Just got back from a super vacation experience at the San Juan Water & Beach Club Hotel. We purchased package deal from PriceLine. Good price, and picked this hotel based on recommendation from Price Line. Glad we did this. Also, we flew on Air Tran. Not bad. Connected in Atlanta. They only gave us 30 mins to connect. Scary, but turns out that Air Tran knows what they are doing. If they give you a short connection time, it's because your next gate is in the same concourse as where you arrive. Whew. I would fly with Air Tran any day.

Hotel:
This is definitely a hotel for couples and young (20's - 40's) guests in that the ambience leans towards romance. We loved the hotel and would go back for another vacation anytime. Had a blast. The hotel is super trendy and cool. we loved it. the rooms were very nice. the bathrooms were fine. we did have to put down an extra towel on the floor to keep the water from spilling out of the shower, but it was no big deal. soap, shampoo and conditioner were great. I'm tempted to look up the brand and buy some for myself, it was so good.

Noise:
The Wet Bar is loud on Thursday night through Saturday night. The rest of the week is not noisy. Puerto Ricans love to party and they party till early in the morning on the weekends (thurs - sat). However, just bring ear plugs with you so you can sleep at night.

There are 'white noise' sound effects that play in the hallways all night long. sometimes music, sometimes just ocean sounds... hard to explain.. but I could hear it through our walls. I think the reason for this is to drown out romantic noise coming from the guest rooms. my husband said he had no problem falling asleep at night, despite the 'white noise' coming from the hallways. Earplugs helped me sleep. Otherwise, it may bother someone who can only fall asleep with total silence.

Don't misunderstand: The hotel is not a noisy, boisterous hotel. It was a very nice hotel, with great staff, and awesome views, and a roof top bar that is awesome and fun. I would recommend this hotel.

Beach & ocean:
I think the beach is called Carolina beach. The beach is lovely. Ocean has a few small waves, but not bad at all.. non-swimmers would be ok; more like a wave pool and was very fun to swim in and play around. The beach floor is smooth sand that gradually goes deeper. No rocks or mass seaweed or jelly fish or anything.. just nice, lovely ocean to swim in. No peddlers or panhandling, no vendors (except the super friendly ice cream man). The hotel provides beach chairs and towels right on the beach. You can also get towels after hours at the Wet Bar at the top of the hotel.

Wet Bar:
Awesome views. We spent many a night just hanging out on the beds and catching the view/people watch. It was so much fun. Drinks are kind of expensive. Actually, food and drink in Puerto Rico was kind of expensive, but not unexpected if you think about it (most provisions are shipped in).

Food:
We didn't eat in the hotel. We walked from the hotel to the local restaurants. Ask the car valet for suggestions. They were super helpful and extremely friendly.

There are a TON of restaurants within walking distance of the hotel (plus Walgreens, souvenier shops, etc). We ate SUSHI 4 nights out of 7. Our favorite place, which provided top quality sushi for reasonable prices, was Nagoya Japanese restaurant - 5900 Isla Verde Ave (which is the street in front of the hotel) - 2 min walk from the hotel; go across the street from the hotel (go right towards San Juan) and it's about 2-3 blocks down in the same plaza as the Cyber Cafe and Planet Condom. Awesome sushi. Sit at the bar and get to know the sushi chef. He was super.

Note: There is another sushi place right before you get to Nagoya. However, IMO, not as good as Nagoya. We ate at the first place once, and then tried Nagoya, and then went back to Nagoya twice after that.

We ate at Mi Casita (2 blocks from the hotel, (go left) across the street, in the same plaza as Ponderossa, I think). Awesome Puerto Rican food. Recommend the Aposado (both chicken and shrimp) and the Mofongo. Man, that was some great, inexpensive food. We ate there 3 times for lunch.

We drove down Isla Verde Ave (about 2 miles or so) to Che's Argentinian steak house. That was superb and not terribly expensive. There are way-more expensive steak places in Isla Verde (like Ruth Chris steakhouse and Outback) and Che's easily rivals those places for the quality of their steak. Che's was excellent and casual, BTW.

Street food:
We ate street food while in Old San Juan (walking around), and once from a beach vendor in Los Pinos. You need to try the street food if you get the chance. we had no problems eating the street food. No stomach problems, no after-effects. The street food is just great. We ate a lot of the fried stuff. Couldn't tell you what it was called, but we just bought what other people were buying, and it was totally worth it. Puerto Ricans know how to cook good, tasty food. Don't be scared to try it. seriously.

Driving:
We rented a car for the week. We paid for the extra insurance. I highly recommend that you do this. Yes, it's an extra $144 (or something like that), but it was WORTH IT. PR drivers are a little crazy on the road. We actually needed the insurance; got hit (minor and no injuries). All we had to do was drop off the car and then nothing after that; they took care of all of the rest. The price of insurance was totally worth it. And yes, if you are there for a week, rent a car. It is worth it. You just need to pay attention while you drive. Driving around PR was fun.

That said, we witnessed an accident right out in front of our hotel. J-walkers got hit by a car. Car was stopped, but then started to go just as 2 young people (20's; looked like they had been drinking) stepped in front of the car; man was hit but got up. his girlfriend went into convulsions while laying on the road, losing blood. Police came quickly, so did ambulance. don't know what happened to the people after that. Terrible to witness. But this happens on Isla Verde Ave. This street has heavy car traffic and heavy pedestrian traffic. If you cross the streets, use the cross walks! They have nice paved stone cross walks that force cars to slow down. Use those cross walks or use the ones with painted white lines. Cross walks are everywhere, so use them. Do not just step out in front of cars, even if you see the locals doing so. I cannot tell you how many close calls we saw after we witnessed the 2 folks being hit. Don't let this scare you away from this hotel. Just use good judgement when crossing the streets.

We drove all over the east side of the island.. from Isla Verde, to Los Pinos, to Luquillo, to Fajardo... recommend you take the 187 back and forth to Luquillo and Fajardo. 187 is awesome. not stop and go like the other highways. It was fun driving around despite the crazy drivers.

We drove around the barrios near the hugh university. Can't think of the location name, but it was 10-15 mins from our hotel. Near a place called "Public Market" (labeled as such on the map from our hotel). Anyway, it was nice to drive around and see the tiny but beautiful homes with their bright colors and gardens. These people may be poor, but they have pride in their homes and you can tell. it was really cool. The streets are very tight and narrow, but easy to navigate if you just pay attention and drive slowly. No problem driving around the barrios. Bought some fresh fruit (mangos and pineapple) from trucks parked on the side of the road in the different barrios. Man, the fresh fruit is unbelievably good. Not expensive. The sellers didn't speak English but we managed just fine. Had no problems eating fruit bought from the locals.

Beaches:
Went to Fajardo (not 7 seas beach but some other one- got lost trying to find 7 seas) and Luquillo. Found Luquillo beaches easily. Loved Luquillo. Clear water. Same smooth sand bottom just like in Isla Verde, except the water was crystal clear. Awesome.

We spent a couple of days playing on our own beach in front of the hotel. Isla Verde might not be the clearest water (still blue and beautifu), but it was super nice all the same. We had the best time just jumping up and down in the small waves and swimming around.