2007 Transatlantic cruise change

I was notified by my TA today that the SD1 Spring Transatlantic for 2007 was re-scheduled . It will leave on April 16th and arrive in Barcelona on the 30th . This is only a one day change so no problem . I wanted to ask a question though . I will be trying to get my plane ticket this week . I was planning to go to San Juan on Saturday but since I won't be leaving until Monday I could go on Sunday now . I've never been to San Juan and wanted to ask if most would advise one or two days there ?:confused:

Really, I would want no days there if I could

At most one day to see Old San Juan and enjoy the shops and all

There are no decent hotels nearby though, so you either need to stay at a resort like the Ritz by the airport and drive in to OSJ or head out to one of the mega resorts, which are ok for hanging out and winding down, but that is what you want to do on the trans crossing right?

Fly in the day before so you dont get caught missing the ship. Use the Ritz if you wnat to have casino / beach / pool thing the night before you leave and head over to the docks late am , drop off your bags and walk around OSJ and have a nice lunch, do some shopping and hop aboard SD mid afternoon. This is a great Ritz and service is excellent, great beach (ok airplanes over head are not great but hey its PR) but the hotel has really improved over the last 5 years and it shows.

or fly in and get a room at the sheraton and check out the nightclubs and restaurants in OSJ that night, lounge around all day in the hotel and do some more shopping, go see the historic forts if so inclined...the sheraton is directly across the street from the SD, I think Jim Avery said it best when he said he has had cabs drop him off further from a ship then the sheraton is from the SD dock

If you are willing to get of of San Juan for the day - there's lots to do on the island - wonderful snorkeling/diving just off shore or a trip to the rain forest on the south side of Puerto Rico

FT

Thanks for the suggestions Carly and FT !!! I will plan accordingly !!!

The hotel "El Convento" (http://www.elconvento.com) next to the cathedral is a lovely hotel. It is located in the heart of old SJ. Just strolling around SJ on the day before you leave is very nice. The fortress is vell kept, and it will be your last chance for your AMEX-card to heat up before you are back home again... Good shopping near the hotel (and also the huge shopping mall 15 min by taxi).

Today was the first day I could work on getting my dividend miles ticket with Usairways . They make it as difficult as possible to redeem miles . The flight into SJU would get me at the hotel at probably 11:00 p.m. after traveling all day . I thought that I would go an extra day then. They will only hold the ticket for 3 days and I cannot arrange my return until June 7th . I did this before and had no problem holding the reservation until the seats opened up . It also depends on who answers the phone as to whether they have any seats available. Does anyone have any experience with this ? How do you get your tickets ? Next time I call they will say that there are none available :(

a membership to expertflyer.com may be helpful, you can actually see award availabilities on different flights

We had some issues trying to book FF tickets with USAir Saturday morning for our December trip to Barbados. I actually was able to find two seats for 30K miles each online but when DH called the Gold Preferred line (we had to redeposit miles) he was told there were no seats available... I had not booked the seats on line I just wanted to see what was available ... so I suggest you try booking online ... and you can put them on a 3-day hold. We are flying out of CLT instead of GSO because I couldn't get the GSO-CLT leg with FF miles:rolleyes:

Will have to check out expertflyer.com.

I got one on hold from CLT to SJU but only for 3 days . It won't be until June 7th until I can get the BCN to CLt to complete the ticket. They have changed this since lst year . Last year they held the first leg until I could reserve the return but not so this time . I will have to let this expire and try again on the 7th . I'll also look at expertflyer as well !! Thanks !! Carly !:)

The other thing you can do Carly is go in and hold it every 3 days until you can book the return leg ... it's a pain but it does work.

I agree that there is not much to do in SJU. We stayed there 1 nt pre this year, no big deal, more of an inconvenience. For my March 07 SDI sailing, I'll be staying 1 nt pre flying to St Thomas the next morning and 1 nt post (OK I'm cheap and from the W. Coast I could get a GREAT deal on air this way!) I plan to stay at a boutique/art deco hotel called The Normandie. On the return, since we debark San Juan, I may do an excursion/jungle tour or something.

How do the "dream girls" handle in the open ocean?

as you would expect, ok on ok days, tough on tough days, nice on fine days

all in all we have never experienced anything horrible but were lucky on our one crossing voyage, no real rough seas, worst was 10 to 12 foot sweels and we felt them

But all in all we really felt no diferent than when we were on radisson (regent now?) diamond's catamaran that is supposed to be super stabilized