My partners Basil and Harold and our wives are beach people. One might ask, “aren’t the best beaches in the world within an hour of your residences in New York City?” The answer is a resounding, yes, but we don’t live in a resort, with someone to bring a pina colada to your lounge chair or provide turn-down service. We have sought out and thoroughly enjoyed the beaches of Maui, Bermuda, Zihuataneo, Ocho Rios and Aruba. Airport-wise, Bermuda is very near, with high literacy, beautiful foliage, good museums, fine shopping, superior snorkeling and lovely pink sand, flecked with coral. Yet, its finest resorts (now that the Castle Harbour is a memory) are more than an hour in drive time. What’s more, the weather is uncertain. Cold and rain prevail at the least expected times. Aruba has the virtue of virtually guaranteed weather but scenically it is barren. Jamaica's Ocho Rios is gorgeous with lovely little resorts like the Plantation Inn, but with the vulnerability of unrest among a segment of its population. Zihuataneo, twin city to the resort-filled Ixtapa, once a little fishing village, is charming, with a narrow stretch of good beach, albeit with barefooted merchants interrupting your snooze with offerings of jewelry and pottery. But  you lose one day in travel, since you must first fly to Mexico City. Maui and the Big Island of Hawaii are splendid venues, but they are a trip-and-a-half from JFK. In the two days lost in going and coming, you should seek out something at least comparable but at a modicum of the travel time.

The Westin Rio Mar

Resort, Country Club & Ocean Villas

6000 Rio Mar Blvd.

Rio Grande, Puerto Rico 00745-6100

Tel: 800-4-RIOMAR; (787) 888-6000 Fax: (787) 888-6235

http://www.westinriomar.com  

Overall Impression

1) Physical Plant -

The facilities are all that one could wish. Built in 1996, the $210 million, 694-room resort is the island’s first ground-up destination resort to be constructed in 16 years. It sprawls across 500 acres on the northeast coast, with its beach adjacent to the Caribbean National Forest aka El Yunque. The main building is an impressive, seven-story, contemporary interpretation of an elegant Caribbean manor house with pitched, red-tiled roofs, balconies and terraces. The resort’s spare 58 ocean villas opened in October, 2000. Outside, the buildings appear uniformly freshly-minted, bearing not a hint of the vicissitudes of salt air. The grounds, punctuated by three free form pools, boast lush gardens and indigenous foliage that are irrigated relentlessly. Inside, the walls, ceilings and flooring are impeccable. The lobby area, balconies, open restaurants and bars are the essence of taste and notable for their lack of ostentation.

2) Guest Rooms -

Our room was comfortable, not in any way cramped for space and was pleasantly decorated. It had a nice view of the beach and the ocean, as do 7 out of 10 rooms; the others face the mountains or the gardens. Each guestroom has a private balcony or patio. The rooms are stylishly appointed, with oversized king and double-double beds having firm mattresses, generous-sized bathrooms with grooming amenities, magnifying mirror, terry robe, and the usual modern components, mini-bar, safe, PC port and voice mail. 

3) Beaches -

The beach is within a pop fly of your room. The one-mile expanse of continuous palm-lined beach allows for unimpeded morning or moonlit strolls or jogging. There are scores of lounge chairs, eliminating the necessity of out-hustling other guests in the wee hours with towels or books to stake out a claim. There are also plenty of shade areas, from palm trees to three-sided canvas tents. Though technically a public beach, there are no intrusions from vendors touting straw hats, silver and photo ops with iguanas. The only interruption is the blessedly soothing sounds of the flung spray and blown spume of the ocean. Waves can be rough, necessitating a red flag more often than we would like.  When calm, the ocean is refreshing, clean, with sandy bottoms and relatively warm temperature for easy immersion. One thing that prevents us from rating it higher, is the sand itself, which is industrial strength texture; albeit relatively free of shells or pebbles. 

4) Recreation -

• Golf 

The resort’s two 18-hole championship, par-72 courses are in superb condition: 

Tom and George Fazio’s 6,782-yard Ocean Course adorning much of the beach, though not in the same A-league as Pebble Beach, is mind-stirring, with a fair share of bunkers and elevated greens. Hole four is home to hundreds of iguana lizards, some as much as five feet in length, who enjoy an uncritical view of your backswing. The signature 16th, a 238-yard, oceanside par-3 is especially enticing. Greg "The Shark" Norman’s meandering 7.004-yard River Course is notable for its wide fairways, generous-sized greens, shallow bunkers and shallow rough. The “Shark” preserved the native foliage and allowed the natural beauty of the terrain to dictate hole placement. The River Course is described as the more difficult of the two; but we found it not so difficult that it should prove a daunting round for the average golfer. Before teeing off we hit a couple of pails of balls on the nearby driving range.

• Tennis

Situated at the edge of the resort’s two golf courses is its “Tennis Center” at the Rio Mar Country Club, which houses 13 well-maintained Har-Tru courts, including a stadium court. At our age, the medium-slow, true-bounce Har-Tru surface is a lot easier on the feet and the constitution and allows for longer rallies.

• Pools

For my wife Alice and me, and for Basil and Carol Hyman it was a daily coin-toss between parking ourselves on the beach or at one of the three exquisite free-form, crystal-clear pools. The latter are discreetly shaded by palm trees or by the coveted rectangular tents, preferred by the Hymans. Unlike the beach, the lounge chairs are padded. But like the beach, there’s no jockeying for position to secure the best landing sites. There are more than enough chairs to go around and mucho toallas (towels). As for the pools, Carol who negotiates 80 laps each morning (while we lie poolside in the lap of luxury) professes that the navigational conditions and water-temperature are as good as any she has experienced in Hawaii, the Caribbean or at her Hampton, Long Island beach house. For the youngsters, one of the pools has a formidable water-slide and there is a separate kids’s pool. For the competitively inclined (and we include ourselves in that equation) there’s a serious water volleyball game constantly in motion, an in-pool basketball backboard and daily water aerobics. For everyone save young kids, one can bask in a Jacuzzi. A separate pool lies in residence for Ocean Villa occupants.

• Water activities

We ourselves did not indulge in any of the following, but we observed others who para-sailed, water-skied, windsurfed or kayaked down the Mameyes River. We weren’t thrilled about the availability of jet skis, but the ocean sounds muffled any egregious motor sounds. Given the moderate wave heights, serious surfing is a rare option. 

• Round Ball

There is a both a half-court basketball court and regulation backboard and basket and two beach volleyball courts which were generally unused during our stay.

5) Cleanliness-Environment -
As a kid growing up in Long Island, I will always remember our trips to Jones Beach Park, which under the jurisdiction of the tyrannical Parks Commissioner Robert Moses, was kept in pristine condition. Young men in white shirts and bellbottoms would constantly drag the beaches with fine metal strainers, pick up cigarette butts and push oversized brooms along the vast boardwalk. This same “white-glove” attitude pervades the Rio Mar. Environmentally, aside from the potential hazards visited on marine life by jet skis, the resort is a perennial “Green Hotel.” Going well beyond recycling, motor and cooking oils are included in the process. All composting is done on premises, the property has its own water treatment plant, while all laundry and cleaning products are environmentally safe.

6) Scenery -
Route #3, with its fast food stores and bodegas is no scenic wonderland but once you turn into the Rio Mar property you are transported into a Shangri-La of beauty framed by the mountains of the Caribbean National Forest, tropical vegetation, beach and ocean.

7) Weather -
Owing to the proximity of the resort to El Yunque rain forest, do expect a sudden clouding up with attendant rainfall. Depending upon the time of year it could occur daily, sporadically or not at all. When it does happen, most times, it quickly gives way to bright sunshine.

8) Tranquility -
Bring along Danielle Steele, War and Peace, John Adams’s biography or other tome. You won’t be competing against strolling mariachis, canned rock music, Mah-Jongg tiles, PA announcers or intrusive tradesmen hawking their wares. Blessedly the “white sound” of the waves will be the only thing between you and your reading or conversations with your mate. The air of quietude extends to the main lobby. Unlike its neighbor, El Conquistador, the Casino does not dominate the lobby with its flashing lights and cascading cacophony of slot machine silver. Rio Mar’s casino is sequestered in an unprepossessing room off the lobby.

9) Clientele -
The absence of ostentation, as evidenced by the subdued interiors and the low-keyed placement of the casino, may well account for a concomitant unpretentiousness in attitude and dress among its guests.

10) Staff -
Thirty-five years ago I traveled to Puerto Rico several times a year as advertising director for Hertz International. Alice joined me on a couple of occasions and graced several covers of our promotional material for the Island. Two years ago we returned for the first time in three decades and stayed at the Caribe Hilton in the Condado area. I was struck by the disarmingly outgoing personalities and intelligence of the hotel’s staff, many of whom graduated from hospitality schools in the U. S. or on the Island. From pool personnel, to bell people, valet parkers, to housekeeping, the staff at Rio Mar was uniformly charming, helpful and with facility in English and Spanish. The one criticism we had was the superficial knowledge of several of the concierge staff when it came to first-hand acquaintanceship with restaurants, be they low-priced exponents of local fare or fine dining establishments in Old San Juan or Condado. In the first instance we were victimized not only by the “authentic” gloppy dishes doled out our table, but by a patron who fancied himself the second coming of Enrique Iglesias, repeatedly scaring the cats (and who knows what else?) out of the kitchen with his atonal rendition of Guantanamero. Any concierge staff worth its salt should personally sample the cuisine of a fine restaurant, until he or she becomes knowledgeable enough in food, beverage and service to recommend it authoritatively to its clients. Our judgment was echoed by the owner of the finest restaurant on the Island, Pikayo, who gave me several business cards to mete out to the resort’s concierges, with a blanket invitation to dine at his expense. In the six years of the resort’s existence, he insisted, not a single concierge had availed herself/himself of the opportunity.

11) Supervised Child Activities –
Rio Mar has a supervised children’s program for youngsters from 4 to 12, which we observed during our stay. Managed by Sydney Martinez, it’s called Camp Iguana (after the exotic green occupants of the nearby golf course. Children and grandchildren can be enrolled for a full day (six hours, including lunch) or half day (three hours including snacks). Campers can partake in organized beach activities, volleyball, basketball, tennis and golf, ranging from beginning levels through advanced. Indoors, three rooms are dedicated to arts and crafts, general play and videos (convertible to a sleeping room for advanced campers). Baby sitting can be arranged through the concierge. 

12) Destination Proximity –
There are more than 40 non-stop flights daily from New York, Miami, Atlanta,Washington, Boston, Dallas and Chicago plus daily international flights from Paris, London, Zurich, Caracas and Lima. Flying American Airlines from JFK to Puerto Rico’s International in 3 ½ - 4 hours, was an important consideration in our booking this holiday vis-à-vis Mexico or Hawaii. The 19-mile drive from the airport to the resort is about twice the distance from the popular hotel-intensive Condado area, but the resort’s remoteness more than compensates for the added distance of the hotel’s shuttle service (for which there is a charge), taxi or car rental. 

13) Group Compatibility –
Group business is the lifeblood of practically all large resorts and the Westin Rio Mar Beach is no exception, especially during off-season and “shoulder” season (the time between off and high season). In fact, it has the largest ballroom in the Caribbean. There are two mitigating factors that allow for an integration between meeting goers and individual vacationers: 1) There is an imposing convention facility separated from the guest rooms, assuring that during the daytime most of the groups are engaged in meetings and meals remote from that of individual guests. 2) The sprawling size of the resort allows for the setting up of an occasional hospitality tents without intrusion on the dynamic of individual guest enjoyment.

14) Fitness -
The resort, not surprisingly, has a modern fitness center, Le Spa, with the appropriate equipment: Stairmasters, treadmills, stationary bikes, free weights, fixed barbells and the like. Men’s and women’s lounges each have showers, saunas and lockers. Optional offerings are massage, aromatherapy and beauty treatments. Because the weather was uniformly outstanding during our week’s stay, we confined our fitness regimen to daily water aerobics in the pool. 

15) Supervised Adult Activities -
The biggest failing among resorts with a myriad of competition sports facilities is the lack of organization in inducing diffident guests to participate. Yes, the Rio Mar has a daily events sheet which is distributed at the towel distribution area along with TimesFax. And sure enough, beach volleyball is listed for 2:30 and three-man basketball for 4:30. But when a would-be participant arrives at either court, he or she will find nary a soul. The choice is to either button-hole a recalcitrant or ambivalent guest to join you or to give it up as a lost cause. Rio Mar should take a lesson from Café Iguana and have a young man or woman with an outgoing personality round up the usual suspects five minutes before the appointed time. It may take coaxing on Day One, but it will become commonplace on succeeding days. Bottom line, what Rio Mar could use is a tummeler, Yiddish for organizer, who will lead anyone with a pulse in volleyball, six-person football, water aerobics, samba instruction, sing-a-longs and Simon Sez. 

16) Restaurants –
The Caribbean does not have the best reputation for fine dining and Rio Mar does nothing to upset this dubious estimation. Our first day-and-a-half at the resort, in which we had an undistinguished buffet supper, a decent breakfast and serviceable lunch (Marbella has an appetizing chicken quesadilla) at three of the 12 food and beverage venues, were enough to convince us that we would be well advised to consider alternatives – at dinnertime. As cited earlier, we had a near-disastrous experience at the concierge-touted King Sea Food and a markedly better meal at Sandy’s Sea Food, each of which are relatively cheap and in nearby Luquillo. This affirmed our belief that if we wanted superior seafood within minutes of the hotel, we would have to journey to Wyndham’s El Conquistador for dinner at Sting Ray, which although pricey even by New York standards, more than met our expectations. 

From our previous trip to Puerto Rico, we determined that the half-hour drive to Ajili Molili at the Doral Federal Bank in Condado was in order. It is bustling and colorful, with a moderately-priced, family-style menu replete with such delightful specialties as plantains, fritters and numerous arroz-laced dishes served by an attractive staff of straw-hatted waiters. For luxurious, unhurried, very satisfying dining, Chef Marisol in Old San Juan transcends expectations with its regal, Spanish décor, delicate entrees (i.e. filet mignon, duck, rack of lamb), fine wines, and creative desserts. For a truly exceptional dining experience, make a reservation the very day you arrive at Rio Mar for Pikayo, located appropriately in the Museo de Arte in Santurce, which caters to well-heeled locals, international businessmen and discerning tourists. It is elegantly decorated with the works of fine local artists, its walls illumined in a relaxing manner, changing constantly through the colors of the spectrum. Service is friendly but unobtrusive, without the over-familiarity of the New York waiting scene. Chef/owner Wilo Benet has concentrated on local cooking, raising it well above its peasant origins, with irresistibly Caribbean shrimp dishes, turbot, cod and pork loin, all enhanced by delectable sauces. It was a delicious experience, irrespective of the subtle dent it put in our charge card account, but what the heck, it was our kind of holiday.