San Juan with a 5 year old...

[Biffy2Cruise]

Visiting San Juan in May on Symphony.  What are the best things / excursions to do in port with a 5 year old boy?

[kings2001]

We docked in San Juan on our April cruise and did not have a lot of time in port.   We had our 6 year old son and 9 year old daughter with us and we walked to the fort (Castillo de San Cristobal) and then on the walk back to the ship we stopped in a bunch of shops and ate lunch at Choco Bar de Casa Cortes.  Our kids loved San Juan.

[Spacecaydet]

Hey there! Looking around for things in San Juan to do too, huh!? Well we are on the May 4th Symphony  which we did with Allure in August 2018. In August we had our 5 year old, 3 year old, and 8month old along. If its' the same port hours as the allure (and I think it is) there isn't much time and for our family it's difficult to get moving in the morning. Port hours are basically 7AM until all-aboard at 2pm. Our kids could stand limited amounts of walking (uphill) before they start to lose interest and get tired. Depending on you 5 year old he'd probably get a kick out of the fort it's only about 1 mile as a crow flies from the pier. 

 

Before August 2018 with Allure my wife and I had last been to San Juan when she was pregnant with our oldest. We found this great place for mofongo, a traditional puerto rican dish of plantains and various meats and love it! The restaurant is called Punto de vista. We basically walked out, stopped at Walgreens, walked up the hill, stopped at a few shops and ate at Punto de vista for an early lunch with 2 for 1 drink specials including to die for pina coladas. The restaurant service is incredibly quick, friendly, and I can't emphasize how incredible the mofongo is. It's all very economical but the portions are huge, skip breakfast. After lunch we walked back downhill again stopping at a few shops and heading back to the ship.

 

I'd like to try to do the same this time but include the fort as Kings2001 recommended. We visited the fort back in 2012 and on a sunny day the points of view are beautiful and the history is almost tangible. But I'm thinking we take some sort of transportation up to the fort, hit punto de vista around lunch which is not very far from the fort, and then walk back to the ship. As for the transportation I know fromt his forum there's a free trolley, taxis available, and I think ubers. But we have to play everything by ear. 

 

With the limited port hours excursions are either very early or will feel short. We are a beach family and while Puerto Rico has beautiful beaches the excursions to some of the beach hotels here are super expensive and again, how much can we enjoy it when we have to be brushing the sand off our toes by early afternoon at the latest to get back to the ship. Plus, we need to think path of least resistance with the tykes in tow. 

 

Hope this wasn't too much and at least helped a little!!!