Pre-cruise - Saturday, 7/5 Just for some background, this was my fifth cruise and the third for my wife. My wife and I have previously taken the Carnival Miracle and Navigator of the Seas and have found Carnival and RCCL to be comparable in quality.

My wife and I flew from Dallas (DFW) non-stop to San Juan on American Airlines and the flight went off without a hitch and was on time. There was a light rain falling when we landed in San Juan but that quickly cleared up. We found our luggage with no problems and then took a taxi to the Caribe Hilton. Just a note: The taxi's in San Juan recently raised the price from fifty cents per suitcase to one dollar per suitcase (although the rates on the price sheet they give you at the airport still reflect the old prices). We tried to check into the Caribe Hilton as it was a little after 4 pm (and that's their listed check in time) and were greeted (or should I say not greeted so nicely) by a front desk girl named Kathy. She informed us that our room was not ready and we'd have to wait another 45 minutes. She was not friendly at all and basically just tried to get us out of her way as quickly as possible (no friendly greeting, no description of the hotel, nothing). This didn't sit so well with us since we are Hilton Honors members, so my wife got back in line and talked to another girl who was much nicer and got us a room in 15 minutes (and agreed to comp us two free breakfasts for our inconvenience). Well, while my wife was talking to this second girl, Kathy (the first girl) overheard the conversation and asked what inconvenience we had experienced and why should we get a free breakfast. It was not a pleasant experience at all. Eventually we did get the free breakfast (when we went to check out though, the complimentary breakfast was not noted on our account so my wife had to explain the scenario to a manager to get the breakfast removed from our bill). The room itself was in the Hilton Honors tower and was very nice with a large shower, flat screen TV, and an excellent view. The grounds of the hotel itself were also nice (with a pool, palm trees, swim up bar, small beach), but food was overpriced and mediocre. Location was good as it was situated halfway between the airport and Old San Juan. I did have a Pina Colada in the Oasis bar (they supposedly invented the Pina Colada) and it was very good. All in all, I would not recommend this hotel due to the poor service and lack of cheap dining options (there is a subway sandwich shop a short walk from the hotel).

We spent the evening relaxing since we were tired from getting up early and the flight and such. I had though of going to Old San Juan tonight but decided to wait until the next day. Read more