ILoveGreen

My husband and I are cruising in December and will be docking at 5:00 p.m. in San Juan. I've researched all I can find on San Juan but still undecided/unsure what to do at this late hour of the day. A priority for me (being from the Midwest) is seeing the beach, so I thought we'd grab a taxi to the Ritz for a quick walk on the beach then check out the hotel itself. Do hotels welcome cruise guests? Does anyone have any other suggestions for our short stay in San Juan?

Statia

If it were me I would spend the evening in Old San Juan....sights, people watching, dinner, shopping, etc. You could always do this after a walk down the beach.

Are you overnighting or leaving again that evening?

MIM04

If you do not dock until 5PM, it will most likely be pitch dark by the time you make it to the beach.

I agree with Statia, I would spend the evening in Old San Juan. Go to Dragon Fly or Aquaviva for dinner, or Parrot Club for drinks. Or visit El Convento Hotel and spend the night there if you are over-nighting there. If you walk around there will be many shops and restaurants open. It is a fantastic place. I would not waste time at the Ritz when you can spend time in a fantastic place. I would save the beach for the morning, if you are spending the night. Plus the food at the Ritz is not good. There are so many fantastic restaurants in San Juan. GL

caribedon

Hello IloveGreen! Old San Juan is great but try to bop around the strip in Condado beach, awesome strip.Anything you want to do there.

tom42

Although I like the Ritz Carlton, I don't think your timing is right. As another poster said, it would probably be dark by the time you got there anyway. If it was me, I would just enjoy an evening in Old San Juan with a nice dinner and some drinks. However, a walk through Condado would allow you to at least see the ocean - and there are some good restaurants in that area.

ILoveGreen

Thank you all for your responses! I appreciate your help. I failed to mention that we are only in port that evening, setting sail again at midnight. According to www.timeanddate.com,the sun sets at 5:50 p.m. the day we are there. If we have any daylight at all, we will go to the beach. Either way, we will venture into Old San Juan. Thanks again!

Dr_Andrea

Having stayed at the Ritz, I think I remember non-guests not being allowed on their beach.

tom42

Dr. Andrea - It's a public beach, as are all beaches in Puerto Rico, so anyone can use it. However, you may be remembering that non-guests are not permitted to use the pool area and cannot reach the beach through the Ritz Carlton grounds. There is, however, public access to the beach.

ScottB

We had a similar stop in San Juan earlier this year, and we chose to just go into Old San Juan, and find a good restarant. After much research, we followed a recomendation for Aquaviva. We were not disapointed. It's a tiny little restaurant that's kind of funky. It's pretty casual, (no formal dress required), and the service & food was excellent. After that we walked around to a few casinos etc. The cab ride from the dock was quick, and inexpensive.