St Regis pre-cruise

I was just curious if any of you have stayed here and what your thoughts are. We are considering this location for two nights pre-cruise to enjoy the resort and possibly El Yunque.

I was just curious if any of you have stayed here and what your thoughts are. We are considering this location for two nights pre-cruise to enjoy the resort and possibly El Yunque.

I just spent 5 nights there. If you want to be isolated, you have found the spot. I loved the beach there. I did daily walks along the beach - 30 minutes one direction and then back. I loved the room I had, a Grand Deluxe King in a building one back from the pool and beach. I loved the sounds of the coquis at night. There was a mix of guests, from honeymooners to older couples, to groups of guys and groups of girls, to families with nannies for the kids. Be sure you have a set of "smart casual night on the ship's MDR" clothes for the evening - there IS a dress code for the restaurants in the evening. You have to be used to being fawned over - they will smother you with service! My first night, my Butler even offered to draw a bubble bath for me to relax in after a long day's flights!!!

There is a $22/night valet parking fee and a $75/night resort fee. This is over and above the room rate. Stop off at the Walgreens or Ralphs where you exit the toll road and pick up any munchies/drinks/sundries you think you may need, as there isn't any place to do that at the hotel. There is a small place at the spa to buy sunscreen and stuff, but at a very high price. No refrigerator in the room, but a stocked refreshment center - I didn't ask, but there is most likely a $50 fee for emptying it (based on other St. Regis properties). It keeps things cool, but not refrigerater-cold, though.

Thanks slider girl for the information. I wanted something away from everything to start out our vacation and it looks like this will definitely fit what I'm looking for. I appreciate the suggestion of where to stop as well. Did you rent a car or did you hire a car to bring you to the resort? It is also good to know about appropriate dinner attire.

Friends convinced me to rent a car so I could get out of the compound when I wanted to get out. I did a economy car through Hotwire on a hot rate - $15/day.

The resort seemed to have a definite NorthEast vibe in the evening - men in colored chinos with loafers (no socks) and short sleeve button downs, women in dresses, boys in pants and polos, girls in dresses, nannies dressed for chasing the kids. Daytime, the men exchanged the pants for colored chino shorts…West Coast vibe would have had the men in cargo pants or cargo shorts with Tommy Bahama shirts ;)

Do the champagne sabering one of the nights - done at the Plantation House lawn everyday - can't remember if it was 5:30 or 6:30. I enjoyed dinner at Molasses - good choices for food plus Geisha was a great bartender!!

I went off property to a local Puerto Rican BBQ one night, and to a pastry shop a little further up the road for one breakfast. $18 for yogurt with fruit on property seemed a bit steep...

B each is wonderful.

B each is wonderful.

The beach is indeed wonderful. Had the beach butler set up an umbrella each day for me - I just rotated my chair depending on whether I wanted sun or shade - made it easy to spend hours out on the beach. Plenty of roving beach servers to take drink and food orders. Great beach to walk - going one way, I found a section with more sand dollars than I have ever seen laying on a beach (and I grew up in a beach town). A co-worker was there last week - she got to see a leatherback turtle come up to nest (they had the area already roped off when I was there last month - I didn't see her, but she had come up a few times before and after).

The dress code I mentioned was for going to Fern, the signature restaurant at the resort. Over at Molasses, guys were showing up in their shorts, ladies in capris - I wore my Athleta ankle pants and a nice Tshirt one night, my Athleta short knit skirt and a nice Tshirt another. If you eat at Seagrapes or at the bar next to Seagrapes, casual is OK. If you DO go to Fern, absolutely order the avocado pizza as an appetizer!!!! Oh my. And, put some of their in-housemade hot sauce on it.

The name of the BBQ I mentioned upthread is El Verde. On the highway going toward El Yunque, about 4 miles from the hotel. Look it up on TA - the menu is on a board and it is in PR Spanish. It looks like a drive-up place, not an enclosed restaurant. But, good food.

ggSame thing at the Ritz. I sneezed and the poolguy rran ov er to bing me a box of tissues. [/b]

ggSame thing at the Ritz. I sneezed and the poolguy rran ov er to bing me a box of tissues. [/b]

Yep. Sometimes it seemed a bit smothering to have all these people swarm to assist me. My Butler was concerned the second day because he had not seen me anywhere and came to check on my "welfare". I was down at the beach…

I mentioned that a friend had sushi one night and told me to try it - was told the sushi night was no more, however he could talk to the executive chef to arrange some privately for me. Sorry, I'd love that, but there was no way I could afford that price tag :eek:

When you book St. Regis and/or The Ritz, don't you have a pretty gbood idea the service will be exemplary?We are paying dearly for it. :)

When you book St. Regis and/o The Ritz, don't you have a pretty gbood idea the service will be exemplary?

There is exemplary service and there is also too much. Having worked at the high-end brands for a couple of corporations, I am very much aware of actual Forbes 5-star standards of service. Having the Butler try to track me down every day when I was out and about to ask how things were, how I was enjoying myself and if there was anything he could do for me, was a bit much. Having a beach butler ask me if I wanted/needed anything every time he passed by was a bit much. Everytime I mentioned something in passing, it seemed to be taken literally and the staff would apologize and say they would look into having it down especially for me. There are certain "anticipatory" things a good hotel should do: if I am checking out early in the morning to catch a flight, asking if I would like some coffee or hot tea in a to-go cup at checkout is nice. If a concierge makes a dinner reservation for me, asking if I need transportation arranged or if I'd like turndown service performed while I am out is nice. If I am at the pool or beach and order a drink or some food, discreetly looking to see if I am finished and then taking the items away is nice instead of coming by every 5 minutes and asking how it is and if I am finished.

Part of it is also the verbiage used by the hotel employees. I work with someone who used to be a butler at Bahia Beach. He said staff is given a script to use when they have guest encounters. It takes away some of the true personal contact when someone is telling you something they memorized from a piece of paper from Human Resources. My two least favorite phrases are "my pleasure" and "allow me"; visit a Ritz Carlton or a St. Regis or a Waldorf Astoria and you will hear them all day long. One day, I will count the number of times I hear those phrases in a single day ;)

I don't get quite as annoyed outstanding service as you seem to. If we didn't want such serviec we wouldn't book hotels such as The Ritz, St. Regis and Four Seasons. We fully enjoy ourf sftays in those hotels.

Why book them and stay THERE IF YOU DO NOT LIke if? Pick a Sheraton, Hilton etc. :)

I don't get quite as annoyed outstanding service as you seem to. If we didn't want such serviec we wouldn't book hotels such as The Ritz, St. Regis and Four Seasons. We fully enjoy ourf sftays in those hotels.

 

Why book them and stay THERE IF YOU DO NOT LIke if? Pick a Sheraton, Hilton etc. :)

When you work for a company that gives you free nights at places like Ritz Carlton (NOT The Ritz), St. Regis, Waldorf Astoria, Four Seasons, you grab them.

I enjoy personal service, but when it is robotic, not sincere and interferes with what I am doing (did I REALLY need the beach butler to ask me if I was OK every 10 minutes???), it is not pleasant. I told them I did not need to be "touched" that much, but they were required to do it. That is NOT personal service, but intrusion. I'd rather know they are around and available, not hovering. Bahia Beach now also has a new feature where you give the Butler your mobile # and they use it for contacting you throughout the day. Like I'm taking my cell with me to the beach or golf or yoga...

YOU DON'T like them but you Take the freebies.IF I don' liker omething it iw w3o335rthNOTHING TO MEFree OR NOT B ut I'M NOT a 'GIMME' KIND OF WOMAN. I DON'T LOOK FOR 'SOMETHINGfor NOTHING tHAT IS WHAT IS IS WORTH TO ME ;D

YOU DON'T like them but you Take the freebies.IF I don' liker omething it iw w3o335rthNOTHING TO MEFree OR NOT B ut I'M NOT a 'GIMME' KIND OF WOMAN. I DON'T LOOK FOR 'SOMETHINGfor NOTHING tHAT IS WHAT IS IS WORTH TO ME ;D

I couldn't totally read your comment. I didn't "gimme" - my employer gives it to everyone. It is actually part of St. Regis employment that we are allowed to travel to various St. Regis locations to experience St. Regis from the other side of the equation. It is also for us to see what works and what doesn't work and if there is anything we would like to incorporate at our hotels. If I didn't like St. Regis, I don't think I would have been so stupid as to have worked there. St. Regis hotels are not cookie-cutter; each one is supposed to adapt the St. Regis standards to their location. I just think Bahia Beach went overboard. To have a butler chastise me for him not being able to find me - too much.

St. Regis Monarch Beach - loved it, too bad it is no longer at St. Regis. St. Regis San Francisco - loved it. St. Regis Deer Valley - loved it. Ritz Carlton Kapalua - didn't like it (it was like they dropped a big-city RC on the beach and forgot it was on the beach), Montage Laguna Beach - loved it. To each her own.

Didn't St.Regis in fLL fail ? FThey weren't open v ery long. too bad. Wonder what werethe the deficiencies.

SorryI HUrt MY HAND AND HAVE A hard time typing.

Didn't St.Regis in fLL fail ? FThey weren't open v ery long. too bad. Wonder what werethe the deficiencies.

 

SorryI HUrt MY HAND AND HAVE A hard time typing.

It didn't fail. Hotels are bought and sold all the time. Instance, the Four Seasons Manele Bay on Lanai was a Luxury Collection hotel . The Fairmont Orchid on The Big Island of Hawaii was another brand when it started. the Kapalua Bay hotel is now the Montage Kapalua Bay. The owner of the St. Regis Monarch Beach decided to take it private and add to his companies' own collection of "luxury hotels" (the Del Coronado and some others). The Waldorf-Astoria in Puerto Rico used to be a private retreat/school for some new-agers...

The St. Regis FLL was in what many considered a "seedy" neighborhood for upscale clientele and it was not attracting guests. Interesting, it is now a Ritz-Carlton. There is a St. Regis just down the road in Bal Harbor, and excellent property. Many of the hotels are not owned by the brand, but are privately owned and are contracted to be managed by a brand.

Hyatt Pier66 in FLL is not owned now by Hyatt.