San Juan Excursions Offered by Carnival

[dshefter]

We will be sailing on the Carnival Valor in January and due to our late afternoon flight out of San Juan (5:41 p.m.), we'll have some time in Puerto Rico on debarkation day.

 

I looked on the Carnival website and the ship has five excursions in San Juan, including a trip to the Bacardi distillery.

 

All of the excursions include transportation to the airport.

 

Has anyone done any of these excursions? What time do they depart from port and return you to the airport? We would need to get to the airport by 3:45.

 

Any help would greatly be appreciated.

[chesapeake2atlantic]

We sailed aboard the Valor to the Southern Caribbean just 4 weeks ago. Amazing from start to finish. I'll leave your Q to others and simply say: Old San Juan is one of the most magnificent cities in the western hemisphere--provided you enjoy jaw-dropping architecture, 500 years of rich history, art galleries and museums, ancient cathedrals and forts, dramatic ocean views, excellent food and drink, a free trolley system to see most everything, etc etc etc. In my mind, this dazzling historic quarter trumps anything a Bacardi factory could serve up, but YMMV. Hard to believe, but I've heard people say they "hate" San Juan, ostensibly including Old Town. Wha? (I'll admit that it cannot compete with the Mall of the Americas, in Minnesota.) ;)

 

A note about the airport. We stayed at Hotel La Convento. I asked the front desk how much time we should allow to get to the airport for our 4 p.m. flight. They suggested allowing 2-3 hours, as traffic can get snarled. It took us just 22 minutes.

 

BTW, on debarkation Sunday, we left the ship, checked in at La Convento, and then skipped across the street for part of the 11 a.m. Spanish mass at the Cathedral of San Juan Bautista. We spent just 20 minutes there, but it was a glorious experience--we aren't Catholic--not least of which was praying just feet from the crypt of the great discoverer Ponce de Leon.

[dshefter]

Thanks. We are thinking about the Old San Juan tour. My wife and I visited Cartagena a few years ago on our Coral Princess cruise and enjoyed the history. Just want to make sure the Carnival excursion get us to the airport for our 5:41 flight.

[welldone60]

Thanks. We are thinking about the Old San Juan tour. My wife and I visited Cartagena a few years ago on our Coral Princess cruise and enjoyed the history. Just want to make sure the Carnival excursion get us to the airport for our 5:41 flight.

 

Cab fare from Old San Juan is about $20-25 (per cab, not pp). There are a couple of places you can leave your luggage, just do a search for luggage storage in OSJ. Think about doing your own walking tour along with the free trolly. Also a great tour is the Segway tour. There office is located just a block away from the pier.

The Barcardi tour is not that great. Lot's of other sites in OSJ to see.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

[Katemusical]

Im so glad you asked this question. My hubby and I are going in December and found out FINALLY that our flight is leaving San Juan to home around 4:20. We called Carnival and asked about the city excursion that includes the rainforest. It says on the website it is 5 hours. The operator on the phone said it starts at 8:30 a.m. and we would be at the airport within the 5 hours-the transfer is built into the time.

Hope this helps a little.

 

Would love to hear what others say...:D

[2 cruzen]

Thanks. We are thinking about the Old San Juan tour. My wife and I visited Cartagena a few years ago on our Coral Princess cruise and enjoyed the history. Just want to make sure the Carnival excursion get us to the airport for our 5:41 flight.

 

I'm a little confused...are you trying to book an excursion on debarkation day? I've never sailed out of San Juan, but I wouldn't think any cruise would do excursions on turn around day. Maybe someone else knows. Have you thought about just going to Bacardi on your own?

 

Edit: Oops..I guess you were talking about post-cruise excursions. Sorry...brain fart.

[dshefter]

Carnival offers excursions on debarkation day in San Juan.

 

I am assuming the buses have places for your luggage and then they take you to the airport after the tour.

 

I will look into luggage storage in Old San Juan. Might be cheaper to just take a cab to OSJ and then get another cab to the airport.

[Tapi]

Plenty to do in San Juan, but if you decide to go to Bacardi, keep in mind that this is a FREE tour if you do it on your own. You can take the Lancha de Catano (boat) from the cruise ship pier area for the quick trip across San Juan Bay to Catano (if I recall correctly, it's less than $1pp). Once on the other side, taxi cabs will be waiting.

 

Bacardi is just a few minutes away and as mentioned before, it's a free tour. You will be able to have a few free samples (they give you little coupons to limit your consumption, but our bartender kept pouring :o). You'll get enough of a buzz to buy stuff from the souvenir shop that you would've never considered buying sober!

[dshefter]

Plenty to do in San Juan, but if you decide to go to Bacardi, keep in mind that this is a FREE tour if you do it on your own. You can take the Lancha de Catano (boat) from the cruise ship pier area for the quick trip across San Juan Bay to Catano (if I recall correctly, it's less than $1pp). Once on the other side, taxi cabs will be waiting.

 

Bacardi is just a few minutes away and as mentioned before, it's a free tour. You will be able to have a few free samples (they give you little coupons to limit your consumption, but our bartender kept pouring :o). You'll get enough of a buzz to buy stuff from the souvenir shop that you would've never considered buying sober!

 

Thanks for the insight. I think we'll probably just do OSJ. We have about 5-6 hours before we have to board our flight. Sounds like it is pretty simple to just grab a cab at the pier and go to OSJ and there are places to store luggage for a few hours. Much cheaper than what Carnival is asking for their tour.

[welldone60]

Carnival offers excursions on debarkation day in San Juan.

 

I am assuming the buses have places for your luggage and then they take you to the airport after the tour.

 

I will look into luggage storage in Old San Juan. Might be cheaper to just take a cab to OSJ and then get another cab to the airport.

 

No need for cab to OSJ. The ship ports right in OSJ. You can walk or take the free trolly from just outside the pier.

 

Barrachina's is one of the places that will hold your luggage for free. Just have a drink or lunch there. Also there is a taxi stop right across the street when you are ready to go to the airport.

 

http://barrachina.com/indexb.php

[shawne71]

We're doing the Segway Tour the day of embarkation as an easy way to see the forts without going through the crowds of the festival. Then we will check out the festival on our way back to the ship. On debarkation, we plan to be the last ones off the ship! We have a 3:50 flight time, so we will be taking our time getting to the airport. Nothing planned and no stress! :D

[jimboridesmtb]

We will be sailing on the Carnival Valor in January and due to our late afternoon flight out of San Juan (5:41 p.m.), we'll have some time in Puerto Rico on debarkation day.

 

I looked on the Carnival website and the ship has five excursions in San Juan, including a trip to the Bacardi distillery.

 

All of the excursions include transportation to the airport.

 

Has anyone done any of these excursions? What time do they depart from port and return you to the airport? We would need to get to the airport by 3:45.

 

Any help would greatly be appreciated.

 

I think most of the excursions start at 8:30 and have varying time frames. We booked one that is 4 1/2 hours. We took this route with Princess lines and it worked great. They took our bags to the airport and after our excursion we picked up our bags from a secure spot and proceeded to check in. It was nice to get out for the day and not have to worry about getting to the airport on time or finding a spot to store our bags. This cruise we get in to San Jan on Jan. 19 which happens to be a festival in San Jan, glad we're leaving the transportation up to Carnival.

[GlendaleCruiser]

We will be sailing on the Carnival Valor in January and due to our late afternoon flight out of San Juan (5:41 p.m.), we'll have some time in Puerto Rico on debarkation day.

 

I looked on the Carnival website and the ship has five excursions in San Juan, including a trip to the Bacardi distillery.

 

All of the excursions include transportation to the airport.

 

Has anyone done any of these excursions? What time do they depart from port and return you to the airport? We would need to get to the airport by 3:45.

 

Any help would greatly be appreciated.

We took a city tour and loved it. Made me want to go back. It was just a half day tour and we were at the airport very early for our flight. Guess it depends on how long the tour is. We got off early for it and Delta took our checked luggage (Luggage express) as we walked off the ship.

[shawne71]

We took a city tour and loved it. Made me want to go back. It was just a half day tour and we were at the airport very early for our flight. Guess it depends on how long the tour is. We got off early for it and Delta took our checked luggage (Luggage express) as we walked off the ship.

 

What about carry-on luggage? Will they give those back to you at the airport?

[Fairway Cruiser]

Does Carnival offer the program on the Valor where you pay the fee to have your checked bags delivered to the airport for you, and forwarded all the way to your final destination, as they do at Port Canaveral and other places? I can't remember the name of the program, but you pay a fee ( $25 per person????) and they print out your boarding pass and delver it to your cabin the night before debarkation. They also give you special tags to mark your checked bags when they are placed in the hall outside your door on the last night of the cruise.

 

Anyone?