San Juan

12 November, 2024

The morning dawned bright and warm in San Juan, with a promise of getting hotter as the day went on. After breakfast I surveyed our location from deck 14 and plotted out our next move, hoping to avoid any aimless walking in the coming heat.

We arranged a private Golf CartTour of Old San Juan with San Juan Scene Hopper using ViaTor. We've used ViaTor many times over the past 15 years without experiencing even the slightest glitch. This trip things were a bit different. It started when I made the reservation. The app double-booked us for Sunday (9 November) as well as today (Wednesday.) A message to the tour operator had this sorted in short order and we received immediate confirmation of the cancellation. But ViaTor appears to be having some issues of-late and we're still working on getting the charges sorted out. Stay tuned on that matter.

We arrived at the designated location a few minutes before our scheduled tour time of 11:00. We met the owner of San Juan Scene Hopper, Luis, who was surprised to see us, since he didn't have anything from Viator about our booking. I produced my documentation, Luis called Viator, who proceeded to confirm that everything was fine on their end, but couldn't explain why it wasn't appearing in his dashboard. (Appears that the Viator technical issues aren't isolated to the customer-facing side of their operation.)

As soon as everything was confirmed Luis had a cart on the way for us. It was a beautiful day, we were in a shady spot enjoying a nice breeze, we were under no time pressure, and none of the problems we had to deal with were the creation of anyone present, so we enjoyed the time and took a few photos. 

Chris arrived after a short wait and after introductions were made we climbed aboard the large, comfortable cart and secured our seatbelts. Chris donned his headset and we rolled off through the streets of San Juan. We started with the current political state of the Territory and rewound all the way to the "discovery" of the island by Christopher Columbus, before moving back to the present as we wound our way through the streets of the city, past the forts, neighborhoods, and historical residences. Chris discussed the political changes over the centuries, the architectural choices and street design, fort layouts and enhancements, and points of historic interest (such as the site of the invention of the Piña Colada) as well as current day tourist hot-spots.

Our tour was relaxed, but incredibly informative. Imagine participating in a university lecture as you sit on the beach sipping beers with the instructor. That's the best way I can describe the vibe. Chris kept a steady flow of information going without ever overwhelming us, all while commenting on things in the moment. There are few tours that I'd ever repeat, but our experience with San Juan Scene Hopper places it on that list. Chris left us yearning to experience more of San Juan, which will likely result in a dedicated visit in the future. Getting here is simple and there is plenty to see.

At the conclusion of our tour Chris dropped us off adjacent to the ship and bid us farewell. We made our way aboard and made a quick stop at the cabin to change to swimsuits, then headed to the Solarium.  It took a bit to find seats that weren't in a sun-drenched or breeze-squelched area, but after a bit of maneuvering we dropped our towels, grabbed fruity drinks, and headed to soak in the pool. After the heat of San Juan the pool was invigorating and became increasingly popular as the afternoon wore on. We exited the pool for our chairs and enjoyed more drinks as we sat in the breeze and read our books.

We rounded out the evening with dinner and the shipboard production of Showgirls – another solid performance by the Royal Caribbean Singers & Dancers. We've seen it on prior sailings, but this was one of the better executions we've had the opportunity to see.