The Best San Juan Tour and Hotel

[Sandlamb]

Four of us did a pre-night cruise stay at Embassy Suites by the Airport..great hotel, very clean and comfortable, super friendly and helpful staff. Manager's special 5:30-7:30 p.m. where you stand in a short line and can get 2 drinks at a time (no limit) in small plastic cups...favorite was frozen pina coladas. Had snacks, nachos, salsa and party mix to eat. Morning breakfast buffet was super...too much to choose from.

 

Best tour in San Juan is Atlantic San Juan Tours with Andres Alicea. This was by far the best tour we've ever had and the price was super reasonable. If you book through his website atlanticsjtours@yahoo.com, he will give you a discount. We paid around $48 per person and with that, Andres picked us up at our hotel (Embassy Stes), took luggage on the nice A/C roomy modern bus, he stopped at Walgreens for some people to get pop, water, etc. Then he took us to El Yunque Rain Forest, narrating the history of the island and important facts. He has a VCR/TV where we watched a show about the Rain Forest on the way. He is an excellent and careful driver and excellent tour operator. We stopped at the waterfalls to take pictures, at a huge tower for a bathroom break and he then showed the people that were fit where the long trail was....he walked them there. Then he showed the rest of us that were not so fit where the small trail was and even walked with us through there, nice waterfall and path..not too challenging and helped anyone that needed help. I'm not that fit, have post-polio syndrome and arthritis in legs/knees and I did the trail in about 20-30 minutes. Andres knows and shows you all the different flowers, trees, lizards, birds, etc. He can answer all your questions. After that, he took us to Laquilla Beach, as we had the combined tour. Beautiful beach with restaurant, gift shop and huge changing facilities with showers and bathrooms for $1 for showers. We swam, showered and changed, then when we were ready he took us to the cruise ship terminal and drop others off at their hotels. It was great, as we didn't have to worry about a cab from the hotel to cruise ship terminal. He will provide the trip you ask for...he's just the best. I can't say enough nice things about him. You don't have to worry about your belongings on the bus while you're in the forest or at the beach. He makes everyone get off and he locks the bus until everyone has returned. Andres is one of the nicest people I've met and very knowledgeable about San Juan and the surroundings. If you book this tour, you will not be disappointed. He said he would be at our hotel at 9 a.m. and he was there at 8:55....right on time and a little early! Very dependable and I recommend him and his tour to everyone. If you have any questions or concerns about where we stayed or this tour,you can contact me at Sandlamb@aol.com.

 

We also stayed at the Wyndham El San Juan post-cruise , which I think Wyndham no longer claims and now I know why...it's just El San Juan hotel on the beach in Isla Verdes....it's the worst hotel I've ever stayed at. The price was $195 plus taxes & etc., the ladies at the front desk were the rudest people I've ever met. When we called to make the reservation, they told us the breakfast buffet was $19.99 per person and the menu in the room stated the exact same price, but when we got to the restaurant, they said it was $24.99. Even when we told them our room menu said the other price, they wouldn't even budge...just were rude about the whole thing. The rooms were not that clean...my rug looked like it hadn't even been vacuumed. The bathrooms looked moldy and dirty and you don't even want to know what we found on the bathroom floor...it was very gross. The pools and jacuzzis were nice, but never saw anyone in them. I wouldn't stay at this hotel even if someone paid for it ... we travel a lot, and for an upscale hotel in a point system from 0-10, this one gets my vote of a big fat zero "O". It was horrible!!!!! I wished we would have stayed at Embassy Suites on the post-night instead. Oh well, live and learn.

[snowmouse]

Thanks, we've been looking for an El Junque tour as we have about 2 1/2 days pre cruise. What did you think of the beach? How did it compare with the Isla Verde or Condado beaches?

 

We stayed at that Wyndham a couple of years ago and were not too impressed either. This time we are trying the Courtyard pre cruise and the Marriott Resort (which we liked when we stayed there once before ) post cruise. We have scheduled the Night Tales tour this trip and have previously seen a lot of OSJ and the forts, but have only been to the Condado beach area, which really means the hotels' pools. Any other suggestions? We arrive next Thurs 2/2 and sail late on Sunday evening.

[Daycare Provider]

:) What time did you get to the ship? How many were on your tour? What beach did you go to?

[Martin and Lindsey]

Has anyone stayed at this hotel? I know it's a way from San Juan City, but the beach looks lovely. We've booked to stay overnight post cruise, before flying back to the UK.

Martin and Lindsey

[mandiecandie5]

Hi can you tell me how you booked the Embassy suites? Website, direct, TA, etc? Thanks! Sounds really great

[Cabin8538]

I booked online at their website. . . $134.99 per night in November, just before Thanksgiving. Booked it already as I also booked my airfare. Prices kept climbing on the airfare, so I grabbed one!