Our family of four (seasoned cruisers) plus grandma (first time cruiser) are returning from a 7 day Spring break cruise on the RCCL Serenade of the Seas out of San Juan.

We flew into San Juan on Thursday for a Saturday departure. We stayed at the Conrad Hilton. It was a nice property. The beach was "okay" - sheltered from the Atlantic waves but it really is a very public beach so we did not leave our boys alone to play attended. The hotel is very euro chic - spartanly decorated but clean and very functional. We were very glad to have two ocean view rooms that were both very nice. I would say the Caribe Hilton appeared to be a more family friendly hotel then the Conrad Hilton and I was told on the plane by a local that we should have stayed at the Waldorf property because there was a water park nearby. The food onsite was good and transportation to/from the hotel / cruise ship was very easy.

We've cruised ~10 times so we've seen the embarkation process with most of the major cruise lines and my wife and I agreed this was the best embarkation process we've ever had. That said we were already staying locally and we were able to get on the ship at ~ 12:30 ET before the crowds but the curbside check in, cruise cards processing and obligatory pictures were all very efficient. We were able to go to our rooms shortly after we had lunch at the Windjammer. Our luggage showed up in our rooms shortly after we arrived vs. during dinner last spring break. Read more