I've been there several times, most recently about a year ago, so not all that recent. I wouldn't call it an especially lowkey experience, and it's not a low-key location, but if you want to explore Old San Juan, it's difficult to imagine a better situated or lovelier place for your home base.

We liked breakfast and/or lunch at their courtyard restaurant. During one of our stays, there was Flamenco dancing at El Picateo, which is their tapas restaurant.

we like walking to the restaurants on Fortaleza, including Aguaviva for seafood, and its neighboring restaurant for Asian fusion--the name is eluding me right now.

We mostly love just walking the streets by day and taking in the atmospher and mixture of humanity as it goes by. We also love the forts. Great photo ops just about everywhere.

My experience also is not that recent, but I haven't heard anything has changed about El Convento and would return in a heart beat. The restaurants and bars in the courtyard of the hotel are all great if you don't want to go anywhere. The hospitality hour is wonderful. The roof top pool and hot tub are gems.

The restaurant district is within easy walking distance. We loved Dragonfly (is that the Asian fusion you were thinking about, ej?) but 311 (Troi Cent Onze, a French restaurant) was a very special experience.

Old San Juan is a great area for walking. There are lots of cobblestones, so bring comfortable shoes. You will think you are in Europe, maybe an old part of Spain...

This is an excellent choice for your situation. The hotel is in a very central area of Old San Juan. You can easily walk to shops, restaurants, and the forts. The hotel itself is lovely and the staff very gracious. I enjoyed my stay there.

This motel is booked for when we need it. Any other ideas of hotels/motels close to Carnival Port within walking distance of resturants?

eastenderusvi, yes, Dragonfly was the one!

buffalo24, it depends on what your budget is. Once when El Convento was booked we stayed at the Sheraton across the street from one of the cruise ship docks. it was clean and comfortable and corporate--about what I expected it to be.

ejcrowe,

The Sheraton also has no rooms available. I am trying to book in May. Am I too far out or do those motels require 2 night stays?
Any other ideas?
Thanks!

If it's over a weekend, these hotels might require a 2-night stay. I've run into that before, and in those cases I've called the hotel directly (not a general 800 number) to see if they would be willing to make an exception. But in that case, it was El Convento and I had already stayed there a couple of times. It's worth finding the local number for the Sheraton and making the same inquiry, though.

How much money are you willing to spend? And do you need to stay in the old town?

I would like to stay below $200. We will need two rooms. We would like to stay by the port because our ship doesn't leave until later in the evening.

Check out Milano - we'll be there in January. Read reviews on Trip Advisor. We got a discount making reservation on the hotel's website, and confirmed by e-mail from the hotel, we'll have a window.

Looking for a hotel in September for January, I ran into the same issue - some hotels are sold out. Check Expedia and other sites, sometimes they block rooms. Getting a room before a cruise is not easy.