The hotel was amazing! We have not stayed on Universal property before and the Cabana Bay staff were very friendly and the hotel was clean. We only stayed two nights and have always wanted to stay at Cabana Bay to see what it was like. It definitely was worth it!!! Also, the Volcano Bay view was so much fun especially at night. We also ate at the Cafe in the hotel because we got in late. We were so glad they were still serving.
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Let me start by saying the resort itself was nice. Housekeeping, regular check-in staff. Amenities.. etc.
my issues are more with guest service. My husbands foot got stuck in one of the storm drains and he ended up falling and breaking his femur. From the SLOW response of him laying in the roundabout to the end of our stay was mortifying. From the rude director of guest services to regular shift supervisors.
Is everyone going to have to deal with those people on a daily? No. Sadly I had to. My husband was in the hospital from 6/7 (2 hours after our arrival) until 6/11. Accidents happen. I was trying to split my time between salvaging a vacation for my girls and the hospital. I did ask right away for them to cover the costs (taxi) to and from hospital and they did. I had to go down to the check-in counter EVERY TIME! Call and wait on a cab, just to visit my husband for an hour took 4 hours for the entire time, each time!
Once my husband was released I asked about them renting him a wheelchair for the rest of his stay. The “director” of course seemed accommodating and said he’d set it up for me and it’s a 3rd party rental, could they call me if they needed info. I said of course. Yeah they called alright… to get my CC info to BILL ME.
Not once did they say, “hey, I know you have kids here and you’re trying to go to and from the hospital, tell them to come to guest service if they need anything” or “tell your kids to come down to one of the many food courts and we will make sure they have dinner”
I did ask I’d they could change our express pass days to a later date, nope… contact guest services inside the park… REALLY? After all this you can’t make a few calls and help me out?! YOU ARE A UNIVERSAL RESORT!! I don’t care who you’re owned by!
What happened to customer service? What happened to going above and beyond making your guests stay more pleasant? I wouldn’t expect it had this injury not have been a foot caught in a drain grate causing this fall.
Guess I expected Disney service and I surely now know you don’t get anything above your average motel 8.
People save for a long time to get a 9 day, flight, etc vacation. Most will never get more than a 1 trip in a lifetime to a place like this.
Shame on Cabana Bay and Universal Studios
My family of four just stayed there for 5 days 4 nights (Monday-Thursday nights). Room was clean. We asked upon check in about our view and was told it would be parking lot view. We asked if we could have a pool view and the front desk clerk checked and was able to move us. We were on the 7th floor with a great view of the pool and lazy river. Also was happy we were in the area with hallways and interior room entrances. Room was clean just the water pressure wasn’t that great. We were fully aware before we got there about housekeeping not coming into your room daily. They use a text system where you text the front desk and they bring you anything you need. We just used the bags that the fresh towels came in to put our used towels in and put it back in the hallway near our door and they got picked up quick as well as any garbage we put out there (there was extra garbage bags in the room). Pool was a little on the cool slide and the lazy river was cold which I thought was strange considering we were in Florida. Several nights at the pool the same small group of unsupervised teenagers were there being loud and annoying. Baylight Diner had good food especially the breakfast.
This was our families first time coming to Universal Studios and so our excitement level was high when we arrived. COVID is still impacting the Resort, restaurants and the Parks ability to serve customers. However, they are selling like crazy, which means less for each customer.
No housekeeping, longer wait times everywhere, and of course mediocre service. You want a coffee? Great, they have a Starbucks-you just have to wait an hour in line because they have one place for the ENTIRE RESORT to grab coffee! Everything was dirty and staff seemed miserable. Definitely not the happiest place on earth.
When we come back we won’t be staying in this dive. We stayed 5 days and this is some pictures of things we saw the entire time we stayed here!
Property is a mess! No one knows anything. “I don’t know” is a popular answer. Dirty towels all over the pool area, common area. Dead plants throughout the property. Instead of taking the time to use painters tape not to paint on light fixtures, the white light fixtures have bright blue paint on them. Wood pieces missing in the elevator. Trash over flowing in the room as they don’t even come in to empty the trash. Dirty floors throughout the property. Security gate wide open every night. Anyone could just walk in. Not much in terms of amenities. If you are used to staying at more upscale hotels, this one is not it! I knew this was more of a “value” hotel. No matter what kind of property you stay, I believe it should be clean and secure. They got some work to do!
As a first timer to Orlando Universal we ( family of 5 , 3 boys ( 9 - 15yrs)) weren’t sure what to expect, but honestly this holiday exceeded all our expectations.
Cabana Bay is the perfect location, perhaps one of the more budget conscious priced hotels in Universal, with extremely Friendly staff, plenty of room by pool (Atomic Tonic side), good size room ( family suite for 5 ), very quiet exterior room ( Castaway, second floor), very clean complex and room cleaning.
The pools are extremely clean and safe, with plenty of lifeguards, there’s a smaller kiddies water area, water slide ( life jackets available) , lazy river and great poolside drinks from the pool bars.
Great choice of food from the Bayliner Diner and the Galaxy Bowl restaurant is a nice option for quick end of day relaxed dining.
As with the entire Universal resorts the everyday basics are marked up in price, but forewarned is forearmed and budget savvy travellers will find ways to negate this ( do recommend using both the hotel and parks cup refills / Coke Freestyle).
We used the path / walk to CityWalk a few times, it’s a nice ~ 20min stroll along the river to CityWalk / Universal Studio & Islands of Adventure, particularly when the shuttle bus queues are long ( can be early in the morning as everyone takes advantage of the early park access ( another great benefit of the hotel stay).
Final tip, the restaurants book up fast in CityWalk , some don’t accept walk-ins, so if you can plan in advance suggest reserving before you travel, the Universal app ( you will use this app continuously for your stay) facilities this.
All in all, fantastic holiday, great hotel and people, we will be back.
