www.hotelmilanopr.com Sheraton Old San Juan Caribe Hilton Conrad Condado Plaza San Juan Marriott and Stellaris Casino Hotel El Convento Radisson Ambassador Old San Juan Piers: Celebrity, Carnival, and used for cruise day ports Navy Frontier Pier Pan American Pier: Royal Caribbean and Princess Terminals Isla Grande Airport Coral Princess Inn Holiday Inn Express Comfort Inn The Puerto Rico Convention Center Doubletree Scale

This aerial photo shows the approximate locations of many of the hotels in Old San Juan and the Condado area in relationship to the different cruise ship piers in San Juan. You can click on the hotel names and pier names for a link to their respective web sites if one exists. It is a work in progress, so not all hotels are shown. Most of these hotels are of the larger variety. If you are looking for something a little smaller, check out Puerto Rico Small Inns' website. This effort was stimulated by the many posts on CruiseCritic.com. You can also utilize an interactive map of hotels from tripadvisor.com as well as this interactive map at google maps that I made.

Which pier is my ship docking at?

  1. There are three major pier areas in San Juan. Old San Juan Piers 1-6, Navy Frontier Pier, and the Pan American Pier as seen above.
  2. In general, those ships who are dayporting in San Juan usually dock at the OSJ Piers (usually Pier 3 or 4) so you can walk right out into OSJ.
  3. Cruise ships that start in San Juan will use either OSJ Pier 4 (4-E or 4-W) or the Pan American Pier (PAD-E or PAD-W). Rarely, the Navy Frontier Pier is used.
  4. For more information about the piers in San Juan, please visit the Continental Shipping Website.

Taxis:

The Tourism Taxi Program, recently instituted by the Puerto Rico Tourism Company, has simplified the fare structure between the airport and several major tourism zones in the San Juan area. When coming out of the airport, go to the Taxi stand and they'll give you a slip with your set rate on it, otherwise, you may get screwed. There are additional charges for baggage.Click here for the latest rates. The rates are per taxi. Many of the taxis are vans or minivans and can accomodate up to 6 or 7 people in some cases. The Airport is located approximately 10 miles from the Pan American Pier and 11 miles from the OSJ Piers. It usually takes about 15-25 minutes in a taxi for the trip, dependent upon traffic.

Airport:

Here are a few airport tips to minimize the pain. Most of this only applies if you are flying on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon.

  1. On arrival, make sure you have your luggage claim tags out when leaving the baggage area. Yes, they check to make sure they match your bags on a regular basis.
  2. On departure, leave your disembarkation cruise tags on your luggage to avoid having to go through the agriculture inspection station. A little tidbit that no one ever told us about.(As of 2012, I'm not sure if this is still true)
  3. Make sure you eat before you go through security as the lines at the restaurants, bars, etc... are extremely long in the afternoons due to the volume of cruisers.
  4. The security lines are usually very long, keep that in mind when planning your arrival time at the airport.

Local Scams to Watch For:

Make sure you read this interesting post on cruisecritic.com. Many people have run into this scammer. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1079834

Grocery Store/Drug Store

Recommended Reading

Car Rental

OSJ Restaurants

Beaches Close to Port:
San Juan is not known for its beaches so don't go there expecting to see a pristine Carribean beach. If you choose to skip scenic Old San Juan and want to hit a beach, then try one of the following.

Baggage Storage:
So you have a late flight out of SJU, now what do you do with your baggage?

Currency:

Time Zone:

San Juan Links

Other Links I have not used any of these tour groups, so pursue at your own risk.

Other Links

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