Dawn out of San Juan - hotels: our experience

[Coolwhip82]

1. Marriott Resort and Stellaris Casino is open and taking a limited number of guests. Still mostly FEMA.

--if you have a late flight they offer day passes. Check out resortforaday dot com

2. Acacia Boutique Hotel - not really a boutique but clean and in safe neighborhood. Niche Bistro (fine dinning rest) on site

3. Wind Chime Inn - sister hotel of #2. Small pool and pizza restaurant. They are doing construction around so noise in morning.

4. "Luxury Retreat by the Sea" found through booking dot com. DO NOT STAY HERE. We booked and had to leave after arrival. There is literally a hole in the wall to the outside. And its a sketchy neighborhood.

5. La Concha Resort -- we didn't stay here but a fellow CC'er CruiseMama was staying here post cruise and it looked nice.

 

Can answer questions. Good luck all!:):)

[dexddd]

Thanks for the update.

 

We had stayed at Marriott before, also done it for the resort for a day. Nice beach and just down from La Concha.

 

We also stayed last time at La Concha and it is pretty nice. Large rooms, a few maintenance issues but overall nice plus a nice beach and pools. They had sent updates after last two hurricanes via email.

[jakesnana]

Make sure to check your reservations !! I had a reservation for over a year at a hotel that assured me that it was open and ready to welcome me, until recently. Got an e-mail on Friday, 11/24 that the Corporate Franchise and owner of the hotel has decided to close the hotel for an indeterminate amount of time. I did find new accommodations, but it wasn't easy or cheap.

[Angie72]

Hi we are from the U.K. going on the Dawn on 7th really looking forward to it, staying in SAN Juan for three nights beforehand if you see us around say hello we are Angie and Martin.

[Keith1010]

Thank you for the information.

 

Keith

[Clarea]

Thank-you for the feedback.

[GlamorousGirl]

I am sailing on the Dawn out of San Juan on December 10. I had reservations with Hilton properties, and never received any notification that the properties would not be open to fulfill my reservations. It was only when I called them to try and make an additional reservation that they admitted ALL of the Hilton properties are CLOSED through the end of the year. If I had not called, I never would have known, and I would have spent my nights in San Juan on a park bench. To make matters worse, the few properties that ARE open are price gouging people. Some are even charging $999 for one night... I managed to get a very expensive Courtyard Marriott room for the 2 nights post-cruise, and had to settle for a rinky-dink local hotel the night before (very nervous about how that's going to go but no familiar chains had rooms by the time I found out my Hilton reservation was no good.)

 

Please be advised that some online booking sites do not have accurate information. I have seen the Doubletree (Hilton) listed as open for reservations on some of them when I was told by the hotel directly over the phone that they are closed through the end of the year and probably into February. Do not rely on these listings. Also, don't count on your hotel that you reserved to let you know if they will be closed - I received no such notification.

[excitedtocruise]

I am staying at the DoubleTree end of December, they are still open and receiving reservations and I have CONFIRMED that directly with the hotel. So unless anything has changed in the last 24 hours (Although in San Juan things change hour to hour) our reservation should be fine.

[LakeWinniMom]

I am sailing on the Dawn out of San Juan on December 10. I had reservations with Hilton properties, and never received any notification that the properties would not be open to fulfill my reservations. It was only when I called them to try and make an additional reservation that they admitted ALL of the Hilton properties are CLOSED through the end of the year. If I had not called, I never would have known, and I would have spent my nights in San Juan on a park bench. To make matters worse, the few properties that ARE open are price gouging people. Some are even charging $999 for one night... I managed to get a very expensive Courtyard Marriott room for the 2 nights post-cruise, and had to settle for a rinky-dink local hotel the night before (very nervous about how that's going to go but no familiar chains had rooms by the time I found out my Hilton reservation was no good.)

 

Please be advised that some online booking sites do not have accurate information. I have seen the Doubletree (Hilton) listed as open for reservations on some of them when I was told by the hotel directly over the phone that they are closed through the end of the year and probably into February. Do not rely on these listings. Also, don't count on your hotel that you reserved to let you know if they will be closed - I received no such notification.

 

 

Call the hotels directly to try to book. We stayed at LaConcha 11/17-11/19 pre cruise. It was fully operational. We also had a back up reservation at the AC Marriot down the street. Both are Marriott hotels and were both confirmed by the front desk.

[Sforster518]

We too are sailing on the Dawn on 12/10. We had reservations at the Hilton and received notice from Expedia 3 weeks ago that our reservations were cancelled. We are now at the Best Western for,2 days prior to sailing. What the heck....we are making memories!!!! Not going to let it slow us down. We will have fun regardless!

[jinteso]

I called about my Hilton reservation 2 weeks ago (Condado Hilton) for January 6th. They told me that everything was confirmed and resent me an email confirmation. Last week, I was sent an email telling me that my reservation was cancelled and was out of luck. I had to scramble to find another hotel. So much for being Lifetime Diamond with Hilton! CALL every week to verify and have a backup reservation somewhere.

[jakesnana]

If people are still scrambling to find hotels in San Juan the Comfort Inn and Suites in Levittown is accepting reservations. It is more of a cab ride from the airport, but that's a good and bad thing. It's good that they are removed from all of the problems of downtown San Juan, bad that it cost more money to get there. There rates are reasonable, compared to what hotels are charging in OSJ, the Condado and Isla Verde, so that offsets the cost of transportation. The hotel is right across the street from the beach and a short taxi ride to the ferry to go across to OSJ.

 

Just a thought.

[jakesnana]

I called about my Hilton reservation 2 weeks ago (Condado Hilton) for January 6th. They told me that everything was confirmed and resent me an email confirmation. Last week, I was sent an email telling me that my reservation was cancelled and was out of luck. I had to scramble to find another hotel. So much for being Lifetime Diamond with Hilton! CALL every week to verify and have a backup reservation somewhere.

 

This is what I was trying to impress upon people. You can't rely on what the internet is telling you. Properties that were open are now closed due to electrical and water issues. Besides the fact that they are closing, they are not notifying people :(

[CJDepew]

Generic Dawn question...muster drill...is it held in various public areas like the larger ships do, or do we line up on decks?

 

Thanks,

Carolyn

[drvmywifecrzy]

:)

Generic Dawn question...muster drill...is it held in various public areas like the larger ships do, or do we line up on decks?

 

Thanks,

Carolyn

 

Yes it is mine was in the Venetian Dining Room