Sailing out of San Juan - Experiences? Recommendations?

[Cheburashka]

We are sailing a repositioning cruise out of San Juan next year, and will be arriving two days before the cruise, so that the day before the cruise can be spent exploring the island. Does anyone have recommendations for things to do in San Juan (besides the fort and the cemetery, both already on our list), or experiences to share about logistics with its airport, car rental, port transfers, port experience, etc.?

 

[AgentMama]

It's been a few years, but we loved the bioluminescent bay kayak tour.

 

[imbelle]

I second the bioluminescent bay kayak tour. Logistically we had to spend the night on Vieques to do the Mosquito Bay tour. We took a small prop plane because the ferry situation was too iffy. I'm not typically a bed & breakfast person but we stayed at Hacienda Tamarindo and it was fine. It's called Mosquito Bay for a reason so I would suggest long sleeves/pants and reef safe bug repellant on any exposed skin. Also, tours may not run on nights with a full or mostly full moon.

 

[holula]

We rented a car and did El Yunque one day and the a relaxing day/bioluminescent bay in the evening the following day.

 

[disdel]

We have done several DCL sailings to and from San Juan. We love PR.
If you plan on staying just in San Juan, Uber works well from the airport and to the pier as well as in town. The city is very walkable, but like any city anywhere, be aware of your surroundings.
We have stayed near the edge of the Carolina area, and had plenty of shops and restaurants available. The bio bay by Fajardo was an excellent suggestion. Check the moon phase, and hope you are there when you're as close to the new (no) moon put, the darker the night the better. If you're not certain about kayaking, there are one or two suppliers that bring you in with an electric powered boat. Very relaxing. Not sure about ubering out there, we drive. You can also take a ferry out to Vieques.
But, we prefer getting away from the city, and utilized rental cars. We've stayed out towards the Luquillo area, not far from El Yunque, the rainforest. A drive up into the rainforest, with a few short stops to hike in a bit, or even for a dip in a waterfall, is a great experience. Also out that way, look into la Ruta de lechon, and stop at Los Pinos. Lechon is roasted pork, and I can't describe how delicious a meal you will have, with a frosty cerveza.
You can go to the kioskos closer to San Juan in Loiza, but a little further out is the kioskos of Luquillo, a row of probably 50 or so varied establishments. Beer from one, shrimp from the next, etc., The sunset from the far end restaurant is beautiful.
Enjoy your time there.

 

[Clarkson U]

Does anyone have any experience with the Port? Is it a terminal like at PC or some other set up? If we are taking an uber to the Pan American Cruise Terminal is it easy to know where to drop off luggage and where to go? Are there restrooms at port and places to sit? Any insight on this cruise terminal is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[anricat]

Does anyone have any experience with the Port? Is it a terminal like at PC or some other set up? If we are taking an uber to the Pan American Cruise Terminal is it easy to know where to drop off luggage and where to go? Are there restrooms at port and places to sit? Any insight on this cruise terminal is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

It sort of feels like a warehouse inside. There are chairs and restrooms but it's definitely no frills so if you're used to PC it's not going to feel like that. We've sailed out of there twice but both times were pre-pandemic so I can't really report on what it's like since then. We took an Uber our second time (in Jan 2020) and I recall it being pretty straightforward.

I have descriptions of our experience in my trip reports. Here are the specific embarkation day posts:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/w...-southern-caribbean-fun.3731854/post-60205839
https://www.disboards.com/threads/b...wonder-from-puerto-rico.3790200/post-61517599

 

[Pooh2]

We are thinking of doing the NY to San Juan cruise.
Any suggestions for hotels in nice area? On the beach?

 

[Clarkson U]

It sort of feels like a warehouse inside. There are chairs and restrooms but it's definitely no frills so if you're used to PC it's not going to feel like that. We've sailed out of there twice but both times were pre-pandemic so I can't really report on what it's like since then. We took an Uber our second time (in Jan 2020) and I recall it being pretty straightforward.

I have descriptions of our experience in my trip reports. Here are the specific embarkation day posts:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/w...-southern-caribbean-fun.3731854/post-60205839
https://www.disboards.com/threads/b...wonder-from-puerto-rico.3790200/post-61517599

Thanks.

 

[anricat]

We are thinking of doing the NY to San Juan cruise.
Any suggestions for hotels in nice area? On the beach?

We stayed at El San Geronimo Hotel: https://www.elsangeronimohotel.com/en

It was a good little boutique hotel, clean and comfortable for a good price. We weren't really in San Juan for the beaches, we mostly stuck with historical/cultural. Looks like there is a beach about 7 min walk from El San Geronimo called Balneario del Escambrón that looks nice.

 

[RedHead0186]

If you're looking for a place to eat (like for a dinner), I recommend Triana. It's a tapas place (but paella is their specialty) and they have nightly flamenco shows. We went there on an excursion (through DCL) for a paella-making demonstration and flamenco show and loved it! We swore if we ever went to San Juan we would go back there for a full meal.

 

[gilsan]

We loved San Juan and would sail from there again. I did a trip report. We spent time on the beach and then explored old San Juan. There a lots of good restaurants and the port was easy to get to.

 

[SleepyDeb]

We stayed in El Convento, https://www.elconvento.com/, which was absolutely beautiful. We got ungraded for unknown reasons to a jr suite which was possibly the nicest hotel room I have ever stayed in. I used to travel extensively for work, and I've stayed in some amazing rooms when we were entertaining top sales people at conferences.

We took an Uber to the port. When we got back we stayed at a Hilton that was a block or 2 from the beach. We walked to the beach but left quickly bc we were unimpressed and returned to the hotel pool.