Having been down to Puerto Rico for my 3rd trip in the last 10 years let me start by saying this...Don't be in a rush. If you are looking for fast service, go to Florida or California. Everything in Puerto Rico works in a slower speed. Service everywhere is about as slow as a slug crossing the road.

That said, the Caribe Hilton is a very nice hotel. Not great, but very nice.

The Good:
It has a few different pools that all basically overlook the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean. It has its own "private" beach that you can snorkel in. The rooms are of good size. The beds are comfy and clean. There are many of eating choices on site. If you are there for a convention, everything is right there. The breakfast buffet at Palmeras is very good ($24). Atlantico Pool Bar & Grill has the lowest cost burger ($8) and PBJ sandwiches ($4).

Restuarants (off site)
Ikagos - Try the Mafongo
San Juan Cafe - Tasty Strip Steak, stay away from the appetizer sampler.
Latin Star - Great for breakfast and standard fare. Open 24 hrs.


The Bad:
All the better restaurants are in Condado, which is on the other side of the bridge. A $15 cab ride will take you to the Marriott, where just about every restaurant serving anything you want is in walking distance.
The Caribe Hilton is a nice classic, updated hotel, but it shows it's age a bit. Our room had a tile floor, which when you left the balcony door open, would get very slick from water condensation.
While The Caribe Hilton has its own "private" beach, locals, from the local public beach on the "other side" of the beach (there was a divider at one point), come over to use the Hilton's pools and try and tip over the floating slide in water off the beach.
Drinks (beer, other) start at about $8 each. Go to the small liqueur store across from the entrance to the Caribe Hilton (near Dollar Rent-A-Car).

Other things to know:
Eastwind Sailing was well worth it. They pick you up at 7:20 at the Caribe Hilton lobby. 45 min. ride to Fajardo where you take the powered Catamaran snokeling and swimming around the island of Culebra.
Rent a car at the dollar rent-a-car and drive to the rain forest for the day. It's a US National Park. It will cost you about $50 for the rental car and $10 per person to get into the park. The trails are all clear and mapped out well. (Be aware that when you see the sign to turn to El Yunque, you will take the right turn and then right again after the gas station - trust me. It's not marked very well. )
The casino at the Marriott is the nicest. It's small but if you plan to play slots or blackjack, its about as good as it gets.
The Concha hotel looks newer and nicer, but the Marriott is very nice too. Both are closer to good restaurants, which offers more affordable options than the Caribe Hilton.

Did I mention that service is slow throughout Puerto Rico? It is, so accept it or travel elsewhere.

I spend three nights with my partner at the Caribe Hilton in June and had a perfect weekend. Yes, it's pricey to eat and drink in the hotel, but you know that before you get there! I'm a Hilton HHonors gold member and we got an executive floor room in the main building. Despite being the oldest part of the property, the room was modern, clean and attractively decorated. We also had access to the Executive Lounge with free breakfast, soft drinks all day and evening cocktails and food. (The cocktails aren't free, but at only $3-4 each they are a third of the price of downstairs!)

We spent much of our time relaxing on the beach and by the pools and although the hotel was busy, the area was never overcrowded. The main downstairs bar had a lively atmosphere every night, with great rum punch and mojitos. We also ate at Morton's, which was elegant and excellent as always - and it has windows overlooking the ocean - the only Morton's I've been in with windows!

A 10 min walk takes you over the bridge to Condado for many casinos, restaurants etc. and a short cab ride takes you to Old San Juan.

I would definately go back to the Caribe for a relaxing weekend again!

I was booked for four nights and five days for a fairly expensive conference rate (close to 200/night) and was very disappointed. I stayed in the "lagoon villa" section. The room overlooked an active construction site with a polluted lagoon. The water in the shower and sink ran black and sooty for three minutes before looking somewhat clear enough to take a shower. I had multiple cockroach sightings. The smell of mold was overwhelming. Several others in our group have commented similiarly about the run-down condition of this hotel.

When I asked for a room change, information was recorded, but then I never heard from anyone. When I checked they pretended like they had never heard the complaint before.

Last but not least, the internet connection was slow and very spotty....

We stayed here for a romantic getaway. When we arrived we could tell the service was going to be an issue. The valet/check-in stations were not well organized. We went to valet the car and told a guy we wanted to park. He told us to leave the car and then he forgot about it. We went to check in (which took 30 mins!...no one is in a rush here) and they still had not moved it. We walked over to the car and told them we wanted it parked and then they took care of it. Once we got checked in we asked to have our bags delivered to the room. After waiting 45 minutes, we called and they said they would send them up. After 15 more minutes we went downstairs to find them still sitting where we left them. We ended up taking them up ourselves.

We ate by the pool and ended up spending $100 on 2 drinks each and sandwiches! We ate at most of the restaurants and found the food and service to be average with the exception of Lemongrass. While this was our most expensive meal (we ate just apps and drinks and it was still $150!) it was by far the best meal of the trip.

I found the pools to be a bit chilly, crowded and noisy with lots of kids. We actually rented a car and drove to Ponce for the day. We stumbled across a place called Copamarina and will stay there next time. The pools were perfect, spread out and they had more activities on the beach (parasaling, snorkeling etc. right outside the room door!)