Carnival Sailing from Puerto Rico?

[jtc3jtc]

Hi all,

 

We are planning a 7 day cruise that departs from Puerto Rico on Carnival and were curious if anyone has any tips for those of us who have never sailed from a port outside of the mainland U.S. We just took our first cruise from Port Canaveral in August 2012 and had no issues finding a hotel for the night before, finding the port, or things like that. Just wondering what to expect when departing from Puerto Rico as far as hotels to stay at prior to the cruise, taxis, and how easy the cruise terminal is to navigate. If anyone knows of any other threads out there for in depth reviews of a sailing from PR, a link to those would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks!

[KenMo]

If you look at the POC board for Puerto Rico, you'll find lots of info on hotels and things to do.

 

Lots of cruisers stay at Sheraton Old San Juan. It's right across the street from the pier.

 

The ship doesn't leave until 10pm so you can check in on the ship and then go explore San Juan.

[agc291]

Make sure you allow yourself extra time for a flight out if plan to leave the day of your return from the cruise. There is an agriculture line you have to go through for your luggage to be checked.You have to get a sticker on each piece of luggage for you to be able to go through security.

 

I would def. stay an extra day or couple in PR. I wish we wouldve have, it was out first cruise and I didnt know tho do so. PR has an awesome rain forest. It is either one of few or the only in the United States. There is also the bio luminescent bay excursion which is only one of 6 places in the world you can do it.

 

Another hit are the forts to visit and Old San Juan is beautiful.

 

I have my blog and a review in my signature for ideas on ports. It was an awesome itinerary!! You will love it!

[RuthlessBoss]

I live in Florida, my cruise pal wants to book from San Juan. The cruise itself is reasonable for the great itinerary.

What extra expenses will come up? Does anyone have an idea of flight cost from Orlando?

[lcgvol]

We are doing this cruise in March. I checked the Sheraton Old San Juan and it said not available. I think it might just not be available for one night only... minimum of two. Several hotels said that. I tried to book the San Juan Airport hotel from 3 different sites and it said not available. Then I tried through Expedia and was able to book one night there. Not the best reviews, but arriving late the night before the cruise so it will be convenient.

[5waldos]

Make sure you allow yourself extra time for a flight out if plan to leave the day of your return from the cruise. There is an agriculture line you have to go through for your luggage to be checked.You have to get a sticker on each piece of luggage for you to be able to go through security.

 

I would def. stay an extra day or couple in PR. I wish we wouldve have, it was out first cruise and I didnt know tho do so. PR has an awesome rain forest. It is either one of few or the only in the United States. There is also the bio luminescent bay excursion which is only one of 6 places in the world you can do it.

 

Another hit are the forts to visit and Old San Juan is beautiful.

 

I have my blog and a review in my signature for ideas on ports. It was an awesome itinerary!! You will love it!

 

Thank you. You just got me excited again and brightened my day which is a bit yucky otherwise.

[agc291]

Thank you. You just got me excited again and brightened my day which is a bit yucky otherwise.

 

 

Glad to do so:D I am very envious of your upcoming cruise there. I wish we could do this itinerary again. Maybe eventually.

[agc291]

I live in Florida, my cruise pal wants to book from San Juan. The cruise itself is reasonable for the great itinerary.

What extra expenses will come up? Does anyone have an idea of flight cost from Orlando?

 

 

Flights can be brutal to SJU, which is why the cruises are priced lower.

 

We booked for $350pp RT and the next week they went up to $900 I was so glad we booked when we did.

 

If you go to uniteds site you can do a fare checker for the month you want to do it and it will give you prices on a calender.

[pjhootch]

Yep, flights to San Juan can hurt the wallet. I'm cheap and have flown to orlando and then to San Juan to save money.

 

The cruise terminal in San Juan is easy to navigate so no worries there. We stayed at an embassy suites near the airport last time (isla verde). They had a shuttle to the pier that took us exactly where we needed to be. The hotel is nice and the outdoor pool area is really great. There were a couple of really good puerto rican restaurants within walking distance.

[mlrack101]

We are doing this cruise in March. I checked the Sheraton Old San Juan and it said not available. I think it might just not be available for one night only... minimum of two. Several hotels said that. I tried to book the San Juan Airport hotel from 3 different sites and it said not available. Then I tried through Expedia and was able to book one night there. Not the best reviews, but arriving late the night before the cruise so it will be convenient.

 

We stayed there one night last December the Sheraton Casino was full so they offered the Sheraton OSJ to us. It was perfect. Now they said the same thing for a Sat night you have to stay 2 night 'but try to call back when it gets closer someone might cancel' another words try a month/week or so before you go if the rooms aren't booked they will open them up to one night. I have another room booked but can cancel up to 24 hours in advance w/ no charge. It was so perfectly located!

[tampabay25690]

I live in Florida, my cruise pal wants to book from San Juan. The cruise itself is reasonable for the great itinerary.

What extra expenses will come up? Does anyone have an idea of flight cost from Orlando?

 

Not bad we r flying out of Tampa on October 6 and we paid 225 each round trip. Look at jet blue

[Bamaman1]

The Carnival cruise out of San Juan was the best cruise we ever took. We like going to 6 ports in 7 days--and to four new places.

 

We took a catamaran trip to see the sea turtles in Barbados. Not too exciting since I've scuba dived all over the world. But nice day trip.

 

Height of our week was taking a Cosol Tour on St. Lucia (online reserv.). Mr. Cosol's brother, the infamous "Yellow Bird," was our driver, and he was absolutely fantastic. Every where we went, he was stopping buying us food. They had 10 vans that day with a dump truck full of ice, beer, rum punch, drinks following us every where we went. Take the tour and ask for Yellow Bird as your driver.

 

We stayed a few days in a B&B south of Arecibo before leaving. Puerto Ricans don't know whether to speak Spanish, English or Spanglish. Give'em a ice chest, and they're selling water at every redlight. Give'em a gas grill and a canopy, and they're a roadside restaurant.

 

We found hotel rooms in Old San Juan to be out of our price range. We got a great beachfront room thru Priceline.com, and it was just 5 minutes from the airport. Remember, San Juan is just another domestic U.S. flight. It's a pretty easy place to deal with.

[ECU_Drummer]

My wife and I went on the Victory out of San Juan last year for our honeymoon. We flew in the morning of embarkation and out the day of dembarkation. If I could do it again, we would give ourselves a night in San Juan when traveling to and from port. Overall it was a blast and we had direct flights out of Charlotte to San Juan. Wasn't cheap, the airfare was damn near as expensive as the cruise (almost, since we had a balcony suite).

 

I highly recommend this POC. It was very easy to navigate and it's great that you can check in and still have time to explore since the ship doesn't sail until later at night. It's also BEAUTIFUL when leaving port to see the fort all lit up. Man, 16 days until our anniversary cruise out of Canaveral cannot happen soon enough!

[mondello]

I live in Florida, my cruise pal wants to book from San Juan. The cruise itself is reasonable for the great itinerary.

What extra expenses will come up? Does anyone have an idea of flight cost from Orlando?

I just searched and found MCO to SJU for $201pp in early Dec.

[Mikel1733]

The Carnival cruise out of San Juan was the best cruise we ever took. We like going to 6 ports in 7 days--and to four new places.

 

We took a catamaran trip to see the sea turtles in Barbados. Not too exciting since I've scuba dived all over the world. But nice day trip.

 

Height of our week was taking a Cosol Tour on St. Lucia (online reserv.). Mr. Cosol's brother, the infamous "Yellow Bird," was our driver, and he was absolutely fantastic. Every where we went, he was stopping buying us food. They had 10 vans that day with a dump truck full of ice, beer, rum punch, drinks following us every where we went. Take the tour and ask for Yellow Bird as your driver.

 

We stayed a few days in a B&B south of Arecibo before leaving. Puerto Ricans don't know whether to speak Spanish, English or Spanglish. Give'em a ice chest, and they're selling water at every redlight. Give'em a gas grill and a canopy, and they're a roadside restaurant.

 

We found hotel rooms in Old San Juan to be out of our price range. We got a great beachfront room thru Priceline.com, and it was just 5 minutes from the airport. Remember, San Juan is just another domestic U.S. flight. It's a pretty easy place to deal with.

 

What was the hotel name you got thru Priceline?

[HarpHarp]

What was the hotel name you got thru Priceline?

There are lots of hotels on Isla Verde

The Verdanza is nice & not too expensive & I've stayed at the Embassy with the casino.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g2665727-Isla_Verde_Carolina_Puerto_Rico-Hotels.html

 

When I lived in St Thomas, I used to go to Puerto Rico frequently & there is much to see & do, Old San Juan, El Yunque rainforest, The bioluminescent bay, El Morro, the Bacardi Rum factory. Stay a couple of extra days if you can.