We have never been to PR and we are looking at going for 5-6 nights. Any opinions on the St. Regis?
Things like:
The beach
The restaurants at the hotel
things to do around that location
We are focusing on the St. Regis because we get a rate less than half the normal rate and 50% off all food (not alcohol). Looking at early to mid June.
Thanks!
Steve, the property is top notch and very beautiful. The beach is ok but not spectacular. There is a Jean George restaurant at the property (“Fern”) which is solid but not world class like other restaurants in San Juan. Not much to do around the location other than the Rain Forest and really good golf. If you are looking for a destination “resort” experience the property is breathtaking but it is removed from a Puerto Rico “vacation” experience.
Carlos,
Thank you for that reply. Even though we get a great rate, compared to the normal rate, I just got the feeling that it would not be a great experience, for exactly the reasons you pointed out. Neither of us golf, and we are both limited to too much hiking or those sorts of interests, because we both have had serious spine surgeries. I mean, what is the sense of going to see Puerto Rico, if we don’t take in some of it, and if the beach is not that great either. Sounds like we should check out other alternatives.
How about the Sheraton PR Hotel & Casino in San Juan (200 Convention Boulevard)? We can get a superb rate there. And again, 50% off dining. Any thoughts?
Steve,
I have been to PR 3 times and in all honesty it is one of my least favorite islands in the Caribbean. The rainforest -El Yunque is wonderful but to really enjoy you need to do some hiking. All though you can drive through and do some short walks. The PR beaches are just OK. They tend to be pretty rough and the water is not that Caribbean blue that everyone wants. It is a BIG island comparatively with traffic and lots of people. Not what I want when getting away.
Old San Juan is great if you like history and there are certainly plenty of places to go eat and the St Regis property looks wonderful. Also remember that June is the start of Hurricane season. Although the chances of a Hurricane in June are pretty rare (especially early June) it is a small possibility so buy trip insurance.
If you just want to hang on a nice beach there are probably better options. Certainly better beaches. If you let me know what else you would like to do I could probably make some recs. I have been to many of the islands.
George
I’m with George, but I only had to go once to decide I didn’t love it.
It took us 2 times and then I won a free trip so… what do you do? ![[wow.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/7/7d450e9830889c8943b674446a21b7254cad657e.gif "wow"){kind=small}
George
Thanks guys. I was hoping to hear something different, as I was thinking what you said George. I’ll throw out some other options when I get a moment. I am trying to check out Starwoods properties, as we can save some money that right now is what we need. But if push comes to shove, we’ll look elsewhere.
Thanks for taking the time to reply. I had hoped that someone would say the Regis is fantastic with great restaurants and a nice beach. For obvious reasons.
Thanks again. ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Steve - Looking at the Regis. It seems to be a fantastic property. The beach looks fine. If money is an issue then I think that will be an amazing place. You will be hard pressed to beat it cost wise elsewhere in the Caribbean. Not a lot of SPG properties. There is plenty to keep you busy on PR.
I just prefer the small island, out of the way, off the grid vibe you don’t get in PR. IMO. If that is what you are looking for in an SPG property take a look at the Westin on St John.
George
Just a tough, and if you are tied to the Caribbean than just ignore it, but if you can get the great Regis deal than I would check out the St Regis at Bal Harbor in Miami. The beach is beautiful, its just far enough from South Beach to give you privacy but close enough to visit any restaurant, the hotel is gorgeous and the JG Grill inside is very nice. Plus there are a million things to do in Miami. We went twice last year.
Or St Regis Punta Mita.
I have friends that are very well travelled and swear by the one on Kauai. Of course that is a long drive from the East coast.
George
Yeah, Mexico would be a great choice.
Again, thanks for these thoughts. Never thought about Miami. I’ll check and see if the HOT rate is available at that property. It is not available at all the properties and very limited at even some of the other ones. And I have family near Boca to tie in to the visit if we want.
I’ve never heard of Punta Mia, so I’ll check that out. We only went to Mexico once, and that was a few years ago, and the first time I ever went to a AI. I have to look up where we went, but it was recommended highly by someone here, and the stuff I read said the food there was outstanding. First night, we went to the Mexican restaurant. It was inedible. Seriously. Just could not eat it. We ended up taking a taxi and finding a local spot the last two nights.
We want to get to Hawaii, as we have never been, but we figure we would have to go for a minimum of 10 days, no? And, I imagine we would have to be prepared to do at least a fair amount of walking/“hiking”. Or am I wrong? That is a place I think we really need to do some planning, and spend some coin to enjoy.
Thanks again guys. I do appreciate the ideas.
I am not sure where else these properties are in the carribean, but once your at sju your a pretty easy flight to most of the rest of the islands.
The St Regis in Hawaii is in Kauai. The island has two distinct areas to see stuff/hang out, but there are on opposite sides of the island from each other. Kauai is an island that is very tropical and has some interesting waterfalls and such to see. Walking in the town areas is a possibility but otherwise if you have a car there is not a lot of hiking necessary. There are numerous interesting restaurants there. I would personally not go to Kauai for ten days. I would visit another island as well. The only island I would stay for a really long time on is Maui, but even then ten days is really long. We go to Hawaii just about every December but try to change up the islands we visit- always hitting two on each trip.
Figured since we loved our stay in April 2011 and I wrote it up for FlyerTalk, I would repost what I wrote about the St Regis… Note that we did not leave the resort as this was a resort vacation/golf and tennis trip and not a sightseeing or adventure/exploration type trip.
We liked the beach and thought it was very nice - my son prefers the pool and so we didn’t spend much time on the beach. Food was overall good to excellent depending on what/where. Corkage friendly which was nice. Nothing for our Champagne when sitting outside at sunset looking out at the beach and water and having some apps. $35 at Fern.
Rooms were well appointed and large with very large bathrooms. Plenty of room for us and a separate bed for our son.
We would go back. Much shorter flight than Hawaii and the US as opposed to Mexico - though I do want to go to the St Regis in Punta Mita (stayed at the Four Seasons there twice and loved it, though it was the only hotel and thing there at the time).
One of the best uses of Starwood points that I can think of - five nights in a $1000 per night room for 80,000 pts.
A must at this resort - reserve (err demand) a room that is close to the main building as so e rooms are spread out and then you need to rely on the golf cart shuttle (fine but sometimes a pain in the neck depending on how busy the hotel is).
However, if you do not play golf or tennis and are looking to drive around/explore, this may not be for you.
We were there for 5 nights at the end of April - loved the fact that even though the resort was 99% full, I could still book the 4/5 nights points deal…even booked a second room and the in-laws joined us…I think every room was full the first two nights (Easter weekend) - just love the SPG program as we only booked three weeks in advance.
I won’t revisit a lot of the details because they were covered well above but will make a couple observations.
–our room was in a building on the golf course but fairly close to the main house - I realized that there are some rooms on the water side that could end up being quite a walk to the pool/main house - I would not want to stay in the last building and have what seemed to be a very long walk or constantly be taking/waiting for shuttles…not sure if they can guarantee which building they will put you in but I will be very specific next time…in fact I think I would rather stay closer on the golf course side than far away on the water side…
–went with our 6yr old - no issues for kids even at Fern and staff was nice (though we have always taken him to nice restaurants) - we wen tby the kids club and were pretty impressed - he seemed to like it but we never used it because we were always doing something (even though he is 6, he and I played three rounds of golf and between that and tennis/pool/beach there wasn’t time) - for the holiday weekend they had a lot of kids events and activities which seemed quite nice and family friendly… With only one kid, he usually stays in our room so glad about the size and setup of our room and the nice high end blowup bed that they brought in for him, all of which worked well.
–golf course - didn’t see much in the way of comments above so I will provide some thoughts - I brought clubs in a hard case and the minute we pulled up to check in they swept away the clubs and brought them to the golf course (also packed them up for check out so well handled) - we played after 2pm so reduced rate - I think it was around $120 for me and, get this, FREE for my son ( was told there is no charge for twilight rates for under 12 - hence the reason we played three rounds) - course was completely empty and they were very nice and let us go off whenever we were ready even if early and before the time the price dropped - excellent GPS in cart that was really helpful in getting to know the course - excellent driving range with unlimited free balls even on days when you aren’t playing - the course itself was very good to perhaps excellent and in good to very good shape - layout was interesting and potentially challenging but also good to know that there are 5 sets of tees so difficulty can vary - since I was playing with my son we played from the front men’s tees but it was still quite fun for me with good variety of hole lengths and position shots - as much as I liked shooting in the mid-to-high 70s, next time I will play from the longer tees which puts a lot more trouble into play and makes some par 4s quite long and par 5s not as reachable - only three holes are on the water which is a bit disappointing but the course is pretty enough - holes on the water are a matter of feet off the beach - overall, I very much liked the course and even more so liked the pricing and feeling like it was our own private club - on a relative basis I like the FS course in Punta Mita more as a course and more from a beauty perspective - the two courses on Lanai are also a good step up from this on both sheer quality and beauty - however, I very much enjoyed it and would bring my clubs back in a heartbeat (regarding kids, they sounded a bit skeptical when I called and made the reservation for me and my 6 yr old but when I said he had his own clubs and realized we were serious they were as nice as can be)
–dining - I am pretty picky when it comes to food and wine (happens to be a passion) - as a result I brought 7 bottles of wine with me and was very glad to see the large, mostly empty fridge when we arrived (always travel with wine so maybe it seems strange to others who aren’t wine obsessed…I love to drink well, particularly on vacation, but while I can afford to bring and drink the $100-$300 bottles of wine that I brought, I cannot afford to drink what I love at resort type markups) - glad I did as while the wine lists aren’t bad (perhaps not up to what I would expect from a top resort and high end NYC based chef), the prices were very high (3-4x) and the wines much too young and not particularly interesting for me even if they priced them at regular retail…they were fine with corkage (charged $35 in the restaurant but free when we had room service or sat on the veranda pre-dinner looking out at the water for a nice bottle of Champagne so not bad) - Fern was quite nice with a good range of satisfying choices and while expensive, we thought it was priced right relative to high end resorts and the quality was generally there across our three dinners to make it satisfying - while not breaking new culinary ground, we thought the menu had a nice combination of complexity/interest and simplicity - while I went for the more interesting, my wife really liked the simple options- great idea for a resort that wants to blend the creativity of Jean George and the need to please a lot of “captive” guests - food at the pool area was just fine - perhaps could have been a bit better but just happy that the food wasn’t even more expensive when served poolside or on the beach - loved the covered tables out on the beach for lunch - service was perhaps slow overall but not problematic - golf course restaurant was just ok for dinner though a wonderful setting to sit outside there - breakfast was very nice at Fern.
-Ralphs - worth stopping by this supermarket for drinks/snacks/beer and stocking the large in-room fridge - essential with kids
-tennis - very nice tennis courts at no extra charge (included in resort fee) and will provide rackets and balls - hot so we played only a little
-pool - really good size and tiered design provides excellent separation so it doesn’t feel busy, though when the hotel is full the pool chairs got reserved very, very early and it was very busy even though in the pool itself it didn’t feel that way - son loved going around the tiers and up/down in circles…I realized that going when the hotel in at 100% is not ideal
-we rented a car thinking we might go off resort but in the future I would use one of their car options and then maybe rent a car for a day or two instead - between the cost of renting a large enough vehicle for 5 people and bags and golf clubs and paying $22 per day for parking it would have been cheaper
–two nits/negatives to mention if they even rise to that level - delayed servicing of the room, particularly when the hotel was full…got back from dinner the first night around 9pm or so and room hadn’t been turned down yet (showed up at 9:30pm after my son had already fallen asleep). First day the room wasn’t serviced until mid afternoon which was a pain in the neck as we stopped back to change/rest after lunch…I stopped by the front office and made timing requests which were met for the most part for the rest of the stay. Second issue was more of a design problem in the bathroom…horrible light at the bathroom sinks - bright ceiling light which lit up the sink bowl but with the result that no light hit shed the face when you step up to the sink - had to shave by feel and can imagine that my wife was quite frustrated…more funny in a way that they design a wonderful bathroom and nobody bothered to test the positions of the lighting to see whether they worked for actual use as opposed to how everything merely looked. Also, as I guess is always the case in 99% of hotels the lighting in the room was generally insufficient (pet peeve of mine).
Overall, we were quite impressed (loved the rooms even without a Gold upgrade) and plan to go back within 12 months…not sure it is worth $1000 per night for a regular room (the rate when we were there) and there were some stumbles in service and amenities but if it isn’t one of the best uses of SPG points at 80,000 for 5 nights, I don’t know what is. As a point of reference, I went to the FS in Punta Mita twice within their first 9 months (before much of the expansion and no homes yet) and I was a bit more impressed with that resort overall from beauty to service to food at that time - though these rooms are bigger.
I would definitely recommend this property and it fit all of our family travel criteria - easy direct flight so not a long day of travel, nice/big rooms, beautiful setting, golf/tennis/great pool and beach and good to very good food.
Dan,
Thank you so much for taking the time to post that. It makes me rethink SRPR. As much as we would love to do lots of fun and interesting stuff on vacation, most of our vacations are focused on my wife needing to relax. It has, in time, made me appreciate shutting down and enjoying a small slice of life, as is what this place seems to offer us. If the property is beautiful, the people nice, the food pretty good or better, the beach nice, the pool very nice…I think it is an option for 5-6 days, considering that we get a hot rate and 50% off food. I mean, all of that only means something, IF you have enough there to enjoy.
I looked at the Punta Mita SR, and that looks great too. Comes out about 30% more for the room, but I checked the SPG site for reviews and I don’t think I saw any review below 5*s. So that one is a candidate too.
Hawaii is just something I think we would want to cover in one trip (meaning see the major sites, but also see and take in other islands.) That is why I cannot imagine us going for less than 10 days. I’d have to do some serious planning to set that up.
Thanks John,
As much as we both really want to do “Hawaii”, the time and the money to do it right, are just not in the cards. To travel all the way from NJ to HI, I just think I really need to make sure I have it all together.
George,
I know from past requests, that you enjoy things quite a bit different than I (we) do. I understand it, and take it into consideration. For instance, I remember you adding your thoughts on Grand Cayman, and that you looked to get away from the major areas and would rather rent a house. You do scuba diving I believe, and if not, then big time snorkeling. Snorkeling is not a major need for us, but a fun thing to do. Golf is out. Tennis is out. Horse riding is out. Intensive hiking is out. A medium hike would not be a deal killer, I don’t think. When we go on vacation, we don’t want to rent a car, unless we are in Italy, or France or Spain, or some place like that.
And one more thing: I NEVER expect to be wowed as far as dining goes, when we go to the islands, or places with that sort of feel. I have never had a WOW meal at any caribbean island or again, that sort of setting. To me, I just want atmosphere, decent food, convenience, etc.
But I always appreciate you weighing in. You are very generous in making the effort to offer your thoughts.
There are lots of Hawaii threads if you decide you do want to go. Packed with hotel and restaurant info on all of the islands.
Steve,
Your points are well taken. I think you will love the Regis in either PR or Punta Mita. They are great properties. There is great dining all over the world some of the best meals I have had have been on a beach with no shoes on. I am sure there are plenty of spots just to relax in either location. I do think renting a car in PR would be helpful. Even if you can’t hike El Yunque it is worth a drive and a short walk to the visitors center and some of the little waterfalls by the road. I am sure there are tours you can take but renting a car would allow you to go at your own pace. Driving in PR is like driving the turnpike… just warmer. 
Last time we were there we rented a convertible for the day for $50 or so. Fun to drive through the rain forest in a convertible. Lots of great advice given here. You just need to book your tickets!
George