Breakfast is included. It was on the patio from 7am-10am. There was milk, orange juice, coffee, pastry, bananas. Free newpapers except on Sundays.
The bus stop to Old San Juan was right around the corner, only a few steps away, a 30 second walk and cost only 75 cents. It seems to come every 45 minutes--no schedule. The last bus back from Old San Juan is 8pm. Take the B21 bus to and from Old San Juan. Once in Old San Juan, take the free green trolley. It stops in front of both San Cristobal and El Morro forts. It also goes all around town. The town has Wendy's, McDonalds, Walgreens as well as lots of restaurants and shops. The trolley seemed to pass by every 10 minutes.
There are always taxis hanging right outside, across the street. The area felt safe because they were there, even at night and even at 7am on New Year's Day. There was construction next door, so there was a guard on the sidewalk next to our hotel.
I went with my 2 teenage daughters on (12/30 to 1/1) New Year's Eve and we felt safe at all times.
Restaurants closed before 9:30pm on New Year's Eve, but there was always Walgreens across the street. There is a food mart inside of Walgreens. And you can use the microwave in the lobby.
The room had no bugs. They don't allow food in the rooms, so we didn't see any roaches. We were on the 3rd floor. It was clean, the water pressure was ok, hot water was ok. It was noisy. The safety deposit box takes pushing with your foot at the same time pulling the key with your hand. If you don't give up, the safety deposit box DOES work.

I recently stayed at this hotel for 4 days 3 nights after finding that the Marriot was completely booked. It had to be my worst experience ever in a hotel. There were roaches crawling in the clock as well as on the bed, when I aproached the front desk with this information they apperared very nonchalant as if this happens all the time. He stated he would call the manager and let me know what he could when she called back. After speaking with the second person at the front desk later that night they told me they could change my room assignment. I went to look at the second room and there were roaches in the bathroom. The person at the front desk informed me that maybe the second floor was infested(both rooms were located on this floor). So I was then told to look at a room on the third floor. (It was 10:30pm on a Friday night and there were no rooms available at the surrounding hotels) This one was okay and the front desk personnel changed me to this room and told me to speak with the manager in the morning, he warned me that she was awful with customer service and he was right this was the worst experience with customer service I had ever seen.
The manager had a thousand excuses why there were roaches in the room (i.e. other guest brought them, this is the carribean what do you expect, etc.). She informed me that all hotels had roaches and it was no reason to be upset. She was very rude, hostile and unprofessional. And to top it off she began making smart comments about the situation to guest checking out, as if it was a laughing matter. She did give me a 10% discount for 2 of the 3 nights I stayed (she stated she would not give a discount for the third night because I did not see roaches that night, just baby lizards in the room).

All and all spend the extra money to stay at the marriot and book early they fill up fast. Maybe the other Canario hotels are better I can only judge this particular hotel's customer service. Also the hotel is pretty nasty and needs some major repairs.

The good thing is that it is steps from the beach, but I would rather walk blocks than to stay here.

I read almost every review before I left for my trip. But I went against the reviews and decided to stay there anyway, I need to see for myself. I stayed for one night before my cruise, and I paid less than a hundred dollars.

The room was so tiny, the bathroom was almost non exsistant and I took a shower with my filp-flops on. It was what I expected, based on the previous reviews.

The area is an up and coming area in San Juan. The beach is extremely close and beautiful. The area is nice, going thru a renavation though. In a few years it will be hard to get a room here, because of all the new hotels and resorts they are building in the nearby areas (within walking distance).

Old San Juan is really close, either a $.75 bus ride or a $12 cab ride. Old San Juan is nice, lively on the weekend, especialy on Sundays. I stayed in the Sheraton in Old San Juan after the cruise ( I wrote a review there as well).

If you are staying for a night or two, I think it is worth the money. And if you just plan to use your room as somewhere to sleep then it is not that bad. If you like the luxury of the a nice room as part of your vacation, then I would not recommend it.

The worst part of this whole El Canario Inn/Sea stay was that I orginally reserved my room at the "Inn" and when I called to confrim my resevation two days before my arrival, I was told that my resevation was moved to the "sea." The "Inn" was closed for vacation. And no one contacted me about the move. I am glad I called. AND when I wanted to cancel my reservation at the "Inn" for after my cruise, I wasn't able to do it at the "Sea" I had to wait and do it myself when they opened.

I guess the big selling point of El Canario is that it's a stones throw from the beach. Is that worth over $100/ night? Not to me.

The room was cramped and stuffy and the bed was uncomfortable.

There are better accomidations a few blocks inland for the same price.