San Juan excursion ideas

[cman67]

We are cruising Celebrity for the first time on the Silhouette next January 4th.

 

We are looking for ideas for our day in San Juan. The ship docks at 3:30pm so daylight will be an issue.

 

We've never been there so we're open to anything but we have one person in our group, my dad, that's will be in a wheelchair. He can transfer, the chair is foldable and he can walk short distances.

 

Any ideas? I'm think some time at a fort. Which one and can we get there easily from the pier.

 

Thanks!!

[phoenix_dream]

Welcome to cruising - you have picked an awesome first cruise!

I believe the forts close around 4:00 or so (you can check the SJU website) so that is probably not an option. From the pier, you can easily walk into Old San Juan and look around. There is shopping and restaurants in walking distance (although I am guessing the shops will close around 5:00 or so). Walking around is safe in the daylight hours. I would not suggest you wander far from the dock at night on foot. If your family is into that type of thing, you might want to catch a cab to one of the nicer casino hotels - you can gamble for a bit and catch a nice dinner. Alternatively, you could catch a cab to a nice restaurant as well.

 

Your best bet for very specific information on this or any other port is to go to the ports of call boards and post your question there. When you go there you will also find a lot of information already posted about each port of call. :)

[Algebralovr]

We've done that trip twice. In both cases, we actually were off the ship before the expected time. We did one fort each trip.

 

Since you have the mobility issue, I recommend you grab a taxi to get up the hill. We walked, but both of us are in very good shape.

 

The forts have been open long enough that we had plenty of time to see all we wanted. They are national parks, so I recommend looking at them online to determine which one you wish to see. My mom and her husband actually saw both in one day, and they walked the whole way, but both get around very well. That was also on a cruise that wasn't supposed to dock until 3pm or so.

 

I believe the only thing that is touch and go about seeing is the Bacardi factory, since they stop tours at 4 or 4:30. The forts were open til 5 or so, and sometimes later. The last couple of years, they've been open late on Tuesdays, and even had a special program on Tuesdays!

[cman67]

Thanks for the replys. I should have said it's our forst Celebrity cruise but 4th overall.

 

I will look into if the ports will be open late enough.

 

Keep the ideas coming.

[justcrusn]

It's not an excursion but we had an awesome horse and buggy ride through the city with the driver pointing out the key sites, and it was CHEAP.

I'd do it again tomorrow.

[jgnova]

If you do go to a fort, they are US National Parks. If one of the party is 62 or older, that person can get a lifetime pass for ALL NPS sites for $10 - that will admit up to four people.

 

j