and meet a dear friend for lunch and when we returned housekeeping was finishing up our room. She was a lovely lady who loaded us up with extra coffee and towels and was a joy to chat with in general.

There were shops and a business center (which is inside a Kinko's) over near the ballrooms, but unlike other Marriott's, you need to pay for computer usage by the minute (I needed to check in for our flight and print boarding passes) so that was a couple of bucks...

And be forewarned though...Marriott's vacation club called us daily with a great offer if we booked our next stay (much like WDW's bounce back) but it was 5 nights for $299 I think. Plus they kept leaving messages to come down stairs and pick up my free welcome gift, but I didn't want to deal with a sales pitch so I never did go, but at least the phone wasn't ringing...the message light would come on and there they'd be...

The gift shop was nice, but expensive. We bought 2 bottles of water and a bottle of diet coke and it was close to $13 dollars! So buy your drinks elsewhere!

So sadly my pictures really don't do the place justice and heck, for all I know, I'm spelling Rennaissance wrong, but don't overlook the place if you're staying off site. It took us hardly no time at all to get to DTD, etc. and it's close to the highway and I-Drive so there's plenty to do...and you can't beat the rate for such a nice place!

 

[d4est]

Thank you for sharing the pics and for the review. We will be staying there 2/14-2/18 as we are doing DC on the 15th and then Sea World and Aquatica.

I got our ressie through Priceline for $90/night plus taxes/fees. It looks beautiful! I requested a Sea World view and my fingers are crossed that we get it!

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

Great Review.

We loved our stay there. The only issue we ran into was the breakfast buffet restaurant that didn't have bacon for breakfast. That's DS's fav.

I'd go back there. Their pool was fantastic!

 

[RAPstar]

If it weren't for the hotel express pass at the Royal Pacific, I was so gonna stay here. The pictures online made it look so nice. I'm glad you enjoyed it! I will definitely stay there in the future.

 

[bentleygirl22]

We won three nights at the Ren back in 2004, during a radio promotion. It was nice, and it is close to SeaWorld, but that was about all I could say nice about it. I didn't like that it was a 10-15 minute drive to any off site food, 20-25 minutes to Universal or WDW. There were too many conventioneers at the time, so onsite food was crowded. Being a convention center, there really was nothing for our 2 kids to do. When we arrived, they put us in a room that had been painted that day. The fumes were strong enough to kill a cow. We asked for a move, and they obliged with no problem, customer service was overall good. But, it was summertime, our new room faced west. No matter how low we changed the thermostat, the room stayed hot. The therm also had a timer, so if you changed the fan to high, it automatically changed back to low in 15 minutes.

Given all of that, it was a nice stay. The price per night would have been over $200. I just could not see spending that, and not staying at a deluxe at WDW. If my job had a convention there, and all expenses were covered, I'd have few complaints.

 

[mayesq]

We stayed here when we did a weekend at Sea World. I would stay here again in a heartbeat. Great hotel. My kids loved watching the Sea World fireworks from our balconey.

 

[samjae]

Do all of the rooms have balconys and do you have to rent a fridge and if so what is the cost?
How far from International drive.

 

[Wistraveler]

I've stayed at this hotel several times, the last time in 2001. It's a beautiful hotel, very convenient to Sea World, but quite a drive to anywhere else. It has changed ownership (and names) several times. The first time I stayed there it was a Windom(sp).

The PP got a super rate as I paid $285/night and needed two rooms, so a total of $570/night. That was a bit pricey for a place to sleep.

The lobby is to die for, as it's a large atrium up to the height of the ten stories, with glass enclosed elevators on both sides (7 of them). There is an aviary in the center, a two story lounge, and a coy fish pond, with a ton of them in there swimming around. There are several gift shops scattered around the lobby as well.

The choices for eating are OK, but nothing to write home about. The pool is pleasant but is again nothing special. The is a hot tub and pool bar.

If I had the occasion to stay in that area again, I would probably choose something else.