Seeking San Juan Latest Info

[Organized Chaos]

1 hour ago, SRQbeachgirl said:

Hopefully the parks will open before we dock next Wednesday. The main thing we really want to do is see El Morro, so if it's closed that nixes our reason to even get off the ship. The only other time we visited San Juan, we wanted to tour the fort but it was closed. We did San Cristobal instead. It's taken over 20 years for us to get back to San Juan and if El Morro is closed this time too, I'm going to assume we are just never meant to see it. 

 

We toured both last year. My son and I enjoy history and historical places, so it was interesting. We started at San Cristobal first and spent quite a lot of time there. Took the free trolley to El Morro. By the time we walked around for a while, we were all hot, worn out, and kind of over it. We didn't explore every corner of El Morro, but the two are similar enough that we felt good about what we saw. I'm a bit of a WWII buff, so one thing I did find very interesting was how they incorporated the WWII pill-boxes into the existing structure of the fort. The grounds out in front of El Morro look amazing. Like a huge park. Lots of people laying around or flying kites. From there, it was a fairly short walk to the Cathedral of San Juan Bautista to see Ponce de Leon's tomb. And another comfortable walk back to the port. Good luck, hope you finally get to see it.

[jimbo5544]

11 hours ago, SRQbeachgirl said:

 

Hopefully the parks will open before we dock next Wednesday. The main thing we really want to do is see El Morro, so if it's closed that nixes our reason to even get off the ship. The only other time we visited San Juan, we wanted to tour the fort but it was closed. We did San Cristobal instead. It's taken over 20 years for us to get back to San Juan and if El Morro is closed this time too, I'm going to assume we are just never meant to see it. 

I am sure it will be open for your cruise.  We have visited it before and found it worth the time.  Enjoy!

[jimbo5544]

11 hours ago, levon10 said:

This is still a very fluid situation as it appears many of the protesters do not support the apparent replacement Justice Security Wanda Vazquez .

Fluidity in politics goes hand in hand.  There is no reason we have seen to stay away from this lovey island.   

[Anyislandwilldo]

On 7/22/2019 at 4:58 PM, SRQbeachgirl said:

We're scheduled to be in San Juan next Wednesday (July 31) on the Breeze and at this point, honestly, I hope they just cancel and make other plans. We intended to walk to El Morro, visit La Fortaleza, and see the hanging umbrellas (which have apparently been taken down due to the protests). DH now says we are not getting off the ship - period (let's just say we were caught in the middle of a military coups once, held at gunpoint by foreign military with a group of tourists, our passports confiscated for several hours, and DH might be just a tad touchy about this issue, even after all these years...). *sigh*

 

An extra day in Grand Turk or St. Thomas (our ports before and after San Juan) - or heck, even an extra day at sea - would be better than cruising passed El Morro, but not being able to talk DH into actually walking over there. 

 

 

Bummer I wanted to see the hanging umbrellas😒

[levon10]

4 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

Fluidity in politics goes hand in hand.  There is no reason we have seen to stay away from this lovey island.   

How about the fact that the national parks were closed, stores boarded up and many excursion companies were canceling. I have nothing against the people of Puerto Rico but I also do not want to be dropped off in the middle of thousands protesting.

Edited July 26, 2019 by levon10

[jimbo5544]

2 hours ago, levon10 said:

How about the fact that the national parks were closed, stores boarded up and many excursion companies were canceling. I have nothing against the people of Puerto Rico but I also do not want to be dropped off in the middle of thousands protesting.

Its over, do you really think they would drop you off in the middle of thousands protesting?   

[levon10]

They did the other day while thousands were in the streets celebrating and by all accounts it's now more a wait and see period. I'll be there next week so I guess I'll see for myself.

[jimbo5544]

9 minutes ago, levon10 said:

They did the other day while thousands were in the streets celebrating and by all accounts it's now more a wait and see period. I'll be there next week so I guess I'll see for myself.

You will, I was there yesterday.