My Mexican honeymoon was canceled at the last minute, due to the tropical storms! My husband and I wanted a relaxing beachy vacation, so we decided (within one day) to go to San Diego - guaranteed good weather, beaches, things to do during the day and night! We've been to LA and San Francisco together, and knew we liked Cali. Everyone loves San Diego, right?
We contacted a friend who lives in Ocean Beach, and he suggested the Catamaran. We went online and read the reviews briefly, and decided to go....it was such a last minute trip that many hotels were sold out for Labor Day weekend...Catamaran was not. My husband contacted the hotel directly, and they gave us a fantastic rate ($143 for weekday nights, $229 weekends) which we were quite surprised to pay...booking online was considerably more money. We arrived and were wowed by the lobby and gardens...our room was not ready, so we sat behind the resort on the Mission Bay beach and relaxed. Pool was nice, and there is a pool bar, but it was filled with kids. A little noisy. We discovered that there is a ban on alcohol on all Pacific Beach (PB) beaches, including resort property beaches....we aren't alcoholics, but had been thinking about sipping drinks beachside ever since the 4 hour plane ride started...so we were disappointed. We were told by hotel officials and some servers/bartenders in the area that if you are caught drinking on the beach, you'll be ticketed on the spot. We didn't try it. We did pay $12 dollars each to rent a cheap sand chair, which seemed ridiculous...but they don't comb the beaches for seaweed, etc. in PB, so we were glad we had a chair. On Mission Bay, I suggest renting a paddle boat or kayak - the water is beautiful and very calm...so relaxing!
When our room was ready, we were so disappointed. Our "partial ocean and bay view" room in the tower (26th floor - two from the top) had a view of a huge parking lot....if you strained your head over the balcony, you could see the ocean on one side and the bay on the other...our room was terribly dated - big mirrored closet door that didn't slide well at all, old carpet and sliding glass door, cheap plastic furniture on the balcony, TINY bathroom (not lying - smaller than any NYC hotel we've stayed in!) and tired furniture/linens. MUCH in need of updating. You can tell that the hotel is trying to update somewhat....there was a flat-screen TV in the room, an iPod dock, cute silver bath accessories...but the shower!!! The head was situated so low on the wall that it was comical. I'm 5'7 and it was even with my neck....my 6'5 husband literally showered on his knees!!! Shower really needed updating in general - it was old and dingy....it was clean but just tired, like the room.
We were trying to make the best of our situation, so we asked for a room upgrade to the bay view side of the tower- this has a much better view if you're on the 6th floor or above....but exact same room. They moved us and also comped our valet parking for the week, which was great. We knew we had a ridiculously cheap rate, so we kept that in mind. The Catamaran is NOT luxury...the rooms that were right on the bay seemed a lot better (two story buildings) for location, but we were told by the front desk that the rooms in those buildings were not updated like the tower rooms supposedly were. Those are the rooms you see pictured on the website.
After one night in the area, we realized that you get what you pay for...if you stay here, you are definitely not in San Diego - you're in "PB" as the locals call it...Pacific Beach. It is quiet and reminds me of a LA's Hermosa Beach or a Florida gulf-coast town...the surfers are everywhere, and you definitely don't feel like you're in a very touristy area...very low key. Great restaurants. Go to Gringos (Mexican restaurant) just north of the resort, about a 5-10 min. walk. It's awesome!!! We also liked "World Famous" right on the beach, for breakfast and dinner...it is a little older, but food is great. We had a great lunch at the "Pacific Beach Alehouse" - super food and awesome servers!! I would not waste your $ at the hotel's breakfast buffet - it's WAY overpriced for what it is!!! Just ok food.
After two nights, we decided to go to a different hotel that was closer to San Diego. We stayed at the Coronado Marriott Resort and Spa on Coronado Island...it was beautiful. Coronado is just lovely, and we had fun at the Hotel Del, on the beaches, and at the fantastic restaurants that overlooked downtown San Diego. We took water taxis to the city at night, saw a Padres game, and sat at the luxurious pool where servers brought us lunch and drinks to our chairs! It's more expensive, but I think it's completely worth it. There were a lot of families there, too, as well as couples like us. When the hotel heard it was our honeymoon, they upgraded our room type and left champagne and choc-covered strawberries in our room!!! Nice touch.
Bottom line - stay on Coronado or downtown SD - I would never stay at the Catamaran again - not until they upgrade the rooms.
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