svo242

Great to know, thank you! Last year as Titanium, they told us we would have to pay for the upcharge, but only some servers required it - nice to hear as Ambassador it should be the full buffet.

Mangus

Yes, there are many activities for children. Every morning there was one scheduled activity with resort staff. This included kite making, bracelet making, face painting, scavenger hunt, etc. There is also a bubble ceremony every evening, which is the children's version of the champagne sabering. It was fun, they provided non-alcoholic beverages and we noticed they handed out better toys earlier in the week when there was lower attendance.

We did the water obstacle course, life vests were available in all sizes adults & kids. Kayaking and biking were kid friendly options. Most children seemed to spend their time in or at the pool, at the beach in the sand or the ocean, or enjoying the grounds activities like soccer ball, volleyball.

The zero entry pool area was perfect for our toddler. There were floats and beach balls available around the pool. There were more children than adults in the hot tub. The beach bar has a bin full of sand toys for the taking. There are oversized connect four games around the pool & beach area. There are kid size soccer nets and balls. There is a volleyball net and balls. There are two bocce courts. There are pickleball and tennis.

We did the nature tour, which I suggest booking upon arrival. We went to the kids club once which had a nice selection of toys & games but we weren't looking to spend much time indoors. My son enjoyed being whisked around the property in the golf carts. Speaking of which, we took golf carts to the wellness center which had a surprisingly a highlight. The nice folks at the juice bar have a stash of bird & fish food, and on the back deck, you can feed the fish, turtles and red headed ducks. This is a hidden gem. We filled our feed cup many times and tipped the juice bar staff accordingly. There is also the nightly coy fish feeding at Casa Grande. We enjoyed both but the wellness center feeding was far & away the better experience.

We enjoyed spotting the large lizard Komodo dragons(?) on the property. The dragons should have been part of the scavenger hunt instead of clouds, trees and rocks. Honestly the scavenger hunt needs a refurb but at least they gave us a sweet treat upon completion.

We enjoyed the turndown cookies and the welcome gift toy bag in our room upon arrival. Housekeeping had a toddler size robe & slippers delivered.

Otherwise, the nature of this place was enough to keep us all entertained. My three year old was never bored and did not want to leave.

Mangus

We stayed six nights and had no issue finding food. We did stop at a grocery store the night before check-in where I purchased mangos, bananas, avocados & Coquito for the room. Coquito is Puerto Rican spiked eggnog and highly recommended. Otherwise, all meals were from on property. Menus from Seagrapes, St Regis Bar, Paros, Beach Club & Cocoteros:

Ken C

Thanks for posting these menus. What are the spaces like for each restaurant any need to make reservations ahead of time?

Booked for the week of Easter. Anyone have the email for concierge/chief butler to make some reservations off resort?

platbrownguy

[email protected]

Reserve Paros and St. Regis Bar. If you like live music, ask which nights they'll have it at the bar, but definitely make a reservation.

svo242

Thanks for posting! How was Cocoteros? That was the one place we didn't end up getting to on our last trip.

Mr. BoH

I went to book a stay here today, but all the rates presented are effectively all prepaid rates. They call the rates "Member Flexible Rate" but the fine print says "To ensure that you receive this special rate, we will charge your credit card a prepayment of $[about 80% of total stay cost] USD on April 10, 2023" as well a full penalty if cancelled within 90 days of stay. In addition to being a bit disingenuous calling this a "Flexible Rate", I'd prefer to not tie up my money for many months in advance. I have never stayed at this property before, is this normal for them?

platbrownguy

So, as to whether this is normal, yes and no --

The yes is that I pulled up a flexible rate for September 26, 2023 for three nights and it indeed says that to receive this "special rate," it will take a deposit of essentially the full pre-tax room rate tomorrow. This deposit itself is normal, even for a flexible rate. (I've made a few such reservations that I've subsequently canceled, and the refund has always come immediately, proactively.)

The no is that the cancellation deadline is typically much closer in than 90 days -- and, indeed, for my search it showed 14 days (with full refund if canceled by September 12).

Which dates are you searching? If it's a holiday or other high-demand period, then I would be inclined to view the 90-day cancel window as anomalous and based on that.

Mr. BoH

Every date I have looked at in 2024 has the 90-day cancellation

platbrownguy

I just tried two dates, one in Jan and one in Feb, and both had 30 days. Not sure what to say other than book now and then look again closer to the 90-day cancellation date to cancel and rebook at potentially more favorable terms. No way around having your funds tied up though.

Mr. BoH

Weird, ok thanks. Given how far away this is, I was more worried about the prepayment than the terms anyway. Sounds like that is just SOP for this property though.

Ken C

Just did 5 nights on points, pretty decent cpp reception considering last time I checked they were getting $1700/night for a base room. Overall the hard product is fantastic, it’s a really nice gated complex with tons of activities for kids/teenagers which sort of makes up for the resort fee.

The service is subpar for this brand. In their defense it was a peak week and sold out so you could tell the staff was inundated.

The lobster rice is a must try at Paros, it’s a very large portion and enough to share.

The birds at Seagrapes in the AM for breakfast are enough to ruin your experience.

Best smart casual dinner recommend for San Juan is Jose Enrique, try the fish fry.

platbrownguy

The birds seem to get worse and worse, despite the cats that they got to drive them out.

They should give you instructions at breakfast -- always leave at least one person at the table for every 3 people who have food or beverage at the table or else the birds will drink your mimosas and carry away your croissants. One person can shoo birds from their own plate and two others, but not from three others.

newbiztraveler

Anyone stay here and do a day trip to Old San Juan? Did you pre-arrange transportation back & forth? How is Uber here? There is a brewery ~4 mi away that I wanted to check out, but not sure how I will get there.

dgreen12

I had no issues with Uber when I had a December 2022 stay at a different hotel.

You may wish to inquire whether the hotel has a designated pick-up point for Uber (mine did).

Lyft does not currently operate in Puerto Rico.