Puerto Rico’s Post-Cruise Pleasures

Tanned and carrying a couple of extra pounds added by shipboard cuisine, Harold and Peggy Pearson of San Jose disembarked from their Norwegian Cruise Line ship here on a Saturday morning in March. So did several thousand other passengers returning from the Caribbean on that day of the week when cruises customarily return to home port. Since San Juan became the largest cruise home port in the world, it is not unusual for several liners to disgorge their homebound passengers here within a few hours.

An hour after the Pearsons stepped ashore, most of their fellow travelers were still inching towards the airport through one of the city’s legendary weekend traffic jams for flights back to the United States. But the California couple was at the beach.

The retired aerospace engineer and his wife were taking advantage of a weekend deal for cruise passengers offered by the Condado Plaza Hotel. Instead of spending the day in the airport waiting for a late-afternoon or evening flight, they’d checked into a large room and began making plans for the beach and seeing the city.

But pre- and post-cruise packages offer benefits even for those who never leave their hotels. Pre-cruise stays are a hedge against flight delays, especially during winter months when a missed connection at a mainland airport can mean arriving after the ship has sailed. Because of such concerns, as well as worries about late-arriving luggage, about 80% of add-ons are pre-cruise.

Post-cruise weekends give passengers a transition between ship and home, especially appealing to those like the Pearsons who face long flights home to the West Coast. They also offer an alternative to jampacked and sometimes overbooked Saturday flights.

Whether one has part of a day, or a whole weekend, this Connecticut-size island offers a variety of attractions ranging from beaches and lush forests to some of the best food in the Caribbean, a Spanish-African-Indian cuisine that celebrates local seafood. The luxury resorts have discos and doormen in pith helmets; the country villages have ramshackle stands selling ripe pineapples, mangoes, old tires and pickled hot peppers in recycled rum bottles. Old San Juan has well-preserved examples of 16th- and 17th-Century Spanish colonial architecture, open-door bars and blocks of “factory outlet stores” whose factories are somewhere back on the mainland.

In 1992, the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ arrival in North America, 1 million cruise ship passengers are expected here, and San Juan is preparing a spectacular welcome for them. Along the harbor, the Paseo de la Princesa esplanade is being restored to its 19th-Century appearance, lined with royal palms and decorated with fountains. The paseo, part of a $90-million waterfront renewal effort, will lead to La Princesa, a handsome 1837 structure that now houses a tourist information center and serves as a showcase for island art.

Also in the works at the harbor are a new 150-room hotel and a 10-acre complex of cafes, restaurants and shops near the cruise piers.

Travelers book pre- and post-cruise packages when cruise reservations are made. Each cruise line works with the hotels it prefers and rates vary with each cruise operator and hotel. But to cite one example, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line offers a two-night add-on at El San Juan Hotel, one of Puerto Rico’s flossiest beachfront palaces. Last winter, the cost of adding two nights at the hotel to the price of a cruise was $450 for two, or $112.50 per person per night. Beginning May 1, the rate dropped to $338 for the same deal.

That puts cruisers into a hotel whose attractions include a beach, water sports center, pool, rooftop health club, tennis courts, chic shops, the largest casino in the Caribbean, nightclub shows, a disco named Amadeus, half a dozen restaurants and such in-room amenities as multiple telephones, a VCR and a cassette player, and a jaw-dropping lobby with a coffered mahogany ceiling and an oval bar beneath a crystal chandelier the size of a fishing boat.

For those who don’t want to spend the weekend but hate to waste a Saturday at the airport waiting for the flight home, several hotels--including the El San Juan and the Condado Plaza--offer day-visit options. Guests can take a room for the day or pay a day fee for beach, locker and a place to change for the plane. Some plans include coupon books for drinks and lunch. Some hotels even shuttle cruise passengers to the airport in time for their flight.

Those with no interest in hotels or beaches can also use time ashore to good advantage. Any cruise passenger whose ship docks in the morning and whose plane flies late in the day should spend a few hours on foot in Old San Juan. It’s just off the waterfront and is a fun mixture of Key West, New Orleans and Freeport, Me.

Carry as little as possible and wear comfortable shoes because hill climbing is part of the Old San Juan experience. Most airlines are represented at the cruise ship terminal, and it is usually possible--after clearing Customs--to hand your bags over to a representative who, upon viewing your ticket, will tag them and see to their transfer to the airport and check-in to your flight.

If your airline doesn’t offer this version of curbside check-in, your cruise package may provide a similar luggage-transfer service that doesn’t require you to accompany ayour bags to the airport. As a last resort, accompany your bags to the airport and return to Old San Juan. If you have the better part of the day to enjoy, it can be worth the trouble.

Before setting out, learn the location of Plaza de Colon, Columbus Square. When you’re ready to leave for the airport, you’ll find a line of taxis waiting at the south side of the square. On Saturdays, allow an hour to reach the airport.

Old San Juan is where the long Spanish history of this city began. Puerto Rico was Spanish from 1508, when Ponce de Leon arrived with 50 men, until less than a century ago, when the United States took the island in 1898 as a result of the Spanish-American War.

This earliest section of the city dates from 1521 and contains some of the best Spanish colonial buildings in North America. More than 400 have been restored in an area designated a National Historic Zone by the U.S. Department of Interior.

With only about a dozen streets, most of them only half a dozen blocks long, Old San Juan is tightly packed with shops, restaurants, residences, parks, forts, museums and churches. Stucco walls and wooden shutters are painted the colors of tropical fruit; balconies spill purple bougainvillea and yellow canario vines. Music erupts from behind closed gates and through the open doors of cool, dark bars. Many first-time visitors are reminded of the congenial ambience of New Orleans.

The streets of Old San Juan welcome cruise passengers with open arms and enticing signs: “Welcome all ships. Your Cabin Number May Win Prize.” Sandwich boards have slots so that names of the ships of the day can be changed to fit. “Welcome Regent Sun.” “Sun Viking.” “Tropicale.” “Amerikanis.” “Come inside for welcome drink.”

These days, there are more T-shirt stores than antique shops, and more jewelers than booksellers. Every other window is piled with pearls, gold and gemstones whose colors run to pale blue and lavender. A barker stands in the middle of traffic-choked Calle Forteleza, descanting the virtues of the joyeria behind him, which offers, he says, “The best value in the Caribbean. Stones of perfect cut and clarity.”

One bookstore has managed to hold out against the flood of tourmalines and silver charms, and it is an outstanding one. Called simply The Bookstore, it is on Calle San Jose, a block off Calle Forteleza. Its air-conditioned depths hold a superb assortment of literature in both Spanish and English, including many Latin American authors whose work is hard to find on the mainland. An excellent pre-cruise stop, The Bookstore also has a fine selection of books on the Caribbean, from history to contemporary political affairs.

For gift shopping, Spicy Caribee, at 202 Cristo St. across from the El Convento hotel, is ideal. This fragrant little shop is stocked with Puerto Rican coffees and herbal teas, Caribbean cookbooks, a carefully selected assortment of West Indian handicrafts and shelves of irresistible Caribbean seasonings. The ginger vinegar, hot sauces and a private-blend seasoned sea salt are wonderful. Spicy Caribee will even ship your purchases home.

Serious shoppers head for Calle Cristo, around the corner from Forteleza, where the outlet stores--London Fog, Hathaway--are on two adjacent blocks.

But Old San Juan is not just a place to shop. It’s a delight just to walk the narrow sidewalks beneath the carriage lamps, to enter a hushed church, to peer from a sentry box at the corner of a fortress wall.

At the top of that list is San Felipe Del Morro, or El Morro, the single most important structure remaining from the Spanish era. Depending on the amount of time and energy you have, you may want to take a taxi to El Morro, which is a good 15-minute hike from Columbus Square.

The fort is atop a cool, wind-swept hill that’s ideal for kite-flying. A street vendor has kites for sale in case yours was left on the ship. Construction of El Morro began in 1539; the structure took its present form in 1783. Its history includes pirate attacks, Carib Indian raids, and assault by a variety of covetous fleets. Today it is under the administration of the National Park Service, which provides the usual educational background for those visitors who want to learn more.

Back in town, La Forteleza, the oldest executive mansion in the Western Hemisphere, stands at the end of Calle Forteleza. Used as the governor’s mansion since 1639, this lovely white house is open for tours.

The Cathedral de San Juan Bautista, San Juan Cathedral, is on Calle Cristo. Begun as a thatch-roofed structure in 1521, it was completed only in the 19th Century. The remains of Ponce de Leon repose in a marble tomb here. The church is open from early morning until 5 p.m. every day, making it a fine place to stop for rest and reflection.

If you’re ready to add another “r” for refreshment, stop nearby at El Batey, an old-time San Juan bar whose history is very nearly as colorful as that of El Morro, peopled with local characters, artists and politicians. (El Morro is in a better state of restoration, however.)

Or, if you’re really hungry, don’t miss the good Puerto Rican fare at Restaurant Myland, 359 San Francisco St. This is a plain, simple local eatery whose decor features peach plastic tablecloths and bouquets of peach-colored artificial flowers on the tables. Tortillas, rice and beans, chicken and other choices come in huge portions. Try the mafongo relleno con camarones , shrimp creole in a puffy crust made of mashed and fried plantains.

If you have time, visit San Jose Church, built in the 1530s and billed as the oldest church still in use in the Americas, or the small museums nearby.

But before leaving for the airport, stop at the ice cream shop on Columbus Square for a scoop of that special Caribbean fruit flavor called soursop in English, guanabana in Spanish. A luscious, mysterious mixture of pineapple and banana notes, it’s gloriously different from anything else you’ve ever sampled.

For that matter, the same could be said about San Juan.