Pros and Cons of Staying at Universal's Cabana Bay Beach Resort

Pros and Cons of Staying at Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort       

June 2, 2016

These are my observations from staying at Cabana Bay Beach Resort this spring:

Pros                                                   Cons

1.    Close to Universal                          1. Twenty minute walk or wait for bus

2.    Lowest priced of their hotels        2. Lowest priced of their hotels

3.    Two nice pool areas                        3. The pool areas are very crowded

4.    They have a fire pit for s’mores      4. The fire pit area only accommodates a few

5.    Decor is funky and cute                 5. The rooms are TINY

6.    We had a kitchenette                     6. Does not have a toaster and seats 2

7.    They have staff                              7. The staff are not very helpful

8.    The pizza is fantastic                     8. Breakfast is served until 11:30-no early lunch

9.    Nice gift shop                                9. My room had a bug

10. Areas look clean                           10. Had stained sheets

11.  Early admission                              11. Early admission may or may not be available

12.  Can sleep six (technically)             12. You will not sleep

My pros and cons list looks equal, but it is not. Let me delve a little deeper.

1     The walk from Cabana Bay to City Walk took twenty minutes if you walked at a good pace. The path was called the garden path for good reason; it was really quite lovely with many flowers, shrubs and trees. When you reach the City Walk area there is just one security table to go through but there was never a line and it is a little less intimidating than the main entrance. On the flip side, you do enough walking while you are there that you really don’t feel like doing more to get back to your room. The other option is to take the bus. The buses are painted with the Cabana Bay logo and are cute. There was never a long wait for a bus but they were often very crowded and we usually had to stand. The mornings are especially busy and sometimes you have to wait for the next bus. Also, these are not Disney bus drivers. One woman was on the large side and it was nearing 10:30 so probably near the end of her shift (those are my excuses for her) but she was livid that she had to accommodate a wheelchair bound person. She did not say anything but her body language spoke volumes. We were at the front of the line and two buses came and left while we were waiting to get on hers. I felt very badly for the disabled person as the whole thing was very uncomfortable. More than one bus driver was a little rude to us.

       

     

     Cabana Bay is the lowest price of the  Universal resorts. The reviews I looked at before I went seemed fine but I did regret staying there. Everything about the place is just a little – less. There was an odd assortment of people staying there and one of the types was the ones who came to spend the weekend, partying at City Walk – be prepared for people to come back to their rooms at 2:00 a.m. being very loud and obnoxious.

3       The pool areas are cute, there is white sand, a lazy river, seating, games, places to get drinks, hot tubs and fire pits. Every night there are movies on the lawn which were enjoyed by many. The downfall is that the hotel is too large for the pool area and they were overwhelmingly crowded. There were areas we weren’t even able to experience in our eight days because of the overwhelming number of people, and we were there in the off season. I thought I had pictures of it but once I got home I realized I hadn't even taken any on the walk by, which I did every time I went to or from my room.

     The décor was adorable. It was 50’s style all the way, decorated in orange and turquoise and employees wearing cute uniforms to go with the theme. We had a courtyard family suite, which is supposed to sleep six. There were only three of us and we were on top of each other. There was very little room and no place to put our luggage. My husband stubbed his toe countless times and we had to move his suitcase every night. Apparently they have a place where they will store your luggage for you but that is very inconvenient.

    We had a kitchenette which was lovely and we were planning to have our breakfast there each morning but there was no toaster and my husband and daughter did not like their coffee or the coffee singles we bought either. We did use the fridge to store water and yogurt and we used the counter when we ordered pizza. The fridge did not want to stay closed and we were constantly taking care of that. There was no cloth to clean up the area or any paper towel which I missed a lot. It should also be noted that it is basically in the doorway of your room and can only be used by one person at a time. Although, there are two stools on the other side of the counter. Imagine this space with a family of six getting ready! It was cramped with three.

     We were very tired when we checked into the hotel, our flight had been delayed and we had been in the air or at airports since early morning. There was no line up when we arrived which was great but the girl who checked us in was checked out. She was just doing the bare minimum to say she had done her job. Every question we asked her was like pulling teeth to get an answer and being our first time there we didn’t know anything. These things should have been automatically explained to every person who checked in. Then I asked about our park tickets (which our travel agent had messed up) and she gestured towards the store and said to check there. I later learned there was a desk to the side of the room (not the store) but I figured that out myself. The uniforms for the check in staff were yellow and they looked dirty so it wasn’t a very good first impression. We were excited to be there though and looked past all that. Overall, whenever I had a question for any of the staff I found them to be vague and I usually had to figure it out for myself. Twice I saw the cleaning staff sweep up to the wall or the carpet and leave the dirt there. Interesting. Below is a picture of the center of the lobby. In the background is the souvenir shop.

    

    

     We checked out the Bayliner Diner on the second night we were there because the restaurants where we planed to eat at the parks had all closed early (I didn't even know this was something I should have researched!). The diner has several food stations so everyone can get what they would like. There is also ample seating and an easily accessible condiment/drink area. There were several staff in the garbage area ready to help you clear your trays as well. Large TV screens played old shows and commercials from the 50’s which is quaint and goes along well with their theme. There were also two old fashioned cars outside which added to the cuteness. We enjoyed their pizza a lot and got it several times while we were there. I found that we didn’t have a big appetite during the day since we weren’t used to the heat so the pizza really hit the spot a few nights when the air cooled down a bit. On the last day we wanted to eat there before we left for the airport but they did not serve lunch until noon and it was 11:30 at the time. Check out was at 11 but when we asked about late check out we were told the latest was noon or they would charge us for another day. I thanked her for her help and I thought it was hilarious that she said they were there to serve because we had average at best customer service the whole time we were there and I was only saying thank you to be polite, not because she had actually helped us at all. The Bayliner diner was the one thing about this resort that I thought was really well done.

     I did like the gift shop in the hotel. It had a variety of things from many of the park gift shops. I found it much quieter than the park gift shops and easier to look around. We were also able to get some cosmetic items such as sunscreen etc.

          The areas of the hotel looked clean overall but twice I noticed the cleaning staff sweeping to the edge of the wall or the carpeted area. Also, on the first night I noticed a stain on my sheets – ewww. Plus there was a bug in our room and it died the first night. It was in the corner so I left it and it stayed there the entire week. Sorry, I know this is really gross, but really, wouldn't you rather know!

          A perk of staying at the resort was supposed to be early admission to the two Universal parks. It was advertised on the website and on our paperwork for the vacation package. When we got there the early admission was only at one park (note: this is only for the Harry Potter section, not the whole park). There were several times that we did not get things that were advertised with our vacation package.

         

          The last thing on the pros and cons list is the sleeping arrangements, as I said we had the courtyard family suite which is supposed to have queen sized beds and be able to sleep six. I would find six in there quite impossible. The beds are the smallest queen sized beds I had ever seen and about six inches smaller than my queen size bed (I measured)! We could only sleep one to a bed, which meant we had to use the roll out couch – not good, in fact terrible!! Also, the sheets were scratchy and loud so whenever someone rolled over it was so loud that everyone woke up. The pillows were lumps – there is no other word for it, they were horrendous! The other problem was the lights in the room, the light switches glowed, the hair dryer directly across from the beds glowed – even with a towel over it. There were two things near the ceiling – one was probably a smoke detector, and they both blinked two green lights constantly. We did not get a good night sleep the entire time we were there and that will ruin a vacation. Despite the cute décor and beach area, despite the Bayliner Diner, we would never stay there again because of the sleeping arrangements. We had even paid extra for this upgraded room. We can put up with everything else that wasn’t quite up to par but not being able to sleep tops everything. Even if every other area of the hotel was perfection and the staff were impeccable, we would not stay here again.

Those were our experiences with the Cabana Bay Beach Resort – you can try it for yourself and see what you think.