Vacation Hunter Diaries

The Hilton Caribe is a great place to stay in Puerto Rico.  It is very family friendly.  The beach has a barrier that prevents the waves from crashing into the swimming area so it is a great place for children to swim.  The hotels is situated in the Condada district very near old San Juan.   It has several restaurants including a Morton’s Steakhouse, Il Giordino La Trattoria, and Lemongrass Pan Asian Latino restaurants.  It also has two Starbuck’s one at the pool and one in the Lobby.  It is a short cab ride to old San Juan.

I recently stayed in Puerto Rico and spent time walking the cobblestone streets of Old San Juan. The town was charming, full of restaurants, souvenir shops, and bars. The air is full of wonderful smells from the restaurants. Some old churches, museums and town squares also make up the town. There is a pigeon park where you can feed the pigeons and they will land on you for food. It can remind you of Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” It is very picturesque and a great place to visit. I will follow with some great hotels to stay in while you visit Puerto Rico.  No visit to San Juan would be complete without seeing El Morro the fort built to protect the island.

The hotel is a located in the Isla Verde area of San Juan.  It is a beautiful older hotel with a  clean beach.  Security was great.  Pool and grounds were beautiful.  Staff was gracious and very helpful.  The room was older but nicely appointed with comfortable beds. Food prices were expensive but that is the norm in Puerto Rico.  Staff were very helpful.  The hotel is very family friendly.

I took my first Viking River Cruise with my husband and a few friends.  We cruised from Passau Germany to Budapest, Hungary.  Viking did an outstanding job.  They found our little group as soon as we left the baggage area.  Our group of six were transported by van from the Munich airport.  Even though the weather wasn’t perfect they made sure they accommodated their passengers.  The food was good, the headphones they used for tours were fantastic, and the staff went beyond the call of duty at times.  The included shore excursions were very good, escorted by local guides who spoke English well.  My only complaint would be that the night time entertainment left something to be desired.  Most nights it was a piano player, sometimes accompanied by our Cruise Director David.  It was good for a night or two but than was old.  The two nights we had local entertainment was very good.  That being said we are already planning which river we will sail next because we absolutely loved our trip and Viking River Cruises.  Viking also seemed to own the Danube.  They appeared to have the best docks in the cities we visited.

Travel Insurance is sometimes the hardest thing to sell as a travel consultant yet it can be the best investment one can make. I can’t tell you how many times people need to make a claim. I have a client who put a large downpayment on a trip, I quoted him insurance he didn’t want it, a couple of months after the deposit his wife became ill and after hospital bills wanted to cancel the trip. He knew he wouldn’t get a lot of money left and was sorry he didn’t get insurance. Another case a couple was going to the Dominican Republic, I offered insurance and he didn’t want it. His girlfriend broke up with him and now he didn’t want to go, luckily he hadn’t made final payment yet so he purchased the insurance. Once he couldn’t find anyone else to go with, he filed a claim and received his money back. Another client purchased a cruise two weeks before sailing, wouldn’t buy the insurance, than became ill with pneumonia one week before the trip. They lost 10,000. This just covers trip cancellation, not the medical coverage trip insurance gives to a traveler. If you should need to be medically evacuated off a cruise ship the cost is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now you think you don’t need travel insurance?