Book private tour before flight.

[ckmommy72]

Hi everyone - we are on the Celebrity Summit repo coming into San Juan on the 27th. We currently have a Celebrity excursion booked that takes us on a tour and then drops us at the airport. I've read a few reviews recently that seemed to indicate that our luggage would not come on the vehicle with us, but be loaded in a separate vehicle for us to collect when we arrive at the airport. From what I've read, there have been issues actually locating the luggage when you arrive at the airport, causing major headaches....not really what we want to deal with.

 

If we cancel the excursion with Celebrity, are there local tour people at the port when we disembark that will take us and our luggage on a tour and then drop us at the airport? Or any recommendations of something we can book ahead? We arrive in San Juan at 6:00am. We'd love a rainforest tour, but a tour around the city would be great as well.

 

Our flight is at 4:35, so I assume we should be at the airport by 2:00. I've heard of long security lines.

 

TIA!!

[Loonbeam]

I am sure you could book a private tour guide, but I will say the Rainforest might be a stretch. Though you may arrive at 6, disembarkation is likely not going to start until 7 at best for self-walkoff and clearning customs you would need to plan to start at 8 earliest. That's only 6 hours to get back to the airport. Heading out and back to the rainforest would eat a lot of that time. We did a tour with Ellis that was about 6 hours, so its certainly doable, but that also did not include exploring a fort (which we did after) and a very quick lunch. I'd say maybe stay closer to OSJ for safety.

[whengingersnaps]

We were in San Juan yesterday. We disembarked from the Carnival Fascination at 8:30 am and walked out of the terminal with our luggage. We were greeted by a friendly local in a bright blue shirt. "SJ Happy Tours" - there were several tour guides from this company hanging around offering tours. Our guide piled our luggage in the back, and took us on a tour of San Juan, which included a stop at Condado Beach for photos. He dropped us off in Old San Juan, where we had about 3 hours to explore on our own and have lunch. The cost was $30 each. We had a wonderful lunch (Mofongo and Pina Coladas) at Barachina's and walked around old town getting photos. Our driver had folks that needed to be at the airport at different times, and he accommodated everyone. Our flight was at 4:30 and he dropped us off at the airport at 2:30. When we got there, we realized that we had left our camera bag at a Starbuck's! Our driver actually drove back downtown, retrieved our camera bag, and brought it back to us at the airport! We waited by the door for him to return. We checked into security about 3:35 and had plenty of time to make our 4:30 flight!

 

I cannot say enough good things about this company - San Juan Happy Tours!

[pdc2013]

I do not know how many there are out there but other than Ellis, i used Island Marketing and did exactly what your looking for....

[ckmommy72]

We were in San Juan yesterday. We disembarked from the Carnival Fascination at 8:30 am and walked out of the terminal with our luggage. We were greeted by a friendly local in a bright blue shirt. "SJ Happy Tours" - there were several tour guides from this company hanging around offering tours. Our guide piled our luggage in the back, and took us on a tour of San Juan, which included a stop at Condado Beach for photos. He dropped us off in Old San Juan, where we had about 3 hours to explore on our own and have lunch. The cost was $30 each. We had a wonderful lunch (Mofongo and Pina Coladas) at Barachina's and walked around old town getting photos. Our driver had folks that needed to be at the airport at different times, and he accommodated everyone. Our flight was at 4:30 and he dropped us off at the airport at 2:30. When we got there, we realized that we had left our camera bag at a Starbuck's! Our driver actually drove back downtown, retrieved our camera bag, and brought it back to us at the airport! We waited by the door for him to return. We checked into security about 3:35 and had plenty of time to make our 4:30 flight!

 

I cannot say enough good things about this company - San Juan Happy Tours!

 

I do not know how many there are out there but other than Ellis, i used Island Marketing and did exactly what your looking for....

 

Thanks everyone...appreciate the feedback.

 

pdc2013, I was actually just looking at the "Beach Break" excursion from Island Marketing, and it seems like a pretty good deal, with lunch and drinks included, and a place to shower and change before heading to the airport. Thinking we'll probably book that.

 

whengingersnaps - going to check our San Juan Happy Tours before we book to see what they have to offer.

[karylrocks]

We have a rainforest tour booked through RCCL which indicates that our luggage will be secured on our bus; tour is 8am-1pm. It would seem that other tour companies would have enough time to get you there and to the airport in time as well. I am considering cancelling and going with SJ Happy Tours when we arrive. It would be great to hear if anyone has experienced this!

[Virtopia]

On 10/8/2018 at 9:30 AM, whengingersnaps said:

We were in San Juan yesterday. We disembarked from the Carnival Fascination at 8:30 am and walked out of the terminal with our luggage. We were greeted by a friendly local in a bright blue shirt. "SJ Happy Tours" - there were several tour guides from this company hanging around offering tours. Our guide piled our luggage in the back, and took us on a tour of San Juan, which included a stop at Condado Beach for photos. He dropped us off in Old San Juan, where we had about 3 hours to explore on our own and have lunch. The cost was $30 each. We had a wonderful lunch (Mofongo and Pina Coladas) at Barachina's and walked around old town getting photos. Our driver had folks that needed to be at the airport at different times, and he accommodated everyone. Our flight was at 4:30 and he dropped us off at the airport at 2:30. When we got there, we realized that we had left our camera bag at a Starbuck's! Our driver actually drove back downtown, retrieved our camera bag, and brought it back to us at the airport! We waited by the door for him to return. We checked into security about 3:35 and had plenty of time to make our 4:30 flight!

I cannot say enough good things about this company - San Juan Happy Tours!

 Thank you for this review - looking to do this exact type of tour after disembarking my TA on Nov 17th. I'm assuming this can't be booked in advance?

[pdc2013]

On 10/8/2018 at 4:41 PM, ckmommy72 said:

I have to say, i did various tours with them and was very happy all private. Their beach break for the price is sooo worth it.  Especially if your wanting drinks on the beach.  If you do choose it let us know how that went, have not been to their new location yet.  Looks so much better this time with a roof top pool.

 

Thanks everyone...appreciate the feedback.

 

pdc2013, I was actually just looking at the "Beach Break" excursion from Island Marketing, and it seems like a pretty good deal, with lunch and drinks included, and a place to shower and change before heading to the airport. Thinking we'll probably book that.

 

whengingersnaps - going to check our San Juan Happy Tours before we book to see what they have to offer.

 

[youwash]

You can also just take a cab into Old San Juan to Barranchina's and leave your luggage there and explore as long as you like. Have not done this yet but planning on it in February. Have read of it in many threads here. 

[pdc2013]

On 10/18/2018 at 7:41 AM, pdc2013 said:

 

 

It is a great option and who doe snot like spending time at the beach...LOL