Puerto rico rainforest tour or old san juan tour

[mlayman7]

We are a family of 5 and trying to find out which excursion would be better. Anyone have experiences with these that can help us decide? Our kids are 10, 8, and 4 and capable of walking, cruise is late March. Any other recommendations?

 

[Chemist]

I would walk to the forts and tour on your own. Be sure to start with the video in the visitor's center.
Your admission to one fort gives admission to both.

The further away one has an area out front where you can buy/fly kites.

 

[mlayman7]

I would walk to the forts and tour on your own. Be sure to start with the video in the visitor's center.
Your admission to one fort gives admission to both.

The further away one has an area out front where you can buy/fly kites.

Yeah? Everything is in walking distance? Safe?

 

[StarSeven7]

We just came back from our cruise on Sunday and we had 3 extra days in Puerto Rico so we did both the walking around Old San Juan and the fort and another day at the rainforest. Both were excellent but I would say if you only have time for one I would pick Old San Juan and the fort. It's really easy to walk from the port, we thought everything was perfectly safe and never felt nervous with my kids (9 and 6). My kids really loved exploring the fort - they called it the fort that goes on forever! El Yunque would be probably around an hour from the port if there is no traffic.

 

[cvjw]

We toured the forts on our own in October. We walked from the fantasy. It was an easy walk to the first fort and a scenic, safe walk to the second fort. We really enjoyed it. It was super hot and we stopped to buy some water from a local vendor only to discover that the bottles had been previously opened and refilled. The only downside to the whole day.

 

[Quellman]

I would walk to the forts and tour on your own. Be sure to start with the video in the visitor's center.
Your admission to one fort gives admission to both.

The further away one has an area out front where you can buy/fly kites.

There is a free trolley/tram from the pier that takes you through a few areas, like the governors mansion and then makes stops at both forts. When you stop at the second fort, unless you want to walk all the way to the actual fort, stay on the tram, they'll drive you up there!

 

[belle032]

We had a port stop in San Juan about 2 years ago and it is actually super easy to just walk around on your own. The streets and buildings are so pretty and very walkable. And you'll see plenty of other passengers around doing the same thing. The fort is very cool and the huge cathedral is beautiful. Make sure to get photos on the "umbrella street" and check out a restaurant nearby that claims to have invented the Pina Colada! (There's a plaque on the building)

We really enjoyed this port as it was a nice change from the all-day beach days! We were there in September and does get HOT so bring water with you!

 

[mlayman7]

We just came back from our cruise on Sunday and we had 3 extra days in Puerto Rico so we did both the walking around Old San Juan and the fort and another day at the rainforest. Both were excellent but I would say if you only have time for one I would pick Old San Juan and the fort. It's really easy to walk from the port, we thought everything was perfectly safe and never felt nervous with my kids (9 and 6). My kids really loved exploring the fort - they called it the fort that goes on forever! El Yunque would be probably around an hour from the port if there is no traffic.

Thanks this makes me more confident in doing this with our kids. Price really adds up quickly for these tours.

 

[mlayman7]

We had a port stop in San Juan about 2 years ago and it is actually super easy to just walk around on your own. The streets and buildings are so pretty and very walkable. And you'll see plenty of other passengers around doing the same thing. The fort is very cool and the huge cathedral is beautiful. Make sure to get photos on the "umbrella street" and check out a restaurant nearby that claims to have invented the Pina Colada! (There's a plaque on the building)

We really enjoyed this port as it was a nice change from the all-day beach days! We were there in September and does get HOT so bring water with you!

Thanks, love the advice of some things to do!

 

[mlayman7]

There is a free trolley/tram from the pier that takes you through a few areas, like the governors mansion and then makes stops at both forts. When you stop at the second fort, unless you want to walk all the way to the actual fort, stay on the tram, they'll drive you up there!

That sounds even easier than figuring out our way around

 

[StarSeven7]

We had a port stop in San Juan about 2 years ago and it is actually super easy to just walk around on your own. The streets and buildings are so pretty and very walkable. And you'll see plenty of other passengers around doing the same thing. The fort is very cool and the huge cathedral is beautiful. Make sure to get photos on the "umbrella street" and check out a restaurant nearby that claims to have invented the Pina Colada! (There's a plaque on the building)

We really enjoyed this port as it was a nice change from the all-day beach days! We were there in September and does get HOT so bring water with you!

Just an FYI that it's not the "umbrella" street anymore - it has Puerto Rican flags now! The restaurant is Barrachina's - we just ate lunch there on Sunday!

OP, if you stop at the Tourist Information, they'll give you a map of Old San Juan and point out all the sites. Worked great for us!

 

[MJB03]

San Juan was our favorite port during our cruise in December! We thought about doing an excursion to the rainforest, but decided we didn't want to spend most of the day on a bus. Instead, we did Old San Juan on our own. We started at El Morro, the fort that is further away from the ship, but is larger than the closer fort. The walk was nice and safe, although a bit uphill. DS (7) absolutely loved the fort! We easily spent 2+ hours there, because there is so much to explore. After that, we decided to skip the other fort, and instead went to see the Governor’s Mansion and the “umbrella street.” Unfortunately, the umbrellas were gone, and had been replaced by a very large flag of Puerto Rico. It was a bit of a let down, but still really cool. And just down the street about a block or two away, we stumbled onto the bar in the building where Pina Coladas were invented. DS had his first pina colada (non alcoholic, of course), and he loved it!

 

[mlayman7]

We toured the forts on our own in October. We walked from the fantasy. It was an easy walk to the first fort and a scenic, safe walk to the second fort. We really enjoyed it. It was super hot and we stopped to buy some water from a local vendor only to discover that the bottles had been previously opened and refilled. The only downside to the whole day.

Yeah I had already been thinking we'll have to bring a couple hydro flasks with us, this confirms the need for that!

 

[tlprice]

The forts are a National Park so if your kids are into Junior Ranger badges like my daughter, they can do that for free at the forts too. My DD (10 at the time) and I (single mom) walked to the forts on our own and never felt unsafe. We preferred the San Cristobal fort, but it might be because we visited it first and were more tired by the time we visited San Felipe del Morro. If you plan to visit both forts make sure not to lose your receipt so you can show it at the second fort.

 

[stsomewhere]

We always take a taxi to the far fort. After exploring it, it is an easy downhill walk. Another option is when leaving cruise port, turn left and walk on the sea walk walk. then go through the red arch and up to the fort.

 

[Quellman]

That sounds even easier than figuring out our way around

Found a link for it.
Here

 

[mlayman7]

Found a link for it.
Here

Thanks, this will be very helpful.

 

[allaboutthemouse]

Just got back from our repo Wonder cruise that started in San Juan to New Orleans...we flew in a day early and stayed the night in the beautiful Decanter Hotel in Old San Juan, it was lovely.
Walked all around San Juan, tried mofongo, had Mallorcas and coffee at la bombonera, - yum!, popcicles at senior paleta and toured el morro, awesome.
This was an anniversary cruise for just my husband and I, but we both agreed we would not hesitate to walk the streets of old San Juan with our four boys, 5-16. (can’t say the same about New Orleans, yikes) And our boys would have loved the fort!
Super hot, though, do bring water if u can. For anyone who is thinking of staying overnight in old San Juan, it did get rather loud at times outside the hotel at night. I would still stay there with our boys though.

 

[AgentMama]

Just got back from our repo Wonder cruise that started in San Juan to New Orleans...we flew in a day early and stayed the night in the beautiful Decanter Hotel in Old San Juan, it was lovely.
Walked all around San Juan, tried mofongo, had Mallorcas and coffee at la bombonera, - yum!, popcicles at senior paleta and toured el morro, awesome.
This was an anniversary cruise for just my husband and I, but we both agreed we would not hesitate to walk the streets of old San Juan with our four boys, 5-16. (can’t say the same about New Orleans, yikes) And our boys would have loved the fort!
Super hot, though, do bring water if u can. For anyone who is thinking of staying overnight in old San Juan, it did get rather loud at times outside the hotel at night. I would still stay there with our boys though.

Curious about the "yikes" for New Orleans. We've been there with our boys and had a great time. Thinking about booking DCL next year with them again and spending a couple of days before or after. Based on our previous experience we wouldn't hesitate to go with them again, interested in your experience.

 

[allaboutthemouse]

Curious about the "yikes" for New Orleans. We've been there with our boys and had a great time. Thinking about booking DCL next year with them again and spending a couple of days before or after. Based on our previous experience we wouldn't hesitate to go with them again, interested in your experience.

I guess I should clarify...so we stayed at the intercontinental hotel (the same one Disney will book for you, but we didn’t book through them so it was cheaper), which is in the business district. That was an okay area to walk around, no problem there. Then if you jump on the streetcar and head to the garden district, that was pretty...and my kids would have enjoyed riding the streetcar, so I would do that with them...but if you went the other way from the hotel and crossed canal street and closer you got to bourbon, no, I would not feel comfortable keeping a watchful eye on all of my chicks...too many people doing stupid things, it’s not Disney that’s for sure

We headed down to Muriels restaurant for dinner, (awesome) and when we were done there was a parade about to start and oh my goodness, I never would have been able to keep my family together in that mess, wall to wall intoxicated people.

So yes, I would not mind taking my kids to the garden or business district, and then a plantation or swamp tour, which we did not have time for. Daytime in the French quarter is obviously better than night time, but it’s really all about your comfort level I guess, and it’s just not high on my priority list of places for us to go as a family.

Something I should mention about the hotel if anyone cares...
I will say we were not too happy with the hotel in the sense that we had a connecting room, they might all be connecting, I don’t know, and as soon as we walked in the room there were a group of women in the connecting room being so loud and obnoxious, profanity, etc., and this was in the middle of the afternoon, so we decided it could only get worse, so we asked to switch rooms.
So hotel was great about that and switched us, but the next room we got was also connecting and all was great until that evening when our neighbors came back and they were so loud, like literally it was like they were in the room with us. It was a family this time, so crying children instead of cussing lol. So I guess it’s just where the doors for the connecting rooms are that lets every sound in. We were not going to complain because we already did it once and really I don’t think they could have done anything because it just seems like bad design, we just made the best of it and laughed about it...oh, well, it’s only two nights we’ll survive lol. But I definitely would not have been happy if my kids were there and we had the first group of women on the other side.
The hotel staff was really nice about it, though, so that was good. But my opinion, I would not stay there again.