We will be arriving in San Juan the day before we sail. Need help locating a decent hotel...not mucho $$$...for the one night, close to the cruise dock would be a good thing.

I also posted this request on the Caribbean forum

My husband and I flew in a day early to SJ before our cruise two years ago and stayed at the Wyndam. I want to say it was the Condado but I can't be sure. If you call them, ask how far they are from the cruise terminal. We were a 7 minute ride away. In any case, they had some very expensive rooms and some not so expensive rooms. As a matter of fact, when I called the hotel, I got an even better rate than the internet. And if you are or were in the military, their rate is unbelievable. The hotel was within walking distance of some KFC or McDonald type places and some really fine restaurants. We ate at one and I swear it was the best meal of the whole trip. The Parrot Club had been recommended ($$$$) by a friend from SJ but we couldn't get in.
Good Luck

You could try pricelining the Condado Plaza Hotel or Caribe Hilton (much better). We got it for like $120 including taxes. And you can take a cab to the cruise terminal.

ESJ towers is pretty reasonable

I second JC98. I got the Caribe Hilton (great little resort--where the pina cola was invented, no less) for $75/night via Priceline.

Check out Biddingfortravel.com and/or BetterBidding.com for bid advice.

I don't know what "not mucho $$" is for most.

Maybe just what we found at the time, but we sailed out of PR last March. I was surprised at how expensive hotels were in San Juan and seem to recall that the closer to the cruise port, the more expensive the hotels were. It may have been the season or could be that I'm just getting fussy about what I want. I seem to recall that we paid $350 for the Marriott San Juan Resort and Stellaris Casino. I got a "rebate" of $200 when I hit on one of the slot machines while we were waiting for our shuttle to the cruise port.

Won the Marriott on Priceline for $120 for an April stay for my parents. Wasn't expecting to get it for such a low price as the hotel direct was showing $300+ per night.

To me Priceline is the only way to go, nicest accomodation for the cheapest price.

Did you ever say which of the cruise docks you will be using? One is located right at the Sheraton Old San Juan area (we just stayed there in Dec) and the other dock is across to the other side of the main harbor (Pan Am pier) and not so convenient. Taxi is a MUST.

As I recall, Royal Carib sailed from Pan Am. Princess sailed from old San Juan location. There were at least three ships that sailed our same day from Pan Am, and one other ship at Old San Juan.

We stayed at Caribe Hilton when we returned from our cruise. We will be staying at Caribe Hilton again, but will not select Sheraton Old San Juan for another try.

Princess

We also sailed on Princess, and our ship (Golden) sailed out of the dock across from Sheraton Old San Juan.

I vote Caribe Hilton definitely. We did a day rate with them on the cruise this past Christmas. Was a great hotel. The year before we stayed at the Mariott for one night prior to the cruise and then did a day rate at the Wyndham on the way back.