Christmas Day 8 hours at Pan American Pier

[MamaJenncruiser]

We happen to be spending Christmas Day on a cruise with my family and it docks at Pan American Pier it seems. I know most things are closed and luckily we have visited Puerto Rico in past (never on a major holiday!) and am wondering how to get transport to Old Town or possibly to a place to jet ski or ATV? Does public transport run or just taxis? Are there vendors who will be waiting outside the port with some options?

 

Any ideas of what to do?

 

Jenn

[njhorseman]

1 hour ago, MamaJenncruiser said:

We happen to be spending Christmas Day on a cruise with my family and it docks at Pan American Pier it seems. I know most things are closed and luckily we have visited Puerto Rico in past (never on a major holiday!) and am wondering how to get transport to Old Town or possibly to a place to jet ski or ATV? Does public transport run or just taxis? Are there vendors who will be waiting outside the port with some options?

 

Any ideas of what to do?

 

Jenn

Apparently there are six ships making port calls in San Juan that day, so two will be docked at Pan American rather than OSJ. NCL and Royal Caribbean ships are the most likely candidates as they use Pan American for homeport operations in San Juan.

There's no mass transit from Pan American into OSJ and I wouldn't expect to see any tour operators at Pan American either. Cruise lines have been known to run shuttle buses from Pan American to OSJ, otherwise you have to take a taxi or Uber.

Unfortunately this isn't an ideal situation, with six ships carrying upwards of 20,000 passengers, all docked in San Juan on a major holiday. Your best bet may be to take a tour sponsored by your cruise ship.

[Moparop]

We will be on Symphony one week later, docking in San Juan on New Years Day. Should we expect to be docking at Pan American as well, with most things closed?

[njhorseman]

2 hours ago, Moparop said:

We will be on Symphony one week later, docking in San Juan on New Years Day. Should we expect to be docking at Pan American as well, with most things closed?

Per cruisetimetables.com there will be three ships in port that day so you should be able to dock in OSJ.

[ajtaylor29]

We're sailing next Sunday (14th) on Rhapsody, and now i'm curious about which pier we'll be using.

According to Cruisetimetables, there's only 1 ship there today (Rhapsody) but it looks like they're at Pan American. We're also the only ship next Sunday.

So i'm wondering why they're at Pan Am today and wonder about where we'll be? Of course, we chose a hotel close to the pier at OSJ.....

[njhorseman]

1 hour ago, ajtaylor29 said:

We're sailing next Sunday (14th) on Rhapsody, and now i'm curious about which pier we'll be using.

According to Cruisetimetables, there's only 1 ship there today (Rhapsody) but it looks like they're at Pan American. We're also the only ship next Sunday.

So i'm wondering why they're at Pan Am today and wonder about where we'll be? Of course, we chose a hotel close to the pier at OSJ.....

You'll be departing from Pan American because your ship is homeporting in San Juan. 

OSJ is usually used for port calls. Pan American is usually used for cruises embarking/disembarking in San Juan.

Edited July 8 by njhorseman

[njhorseman]

3 hours ago, ajtaylor29 said:

Of course, we chose a hotel close to the pier at OSJ.....

I'd stay in OSJ regardless. 

[ajtaylor29]

3 hours ago, njhorseman said:

I'd stay in OSJ regardless. 

Oh we will for sure. But I might have chosen a different hotel knowing it wasn't right in front of the pier. All good!

[ajtaylor29]

5 hours ago, njhorseman said:

You'll be departing from Pan American because your ship is homeporting in San Juan. 

OSJ is usually used for port calls. Pan American is usually used for cruises embarking/disembarking in San Juan.

This makes sense, thanks!

[TJ O'Pootertoot]

On 7/2/2024 at 1:58 PM, njhorseman said:

Per cruisetimetables.com there will be three ships in port that day so you should be able to dock in OSJ.

 

I'm also going to be in San Juan on Jan 1 (on Equinox) and was wondering about all this but sounds like we should safely be docking in Old San Juan.

 

It looks like all the national historic sites are closed, as is Bacardi and so it's either taking an excursion or just walking around and seeing the sites, even if just from the outside. Does anyone know if there are likely to be some shops and restaurants near the piers that are open? I'd assume that even with the holiday, they wouldn't want to miss out on business from the ships coming in.