We have also cruised out of San Juan several times and our last time we stayed in the Old City for two nights and it just gets the vacation going so much earlier..also, soon after leaving the island and the Atlantic waters it is soooooooo nice, not to mention the great weather prior to setting sail..You'll surely enjoy this cruise port.
I usually spend a night or two before the cruise. I love the weather in San Juan compared to the weather here in Wisconsin during the winter months. The resort we stay at in Old San Juan is beautiful. There are some great restaurants like the Parrot Club and the Lemon Grass. We'll be in San Juan on our October cruise and I intend on having dinner at the Parrot Club--at least a drink anyway.
Hey Sonny, we usually make the Parrot Club a stop and also another one is Tio Danny's in the same area. We stayed in a small, three story hotel in the older part (narrow - one car wide streets)the last time and we enjoyed the area to really get a flavor of the locals enjoying the weekends...Steady stream of cars coming down our street into the early morning hours. Remarkably, it was not to noisy.