Caribe Hilton

Anyone have any info on the Caribe Hilton in

San Juan?

We are staying there 2 nights post cruise.

Msdental

We stayed there post cruise in Feb. It is a great property. Keep in mind, normal check in time in 3:00pm, so depending on when you disembark and get to the hotel, you may have to wait for a room to be ready. Be prepared, have your swim gear under your clothes and just hang out at the pool or the beach area.

Thank you so much for the info J and H. Glad you told us about the check in time. Will definitely be wearing the swimsuit under my clothes to enjoy some sun and fun while waiting for check in.

Msdental

The Caribe Hilton is probably the nicest hotel in San Juan with the most extensive grounds. They have a really nice pool area and a beach that fronts a small lagoon so there is no real surf. I believe the entire hotel was renovated about three years ago. If you walk the grounds you will see peacocks. There is a breakfast buffet for $17.50 that is very good, though very pricey.

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Donuts, is there anything they can't do....

MS Dental... I dont know which Caribe' Hilton the others stayed at, but our stay for 5 nights post cruise over new years was miserable. With Out question, this is the worst Hilton property we ever stayed at. We had a total of 5 rooms. They were all dank and musty. Plaster falling from the ceilings etc. We were not allowed to check in until after 6pm. And the rooms were generally not made up until after 4. I would highly reccomend AGAINST this property. Please let me know if you need further details. And no, I was not expecting a Four Seasons.. Just a clean room, and helpful, or polite staff {for $250 a night}

Like Andy, we had a bag experience. No. the hotel is not completely renovated YET! I will post my review below (it has been posted many times before). I will have to agree that the pool area and grounds are nice. The breakfast buffet was wonderful as well!

Review from September 2003:

We stayed at the Caribe Hilton pre cruise and friends of ours stayed both pre and post. We also got the room on Priceline for $69.

Having heard rumors of ill treatment with Priceline visitors, I wrote the Caribe a letter. They replied stating that we would have the very best room possible.

When we arrived, we had a heck of a time registering (our friends had none). We told them our name and they insisted that we had already checked in the hotel. We argued, showed them our confirmation, my letter, etc. Finally, we were given the key to our OCEAN FRONT room (our friends were to be just above us).

Just upstairs from the lobby, we open the door to our beautiful room and...there are two adults in our bed! Boy, were we ever embarrassed and so were they!

Back down to the lobby where we waited another 20 minutes to figure out the problem. No explaination, no apologies. We were given a room in the tower (a Priceline room this time) near the construction. Our key would not work...back to the desk to get another...the second key doesn't work...a maintenance man let us in the room. Although the room was nice and spacious, it was a little dated and miles apart from our friends as well as everything else. There was construction going on in the room above us that didn't stop until 7:30 that night.

We did enjoy the grounds, beautiful view and pool area. Morton's Steakhouse was great but way over priced. The portions were also too big. My husband and I shared a small steak and got one side each. Along with the wonderful bread and a salad, we couldn't eat our entire dinner.

Not too crazy about the surrounding night life.

We tried to find the store that has been mentioned for buying alcohol and it was a very scary adventure. We waited until Sunday morning to venture out again.

Our friends had great difficulty when they tried to check back into the Caribe after the cruise. They were told the rooms were not ready. After 3:00, they were still not ready. Our friends said that dozens of people were waiting in the open air lobby (during a horrific thunderstorm) for their rooms as well. Finally, at 4:30 they were given a room. It was a horrible room, but they were too tired to argue.

For the value of $69 a night, I guess we got what we paid for. I am not sure that I would try them again, however.

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Thanks everyone on all the info about the Caribe Hilton in San Juan.

I do hope that we are not too disappointed. We are staying there for 2 nights postcruise.

Happy cruising everyone.

Msdental

We stayed at the Caribe Hilton in December for 2 nights. The room was clean and nice, the room was on the 3rd floor, just above the function rooms. So our balcony looked out onto the roof and AC machines. A bit noisy, but not a problem for us.

The beach and pool area was also nice.

Marc Benz

Switzerland

Next cruises:

Inaugral Jewel of the Seas, Hamburg-Oslo: 04/28/04

Yangtze River cruise: June 2004

Transatlantic Prinsendam, Lisbon-Ft. Lauderdale: 11/09/04

Previous cruises:

Ecstasy, Bahamas, 1996

Ecstasy, Bahamas, 1997

Jubilee, Baja California, 1998

Carnival Destiny, Western Caribbean, 1999

Carnival Destiny, Eastern Carribbean, 1999

Maasdam, Mediterranean, 2000

Carnival Spirit, Alaska southbound, 2001

European Vision, Mediterranean, 2001

Voyager of the Seas, Western Carribean, 2001/2002

Funchal, Baltic, 2002

Enchantment of the Seas, Western Caribbean, 2002/2003

Brilliance of the Seas, Eastern Mediterranean, 2003

Adventure of the Seas, Southern Caribbean, 2003

I would agree with Andy if paying $250 a night. Last March we got it for about $60 on priceline. Our Hilton Honors card helped convince the nice desk clerk to upgrade us from the Garden View (parking lot) to a Ocean/beach front. We also thought the breakfast was a bit pricy, but than found that they have a nice little self-serve coffee-pastry shop in the lobby. One of us would go to the lobby, pick up coffee and pastries and than we would have a nice breakfast on our little balcony. There is also a small neighborhood market and tiny restaurant just across the street from the hotel (its about a block walk to get off the grounds of the hotel).

Hank

I just came back from a wonderful pre-cruise stay at the Caribe Hilton. I am a member of Hilton Honors and I called the hotel's resevations to make sure they had my membership # attached to the reservations (I booked through Priceline.com). I had previously read on one of the Priceline.com bidding advise boards that the Caribe Hilton has a special check-in desk for Hilton Honors members so when I arrived (around 2 pm) I gave my luggage to a bellhop who handed me a ticket and was directed to the 2nd floor for Hilton Honors check-in. My room was ready for me. I had a tower room with a magnificent view of the beach and one of the fortresses in the background. I was told that there was a complimentary cocktail hour and continentl breakfast for Hilton Honors members, so I didn't pay a nickel more for breakfast. There was o.j., fresh fruit, pastries, muffins, croissants, coffee at the breakfast which was more than enough. My hotel room was very comfortable. I requested late check-out so I was able to stay til 1 pm. I can't say enough about the wonderful private beach they have. You can even walk to a lounger without having to step in the sand. The water was delightful and I was changed and on the beach before 3 pm.

Since I stayed only 1 night I didn't get to take advantage of all of the facitilites but I was so happy with the water it was more than enough. Since the hotel restaurants are pricey I asked the concierge desks for a recommendation nearby (I didn't want to spend $ on a taxi just to grab a bite).

So, make sure you sign up for Hilton Honors (check the Hilton website) and make sure you identify yourself before you leave so they know and will have an early check-in room for you. And don't forget the FREE BREAKFAST!

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Thanks for the info. Makes me feel a little better. Haven't heard to many good stories about the Caribe Hilton.

Thanks for the info.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Brandis:

We stayed at the Caribe Hilton in December for 2 nights. The room was clean and nice, the room was on the 3rd floor, just above the function rooms. So our balcony looked out onto the roof and AC machines. A bit noisy, but not a problem for us.

The beach and pool area was also nice.

Marc Benz

Switzerland

Next cruises:

Inaugral Jewel of the Seas, Hamburg-Oslo: 04/28/04

Yangtze River cruise: June 2004

Transatlantic Prinsendam, Lisbon-Ft. Lauderdale: 11/09/04

Previous cruises:

Ecstasy, Bahamas, 1996

Ecstasy, Bahamas, 1997

Jubilee, Baja California, 1998

Carnival Destiny, Western Caribbean, 1999

Carnival Destiny, Eastern Carribbean, 1999

Maasdam, Mediterranean, 2000

Carnival Spirit, Alaska southbound, 2001

European Vision, Mediterranean, 2001

Voyager of the Seas, Western Carribean, 2001/2002

Funchal, Baltic, 2002

Enchantment of the Seas, Western Caribbean, 2002/2003

Brilliance of the Seas, Eastern Mediterranean, 2003

Adventure of the Seas, Southern Caribbean, 2003<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Msdental

Hi Cruise pup,

Is it too late to sign up for Hilton honors. You get a free normal breakfast with that or continental breakfast?

Do I tell them online that I will be staying there or what?

Msdental

We also stayed at the Caribe Hilton and it was great. We are also Hilton Honors and had the free breakfast. Also had the buffet lunch while waiting for our room when we arrived very early. The grounds are beartiful and our room had a lovely balcony with view over the bay. Our friends had the same type room very near us. We loved it and so close to the ship.

We are also Hilton Honors members and stayed at the Caribe Hilton for 2 days after a cruise. Despite the cocktail hour and free continental type breakfast, I prefer the Wyndham Old San Juan.

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mdeane - was the lunch included in this as well? Based on this thread I just had hubby call and reactivate his HH account! Guess we will call about a week before we leave to confirm the number is attached to the reservation and let them know that we will be getting in early that day for our ocean view room! I don;t mind waiting by the pool till later - but we didn;t do the priceline thing cuz I wanted to make sure I got the ocean view!

Barb

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