Solstice-San Juan: What to do so little time, w/kids

[felixdacat]

Ok...so I'm a planner.

San Juan seems to be the most confusing stop on the 7 day cruise.

The ship arrives at 2PM. On our cruise, this will be 12/22, the second shortest day of the year.

This is after a day at sea, so both the adults and the kids will be a bit antsy to get off the boat.

The kids are two 8 year old girls, one 9 year old boy, and one 11 year old girl.

The kids would be too small for the Segway tours. Too young for a zipline.

They will have zero interest in shopping or walking through Old San Juan.

Kinda late to be hitting the beach, and besides there will be better beaches later in the cruise.

The El Yunque tour is a possibility, but the sun sets that day a few minutes before 6PM, so it could be a little dim at the rain forest.

Another possibility is just taking them up to El Morro and flying kites.

Any other ideas?

 

FX

[dkjretired]

I would take a tour of the fort which is actually within walking distance of the ship. They used to have a combined tour of Barcardi and the fort which might be interesting, I know my kids didn't mind the tour. It is a very difficult time for you to be getting there and with the children I can understand your concern...

[swmichigan cruiser]

We are going to be in San Juan in about a month with our ten year old grandson and 8 year old granddaughter. We are planning to walk down and get a horse drawn carriage ride of old San Juan and then go to the Cold Stone Creamery for ice cream that is close to where the ship is docked.

[hcat]

Both forts are nearby but they are an uphill walk & it can be fairly hot--

I think the younger children might be bored--

 

the carriage ride & ice cream sounds so good we may do that the next time we pass through! how do you book that & what does it cost?

[swmichigan cruiser]

You don't need to book the carriage ride. When you get off the ship just take a left when you get out to the street and where the road starts curving to the right there should be a bunch of them there. Not sure of the price but for the 4 of us it should be reasonable. If you want I can post the price after I get back in about 5 weeks.

[TravelerThom]

Both forts are nearby but they are an uphill walk & it can be fairly hot--

I think the younger children might be bored--

You'll have to judge whether your kids would like to visit an old fort with lots of cannons, turrets, sea walls etc - as a kid I would have loved it, my brother would have been totally bored. There is a free open sided shuttle bus provided by San Juan Visitors Bureau that makes a loop around Old Town and stops at both forts [Castillo San Cristóbal and Castillo San Felipe del Morro]. It can be picked up directly in front of the Harbor Ferry building [just to the left as you come off the pier that Solstice usually docks at]. They run about every ten minutes, but with traffic congestion they can get held up. If you don't want to wait there are loads of taxis available at the pier.

 

Thom

[felixdacat]

Thanks so far for your quick and thorough responses.

Just to give y'all some greater background, my wife and I were in San Juan within the past 18 months. Over the past few years we have developed a fairly good radar as to what our kids would like to do, and Old San Juan did not create any large blips.

The boy and perhaps one of my neices may like El Morro, but if we decide to try kite flying then that would be an option. Taking a horse drawn carriage might be cool as a first step before flying the kites.

El Yunque, Ariciebo (and the place with all the strange ice cream flavors nearby), or the caves would be more the kids style, but with only 5 hours, renting a car and doing them ourselves is too risky. That leaves the El Yunque tour arranged through the ship, which is costly. To be honest, I would not be surprised if Celebrity cancelled that excursion as its the most likely tour to delay the ship from sailing on time, especially if for some reason the Solstice arrived late.

Of course, the kids could stay on board as could the adults, but as I mentioned previously, after a day and a half at sea already, that option sounds a bit boring.

[suznf]

The trip to El Yunque is at least a 1 hour bus ride if not longer. If you are in port til 11 pm, check out the bio-bay kayaking tour. It is amazing. But go with the ship as any delay will cause you to miss the ship.

 

I thought El Morro was awesome, and they sell kites at the entrance to the parking lot (I checked it out in Jan). The fort is interesting and there is lots of room to run around. Even if you dont go into the fort, the views are magnificent- and there is plenty of room to run around. There is also a children's museum in Old San Juan. I haven't been there, but when my kids were young we sought out the kids museums whenever we traveled and never hit a bad one. Here are some links about it http://www.planetware.com/san-juan/old-childrens-museum-pr-pr-kids.htm

http://www.museodelninopr.org/home.htm

 

You can use google translate if you don't read spanish; http://translate.google.com/translate_t#

 

Transportation around OSJ is free with the city trolly, but the trollies fill up fast and sometimes, you are simply better off getting a cab (or walking).

 

The ferry ride to the Bacardi factory is fun. And the Bacardi factory tour has a lot of tactile displays involving touch and smell. A nice way to spend an hour or so. (50 cents for the ferry, $2 for the taxi and the tour is free + a free drink!)

 

Old San Juan will be decorated beautifully for the holidays, lots of great photo ops. Enjoy your cruise!

[California4Me4Ever]

Even if your kids seem too old for it, you can check out Buster's Adventures, a video with Buster from the PBS Arthur series. There is an episode where he goes and flies kites as well as goes to the rainforest. It made it more exciting for my daughter when I could say "Remember this from the video?!"

 

Also if you walk up the hill to the forts there is a cool little plaza with a statue of Columbus (I think) with a ton of pigeons. My daughter really liked chasing them.

 

Happy sails!

[ellbon]

there is a park that you can feed the pigeons.. i love it as they are all around you and on you eating. he fort is fun and it over looks a huge cemetery of all white graves.

 

you can sit i n a court ayrd having a drink and watch the people go by after 5 and stores are open late.

[b72bronc]

We were in San Juan last summmer and Old San Juan is great. Good shopping at Ralph Lauren and Coach. For the kids, go to the fort and buy some kites. Great kite flying if the kids are interested. Garlicruisers.