Pre Cruise in San Juan, enough Time and Luggage Storage

[mattha1968]

Hi new to this forum and have a couple of Pre-Post Cruise Questions. We will be taking a cruise out of San Juan in November arriving a day prior and plan on spending the day prior including an overnight stay in Condado.

 

The following day is our cruise but it doesn't leave port until 8:30 PM and I am told that check in begins at 2:00 PM and we must be checked in at least 90 minutes before the cruise departure. My issue is we want to explore Old San Juan and El Morro on the day prior to the cruise but don't know if there will be enough time? The main issue is the luggage it doesn't sound like we can drop the luggage off at the Ship before 2PM but I thought I had read a posting on here a while back about a place called Barrachina that stores luggage in OSJ. Does anyone have experience with Barrachina? I think if we get an early enough start and drop our luggage somewhere there will be enough time.

 

I was originally planning on staying in OSJ Post Cruise as we have 1 1/2 days post cruise but I really want to see El Yunque,unfortunately at this time I don't see any post excursions for El Yunque. So I either want to rent a car to go to El Yunque or find a tour company that will take us and our luggage from the cruise ship to El Yunque and drop as off at the hotel of our choice afterwards.

 

Please let me know if you think this is too much pre and post cruise and any other opinions, options, etc.

 

Thanks Much! :p:p:p

 

Costa Victoria June 2009

[Ready 4 the next 1]

You would have plenty of time to walk around OSJ as long as you can find a place to keep your luggage. I can't help you with storing the luggage-we have stayed close to the cruise ports so that was not a problem for us.

 

El Yunque is a great place to see. It is about an hours drive. You can book a tour from OSJ or rent a car and go. The signs are generally in Spanish so if you are not familiar with the language you might be better going on a tour or just learn a few common traffic words. The road itself is major highway until you get close to turn to the final turn to go into the rain forest. If you are there for a day after the cruise, you will have no trouble fitting this in.

[SFCAcruiser]

...

The following day is our cruise but it doesn't leave port until 8:30 PM and I am told that check in begins at 2:00 PM and we must be checked in at least 90 minutes before the cruise departure. My issue is we want to explore Old San Juan and El Morro on the day prior to the cruise but don't know if there will be enough time? The main issue is the luggage it doesn't sound like we can drop the luggage off at the Ship before 2PM but I thought I had read a posting on here a while back about a place called Barrachina that stores luggage in OSJ.....

 

I don't know which cruiseline you are using, but with my Celebrity cruises out of the Pan Am pier, I was able to check luggage at 11:00AM (no earlier than that). Our formal documents stated check-in was 2:00pm (or maybe 3:00pm?) for an 8:30pm departure. Passengers started boarding around noon, in spite of the "published" check-in time.

 

So, you may be able to check your luggage and check-in at the port and then go sightseeing. Alternately, could you leave your bags with your hotel bellmen and retrieve them later in the day on your way to the port?

[kyriecat]

My experience with Royal Caribbean was similar to that of SFCAcruiser. We arrived at the port and were able to drop off our bags around 11 AM (might have been closer 11:30). We got checked in and asked if we could leave to go to back to San Juan. We were told that we could leave but needed to be back onboard before the muster drill. I think that was at 6 PM but I'm not positive. We decided to get something to eat while we onboard. During that time, it clouded over and started pouring so we decided to walk around OSJ after the cruise.

 

We saw some people leaving in taxis so I assume they were passengers who dropped off their bags and headed back to San Juan.

 

On Royal Caribbean the cabins weren't ready until around 1:30 so we would have had to bring our carry-on bags with us if we wanted to leave the ship before then.

[flwrgirl4022]

Hi,

We used the luggage storage at Barrichina's this past March when we were in the same situation as you. The recommended a $5 per person "tip". Everything seemed well organized, we were issued a luggage claim ticket. We dropped off our luggage around 10 - 10:30 am. When we returned there was floor to ceiling luggage stored in several rooms, so I think a lot of people take advantage of the service.

 

By the way, if you have no other plans, stop at Barrichinas for lunch (especially a mojito and the Tres Leche dessert). Very yummy!

[mattha1968]

Thanks for the replies I decided to change our Itinerary and stay in OSJ pre cruise instead of post cruise. The cruise is with Celebrity and they did tell m e 2PM check which would have been late to allow time for sightseeing.

 

We are staying one night pre cruise in OSJ and plan on renting a car post cruise to visit the rain forest and beaches away from San Juan.