Caribe Hilton San Juan

[Podie]

OK, after staying 8 days at Caribe Hilton for that conference, I will try to give a good overview.

 

As I said, our room was in the HIlton Honors tower, which is behind the older high rise building. Our room was nicer than the rooms in the main building but they had the better view (the older building had better views and larger TVs, but the smell of mildew was BAD). Our room was decent but had little view due to being on the fourth floor, and the housekeeping was spotty although we tipped. For instance, there's no way the room was vacuumed once during our stay. The bed was made, our towels replaced, and maybe they remembered to replenish our little "pods" of coffee. The bed was very comfortable. Oh, and did I mention there was a large dead roach in front of us when we first opened the room door? Being from Florida, I was used to the size, just glad he was dead! Checking in was very slow so I left and came back, and then it was quick.

 

There is a lovely waterfront buffet breakfast at Palmeris, $15 continental and $22 for hot items as well. The continental was fine for us and cheaper (and much better) than what we'd spend at Starbucks for pastries and coffee. The buffet includes their cappuccino machine so coffeeholics be aware!There is also a buffet at Il Giardino next door but that's mostly for Hilton Honors members at a reduced price and it's nowhere near as good as next door.

 

Internet access was free in the lobby or $49 for seven days in our room. It was excellent.

 

Construction and renovation is shoddy. The carpet in my room had lots of big lumps that I had to be careful of, and I did not walk barefoot on it - I don't want to think about when it was cleaned last.

 

The location is lovely and the protected beach is a nice touch, but people seemed to forget it was a real beach. There are lots of rocks and coral in the water, and one guy not wearing water shoes stepped on a sea urchin and got several spines in his foot so was removed by ambulance. The light at the end of the pier (where you can watch small tarpon) broke by the third day and was not fixed the rest of the time.

 

Pina Colada Club is run by a very popular restaurant group in San Juan and the food here was excellent. The tripleta sandwich was delicious, as were the fish and chips. The drinks are $10 (local beer $6 or $7) which is typical.

 

And you can eat at Subway (which I didn't care for), can walk right half a mile to El Hamburger (excellent!) and KFC or left over the bridge into the Condado where there are lots of choices.

 

OK, that's about it, I hope I've given a good recent review!

[sail7seas]

Hi Podie,

Great review. I've been waiting to read one of this sort.

Thank you so much for sharing with us. Very helpful.

[TOlson70]

I have stayed at the Hilton Caribe a half dozen times over the past 3 years, love every stay there. The staff I have encountered there have always been friendly, but like anywhere, there will be rude employees. We love the private beach, the grounds, and the open air lobby and bars.

[Podie]

The worst part of the Caribe Hilton is definitely its location. You are practically a prisoner of the hotel (with its outrageous prices), unlike the hotels in the Condado half a mile away, where there are plenty of nearby restaurants and cheaper places to drink. I would pick La Concha over the Caribe any day of the week.