Segway - 2 Hour Fortifications Tour

[gumballz]

We were fortunate enough to have booked a 2 hour fortifications tour with Jose at Segway Tours in San Juan a few months back. We had been looking forward to our excursion here for some time....and we weren't let down. Last week we were finally able to take our 2 hour tour on the segways through Old San Juan.

 

Upon arriving for our 9 a.m. tour, we met Jose and Natalie. Jose showed us some basics on the segway and then Natalie had us practice riding on the segways for a few minutes, to make sure we were comfortable.

 

After we were done with that, we were off on our 2 hour segway tour. Natalie was our guide and trust me when I say that she knows her history! She knew so much and could answer all of our questions. She was great about taking photos of us while we were zipping around San Juan.

 

Aside from the segway just being fun....it was a very informative tour. We'll be booking another segway tour next time we're in San Juan.

For those of you wanting more information, here's the website:

http://www.segwaytourspr.com/

If you email Jose, he will email you back pretty quickly. He's extremely friendly and very easy to talk to.

 

They take cash, Visa and MasterCard.

 

For anyone that has a segway tour booked, but you're not sure how to find the location...I've got two photos to help you. When you get off the ship head to your left and you'll come up to a little outdoor shopping area. Jose's shop is located there, in the back.

 

(yellow arrow is his shop)

 

 

If you have any questions, feel free to ask. :)

[AVShockey]

Which ship were you on where it was off to the left? We are booked with Jose in early June and are on a Carnival ship.

 

Also, did you confirm your reservation again before you left? I made the reservation about 2 months ago. I just want to make sure we get our tour.

 

Thanks for the info. I think this is one tour my kids are really looking forward to.

[gumballz]

We were on the Carnival Freedom. Jose's office is located at pier 2. It's pretty easy to find. There's a coffee shop right there as well and a ramp. Right across the street they're building condos.

 

I did confirm with Jose the week before we sailed, just to make sure everything was good. He answered quickly.

 

Your kids will have a great time.....but be prepared, YOU will have a great time too! They are so easy to ride and they can get up some speed, if you want them to. Be sure to take your camera! :)

[Richard's Mom]

Thank you so much for the information. I am booked in June. I received a confirmation e-mail from Jose'. So, Thanks for the pictures showing the way to his shop. I am sailing on the Triumph, leaving Miami on June 8th. I am taking my 14 year old son. We are really looking forward to this port. Thanks again.

[heatherandfred]

I LOVED Jose! We took the 2 hr tour on 4/22/08 from the NCL Spirit. We had a ball, it was me and my bf and 2 new friends that we had been talking to on CC. It was a blast.

 

It's so true that you would never find where his office is. He should put up a sign on the sidewalk saying where his office is. If I had not looked to my left when walking past, we would never have seen it.

[Pandot]

I am dying to do this tour but my husband is worried about hurting himself (and it is the first stop of our cruise). How safe (physically) did you feel they were. Can you guess if falling off would be likely?

 

Thanks,

 

Andrea

[gumballz]

Hi Andrea,

 

You will both be given training before the tour starts. The training will last as long as you need to feel comfortable on the segways. They are very good about that!

 

Once you get on and realize how to balance it (which is very easy) you'll feel extremely comfortable. I predict that by the end of the tour you'll be wanting to go faster and you'll be weaving back and forth and just having fun with it. The 2 hours will fly by and you'll be sad to step off. It's really that fun.

 

If your husband is still concerned, just tell Jose when you reserve your spot. I'm sure he'll be more than willing to calm any fears your husband has, in a professional manner.

 

Just fyi, my husband did this tour with me and he had blown out his knee less than a week prior (but he wouldn't cancel the cruise for anything lol). He did the segway with a very sore and swollen knee and had no problem. He's still talking about it. :)

 

If you book it, have fun!

[rainforestgirl]

We did it (and loved it)! At first, you feel really wobbly. But after the training, we caught on- it is kind of like riding a bike. You have to know your center of gravity.

They say unless you actually hit the wheels on something, you really can't fall off (because it self-balances). I never really felt any anxiety on it once I actually started going on the tour.

I have a review of my trip, and you can see a video of me looking like a pro riding the Segway only about 1 hr into our tour. It is a blast!

http://www.puertoricodaytrips.com/2008/03/28/old-san-juan-segway-tour/

 

I think, if your husband can ride a bike, he will be fine on a Segway.

[suziehmkr]

Hi Gumballz!!

 

How have you been!? We have been looking into this... we sail out of San Juan NEXT December (I know! That is just forever away!) Anyway - it helps to know that you liked it, since we seemed to like alot of the same things. I was debating, but I think you may have ended the debate!

 

Thanks!! :D

[gumballz]

suziehmkr! Hi and how are all of you? I haven't seen you posting for awhile....I was wondering where you had been.

 

Knowing you, you'll LOVE this! Definitely contact Jose and book as soon as you know a date. Be sure to do the 2 hour Fortifications tour, it's very informative.

 

Please say hello to the family....and let's cruise together again! :)

[suziehmkr]

I hadn't been on for a while. Stress & work and too tired to be on the computer when I got home. But last week, my awesome TA grabbed my coveted cabin on the Serenade for next December... so starting to get back into the boards. Once we know if we will be staying a day before & a day after or just a day before, then I can make plans for this tour. It will just be the two of us - no kids this time. :D Let's definitely keep in touch with each other's plans so we can try to meet up again. Say hi to Bri!

[lyndaedris]

Hi Gumballz,

 

I went to the website you posted for the segway 2 hr Fortification Tour and it sent me to some weird website - if you click on Segway tours diff. travel agencies come up.

 

Does Jose have a specific website or email that I can get some information on the tour.

 

Maybe you know........ how old do you have to be to use the Segways. We will be there the end of August on RCI Liberty and are taking our grandson.

 

Thanks a bunch:)

ledris

[NoVACruiser]

ledris, I am not sure how old you have to be, but they recommend that the child is at least 90 lbs. If he/she is less, they will probably have someone go along to keep him/her balanced, because you have to have certain body weight to control the Segway.

 

We are booked for a week from Sunday and can't wait!!!

 

The website is http://www.seqwaytourspr.com. You can email Jose at info@segwaytourspr.com. He is very prompt in replying.

[rainforestgirl]

I went to the website you posted for the segway 2 hr Fortification Tour and it sent me to some weird website - if you click on Segway tours diff. travel agencies come up.

Does Jose have a specific website or email that I can get some information on the tour.

/quote]

 

It looks like this web address http://www.segwaytourspr.com expired. I have contacted Jose via another email address to see if he has a new web address.

I will let you know what I find out.

[NoVACruiser]

I just got an email from Jose yesterday on this address. Try it.

 

jose@segwaytoursandmediapr.com

 

Also, I tried http://www.segwaytourspr.com and was able to get on the website.

 

David

[green eyed lady]

coqui,

that link you posted just worked for me :D

[rainforestgirl]

coqui,

that link you posted just worked for me :D

 

Yeah- Something weird happened, I talked to Jose this AM. He was unaware of the problem, but it is all fixed now. He said thanks for the heads up guys!

[green eyed lady]

Coqui,

We'll be doing Segway post cruise...I assume we would take a cab there from the El San Juan hotel? and then I would like to go to Barrachina (I think that's the name of it) for dinner so would that be another cab ride from Segway? And is there anything to do in the area of the restaurant after dinner? :confused: Our Segway tour is at 3 PM. Thanks for the help!

[Sunny AZ Girl]

We will be cruising on the Caribbean Princess next year out of San Juan and would be interested in the tour. Does anyone know if we can drop our bags off at the ship and then go back for the tour? I have never cruised out of San Juan before, so don't know the drill......

 

My other concern is that I have some friends who were booked for this tour about two weeks ago. They only had a 45 minute tour scheduled as the two hour tours were booked. They were offered a 45 mnute option and took it. However, once they got to the office they waited about 1/2 hour. No one was there. They finally left, hot and disappointed. Has anyone else had this problem? Other people in our CC group who had the two hour tour booked had no issues and enjoyed themselves very much.

[gumballz]

Sorry I didn't get back sooner, but I'm glad the link is working now.

 

Sunny AZ Girl, I'm not sure about dropping your bags off at the ship then taking the tour, but I imagine if you contact Jose he might be willing to let you keep your bags in his office while you take the tour. They told us we could leave our items in the office if we wanted to. We didn't take them up on that offer as we only had a small backpack and our camera.

 

I'm not sure what happened to your friends but I always confirm my reservations with whatever company I'm using a week prior to arrival to make sure everything is in order. If you book the segway tour, just be sure to confirm it and you should be fine.

 

**Just a head's up about this thread.....there's a very good possibility that it will be removed. I started the thread not remembering that we can't START a review but can only respond to inquiries about a certain excursion (I've already had my St Thomas tour review removed for this reason). I'm going to see if I can find a thread asking about this tour and repost my original message just in case.....but if this one disappears, that's why. ;)

[rainforestgirl]

Coqui,

We'll be doing Segway post cruise...I assume we would take a cab there from the El San Juan hotel? and then I would like to go to Barrachina (I think that's the name of it) for dinner so would that be another cab ride from Segway? And is there anything to do in the area of the restaurant after dinner? :confused: Our Segway tour is at 3 PM. Thanks for the help!

 

Yeah- take a cab to Pier 2- the Segway office is to the left (as you are standing in front) of the Ferry.

Barrachina is walking distance- when you are done Segway'ing, walk to the left (stop in at the Casita and Don Q for free drinks to cool down). Then walk up the hill 2 blocks to Fortaleza St, then turn left and walk 2.5 blocks. Barrachina is on the left. Make sure to have a Pina Colada- really good there!

 

I think you will be there on a Sat or Sun?- There is live music on Sunday evenings right by the Casita- at 5:45p I think. Usually lots of arts and craft vendors there also both evenings.

Sat at 9pm Barrachina has a Flamenco Show. (free)

Sat and Sun at 8pm, Restaurant Botin has a Flamenco show. (free).

[green eyed lady]

Coqui,

You are just chock full of great info...once again, thanks! :D

[heatherandfred]

The best tour we did ever!

 

Much love to Jose and his helper who walked the whole tour. 4/19/08 NCL Spirit!

[CMM]

 

My other concern is that I have some friends who were booked for this tour about two weeks ago. They only had a 45 minute tour scheduled as the two hour tours were booked. They were offered a 45 mnute option and took it. However, once they got to the office they waited about 1/2 hour. No one was there. They finally left, hot and disappointed. Has anyone else had this problem? Other people in our CC group who had the two hour tour booked had no issues and enjoyed themselves very much.

 

We had a negative experience also, but it was in Sept 07 and seems like things have been smoother since. We all had email confirmations printed out, but it was overbooked. It was so hot and we had been waiting too. We had an awesome cruise& this was the only bad day.

[DiannaInVA]

Ahhhh! I'm so glad I'm not the only one that had a hard time finding the office! I took the tour last week. I got to the pier and went inside, but didn't realize there were shops to the left. When I couldn't find anything in the pier I waited outside, figuring the segways would be outside. Finally I decided to do another walk through of the pier at about 9:05 (appointment was at 9), and I finally realized there were shops on the left.

 

Anyway, once I found it, I wasn't really late because Natalie was still going over the segway with each person. I've already ridden a segway before so I knew a bit about them.

 

They have 2 newer segways (much easier to use) and a few older ones. I got one of the older ones, which were a bit more difficult to do because you have to remember which way to twist the handle to go right or left. However, once you figure it out, they are still fun.

 

As for the tour, I had a FANTASTIC time! I highly recommend it, and Natalie was a great tour guide.

 

You take the segway through the streets and she points out some items along the way. Then you take the segway up to the El Morro Fort. You get off the segways and get a good walking tour of the fort. Then you get back on your segways and head back.

 

A really great tour, and I wish it was longer. That's a great way to see the city. If only there weren't so many cars on the road!