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Currently on Escape in St. Thomas, we were just informed…

KarlChilders

By KarlChilders,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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BennyBrun "Live from...." Rare

BennyBrun

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I am sorry to hear that.  If you don’t have any excursions planned I recommend walking around old town, and you can walk to the lighthouse and go in for a visit (fee applies, national park) and have lunch at Raices (the fried pork chop is amazing) along with a mojito.  Then there are the ship sponsored excursions that we never went one because we can only do so much snorkeling per cruise.  Enjoy the port.

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MeHeartCruising

MeHeartCruising

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Walk off the ship into Old Town.  Turn left and walk along the water.  In about 1/2 mile or so you will see the Castillo San Felipe del Morrow - a National Park castle/fort.  Great views of the ocean and entry to San Juan.  Then walk back to your ship by further exploring Old Town.  All on foot.  There is a second interesting Fort if you’re into that stuff - Castillo de San Cristobal.  It’s a very easy port to safely explore on foot. 

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OrcaGirl "Live from...." Rare

OrcaGirl

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I love San Juan! As others have mentioned, a great spot to just wander around the Old Town.

 

I'm not sure if it's still running these days, but there was a free hop-on-hop-off trolley system with a couple of routes to the key tourist locales; we rode it for a complete loop first to get our bearings and then on the second time around hopped off at a few stops. https://sanjuanpuertorico.com/trolley-old-san-juan/

 

We also loved the street called Paseo de la Princepesa... it starts quite near the cruise dock and you can stroll it towards the coast where there are some nice viewpoints and a path along the water towards the El Morro fort.

 

Another option that we always wanted to do but never had the time for was the Bacardi factory tour.

 

If you want beaches, perhaps grab a taxi to Condado Beach?

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HowardK

HowardK

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The forts are beautiful I have been there a few times. I also wanted to take a tour of the bicardi factory.

How many hours are you in San Juan? I would imagine there isn't time for the El Yunque rainforest which was lovely. 

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LincolnLog

LincolnLog

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In old town stop by Barrachina’s for mofongo and pina coladas. They claim (as many others do) to be the place the pina colada was invented. 
 

But “Karl”…I’m not sure if they serve any of them French fried per-taters that you like so much 😂

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classy_cruiser

classy_cruiser

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4 hours ago, coaster said:

Always stop here in SJ and see the cats. We make a cash donation when we visit also. Near the fort.

 

Save a Gato (SAG) Old San Juan, Puerto Rico

 

Save-A-Gato Cat Sanctuary (San Juan) - 2021 All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos) - Tripadvisor

Thanks, I will have to check this out! 

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pe4all

pe4all

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If you like shopping there are also some outlet stores (Coach, for example, on the corner of Santo Cristo St & San Francisco St. ). We usually just wander the streets for hours as we have been to all the "touristy" sites.  

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kochleffel

kochleffel

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There is a good self-guided walking tour (search Google for it) of old San Juan that I've done. It probably takes three hours, depending on how much time you spend at the forts and how fast you walk. I happened to walk it in reverse order and I think I would prefer it that way.

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HowardK

HowardK

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1 hour ago, Laszlo said:

Tortola is great, however it could be worse. Could have been a day in Nassau Lol

So true- last time I stayed on the boat by the pool but really had a cool scenery of watching traffic go over a bridge which I actually found calming. I don't find Nassau exciting and prefer GSC for instance.

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PTC DAWG Holiday Sharing Rare

PTC DAWG

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18 hours ago, KarlChilders said:

That due to a technical issue, we will be going to San Juan instead of Tortola tomorrow. For those who have been to San Juan, what is something good to do there? 

cool old fort....and a couple of places that claim to have invented the Pina Colada...

 

Walking around Old Town is pretty neat...

 

Oh yeah, beat Michigan.  

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bigrednole

bigrednole

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We were just there on Thanksgiving. Most things were closed unfortunately. I would not pay for a cruise tour. Once you get off the pier, there are tons of people selling tours in vans. They are $25pp before you get to the outside part of the port. The same company once outside charges $15pp. It would have been worth it to me for $15pp if places were open. It is not a bad walk and lots of things to see on a self paced walking tour.

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Turtles06 Great Review Rare

Turtles06

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On 12/7/2021 at 6:10 PM, MeHeartCruising said:

Walk off the ship into Old Town.  Turn left and walk along the water.  In about 1/2 mile or so you will see the Castillo San Felipe del Morrow - a National Park castle/fort.  Great views of the ocean and entry to San Juan.  Then walk back to your ship by further exploring Old Town.  All on foot.  There is a second interesting Fort if you’re into that stuff - Castillo de San Cristobal.  It’s a very easy port to safely explore on foot. 


Agreed. And easy to walk from one fort to the other, no need to return to the ship first. Then have a mofongo lunch at Raices. 

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Turtles06 Great Review Rare

Turtles06

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23 hours ago, marktwothousand said:

I’d call this a score. San Juan way more my scene than USVI. Been to tortola twice and never got off…


Perhaps if you’d gotten off the ship in Tortola you’d have learned it’s not in the USVI.  🤣

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