Guest User
July 12, 2024
My wife and I just finished a 3 night stay at Royal Isabela. I had wanted to come here for a long time, but before I could do it Hurricane Maria happened, then the Pandemic happened, but, finally, we were able to make it work. The setting is really impressive. A very large property with impeccably manicured grounds and a challenging golf course on top of cliffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. There are only 20 casitas here, so, even if the hotel is fully booked you rarely see any other guests and at times it feels like you have the entire resort for yourself. I recommend booking a Royal Suite with Ocean views. The Presidential Suites are bigger and more expensive but don't offer direct unobstructed ocean views from the room itself. The location of the resort is perfect to make it a home base for a multi-day tour of the northwest corner of Puerto Rico: Arecibo, Isabela, Aguadilla, Rincon, the Gozalandia Falls. Plenty to do in this area. Highly recommend renting a car if you are going to stay here. Is about a 1h20 min to 1h45min drive from the SJU airport. Much closer to the Aguadilla Airport. They have a full service restaurant, Jota, that serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with a varied menu. They also offer room service. Food was really good. Service was not always the most efficient, but we found it very friendly and useful. You will certainly experience the famous Puerto Rican hospitality here. We loved our stay, and will definitely come back. However, there is some room for improvement. The casitas have not been properly maintained. They are very close to the ocean, which means that the salty air corrodes any exposed metal parts and those need to be replaced frequently. That has not happened here. That resulted in our room having door locks that didn't lock, French doors to the patio that didn't fully open, sliding room divisions that were stuck and a shower head (one of 3 in the shower that didn't work). Also, our wooden deck obviously had not been retouched/repainted in many years. The "distressed" look did not work. This resort was sold last year. Hopefully, the new owners will invest more in proper, and much needed, maintenance,