Priceline Hotel: Caribe Hilton VS Embassy Suites

[like2cruise]

Hi! Well now that you have helped me get everything lined up for our New Orleans Pre-cruise it is time to move on :) We are very fortunate to get to celebrate our 25th Wedding Anniversay with a back2back cruise from San Juan. We are doing one night pre-cruise and one night post-cruise. We have enough Hilton Honor points for one of the stays. Would you recommend the Caribe Hilton or the Embassy Suites for our post cruise night on June 19? I read in your review Thereuare, that the Caribe had cocktail party and breakfast for the Hilton Honor Members...is that right? So that would match the Embassy Suites in that aspect. It just would be nice to have an easy breakfast at the hotel before flying home. I would be interested in hearing any opinions as to which one is nice and why! I also have to get a 1 night pre-cruise. We don't get in until 7p so we may just stay close to the airport. Too early to do priceline. There seems to be some activity on the June 4 date as the Embassy Suites is not available for that date. Thanks as always for your help. I give this website out to everyone :)

[thereuare]

Thanks for helping to spread the word about BetterBidding! :)

I had a similar decision to make last year and chose the Caribe Hilton. The two hotels are actually quite different:

Caribe Hilton - Lobby is 'open-air' and helped set the laid back atmosphere. The focus is on the grounds and the pool... both are kept quite immaculate. Beach is man-made and doesn't have the 'true' beach feel so don't expect any large waves or anything like that, but the pool gets more use than the beach.

Embassy Suites - is near more of a 'true' beach if that's what you're interested in. Main focus of the hotel is the atrium and it too is done quite well. A draw of the ES is the included breakfast and nitely manager's reception, but we ended up choosing the Hilton because:

-would have arrived too late to take advantageof the ES manger's reception

-since arriving late in the day would have been easier for the kids traveling with us (nieces and nephew) to enjoy the pool rather than walk to the beach

-closer to the port

-i didn't need a large included breakfast before boarding the ship

Turned out for the best since Hilton had their own manager's reception for Honors members which we arrived in time for and they had juice, coffee, cakes, muffins, etc. for Honors members in the morning (which was perfect to tide us over before lunch on the ship... although less extensive from what i hear about the Embassy Suites breakfasts)

Don't know if a casino is important to you but the ES has a small one, the Caribe Hilton doesn't have any... but the nearby Wyndham Condado Plaza has a large one if you need to gamble.

The ES is closer to the airport, while the Caribe is closer to the port and Old San Juan.

As a side note, the San Juan area hotels are generally notorious for being expensive and lacking service. Also to note, the Hilton was a 'zoo' the morning of embarkation day, but there were plenty of taxis lined up waiting to take passengers to their destination. Lastly, if you plan on traveling to Old San Juan, the Hilton is much closer and would be a less expensive taxi ride than traveling from the Embassy Suites.

There are some pictures of the Caribe Hilton which i posted at RealHotelPhotos.com

If you end up at the Caribe we ended up at a restaurant called "La Casita Blanca" (the little white house) which i had done extensive research on before our trip. It's very well known by the locals and mostly does a BIG lunch business... so dinner was very quite. It's a short cab ride from the Caribe, don't know if i would make the trip from the Embassy Suites, but you can read more about it here: LA CASITA BLANCA