San Juan before cruise in January

[imanewcruiser]

I'm planning on taking a cruise that leaves from San Juan in January on the Caribbean Princess. I'm wondering what the situation is regarding the airport, cruise terminal and hotels in San Juan. I'm also looking for a place that sells wine/spirits. Any help would be appreciated.

[FlaKrznNubie]

There is all this info in the threads already on this page about these same questions.

[imanewcruiser]

There is all this info in the threads already on this page about these same questions.

 

 

Thanks for the information. I was hoping someone would share their experience with me. I'm not very computer savvy and the search I performed came up with information only on a couple of the hotels, but I don't know where they are or what is located around them or how far they are from the airport or cruise terminal.

 

I hope someone will be kind enough to help me out.

[KuffMUp]

I'm not so good at searching either. So here is what I found out from the boards. There are basically three "areas" in/around San Juan - Old San Juan, Condado, and Isla Verde. Some cruise lines leave from the piers in Old San Juan and others leave from the Pan American pier. I think Princess leaves from the Old San Juan Pier. There are several hotels in the OSJ area - Sheraton Old San Juan, Howard Johnsons, Da Hotel, Hotel El Convento. El Convento and Sheraton both have a requirement to stay two nights on Friday and Saturday during some seasons. At the Howard Johnsons, many rooms are interior so have no windows.

 

If you want to stay further away on the beach, you can choose the Condado area or Isla Verde. Those areas are going to be spendy because of the beach location. Here is a link to a map that shows the Old San Juan area as well as Condado: http://www.langland.org/cruises/sanjuan.asp

 

It doesn't show the further out Isla Verde section. Hotels in that area are the Intercontinental, El San Juan, and Ritz Carlton.

 

The taxi from the airport to Old San Juan should be around $20 plus $1 each piece of luggage.

 

I would suggest looking on Travelocity, Expedia, or Orbitz to see what hotels are available at a price you want. Several hotels can be booked through Hotwire. I had never done Hotwire before but did book one for this trip. I got great advice from betterbidding.com

 

Here is what I ended up doing. We are flying in the day before from the West coast leaving Friday at 10 pm arriving at the airport at 1 p.m. Saturday. Figured we would be tired so I booked the Embassy Suites. It is about a block away from the beach in Condado and it is close to the Pam Am pier where we are leaving from. Then for the return, I wanted to see Old San Juan, so I booked the Sheraton Old San Juan on Hotwire.

 

Once you know the names of some of the hotels, just brouse through the posts looking for titles that have the hotels you are considering and you can get a feel for which one would be right for you. Good luck!:o

[wrp96]

I think Princess leaves from the Old San Juan Pier.

 

 

Princess is now using the Pan Am Pier, not the ones in Old San Juan.