Puerto Rico

mrsbanany

FI and I finally decided on a honeymoon location! We are planning on going to Puerto Rico next August. I am just looking for advice from people who have gone before on where to stay, what to do, etc. Our budget is about 4k. My parents offered to give me their points from Starwood which are good for 5 nights at any Starwood resort but I feel guilty taking them especially since they are paying for the wedding. So I am looking to plan "two" trips, one if we picked our own hotel (there is no way we could afford something like the W or St. Regis without the points) and had a smaller budget for activties and one where we could spend a bit more on food and activities if we used the points. Any tips are greatly appreciated.

Rosebubbly

Not much help here...except there is a W on the private island of vieques of Puerto Rico that you should look into. I wanted to go there but it was out of my budget

Jells2dot0

I'm SPG platinum and recently booked 5 nights at the St. Regis Punta Mita in Mexico. The rate was $800/night or 20k points/night. The St. Regis Bahia in PR was 35k points per night or $700/night. We also looked at Vieques and it was 20k points per night or $350/night. The Punta Mita was by far the best deal. If your parents have a ton of points, I'd maybe consider a split stay at one of the Sheraton properties in San Juan for a lower redemption rate and then head out to Vieques. When using points, every 5th night is free. So, maybe do 3 nights in San Juan and 5 in Vieques. Plus, you can also SPG points for excursions and activities at the property. You'll have to check to see what each property offers in that program. Food and activities in San Juan will be much less expensive, as there is more variety off of the property.

kipper88

I go to Puerto Rico once a year for vacation.  Staying near El Yunque you can never go wrong.  That's the rain forest.  Might be a tad cheaper than staying ocean-front.  Also, there is a wonderful ferry that can take you to Culebra island which is just magical.

flantastic

We just got back from there for our HM - 9 days for 3k with basically eating out every meal. We got our oceanfront 3BR condo with a rooftop terrace in Luquillo through VRBO for a week. Luquillo has a great beach that the locals go to and is about 15 minutes from El Yunque, where we spent a day. The kioskos on the public beach there are great.

There's a bunch of little hostels in Vieques in Esperanza, on the south side, which are okay for a night or two - we stayed there one night to go to the bioluminescent bay. Also, the maximum you will pay for a taxi anywhere on the freaking island is $5, and they're very nice.

(The ferry ride to Vieques was the worst part of our trip by far. If you can afford the $50pp to fly to Vieques or Culebra just do it. Not only is ticketing/boarding the ferry a disorganized mess, they don't have committed passenger ferries running right now so you run a risk of being in an enclosed passenger space within a cargo ferry. It was clear someone had vomited near our seats on the last trip.)

We stayed the last night in Old San Juan at El Convento, which was super nice and not that expensive at all. (Also, when we checked in and they told us there was complimentary wine and cheese from 6-7 every night...) We could walk to everything in Old San Juan from there.

ETA I just noted the date of OP. Hope this is still useful to you or someone!

hpubride

My husband and I went to PR for our honeymoon in September. We lucked out on weather and it only rained the day before we got there and the day we left a whole week later. We stayed at the Wyndham Grand Rio Mar and it was a beautiful resort. Best beach I've been to, very private and clean. The staff was great. However the eating locations on site were pretty expensive and it was about 25 minutes away from the airport and any city touristy areas. I definitely recommend visiting old San Juan. We also visited El Yunque which was a cool experience even though I'm not much of an outdoorsy person. http://www.wyndhamriomar.com/