Post Cruise Rain Forest Tour

[booboo4031]

Has anyone done the post cruise El Junque rain forest tour that drops off at the airport through Princess?? Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

[pch]

I would like to know the same from Carnival

[Cabin8538]

Me, too - Carnival, please!

[Cessna140]

I posted the same question but never got an answer from anyone who had done the Princess tour. My group is doing it on March 4th after our cruise on the Golden and I will report back.

[texancruzer]

Keep looking on this forum.....I have seen a few (mostly negative) posts regarding cruise tours to El Yunque.

 

Seems most people felt it a waste of money due to the time factor.

 

By the time they got off the ship and drove an hour + out there and knowing the drive back the same.....they said they didnt have hardly any time to "see" the rainforest let alone do any hiking etc..... mostly a drive out and back. You really need more time to enjoy this area. BUT as there are not a whole lot of choices of things to do in this time frame (after cruise/before flight) you may enjoy the drive.

[killerbeez]

I did it a few years back when the protests about Vieques were going on. I enjoyed it overall. A bit of a ride to get to it and about enough time to see what there was to be seen. I really didn't have a choice whether to go or not with the demonstrations going on. Americans weren't welcome that day.

 

I was genuinely surprised at how nice it was and the restauarant we stopped at was pretty good too. I was on the Carnival Line, can't remember the ship.

[mederm33]

Has anyone done this after getting off the RCCL AOS? If not, what else is recommended to do on the Sunday post-cruise, pre-flight?

[Cessna140]

We took the post cruise rain forest tour from Princess in early March. It entitled us to early disembarkation from the ship at least. It was a bit confusing once we got out of the terminal as to which of the tour buses was ours. No one with signs, etc. Anyway, once we got on board ( the bus held maybe 30 people) we were on our way out to the rf. We of course had the obligatory stop at the gift shop on the way. (I'd love to know how much $$ these drivers get for stopping there) Anyway, it took less than an hour to get to El Yunque as it was a Saturday and traffic wasn't too bad. We entered the small village at the base of the rf and started the climb up the road into the forest and then the guide started talking about the forest and its history. We stopped at a small trail that was near a large round man made pool.We were able to walk the short trail and had to be back at the bus within a half hour. Then we went to the tower and climbed to the top. The view of Luquillo and the ocean was great. But this stop was only 20minutes. Then we stopped at CoCo Falls for 20 to 30 minutes. The guide talked about the rain forest and the surrounding area and its history. He did a good job when he was explaining about El Yunque. On the way back he took us by a beach area outside of San Juan, it looked like a locals area with very interesting little restaurants but we were unable to stop. So my guess was that we were in the rain forest for an hour and a half only, the rest spent on the bus. When we were dropped off at the airport our luggage was waiting for us, lined up on the sidewalk. It would have been very easy for someone to just walk up with the group and take a few suitcases. No one was checking. All in all for the money we paid it was worth it for us to take the tour. It beat sitting in the San Juan airport all day.

And speaking of the San Juan airport.....they need to put in some more chairs. People were laying all over the floors everywhere, no place to sit.

So if you are looking for a detailed hiking trip in the rain forest this is not the tour for you but it was good for a first trip to El Yunque for those that have never seen it.

[mederm33]

Thanks. I am trying to decide if we should take this tour or the walking tour post-cruise. we will be on the RCI AOS. We could do the rainforest pre-cruise, but may just spend the day hanging around san juan, if we can ever get a hotel room. Our cruise leaves on May 28, 2006.

[Sheik]

We visited El Yunque on our own last month. It was GREAT!!!

 

When I read the post from Marcarrn@aol.com about the post-cruise tour, I think it's really worth the money too. If you never seen a rain forest before, do it! You'll enjoy both the trip and the forest.

[Cessna140]

Thanks. I am trying to decide if we should take this tour or the walking tour post-cruise. we will be on the RCI AOS. We could do the rainforest pre-cruise, but may just spend the day hanging around san juan, if we can ever get a hotel room. Our cruise leaves on May 28, 2006.

 

Have you looked into Hotel Milano? We stayed there pre cruise in February and it was great. It is in the center of Old San Juan and everything is an easy walk from there. There is a good restaurant on the top floor. They have a website (http://www.Hotelmilanopr.com) The website says that they only accept reservations for two nights but email them anyway. Thats what we did, we only stayed one night. I think they are getting a lot of business for one night stays pre and post cruise.

[di234]

Sheik,

When you did the Rainforest on your own, where did you rent your car from? How long did it take you to get to the rainforest and how much time did you stay there? We are going in June and our ship will be there for about 11 hours. So I think this will allow us enough time. Thanks for any info.

Diane