Evening in San Juan, Puertro Rico

[stevenr597]

My family and I are booked on the MS Carnival Freedom during July. One stop is San Juan, Puertro Rico from 4:00 P.M. to 12:00 A.M. We are frequent travellers to P.R., but during the day. Our question is what to do during the evening? Some suggestions would be much appreciated

[B and B Rookie Cannucks]

We booked an evening walking tour of Old San Juan with I think it was called the Legends of Puerto Rico with Debbie. Our entire group thought it was great!:D

[Tbay-eh]

Mine is actually a DUH moment. A number of years ago we had the same stop over, my husband and son thought it would be a great idea to explore and find a nice local restaurant to try out (I know ship food is free but we wanted some authentic island food) Where do we end up HOOTERS. It was kind of run down but it looked really cool - not your local HOOTERS looking place. My chair promptly fell through a hole in the floor. After picking myself up, while in complete hysterics (laughing so hard I could barely move) we proceeded to order authentic island beer (according to my husband). As I am drinking I turn the label around to read "bottled in Milwalkee" - at this point I lost it and peed myself laughing. We did go to a market that opens up just for the cruise ship. People were buying liquor (cheap) and downed it before they got back on the ship - a lot of reeeeeeaaally drunk people wandering around. It was fun and an experience.

[TortieGal]

We were in PR for an extra night after returning from Victory and had wanted to do the bioluminiscent tour. Unfortunately, there is about a week each month where it doesn't operate due to the full moon. And of course, the full moon was when we there.

 

I'm not sure if it's a tour offered through the ship. Don't remember what the timeframe was on the tour company we were looking at but it seems like an awesome experience.

[waldocruiser1]

We went to San Jan, it was the same time at night, we walked to Senior Frogs, it was to crouded and long of a wait for us, so we walked back to the ship and we were going to stop for Ice Cream, and got (almost) mugged, a guy came up telling a story of him and his dad being beaten up and robbed, needed money, and would not leave us alone. We kept walking, and so did he (with us) until we got to the Cold Stone Creamery, and we went in and he ran off.

 

We ate our ice cream and got back on the ship, I think the entire time off the ship was an hour.

 

If we ever go back, we will not get off at night again.

[welldone60]

We spent a few days in Old San Juan pre-cruise this past February. Just walking around there is lots to see. There always seemed to be alot of night-life going on. Check out the San Juan port of call threads. Lots of info.

[Tapi]

We went to San Juan on the Liberty in 2008, arriving at 5pm and departing at 12am. Here's what we did:

 

• First of all, make sure to be on the left side of the ship as it enters San Juan Harbor. From that side you'll see the impressive El Morro Fortress followed by the walled city of Old San Juan.
  
• We started by doing a little bit of shopping around Old San Juan. Although several stores do close at 5pm, many do stay open to accommodate the cruise ship passengers.
  
• As day time turned to night time, we walked up to the historic Hotel El Convento. It has an outdoor terrace where we ordered a few drinks and tapas to cool off after all the walking.
  
• Even though all historical landmarks and museums will be closed at night, we still enjoyed walking along the cobblestoned streets, along the San Jose Cathedral, the Governor's Mansion, and the Cristo Chapel.
  
• From the Governor's Mansion, you can work your way back to the waterfront by going through the Puerta de San Juan (San Juan gate), and along the Paseo La Princesa (Princess Walk), which has a very neat fountain overlooking San Juan bay. It's a very enjoyable walk which takes you along the city wall built by the Spaniards in the 1500's.
  
• We then walked to the SoFo area (South Fortaleza Street). This is where the trendy, hip local crowd hangs out, with several cool restaurants and bars. We had THE BEST dinner at the Parrot Club. This is a restaurant with very cool Caribbean decoration, featuring local cuisine with a twist.
  
• After dinner, we worked our way back to the ship, but stopped at the Sheraton Old San Juan (right accross the street from the cruise ship terminal) where we enjoyed a local band playing at the casino bar.
  

We were back on the ship by 11pm. Even though the scheduled time in San Juan is very restrictive, we managed to enjoy it thoroughly! In fact, it was our favorite stop on this itinerary!

[NYGoose82]

We bought cigars from vendors that were situated in a plaza go towards El Morro. By the time we got to El Morro it was too dark to walk across the large field because there weren't any lights so decided to just walk thru the gorgeous streets of Old San Juan just taking in the sites listening to the beautiful salsa music streaming out of the homes in Old San Juan. We knew about a restaurant that my father in law had recommended called El Jibarito it's at Calle Sol and the food was phenomenal and was authentic Puerto Rican food. We then walked some more did some shopping and walked over to Senor Frog's which was super crowded but the drinks were huge and strong so that kept us around till when we decided to leave and try to find some more cigars and eventually headed back to the Freedom.

[Princessbride3]

You may want to post this question on the san juan port link.. they have some great ideas there.

[zqvol]

My family and I are booked on the MS Carnival Freedom during July. One stop is San Juan, Puertro Rico from 4:00 P.M. to 12:00 A.M. We are frequent travellers to P.R., but during the day. Our question is what to do during the evening? Some suggestions would be much appreciated

 

Check the moon, and if it is a new moon or close to it, do the bioluminescence tour. It is a bucket list event!

[mjmiller]

check out this link - lots of cool ideas for NIGHT time activities:

 

http://www.puertoricodaytrips.com/evening-in-old-san-juan/