San Juan Excursion

[espmass]

We dock in San Juan at 7AM and our flight isn't until 5:30 PM. We had planned to just take the city tour combined with the rum factory tour that ends at the airport. I was reading it today and it says the trip starts at 8AM and lasts 4 hours. Is it really possible that it could start that early or is that likely a misprint? And if it starts at 8AM, that leaves us sitting at the airport for several hours yet the excursion states for people with flights after 4PM. Does it seem like something isn't right?

[espmass]

What? No advice from anyone??

[Texed]

We didn't book through the cruiseline. There are many vans/taxis waiting outside that will do a day trip for you. Just tell them what, when, and where, and they will accomadate you. :)

[superjerryw]

I don't really see anything wrong with the quoted hours for the tour. The airlines want everyone to be at the airport a couple of hours eary for checkin and security screenings. If they plan to get to the airport at noon for people that have flights after 4:00PM it does not seem that unreasonable as the tour could always be late in arriving at the airport due to traffic and it will take a while to unload a bus full of people and their baggage. I think they just want to be sure that everyone gets there early enough to make their flight. If they said the tour was open to passengers that have flights after 2:00PM you can be sure that ultimately someone would miss their flight and would blame the cruise line and expect to be compensated. I think the scheduled times of the tour are just to protect the cruise line from sonething like this.

[CaribbeanBound]

We were in port from 2:30pm - 11:00pm. Upon arrival we immediately headed for El Moro Castle by cab ($5.00 fare, plus tip) for a self-guided walking tour. Our cab driver was not friendly. Turns out we could have walked. It was closer than it looked. After El Morrow, we walked to San Cristobal Fortress. Both were really cool to visit. Cost is $3.00 per person for each site, or $5.00 per person for both sites. It is pretty easy to walk around town as places are closer than they appear on maps. Highly recommend visits to both. Although my wife had no interest in nightlife, I had originally planned to take a cab over to the Wyndham El San Juan Resort to celebrate her birthday. They have a large casino, lots of restaurants, and music to enjoy.

 

As for the Rum tour, I can't give you any first hand experience, but I have heard from lots of folks that it wasn't worth it. Good luck with whatever you do. It's a fun city.

 

Here's our complete review:

http://www.lavasurfer.com/info/easterncaribbean.html

[drfun48]

We were in port from 2:30pm - 11:00pm. Upon arrival we immediately headed for El Moro Castle by cab ($5.00 fare, plus tip) for a self-guided walking tour. Our cab driver was not friendly. Turns out we could have walked. It was closer than it looked. After El Morrow, we walked to San Cristobal Fortress. Both were really cool to visit. Cost is $3.00 per person for each site, or $5.00 per person for both sites. It is pretty easy to walk around town as places are closer than they appear on maps. Highly recommend visits to both. Although my wife had no interest in nightlife, I had originally planned to take a cab over to the Wyndham El San Juan Resort to celebrate her birthday. They have a large casino, lots of restaurants, and music to enjoy.

 

As for the Rum tour, I can't give you any first hand experience, but I have heard from lots of folks that it wasn't worth it. Good luck with whatever you do. It's a fun city.

 

Here's our complete review:

http://www.lavasurfer.com/info/easterncaribbean.html

I agree the Bacardi rum tour is a waste of valuable vacation time. Stupid infomercial tour and two not very good free drinks. Find a good local watering hole and pay for a quality drink and soak up the local color.