Disembarkation in San Juan???

[sherlynn]

Does anyone have any suggestions for something to do or see in San Juan when we get off the ship at the end of our cruise? i am open to restaurant suggestions as well. We are not flying out until 5:00pm. Is there someplace we can leave our luggage rather than toting it around town? Thanks in advance for any hints or info.

[island lady]

Does anyone have any suggestions for something to do or see in San Juan when we get off the ship at the end of our cruise? i am open to restaurant suggestions as well. We are not flying out until 5:00pm. Is there someplace we can leave our luggage rather than toting it around town? Thanks in advance for any hints or info.

 

We met another couple while on board who also had a late flight (as did we). All four of us shared a taxi with all our luggage, and did pre check in at the airport. Was nice to drop off our luggage there, and then took another taxi back into Old Town to walk around, see the fort, and have a nice lunch. Margaritas were good too!

 

Then all we had to do was get through security line when we taxied back to the airport later that day.

And BTW...the security lines were looooongg....so give yourself plenty of extra time to get through them. Enjoy your cruise!! :)

[silentbob007]

We had a late flight last year and took a shore excursion to the rain forest from the ship. It was an interesting trip, and it dropped us off at the airport in the afternoon. Seemed well worth the money and less hassle than anything else.

[M&M Hayden]

We had a late flight last year and took a shore excursion to the rain forest from the ship. It was an interesting trip, and it dropped us off at the airport in the afternoon. Seemed well worth the money and less hassle than anything else.

 

LOVE the rain forest in San Juan.

[island lady]

We had a late flight last year and took a shore excursion to the rain forest from the ship. It was an interesting trip, and it dropped us off at the airport in the afternoon. Seemed well worth the money and less hassle than anything else.

 

That sounds like a better idea than mine! :)

 

Did the tour excursion keep your luggage with them while you were at the forest, or send it to the airport on it's own?

[Ocean Boy]

Old San Juan is very nice to walk around or take one of the free shuttles. The two forts, San Cristobal and El Morro, are also very interesting to explore. There is a restaurant in Old San Juan called the Barrachina that will store your luggage for the day. All you have to do is tip the attendant. They don't charge and it is quite secure. When you get to the taxi stand outside ot the cruise terminal just tell the coordinator that you want to go to the Barrachina. They will know exactly where you want to go. I would do that rather than go all the way out to the airport and then back into town.

 

If you are interested, here is the website of the Barrachina.... Click on free services for the luggage storage info.

 

http://www.barrachina.com

[silentbob007]

That sounds like a better idea than mine! :)

 

Did the tour excursion keep your luggage with them while you were at the forest, or send it to the airport on it's own?

 

I was thinking it was on the bus ... but the more I think about it ... I believe it was taken to the airport and kept in a secured (ie, someone was watching it) roped off area just for the ship tour baggage.

[excalwop]

I know that if you are cruising on The Victory that they have post cruise tours in which they will deliver your bags to the airport while you are on the tour. Check with shore excursion and see what they have

Paul

[Snerd]

I wanted to share our experience in SJU last cruise...we are looking forword to repeating this tour again in January.

 

I wrote this last year on another thread but copied it so you don't have to follow the link---> http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1314614

 

Here goes. Hope it helps.

 

We had a late flight and ended up having a very relaxing day!

 

We disembarked the Celebrity Summit in San Juan on Saturday, November 20, 2011. We were the only ship in port. Our flight was out of SJU at 4:30pm. We asked to be in the last group off the ship at 10:30, which was nice because we got to stay in our cabin and sleep in until about 9:30 (we skipped breakfast). We didn't have anything booked for San Juan, but still 5 or so hours before the flight. We were nearly the last off the ship and in no hurry, so no stress waiting in the long customs line. At 10:30 we got off the beautiful ship, through customs, walked outside and were promptly greeted by a tour company offering an Old San Juan tour with airport drop off for $25pp. This sounded by far the best option for us since we didn't book any overpriced trips through the ship and we couldn't even check our bags at the airport for another few hours.

 

The luggage was loaded in the back of the comfortably air conditioned bus and stayed within sight, which I liked. Jose, our driver was friendly, informative and funny! I'm not sure he ever stopped talking as he continually pointed out landmarks and explained a little history and politics as we made our way around town. There was an older gentleman on our bus that liked to joke and give Jose a hard time, so that made it even more entertaining.

 

Our first stop was a park on the water. It was very pretty and reminded me how beautiful PR is and how much we need to get back there! After about 20 minutes we boarded the bus for a 20 minute or so drive to Old San Juan. Along the way he again pointed out different sights and tried to get us as close to the capital building as possible. Once in Old San Juan, Jose gave each couple a map of the city and let us loose for 2 hours. We had enough time to eat, shop a bit and enjoy the sights. Everyone arrived back at the bus as scheduled and we were on our way to the airport. Once we got there, we walked right through the Dept of Agriculture screening (no line), over to the Delta counter to check bags (again, no line), then off to the gate to do a little more shopping / browsing before the flight.

 

We were rather hesitant to book such a late flight out but it saved us hundreds on airfare. Looking back, I'm so glad we it worked out that way because it was like an extra day of vacation!! I hope we never book an early flight!

[Keith1010]

I would look into doing a post cruise excursion from the ship.

 

Keith