RCL ship tour in San Juan to Rain Forest

[judyf]

For those that have done this tour through the ship. We're on Explorer and we're in San Juan from 7am to 2pm.

 

1) Was it worth the time and money?

 

2) Do you have enough time in the rain forest?

 

3) WHat do you actually get to do? See?

 

4) What do you see on the drive there? Back? Do they take the same route both ways?

 

5) Does the driver explain what you are passing? Or does he/she just drive?

 

This might be the only option for me to get to see the rain forest. I was looking to book a private tour but seems I'm the only one interested.

 

Any comments, suggestions, tips much appreciated. Thanks

[Chitoryubt]

I can't help you with the ship's tour, sorry - BUT, I wanted to let you know that we love El Yunque so much that we're going to spend a couple of days there . . .

[judyf]

I wanna go real bad. :) But it's just me so private tour is hard to set up. I'm thinking the ship tour might not be so great.

 

Anyone????

[Grandiva]

I wanna go real bad. :) But it's just me so private tour is hard to set up. I'm thinking the ship tour might not be so great.

 

Anyone???

 

 

Actually, a private tour may not be so "private." DH and I took a private tour in St. Martin that had room for 12. You may be able to fit in with someone else's "private" tour. Check one out.

[paulap70]

For those that have done this tour through the ship. We're on Explorer and we're in San Juan from 7am to 2pm.

 

1) Was it worth the time and money?

 

2) Do you have enough time in the rain forest?

 

3) WHat do you actually get to do? See?

 

4) What do you see on the drive there? Back? Do they take the same route both ways?

 

5) Does the driver explain what you are passing? Or does he/she just drive?

 

This might be the only option for me to get to see the rain forest. I was looking to book a private tour but seems I'm the only one interested.

 

Any comments, suggestions, tips much appreciated. Thanks

 

Since you're pretty short on time, I would recommend taking the ship's tour so that if there are any delays in getting back, you're not left waving at the pier! Although, I just spent days in San Juan pre and post Serenade cruise and I enjoyed being there almost as much as being on the ship!!

[negc]

I wanna go real bad. :) But it's just me so private tour is hard to set up. I'm thinking the ship tour might not be so great.

 

Anyone????

It has been several years since we took the ship's tour to El Yunque but as I remember it we had not only a driver but also a tour guide who provided a narrative enroute to the Rain Forest and on the way back. She also accompanied us when we got off the coach in the Rain Forest and took us on a relatively brief (maybe twenty minutes) exploration of a trail on the property. The tour also included a tour of Old San Juan where highlights of the city were pointed out. Because our port visit in San Juan was limited, the ship's tour seemed the best way to insure that we could visit the Rain forest and get back to the ship on time. We certainly saw the highlights and had several stops to take photos, so overall I would say that it was worth whatever they charged (can't even recall the cost:))All in all, if I remember correctly, the tour lasted approximately three or three and a half hours, an hour of which was spent getting to and back from El Yunque.

[publicpersona]

San Juan is not my favorite port of call, but doing this tour makes it tolerable. Unfortunately, the last several times we've been to San Juan, we either had an early flight out, or the ship was in port too late in the day to make this tour work.

 

If you like walking among the trees, do it.

[judyf]

Thanks for the tips. I was trying to get onboard with another group but that isn't coming along well.

 

I think I will book the ship tour. Thanks for all the tips, They really did help me decide.

[sandytoes03]

We did the El Yunque horseback riding tour a few years back. It was pretty good. The drive is about an hour each way. Not very scenic. The rainforest was very pretty. For this time range I would do the ship sponsored excursion for sure. I say go ahead and do it. What else would you do in San Juan? For us, this was all we were intersted in.

[Racefan04]

WE just did the rain forest tour with the ship on the 14th of February. It was a pretty nice tour. Nothing spectacular by any means. We went to three different points of interest in the rain forest and spent 20 minutes at each location. First stop was the observation tower at the top. The second was a brief walking tour of the rain forest in one small section and the third was at La Coca falls. I think we were a total of 2.5 hours from the time we left the ship, till the time they dropped us off at the airport. We went to and from the rainforest the same way. ON our tour, there was only the bus driver and he talked occasionally about certain things, but mostly just drove the bus.

 

Hope this helps. It was a nice tour

[noche_caliente]

We did the tour on 1/23. It was a good tour, but not the highlight of the trip as far as tours go. The rain forest was beautiful, but the tour was just ok. We had a few stops along the way, one at the visitor center, one at the falls, one at the observation tower, and one where we walked for about 20 minutes through the rain forest. The walk was not at all strenuous, as I am awaiting double knee replacements and am pregnant. Some of the groups stopped for lunch, but we did not, our driver just gave a recommendation for a place in the airport :( He was very friendly and talked quite a bit about what we were seeing, including the history of the local tribes and information about the trees.

 

Hope this helps.