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The fort and shopping district are within walking distance, as is a flea market with local artisans.  If you are into window shopping, jewelry, or knick-knacks, you can enjoy wandering around.  We tried a drive through El Yunque, which was OK, but nothing to write home about. 

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53 minutes ago, l9dance said:

Has anyone done the food and culture tour through royal? I have never been to San Juan originally we were going to go to Vivo Beach club.

Suggestions on what to do? 

There was a semi live blog on here recently that included a stop in San Juan, that did the food tour, can't remember who did the blog though, but they said they really enjoyed the tour.

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8 hours ago, l9dance said:

Has anyone done the food and culture tour through royal? I have never been to San Juan originally we were going to go to Vivo Beach club.

Suggestions on what to do? 

 

7 hours ago, tiny260 said:

Found it, looks like it starts on page 3.

 

Keep in mind the tour I did wasn't booked directly with Royal. I'm not sure what, if any, differences might be between booking with Royal vs the vendor.

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  • 1 month later...
On 6/20/2019 at 12:45 PM, ChessE4 said:

The fort and shopping district are within walking distance, as is a flea market with local artisans.  If you are into window shopping, jewelry, or knick-knacks, you can enjoy wandering around.  We tried a drive through El Yunque, which was OK, but nothing to write home about. 

Hello - I can't decide what to do in San Juan as well, it'll be our first time.  Unfortunately, I can't do too much walking.  

El Yunque - that is the rain forest right?  I was hoping to get some stunning photos.  I don't plan to spend all day there, our ship is docked from 7-4, but I'd rather get back to the ship early.
Was there a lot to do there, as well as?  

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10 hours ago, raahc said:

Hello - I can't decide what to do in San Juan as well, it'll be our first time.  Unfortunately, I can't do too much walking.

How severely mobility limited are you? When I went to San Juan last year I was capped at about 3 miles a day, which had to be spread out or the arthritis in my feet would get super-painful and leave me out of commission for much of the next day. I was still able to walk to El Morro (which has a fair bit of uphill climbing involved) at a relaxed pace, take lots of photos along the way, wander inside for a bit and take more photos, then head back to the ship by way of the old barracks and the pigeon park with a lunch stop in the middle (and many more photos! ?) without feeling like I’d overdone it. That was with a 2 PM departure and not leaving the ship until 9 AM, so I had to do the above in about 4 hours to make our all-aboard time. Since you’ll have two extra hours, you could move at a pretty relaxed pace, as well as take a taxi or trolley to your desired points of interest to really cut the time on your feet.

I cant speak to the rainforest, as we didn’t go there. But I’m sure other folks here have and will be able to chime in.

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10 hours ago, raahc said:

Hello - I can't decide what to do in San Juan as well, it'll be our first time.  Unfortunately, I can't do too much walking.  

El Yunque - that is the rain forest right?  I was hoping to get some stunning photos.  I don't plan to spend all day there, our ship is docked from 7-4, but I'd rather get back to the ship early.
Was there a lot to do there, as well as?  

At the rain forest we climbed a tower that had views of the sea/jungle, we stopped at a waterfall (a 50' one not the 500'  type), and we stopped at a river.  I don't think photos would be "spectacular", but you would have souvenirs.  I think a walking tour might be better than the driving tour, but that is speculation.

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3 hours ago, JLMoran said:

How severely mobility limited are you? When I went to San Juan last year I was capped at about 3 miles a day, which had to be spread out or the arthritis in my feet would get super-painful and leave me out of commission for much of the next day. I was still able to walk to El Morro (which has a fair bit of uphill climbing involved) at a relaxed pace, take lots of photos along the way, wander inside for a bit and take more photos, then head back to the ship by way of the old barracks and the pigeon park with a lunch stop in the middle (and many more photos! ?) without feeling like I’d overdone it. That was with a 2 PM departure and not leaving the ship until 9 AM, so I had to do the above in about 4 hours to make our all-aboard time. Since you’ll have two extra hours, you could move at a pretty relaxed pace, as well as take a taxi or trolley to your desired points of interest to really cut the time on your feet.

I cant speak to the rainforest, as we didn’t go there. But I’m sure other folks here have and will be able to chime in.

I have an ankle injury that acts up if I walk too much.  It seems like I will get more photos if I do a walking tour.  It might be manageable, if I tape my foot.

I was thinking of the Segway tour, but it might be too cumbersome to get on/off the Segway and whip out my camera, plus the helmet would give me bed head hair, so the photos wouldn't look so great ... lol

I'm glad to hear you were able to do a lot of walking without a lot of pain.  I agree, the next day can be very tiring and achy for most people.  We have a sea day after San Juan, so hopefully the itinerary won't change!

We're quite direction-challenged, so it was fantastic that you had a local guide.  I would really like to do a self-guided tour, save some money, and go about on our own schedule.  I was thinking I might need to "borrow" your pictures so I can refer to them, and ask people how to get to xyz!  Your photos are the exact places that I would want to see and capture!  Thank you again!

I was also thinking, even though our time in port is from 7-4, we'd like to return to the ship early and grab lunch there.  We spent way too much time on our last cruise doing so much that we were completely exhausted, lost weight (even from all the eating) and forgot to relax and enjoy the ship!

3 hours ago, ChessE4 said:

At the rain forest we climbed a tower that had views of the sea/jungle, we stopped at a waterfall (a 50' one not the 500'  type), and we stopped at a river.  I don't think photos would be "spectacular", but you would have souvenirs.  I think a walking tour might be better than the driving tour, but that is speculation.

This walking tour is really starting to grow on me .... lol 

I don't think we would have enough time to do the rain forest, especially since I am now considering getting back to the ship for lunch.  The waterfall does not sound spectacular at all, thank you for pointing that out to me.  

We waited a very long time to cruise again, so I'd rather not waste our time or money.  Appreciate your feedback!!

 

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I can't speak to a lot of the post but I can say that a segway in old St. Juan might not be a good idea.  If you can't ride on the sidewalk, much of the roadway is brick or cobblestone and that could be very dangerous on  segway.  We were there several years ago on a motorcycle cruise.  It had rained on/off that day and motorcycles on those narrow, wet brick/cobblestone roads was nerve wracking to say the least.  I too have foot/ankle issues and use an ankle brace (mueller).  Seems to help a great deal.

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38 minutes ago, Finally Retired said:

I can't speak to a lot of the post but I can say that a segway in old St. Juan might not be a good idea.  If you can't ride on the sidewalk, much of the roadway is brick or cobblestone and that could be very dangerous on  segway.  We were there several years ago on a motorcycle cruise.  It had rained on/off that day and motorcycles on those narrow, wet brick/cobblestone roads was nerve wracking to say the least.  I too have foot/ankle issues and use an ankle brace (mueller).  Seems to help a great deal.

Thank you for the valuable feedback and info.  I thought about that as well since I took a closer look at some members photos.  It's a pricey tour (imo) too.  I'm going to cross that option off!  I'm so glad to hear you are okay, yes, that motorcycle cruise would have stressed me out to the max.  It's bad enough getting hurt at home, but on vacation would be worse. 

Thanks also for the suggestion of the ankle brace.  I find for my condition, kinesio tape works well and is thin enough to wear inside my running shoes.

Take care of yourself ?

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1 hour ago, raahc said:

Thanks also for the suggestion of the ankle brace.  I find for my condition, kinesio tape works well and is thin enough to wear inside my running shoes.

If you're concerned or need additional support, I've had great success with this brace:

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00TZTO0TO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

I had a grade 3 sprain when I was in the Guard, and coming back to work I needed something to let me work on a rolling/pitching deck without killing myself or someone else.  This really did the trick.  Super supportive, and it fit in my boot or sneaker.  I still wear it to work out.

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23 hours ago, USCG Teacher said:

If you're concerned or need additional support, I've had great success with this brace:

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00TZTO0TO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

I had a grade 3 sprain when I was in the Guard, and coming back to work I needed something to let me work on a rolling/pitching deck without killing myself or someone else.  This really did the trick.  Super supportive, and it fit in my boot or sneaker.  I still wear it to work out.

That's a nice looking brace and I like that it's machine washable.  Thank you!

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