DECANTER HOTEL OR CASABLANCA HOTEL

[Lisaisme0910]

Staying 1 night  pre cruise, (hopefully) in January on a Saturday night.  First time in San Juan.  We arrive around noon Saturday and ship does not embark til  7 pm on Sunday.  Want to eat, drink shop and explore OSJ.  Which hotel do you recommend and why?  Thank you for all comments.

[PORT ROYAL]

On 6/24/2020 at 4:58 AM, Lisaisme0910 said:

Staying 1 night  pre cruise, (hopefully) in January on a Saturday night.  First time in San Juan.  We arrive around noon Saturday and ship does not embark til  7 pm on Sunday.  Want to eat, drink shop and explore OSJ.  Which hotel do you recommend and why?  Thank you for all comments.

Unable to give a comparison between hotels.  

However, can recommend Mezzanine for pre-dinner drinks as they have a long, long, long happy hour" and a great place to people watch.  And dine at Marmalade with one if their wine pairing menus.  Book early as popular with locals and tourists.

[MeganGC1983]

We really enjoyed the Decanter Hotel. Priced well, great location, scenic view from the balcony rooms, great courtyard inside hotel. The cathedral next door is gorgeous. We walked around Old San Juan after checking in. Walked down to the wall and pigeon park. Also, we walked to Barrachina’s for pina coladas. The governor’s house and “umbrella” street are very close. We had a great breakfast the next morning in the square, 1 block away at Cafe 4. 

[delacruz]

I know this is an old post, but I was just reading the boards gathering info for next year's cruise sailing from San Juan and came across this.

 

On my last cruise out of SJ in 2019 I Casablanca and Decanter were at the top of my list, but for that time period, Casablanca had a 2 night minimum, so we booked the Decanter Hotel. We loved it, and our only issue was out of their control - it rained so hard we didn't get to enjoy the amazing wrap-around terrace we snagged. For our trip next year, Casablanca allowed a 1 night booking, but being $80 more and hoping to get use out the Decanter balcony, we booked it again.

 

Yes to Barrachinas for Pina Coladas. After 5 years in a row there we decided to try another highly rated bar/restaurant for our celebratory start of vacation drink, but immediately decided to go back to Barrachinas for next time.