Condado & Old San Juan 11/17-11/19

[LakeWinniMom]

Many people are wondering about the conditions in PR, so I wanted to give our account. I hope you find this helpful. I was very stressed about the hotel/air situation (we were cancelled at both the Sheraton Old San Juan and the Sheraton Puerto Rico Hotel & Casino), hopefully this will put you somewhat at ease.

 

Airport: We arrived to SJU with no issues. The airport was fully functional with air conditioning and everything you would expect (there are slot machines throughout, these were not working but I am not sure that is normal or not :) )

 

Taxis: Taxis were readily available and seemed to appreciate the business. All of the drivers we had still did not have electricity at their homes.

 

Hotel: We stayed at the LaConcha Renaissance Resort in Condado for a 2 night pre stay before our Thanksgiving cruise. The resort was fully operational and you wouldn't know about the devastation to the island from the appearance of the resort. Food here was quite expensive so we chose to venture off for our meals (but we did have a couple of drinks by the pool).

 

Food: We loved the food offerings to PR!

Condado:

Latin Star-dinner: Down the street from the hotel if you take a left. Near a CVS and Walgreens. The food here was great and I was able to try my first Monfongo (and my fav). Our son loved that the pineapple juice was fresh squeezed (can you squeeze a pineapple?!) Our daughter loved the corn sticks. This is an unassuming place, don't let that fool you it was great! They accepted credit.

 

Pinky's-breakfast: Directly across the street from LaConcha. Very small place, about 4 tables in and 3 outside. Many locals. Small, but very good menu. Note, if you get the pancakes plan on sharing them! Very reasonable prices. Cash only

 

Kabanas-dinner: I was trying to find something the kids would enjoy. My son wanted a burger and my daughter loves Mexican. I found Kabanas on a review site while hooked to the hotel wifi. They had great reviews and appeared to be a food truck down the street near the beach. I went to their fb page to ensure they were open. Upon reading the postings I saw that they are no longer down the street near the beach. The fb page gave their new location with an address about a 2 min walk from our hotel. So we figured let's go see if we can find it. We ventured across the street to the next street over and turned left. It was right there, so close! We choose to eat outside. We were told that their food truck was destroyed by Maria, but that they were fortunate to find this location and to be able to open so quickly (I think she said they had been open for 2-3 weeks). They specialize in unique street tacos. My burger loving son decided not to go for the burger and instead to try the hummus taco! It sounded so strange, but it was so good! Hubby and I got the tacos (fish and pork) and our daughter had chicken nachos. Everything was delicious! They accepted charge.

 

Waffler-breakfast: Turn right and at the end of the hotel property you are there. Different flavors & types of waffles. Good and filling. They accepted Credit

 

Old San Juan:

Raices-Lunch: Traditional PR food. Very good. Hubby liked the Monfongo here the best. They accepted Credit.

 

What is there to do around there right now?: Before leaving for PR I did some research online and found a 4 part walking tour of Old San Juan (search PR Day Trips). We took a taxi to the Casita to begin our tour. The Casita has many tents lining the walkway with various vendors. We were told this was quite the happening place after dark, but we finished our tour after our Raices lunch (above). The walking tour took us literally up and down all of the 7 square blocks of Old San Juan. It was easy to follow and described many of the sculptures and buildings. The shopping area of La Fortaleza was open for business, but some of the stores had just been able to open within the last couple of days. Word of advice if you go to Parque de las Palomas (Pigeon Park), do buy the bag of corn to feed the birds for your son...do NOT hold said bag open while you enter. Just trust me...but the scratches up and down my arms and chest did go away after a couple of hours! I am sure you are wondering if the hubby came to my rescue. No, but he got some great videos and pics!

 

Enjoy your travels to Puerto Rico! We are glad we stuck with our original vacation plans and were able to spend a couple of days in this beautiful city!

[Keith1010]

Excellent report.

 

Thanks for taking the time to put this together.

 

Keith

[Azulann]

Thank you for your report about San Juan pre-cruise. So happy you did not let the obstacles of canceled hotels get in your way of keeping to your original plans.

Thanks also for the tip about the PR walking tours. We will be in SJ for two nights before our cruise, and will plan todo a walking tour of old San Juan.

We canceled our reservation at the Sheraton and book ourselves into El Convento hotel for our stay in March after reading this forum for the last month.

[Cruisin KLS]

Thank you so much for reporting back. Leaving 12/06 and this puts my mind at ease. Do you happen to know if the street lights are back up and running in OSJ?

 

-Kristi

 

 

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[jmaedcruise]

Wow great info - thank you...can you tell me what site you found the walking tour info?

[LakeWinniMom]

Thank you so much for reporting back. Leaving 12/06 and this puts my mind at ease. Do you happen to know if the street lights are back up and running in OSJ?

 

-Kristi

 

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I actually do not know about the street lights in OSJ (we were back to the hotel by 3pm or so) but there was still visible damage. One large tree was still blocking the street where it had fallen.

[LakeWinniMom]

Wow great info - thank you...can you tell me what site you found the walking tour info?

 

 

Puertoricodaytrips.com. Self Guided Walking Tour of Old San Juan Parts 1-4. Have fun!

[Cruisin KLS]

I actually do not know about the street lights in OSJ (we were back to the hotel by 3pm or so) but there was still visible damage. One large tree was still blocking the street where it had fallen.

 

 

 

Thank you!

 

 

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[Cruisin KLS]

Street lights in OSJ are working in the areas with power. Some areas still out but they are visibly working on them.

 

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[thatbloominplace]

thanks for the info. we, too, will be staying at la concha and wondered if kabanas would still be open. excited to hear they are back in business and near the hotel.. i can smell the tacos already!!

[LakeWinniMom]

thanks for the info. we, too, will be staying at la concha and wondered if kabanas would still be open. excited to hear they are back in business and near the hotel.. i can smell the tacos already!!

 

 

They were so good! Spread the word, our server said business was pretty slow. They had only been open for 3 weeks at the time, so hopefully things have picked up for them! Have a great trip!