Which Universal hotel?

[Debs Hill]

I am trying to persuade my husband to do a couple of nights at one of the Universal hotels so that we can utilise the 'no wait' system. However he's reluctant to spend cash when we are DVC members so I have to make the right choice or I'll never hear the last of it! Which would you choose as the overall nicest for theming, atmosphere, room quality, restaurants etc. It will be myself, reluctant husband and a 3 yr old!
Many thanks

 

[UKDEB]

Hi Debs,

I've only stayed at HRH and I haven't even visited the others (although I shall be putting that right in a few weeks time ).

Portofino Bay is the most expensive, so probably best to concentrate on the other two. There are various ways of getting discounts - Entertainment Rate, Fan Club Card and Universal Annual Passholder for sure, and there may be some more. The Entertainment Rate is usually the cheapest, but does sell out so it depends when you are going. Also, discounts are not offered for all dates, for example we could get AP discounts for weekdays, but not weekends. There were some great opening year offers for RPH, but I'm not sure what the current state of play is. SimonV reckons the rates will increase next year as the whole project turned out rather more upmarket they'd originally intended. It was supposed to have been a slightly lower standard than HRH, but in reality is on a par.

HRH is awesome and you and your husband would undoubtedly love it, although its theming would probably be a tad lost on a 3yo! There is a great pool though and a kiddie club.

Have you checked out the Loews and Universal websites? Also, try posting on the Universal forum - you'll find more people over there who have stayed at all of them.

 

[UKDEB]

I also meant to mention that you can use any of the hotel pools, whichever you choose to stay at.

Does your dh like steak? The Palm at HRH is superb, albeit a bit expensive. Just forget to mention that bit!

 

[sam_b]

Hi,

I have my first stay onsite at Universal coming up in Nov at HRH cannot wait.

To find good rates at universal you could try http://www.yourmagicaljourneys.com/
Nanci can get all the best deals including Fan Club rates and send you a Fan Club card. You pay the hotel directly so there's no problems with security and Nanci will make all of the expensive phone calls for you!

Good luck in persuading your DH

 

[richard3330]

Portofino Bay is the most expensive but I HIGHLY HIGHLY RECCOMEND IT.

We have stayed there before and our staying again this Christmas. We also travelled with a young son and he loved the resort.

The rooms at POB are excpetional, this is mainly the reason we choose to stay here. They are beauitfully furnished and come with BIG BIG luxury bathrooms with Italian marble. The rooms are so spacious and really really nice.

POB has a wonderful casual, relaxed feel and the harbourside setting is great. The rooms seem to be spread out nicely and are all in seperate Italian buildings, most of which overlook the pool area or the harbour. The swimming pool is a nice size and always has lots of loungers around the edge. When you arrive in the lobby you will realise how beauitfully the meditteranean/Italian theme is carried out. The POB spa is also a GREAT place to go for a massage and have a relax a wide range of treatments are on offer. Delfino Riviera is a really nice Italian restaurant which has lovely speciality food.

The whole of POB is really wonderful and we personally cannot fault anything about our stay. The staff were great, The rooms were excellent and the amenities were top-class.

Portofino Bay comes Highly Reccomended by us, but we haven't stayed at any of the other Universal Resorts. We looked around HRH and it did look very nice. If POB was a disney hotel I think we would be there every time!

Which ever Universal resort you choose I'm sure you will have a great stay, The Universal Express Pass is GREAT.

Richard.