Tour or Cab

[fireman's flame]

We'll be in San Juan from 7:00am -3:30pm.

 

I have been reading the posts and believe I'd like to visit some of the places listed on the Frommers walking tour, fort(s), and Old San Juan.

 

I can't get my bearings on the location/distance of everything. Is there one, or more, cruise ports?

 

I believe from what I'm reading we need to get a ride to Old San Juan, too far to walk.

If we get to Old San Juan, are the interesting sites and fort(s) within walking distance?

 

In one post I was reading, a lady and her Mother caught a local tour there at the pier and he drove them to a couple of sites. Then they had a choice of being dropped off at Old San Juan for shopping or being taken back to the ship.

They chose to stay to shop....and were back at the ship by 6:00pm.

 

Maybe it should be obvious - but sometimes I am oblivious - how did they get back to the ship? Did the tour operator wait, they got a cab, walked?

 

Thanks for any info.

[evy1202]

I took an excellent walking tour with countrysidetourspr@yahoo.com

the guide walked us around the best of the old city, then we knew where the stores where at and how to get bqack to the ship walking.

[fireman's flame]

I have paid note to your many advertisements regarding countrysidetourspr, but have decided against utilizing their services at this time.

 

Thank you anyway.

[Big Sky Country]

We'll be in San Juan from 7:00am -3:30pm.

 

I have been reading the posts and believe I'd like to visit some of the places listed on the Frommers walking tour' date=' fort(s), and Old San Juan.

 

I can't get my bearings on the location/distance of everything. Is there one, or more, cruise ports?

 

I believe from what I'm reading we need to get a ride to Old San Juan, too far to walk.

If we get to Old San Juan, are the interesting sites and fort(s) within walking distance?

 

In one post I was reading, a lady and her Mother caught a local tour there at the pier and he drove them to a couple of sites. Then they had a choice of being dropped off at Old San Juan for shopping or being taken back to the ship.

They chose to stay to shop....and were back at the ship by 6:00pm.

 

Maybe it should be obvious - but sometimes I am oblivious - how did they get back to the ship? Did the tour operator wait, they got a cab, walked?

 

Thanks for any info.[/quote']

 

Lets start off answering your questions by asking one...

 

What cruiseline and what ship are you arriving on?

 

Yes, there are a number of piers around the harbor and your transportation requirements highly depend on where you are docking.

 

The big question is "what do you want to do?".... What are your (and your groups') interests? It is hard to give advice otherwise.

[fireman's flame]

We'll be on the Carnival Triumph.

 

What we want to do is Sight-see and Shop. To visit some of the old/interesting sites of San Juan, Old San Juan, and shopping.

 

From what I read, we could get a tour operator there at the pier to drive us to see whatever is interesting to see of San Juan and then leave us to do some shopping/eating in Old San Juan.

 

Or maybe we don't need a tour operator, but just a taxi ride to Old San Juan, where we can walk to the places listed on the Frommers walking tour?

 

Or maybe we don't even need a tax ride to Old San Juan?

 

I need to read somemore, but for some reason it's been like trying to read a foreign language and I can't figure out what I'm reading.

[Oaktree]

http://www.travelmaps.com will give you a map of OSJ. You are there when you

get off the ship and if you are healthy, you can walk or take the free trolley

to anyplace you want to see.

[Big Sky Country]

Ok. That helps. Carnival's pier is pretty close to where you want to go. A lot depends on how healthy you are (meaning I have no idea if you are 80+ years old or in a wheelchair, etc). The average person can just walk it. I recommend a walking tour. If you want to be catered to or are not healthy, then a tour is advisable. Head up to the main fort (El Morro) and work your way down the hill back to the ship. The main shopping drag is down Cristo Street and continues along Forteleza Street. The main sites are along the way as well (San Juan Cathedral, the capilla, etc.). The Frommer's guide is a great place to start.

 

You really don't need to grab a cab if you don't want. I would just walk it. I'm not objective with the taxi business in general and I hate using them down here, so others can provide their perspectives to round out mine. My only advice is to make sure you know your fare before you get in the cab. Nobody uses the meters in PR even though they tell you that they are going to.

[fireman's flame]

Thank you Oaktree for the maps, and Big Sky for the info.

 

We are generally healthy and can walk. I don't know if you've been to Nassau, but we took the self-guided Frommer's walking tour there.

 

We might decide to get a tour guide to take us around, just to add local flavor to seeing the sites.

 

We did agree on a price with the taxi drivers before getting in at Freeport and Nassau, so hopefully it will work like that again.

 

Thanks again for your assistance.