11/24/2024
Vacation recap - 2 nights in San Juan, PR
We stayed at the Caribe Hilton which is DCL’s partner hotel. This means you can add a stay here to your DCL package, and can optionally add shuttle transfers to the port for additional cost. *side note for those interested in visiting PR as its own destination without a cruise - I can book you here, and add on tours like the one I’ll discuss below!
I wish we had more time in San Juan. The hotel had beautiful pools, swimup bar, activities, great beachfront. But we didn’t spend much time there at all because we were so busy.
We did have dinner there our first night - at Lola’s Puerto Rican Cuisine. I ordered an original pina colada - the hotel is the birthplace of the Pina colada, so getting one here is a must. And I’m glad I bought into that because it was the best Pina colada I’ve ever had. My mahi mahi with coconut sauce was amazing as well. The restaurant also serves a full Italian menu (interesting I know, I didn’t ask 🤷♀️😆) which was great with a picky eating teen who just wanted spaghetti.
The next day was mostly spent at el Yunque rainforest through a tour that I booked (and can book for you!). The tour included a drive to the rainforest, about a 20 minute hike to two stops and back, and time at two waterfall stops, including natural water slides, jumping rocks, and endless photo ops.
The rainforest was beautiful, not at all crowded, and fun to explore. There were two water slides, I included video of the first one. This looks rough, but I can’t explain enough how smooth the track was. It was like sliding down a wet inflatable slide - that is what it felt like. So, although the rocks look rough, they were not. Besides a little soreness the next morning (probably mostly attributed to the hiking, and being 40, and not exercising as much as I should), the experience was pain-free.
The 2nd part of the tour was a drive to Loquillo Beach, lunch at one of the kiosks, and time to see the beach and other kiosks. This was so fun and I’m thankful we were able to fit it in. I am not sure what I had for lunch, but it was all sooo good. Lots of fried dough stuffed with yummy things - one with crab and one with ground beef and cheese. They gave my picky Maddie some rice and she was happy with that 😆. I also got another Pina colada (extra charge but worth it), this one in a pineapple. It was messy but so so good. The beach was nice, and the kiosks with local crafts and souvenirs were fun to walk through.
We also spent some time in Old San Juan, and this is the part I wish we had a whole other day for. Lots to see! We did not go in el Morro, but walked around the outside of it - spectacularly beautiful! Walking around in Old San Juan was also a great time and we loved how picturesque and filled with history it was.
Our 2nd dinner in PR was at Santaella in Santurce - a quick uber ride from Old San Juan. This restaurant was recommended by a local friend - and she was spot on with the food quality! I had the most amazing watermelon mojito and sea bass that just melted in the mouth. Absolutely fantastic. We met our friends here with little kids, and it wasn’t particularly kid-friendly, with no high chair or kids menus. But, for older kids and adults, it’s highly recommended and will go down as one of my favorite ever vacation meals.
The port experience in PR was overall a good one. Getting to the port is a little confusing, as there are two cruise ports in San Juan, both with the same name but vastly different locations. Although we stayed at the Caribe and could have booked DCL transfers from there, I wanted to Uber due to scoring an early port arrival time. This proved to be fairly stressful, trying to make sure the driver understood which port we needed to go to, with the app not working well and a language barrier - at one point I think he was about to take us to the airport 😬. But, we got there, and the port was very fast, smooth and efficient. We were on the ship and headed to the lunch buffet within an hour of drop-off.
For clients sailing out of PR, I will highly recommend a stay at the Caribe with the DCL
shuttle transfer. We saw this group loading up and arriving, and they were on the same (early) timetable as us, without the Uber confusion.
Sailing out of PR was fantastic - the only thing I would have done differently would have been at least 3 nights there leading up to the sailing - 2 was not enough!
