Tour Company Recommendation?

[melnemac32]

My husband and I will be at San Juan on the Carnival Vista from 1pm to 8pm. We are looking for a good tour recommendation. Ideally we'd like to see Old San Juan, the forts, the rain forest, and the Bacardi Factory.

 

Not sure how much we will have time for though. We personally like going on tours with guides. Any recommendations of a tour that could let us see a lot of San Juan?

[pdc2013]

My husband and I will be at San Juan on the Carnival Vista from 1pm to 8pm. We are looking for a good tour recommendation. Ideally we'd like to see Old San Juan, the forts, the rain forest, and the Bacardi Factory.

 

Not sure how much we will have time for though. We personally like going on tours with guides. Any recommendations of a tour that could let us see a lot of San Juan?

 

I would skip Bacardi, if you have not seen anything else yet, not a good way to spend your limited time. If you can get a tour with the rainforest and the old city all in one i would. That said depends if you return and if your history buffs.

 

If you would return then take your time and spend the day in the old city. Tour the forts and San Juan area, after your tour continue walking around stop at some of the shops around town, have a local meal, dessert and coffee. I really enjoyed doing that!

 

I might not be the best to recommend tour companies, I have only used Island Marketing and Viator. I found that Viator is waaay over priced for their tours. I was really happy with Island Marketing did a few private tours with them and had great guides.

 

Here is a link to their site https://puertoricocruiseexcursions.com/excursions/

 

I will be in Cabo San Lucas this weekend and might use their beach club day pass. I also used it in San Juan and was the best deal so far.

[ozarkmama]

WE have used Ellis twice and he is great. He can do a rain forest tour and then OSJ. He is on Craigslist or on Facebook

 

http://puertorico.craigslist.org/trv/5954942157.html?lang=en&cc=us

[melnemac32]

Thanks for the recommendations! I think that we will skip the rain forest this time and go on the tour with Island Marketing. I've heard a lot of people say good things about them too. Too bad that they have 4 people minimums for some of their tours. Thanks for the suggestions!

Edited February 2, 2017 by melnemac32

[melnemac32]

Okay... So after looking into Island Marketing I realized that they want us to pay $120 for a 2 hour tour. They don't have a group tour that we can join up with so they want to do a short private tour. We were hoping to do something a bit more extensive of the island. And from what I've seen Ellis has at least a $195 minimum which is pretty steep for just my husband and I. :( Any other suggestions?

[ozarkmama]

Have you contacted Ellis to ask? I'm not sure his minimum but you will get more than 2 hours for your money. It's worth asking.

[pdc2013]

Okay... So after looking into Island Marketing I realized that they want us to pay $120 for a 2 hour tour. They don't have a group tour that we can join up with so they want to do a short private tour. We were hoping to do something a bit more extensive of the island. And from what I've seen Ellis has at least a $195 minimum which is pretty steep for just my husband and I. :( Any other suggestions?

 

Hi,

 

i did a few tours in Puerto rico and it will be expensive to do an island tour if you are only 2.

 

But if you got a tour for $120.00 that sounds like a great deal!

 

What island tour is that for $120.00, i paid ALOT more to go towards the rainforest!

[melnemac32]

It was a tour of Old San Juan with Island Marketing.

[ozarkmama]

It was a tour of Old San Juan with Island Marketing.

 

You don't need a tour guide for OSJ. Just pick up or print a map and start walking. It's a relatively small area.

http://www.puertoricodaytrips.com/old-san-juan-walking-tour-1/

http://www.puertoricodaytrips.com/old-san-juan-walking-tour-2/

http://www.puertoricodaytrips.com/old-san-juan-walking-tour-3/

http://www.puertoricodaytrips.com/old-san-juan-walking-tour-4/

[CruiseLady88]

How safe is the place?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[ozarkmama]

How safe is the place?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

My daughter and I drove all over Puerto Rico and walked all over in OSJ, We never felt unsafe.

[pdc2013]

It was a tour of Old San Juan with Island Marketing.

 

As ozarkmama said it is relativly a small place. I Chose to tour to hear the history instead of reading it. Just the way i like it, but you can do it on your own if you are ok to walk.

I didn't prepare myself with a map, so i would have missed half the places.

[CaptainDMW]

We took a walking tour of Old San Juan earlier this month (Feb/17) from Margarita Reyes, a Certified Tour Guide (MRL1213@hotmail.com). It was 3 hrs long, very informative and interesting as well as reasonably priced. It took us through streets, neighbourhoods and included a nice tour of the fort. The meeting point was very near (5 min walk) the port and it ended up in the old shopping district a short walk from the ship so we could choose to spend time on our own in an interesting area or head directly back to the ship. We were very impressed with Margarita's tour and sense of timing (eg. arriving at the fort before many of the crowds on tour buses got there). This is worth looking into.