If you have ACTUALLY STAYED at a hotel in SJ SINCE Oct 1...please list here

I would just like to point out to everyone who says they have 3 and 4 hotel reservations... You are screwing both your fellow traveler and the 2-3 hotels at which you will end up cancelling. Appreciate you!

Unfortunately, the hotels themselves have created the problem with so many of them canceling confirmed reservations at the last minute. Before our cruise we had five hotels cancel on us, after we had confirmed both by phone and by email that the hotels were up and running and our reservations were secure. All of the hotels that canceled on us were up and running - they bumped us to house disaster relief personnel.

Stayed at Oceana Hostal Playero, 1857 McLeary Ave in Condado on Nov. 17, 2017 after Comfort Inn cancelled. It was clean, no check-in until 3:00 pm but place to leave luggage/change. This is a 1* property. They have electricity and water. This place good for one night only. There was a Church’s chicken open - supper/breakfast. Many eateries not open and refrigeration could still be an issues with the ones open.

San Juan still has significant water and electrical issues. Outside the city is even worse. Spoke to a relief volunteer who was delivering supplies - bottled water, food and so on to mountain villages on a daily basis and he indicated they were the first to arrive last week with anything. Most people he ran into he said have not had a shower in 70 days. He was waiting his turn at a laudramat to wash his clothes - $8 a load.

Electrical wire repairs all over the place, transformer blew up near us with the usual noise and lots of light. Generators in many places and guarded 24/7.

My thoughts on sailing from San Juan is to stage a flight to San Juan from Miami/Fort Lauderdale on the day of the cruise. The infrastructure of restaurants and hotels are probably 6 - 12 months away from handling tourists.

Unfortunately, the hotels themselves have created the problem with so many of them canceling confirmed reservations at the last minute. Before our cruise we had five hotels cancel on us, after we had confirmed both by phone and by email that the hotels were up and running and our reservations were secure. All of the hotels that canceled on us were up and running - they bumped us to house disaster relief personnel.

Totally agree with Darcy on this. No one who is booking multiple hotels is doing so for the pleasure of it - the hotels are responsible for the behavior and creating the need to do this. - Sheraton Old San Juan bumped our reservations that we had made in the Spring -after multiple reassurance that they would not - blaming it on hurricane damage, when in fact it is filled with FEMA etc. That is the typical occurrence taking place with the Hotels in San Juan.

Americandream, if your strategy works for you, I wish you the best of luck. If you are traveling to SJ and have a single long ago booked hotel reservation, and it plays out for you, then you truly are an exception to the situation taking place.

We stayed at the AC Marriott hotel the evening of November 10th prior to our cruise on November 11th...had two rooms booked for family members and both were available to us on our arrival

 

My thoughts on sailing from San Juan is to stage a flight to San Juan from Miami/Fort Lauderdale on the day of the cruise. .

That's exactly what we did last week - changed air to overnight in MIA 3 nights and fly to SJU the morning of the cruise. We've stayed in San Juan many times, usually 2-3 nights both before and after a cruise. But the hotel situation is too uncertain and since we've spent so many nights in San Juan it was no big deal to not visit this time. Looking forward to a few nights in Miami or the Keys this year.

We stayed at the Marriot Stellaris on Nov. 10 prior to our cruise and everything was good there.

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I have a reservation in Feb. at Hotel Milano. They recently e-mailed me saying they THINK everything will be ok by then. We're doing a transition cruise ending in PR. Picked it so we could have a whole day in PR without worrying about luggage or time. I'm hoping everything will be ok by then.

Totally agree with Darcy on this. No one who is booking multiple hotels is doing so for the pleasure of it - the hotels are responsible for the behavior and creating the need to do this. - Sheraton Old San Juan bumped our reservations that we had made in the Spring -after multiple reassurance that they would not - blaming it on hurricane damage, when in fact it is filled with FEMA etc. That is the typical occurrence taking place with the Hotels in San Juan.

Americandream, if your strategy works for you, I wish you the best of luck. If you are traveling to SJ and have a single long ago booked hotel reservation, and it plays out for you, then you truly are an exception to the situation taking place.

That's not the first time I've heard this, that they're fudging the truth and claiming damage but in truth housing relief workers. Why don't they just say that? I hate the dishonest aspect of their claims and think it would be totally acceptable for them to say "partnering with FEMA to help rebuild Puerto Rico" instead of being deceitful when cancelling reservations...

That's not the first time I've heard this, that they're fudging the truth and claiming damage but in truth housing relief workers. Why don't they just say that? I hate the dishonest aspect of their claims and think it would be totally acceptable for them to say "partnering with FEMA to help rebuild Puerto Rico" instead of being deceitful when cancelling reservations...

Translation is we charge the Government workers rack rate and make more profit rather than the discount rate we sold you 6-8 months ago. The mighty dollar at work!!!

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Translation is we charge the Government workers rack rate and make more profit rather than the discount rate we sold you 6-8 months ago. The mighty dollar at work!!!

 

 

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Bingo we have a winner! Exactly

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Posting from the Condado Vanderbilt. Smooth arrival yesterday at SJU, in a cab in minutes and to the hotel shortly thereafter. Quick and easy check in, and hotel is fully functional. Many restaurants in the area are open, but some still are not. We walked to a tapas restaurant for dinner last night (Condal -- very good), street lights were on and there were many others out and about.

Just flew home yesterday from SJU after our cruise on the Adventure of the Seas.

 

 

 

 

We flew in 10/12, stayed at the Comfort Inn Condado. I had booked online AFTER Maria hit and was not able to confirm reservation prior to flight. Got there, no problems with reservation. On that date, the airport did not have power and the Comfort Inn was running on a generator, which they turned off from 11am to 5pm every day. This was my backup hotel, we had originally booked at Da' House but they were not open yet and will not until power is restored to OSJ.

 

After our cruise, we stayed at the Casablanca Hotel in Old San Juan. This was booked in person on 10/13 when we got confirmation that our stay on Vieques would not happen. Casablanca was running on generator power. It did go off one night for a short bit but was back by the time we got back for dinner.

 

We booked our rental car through Charlie Car for both before and after our cruise. Before we parked in the hotel parking lot, after we parked in the Dona Fela parking garage in OSJ for $4 a day. It is open 24 hours. The Condado office of Charlie Car is closed. We had booked through them cause they offer free shuttles to and from the cruise dock. They honored this from the Isla Verde Office, both dropping us off and picking us up. They had plenty of cars available and we had NO trouble getting gas in the San Juan area. There was a station open both times right before their offices. There was a short line both times but that was due to the fact that you had to get to the pump, go in and take your cash or credit card, pump your gas and then go retrieve your credit card or change if it wasn't exact. That was a pain and the main thing we saw slowing things down.

 

Many places are cash only, especially restaurants. I will try to remember where all we went:

 

Mi Casita-no power but serving food on 10/12-cash only.

Orozcos-ate there twice after the cruise. Took CC

Walgreens in Condado on Ashford was open 24 hours and took CC

CVS in Condado on Ashford was open til 7pm and took CC

CVS in OSJ was open, not sure of hours, took CC. Rear doors closed in evening but still open.

The Place in Condado was open and took CC

Moreno's Spot in OSJ was open, cash only

Barrachina's was open during the day, not sure on rest, didn't go there.

Bun's Burgers in OSJ was open 10am-4pm, took CC

Bun's Burgers in Condado was open and took CC, not sure hours

Cold Stone in OSJ was open after 5:30pm, not sure on rest, didn't go

Chili's in Condado was open, took CC

Pizza Rustica in OSJ was open, cash only

 

Several places had items they were out of but plenty of options as well.

Some places had altered hours, even if they were open. Best to call them. Most had info posted on their doors.

 

Places we noticed were open:

Condado:

Buenos Ayres

Pannes

Serafina

Cocina Abierto

Denny's

Muchie Burger

Stop n Go

Madarin House

Condal

Punk Burger

Latin Star

Ropa Vieja

Di Zucchero

Starbucks on Ashford

Toll House Cafe (in Condado Palms)-open til 7pm i think.

Ali Baba

Yerba Buena

Tijuanas

Burger King

Cayo Caribe

 

OSJ-

El Patio and next door to them

Barrachinas

Moreno's Spot

Triana

G Spot

Melao

Taster's Place

Aroma's

Vaca Brava

Dominos

La Burgett

Pepe's by the bay

La Revolucion

Latin Roots

El Hamburger

Ladi's

thanks so much for this. It is very helpful.

Reiterating the thanks for everyone's updates. We have reservations at the El Convento in March. Hopeful, but still concerned.

Our reservation at Tres Palmas for December 8th and 9th (pre-cruise on the 10th) was just cancelled. It had been confirmed directly with the hotel as recently as November 5th. We still have 3 back-ups. Fingers crossed.

Returned from Summit on Nov. 18th. After having multiple cancellations pre cruise, we overnighted in Charlotte and flew in day of. Two things to share:

The San Juan airport that cancelled our reservation was taking walk ins the day we had reserved. Reported by a fellow cruiser who stayed there.

On Nov. 18th we had a day pass at Marriott Stellaris and they had availability for a walk in while I was registering for my day pass.

Moral to my story is if you like to gamble you might be able to find a room without a reservation. Of course like others have posted, any discounted rate left the island with Maria.

Returned from Summit on Nov. 18th. After having multiple cancellations pre cruise, we overnighted in Charlotte and flew in day of. Two things to share:

 

The San Juan airport that cancelled our reservation was taking walk ins the day we had reserved. Reported by a fellow cruiser who stayed there.

 

On Nov. 18th we had a day pass at Marriott Stellaris and they had availability for a walk in while I was registering for my day pass.

 

Moral to my story is if you like to gamble you might be able to find a room without a reservation. Of course like others have posted, any discounted rate left the island with Maria.

Lots of things going on here but clearly reservations are being cancelled non stop and no amount of reconfirmation is any guarantee...it appears that walk ins for rack rate are far more profitable than those that booked in advance at promotional rates...so just cancel them and take the more lucrative walk ins. It sure seems like the very best option is flying in on the day of the cruise ...

Saturday, November 18th we had 6 rooms booked at the DoubleTree in Condado. They were on full power, plenty of hot water the pool and all restaurants were open. We walked to Bebo Cafe and had authentic P.R. food and then walked to a charming bar with a barbershop theme with handcrafted cocktails ranging in price from $9-11. Plenty of taxis from the airport/hotel to port.

Just checked into Marriott Stellaris here in San Juan - the hotel is functioning as normal and offering a thanksgiving dinner tonight. Also didnt hurt that they upgraded us to a suite :)

Saturday, November 18th we had 6 rooms booked at the DoubleTree in Condado. They were on full power, plenty of hot water the pool and all restaurants were open. We walked to Bebo Cafe and had authentic P.R. food and then walked to a charming bar with a barbershop theme with handcrafted cocktails ranging in price from $9-11. Plenty of taxis from the airport/hotel to port.

Just checked into Marriott Stellaris here in San Juan - the hotel is functioning as normal and offering a thanksgiving dinner tonight. Also didnt hurt that they upgraded us to a suite :)

Thanks so much for the information!

Just checked in to the La Concha

Just checked in to the La Concha Renaissance, here for 2 nights pre cruise on the Summit.

All restaurants open, very lively here, great room oceanfront, the surf is very loud, noce.

Just checked in to the La Concha Renaissance, here for 2 nights pre cruise on the Summit.

 

All restaurants open, very lively here, great room oceanfront, the surf is very loud, noce.

That's good news! We'll be at La Concha for one night on 12/1 and board Summit for two cruises on 12/02.

Frank in dark and still too warm SBA:cool:

This was posted last night on a roll call....

Snorkel2 and TXRainman are here in San Juan @ AC Marriott.

 

We have to say that things did not look as bad as we expected considering the mess that hurricane caused. They have done a wonderful job here cleaning up the airport and tourist areas. You can see evidence of power lines and poles down and also trees which is to be expected. Some uprooted trees as well.

 

The AC Marriott was VERY welcoming when we checked in. They are totally open for business and happy we are here. It is a lovely hotel. Very new. Rooftop pool. They have full power, internet, etc. We are sharing a suite. Really well laid out. Happy that we landed here.

 

Took a walk down Ashford Avenue this afternoon. Many business closed but we think more from economy rather than hurricane. Not too many people walking on streets but lots of cars. Had a nice dinner with drinks @ Reuben's Restaurant.

This was posted last night on a roll call....

Thank you for the update. Did you notice if the Starbucks and Walgreens on Ashford are open?

Starbucks, CVS, Walgreens all open. We are here at the La Concha Renaissance, sail tomorrow on the Summit.