San Juan advice needed

[Judyrem]

On my Allure cruise in August, we only have six hours in San Juan.  My friend has been there a few times, but I have not.

I think we will stay on the ship.

 

On my birthday cruise with my sister in law in November,  we have a twelve hour port stop, so we will do  proper exploring there.

[Clarea]

5 minutes ago, Judyrem said:

On my Allure cruise in August, we only have six hours in San Juan.  My friend has been there a few times, but I have not.

I think we will stay on the ship.

 

On my birthday cruise with my sister in law in November,  we have a twelve hour port stop, so we will do  proper exploring there.

 

You can easily walk to the San Cristobal fort for a couple of hours and grab some lunch, back on the ship in 3 hours or so.

[Judyrem]

11 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

You can easily walk to the San Cristobal fort for a couple of hours and grab some lunch, back on the ship in 3 hours or so.

I may do that.  She is more into R&R and I am into exploring.

[Cookson]

We cruise on Fascination out of SJ in September. Do you guys think all this will be over by then? Hoping so!!

[PelicanBill]

Based on video and pictures of protests, I think RCI has made the right call and OP made the right call to move their hotel.  We can't know how long this will last of course.  But protesters made quite a mess of the shopping district the last few days. Lots of spray paint, damaged walls, streets, and windows.  I hate to think what is happening as they pick up bricks from the streets.

 

And I was just there a few weeks ago. sad.

[jenngirl]

On 7/16/2019 at 2:31 PM, pezgirlroy said:

Hi, we leave in two weeks on the Freedom from San Juan. We were going to be staying at an Air BnB in Old San Juan but given the protests that are happening right now I decided to change that. We are now staying at the AC Hotel Condado.  The hotel looks nice and is close to the airport and the pier.  My hope is that we will still be able to go to Old San Juan in the afternoon on Saturday when we arrive by taking an uber or taxi over.  Anyone stay at this hotel? suggestions on things to do near by. Restaurants for dinner/breakfast? Bars? really anything.  My plans have all now changed. Thank you as always for your help and reading. 

Hi! I just disembarked the Freedom of the Seas on Sunday! You will have an awesome time! It's a beautiful ship with an amazing crew! We stayed at the Sheraton Puerto Rico Hotel & Casino, which is literally right across the street from the Panamerican Pier. It was beautiful and easy to catch a cab from there to the pier. The ride was maybe 5 minutes max and was $15 for 3 adults and all of our luggage. We stayed the night before the cruise so we went to Old San Juan for the afternoon on Saturday. Once again, cabs are super easy to take. The local cab drivers also benefit from the cabs- some were saying that Ubers are hurting them slightly. It's easy to pick cabs up in Old San Juan too. Just ask and they tell you where they are. I know there was one by Calle Fortaleza and one by the Cathedral. We had dinner at Barrachina on Calle Fortaleza and it was amazing! I highly recommend it here. The food was delicious and plentiful. I would make a reservation though. They had a sign out front that said they were only accepting people with reservations. I walked outside, went on OpenTable and made a reservation for 10 minutes later. It all worked out but just throwing it out there that you should make a reservation if you can. We just walked around too when we were done with dinner. Keep in mind that the day we went (Saturday), there was a Carnival ship in the Old San Juan port, but once it left after 6pm, pretty much all of the stores closed down in Old San Juan, so if you want to do some shopping, try to do it before 6pm. 

Feel free to let me know if you have other questions! I just published a blog post on my blog about Freedom of the Seas if you want additional information: https://thehappiesttravels.com/2019/07/16/freedom-of-the-seas-cruise-review/

[pezgirlroy]

2 minutes ago, jenngirl said:

Hi! I just disembarked the Freedom of the Seas on Sunday! You will have an awesome time! It's a beautiful ship with an amazing crew! We stayed at the Sheraton Puerto Rico Hotel & Casino, which is literally right across the street from the Panamerican Pier. It was beautiful and easy to catch a cab from there to the pier. The ride was maybe 5 minutes max and was $15 for 3 adults and all of our luggage. We stayed the night before the cruise so we went to Old San Juan for the afternoon on Saturday. Once again, cabs are super easy to take. The local cab drivers also benefit from the cabs- some were saying that Ubers are hurting them slightly. It's easy to pick cabs up in Old San Juan too. Just ask and they tell you where they are. I know there was one by Calle Fortaleza and one by the Cathedral. We had dinner at Barrachina on Calle Fortaleza and it was amazing! I highly recommend it here. The food was delicious and plentiful. I would make a reservation though. They had a sign out front that said they were only accepting people with reservations. I walked outside, went on OpenTable and made a reservation for 10 minutes later. It all worked out but just throwing it out there that you should make a reservation if you can. We just walked around too when we were done with dinner. Keep in mind that the day we went (Saturday), there was a Carnival ship in the Old San Juan port, but once it left after 6pm, pretty much all of the stores closed down in Old San Juan, so if you want to do some shopping, try to do it before 6pm. 

Feel free to let me know if you have other questions! I just published a blog post on my blog about Freedom of the Seas if you want additional information: https://thehappiesttravels.com/2019/07/16/freedom-of-the-seas-cruise-review/

Thank you so much. Just now going to procrastinate at work and read the review. 

[MajorDad]

13 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

or Coco Cay and Labadee  

Yes indeed. Which I assume they will try to default to if possible. I could be wrong on that. Still another day at sea with the casino opened wouldn't hurt my feelings, maybe split the difference?

[Iamcruzin]

6 minutes ago, MajorDad said:

Yes indeed. Which I assume they will try to default to if possible. I could be wrong on that. Still another day at sea with the casino opened wouldn't hurt my feelings, maybe split the difference?

Actually a sea day would  also benefit  Royal with the casino and shops being open.

[KAA951]

Well, we arrived in San Juan last night.  No issues with protestors etc.  We checked into the AC Hotel, which was very nice / comfortable.

 

But... we discovered this morning the AC Marriott no longer had an agreement with the Marriott Resort for beach, pool etc access.  Apparently, this contract ended in June!  For the $40 resort fee that AC was charging us, this was a real disappointment.

 

So, we switched hotels to the Marriott Resort!  We have a beautiful, ocean front balcony room and all the resort amenities we expected.  

 

No no sign of any security issues from the protests against the Governor.  Our taxi driver from the airport suggested visiting Old San Juan in the morning and leaving before 4-5 pm before the protests ramp up. 

[cruiseluv]

Dont know if this will affect anybody cruising , but they have called for a General strike for this Monday, 7/22, starting at 9 am. They're planning to congregate at the big mall, Plaza Las Americas, and nearby areas, and march on the Expressway Las Americas, I assume towards Old San Juan. Difficult to predict how many people will participate, but lets say I was happy I was leaving PR today and not on Monday!

[bobmacliberty]

19 hours ago, KAA951 said:

But... we discovered this morning the AC Marriott no longer had an agreement with the Marriott Resort for beach, pool etc access.  Apparently, this contract ended in June!  For the $40 resort fee that AC was charging us, this was a real disappointment.

 

Thanks for posting this.  Disappointing to learn.  We walked to the Marriott Resort and it looked like a very nice place.  Prime beach location and a large pool complex.

[KmomChicago]

The governor has resigned.  It's entirely possible everything will just immediately calm down now, like cleanup day after Mardi Gras.  Hopefully the protesters are satisfied, exhausted, and ready to get back to normal. 

 

I would still monitor the daily situation.  There haven't been reports of tourists being targeted these past couple of weeks, and it's been more concern about being in the wrong place at the wrong time as a bystander.  It would seem your stay at a nice Marriott in a good area is probably going to be fine.  Puerto Rico, even nice neighborhoods like Condado, has always had a slightly dicey reputation for crime. Whether that is deserved or not at any given time is down to whatever shady character is out looking for targets when you happen to be walking around.

 

Of course once again, travelling anywhere, domestic or international, always has risks so remain on alert regardless of what you decide to do and visit during the pre-cruise visit.  There are very few tourist destinations without any reports of pickpocketing or other types of visitor attacks.

 

There are many little souvenir shops and eateries in old San Juan. It is simply an adorable, charming, delightful place to walk around on a sunny day, and all these little ventures clearly rely on tourist visits.  The area handles large cruise ship crowds pretty well and it would be a disappointment to have to completely miss it. 

 

Heck, walking out of your home has risks. Staying in your home has risks.  I hope all traveling into and out of PR will be safe and able to enjoy their visits.