LIFE @ D'OCEANFRONT
This is a privately owned condo community on the beach. Taina and her sister Nan have excellent communication. Taina lives in Miami FL.
ABOUT THIS CONDO
Relaxing apartment, get ready & escape to paradise. Come and experience an amazing oceanfront view. The space is a private and spacious apartment with one bedroom beach access and an amazing pool. In Condado the best location in San Juan. Just 5 Miles from airport. Walking distance to Restaurants, Casinos, Nightlife & Supermarkets.
-Security 24/7
-A/C
-Wi-Fi
-Queen bed
-Amazing Pool
-Direct beach access
-One assigned parking space for guests (No visitor Parking)
The space
The loft has a look and feel with colors borrowed from the sea. Located in a top floor, (sub penthouse) with a view that will take your breath away.
Has one spacious and peaceful one bedroom with split air conditioning unit, one Queen Bed, a Full Sofa Bed and 2 flat screens TV. A remodeled bathroom is located in the master bedroom. A beatyful kitchen with all appliances. A dinning table for four and a sea breeze family room with an spectacular view to the beach, the ocean, the surfers and if you are lucky two Manatees that hang out in front of the building. Open the windows and the sound of the waves will speak to you. The family room has a love seat, smart TV with access to Netflix and hi speed Internet. This place is ideal for newlyweds, couples, family or friends getaway vacations and for business trips.
Guest access
The apartment have one assigned parking space for the guest, (No visitor parking) washer and dryer, iron, blower, clean sheets, bath and beach towels, beach chairs, the kitchen have cooking supplies, stove, oven, microwave, pots and pans, coffee machine, blender and a toaster. Also, Wi-fi and Netflix.
Other things to note
You will find all you need to have an amazing day at the beach: Beach chairs, Beach towels, a portable table and a portable mini-cooler
No passport is required for US Citizens to travel to Puerto Rico
Now the weird thing was that this place was completely surrounded by a concrete wall, iron fencing, and EVEN BARBED WIRE! This place was locked down like Fort Knox...or a prison. I couldn't decipher if they were trying to keep us in or others out. You needed a key to do anything at this place! What kind of neighborhood did I pick??? I thought I had read that the Condado area was a nice area and have read that others stay in this area...but being on lock down was weird!
There was a security gate at the front entrance, which checked you in and out.
Parking was also in the front for the residents while I believe there was some type of "underground" parking for others (according to my directions from my booking).
Nothing fancy at all. It just looked like an apartment complex...a very old one at that.
There seemed to be a lot of construction going on as well. There was no mention of this in our booking before or after.
I have to say the outside of the building was not very appealing at all, but hey, we were only staying there for 2 nights anyhow.
There was also another gate entrance that you had to have a key to exit or enter to get out of. It was located on the side where Chili's was located. If you left out the front, you had to walk down a block first...but also NEEDED A KEY to leave or get back in (even though security was there).
At the front door, there is another security guard to check in with. Once you get your keys you have to use them to get inside.
We were instructed "no luggage on the elevators"...wait what? We are on the 21st floor! Then were told we had to use the service elevator located in the hall across from there (which I might add was super small and I can't imagine having to use that elevator to haul furniture or anything of a large size in it for those that live here).
They did have a small vending area, which I took full advantage of while we were here. I swore they would end up running out of pop (or "soda" for those of you that don't understand the pop terminology) from all the drinkage I did while staying here. It's a known fact...Mitsugirly is a popaholic to the full extent! It was only $1 for a rather tall and skinny can and it managed to "only" rip me off twice while here. The only frustrating thing was it did not have diet pop in it and it was only Coke products. Although I can drink either Coke or Pepsi, I prefer Pepsi MUCH more than Coke. I would soon learn that I would need to get used to this change during our entire cruise... +1 Coke vs -0 Pepsi. +1 Coke vs -0 Diet Coke. UGH!
Now we'll get to the building inside...I hate to say it, but it felt like a prison. Well, at least from what I've seen in movies and such. Even Sakari said "are we in jail?" LOL The rest of the family would say the same thing when they arrived. (I can assure you none of us have been in prison before...so just putting that out there lol). It just had this "feeling" to it...especially the hallways upstairs.
The building was worn and tired and needed a facelift. (Cracks in the walls, floor, broken tiles, chipping paint and so on).
There was a lot of open space when you entered and I'm not sure if this was equal to a sitting area like they have at motels. They had a few pieces of wicker furniture there.
The advertisement said the condo's were loaded with amenities...here's their amenities (not exactly what I had pictured). It had a "library", there was a game room with ping pong and pool tables...the only problem was, they didn't provide you with the pings or the pongs or anything to play with. Kinda like a party with BYOB...this was a BYOstuff if you wanna use it. Outside there was a tennis court...again BYOstuff to use it. (Last time I checked, I don't pack this kinda stuff for vacation).
I discovered a basketball court...only it was located in an area that was blocked off by orange barrels from the other side and no entrance from the other.
They also had a small workout room.
Just to be clear...none of this bothered me at all. We didn't come or stay here for these amenities...we can for the ocean and pool.
Now out to the most important area of this place...the pool. 😄
They had a HUGE pool and a small toddler pool with waterfall. Oh...and of course more construction. I felt right at home with the orange barrels and orange plastic fencing...(we have it non-stop in Ohio with construction on the freeways and streets from all the repairs after the winter months).
Now this pool was DEEP!!! 9' + deep! The kids loved it.
There was an area along the side that was lined with grape trees and it provided a lot of shade from the blaring sun and a great place for our group to hang out at.
There was also small areas off to the side with tables and bbq pits.
Now the entire time we were here, there was a sign up that said the baby pool was closed. I'm not sure why. It had water in it and at some point during the day it also had the water fountain going.
There were also signed up saying to swim at your own risk because there was no lifeguard on duty....but the entire time we were there there must have been an imposter dressed in red and white with a logo on the back of his shirt that said "lifeguard". lol
The pool was open 24/7 and lit up at night. As much as Sakari wanted to swim at night, I just wasn't in to it the first night we arrived and well the second...we had a full day of sun and pool fun that it didn't happen either.
They did have outside showers. If you are coming from the beach, you could wash off before going in or entering the pool.
Of course the place would not be complete without a gate out to the beach area...and of course a key to go in and out of it. At least they left it unlocked during the day.
A view from outside the compound...wall and fencing...there's no getting in for sure. If you look on the left side of the picture, you'll see some barbed wire at the top.
Ok, on to the hallways leading to the rooms. It was a hodgepodge of different types of doors along the way with most being the iron doors in different designs.
Since there's no carpet in the halls and they are very long hallways, everything echoed. When someone left their room, the iron gates slammed and echoed down the hallway.
"Guards, please open cell block 2120". (Just kidding). We were at the very end of the hallway and our door faced the hallway, so when you turned from the elevator to go down the hall, ours was straight ahead.
On to the room....
Now I have to say I was a little shocked when I walked in and seen the living room. There was not any "living" going to be going on in that small room. It was so dinky small. Like pictures make it look bigger than it is for sure. This picture I am standing in the corner and taking a picture.
Now this small 2 person couch pulled out into a sofa bed...maybe like a futon I guess? The only problem is that there's no legs to hold up the end part to it so you are sleeping with your feet hanging down.
This place did come with a lot of "extras" for your stay...including games for the kids to play and some odd dolls and weird stuff in the lounger couch that the top lifted up to put things down inside.
But hey, we had a view of the beach from the living room.
The owner did provide us with plenty of pool toys and supplies including beach chairs, noodles, surf/boogie boards, puddle jumper and towels (none of which we used during our stay).
At the entrance, the owner had plenty of brochures on things to do (and also an entire folder full of stuff).
I believe the kitchen was bigger than the living room, but we didn't really use much of anything, so it was ok.
It did have a full stove/oven (Kendras only had a cook top).
The "tile" was...um...fake and stick on. LOL
But I did love the beach decor
On to the bedroom....there were a set of sliding doors (4 individual doors) that were mirrors. You slide them and it opens up to the bedroom. You don't know how many times this messed with me and I ran into them. LOL
Then BAM! The biggest most amazing room yet! It was HUGE! It had a huge couch in it as well.
Both tv's in the home had cable, wifi, Netflix and movie stations...free of charge. Kendras...well although it had some stuff, it was all in Spanish and she never did figure out how to switch it to English. Kambriah spent the morning watching cartoons in Spanish and had a weird puzzled look on her face. I told Kendra she needs to watch more Dora!
From inside the bedroom, you could reach the only bathroom and the small hallway to it had additional closets full of extras (like ironing boards, extra blankets and pillows and linen), then another closet had a washer and dryer.
Ok so just a few more of the condo.
Heading into the bathroom. It was nicely stylish and looked like it had been remodeled.
The one odd thing I found about this place....now just to backtrack...the Airbnb homes I have been in are usually amazing and are usually stocked with everything possible that you could need or want for a stay there. They understand people are coming in for vacation and they want to supply you with everything you could possibly use that you normally wouldn't think to bring on vacation. From all the cooking utensils you need to non-perishable foods and so on. This place had it all....(such as lotion and aloe for sunburns and medical supplies and coffee, sugar blah blah blah...you get the picture).
Well....a few things it had I was like EWWWW...
why would they leave this here?? Such as mascara
and toothbrushes and chapstick to name a few.
Now I'm not talking about "in the package" either.
I'm talking used and it a baggy. Ekkkk! I just thought
it was weird and of course if you are crazy and
desperate enough to use them then....I guess that's
on you. lol
So outside at the pool area looking up to our condo.
Since our place was at the top and from one side to the other. We had 2 different views, depending on where you were.
From the huge bedrom, you had a view of the city and buildings and off in the distance the mountains.
From up here, we got a sense of direction of where we were and was able to look down and see where to go for our pre-cruise run for pop. We spotted a gas station and also a grocery store near by. Awesome.
From the living room...we had an amazing view of the ocean! And looking down, you could see the pool area.
Part of the description on this place said there are a couple of manatees that hang out right in front of the place (they provided pictures of them from a shot taken from the condo), but of course, we didn't have any luck spotting them. It was a beautiful beach for sure. I could stare at this all day!
At night the town was all lit up and beautiful.
I believe I forgot to take pictures of it during the day...or at least I haven't found them yet, but here's some from the website from the owners and this is me taking a picture with my camera of their picture (so not the greatest).
Final thoughts:
Would I recommend this place? Yes, I would.
So my thoughts on this place. We absolutely loved the condo itself. It was nicely decorated, it was comfortable, came with a lot of extras and definitely a cute place you could stay in for a vacation. The only shocker was the living room was just smaller than we imagined, but the view from the living room was amazing! It had these little windows down below that you could see out no matter where you were at in the room.
So I guess you could say we were happy with the room itself. Just the building and being on lockdown was weird.
Now remember Kendra went with a cheaper room and on the 12th floor. So, if you are interested in seeing what her regular room looks like.....click below.