Trip Report San Juan

This is a report of our recent cruise ship stop in San Juan on Dec 24. We did not arrive until 1:00 PM. There was not much daylight to do a lot of the normal things, so we went out on our own. We reserved a rental car and drove out to Luquillo Beach to experience flyboarding. It was a great DIY excursion. The rental car worked well since the company we used, Enterprise, picked us up at the port once we got off the ship. We forgot to tell them which ship we were on, so they went to the Pan American pier first and then came to the OSJ pier once we called them. Maria was the person who picked us up, but she said everyone calls her Carmen since Maria is not a good name to have in Puerto Rico now! I think she was kidding, but not 100% sure.

She gave us a mini-tour of San Juan on the way back to the rental car place - located at the Condado Plaza Hilton. She showed us the Capital Building and the statues of all the US Presidents that had visited San Juan. They have not created the statue of Trump yet, since he visited after the hurricane, but she said they might not do one of him since they do not like him very much. We were able to get our car and head to Luquillo Beach with no problems. Enterprise is the only place we found that has an after hours drop off close to the port and we knew we would have the car later than 5:00 when they closed.

The drive to Luquillo was eye-opening. We did not see any hurricane damage in Old San Juan and everything appeared normal, but getting outside of the city, you could see how devastating it had been. There were road signs - the big giant ones - that the hurricane had twisted and broken on the side of the road. Maria had stripped the trees, especially the palm trees, but it was incredibly green and looked like it was coming back. The person at the rental car place told me that they had just opened El Yunque for limited access - mainly to the waterfalls, I suppose. We did not verify this, but if it is true, that is a good sign. We had a small traffic jam out to the beach for the workers who were installing new power lines along Highway 3. None of the traffic lights we saw were working, but people were considerate to cross traffic and it did not seem to be a big issue.

At Luquillo Beach there are a lot of kiosks that have local food, but most of them were closed. It was Christmas Eve, so that could have been the reason, or it could have been due to the hurricanes and the lack of people. There were people on the beach, but it was definitely not crowded. The folks who ran the flyboarding operation (flyboarding is a sport where you put on boots that are attached to a board and a tube runs from a jet ski to the board and then shoots water out of the bottom of the board, so the board will fly above the water with you on it) were really glad that we were there and told us that is how everyone in Puerto Rico feels. Their business had suffered a lot from the hurricane due to lack of tourists, but they were hopeful that things were picking up and it was getting better and better.

It was dusk when we finished our flyboarding, so we drove back to the pier to drop off everyone to do some shopping. They said that most shops were open, even on Christmas Eve. When I returned the rental car, there were no taxis at the hotel and one of the workers said I had to walk 10 minutes to some more hotels to find a taxi. I figured it was just as easy to walk what I thought would be 20 minutes back to the ship (it ended up being 45 minutes, but it was a pleasant walk and we were not in a hurry).

I wished I would have had more time to explore Old San Juan, especially the Paseo de la Princesa, but we had family Christmas Eve activities planned on the ship, so that took priority. All in all, I would definitely say that San Juan, while still suffering setbacks from Maria, is ready, willing, and able to host tourists and I would not hesitate to go back. In fact, my kids all said they would like to return for a land-based vacation since it was our first time there.

Thank you.

Thank you for your informative report .

Thanks for taking time to write this!

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Thanks for the in depth report. Our upcoming cruise was changed and although we will miss San Juan this time our next IS scheduled for a return to one of our favorite ports of call.

bosco

Thank you for your trip report.

Keith

Thank You for posting your experience.

Especially since you planned your own excursion.

Nice to know that Enterprise will pick you up at the port.

We'll be in San Juan from 8-4. Will rent a car and explore on our own.

Thanks again.

How easy was fly boarding.

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Thank you for your report!

How easy was fly boarding.

It was easier than I thought it would be, but I think it helps to be a teenager and in good shape (which I am neither). My kids mastered it in just a couple of minutes and were really having a good time at the end of their 30-minute session. I, on the other hand, took a bit longer to get myself steady out of the water and I would not say that I 'mastered' it. At the end of my 30 minutes I was comfortable, but I would have loved to go another 30 minutes. No matter where we were on the scale, it was a ton of fun and worth every penny.

Thank you for taking the time to do this review. And your kind, honest words. PR is rebounding and likeI once read somewhere "we're just doing some renovations".

El Yunque is partially opened up to the Coca falls. These are the ones right by the road that are in almost every picture of the rain forest. Further up the road the damage to the trails and the road itself is still being worked on and it will be like that for a few more months.

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Stinger-pr: Thanks for the nice reply and for the update on El Yunque. We are looking forward to coming back and hopefully staying for more than an afternoon this time. I really want to experience the rain forest next time. Cheers...

Stinger-pr: Thanks for the nice reply and for the update on El Yunque. We are looking forward to coming back and hopefully staying for more than an afternoon this time. I really want to experience the rain forest next time. Cheers...

There is so much to do outside Old San Juan!! El Yunque is just the tip of the iceberg. Cruise passengers should really take a port stop in San Juan as a preview of PR. A couple of days and a rental car make all the difference in the world.

Yes, there is still cleanup, refurbishing, rebuilding and remodeling going on everywhere with the central, mountainous regions being the ones where heavy work is still being done. But in general PR is open, a lot of the open hotels are accepting reservations and just about everyone is ready for business.

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