There's nothing quite like a weekend in Orlando, is there? We just came back from a lovely weekend at the Caribe Royale Hotel in Orlando , and I couldn't wait to sit down and tell you all about it!
As I mentioned in my previous post, Caribe Royale has 1,218 one-bedroom suites in standard double queen, standard king, and deluxe king suite formats. They also have two bedroom villas available for larger families, or couples traveling together. I had never stayed in an all-suite hotel before, so I was really curious to see what our room would be like! We left for Orlando right after Chris got off work on Friday and drove straight there, arriving at around 8:30 PM.
We stayed in a double queen suite, which also had a separate bathroom and living room. I really enjoyed having that separate living room (there was even a door you could close!) with a mini refrigerator, pull out sofa and chair as well as a desk area. While Chris and the kids slept in on Sunday morning, I was up and using the ergonomically designed workspace to get some work done without interrupting their sleep! While the hotel does offer wifi, there is a $9.99 daily charge for the service and it only covers up to two devices. Since I was there for work, I purchased the wifi for my laptop and phone and found it to work rather well.
Note: If you join the free Stash Hotel Rewards program, you qualify for free wifi during your stay! You can sign up for the Stash Hotel Rewards program here.
This separate living room is also great for when you or the kids want to stay up late watching television without keeping the rest of the family up!
The rooms all have a mini refrigerator, which was filled with a carafe of milk, cookies and candies as well as a fruit and cheese plate with crackers when we arrived. It was so nice to have delicious snacks ready for us when we got there! We ended up munching on those goodies throughout our stay!
There is also a coffee maker and microwave, as well as two telephones with voice mail, data ports, plenty of outlets for charging all of your electronics, 42” inch flatscreen LCD HDTVs in the living rooms and 37” inch flatscreen LCD HDTVs in the bedrooms. They also have free HBO in hi def!
Standard Double Queen Suites have two queen-sized beds, Standard King Suites each have one king-sized bed and Each Deluxe Suite has a king-sized bed and whirlpool bathtub. If we stay there again, I am totally going to book a Deluxe Suite so that I can take advantage of a whirlpool bathtub!
Room Service is available 24 hours a day, and there is a full menu right in your suite. We were so tired from the drive up that we ended up just ordering room service on our first night at the Caribe Royale. After eating at the Tropicale Restaurant the next day, it seemed like the room service menu had the basic menu from the hotel restaurant - and everything was really good!
The next morning we headed down to The Tropical Restaurant for breakfast before setting out for the theme parks for the day. Knowing that we would be out in the sun all day, and on our feet, it was especially important that we had a hearty breakfast!
You never really know what you're going to get from a hotel buffet...rest assured, The Tropicale Restaurant in the Caribe Royale Hotel had a delicious breakfast spread! There was a large assortment of fresh fruits, as well as an omelet station, oatmeal, grits, hash browns, biscuits and gravy, bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, pancakes, crepes and french toast, quiches and breads and bagels for toast.
After we returned from the parks, we took a look around the hotel. They have two pools and two Jacuzzis, as well as a 75 foot water slide and an enclosed playground and water play area for the little ones!
The grounds - there are 53 acres in total - are beautifully landscaped, and the 250 gallon main pool has a waterfall cascading into the pool itself. It is amazing! The backside of that waterfall is the other large pool that has the 75 long water slide. There is always a hotel employee checking to make sure that the children are tall enough to use the slide - Caribe Royale takes safety very seriously!
You can truly spend an entire day at the pool; you can even order food and drinks poolside from the Calypso's poolside restaurant and bar so you don't have to leave the kids or argue about getting out of the pool to go have lunch.
You can rent pool cabanas on the pool deck for $25 per day, which includes use of the cabana with upgraded lounge chaises, free internet, a cooler of bottled waters, chilled towels, two free frozen drinks from the pool bar, use of two plush beach towels for the day plus a discount on services in The Island Spa! You can reserve the cabanas at the fitness center, which is directly above the children's playground.
The pools are open from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. and the water slide is open from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m, so you really can spend an entire day at the pool!
We went back to The Tropicale Restaurant for dinner Saturday night, and while the prices were definitely higher than what you would pay at a local chain restaurant, it was worth every penny! I ordered a pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon with a creamy sweetcorn and marscapone cheese polenta. I believe it was $27, and it was mouthwatering!! I love that The Tropicale Restaurant serves fine cuisine like this - and I have heard that The Venetian Room has even more gourmet dishes! After spending the day in the theme park, we didn't want to get dressed up for dinner, so we skipped The Venetian Room, but I think we will try it the next time we are in town!
Caribe Royale also has a spa, a fitness center and a business center. While we didn't use any of those features while we were there last weekend, I think I'll be paying a visit to the spa the next time I stay there!
The Caribe Royale was a beautiful hotel, but it was more than a hotel. It was a resort, with everything you need in one place for a family vacation, romantic weekend with your loved one, or even for a girl's weekend getaway! Between the spacious rooms, the dining options and the pool and spa amenities, the Caribe Royale Hotel in Orlando is a destination unto itself.
Of course, if you must leave, the Walt Disney World Resort is less than two miles away, and Universal Studios is just a short drive up the highway!
You can find out more about the Caribe Royale at CaribeRoyale.com. Make sure to like the Caribe Hotels and Caribe Royale Orlando Facebook page too, you don't want to miss out on any special promotions they might be offering!
Speaking of promotions, the Caribe Royale Hotel in Orlando is offering my readers a great promotion that you can take advantage of when booking through April 4th, 2014! You can receive 15% off undiscounted Best Available Rate plus ½ dozen chocolate covered strawberries for travel April 24th through August 15, 2014 if you book through this link. This offer ends on April 4th, so make sure you take advantage of it before it runs out!
Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Caribe Royale via Burst Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author.
