El Conquistador Hotel

Room

Sunset from the ocean view room

I  had a booking at Garden view room but when we arrived and checked in, they upgrade our room to the ocean view room. The view from our room was amazing especially during sunset and sunrise.

The Marina from the upper block

The room was so clean, and prepared with all the basic toiletries. Coffee and Tea are prepared for free but we have to pay 3.50 USD for a small bottle of mineral water.The room was spacious and enough to accommodate a family of 3. The discounted price was 165 USD per night.

Service
Overall the service was good. They response to my complain efficiently.All staff were helpful and friendly.

Food
Since the breakfast was included in the hotel (Bed and breakfast), so we took our breakfast everyday.This is one way of saving.:-). The breakfast was prepared by La Brisas cafe. I gave 4/5 stars for the breakfast. Although they only served American breakfast here, but the varieties of breads, desserts and fruits was great.

Variety of breads

I enjoyed the fruits very much since we were served with tropical fruits.(Nampak sangat rindu Malaysia).In spite of the breakfast, I have ordered a dinner during the first night. I had Salmon and baked potato and also Chocolate Cake as dessert. The food was excellent even the price is a bit high.But I enjoyed my food so much and for me it worth the money.

Tropical fruits

Facilities

Water boat

1) Swimming Pool
I never had chance to swim, but from my observation this facility was very good. The swimming pool is open 24 hours everyday. And I didn't saw any restriction regarding the swimming attire. Even somebody going in with Tshirt. So no discrimination :-) 

2) Private Island

One of the souvenior shop at the island

This was the most beautiful places in this hotel. Palomino Island have a very beautiful beach. We can enjoy relaxing on the beach, or doing activities like Kayaking, Snorkeling, jet skiing and many more. From this island we can take a boat to Polaminino Island. A small island that been used as an ending scene in the Pirates of the Carrebean film(I didnt remember which one).Actually this island is owned by one of the richest person of Puerto Rico and rented to the hotel. 

Polamino island-breathtaking view

3) Private Parking
The hotel offer a private parking with fee. I think it was 15USD pernight for hotel guest. I didn't used this parking as I have complementary parking from the Enterprise company(I rent a car from Enterprise).

4) Car Rental
Enterprise offer in house car rental with free parking. The service was very good and the person in charge was very helpful. I paid 245 USD include CDW insurance and other fees for 3days. It is advisable to rent car since the hotel is quite isolated.And they doesn't have public transport other than taxi.The taxi price usually fix for each destination and its quite pricey.

5) Airport shuttle 

The airport shuttle was provided for those coming from Luiz Munoz Marin International Airport. But this service is not free. It cost 74USD per return trip.However this price is really cheap compared to taxi service. Usually taxi will charge 110USD per one trip.

6) Others,
There are a lots of restaurant and small convenient stores inside the hotel. But all things are expensive compared to other stores outside the hotel. If you have car, you can drive to nearest Plaza Fajardo (10 minutes from the hotel) to buy some groceries.

My favorite picture-the way

Cable car down to the Marina

Caution

Since this hotel is a resort, and every payment will be charged to the room bill, therefore we need to pay extra 150 deposit per night additional to the room rate during the check in.And we were never expect such of this since in Europe, normally the hotel did not take any deposit.Shocking!

One more thing that bother us is the tips. We don't know how much should we tips. Even for buffet breakfast, we have to pay tips for the person who serve us water and tea.Just imagine that you have to spent at least 20-25 USD per day just for tips.Pheww!

For overall review of this hotel, I give 4/5 stars because I enjoyed my stay.

Driving in Puerto Rico

It is kind of new experience for me to drive in Puerto Rico.I never thought that I will be given an opportunity to do this.Since Puerto Rico is a very nice island,the driving experience was really great.

The road condition
I think the road condition is similar like Malaysia but in some cases we have a better structure.In here,people are driving at the right side of the road and driver position in the car is at the left hand side. The exit of highway are not limited to the left side but you will also have an exit at the right side.So you should be careful and confirm where you are heading to.
Normal road has two lane,and in highway sometimes they have up to four lanes but roads inside a village and small town are usually narrow and dangerous since most of the roads are dark.
Amazingly,it is barely to see motorcyclist since most of the people didn't use motorcycle as a daily transport.So it is easier to drive compare to Malaysia.

The cars
I found that many people in here using Toyota.And most of the taxi using big cars like four wheel drive. We can also see nice cars like Maserati,Jaguar and Porsche strolling along the road.

Traffic
Similar to Malaysia,the traffic is quite heavy in cities like San Juan and they have a very bad traffic during peak hours as well.Usually traffic is smooth in the morning during weekend.

People
The drivers here can be said as kind.They will give you lane when necessary and it is nearly impossible to see they driving so near behind you.Especially when you are following the speed limit.What I can see,if they want to overtake you,they will use the right lane instead of making you panic or beaming to you.This is really rare condition in Malaysia.People in Puerto Rico sometimes didn't like to use signals when they make a turn,so be careful.

Regulation
In highway the maximum speed is 65 miles per hour which is more and less 110 km/h.And the maximum speed limit in the normal road is 50 miles per hour.In highway you have to pay toll and similar to Malaysia,they have the express lane,cash lane and automatic lane.You need to have a certain device to use in express lane.The que at the cash lane were very long especially during holidays.And at some of the booth they didn't provide you the change.Instead they will provide you a prepaid card which you can use if you have enough money in it.And also if you have some change when you pay,they will put the change in this card.

Important words
Words like velocidad maxima which mean max velocity,salida:exit, pare: stop, solo: turn, entrada: entrance are the most important words you have to remember when you are driving here.This words are in Spanish.

Road name
It is easier for you to remember the road name since all the road are named after a numbers.So when you study a map, you just need to remember the road numbers to your destination.

Gasoline stand
There are a lots of gasoline stand along the road.The price is not fixed but it is about 85 cent per litre.The rule here is you have to pay before you can refill your tank.So just do the estimation.They will give you back the change when you are done.For 900 km ride i have refilled my tank in about 49 dollars.By the way I am using Toyota Yaris, automatic gear.

Be careful
Be careful especially during the holidays night since there are a lots of crazy drunk drivers.Avoid a late night drive if possible.

Over all,it was a nice experienced.I'm get used with the road within one day.And the most important thing:this is the easiest and cheapest way to move between cities since they didn't have cheap public transport between the city.