We left for San Juan on Friday a day before the cruise and stayed at the Comfort Inn in Conando. Not the nicest place but 2 double beds and a pool. What more do you need. Walking distance to the beach and a few american restaurants.
Saturday morning we took the local bus $1 to old San Juan. enjoyed the morning walking around with our parents watching the locals on their day off playing in the national park with their kites. headed back to the hotel via the bus around 12:30. Checked out and took a cab to the ship. A little pricey $30 with a $5 tip. considering the bus was only a dollar to the same area.
we were in the cruise terminal by 1:15pm and there was nobody around. check in was smooth and they had a duty free shop right in the terminal. If you had a carry on bag you were able to purchase bottles and carry them in your bag aboard the ship. no problems with security there.