Two of my friends and I (age 45-64) are traveling to San Diego over the Christmas holiday. We will spend a total of 6 nights there. We plan to visit the Zoo, SeaWorld, the Wild Animal Park, Mexico, museums, shopping. We are having a difficult time deciding on a hotel. We want a REALLY nice (4 star) hotel, and would also like to be on the water. We will be renting a car. Right now we are considering: Pacific Terrace Hotel, Hotel del Coronado, La Valencia, Loew's Coronado Bay Resort, Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina. After reading reviews of these and other hotels, it seems that they all have negatives and positives. We're having a difficult time deciding on a hotel. Can anyone help us out? Also, might any of these hotels have special events and package prices during the holiday season?

Go to the Del for Christmas. The Christmas decorations are beautiful. Is there any particular reason you have not included the downtown Marriott resort and the Hyatt? Both of them are right on the water of San Diego Bay.

If by "REALLY nice 4 star" hotel, you mean top notch, 4 star on a scale of 1-4 stars, there is no hotel in San Diego that fits your criteria.

In fact, even if you remove the waterfront requirement, there just aren't any 4 star hotels in SD to begin with.

The Conde Nast Traveler Gold List for this year, for example, doesn't even have a single hotel from SD which made the list (and there are well over 100 hotels listed). 2 made the honorable mention list, the Del Coronado and the Coronado Marriott).
The Del is OK, but the rooms are very average, somewhat dated, not luxury. The Marriott on Coronado is good but not great and the location is a minus, since it's inconvenient to go back and forth to Coronado.

If you really must have a "4 star" hotel on the water, you'll need to go all the way north to Laguna Niguel, where the Ritz Carlton and St. Regis are located.
Otherwise, you'll have to compromise on the hotel.

Stay at the Del! You'll love it at Christmas time. I found it very easy to drive into and out of Coronado and once off the bridge it is very easy to get onto the freeway and from there anywhere you want to go.

Yes, go to the Del! It is gorgeous any time of year...but at the holidays it really is wonderful. We have always stayed in the old part of the building and have never been disappointed in the rooms at all. I say this after staying there 5-6 different times over the last 15 years.