11AM flight from San Juan?

Hi all,

The Liberty is scheduled to arrive back to San Juan at 7am. We will have faster to the fun and will carry our own bags off the ship. The flight I planned to book was for 11AM. I thought that gave us plenty of time to make it to the airport barring any major delays. But, I just found out that Carnival recommends no flights before 12 noon, so now I am second guessing myself. We would have to wait until 2:30 PM if we passes up the 11AM flight.

Thoughts? Thanks so much for any advice. :)

IMO, that's cutting a tad close. While it's very possible you could make that flight with ease, you'll need to go through an Agriculture Inspection, as well as one through TSA. Sometimes it's a breeze, sometimes it bogs down. It truly is a crap shoot.

If I were you, I'd take the later flight just to be safe. Why fret about it, especially when the next flight is only 3 hours later.

I have never flew out of SJU after a cruise before. But after all my research I have done I picked a flight for 12:45pm. I am hoping that gives me enough time

Outside of a major catastrophe you will have no problem making an 11:00 flight with FTTF. Airport is about 15 minutes by cab which are cheaper than Carnival transportation anyway.

The bigger issue....if you miss your 11:00am flight and the 2:30 flight is full, then when is the next flight after that?

If it was me, I would go with the 2:30 flight, why add stress to the end of your relaxing vacation? The 2:30 flight will give you plenty of time and you won't have to worry ;)

I wouldn't worry about it...If you self disembark you will be fine.... the chances of a problem in southerm carribean is so slim plus your so close to san juan with all the ports... so unless a major immigration issue ....you will be at airport in plenty of time. I regularly schedule 11am flights out of Miami and FLL and am always at Airport no later than 9am

Keep in mind that morning departures out of San Juan on a Sunday is mobbed. In addition to the standard baggage check-in and security lines, you also have to go through the USDA check before you check-in. Expect very heavy lines in all 3 areas in the morning. We flew out in the later afternoon and we waltzed right through all of the lines with ease. Can it be done with the 11 am flight? Yes. Just expect to spend most of your time in the airport standing in line instead of relaxing at the gate. If you fly JetBlue, you will have your own terminal which will ease the congestion quite a bit.

I would probably book the later flight to end the trip stress free.

We have flown out around 11am and it worked out fine as we were able to debark early. So yes, it is doable.

We have also gone out in the afternoon and that was fine too, no rushing to get through lines and one your through security at the airport you have plenty of time to relax before the flight. (Review photos, read, get coffee, etc.)

Whatever you choose, have a fantastic trip!

Barry

I wouldn't even consider an 11:00 flight out of SJU. That airport is crazy busy on cruise days, and with 3 lines to wait in and other ships in town as well, it would be very "iffy" as to whether you'd make it or not. I would definitely go for the 2:30 just to be sure.

Thanks for the advice everyone! It will be Jet Blue that we are flying with so it's nice to hear they have their own terminal. I wanted to avoid the later flight because it will get in too late for me to attempt the 4 hour drive home. It the airport is that crazy on Sundays, maybe we should just spend an extra night in San Juan and fly out on Monday...that would beat staying in Buffalo!

The Liberty is the only ship in port that day. Does that make much difference?

Thanks for the advice everyone! It will be Jet Blue that we are flying with so it's nice to hear they have their own terminal. I wanted to avoid the later flight because it will get in too late for me to attempt the 4 hour drive home. It the airport is that crazy on Sundays, maybe we should just spend an extra night in San Juan and fly out on Monday...that would beat staying in Buffalo!

 

The Liberty is the only ship in port that day. Does that make much difference?

Sounds like a great plan to stay in SJU an extra day, and take a Monday flight, if you can do it. Enjoy your cruise!!!

If the early flight works the best for you, then I would agree with staying in SJ until Monday. SJ or Buffalo? Yeah, SJ wins! That's what we're doing on our upcoming Liberty cruise in May.

Flew out of SJ 2 years in a row and had no problem self assist debarkation and was at the airport by 9:00AM. Flew Jet Blue and went thru all lines in no time because we were the only ones in line :D. Our flight wasn't till 1:00pm so we had to wait. :confused:

We are on a Journeys cruise on Carnival, arriving in San Juan on 1/28/16, which is a Thursday. Does anyone have any experience flying out of San Juan during the week. I would like to book an earlier flight because the later ones are all extremely late getting back to Baltimore, and then we have about a two hour drive from there to home.

I have flown out of San Juan on a weekend, so I know it gets very busy, but I was hoping maybe on a weekday it might not be so bad. Any help would be appreciated.

Were on that cruise as well. We booked southwest to philly at 4 pm, that way we can your San Juan

Plus I didn't want to stress about missing the earlier flight

If you don't mind mising the flight no worries.

Probably about 80% chance you will be fine.

But is it worth the gamble and stress.

What a way to finish your holiday, added cost, not be able to get on one of the later flights, end up having to get a hotel and overnight, miss work the next day.

To me just not worth it.

But hey we're all different.

We just did this cruise in May and it was by far the worst disembarkation we've ever had. And we had FTTF. We stood in line 30 minutes just for customs. We barely got to the airport on time. Cut it a little too close for comfort for an 11 am flight.:(

Why have to think about this while you are on the ship having a great time? 230 would be a perfect time to depart from San Juan. You can relax on the ship in the morning and not have to have a deadline for the 11A flight. You possibly could make the 11, but that will be one more thing to concentrate on. Why the rush to get back home.

Thanks for the advice everyone! It will be Jet Blue that we are flying with so it's nice to hear they have their own terminal. I wanted to avoid the later flight because it will get in too late for me to attempt the 4 hour drive home. It the airport is that crazy on Sundays, maybe we should just spend an extra night in San Juan and fly out on Monday...that would beat staying in Buffalo!

 

The Liberty is the only ship in port that day. Does that make much difference?

We did what you are suggesting. We stayed overnight Sunday at the Sheraton across from the port and flew out Monday morning on Southwest to Buffalo. Was so easy and no crowds or lines.

If you debark yourself on Sunday as soon as you can, you might make the 11 am flight, but as others have said you have to grab a cab and head directly to the airport, go through agricultural inspection and then regular baggage inspection. What we found was the worst on Sunday when debarking off the ship was that the lines for customs at the port were absolutely horrendous. They only had two people on duty there and we never made it off the ship until almost noon (but they knew we were not catching a plane, so we got high numbered debarking tags). We checked into the Sheraton, were immediately given our room, then we toured Old San Juan the rest of the day. It was fabulous! Cabs are available at the Sheraton 24 hours per day.

Must just be me but I would rather take the earlier flight. We did a 10:50 AM already with no problem. Our last flight out of PR was 2:30 and the airport was a mess. There were very little people for the earlier flight I couldn't understand what everyone was writing about the airport being such a disaster so early. I say go for the earlier flight. You have plenty time on the plane to destress if need be.

After sailing on the "Adventure of the Seas", we docked in San Juan. We were able to get off the ship by 9:00am. This ship was one of 4 that docked at the same time! So just about every passenger on these ships headed to the airport. Our flight left SJ at 1:00pm, so it looked as though we had plenty of time.

We arrived at the airport around 9:30am and we had to wait for our luggage to be unloaded from the bus. The porter that assisted us asked me what airlines we were flying on. When I told him "Delta" he said to go to the end of the line for the Delta counter, while my wife stayed with the luggage. This line was so long, and wound around some many corners, that I didn't see my wife again for over 2 hours! This was before cellphones, so I had no way to let her know what was going on, and if I got out of this line then I would have to go to the rear again.

After FINALLY getting back to my wife, we headed for the check-in counter. This only took about 10-minutes, then we proceeded to the security check points, arriving here at about noon. The lines here were VERY long. When we were finally cleared through security, it was 12:55pm. We had 5-minutes before our flight departed! We played like OJ and ran through the airport. As we got to our gate, our plane was already boarding. Over 3-and-a-half hours after getting to the airport, we could finally board our flight home.

So my recommendation is to take the 2:30 (or later) flight home. You never know what delays the ship may run into, how many other ships arrive at the same time, etc. Better yet, plan on spending the night in SJ and leave the next morning.

We flew out of San Juan on our last trip. As others have said, there is an agricultural screen, lines, TSA etc. We could have made an 11:00AM flight but why add stress to the end of a wonderful vacation? If possible book a later flight and relax.