Advice on San Diego Hotels

magickingdomprincess

DIS Veteran
Joined
Oct 5, 2015
We’re planning to have two nights in San Diego after a 5 night stay in Anaheim at DL in July and am hoping for some feedback on hotels. Right now I have the Catamaran booked for two nights at $980, but was also considering the Hotel del Coronado (cash price of $932 plus parking fees, but could use HH points for 1 night), or also the La Jolla Shores Hotel for $741. We’ll be driving over to SD and heading to Sea World, then checking into the hotel for Thurs and Fri night before going home on Sat. Really just want a nice place to relax and go to the beach for our family of two adults, two kids aged 6 and 8. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you! :goodvibes
 
We have stayed at The Del and really enjoyed our visits. There are several restaurants within walking distance so you are not stuck eating at the hotel. The beach is right out the back door .
Coronado is relatively flat in that area so walking around is fairly easy.
 
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The areas around those hotels are all quite different. I grew up very close to the Catamaran Hotel and know the seedy side of the area and so not a personal fan of the beach right there. I think most people who are just visiting would never notice what I know and probably have a great time.

Coronado has one of the top rated beaches in the country. There's lots to do both at the resort and also off site. If you really think you'll be staying at the resort or close to the resort, it's a really good location. If you want to leave to go to other parts of San Diego or go to other San Diego beaches, it's not the best home base.

La Jolla Shores would be my top pick for beach stay/location out of the 3 that you mentioned. The hotel doesn't look fancy, but it's right on one of the most desirable beaches in the county. You can easily walk to get some food, rent kayaks, see tidepools and if you don't mind walking far (or taking a car for a very short drive), you can see seals and sea lions in their natural habitat. That's a nice follow up to a Sea World visit.
 
Thanks so much for the replies! Last night I went ahead and booked The Del. Used all of my Hilton points plus paid $280 so not bad! Although now I'm thinking la Jolla shores sounds awesome too! It is kind of iconic and I remember when we visited the island years ago that I thought how neat it would be to stay there. I think I'll cancel the catamaran and ponder between the two. I appreciate the feedback :goodvibes
 


If you have kids, I'd go La Jolla Shores. The Del is beautiful, but EVERTHING there is SO, SO expensive. Like, a soda will cost you $10 expensive. The surrounding area in Coronado is more adult oriented, in general. You can go visit the Del, and then go back to your more reasonable, casual hotel.
 
OP just a FYI we stopped at a CVS or grocery store during our stay at the Del to get bottled water , soda etc for the room. We walked up to Starbucks or a local bakery/ restaurant for breakfasts.
 
Not sure if you are still thinking about it but I wanted to give you a heads up that the Del is undergoing fairly major renovations at the moment that seems to be negatively impacting the experience there. I read endless reviews on another site and over the last few months there have been a lot more negative reviews than positive. I also asked about it on a different forum and was advised to stay away during the construction. Not sure when you are headed there so maybe it won’t impact you but my kids are the same ages as yours and I have been obsessing over where to stay in San Diego as well. We are looking at the Loews Coronado (although this is a fairly remote unwalkable locations), Marriott Coronado, or Pacific Terrace. Good luck!
 


Not sure if you are still thinking about it but I wanted to give you a heads up that the Del is undergoing fairly major renovations at the moment that seems to be negatively impacting the experience there. I read endless reviews on another site and over the last few months there have been a lot more negative reviews than positive. I also asked about it on a different forum and was advised to stay away during the construction. Not sure when you are headed there so maybe it won’t impact you but my kids are the same ages as yours and I have been obsessing over where to stay in San Diego as well. We are looking at the Loews Coronado (although this is a fairly remote unwalkable locations), Marriott Coronado, or Pacific Terrace. Good luck!

Thanks for the info! I booked the Del using my Hilton points + cash. I knew they were doing a renovation but was hoping it wouldn't affect our stay too much. Not sure if I'd be able to cancel and book somewhere else or not at this point but it's definitely worth looking into. Our stay is 7/25 - 7/27, I think the renovations will still be going on then. Off to do more research!
 
The Del was my favorite beach to take my kids too when they were younger and we lived in SD, so I think it's a great choice if the construction is not going to be a problem). La Jolla Shores is also fantastic too, and has a lot more good, affordable restaurant options so I don't think you can go wrong if you want to switch.
 
Thanks for the info! I booked the Del using my Hilton points + cash. I knew they were doing a renovation but was hoping it wouldn't affect our stay too much. Not sure if I'd be able to cancel and book somewhere else or not at this point but it's definitely worth looking into. Our stay is 7/25 - 7/27, I think the renovations will still be going on then. Off to do more research!
We stayed there last week for two nights before our cruise on the Wonder and the construction did not impact us at all. You could see the construction and hear it somewhat, but that was covered by the sounds of the fighter jets and helicopters flying overhead (if you have never stayed there before it can get quite loud at times from aircraft landing at the Naval Air Station on Coronado). A couple of the shops were closed, but most of them were open when we were there. We had a nice relaxing day at the pool and the beach before the cruise. The renovation is very major and I am sure the impact will vary as they move through the different phases.

We loved our stay and will be saving up the Hilton Points for another trip.
 
We stayed at the Del last summer and were very underwhelmed by the experience. We had 2 rooms for 4 nights for our family. We of course expected to actually stay in the main hotel but were put in "The Towers". The Towers are next door and are comparable to a very moderately priced hotel room (note that DVC members qualify for free room upgrades at the Del - but only "if available"). Many of the amenities (pools, hot tubs) were either closed or not working properly. The refrigerator in our room was also not working but we were told it was not really a refrigerator - more of a wine cooler - so would not really keep anything cold. We used a lot of points and had high expectations (as is usually the case with any of the other Disney affiliated vacations we've enjoyed in the past) but overall did not enjoy our stay. We do plan San Diego trips in the future but would would look for other accommodations.
 
We stayed at the Del last summer and were very underwhelmed by the experience. We had 2 rooms for 4 nights for our family. We of course expected to actually stay in the main hotel but were put in "The Towers". The Towers are next door and are comparable to a very moderately priced hotel room (note that DVC members qualify for free room upgrades at the Del - but only "if available"). Many of the amenities (pools, hot tubs) were either closed or not working properly. The refrigerator in our room was also not working but we were told it was not really a refrigerator - more of a wine cooler - so would not really keep anything cold. We used a lot of points and had high expectations (as is usually the case with any of the other Disney affiliated vacations we've enjoyed in the past) but overall did not enjoy our stay. We do plan San Diego trips in the future but would would look for other accommodations.

I'm sorry your stay at the Del wasn't what you had hoped. I'm not sure what your circumstances were with booking, but I wouldn't be happy with staying in the towers, either. I booked a "courtyard view" room, so we stayed in the original 1888 structure, which is exactly what I wanted and we absolutely loved it.
 
The areas around those hotels are all quite different. I grew up very close to the Catamaran Hotel and know the seedy side of the area and so not a personal fan of the beach right there. I think most people who are just visiting would never notice what I know and probably have a great time.

Coronado has one of the top rated beaches in the country. There's lots to do both at the resort and also off site. If you really think you'll be staying at the resort or close to the resort, it's a really good location. If you want to leave to go to other parts of San Diego or go to other San Diego beaches, it's not the best home base.

La Jolla Shores would be my top pick for beach stay/location out of the 3 that you mentioned. The hotel doesn't look fancy, but it's right on one of the most desirable beaches in the county. You can easily walk to get some food, rent kayaks, see tidepools and if you don't mind walking far (or taking a car for a very short drive), you can see seals and sea lions in their natural habitat. That's a nice follow up to a Sea World visit.
Not sure if you will see this since it is an old post, but I was curious about the seedy aspect around the Catamaran. We enjoyed that hotel and are considering staying again. I didn’t notice the seedy aspect before, but was wondering what to watch out for?
 
Not sure if you will see this since it is an old post, but I was curious about the seedy aspect around the Catamaran. We enjoyed that hotel and are considering staying again. I didn’t notice the seedy aspect before, but was wondering what to watch out for?
Keep a good eye on your belongings. Local drug addicts hang out on the boardwalk there. Lots of small drug sales going on and lots of theft. Of course, nobody is blatant about it. So, if you are there on a vacation, you'll probably never notice. Similarly, when I visit Waikiki, I never see that stuff, but it's always going on according to people who live around there.
 

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