Hotel suggestion for San Juan?

[ckrobyn]

We are sailing on the AOS Jan/06 and would like a hotel recommendation for our pre-cruise stay.

We are considering the Intercontinental.....

[TrentS]

The Intercontinental seems fine. We always stay next door at the El San Juan hotel, great hotel we like a lot... http://el-san-juan.wyndham-hotels.com/

 

http://www.wyndham.com/hotels/SJUES/main.wnt

[Deb1113]

I just got a reservation at the Marriott in January for $100.00 through Priceline.

[alicia68]

The Intercontinental is a very nice hotel. Great staff, very friendly. The beach restaurant they have serves fantastic food at good prices. I have stayed at both the Intercontinental and the Wyndam next door however I prefer the Intercontinental's staff and service more. The Wyndam has a great Italian restaurant located just off the lobby, a bit pricey but well worth it. The head waiter Gilbert is worth his weight in gold!

[cynbar]

We stayed at the Caribe Hilton before our Golden Princess cruise last April. It's an older hotel but nicely renovated, with a lovely pool area and private beach. We had an ocean view room in the tower with a balcony, and it was on the executive floor (meaning free cocktails and appetizers, continental breakfast in the AM.) There are several restaurants there, we had dinner at one of them (I forget the name just now) and sat on the outside terrace, next to the pool --- lovely, and good food at a relatively reasonable price. We could also see the RCCL and Princess ships in the AM. I would definitely stay there again. Here;s a link to our webshots --- the first few are the Caribe Hilton and our day sightseeing in San Juan: http://community.webshots.com/user/cynbar101

[poptart]

cynbar, I just read your post of how great the Caribe Hilton was for you. I wish with all my heart that it had been that great for my husband & myself. We were first given a room in the old Tower section of the hotel.... Totally awful. Filthy, smelly, & disgusting. Is was like visiting an old prison cell that was in the process of being renovated. We had waited a long time to be able to get away on this pre-cruise vacation of three nights... The strong smell of sewage permeated the hotel on a consistent basis, and believe me we were NOT the only ones complaining about it. I am not considered to be a fussy person, but this was unacceptable accomodations, as well as unhealthy for any human being to accept. I will say however that after complaining to the front desk, we were given a much nicer room on the Executive Level with all the amenities! We were there in June, & will never return to that hotel again. Upon returning home,we called the Hilton with our complaint,& received a complimentary upgrade for our next stay at the Hilton. What a waste of time.

[cynbar]

Poptart, so sorry to hear about your less than satisfactory stay at the Caribe Hilton. We were on the Executive Floor, which is where it sounds like you ended up, and I still have to say that we had no problems at all. No smell of sewage anywhere, thank goodness, or we would never have given the place a good recommendation. We travel quite a bit, so we're certainly not novices, but perhaps we too should look elsewhere next time we go to San Juan.

[poptart]

Hello cynbar,

I hope that your reading my message will be one of many so they will not end up as upset as we had been. We love cruising & this choice of a pre-cruise trip was so we could relax from a long flight down to Puerto Rico. After emails, phone calls, & filling out the questionnaire through our travel agent, all we received for compensation was the "complimentary upgrade". I will leave this as a lesson learned & hope that others will not make the same mistake! We were there on June 30th of this year for a three day stay of smelling strong sewage to what is considered to be a luxury hotel. Shame on the Hilton!

[texancruzer]

Try www.elconvento.com It is a little pricey but as you will see well worth it. Was built in 1600's as a Carmelite Convent and now Puerto Rico's only 5 star. Located in heart of old San Juan near shopping, clubs (salsa !!!) sightseeing and ship docks.... DH and I are staying 2 nights pre-cruise in Nov. and have been all over these boards and only excellent feedback on this hotel. I can barely wait.....:D

[cruzobsessed]

i know that i am taking us off on a tangent but....i'm staying at the caribe this december and am 99% certain that i have an executive junior suite. i was told that it included the whole consierge thing. please assure me that this was the "safe" section of the hotel.

[cynbar]

It sounds like your junior suite is on the executive level, and if that's true, it should be fine. That's where we stayed and the rooms were newly renovated and very clean -- no problems at all. Plus, they have a suite set aside for free drinks and appetizers before dinner, desserts and cordials after dinner, and continental breakfast in the AM. I was sorry to see the bad review above because we had absolutely no problems at the Caribe Hilton and were very satisfied.

[ckrobyn]

Try www.elconvento.com It is a little pricey but as you will see well worth it. Was built in 1600's as a Carmelite Convent and now Puerto Rico's only 5 star. Located in heart of old San Juan near shopping, clubs (salsa !!!) sightseeing and ship docks.... DH and I are staying 2 nights pre-cruise in Nov. and have been all over these boards and only excellent feedback on this hotel. I can barely wait.....:D

 

Looks like a fabulous hotel but WAY over budget for us. Rooms start at $355 usd per night.....

[Northender]

Just for the Halibut, I followed the link and put in our dates for arrival 3/24/06 for a one night stay. Got message no rooms available.

 

Somebody has some big bucks:D

[texancruzer]

ckrobyn: We booked thru RCI and got $266/night. Still high but not $350.00

 

northender: Not surprised....March is springbreak time and hotel only has like 48 rooms. FYI: Even though my dh is an attorney and makes good money : we save up like everyone else for our vacations.... this trip is to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary and this trip along w/nice hotel and private tours is our gift to each other.

[elaineb]

Last summer we stayed at the Hampton Inn and Suites in Isla Verda. It was diagonally across from the Wyndham. Our suite was clean and spacious. We paid $169/nite government rate on July 3rd. It comes with a buffet breakfast.

Website: http://hamptoninn.hilton.com/en/hp/hotels/index.jhtml;jsessionid=2FPIDZG52SVSKCSGBIV222QKIYFC5UUC?ctyhocn=SJUHHHX

We also ate at a great restaurant Mexican restaurant across the way called Pepi's!

[Jesseer]

We stayed at the Wyndham and loved it there. We were able to take a short walk and have dinner at a nice little restaurant down the street.

[debbue19511972]

We are staying at the Coral Princess for our precruise stay on March 10, 2006. Anybody have anything to say about this hotel? Paying $150. Calls itself a "botique hotel".

[Northender]

We just booked ElCanario By The Sea for end of March, 06: It is supposedly a fancy bed and breakfast. I upgraded a little bit and paid $125. Near beach, continental breakfast and checkout time is 11:00am - just in time to head for the dock to get in line.:) It was recommended by another person on our Roll Call.

 

If anyone has stayed there, would appreciate their opinion.

 

TIA

[work4cruising]

just got marriott for 100, I chose the resort category

[alexeliz]

Just looking for a little help...

We just booked our Empress cruise for Jan 2nd and want to arrive in San Juan a few days earlier so we aren't so tired for the cruise. I really wanted to stay at the Sheraton in Old San Juan but apparently it is full. I am travelling with my husband and two daughters. Does anyone have any suggestions for another hotel in Old San Juan?

[alexeliz]

anyone have any info on the Radisson??

[Flip2cruise]

anyone have any info on the Radisson??

 

I stayed at the Radisson last year. Its an ok hotel. I won it with a $60 bid on Priceline. Its on Ashford Ave, which is a major street in Condado, so there are lots of trendy shops and restaurants in walking distance. Its about a block from the beach.

[Jeepers385]

I bid on the Radisson for 10/1/05 & 10/9/05 and got the Radisson for $75 each night, I tried for $70 but couldn't get it. Really wanted the Wyndham or Sheraton in OSJ but they were full for the pre cruise and way too high for the post so I will let you know what I think when I get back.:D

Debbie

[niugrads]

I had the same problem with the Sheraton Old San Juan but I kept checking different sites. I finally booked through Sheraton's website for $200/nt for our Feb. 3rd pre-cruise stay. My advice is to keep checking. It's hard to wait cause you know it's peak season but sometimes I get the feeling we're booking a room too early...

[Northender]

I mentioned in another post about booking ElCanario by the Sea and received a reply posting that it was full of BIG cockroaches and a "thugy" area.

Can anyone here verify that this is true. We have others on our rollcall that are staying there also and would like to let them know if it is not a good area or dirty, etc.:eek:

 

Thanks