Anyone ever done the POST CRUISE "Old & New San Juan City tour"?

[Joby]

Has anyone ever done the "Old & New San Juan City " tour post cruise ($27/person) that drops off at the airport?

 

If so, can you answer a few questions?

 

We have time to kill between our docking time of 7 am and our flight time of 3:15 pm out of SJU (we should be at the airport by 1 pm, I'm guessing?).

 

We don't want to spend a lot of money at the end of the cruise. There are 3 of us (our Mom uses a cane to get around w/ wheelchair for longer distances--Old San Juan is hard for her to get around on foot, let alone wheelchair. We've tried it beore and the hills, cobblestones and narrow sidewalks were killers!).

 

I found this in the Celebrity land tours section-- it says it's only available for flights AFTER 2:30 pm . The tour departs at 8 am and is 2 hours in length.

 

I'm wondering

--why it leaves so early if it's only 2 hours in length (we don't want to finish at 10 am and have to sit at the airport for another 5 hours until our 3:15 pm flight)

--is it a crowded bus

--anyone had any personal experience with this tour

 

Celebrity also lists a "City Tour & Bacarrdi Rum Factory" ($33/person) tour that's onle available for flights AFTER 5:30 pm., starts at 8:00 am, tour is 4 hours long and drops off at the airport. Same questions about this tour as above.

 

I've looked into private tours that do the same thing as the above tours, but they are ranging from $40/person--$70/person. We don't really want to spend that much.

 

Taxi from the pier--airport seems to run about $25 (for 3 w/luggage). But we don't want to sit at the airport for hours with nothing to do.

 

Any suggestions/comments or personal experience?

[badger71]

we did the walking tour of san juan after our cruise 2 yrs ago we enjoyed it a lot. we jhad a very good guide. i'm afraid it would not be suitable for your mother. the bus was not crowed, it was very comfortable. we changed out of our walking clothes at the airport. it is quite hot and sunny even in the morning so you will want to be able to chage clothes:)

[espmass]

I don't know if it was exactly the same tour, but a few years ago we took the bus tour of San Juan that included a stop for shopping and a stop for lunch. The shopping was a stop at a large souveneir shop and lunch was a fast food court. It wasn't great but it was better than sitting at the airport. Since then we have discovered you can get a day rate at a hotel. If you want to save costs, you can split it with other people you know or meet onboard. We get a cab there at docking, use the pool and facilities for the day, shower, dress, and get a cab to the airport. The drawback is usually you can't book this ahead of time and have to have the concierge onboard call for you the night before docking.

[Joby]

espmass, we only have a few hours until our flight (too much time to just sit at the airport, but not enough time to do something really neat or far away).

 

I don't think we would get our money's worth with a daypass at a hotel + cab to hotel + cab to airport. But thanks for the idea!

[DEElovesCruisin']

We are on a Feb 07 cruise out of San Juan and will be in the same situation upon departure. (last Feb we did the rain forest post cruise tour-worked out quite well).

 

What hotels/motel offer the day rates? I would be interested in being able to spend the day on the beach instead of the airport. The only time for departure time available for us is at 6-7 PM for us.:) thanks!!

[Texed]

Has anyone ever done the "Old & New San Juan City " tour post cruise ($27/person) that drops off at the airport?

We have time to kill between our docking time of 7 am and our flight time of 3:15 pm out of SJU (we should be at the airport by 1 pm, I'm guessing?).

 

What we did instead of an excursion was to hire a taxi for the day. It cost the 4 of us $50.00. He took us wherever we wanted to go, picked us us where we told him to, ( several stops), and then took us to the airport. A wonderful alternative to an excursion. :D

[T&KMalone]

We did it in December 2002 from the Constellation. It worked out great, other than having to hike the luggage from their drop off point at the airport a long distance to the terminal.

[espmass]

Deelovescruisin- Just about all the hotels will give you a day rate if you ask. The problem is they only offer it if they have an empty room so you can't book it ahead. Last time we had the concierge on the ship call for us the night before we docked and we also made some calls from our cell phone the morning we docked so you don't know till the last minute if you have a place. Next time I decided I would just book a room and get early check in but not stay over. If you can find another couple to split it with you the cost is much less and you're really only using the room to stash your luggage while you're at the beach or pool and then using the room to shower and dress so that you arrive at the airport fresh.