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Celebrity Summit Puerto Rico boarding time?


Caster12

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My sister and I are soon to go on a cruise on the Celebrity Summit.

The ship is scheduled to leave San Juan at 8:30PM. The cruise documents we have tell us not to arrive at the ship until 5:50PM. Is that for real???

 

Realistically, when should one target arriving at the pier? Due to all the bad weather this winter, we are arriving a day early and spending the night to be on the safe side, so we can plan to go to the cruise terminal at our convenience. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks!

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Our best Celebrity cruise to date was the southern itinerary on the Summit last year. We have sailed the Summit twice out of San Juan in the past three years. In both cases we arrived at the port and boarded between 11:30pm and 1:00 pm with no problem. Your cabin may not be ready until 1:00 pm or later so you would have to drag any non-checked bags around on the ship until they announce that the cabins are ready. Take your camera and any necessities and give everything else to the baggage handlers to avoid that. They serve meals (buffet, etc.) midday so its nice to board early and enjoy (avoid buying lunch in San Juan) as well as take time to explore the ship. The Summit is a really nice ship and you will have a great cruise.

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Hi Caster12:

 

My sisters (2) and I are also sailing on the Summit, in March, departing at 8:30 pm from San Juan. We have been informed by other cruisers that we can board the ship somewhere around noon. Your stateroom may not be ready, but you can have lunch and enjoy looking around on the ship. We would appreciate your feedback once you return from the cruise.

 

Have a great time!

mimi725

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I heard the same thing that you can board around noon but the rooms may not be ready. We are arriving on Feb 12 for our cruise and our plane should land around 12:00 so we are heading right to the pier.

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If you are not spending any time in San Juan when the ship returns to port I would highly recommend waiting to board the ship until 4-5pm. Old town San Juan is absolutely beautiful and worth a day of sightseeing, just as any other port of call is. The problem with celebrity is that they dock at the Pan American Pier vs the other piers adjacent to old town. Just drop your luggage at the pier late morning and take a cab to old town to experience the city. We prefer to stay in old town in a hotel to experience the nightlife the night before. Then we head to the boat just before dinner on Sat night. No need to waste time on the ship when you will have a week to explore and experience it throughout your cruise.

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On our December Summit cruise (a wonderful experience btw) we boarded around noon. We did not have any wait since we were in a suite but the other lines were very long at that time. We skipped the buffet and ate at Aqua Spa Cafe instead (we were the only ones there). It was not possible to get to our room, even to take a peek, until 1:30 p.m. when the announcement was made as the fire doors had been put in place. I would not wait to board until 5 p.m. as muster drill was at 5:15 p.m. and there were numerous activities that afternoon on board. With only one sea day, I would take that time to get oriented to the ship and enjoy some time at the pool, or whatever you like to do.

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If you are not spending any time in San Juan when the ship returns to port I would highly recommend waiting to board the ship until 4-5pm. Old town San Juan is absolutely beautiful and worth a day of sightseeing, just as any other port of call is. The problem with celebrity is that they dock at the Pan American Pier vs the other piers adjacent to old town. Just drop your luggage at the pier late morning and take a cab to old town to experience the city. We prefer to stay in old town in a hotel to experience the nightlife the night before. Then we head to the boat just before dinner on Sat night. No need to waste time on the ship when you will have a week to explore and experience it throughout your cruise.

 

Hi,:) I will take the flipside of this as I always get to the ship around

the noon hour. I never feel like I am wasting time on board:eek: I would

never wait till 4:00 to board the ship. I arrive a day early as well and

can explore San Juan at that time. Once sail day comes, I prefer

to get on the ship:D

I also don't feel like it is a problem that she docks at the Pan American

Pier.

 

Different strokes for different folks:)

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Hi,:) I will take the flipside of this as I always get to the ship around

the noon hour. I never feel like I am wasting time on board:eek: I would

never wait till 4:00 to board the ship. I arrive a day early as well and

can explore San Juan at that time. Once sail day comes, I prefer

to get on the ship:D

I also don't feel like it is a problem that she docks at the Pan American

Pier.

 

Different strokes for different folks:)

 

Hi Lois!! How are you? I agree with you 100%. I like to get to the ship the earlier the better. As soon as I check out of the hotel I'm on my way. I also spend the night in San Juan the night before. It's a great place and I love cruising out of here. We are considering the 12/10 sailing this year on the Summit. Aren't you sailing on the Summit soon?

 

OP you are going to love the Summit. Have a great cruise!

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We were amongst the first aboard the Summit's Jan 8th 2011 sailing.

 

There were dozens of cars crawling their way from the port gate to the two ships at the Pan Am dock when our cab entered the port at 11:00. We finaly got to our ship at 11:15 where we joined a line outside the Summit pier. The doors opened at 11:30 when we were herded into rows of lawn chairs to wait until check in began in earnest at noon.

 

Lines were moderate and there were several stoppages once we had our ship card as we had to wait on gang planks for staff to fully man ship side clearances like ID picture taking.

 

We only actually were sipping a welcome drink by just after 12:45. My guess is we were the 64th or so new passengers processed that day based on the chairs in front of us.

 

Last year, when we arrived at the Millie at the exact same time we were instantly processed (no dreaded white lawn chairs) and sipping a welcome drink before noon.

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mimi725:

 

I will indeed post our impressions after our cruise. We are sailing Jan. 29th. I haven't been on a Celebrity ship in 11 years, so I am curious as to how things may have changed. Their food was always a highlight. They may or may not have been able to maintain that standard. Time will reveal all!

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Hi Lois!! How are you? I agree with you 100%. I like to get to the ship the earlier the better. As soon as I check out of the hotel I'm on my way. I also spend the night in San Juan the night before. It's a great place and I love cruising out of here. We are considering the 12/10 sailing this year on the Summit. Aren't you sailing on the Summit soon?

 

OP you are going to love the Summit. Have a great cruise!

 

 

Hi Kathy, yes, I am sailing 2 weeks from tomorrow:D Feb 5th.....:D

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If you are not spending any time in San Juan when the ship returns to port I would highly recommend waiting to board the ship until 4-5pm. Old town San Juan is absolutely beautiful and worth a day of sightseeing, just as any other port of call is. The problem with celebrity is that they dock at the Pan American Pier vs the other piers adjacent to old town. Just drop your luggage at the pier late morning and take a cab to old town to experience the city. We prefer to stay in old town in a hotel to experience the nightlife the night before. Then we head to the boat just before dinner on Sat night. No need to waste time on the ship when you will have a week to explore and experience it throughout your cruise.

But what about all your carry-on stuff? We have to have a carry-on bag for medication, jewelry, etc.. Wouldn't want to carry that around Old San Juan. Just wondering. We usually board early, then have a bite to eat before we taxi downtown to walk around (we leave our carry-ons in the stateroom after checking in with our room steward to let him/her know what we are doing - also let them know we are going to use the safe)

 

I also agree with you that it would be much nicer if they docked right in town. Much more convenient to NOT have to take a cab to town.

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But what about all your carry-on stuff? We have to have a carry-on bag for medication, jewelry, etc.. Wouldn't want to carry that around Old San Juan. Just wondering. We usually board early, then have a bite to eat before we taxi downtown to walk around (we leave our carry-ons in the stateroom after checking in with our room steward to let him/her know what we are doing - also let them know we are going to use the safe)

 

I also agree with you that it would be much nicer if they docked right in town. Much more convenient to NOT have to take a cab to town.

We prefer to check all our bags at the hotel and leave them locked up while we go walking around exploring the city. We don't pick up the bags until we are ready to hop into a taxi and head for the ship. It's just easier for us to do it that way instead of taking 3 taxi rides (hotel to ship, back to town, and then back to the ship again).
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