PRE-CRUISE: We arrived in San Juan Friday afternoon after our flight from Boston and easily transitioned via taxi to the Marriott Stellaris for an overnight. (We used Priceline and paid appx. $170 inc. fees for one night.) (Taxi rates are pre-set, with a charge of $1/piece for most pieces of luggage and bags.) The weather did not cooperate and it was raining heavily by mid afternoon.

The hotel was nice, but not amazing. The beach is rough, as others have stated. The two pools very pretty, but just okay. The upper pool is very shallow -- maybe 1.5 feet deep. The one jacuzzi was very small. Drinks were expensive.

We dined at the Italian restaurant on-site, mainly due to the weather. We did the $30 three-course dinner menu, and were all disappointed with it. Dinner took a few hours, the portions were miniscule -- should have been called a tasting menu. Finally, the ac was not working properly throughout the hotel (also added to the discomfort at dinner.) We were not able to get the temp in our room below 72 degrees, and others with whom we traveled were not able to cool their room below 74 degrees. It was so hot in the lobby/bar area of the hotel, that people were sweating just sitting there. Read more