San Juan Embarcation ??

['The Bear']

Does anyone know why HAL does not have a ship doing the Eastern &/or Southern Caribbean out of San Juan ?

 

HAL is our preferred cruiseline, but we sailed on the Millenium out of San Juan, this winter, and found the travel arrangements much easier for us.

 

The only downside was that the trip became much more port intensive; but we would certainly consider booking a HAL cruise from there, if it were offered!

[Mary Ellen]

HAL tried it, didn't like it.

 

With a friend, I did a HAL cruise from San Juan in Jan 2001. Telling DH about our time in San Juan, he decided that he was quite happy he didn't sail with us and really didn't want to ever sail from San Juan. I also don't plan to ever do so again either. IMO, it says something that HAL dropped San Juan as an embarkation port. ;)

[Krazy Kruizers]

We did Cunard and Princess out of San Juan -- way back years ago when there tons of flights -- but even then we couldn't get a direct flight.

 

I wouldn't even consider a HAL should they consider sailing from San Juan again. It would be horrible to try and get there.

[sail7seas]

Years ago, we sailed Princess from San Juan and didn't like it at Pan Am Pier. We love San Juan so maybe if embarkation had been the OSJ docks, we might have liked it better.

 

Airfares to San Juan are much higher for most people than to FLL. I think they may have had a hard time filling the ship so they offered really low fares to locals to fill the ship.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We were fortunate that on Cunard we were at the town pier.

 

But the Pam AM Princess dock -- hated it.

['The Bear']

Previously, I heard that both hotels and airline flights were more expensive in SJ; but I got such a good deal on the cruise, I decided to experience it!

 

This winter, flying from Montreal to Fort Lauderdale, and Mtl to SJ, were remarkably similar ($27pp round trip --- both 'US Air') and the hotel rooms were actually less expensive, but we were sailing close to Super Bowl Sunday, so that would explain the more expensive lodging costs.

 

We also had no hassles or inconveniences at the airport, which, I've heard, can also be problematic! Could just have been first time luck !!

But, the Montreal airport, on the other hand, was a special experience :(, I definitely won't be in a hurry to leave from there again!

 

Next year we're returning to the Maasdam for 25 days, so we'll fly from Bangor to Fll ---------- by the way departing out of the Bangor airport is the most troublefree, stress-free departures that I've ever experienced ! :)

[Aunty Pat]

Flying from the US main land to San Juan adds several hundred dollars to the plane fare and last year the US carries cut their flights going into San Juan by 30% so flights won’t be getting any cheaper soon. For the extra air fare you can easily cover the cost difference between a 7 and 11 day cruise so there isn’t much incentive for the US market to sail out of San Juan.

Aunty Pat

 

Barefoot Windjammer - Phantom ‘81

K&D German Rhine Line ‘84

NCL - Norway ’85, Pride of America ’05, Southward ’87, Star ’97 & ‘05, Starward ’92, Sun ’02 & Windward ’93

RCCL - Song of America ‘89

American Hawaiian - Independence ‘98

HAL - Volendam ’99, Noordam ’06, Oosterdam ’07 & ‘09, Statendam ’02 & ‘08, Prinsendam ’03 & ’06, Westerdam ‘09 & Zuiderdam ’04, ’06 & ’07

Carnival - Spirit ‘05

Celebrity – Summit ‘05

Cruise West - Yorktown Clipper ‘06

Princess - Golden Princess ‘07

A & K - East Queen ‘07

Cunard - QM2 ’08

Crystal – Serenity ‘09

[sail7seas]

The 'incentive' is a great Southern itinerary for shorter cruise. They can go to four or five ports in seven days and still get back to San Juan. From FLL to deep Southern itinerary, they have to do fewer ports in order to go to Aruba, Bonaire, Curaco.

 

If there is enough interest in those ports, that would be the selling feature.

I have no clue if it is enough of a draw to make it profitable.