The Marina Room has an excellent view. It is breathing taking when you go to the balcony to see the sunrise or sunset. The room is spacious and clean. The people are friendly. All contribute to a pleasant stay.
There's nothing better than looking out the glass door in the morning to the crystal clear water covered in boats of all shapes and sizes. Watching the comings and goings of the fleet is so relaxing especially if your also enjoying a sumptuous breakfast either on your balcony (always get a Marina View room) or in the restaurant. Rooms are spacious, beds comfy ( a little too comfy sometimes) and they say location is everything. If you need something different, a quick walk across the park to the Promenade for dinner or a shorter stroll to the Salt House is the perfect end to a Cairns day. Pure Bliss.
I have stayed in most of the hotels in Cairns and I would have to say that the ShangriLa is about the best. The Horizon Club rooms are bright, airy and modern. Staying in these rooms entitles the guests to use the Horizon Club facilities, which include free evening drinks, free breakfast, and private floor.
The service from the staff is excellent. We were stuffed around for one booking when the hotel was overbooked, but fortunately we were able to make use of a complimentary weekend at a later date
We have just stayed here for three nights on a special offer - three nights for the price of two. We enjoyed it very much and spent the middle day visiting the Great Barrier Reef which exceeded our considerable expectations. The hotel is wonderfully located for the Reef Centre check in and close to the city centre with myriad food choices in the evenings.
Breakfast at the Shangri-La is excellent with considerable choice and very good quality food and presentation. Our room was absolutely fine and overlooked the Marina yet was not noisy - inevitably however, a considerable distance from Reception! This is a big hotel without doubt and before you check out, leave sufficient time to get your bill and prebook
a taxi as large tour groups can suddenly turn up in Reception which could make your arrangements less timely. One final tip, you have to go to the Business Centre to make an advance check in and obtain a printed boarding card. This worked fine for us and saved a considerable amount of queuing at the airport with Virgin Australia.
All in all, a very good stay assisted by helpful and attentive staff whenever required.
The staff are friendly however not terribly effective. I was unimpressed upon attempting to check in to be advised that the room was not available but that the supervisor of the cleaning staff was seeing this would be attended to immediately. I returned nearly an hour later....to again be told the supervisor would see to this shortly!
The room had some maintenance issues
- carpet stained in places, worn threadbare in others
- the shower door was out of alignment and so did not close properly. Due to quite extreme water pressure, this led to quite a mess
- the internet, while free, is slow to the point of uselessness
- noisy airconditioning.
- noisy pipes in adjacent rooms
The exterior is pleasant (much more so than the rooms). It's OK for a quick stay, but it certainly isn't of a 5 star standard
Excellent location and facilities, but best of all the staff is wonderfull. Pleasant, nice helpfull and very attentive. I got ill and was hospitalized during our stay, and the entire staff went out of their way in order to help and comfort.
