A couple of weeks ago I took a cruise on the Carnival Victory out of San Juan, Puerto Rico. This was probably my fourth or fifth cruise out of that port and it remains one of my favorite ports of embarkation. While I don’t mind taking a cruise out of any port to me cruising out of San Juan is much better than leaving from Miami, Fort Lauderdale or just about any U.S. Port. Below are five reasons why I enjoy cruising out of San Juan, lets see if you agree.
It gives you an extra Caribbean port of call?
Flying in early or staying a day late gives you some additional time to prepare or recoup Caribbean style. While I do recommend flying in early or staying a day late any time you get the chance, being able to do it in the Caribbean is a definite plus. Most of the time when our ship docks we get to see the touristy side of an island. However, I really enjoy when sun goes down and the locals come out. Old San Juan is the one place I have been where I get to see a true fusion of local nightlife mixing with incoming cruisers. It is always a fun time.
Old San Juan is such a romantic place
Strolling around Old San Juan with my lady is one of the most relaxing and romantic parts of any cruise. Although at times San Juan gets a bad rep as being a bit scary, I have never experienced anything even remotely dangerous. Most of the areas are well populated and there is always a strong police presence. It isn’t unusual for us to spend hours sitting on a bench listening to Salsa Music spilling out onto the street from one of the many nightclubs, or sipping on Sangria at a sidewalk cafe. Once we even sat for about 30 minutes watching a family of locals, a mother and her three kids playing a game of red-light, green-light Here at home kids are in such a hurry to grow up and we get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of working ridiculous hours that it was refreshing to see kids being kids and parents being parents (its not nearly as common as it should be).
Old San Juan has some of the best Restaurants you will find anywhere
Old San Juan is home to some of the best chefs and restaurants you will find in the Caribbean. The area known as Sofo (South Fortaleza) is a dense concentration of restaurants where you will find anything from authentic Puerto Rican food to Latin Japanese Fusion to a good old fashioned hamburger. If you can’t find a mind blowing meal in Old San Juan you really need to get both your palette and your sense of adventure checked.
Leaving From Puerto Rico gives you a chance to experience the Southern Caribbean on a seven day cruise
Since you are already in the Caribbean by the time you board your leaving from Puerto Rico gives you the ability to travel much further south than cruises leaving from U.S. Ports of embarkation. My first cruise out of San Juan took me down to Aruba which is nearly as far south as you can go in the Caribbean. The last cruise I took on the Carnival Victory took us as far south as St. Lucia and Barbados which isn’t extremely far but also gave us the advantage of being able to stop at a different island every day. Had we started our vacation in Miami we would have had to sacrifice either half the ports (for sea days) or not gone nearly as far south.
The people of Puerto Rico really know how to party
Some of the most fun sail away parties I have ever had were out of San Juan, Puerto Rico, participation is usually off the charts. While I am not a big participant in choreographed line dances I do enjoy watching them and there is nothing sadder than seeing more members of the cruise directors staff doing the dancing than passengers. I also really enjoy kicking back in the hot tub giving my extremely limited faux-Spanish a try which is something I can’t really do anywhere else.
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where did you stay in San Juan?
Old part or out on beach?
We stayed at the Caribe Hilton which is in the Condado area.