Dec 3rd Dawn out of San Juan Help!

Our flights were cancelled and we rebooked but now our hotel rooms are cancelled anyone know or have heard of hotels open and accepting reservations for December?

Try the Holiday Inn Express in Condada. Looks like they’re taking bookings for December 1. We’ve stayed there before and it was fine.

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We have also stayed at the Holiday Inn in Condado area. 1 block from beach, plenty of restaurants around, easy cab ride to port.

Welcome to CC.

There was a list floating around here of when the various hotels were expected to open.

I also got email from LaConcha saying they planned to open mid-October as they had sustained minimal damage.

AC Hotel by Marriott is open and accepting reservations.

The Intercontinental on Isla Verde is accepting reservations.

Comfort Inn Condado is open now with running water and electricity. Will for sure be open in December.

Check again, things are getting better

Just because hotels are "open" and accept reservations, does not mean you will have a room. Head over to the Puerto Rico board under ports of call and read the issues people are having. Or, start reading the various roll calls of ships sailing out of Puerto Rico to read about people's experiences.

Definitely do not book through a third-party site. That is just asking for trouble.

Honestly, see if you can re-book your flights so that you don't have to spend a night in Puerto Rico. We are now staying the night before the cruise in Ft. Lauderdale. If you are staying in Puerto Rico, you will find information/experiences on the Puerto Rico board about places where you might have some luck. If I had to stay the night before the cruise, I would choose an AirBnB, even though I've never used one before. Since you are in direct communication from someone, you have more of a chance of getting honest answers.

By the way, HI Express Condado cancelled on us after we called them directly (twice) and emailed them to confirm our reservation. Just because you have a confirmation now does not mean you will have one as you get closer to your arrival -- have a backup plan!

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Definitely do not book through a third-party site. That is just asking for trouble....

Very good advice. I would use other sites to search, then check the hotel directly. And of course the words "anticipate" vs "actually" opening are different things.

Our flights were cancelled and we rebooked but now our hotel rooms are cancelled anyone know or have heard of hotels open and accepting reservations for December?

The Wave

I just got back from San Juan and stayed at the Olive Boutique Hotel. It's in the Condado area where there are restaurants open. The hotel is using a generator but it is a beautiful little hotel with a wonderful staff.

I just got back from San Juan and stayed at the Olive Boutique Hotel. It's in the Condado area where there are restaurants open. The hotel is using a generator but it is a beautiful little hotel with a wonderful staff.

Did you have any problems getting from the airport to the hotel and from the hotel to the port? Trying to convince my husband to go on the cruise 12/10. He's really skeptical.

We are on the same cruise and had our hotels cancel on us also. Apparently some of the hotel chains will be taking reservations in December but with the cruise being Dec 3 that's leaving it pretty last minute to get a reservation... Have you looked at an Airbnb rental? Or maybe a family run inn / b&b? That's what we did.

Also, I'd rather sleep at the airport than take the risk of flying in on the same day.

We just booked 2 rooms at the airport hotel. I hope this is our last issue.

After three different hotels cancelled our reservations for November 10 - 12, 2017, we rented a condo through Airbnb. Host indicates that he has water and electricity, however the power system is very fragile and goes off periodically. At least we have a place to sleep.

Check again, things are getting better

Not so. Most of the hotels that had been taking reservations for stays starting in November and later have been turning around and cancelling them. The restoration of power to the San Juan area has been creeping along at best, and the chain hotels that have managed to stay open by using generators are being used to lodge FEMA workers and other emergency personnel as well as residents who were driven from their homes. Some hotels that had planned to open by December 1 are already cancelling reservations for stays January.

We've had multiple reservations cancelled by the hotels we were booked into and have now rescheduled our trip (a stay in San Juan, not a cruise) from mid November to mid March...and I'm not even very confident we'll be able to take the March trip.

Also, I'd rather sleep at the airport than take the risk of flying in on the same day.

Under normal circumstances, I'd agree with you. But this is not normal.

We decided to fly as far as Ft. Lauderdale (where we were changing planes anyway) and catch the first flight to San Juan the next morning. We're leaving FLL at 7:30 am and will arrive in San Juan at 11:00 am. The ship doesn't leave until 9:00 pm (we have to be on board by 7:00), so I'm pretty comfortable with this arrangement. There are other direct flights from FLL that will get us there on time.

Now, if the ship left at 4:00, I would definitely be looking at Airbnb.

We have two Hilton hotels booked flanking our Dec 10 San Juan cruise. Both are open.

We have two Hilton hotels booked flanking our Dec 10 San Juan cruise. Both are open.

Do yourself a favor and check on the status of your reservations on a regular basis, and not using a third party travel website if that's how you booked, or even with the hotel chain's own website if that's how you booked. You should check directly with the hotel.

Too many people have had what they thought were confirmed reservations cancelled without being notified. They only learned by calling the hotel directly. Many hotels that are open have extended their contracts with FEMA and other government agencies beyond the initial contract expiration date. Your hotel may have been taking reservations from tourists when you booked, but may have subsequently decided to remain closed to tourists.

I'm not trying to be an alarmist...I'm recounting my own experience with hotel reservations in San Juan as well as what other Cruise Critic posters have reported. I suggest you follow this issue on the San Juan Ports of C all board, where there are a couple of active threads with a lot more information than you're going find find on this NCL board. Here's a link to the San Juan board: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=131 .

Best of luck. I hope your reservations are still valid.

We're on the same cruise the week before and had reservations at Coral Princess but they sent me an email a month ago and canceled. I was scrambling to find a hotel and for the next week no one's phone or Internet was working. Two weeks ago I was able to book rooms at El Convento which is in Oldtown San Juan.

We booked a house with Airbnb and have been in contact with the host through the Airbnb app.

Cheaper than hotels and many available.

Getting closer to a fun cruise

Getting closer to a fun cruise

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I sent an email directly to the manager at the Best Western + and got a response within minutes. The hotel site showed no rooms but he offered us a couple of rooms and another review stated hydro, hot water and resteraunts available.

Henry Neumann <HNeumann@condadopalm.com>