The Adventures of Justin Jones & Joanna Croft

Ports of Call: San Juan, Puerto Rico
by Joanna

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If Indiana Jones and Lara Croft were real people and met in real life, they would fall in love immediately and travel the world having fantastic archaeological adventures together, living happily ever after. Much to Justin’s trepidation, I like to model our life together how I imagine they would live. Less a few million dollars, for now! Which brings us to San Juan, Puerto Rico.

​Our pre-cruise research told us that the port at Old San Juan is highly walkable, with the location of the cruise terminal situated so that we would walk right off the boat into the town (right next to Senor Frog’s, if that’s your kind of adventure!). Since Puerto Rico is also a U.S. territory, I decided this would be the perfect place for our first unsupervised, un-cruise-coordinated excursion. To the Castillo San Cristóbal!

Our navigation-less, self-guided tour was not an incredibly long walk from the terminal to the fort, but it gave us a wonderful glimpse of this old town: cobblestone streets, beautiful and vibrantly colored architecture, statues of important historical figures. As we started climbing the hill, we also caught a glimpse of an impending storm moving in. Undeterred, we pressed on. After all, it’s not like we were going to the beach.

Finally, we trudged up the steep drive to the National Historic Site to begin the real adventure. With a storm looming, we went straight to the top first, figuring we'd explore the depths while it rained. The wind had started to pick up and several steep slopes prompted Justin to encourage me to contain my sense of adventure and be careful. Not long after, we continued our explorations inside where we quite happily got lost in the many galleons, tunnels, and ramparts.  Somehow, during the height of the brief deluge, we managed to end up back up top, drenched and stuck in a turret and generally having a grand time. 

Stuck in the turret, although we were already soaked - at least we're together!

​At long last, the rain subsided and, having explored every inch of the Castillo, weariness set in (for Justin) and we began our short trek back to the ship. As with most ports of call, we had just one day there. Not enough time to make it to the Castillo San Felipe del Morro or the beach or to wander around the city much longer. But this taste-test has whet our appetite and we’ve marked Puerto Rico to come back to for a longer stay! Speaking of appetite, after a long hard day of pretending to be rich explorers, we had a lovely fancy dinner (as veteran cruisers know, included in the price of the cruise)!

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Have you explored the San Cristóbal fort or San Juan or Puerto Rico in general? Have any must-sees, must eats, or must-dos for our return trip? Tell us in the comments!

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Our Favorite Photos From The Trip:

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Top Tips & Notes For Next Time: 

1. Research the ports of call before your cruise. Before booking is even better. San Juan was just one of 3.5 fantastic ports we visited on this particular cruise and the more you know about the ports, the better you can plan which ones you are better off taking a cruise-coordinated excursion for.
2. Plan for your activity and dress and pack accordingly. Walking shoes, check. Water bottle, check. Umbrella or rain gear? Oops. We were a tad soggy by the time we got back to the boat!
3. Be safe!

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