Shangri-La The Marina, Cairns

Our overall experience fell short of the lofty heights of the Shangri-La brand. Location is great, and our suite room had a beautiful view overlooking the inlet. However, the room was not ready when we arrived and, when it was, it was dirty and incomplete. Reception staff were very prompt in addressing the issues and were lovely throughout our short stay. But the hotel’s interior aesthetic lacks ‘wow’ factor and is screaming out for a revamp. And, aside from the fresh cooked egg omelette, the breakfast buffet was almost inedible. We did enjoy the Club Lounge access in the evening. Unfortunately, it does not take advantage of the amazing views and location. I would not be rushing to stay here again.

We’ve stayed at the Shangri-La Marina Cairns a few times now, and honestly, it never disappoints. The Horizon Club rooms are always our go-to — beautifully appointed, with that extra touch of luxury. On this trip, we accidentally booked one of the larger end rooms without realising they don’t face the marina. Totally our mistake — but when we asked if we could be moved, the staff couldn’t have been more accommodating. Within no time, we were happily settled back into a marina-view room.||That sums up the service here: nothing is too much trouble, and everything is handled with such warmth and professionalism. Rooms are immaculate, serviced twice a day (a real treat), and the whole place just feels spotless and well cared for. The food is consistently excellent too, whether it’s breakfast in the club lounge or a meal downstairs.||The real stand-out is the team — every single person we dealt with was helpful, friendly, and genuinely eager to make our stay wonderful. It’s rare to find service that feels this effortless yet thoughtful.||In short: another fabulous stay. Clean, comfortable, well-located, and run by people who really care about their guests. We’ll definitely be back!

The rooms and location were great here and I feel kindly disposed to this hotel overall. When our room was not ready at 3pm, they generously made it up to us either food and beverage. But we also found service very uneven throughout the property. However, the food and beverage service was exceptionally good. I hope next stay this place is consistently excellent.

8 nights in a one bedroom suite and honestly we were sad to leave. The room, while showing signs of wear and tear, was incredibly spacious and comfortable with gorgeous views. The shower and bath were both delightful after long days of exploring and sunshine. Daily room service timing was sporadic but always did a great job. The wine and fruit plate were an added bonus! In addition to the comfortable room, the hotel itself was a fantastic experience. I had a minor complaint on the first day and the front desk staff were amazing to kindly offer a quick resolution, including options. All of the staff were warm and friendly with a special shout out to Scarlet at the pool bar who went above and beyond. The Horizon Lounge was a lovely spot to start each day and kick off an evening with plenty of both staples and rotating options. The room was comfortable with a great vibe and It was fun sitting on the mezzanine level and people watching. The pool is one of my favourites – again, showing some wear and tear, but surrounded by the gardens with plenty of seating, the pool waterfall really adds to the ambiance. Pool bar menu had fantastic options of both food and drinks and service was quick. The lounges are exactly that and don’t go upright beyond 150degrees, but are still comfortable. While there were some noisy evenings, that's what you get for staying amongst so many cool things to do and most nights it was wrapped up by midnight. While there is an array of newer and shinier hotels in Cairns, I’d be hard pressed to find a reason to not come back to the Shangri-La.

We originally booked through booking.com but found a great deal on their website. Booked a Horizon 1 bedroom suite and arrived to amazing room on the far North east end (level 3 room 3004). The room overlooked the marina and the bay. The deck was massive (3 times larger than the other decks), bed very comfy and ample room for our daughters rollaway. Ok, the room is a little dated and the deck had a few loose boards but overall it does the job very well.|The staff at the resort are fantastic. From the boys with baggage handling, to reception and housekeeping. Alex was fantastic, she must be cloned or have a twin as she was everywhere and so accommodating. Kirin at reception was also great on reception. We did note a number of guests were frustrated at the times their rooms were available and some were past 5pm. Our room was a little delayed but were given some cocktail vouchers and a $50 voucher which was nice and was also great to receive a bottle of Moet in the room upon arrival. |I did see some past reviews people complaining about the Horizon breakfasts and afternoon tea. Our family of 3 really enjoyed the breakfast each morning and afternoon tea. Between 5-7pm Horizon guests were entertained by canape's and drinks ie beers & wine. There were some members ordering spirits or basic cocktails. The snacks were plentiful and ranged from steamed dim sums, arancini balls, prawns, muscles, quiche, cheeses, cold meats etc. You really didnt need dinner afterwards. |Yes there are some parts of the resort that need attention. There are some tiles missing in the pool area, stains on carpet but overall a nice resort in a fantastic location. Our room wasn't the quietest. There was 1 night the music from the nighclub downstairs was loud till 2am, gardeners (not resorts) mowing parks at 6.30 am, blowers, deliveries, helicopters so if you like a sleep in maybe head closer to reception end of the resort. We loved sitting on the deck watching the 100s of boats coming and going. People have complained about the walk form 1 end to the other. Its 200 steps or a couple of minutes. We averaged 14000 steps a day in Cairns so what's a couple of hundred.. |We loved our stay at Shangri La. Yes, probably helped that we were allocated a fantastic room. The location cannot be beaten as you are steps from the marina where all the boats leave for the reef, a myriad of restaurants, bars within a 2 min walk and again, the staff are great. |Matt & Bec

Very well located to all the main attractions on the esplanade. The hotel rooms are fresh and well equipped with pod machine, robes, slippers, iron & toiletries and a big TV with streaming available. The breakfast has a wide range and is in a lovely setting, but having to ask for plates and cutlery each morning gets annoying. The pool area, is where the five star rating is lacking. Although pools are large and plentiful and sun loungers are comfortable, the whole area is looking very tired and dated. There are QR codes on tables by the pool where you can view the pool bar menu, but you cant order from there. You have to get up and order. I feel there are better, more on trend places to stay for less $.

From start to finish, the service at this hotel was truly excellent. Every staff member we encountered was friendly, helpful, and attentive, which made our stay feel special. The restaurant was great. The food was absolutely delicious, with a great variety that were clearly made with quality ingredients. The entire hotel was spotless and well-organized. A calm and welcoming atmosphere. The view from our room was simply beautiful. A perfect relaxing getaway. This was one of the best hotel experiences we've ever had. Highly recommended!

Second time staying at the marina cairns. Both times amazing. I read reviews about rooms above the pier bar and since we were travelling with our daughter and not booking a horizon room we requested a room away from the pier bar. We stayed in a suite and it was perfect very quiet great view and space. Breakfast buffet was great everyday.

Perfect location when in Cairns, you're close to everything. The fun, the adventure and the leisure. Rooms and service are top notch, and the views are picturesque.

Amazing location and got a stunning view of the marina. It's an older hotel with a confusing layout, but the guest rooms are renovated. This hotel couldn't have been in a better location. It's right by the boat terminal so we walked across the street to meet our tour headed for the Great Barrier Reef. My favorite restaurant is right next door too! Highly recommend Salt House. There's a little shrimp boat restaurant right outside, but you do need reservations.

The Shangri-La hotel in Cairns has a beautiful location. The rooms overlooking the bay and facing east have spectacular views. The rooms are well appointed and very comfortable. Unlike Shangri-La hotels in Hong Kong, Bangkok or Singapore, the staff are poorly trained. The service in the restaurant was very variable - from rude to friendly. The hotel is old, but could have been cleaner. The bathroom had mold around the tub. The flush leaked and flooded the bathroom during the night we arrived. The duty manager was quite blasé about it and gave us a key to another room 20 doors down the hall to use the bathroom during the night!!! We are senior citizens, so a toilet that far away at night is terrible!!! The next day, they never offered to comp the room for the night of inconvenience. When we asked, the duty manager was bargaining with us and finally said he would give us the room for half price for the night when we barely got 3 hours of sleep and had to run down the hall to use the toilet at night and shower in the morning. This was a terrible start to almost a week in Cairns. That said, the hotel has a wonderful location. It needs to train the staff and management on customer service.

I ordered a king bed and was placed in a room with two twin beds pushed together. I kept falling in the gap in the middle. It took them awhile to find a single king mattress, which was in an upgraded room luckily. In the meantime, they were trying to get me to cancel my reservation at 11pm at night and find another hotel. They told me that pushing two twins beds together is their norm in this hotel to make a king bed! Never in my lifetime have I experienced such a thing. Shame on them. The once in the new room, I couldn't cast my iPad to watch Netflix. Reached out again for support and no one to figure out the problem about why it was still casting to my old room. I know I couldn't be the first person in that hotel to change rooms. So stuck with just hotel tv for the days I was there.

We booked this hotel for one night on our honeymoon. It's within walking distance to some great restaurants, and we had a nice harbor view from our room. Great location if you're going out on a reef tour as you can walk right across the street to your departure boat. The room itself was nice but a little older. Robes, slippers, and bath products were nice. The shower door wouldn't close all the way so we got puddles of water on the floor whenever we showered, which was a little annoying. We missed a connection from Sydney and couldn't go on our scheduled dive, so we visited the concierge who wasn't very helpful. Basically, after noon, it is too late for any tours but not her fault. The front desk was very helpful and gave us lounge access. Happy hour provided some decent drinks and light bites. Breakfast was pretty decent too, but it's probably better in the actual restaurant downstairs. The pool looked nice, but we didn't make time to use it. One thing that is not a big deal but was bothersome is the layout. It seemed like we walked forever from reception to get to our room. The hotel is actually kind of confusing, like a maze, and we had to ride two different elevators to get to our room. Not a deal-breaker, but worth noting. Overall, this is a decent place in Cairns.

Nice 6 night stay at the Shangri-La. It's definitely one of the nicest hotels in towns and is on a beautiful property with a nice pool and gardens. My room was amazing with an incredible sea view. The room was very large with a comfortable bed and nice shower. The service was also great - free shoe polish, laundry services, food downstairs at the backyard, and really helpful staff. My only complaint is the WiFi in the room sucks so I kept going over my daily data plan while in cairns as opposed to other places. I even switched rooms to try and get better WiFi and it was still really spotty for me. Now if you don't need the internet you should be fine, but I rely on the internet to keep up with work while traveling so it was tough for me. Regardless - beautiful place and lovely stay!

Nice resort Had no nice view just overlooking the car park and not overlooking the pool like i was told i was getting over the phone. Got room service everyday, nice large pool just needs more seating, Only a short walk to restaurants. Just a walk to cairns main shopping mall.

I spend on average 275 nights a year in hotels, sometimes I decide to roll the dice and let Hotwire choose for me, that's exactly what I did on my recent stay in Cairns Australia. At face value I was excited to have landed your hotel, it was a 5 min walk from where I needed to be for my daily excursions and I had heard good things. Knowing the brand I expected very good things, boy was I wrong. I arrived earlier than expected and made my way over to your check in desk; you know the first opportunity a hotel has to exhume exceptional customer service. This is far from what I received; the lady behind the desk had a worse attitude than a New York cab driver. After I had given her my name and my confirmation number the next words out of her mouth were about how many people were in my party since I had "2" on my reservation; and that I would need to pay for additional guests. Mistakenly when booking I must not have checked that there would be 3 people in my hotel. I'm also not sure what the additional $60aud a day covered? Let me better explaine, I was staying in a two queen room, for the reason of 3 guests; the desk informed me the charge was to accommodate for the additional guests. Which would make perfect sense if changes had to be made to accommodate for said guest. I'm not sure if it's expected that people who use Hotwire are cheap, unseasoned travelers or simply put "stupid", but the tone and attitude was so condisending that I almost turned right around and left your hotel. Let me reiterate when customers pay premiums to stay places they would anticipate customer service to match. The attitude and presentation given by your 5 star staff is far from 5 star service. I have stayed in 2 star hotels which have shown better hospitality, and customer service than I received inside your hotel. After check in was compete my additional charges were "told" to me I was offered to leave our bags at bag check and informed I'd be called as soon as my room was available, which "should only be an hour or so". My companions and I proceeded to grab food and waste time while waiting for our room confirmation call. It NEVER came. So I've now very rudely gone through check in and was then never informed that my room was available. Once up to our room we do stop downstairs for some food. Here we meet Tyson behind the bar, he was the first genuinely nice person we encountered working at your hotel. Night one goes well until 6 am when construction starts 12/3/2018 - that's quite a wake up call. Opt for breakfast outside of your hotel because at this point the less time I spend there the better. When we arrive back in the afternoon we shower and then call for fresh towels so we'll have them in the morning. Five hours latter when we return from dinner, guess what ? No fresh towels. One of my companions decides to walk down to the desk to retrieve towels for us. Night two goes fine until 06:25 must have had a delay in construction on 13/3/2018 - again hammering and drilling. This was enough for us, we gathered up our belongings and proceeded to checkout; we were in Cairns for two more nights but I wasn't going to extend my stay at your establishment. My opinion was slightly changed at checkout, here I dealt with Dean, he didn't deserve to deal with the fallout of my experience; but he was very attentive and apologetic. This helped me to realize that maybe not everyone on your hospitality team was placed in the wrong roll. When customers come in your desk person has one opportunity to set an example of the service which they are about to receive; your front desk missed the mark by a long shot. It isn't about money or cost it's about service, and your team lacked all around. There was another person at the desk who I would assume was a manager and saw my dissatisfaction upon check in, but they chose to just keep their head down and ignore the situation unfolding. This shows me that the issue isn't with just one employee, but top down. Hopefully you can fix your issues before loosing any other customers. I'll be sure to pass this information along, as my group is expanding into your chains coverage region.

Overall, this hotel was fine, but did not perform above and beyond. We arrived early and they were unable to get us into our room until about 15 minutes before check-in time. I know this is not required by hotels, but I couldn't believe that after being there since about 9am, they couldn't get a single room clean for us to go in. The rooms were nice - no complaints from that perspective, and I liked the location. The concierge was helpful with trip planning. The pool is much less impressive than it looks online. The little restaurant by the water does have a nice little view. This was a fine hotel to stay in, but I certainly wouldn't pay more to stay here than some of the other hotels.

We stayed at this Shangri-La Hotel for our nights in Cairns and overall enjoyed our stay. - We got upgraded to the Horizon Club level with free breakfast, free coffee/sodas all day, free happy hour and appetizers at night. We didn't even ask for it and we didn't pay extra so we were pretty A-OK with it. - The people working here were so nice. From the bartender at the pool, the ladies at the front desk, to the people in the club level, everyone was extremely friendly and helpful. - Room was big with a patio overlooking the water, so that was nice. Bathroom was enormous (I think it was designed for persons with disabilities) and the shower flowed right in the floor with just a curtain to keep it from being everywhere else. It also had a large picture window that opened out to the room. You had to put down the shade if you wanted some privacy...but the BF said he could still see me. It was like his own free shadow show or something. Ha! - Downstairs in the lobby there was a coffee shop/cafe/bar where we bought wine to take to the room a couple of nights. - A mall area was connected that seemed to have seen better days as far as number of stores. There were a couple of cool bars in there that had some lively activity, so we appreciated that! - This was close to everything, walk to the water, walk to the Esplanade, market, restaurants, bars, whatever. Give the Shangri-La a try if you need a home base in Cairns, especially if you can magically get upgraded to the club level with the free breakfast and happy hour.

The marina view (from the room) is spectacularly breathtaking. You can even enjoy it while in the bathtub if you dare. We stayed at the Club level. The room is very spacious, bright and contemporary. The Club Lounge unfortunately was under renovation, so the makeshift one (on another floor) was more like a conference room. Availability of food was disappointing, not too many to choose from, and definitely not the greatest. The concierge who seemed knowledgeable arranged a cruise for us. Location is convenient. I am sure the experience would be better if the new Club Lounge was ready.

Ok, I am giving them 3 stars based on the staff and location, but absolutely agree that this hotel is in dire need of updating/renovating. We stayed here for 2 nights in April 2013 prior to heading further North to Silky Oaks resort and beyond. Our room had a great view of the marina, and a nice balcony. The room itself was quite spacious, but the bathroom was very outdated, and the room could definitely benefit from some refreshing/updating. We did enjoy the saltwater pool, and pool area. I really hope that this hotel invests in itself and makes the necessary updates, as the location really is perfect.

Perfect Hotel.. very user friendly .. staff are great too. Plenty of great Restaurants nearby.. tha fish, prawn stars, etc ..

The shangri-la has obviously been around for a while; wood surfaces in the bathroom were really worn and bits of paint were missing off the walls.. That said, we had a room with an amazing view; comfy king sized bed; management and staff were among the best I have encountered anywhere in Australia and a real stand out in cairns which I find extremely mediocre in that respect.. Exceptional value (booked thru wotif) considering the buffet breakfast for 2 was included in the tariff.. Would stay here again in an instant..

This hotel is a decent facility. The king sized bed was comfy, and our room was spacious. The bathroom had a nice sized tub and a separate shower. The TV had a welcome greeting in the reserved party's name, which was a nice touch. However, the shower door handle fell off on the first day after a simple shutting of the door. The layout of the hotel is quite the maze...glad we had a room close to the exit to get to the elevators! This hotel is in a good location, very close to the marina where you get picked up for water activities. The shopping center attached to the hotel had many stores that were either closed or out of business, which was a turn off. The front desk of the hotel tried to up-sell us on an upgrade package, where you get a room with a better view coupled with breakfast and access to happy hour for $60 a day. The staff tried to spin it that you get free breakfast and drinks, but it's not really free if you're charging a fee for the upgrade. We had no interest in this since we planned on spending most of our time out anyway. The staff was very pleasant in their offer, though. In fact, all the staff we came across were extremely friendly. Overall, I would consider staying here again, but would probably look into other lodging first before committing.

This hotel is in serious need of an update. I cannot believe it's rated so high on TripAdvisor which is the site I always use for international travel. It's ranked something like 9 out of 64. If that's the case I wonder what these other hotels are like. It smells and the bathroom is wood. I went to the Pullman and was very impressed it is more but I think worth it. It's only 2 stories high with no in room dining. The pool area is also very underwhelming. The room size is good but again I would not recommend staying here. I cannot get the wet humid piss smell out of my nose 2 pros about this place one of the customer service is absolutely excellent. And two if you're going to go to the great barrier reef the fleet terminal is literally steps away

I'm surprised this hotel is part of Shangri-La. This hotel is very dated and in desperate need of a remodel. The design is quite inconvenient as well, making guests walk down 2 or more long hallways before getting to their room as the hotel is only about 4 floors high (technically, the highest floor is the 2nd floor). I found the staff to be prompt and courteous, however after a palm frond fell on my friend while we were at the pool, the manager handled the situation pretty poorly. After asking if she was hurt, he informed us "This is not America, so you cannot sue us." As if the unheated pool wasn't enough, now heavy fronds are falling down around us. Last gripe, a 10 minute telephone call to an area code outside of Queensland ended up costing me $30, (I was only there for a week so when I called a tour guide, I didn't realize their cellphone number was from Victoria). Having stayed at Shangri-La's in Shanghai, Hangzhou, New York, and Los Angeles, I have to say I was definitely disappointed.

Stayed there for 3 night from last Friday to Monday. Room was basic. We chose it because of the brand and location but this trip we did not enjoy our stay at all. Our room 1028 was above a night club! Both Friday night and Saturday night were very loud! We could not sleep, called front desk at midnight and was done nothing. They could have told us when we checked in about the noise... Also, dont pay extra for seaview room, since highest floor is 2nd floor, between hotel and sea there are tall trees. So our room on the first floor, can not see much sea at all. And if you are a light sleeper, better ask them for a quite room since there is a night club on the ground floor and a restaurant/bar too.. And you dont want your room on top of those two...

I loved it....right in the heart of things...there are some fantastic restaurants on the bottom floor that look out to the marina and mountains...check out Tha Fish...really excellent....get a room that overlooks the Marina. The service was excellent....I left for a couple days on a boat dive and forgot some things in my room (including the keys to my house and car) and they retrieved them and had them ready for me when I came back several days later...and the pool is really cool and spacious....its a little pricey but was worth it.

I liked it. I stayed as a horizon club guest and I loved it. Our room was updated and modern. One bad thing: the walk to the room is very long. Hallways are not very well designed.

Hotel was very mediocre. Location was convenient and staff friendly but the hotel was dated, bed uncomfortable, and seemed a little "dirty". I stayed at the Shangri-La Sydney a week earlier and it was far superior. I was expecting this to be more luxurious and was disappointed.