Fat Tuesday

Our ship will be stopping in San Juan on Fat Tuesday (mardigras) . Do any of the bars do anything special or celebrate this in San Juan?

Fat Tuesday is not a big celebration here, if at all. There are some minor carnivals around the island, but not in San Juan. We're still recovering from the Christmas Season (Thanksgiving through the San Sebastian Festival), which is just over.

Fat Tuesday is not a big celebration here, if at all. There are some minor carnivals around the island, but not in San Juan. We're still recovering from the Christmas Season (Thanksgiving through the San Sebastian Festival), which is just over.

Thanks for the information!

Thanks for the information!

Bear in mind, Puerto Ricans don't need much of an excuse to party, so you'll likely see some sort of revelry everywhere you go at night, especially in and around Old San Juan, regardless of the time of the year. Now Lent, the time between the day after Fat Tuesday (Ash Wednesday) and Easter, is a time of deep religious significance among many Puerto Ricans, so the partying becomes a little subdued because it is a period when some self-sacrifice is expected of everyone. Granted, most people breakdown that sacrifice to just not eating meat on Fridays, which means they will resort to eating seafood instead, so most restaurants will highlight fish and shellfish on their menus, SO, seafood becomes more scarce and pricey during this period. It's a cultural thing. Most people say that resorting to fish instead of meat is not much of a sacrifice, but hey, got to do what the Vatican says...

Thanks again AOS. I have departed from San Juan before but never have stopped there as a port stop. We are arriving at 3:00 pm and departing at 9:30 with no excursions planned. Do you have any suggestions? I have cruised many times and have 2 other couples who are joining us for the first time. We are thinking of just walking to old San Juan, doing a little shopping and lots of bar hoping....

We are thinking of just walking to old San Juan, doing a little shopping and lots of bar hoping....

That sounds like a plan!

Thanks again AOS. I have departed from San Juan before but never have stopped there as a port stop. We are arriving at 3:00 pm and departing at 9:30 with no excursions planned. Do you have any suggestions? I have cruised many times and have 2 other couples who are joining us for the first time. We are thinking of just walking to old San Juan, doing a little shopping and lots of bar hoping....

I'd suggest taking the free on/off trolley that has a stop right at the pier. It will take you by the fort and you can tour the fort on your own for around $5 or just get off wherever you see something you'd like to explore more. One word of caution......last time we were there the trolley stopped around 6 pm. No warning. The driver just told everyone that it's 6 pm so everyone off. I'm going home. Fortunately we were close enough to the pier to walk to the ship. So ask what time the trollies stop so you don't end up too far from the pier.