San Juan with late departure

We will be sailing on Jewel of the Seas, on August 30th. Our return flight doesn’t leave San Juan, Puerto Rico until 4:30. Should I book the cruise ship excursion “Old and New San Juan City Tour with Airport Drop-Off”, for $34.00 per/person. Or try to venture out and use a cab on our own? I also want this to be cost-effective as this is the last day of our cruise. Also not sure if/when we will be able to get a bite to eat, using the organized tour. PS…..Will our bags be traveling with us during the ship’s excursion? Any and all help is greatly appreciated!

We did that same exact excursion. They have a lunch stop (extra cost) at a local restaurant where you can order what you want. Don't remember if the bags were with us or went to the airport separately, but we picked up the bags at the airport and took them through the ag inspection ourselves.

We took a cab to Barachina's where they will hold your luggage at no charge, though we let a tip. It is a pleasant restaurant so after sightseeing we had lunch there before heading to the airport. There is a free trolley that circles old san juan. I would recommend the capitaol building, with beautiful art, free english language tours, and of course the trolley stops at el morro, the fort. Costs would be small, just the cabs into old san juan and to the airport and lunch.

Old and New San Juan City Tour with Airport Drop-Off - SJ46

The link above is the source of this quote:

Overview: See the leading sights of modern and colonial San Juan before your flight on a narrated tour that includes an interior visit of the city's massive Castillo San Cristobal. Discover historic landmarks and restored colonial structures in tropical-hued Old San Juan. Go inside the castillo to explore the tunnels and ingenious features of the 17th century Spanish defenses. A great tour to cap off your cruise vacation.

Highlights: Castillo San Cristobal: Explore the tunnels and other defenses built by the Spaniards to defend the city from attack. Old San Juan: Landmark sights include the San Jose Church, the Governor's Mansion, Cristo Chapel, El Convento Hotel and more. Condado: Admire San Juan's most famous resort area, home to modern condo towers and luxury hotels.

What to Bring: Photo identification Camera Cash/credit cards Sun protection

What to Wear: Weather-appropriate clothing Comfortable walking shoes Sunglasses Hat

Important Notes: Available to guests departing at 2:30 pm or later for U.S. domestic flights or 3:30 pm or later for international flights. The tour formally concludes at the airport. Luggage is stored safely during the tour. This tour is open to guests sailing on consecutive cruises, who will be returned to the ship.

 

Enjoy :)

We did the ship's excursion "Old San Juan walking tour" last year. EXCELLENT tour guide. Very knowledgeable and personable. We did the El Yunque rainforest tour the previous year - beautiful flora and fauna. Going to try the "Old and Nw San Juan" tour this year.

Don't know if it's still offered, but there used to be a Bacardi factory tour too.

We just walked outside after customs and several tour guides available right outside. We just got off July 19th. Paid 25.00 pp for a tour of new and old san Juan. We just had to wait a bit for the small bus to fill up. Guide let us roam OSJ for a couple hours and picked us back and brought us to the airport. Had a really nice lunch at the Puerto Rico Café.

We will be sailing on Jewel of the Seas, on August 30th. Our return flight doesn’t leave San Juan, Puerto Rico until 4:30. Should I book the cruise ship excursion “Old and New San Juan City Tour with Airport Drop-Off”, for $34.00 per/person. Or try to venture out and use a cab on our own? I also want this to be cost-effective as this is the last day of our cruise. Also not sure if/when we will be able to get a bite to eat, using the organized tour. PS…..Will our bags be traveling with us during the ship’s excursion? Any and all help is greatly appreciated!

Come join the roll call. It is the quietest roll call ever....but join us over there and chat with folks on your sailing.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1868335

FYI..

We did a cruise out of San Juan with a late flight this past March.

You can not check in at the airport (air line) 3 hours prior to your flight.

Wish I had known that. We sat on the floor by our Air Line and played a dice game (left, right, center) even had others join us.

Ca

We just walked outside after customs and several tour guides available right outside. We just got off July 19th. Paid 25.00 pp for a tour of new and old san Juan. We just had to wait a bit for the small bus to fill up. Guide let us roam OSJ for a couple hours and picked us back and brought us to the airport. Had a really nice lunch at the Puerto Rico Café.

We did this also and I can say it was probably the best value tour that we have had. Our driver was very knowledgeable and our bags were secure in the bus while we explored. We thought about storing them at Barachina, but after seeing the narrow streets, I'm glad that I didn't try to wrangle them in OSJ. We did, however, eat at Barachina and try their world famous Pina Colada. :D

Our good friends did that excursion upon returning from the Jewel and loved it. Everything went smoothly and the luggage was safely stored during the tour. DW and I will be booking the same excursion with our Adventure sailing in January.

We took a cab to Barachina's where they will hold your luggage at no charge, though we let a tip. It is a pleasant restaurant so after sightseeing we had lunch there before heading to the airport. There is a free trolley that circles old san juan. I would recommend the capitaol building, with beautiful art, free english language tours, and of course the trolley stops at el morro, the fort. Costs would be small, just the cabs into old san juan and to the airport and lunch.

They have a really good lunch. You can walk around the area and see things also.

We took a cab to Barachina's where they will hold your luggage at no charge, though we let a tip. It is a pleasant restaurant so after sightseeing we had lunch there before heading to the airport. There is a free trolley that circles old san juan. I would recommend the capitaol building, with beautiful art, free english language tours, and of course the trolley stops at el morro, the fort. Costs would be small, just the cabs into old san juan and to the airport and lunch.

we did Barrachina also with a 330 flight.. all you do is tip them whatever you feel like. was told by the owner they have been doing it for 40 years....you can have four hours of walking around old san juan..very pleasant..the question is, do you really want another tour?

Make sure to have a piña colada at Barrachinas!!:D

This is good news to hear this tour is good through the cruise line!! We are doing the exact same thing on Jewel of the Seas Nov8-15th and our flight doesn't leave for Chicago until 4:30pm so far this is the only excursion we booked through RCCL. It was very affordable, will give us a little time to see some sights and get a ride back to the airport as well!! Very happy to hear others have done this and really enjoyed it!! :D

When we did Jewel from San Juan in March and our flight wasn't til around 7PM, we followed a different plan as follows:

We took a Taxi Turistico to SJU,where the "Cooperativa de Servicios de Equipaje" can storage your luggage for the day (For more information call (787) 791-3371). They charge one rate for large bags($8 or $10?), a lower rate for small carry-on size bags. Then the 3 of us hopped back in another white Taxi Turistico and in about 15 minutes were lounging at the Hotel Intercontinental San Juan in Isla Verde on the beach. We spent some time on the beach in front of this hotel (all San Juan beaches are public and you can rent umbrellas and chairs if you desire) and then had drinks and pretty nice lunch at their beach cafe "Ciao Mediterranean" complete with spectacular ocean views. We told various people at the hotel exactly what we were doing but said we came there because we wanted to look the hotel over for possible stay our next time in San Juan and they were all fine with us being there. Then returned to SJU in yet another white TT just at the right time to check in and get to our gate.. It wasn't a cheap day but our group of 3 loved a relaxing lovely day at the beach.

We did that same exact excursion. They have a lunch stop (extra cost) at a local restaurant where you can order what you want. Don't remember if the bags were with us or went to the airport separately, but we picked up the bags at the airport and took them through the ag inspection ourselves.

Question.. we are also doing this tour and just found out today that United Airlines has changed the time of our return flight home and as a result we decided to stay one extra day in San Juan and not fly home to Chicago until Sunday as the return flight they gave us was several hours earlier and would have interfered with this excursion, so upon the conclusion of this tour we do not need to go back to the airport and will just head to whatever hotel/guest-house/B&B we find in Old San Juan. Do you remember what the last stop on this tour is before they head back to the airport?? RCI told me there should be no problem asking the bus driver to just give us our luggage and we can go off on our own right before they start brining passengers back to the airport. So if we had an idea of approximately where the last stop is on the tour before airport drop offs start it would help me in planning where to look for lodging. I am pretty sure we do want to stay right in Old San Juan and I was considering the Hotel El Convento, one of the stops on the tour but they require a 2 night stay and that's impossible as we have to fly home on Sunday.