PUCCI GALORE

I have - I was fine - but it is not cheap and it certainly is no more authentic than MacDonalds. Simply put - you could be anywhere.

Thanks SW for all the exceptional tips!
XX

Sweet Willie

The very lower SE is a part of the island we have not been to. YET! However our leisure trips are booked for quite awhile so we won't get to PR anytime soon
Can't answer your question.

You mention "...get one in....", what is one? a room/condo or ?

jamesdalphonse

The new La Concha Hotel is supposed to be done sometime during the first half of 2008. I was there in April of this year and they were working along on it. The Condado area, at least to me, is probably the best place if you are traveling with a family.

OPFlyer

As long as it is done before March of 08 I will be happy.

mkt

mkt's recommendation... Buenos Ayres in Condado, or for higher end, Mark's in Ponce

mkt

get one what?

Place to stay, safe, close to Old San Juan. Condado would be your best bet. Old San Juan itself isn't unsafe, as long as you stay in the obvious tourist areas (ie- AVOID LA PERLA!), and take precautions like you would in any large city.

mkt

I love the La Concha. When I was a a wee gringo living in PR (as opposed to a tall adult gringo that moved back to PR like I am now ) I grew up literally across the street from La Concha. Great place, lots of families. I learned to swim in that pool. Memories

mkt

oddly enough, I live in PR, and my only trips to the SE are to Salinas to the dragstrip and Autocross track there. I tend to stick to the northeast, northwest, and south-central parts of the island.

jaja1

I am going to be in Puerto Rico for New Years with my family, What would be an excelent resort to stay there for 5 nights?/ (2 adults and 3 children.
I would like for it to have beach.

mkt

Copamarina, Rio Mar, Conquistador

jaja1

These would all be luxury resorts??? Which one is nicer?

mkt

all luxury... my personal preference would be Conquistador, since it's a bit out of the way and they offer good scuba diving.

For a family, I'd go for either the rio mar or the conquistador

dranz

> El Conquistador resort (also in Fajardo). It's really nice ...

Not my experience as of January 2008 ...

They advertise themselves as a luxury resort, so that's how I am judging
them ...

Check-in: five of us on the shuttle, one person doing check-ins. She's
either untrained or the resv system is broken. She could not complete a
single check-in without seeking help from someone in back. It ought not
take 35 mins to check-in five customers at a luxury resort.

Resv: Booked a King room. Check-in confirmed a King room. Got to room,
two doubles. Called Front Desk and was told, no King rooms avail. They've
put us on the wait-list. It's day 5:11 ... we check every day ... still in the
room with two doubles.

Washcloths: Have to call the Front Desk every day. Housekeeping
arrives with more full-size towels, everyday. I send'm back to get the
the requested item. Have resorted to leaving notes on the vanity for
Housekeeping ... doesn't seem to help.

Bars: The bar at the main pool area is apparently diluting it's liquor with
water. I'm not a big drinker ... and after two of their Margaritas, I feel stone
sober. Frequently out of stock of several things. One bottled beer gives me
more buzz than two of their margaritas or two Bloody Marys. They advertise
a long list of beers, but only seem to have a small selection available each
day. What is available seems to vary by bar on any given day.

Restaurants: Again; regularly out of stock of some drinks and some
menu items. I always manage to pick at least one item that is not avail.
Worst case was one meal where four [4] of my choices were out of stock.
They also make substitutions without consulting the guest. I ordered one
entree because the side of creamy polenta really appealed to me ... it was
served with yellow rice. When I inquired - no polenta. (This was $175 dinner
for two ... and we only ordered three [3] alcoholic drinks. No
acknowledgement of the prolblem, nor apology.

Spa: The men's locker room is seriously unkempt. One vanity door is
broken off the hinges and dangles open. Containers for used towels were so
over-full that it was impossible to pile more towels upon them. From the
over-flowing trash bins, it was obvious that they had disposable razors available earlier in the day. Had to track down an attendant - not easy. No
one at the locker room desk. No no one at the spa desk. Finally found a
massuesse ... took her a while, but she returned with one [count'm 1] razor.
On the plus side, the massage was outstanding.

Internet Cafe: 2:4 PCs are broken. WiFi is good - ~250KBytes/sec.

Starbucks: They've got one small pot for caffienatted and one small pot for
decaf. A visit to Starbucks ususally requires as wait while they brew more
coffee. Some rooms can do room-charges ... mine cannot. Sadly; they
can seldom break a $100 or a $50, which means a visit to the Front Desk,
who insists that I use the Resort Card at Starbucks. i.e. It's a minor
confrontation to get big bills broken to small bills for my morning coffee fix.

Pool areas: I expect a "luxury resort" to have waitstaff in the pool area(s). I
have not yet seen anyone.

BamaVol

The BV clan stayed at the ES Dorado a couple years back and truly enjoyed ourselves. Dorado isn't much but we met the most wonderful people attending Sunday Mass in town and did enjoy a couple restaurants in town as well. There's a nice Italian restaurant just outside the gates into the ES property.

If you're looking for an authentic experience, try a beach other than Luquillo. We visited Cerro Gordo (I'm almost positive) about 10 miles (and 30 minutes) west of Dorado and found it incredible with huge rock formations in the water, nothing but locals, and plenty of good food and drink on hand. Oh, for a bottle of Medalla Light right now!

I can't imagine PR without a car. So much to see and do outside the city.

Sweet Willie

and some mofongo, oh man I'm getting hungry, time to head downtown!!

Curious why you state that Luquillo beach is not "authentic" ?