san juan 11pm departure???

[singwithjoy]

I was looking at a southern carribbean cruise from San Juan

I notice the ship departs at 11pm

How does leaving that late work? What time can you board?

What time is the lifeboat drills?

Is there regular dinner meals or just a buffet?

Any nightime entertainment shows? Or just a mad rush to get onboard?

Never had a cruise departing at such a late time.

Just wondering if anyone else has first hand experiance with answers.

Thanks!

[mizLORInj]

They usually open the San Juan port around noon for check-in. I don't remember when muster was, 8:00 or so I think. It's really like any other evening on the ship with dinner and shows.

The ship just leaves really late!

Have fun!

[ncyankee]

Read on another thread today that the muster drill is 9:30 - 10 pm ish.

[MGAfhc]

They usually have Juan Carlos on board for a show that evening while in port. Flamenco and other guitar playing and dancers.

[runnerodb83]

I recall when the ships stayed in most carribean (especially southern) ports till at least 8, sometimes later, as the ships really don't have to sail that far between ports. But because of various reasons (casino profits, drink profits, passenger safety in port after dark) the ships leave in the late afternoon pretty much across the board. This is kind of too bad because leaving many of the ports at night is a very beautiful sight. Enjoy your San Juan departure. Sure you'll be tired, but its worth it to grab a seat/spot on the top deck and watch the sail away; its a great and very memorable way to start your vacation.

[sun&sea]

The ship is pretty quiet the first night when sailing from San Juan, but there are activities as usual. Muster drill is usually 8pm.

 

You board the same time as you would anywhere else. Boarding usually begins around noon. You can stay on, or take a cab to Old San Juan for the afternoon.

 

Sail away is rather quiet, as it is indeed 11pm. If we are up, we sit on our balcony as the ship quietly sails from the lights of San Juan. I believe there is a party of some sort on deck but we do not attend this anymore.

 

Love sailing from San Juan:). This is the last year for it, as Princess has decided to stop sailing from there.

 

Janet

[COMBOY]

I was looking at a southern carribbean cruise from San Juan

I notice the ship departs at 11pm

How does leaving that late work? What time can you board?

What time is the lifeboat drills?

Is there regular dinner meals or just a buffet?

Any nightime entertainment shows? Or just a mad rush to get onboard?

Never had a cruise departing at such a late time.

Just wondering if anyone else has first hand experiance with answers.

Thanks!

 

Yes, I did a cruise out of San Juan many years ago on Star Princess and as doing Celebrity Summit out of San Juan in March and it departs at 8PM. I think with San Juan departures it doesn't take that much time to get to the following port and would give people more time in San Juan to enjoy the night life, casinos etc. The dining and entertainment would be just like any other cruise that departs at 5PM except the actual sail away is at 11PM and the boarding time would start at 11AM. It's beautiful sailing out of the Port of San Juan at night. I think logistically an 11PM gives people more time to fly to San Juan since it's further than Miami or Ft. Lauderdale. I would assume the life boat drill would either be at 5PM or the following day at sea. Cruise lines can schedule life boat drills anytime as long as they are done by 24 hours after departure.

[Potstech]

In February when I did this cruise they had a muster drill around 8:00 pm. then had one the following day for those who arrived after that as there some. It was a sedate departure but all seemed to have fun at the Sailaway party on deck. If you are going to St Thomas it is just the next Island over and really on takes a few hours to get there. Have fun and enjoy your cruise.

[jconeil]

We enjoy the late departure in SJ because we like to dance at the big hotels in Condado. Great bands.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

We sailed on the CB from San Juan in 2009. We flew in the evening before and checked into the ship at noon. After lunch at the buffet we took a cab back into OSJ where we had pre-reserved a segway tour. That was a lot of fun! Then back on the ship for the seafood buffet. We had muster at 8 PM, a Roll Call party at 9 PM and then watched the lovely sail away from our balcony. It was a very nice day.

 

I am sorry Princess will stop sailing out of San Juan. We have enjoyed our time there in the past.

[DGSFlorida]

In the old days (like the 80's), San Juan was often an overnight stop on the 7-day Miami itineraries. Cruise lines would include evening nightclub tours, etc. The advantage of taking the ship's tours was reserved seating up front in some of the nightclubs. Now I have a feeling that the ships cut short the number of hours in port due to gouging from the local authorities for dockage fees, etc. I would expect any ship berthed at 12 AM is charged for overnight.

[sarge98]

They usually have Juan Carlos on board for a show that evening while in port. Flamenco and other guitar playing and dancers.

 

The wife and I saw Juan Carlos's show in 09 on the CB. Really a great show, We couldn't believe how good he is. I remember he had to be off the ship by 9PM- he's from San Juan.

[jdavid]

We had booked a B2B on the Crown a few years ago fron San Juan planning to be there the day before however a storm in NY prevented our connecting flight which was about 8 hours to an odessey we will never forget. We flew for 42 hours landing in 8 different airports before landing in San Juan at 10:40 p.m. for the cruise which was supposed to depart at 11:00 p.m. We got off the plane, dashed for a taxi leaving our luggage behind and arrived at the pier at 11:25 p.m. The gates were locked however the ship was still there. We managed to get Security's attention and boarded the ship through the entry at Deck 7. The ship had waited for us. We are forever grateful to Princess for holding the Ship. We had been in touch with them as we landed in each airport. Princess picked up our luggage in San Juan and it arrived in Barbados on Day 3. That same day about 50 or 60 other passengers also boarded with lots of other luggage. They were not as forunate as we were. We had a terrific cruise. We had not flown on princess air tickets but they did go out of their way to make sure we had a great cruise even to loaning us clothes and necessities for the first few days. I did write a review of the trip and called it the Amazing Race. BTW on our way home we ht another storm and had to stay in NY for four days. We will never fly via NY to another cruise destination.

[Burlington ON]

If the muster drill is around 8:00pm, what happens if you're in the middle of dinner?

[Doug R.]

If the muster drill is around 8:00pm, what happens if you're in the middle of dinner?

 

You go to the muster drill.

[Times Prince]

I was looking at a southern carribbean cruise from San Juan

I notice the ship departs at 11pm

How does leaving that late work? What time can you board?

What time is the lifeboat drills?

Is there regular dinner meals or just a buffet?

Any nightime entertainment shows? Or just a mad rush to get onboard?

Never had a cruise departing at such a late time.

Just wondering if anyone else has first hand experiance with answers.

Thanks!

This is from our upcoming cruise in December:

DEPART 11:00PM

CHECK IN

1:00PM-8:00PM

ARRIVE AFTER

2:00PM

FOR A FASTER

CHECK IN

We have people from our Roll Call arriving that day from about 11 AM to 8 PM (don't know how that last couple is going to make it). We have Princess Air coming via Houston and will arrive at the ship around 5:30. With Check-in time up until 8 it makes sense they will have muster around that time.



One does have to wonder how many people will just go from muster to dinner carrying their life jackets...:rolleyes:

[napunani]

We sailed out of San Juan 12/26/2010. I pulled out my PATTER to confirm the emergency stations drill was held at 8pm. All aboard was 1030pm for a 11pm sail away, but we were delayed until after midnight due to late arriving passengers as we witnessed from our balcony.