Shangri-La The Marina, Cairns

We loved our stay at Shangri-La Marina resort for my birthday. We were in a lovely, spacious suite which overlooked the Salt complex. We were given Horizon access during our stay which was fabulous! A lovely breakfast each morning and the drinks and nibbles each evening were also amazing. As mentioned in other reviews, the staff are amazing (and the housekeeping staff are super busy). The bed was sooo comfy. Our room was also at the end of one of the very long hallways but was handy for getting up our steps each day. I loved laying by the pool, reading and having a swim while my hubby explored on his hired mountain bike (we drove to Palm Cove to pick it up). A walk along the boardwalk was also lovely.

Spent a couple of nights here in a Horizon club room. The room was over looking the harbour. Very spacious, clean with plenty of places to put your own items. Great balcony to relax on. BUT For a tourist hotel to run out of English Breakfast teabags and Corona beer, totally unacceptable when you’re paying to stay in a club room. The other let down, being how bad the pillows were. Why can’t hotel managers get pillows are very important to guests? Lastly for this higher end hotel chain to allow guest toilets at reception to remain filthy and nearly usable for a length of time even though they were reported is far from good. Disgraceful Would we stay again? Maybe but Cairns does have a lot of good hotels along the boardwalk.?

Lovely Hotel Not as much selection as in some of the larger Shangri-La hotels but our room had a fantastic outlook over the marina

We stayed here only for one night. I liked the clean and modern look of the room and the friendly and helpful staff at the reception. Breakfast is nothing special though and inside there is loud music (which I always think is absolutely unnecessary) and a hectic atmosphere. The QR-code for ordering eggs and coffee also did not work and at busy hours there could be more staff. The hotels location though is very convenient, directly at the Marina, and I also liked that laundry is very pragmatic and fair (20 pieces for 20AUD). It is possible to bid on upgrades, which I also liked. I would stay here again.

Stayed here via Luxury Escapes. This hotel is very much focussed on tour groups, so much so that we really didn't feel like we were even there. The staff were very nice and friendly, but that's about it. Our room wasn't serviced the whole time we were there (three nights) apart from someone knocking on the door at 3pm to see if they could do it then! They had been in our corridor all day, and our room was simply left to last to make sure the tour groups could get in. Breakfast was chaos, I felt sorry for the poor staff, there simply wasn't enough of them to cater to the hoards. The water for tea was tepid at best and the space is poorly designed leaving things very chaotic. Our room looked over the water, but sat directly above 2 very noisy venues with live music, so take that into account if you want to use your balcony. The hotel is well located with an easy walk to the waterfront and right next to the reef cruise terminals.