Since AAA Travel ruined our arrival time I didn't know what to expect,however we were totally surprised how accomodating the staff was especially Sonia who helped make an error by AAA into a most wonderful experience.I can not say enough about the most helpful and courteous staff,best I have seen in over 30 years of traveling.Efrain our breakfast server was terrific especially helpful giving us places to visit during our stay. The hotel is amazing,the views are great,grounds spacious and spotless,the pools and ocean views wonderful. The words that come to mind during our short stay,breathless,beautiful,outrageous. I only wish we had more time to enjoy the accomodations.
Thanks to all at The Caribe Hilton.

Rich Deo

First let me start by saying that my girlfriends and I were kind of weary about going to Puerto Rico (which I must say turned out to be the most beautiful place and fun), much less about the hotel. But since I waited a little too late for my passport, we chose to go ahead and go. After much carousing and reviewing of all the different hotels in San Juan, we settle on the Caribe Hilton. We really didn't know what to expect because some of the reviews were very exceptional and some were down right anti-Caribe.

We arrived in San Juan on Friday May 23rd and stayed until Tuesday May 27th. Upon arriving and checking in at the Caribe Hilton I notified the check in desk that I was a Hilton Honors member and immediately got a free upgrade. I'm not sure were we where staying prior but we were upgraded to the Garden Towers on the 4th floor. The room had 2 bathrooms (only one had a shower), a king size bed and a pullout sofa bed in the living room. There was a television in each room. It came with a safe and refrigerator. It was nicely decorated and gave you the feel of apartment living. We had 2 separate balconies with an entrance to each one. The view was partial garden and partial ocean, which was very nice.

After we settled down into the room, two of us decided to go downstairs to one of the hotel restaurants to eat. We chose Palmeras...which was a great thing....because every Friday they have an all you can eat Seafood buffett (great for those seafood lovers). They had sauteed lobster ready to eat, stone crab claws sauteed ready to eat, fried shrimp, baked fish, cold boiled shrimp, various choices of salads with seafood...it was AMAZING. Yes, it was a little pricey...about $52 per person, but it was worth every bit of the price. While we were eating we did have a small incident take place back at our room. The other young lady left behind in the room had a nice surprise when she stepped out of the shower. There was another set of guest sitting in the living room. After trying to straighten it out herself (hard due to language constraints), I paid a visit to the front desk and spoke with the manager. She kindly apologized, changed the keys and gave us a $75.00 credit towards our room. This really did come in handy because it just about covered our tab at the restaurant.

Each day was a new adventure at the hotel. There was the lively breakfast buffet that Palmera had every morning, not to mention a great menu selection too. Did I mention how awesome the wait staff is in this restaurant, especially Efrim, he's very attentive and as a guest you will not lack quality service. Then there's the mimosa's served that you could take by the pool area and layout. The pool area was absolutely beautiful and spacious. Several pools to choose from. There was small private beach, however, alongside of the Caribe's property was a public beach and there were a lot of visitors. The Caribe offered the rental of paddle boats at the hotel to take out on the water. There were water activities going on in the private area of the beach. It was great.

There was never a shortage of cabs in the front of the hotel. Or you could walk 2 blocks and catch the city bus to Old San Juan to get there in 10 minutes for only .75 cents and it lets you off right by the cruise docks. The great part about this hotel is the location. It's not in the middle of all the Old San Juan hustle and bustle and it's not part of the Isla Verde fast paced strip. You can have quiet and then you can take a cab or bus to the busy areas in under 10 minutes. Any time of night or day.

A great perk about this hotel is not just the boutiques that are located there in the hotel or the modern openness of the lobby, but it's the great convenience of the Starbucks. Located in the downstairs lobby. Great for the late night recoveries. Go downstairs get a cup of mojo and go back to the room to wake up.

Lastly I can not go without mentioning how great the room service and housekeeping was. We were never short of towels and if we happened to use to many (because women do that sometimes) we called housekeeping for more and in a matter of 15 minutes we would have our fresh towels. We put in a late night call to room service for a request of a microwave, within a matter of 20minutes we had a microwave set up in our room, free of charge.

The staff was great, service was great, ambiance was one of a kind. I will definitely be staying at the Caribe Hilton the next time I visited Puerto Rico, hands down!

The Caribe Hilton has so much going for it, but with a little more attention, it could be so much better. But to get the most out of the experience you should make sure you stay in the tower with an ocean view. The view is spectacular. Even so, the room did smell slightly musty when entering. The phone smelled like it had been wiped with a dirty cloth. The wash cloths were not replaced each day. The internet in the room was not always reliable although there was free wireless in the lobby. The bell staff was inattentive at times. The main bar tender at the beach bar had a great personality and makes a great Mai Tai. However, the margarita was one of worse. The dance lessons were given in the game room with all the accompaning noise. The person cleaning the room swept the dirt and sand in front of the door which made entering very unappealing.

The whole place good use some firm management oversight and more comittment to their patrons.

To save money, we walked acoss the bridge under construction to some local restaurants and found some good ones.

More at my travel blog www.agingracer.com

Having been down to Puerto Rico for my 3rd trip in the last 10 years let me start by saying this...Don't be in a rush. If you are looking for fast service, go to Florida or California. Everything in Puerto Rico works in a slower speed. Service everywhere is about as slow as a slug crossing the road.

That said, the Caribe Hilton is a very nice hotel. Not great, but very nice.

The Good:
It has a few different pools that all basically overlook the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean. It has its own "private" beach that you can snorkel in. The rooms are of good size. The beds are comfy and clean. There are many of eating choices on site. If you are there for a convention, everything is right there. The breakfast buffet at Palmeras is very good ($24). Atlantico Pool Bar & Grill has the lowest cost burger ($8) and PBJ sandwiches ($4).

Restuarants (off site)
Ikagos - Try the Mafongo
San Juan Cafe - Tasty Strip Steak, stay away from the appetizer sampler.
Latin Star - Great for breakfast and standard fare. Open 24 hrs.


The Bad:
All the better restaurants are in Condado, which is on the other side of the bridge. A $15 cab ride will take you to the Marriott, where just about every restaurant serving anything you want is in walking distance.
The Caribe Hilton is a nice classic, updated hotel, but it shows it's age a bit. Our room had a tile floor, which when you left the balcony door open, would get very slick from water condensation.
While The Caribe Hilton has its own "private" beach, locals, from the local public beach on the "other side" of the beach (there was a divider at one point), come over to use the Hilton's pools and try and tip over the floating slide in water off the beach.
Drinks (beer, other) start at about $8 each. Go to the small liqueur store across from the entrance to the Caribe Hilton (near Dollar Rent-A-Car).

Other things to know:
Eastwind Sailing was well worth it. They pick you up at 7:20 at the Caribe Hilton lobby. 45 min. ride to Fajardo where you take the powered Catamaran snokeling and swimming around the island of Culebra.
Rent a car at the dollar rent-a-car and drive to the rain forest for the day. It's a US National Park. It will cost you about $50 for the rental car and $10 per person to get into the park. The trails are all clear and mapped out well. (Be aware that when you see the sign to turn to El Yunque, you will take the right turn and then right again after the gas station - trust me. It's not marked very well. )
The casino at the Marriott is the nicest. It's small but if you plan to play slots or blackjack, its about as good as it gets.
The Concha hotel looks newer and nicer, but the Marriott is very nice too. Both are closer to good restaurants, which offers more affordable options than the Caribe Hilton.

Did I mention that service is slow throughout Puerto Rico? It is, so accept it or travel elsewhere.