This hotel turned out to be better than I had expected. The staff was friendly and the room was clean and spacious. Bathroom could've been better (old and had stains) but ok overall.
If you like to hang out in the pool, just know that it's very small and there's no outdoor bar. Beach is very tiny also with no beach chairs. We went next door to Hilton's to use their beach.

The hotel is located between Old San Juan and Condado. You could walk to both places but don't recommend walking to OSJ since it takes too long and will be too hot to walk. What you can do is to take the local bus (50cents) to the city.
Make sure to use the local trolley that's ran by the city when you are in OSJ. It takes you around the whole city and is FREE.

This lovely old hotel has great potential - but fails to deliver. Indeed, as noted in other reviews, the staff are terribly rude and I felt the whole time they did not want us there. Also, as noted by others, there was no washcloths and even after repeated requests for fresh towels and facecloths, we gave up on waiting. They also pulled the "no more than 3 persons" in the room line with us upon check in. Coffee, if you are interested, will cost you almost 5$ for a single cup (go across the street to the Subway instead for a $3 breaky including coffee). The hotel was very smelly (musty) and very dirty (the carpets are flithy).

Yet, the rooms are large though and the decor is lovely. This place screams potential but is in sad shape overall.

As other reviews have stated, it is a costly $10 taxi ride to town. Or, you can hike it for under 25 minutes if you cut through the park or grab a bus for 0.50 cents almost across from the hotel. In Old San Juan, you can take the trolley, the bus, or the ferry to explore (all better options than the cab).

The beach behind the hotel is flithy. Garbage everywhere and even dirty diapers strewn beach-side.

On the upside...The Concierage was a little friendlier than anyone else encountered there and can be somewhat helpful. Also, the pool was very nice. If you want to enjoy the area's view, slip out on the balconey through the excercise room.

Overall, it was not so bad... if you can get past the staff, the smell, and the dirty carpets... focus instead on the decor, and the history of the old place (which was modeled after a ship; one where the original owner had met his wife - they say the hotel was a "love letter" to her).

My wife and I stayed at the Normandie along with two other couples, all in for a mutual friend's wedding. The hotel is very easy on the eyes, but in a somewhat inconvenient location because you need a cab to get to either a nice beach or to Old San Juan. The hotel has a beach, but it is very small. You're much better off getting to a beach east of the Normadie during the day.

That said, we had many problems with the service. In fact, this was the worst service we have ever experienced in a hotel. We were told by soon-to-be-wed friend that she had left a San Juan welcome kit at the Front Desk. We didn't get the welcome kit until we checked out and that was only after asking 4 different employees. Also, the breakfast service in one of the hotel's restaurants was equally atrocius. Not a single wait staff led us to a table or offered us a drink. At the end, when we went to pay for the buffet (which was not complimentary), we could not even get the attention of the wait staff. We left without paying for the below-average food. Finally, when we complained at the check-out about our bad experience, the manager on duty offered us a free meal at the same restaurant where the wait staff ignored us. We declined and vowed to write this review.

If we had to do it again, we would have booked a hotel in Old San Juan. There are restaurants, museums, and bars, which cannot be said for the area around the Normadie. If you want to visit a beach around San Juan, it's just as easy to take a cab from Old San Juan as the Normadie.

San Juan was fantastic, as was the rest of Puerto Rico we saw (Culebra, Fajardo, the food, the people, the culture). The Normandie was an oustandingly poor exception. If we have the opportunity to go back to San Juan again, it would take a lot for us to darken their door again.

I booked the Normandie after seeing that it was recommended in Frommer's Guide for one night prior to departing on a cruise out of San Juan. After reading the reviews in Trip Advisor, I considered canceling and going to another hotel. I am very glad that I did not. The hotel was nice and clean and the rooms were spacious. We had a good lunch and breakfast in a dining area that was open 24 hours and we had a delicious dinner and wine tasting in the nicer restaurant. Everyone was very nice. The pool area was nice. The beach was small and I would not consider this to be a beach resort although it was located on the water. It was right next door to the Caribe Hilton so you could walk over there for additional places to eat. It is a $10 taxi ride from here to Old Town. I would stay here again.