Shangri-La The Marina, Cairns

Shangri-La The marina was amazing. Nice and clean and rooms are nice and spacious with attached balcony. They also have swimming pool and gym facilities and some shops and restaurants in the hotel. You get complementary water bottles tea and coffee. Lovely spot right near the port to go to green island and other attractions the night market is just a few minutes walk away!

Very dissatisfied and disappointed in this hotel. It is our first time staying at Shangri-La and we had anticipated a higher standard for this hotel. Room is not in great condition, furniture stained and soiled, found top of razor in shower and it is clearly evident that cleaning is not a priority. We booked a Horizon club class room with the anticipation of a higher class room. Cleanliness and upkeep is very poor and we were very dissatisfied and disappointed in this hotel and would not book here again.

Overall, I liked this hotel. It doesn’t have the pizzazz of hotels in Sydney and Melbourne but it does offer a very comfortable stay. The rooms look like they have been refurbed and while a little basic are comfortable, tidy, well appointed and offer nice views across the harbour. The breakfasts are very good and most of the staff are very helpful, especially the front doorman/concierge from England who is simply excellent. Unfortunately, we were there during the wet spell, which can made the hotel a little dreary, design issues of its older design.

Loved the deck and the view over the marina from our Horizon club room. Good food and drinks available in the club lounge. Room was modern and loved having the couch area. Welcome macaroons were appreciated. No powerpoints near the beds though which was a pain. Had to charge things in the bathroom overnight as only had one night before a 6am flight so trying to charge a heap of devices. Pool looked tired, dirty and crowded after coming from the Sheraton in Port Douglas. Property needs a bit of work. I would only stay here again for the marina view rooms. Lots of good restaurants located along the marina.

We have stayed at several Shangri La hotels in Asia and Australia previously. they were fantastic, and deserving of Shangri-La's five star reputation. The Cairns hotel on the other hand is not. It's more like a budget Australian motel version of Shangri La. First off the only restaurant and bar in the hotel was closed for renovations. You only got to learn about this at check-in. The rooms are not stocked with a mini-bar. The market in the lobby was closed throughout our stay, albeit one brief period. Room service is not 24 hours, so if you are jet-lagged and hungry in the middle of the night you are out of luck. I paid extra for the club level (I think they call it Horizon lounge level). This was a waste of money. At hotels like the Ritz Carlton the club lounge is open all day and late into the evening, and well stocked with drinks and food. Not this one. At breakfast the buffet is identical to what they served in the temporary breakfast restaurant. The only other time they had drinks and food was in the early evening, and this was very limited. Rooms are OK, but not great and certainly didn't feel luxurious. You couldn't really use the chair at the desk because right behind it was a massive structural support column. Overall the property is very tired and in need of maintenance. For instance the tiling around the pool is badly in need of repair. Went to the bathroom in the middle of the night to be welcomed by a cockroach scurrying across the floor. Tried to catch it but it escaped under the door back into the hallway. (I wanted to hand it over to reception for positive ID, since they might have been likely to say it was just a tropical beetle.) I had a very early morning flight out, so the night before I had reception book a taxi for 4.15am. When I checked out (thankfully reception is staffed 24 hours) the staff member discovered it had been booked for 6.15am. Fortunately there was a taxi on duty nearby. The one thing this hotel has going for it is location, right at the Marina with several very good restaurants adjacent to the property. Overall for the money you would do better going to one of the numerous other name brand hotels nearby.