My wife and I just got back from a 5 night stay at the Ritz Carlton Puerto Rico. The location from the airport is very convenient, although you do hear the planes departing by the pool.

Room: we didn't have a balcony, which was ok, usual Ritz, marble bathroom, comfy bed, etc. Our view was of the hotel next to us, which was ugly and the ocean.

Service: not bad, not great. Pool service was tricky as more people started coming in on Friday, we arrived on Tuesday and it was very easy to get a drink.

Pool: worked for me, although only 3 feet deep. Big enough that you were not bumping into people.

Ocean: Not really a big ocean person, we did go out the first day there and it was very windy. More or less like laying out in front of a sand blaster, well maybe not that bad. The beach was clean.

Casino: Spent every night in the casino. The casino itself is small compared to Atlantic City\Vegas standards. They have the usual games - blackjack, let it ride, 3 card poker, poker and a ton of slots. I joined their player's club, was comped a whopping $45 at the end of the trip. Dealers aren't all that friendly, ran boring games.

Restaurants: We ate at all (3) restaurants at the Ritz. The Mares restaurant wasn't bad at all, one of the better meals we had at the Ritz. Il Mulino was horrible, I was shocked. I ordered the veal parm, came out looking like a personal pizza. The veal porton was very good, but the sauce was gaggingly garlicly. The service was also horrible, taking 3 hours for a table of 8. BLT Steak was good, not great. Service was very good. I ordered the filet, was a bit dry. However, everything else was very good. Forgot one restaurant, the one near the pool, great burger and turkey wrap, the wings were very good as well.

Price: Obviously not cheap - one thing that pissed me off was the non-optional 10% resort fee. I hate when hotels quote you a price for a hotel, then sneak that in there. Drinks poolside averaged around $15. Lunch for two without drinks will easily run you $40-$50.

Golf: I played at Bahia and Dorodo East, both were amazing. Both were approximately 45 minutes away. Greens were extremely fast, like any hot area.

Other Restaurants to check out: I HIGHLY recommend Pikayo, only 10 minutes from the hotel. Excellent food, cool location, everything was excellent. We also ate at Marmalade or something like that, in Old San Juan. Was nice to have authentic Puerto Rican food, also nice not to pay through the nose.

Activies: We walked Old San Juan, went to El Morro fort, which I highly recommend. Did a half day trip to the rainforest, it was ok, got boring at the end.

Hotel Summary: Not bad, not great. I have stayed at other Ritz's and Four Seasons properties. I always compare Ritz and Four Seasons on the same level. We stayed at the Four Seasons in Maui and that was unbelieveable. This Ritz doesn't match up to the Four Seasons property, but it still a very nice hotel.

I just returned from an 8 night trip to the Ritz and had a wonderful vacation. That said there were positives and negatives.
The property is very nice, beautiful grounds. the beach is OK- it is not the crystal clear waters you expect in the Carribean, but the water is warm, and the beach is swimable. The rooms are nice- very comfortable. The bed is amazing, and the tv is great, plus plenty of drawer space. While the bathroom is very clean, it has the standard tub/shower together. Unfortunately not many balconies, so that is definitely a downer. we had a pool/ocean view, but really wished there had been a balcony. Maid service was great. I spent my time at the beach, and the service at the beach was outstanding. plenty of chairs, but it was windy. Not so windy that you couldn't lay out - of our 8 days only 1 day had much rain, and I spent every day on the beach and didn't mind the wind- it kept you cool. the food was good, and I didn't feel the prices were steep. Resort food is expensive anywhere you go whether it's a Ritz or a Westin, and I felt the prices to be pretty standard. Il Mulino was amazing. Absolutely fantastic. While normally I love BLT, I was very disappointed to get a well done steak. Also, the service was pretty bad, so by the time they got around to asking me how it was, we had eaten all of the sides (they were delicious, as was the wine) and I didn't want to wait for another one. They didn't charge me for the steak, but again I came there with high expectations and was really disappointed. The concierge lost my friend's spa appointmet, but fortunately she was planning to cancel it. We had a major problem with the tour desk. Extremely unhelpful and getting conflicting information. Note that the tour desk is outsourced by Castillo tours, so if you are having problems with them, just go to the concierge and ask for help, a mistake we made too late, and unfortunately resulted in us not going to Culebria as we had hoped. Kamil the tennis pro is fantastic! If you are thinking about doing a lesson or a clinic- book it! He was so much fun and gave me a great workout. All in all it was a great trip. We met really friendly, interesting people. very relaxing trip. Its so easy- quick flight, no customs or passport, so I would recommend this for a quick getaway. However, it doesn't have the ultra luxurious feel you get from other Ritz's, so I wouldn't recommend this for honeymooners. I liked that it was close to the airport- I was listening to the waves and the wind rustling the palm trees, and wasn't bothered at all by the occasional plane landing.

Just returned from San Juan for a 3 night stay. The property was extremely crowded, trying to find a seat at the pool was quite a challenge. I found service to be extremely slow and almost non-existent by the pool. The hotel was very clean but just not quite what you would expect from a Ritz. Our room was very basic, not many balcony rooms to be had. Ok, I know it's the Ritz but things are soooo overpriced it's ridiculous! 3 drinks by the pool $50. 50 minute massage with tip $171. The beach is okay, it happened to be extremely windy while we were there so you were getting whipped in the face with sand most of the time. It was definitely not a very tropical location. If you want that "island" feel this is not the place to go. Don't get me wrong, overall, we did have a nice time. The casino was fun, BLT was a great restaurant, I didn't get to experience Il Mullino but heard it was fabulous. For close by nightlife to to El San Juan the lobby bar is great, live entertainment and a fun atmosphere.

We stayed here for one night at the tail-end of our honeymoon before catching our plane home. The property is beautiful, but in case it's not clear from the property description... it is located right next to the San Juan airport. The airport is probably a two minute drive from the hotel. Our room was on the San Juan facing side and looked out onto the airport runway. This didn't seem to create noise issues however as I guess the hotel must be far enough away or the flight pathways don't go directly over the hotel and so the noise isn't really noticeable. In fact, some might consider it a great convenience if you're looking for a "quick-strike" vacation because you don't have to waste time in ground transport when you arrive in San Juan.

The hotel is extremely crowded... at least it was when we were there. It seemed there was always a queue at the reservation desk and the restaurants were packed (I think there are only two - one by the beach and the italian restaurant next to the casino). Crowds can be ok if they are managed well. Unfortunately, the hotel staff seemed incapable of handling the crowds very well. The wait times were very long at the reservation desk both to check in and to check out.

My take-away from our stay here was it's a great hotel if you're looking for a get away to a pretty hotel with a nice beach and you don't mind navigating crowds. It's a terrible hotel if you're looking for a "forget the world" experience- quiet, peaceful, service like you're the only customer that matters, etc.