San Juan on disembarkation day?

[Ketypie]

We are newbie cruisers sailing on Jewel of the Seas from San Juan in January. Love this website for all it's hints and tips. We are flying out on disembarkation day at 14.10 which is too early for any RC trips and as our final destination is the UK don't think we can use the luggage service. Any tips for things to do as TA not being any help or should we just head to the airport?

[Let'sGo!]

I'm sure there are others who can chime in here with more recent info... but last year we had a late flight out of SJU the day our cruise ended.

 

We took a cab over to Barrachino's, where they stored our luggage for "whatever we wanted to tip" and we were able to walk around Old San Juan for several hours. We returned to the restaurant after our walk, ordered a couple of their famous Pina Coladas, tipped them for watching the bags and then caught a cab to the airport.

 

We arrived at Barrachino's about 8:30am, well before they were scheduled to open, but the owner was there with his keys opening up and he graciously took our luggage for us.

 

The airport is not very entertaining - just fyi.

[BettyPC]

That is a tough time to be leaving - Puerto Rico had the LONGEST lines for the security screening that we had ever seen (my husband is a TSA Security officer) - so I would say you will need quite a bit of time for the lines...

 

I would suggest touring Old San Juan - but not sure what you would do w/your luggage. We will be on Jewel In Feb. 2014.

 

 

We are newbie cruisers sailing on Jewel of the Seas from San Juan in January. Love this website for all it's hints and tips. We are flying out on disembarkation day at 14.10 which is too early for any RC trips and as our final destination is the UK don't think we can use the luggage service. Any tips for things to do as TA not being any help or should we just head to the airport?

[Ketypie]

Thanks for the feedback - looks like we will have time to spare! What is the latest time we will be off the ship/ latest time at airport ?

[golfer1966]

We take our bags and check them in at the terminal, then we go to town for a bit. ( old san juan )

[JMG]

I agree, the San Juan Airport is not a place where you want to spend a lot of extra time!

 

On arrival at the airport we have to take our luggage and go through Agriculture screening, then we get to stand in another line to check our baggage +/or get your boarding passes, then you get to stand in line for security screening, then you get to stand often because there are not enough seats at the gates. There are not many "restaurants" so seats are in high demand there also. Just not a friendly airport IMHO!

 

I would either stay on ship for as long as possible, which may still be too early, or go to the restaurant and check your bags and walk around Old San Juan for a little while before heading to the airport.

[DiamondDiva23]

Barrachina is the best! We got there right at 9:00 & the owner took our bags & asked us if we needed to get anything out of them. He showed us where they would be stored & we tipped him $20. He then gave us a sheet of paper with walking instructions because we wanted to go to El Morro. Our flight was at 2:10 so we headed back there at 11:30, had the best Puert Rican food I've ever had (and I'm Puerto Rican so I've had a lot! lol), a couple of drinks & then grabbed our bags. They were so nice to us during lunch that we heavily tipped our server AND tipped the guy AGAIN who gave us our bags back! What can I say? We were very impressed with them. They also told us where to stand at the end of the block to get a quick cab to SJU. Hope this helps!

[crisndeefromde]

You can only check your luggage in within 90 minutes of your flight or you have to sit in the waiting area until it is correct time. We were right on the border of the allowed time. We just let people in front of us until the airtran person said it was ok to be in line for our flight time. You have to go thru the agriculture line first and get your stickers...

 

The ships try to be clear by 930 or 10 at the latest so that they can then get crew off that are leaving and also get the guests that are staying on board thru customs for turn around day.

[jb008]

SJU doesn't offer luggage service that takes your bags straight from ship to airport and you don't see it until your home airport.

 

You can only check your luggage in within 90 minutes of your flight or you have to sit in the waiting area until it is correct time. We were right on the border of the allowed time. We just let people in front of us until the airtran person said it was ok to be in line for our flight time.

 

I haven't flown through SJU, but I'm surprised by that 90 minutes part for checking baggage. Airtran.com contract of carriage says 4 hours, and according to their site they recommend at least 60-90 minutes if checking a bag.

 

I believe Delta uses 6 hours (Website Quote: When you arrive at the airport, you can drop off your checked baggage at the nearest baggage drop, marked with red "Baggage Drop" signage, or curbside check-in station (available within 6 hours of departure time).)

 

I know I've heard of busy airport restricting it down to 4 hours on DL, but 90 seems too short imho.

[JMG]

You can only check your luggage in within 90 minutes of your flight or you have to sit in the waiting area until it is correct time. We were right on the border of the allowed time. We just let people in front of us until the airtran person said it was ok to be in line for our flight time. You have to go thru the agriculture line first and get your stickers...

 

The ships try to be clear by 930 or 10 at the latest so that they can then get crew off that are leaving and also get the guests that are staying on board thru customs for turn around day.

 

We flew out of San Juan on 10/26/13 (JetBlue) and we checked our luggage in for our flight at about 10am for a flight that left at 1:50pm.

Edited November 9, 2013 by JMG

[rummenroman]

Did the southern route twice this year. We flew United and American. We were at the airport 4-5 hours before the flight. Both times they took our luggage with out a problem. If you get there early the TSA lines aren't too bad. If you get there after 9ish you can expect a decent sized wait. All of the concourses are connect so you can go through any TSA line. In my experience the Jet Blue concourse is typically the shortest line.

[megr1125]

SJU did at one point, have a baggage storage room... I've used it several times...

 

Generally bags can be checked with the airline 4 hours prior to flight time, but that can vary, based on ticket counter hours, volume of passengers, and space....Frankly, 90 minutes is too close to flight time :eek::p (things at SJU are sort of, well, slow..... LOL) but then again, I haven't flown air tran and an certainly not trying to dispute what cris said......just pointing out that different airlines may have different rules, and the OP suggested they are flying to the UK, so that will likely involve a need for more time...

[crookedhalo]

There is a company, go Puerto Rico shuttle, that offers tours tailored to your schedule. They will pick you up at the terminal and proceed to the tour, keeping your luggage with you at all times. Lots of options for tours - we used them for a rain forest tour after our cruise, but that takes a bit longer than you probably have:o.

[coordinator23]

Barrachina is the best! We got there right at 9:00 & the owner took our bags & asked us if we needed to get anything out of them. He showed us where they would be stored & we tipped him $20. He then gave us a sheet of paper with walking instructions because we wanted to go to El Morro. Our flight was at 2:10 so we headed back there at 11:30, had the best Puert Rican food I've ever had (and I'm Puerto Rican so I've had a lot! lol), a couple of drinks & then grabbed our bags. They were so nice to us during lunch that we heavily tipped our server AND tipped the guy AGAIN who gave us our bags back! What can I say? We were very impressed with them. They also told us where to stand at the end of the block to get a quick cab to SJU. Hope this helps!

We look forward to ending our trip at Barrachina's. We have done this twice and will be doing it again soon. Great food and wonderful service. I like walking around Old San Juan and doing some light shopping. No problem getting a taxi from the ship to Barrachina's and then later to the ship. I highly recommend doing this. (On an eastern Caribbean cruise, we even walked over to the restaurant to have lunch because we like their food so much.)

The airport is boring.

[sellwingri]

RCCL doesn't offer check in from the ship from San Juan? That would make things so much easier.

 

We cruised out of San Juan a few years ago (I forgot if they took our bags or not) and did the Bacardi Rum Factory Tour. It was actually a decent tour but the biggest benefit is if you drink rum, you can buy it at their store for 30% of what you pay in the states. We may take that same tour again for the same reason in March.

[crisndeefromde]

Interesting for sure. We could only get in the line to check in 90 minutes before our flight in Feb. We were there earlier and had no line to go thru agriculture and there was a long line at air trans. First time using them. Have always flown USAir previously. An agent came and looked at our reservation and told all four us we had to wait. To go over there as he pointed and we said nope...we will just let others in front of us as there was such a long line behind us with others that had later flights than us. About 20 minutes later another agent said we were ok to come up and check in. We had a bag that was 51 pounds and had to take out stuff to adjust the weight and the agent was pretty rude about it. We just kept smiling. Then we were good to go thru security and even tho a long line it only took minutes. In 2012 we had 4 pm flight and we were at the airport 4 hours before flight not knowing what the ag line would be like...we were moved to closer flight and had priority security line and on to our flight that was boarding. That was USAir. So now I don't know if we just had problems that occurred our particular day as it seems everyone else had a quite different experience.

[crisndeefromde]

And I see now on Air Tran site effective june 2013 that there is the four hour rule which is in effect.

 

I believe what our problem might have been was we were the first flight that morning. we were in this long line after ag line and we weren't able to use any kiosks...don't even remember seeing them.

 

thanks to everyone for the great information...I will remember this for our next trip in a few months as we have a later flight cause the price was right.

[kc320]

RCCL doesn't offer check in from the ship from San Juan? That would make things so much easier.

 

We cruised out of San Juan a few years ago (I forgot if they took our bags or not) and did the Bacardi Rum Factory Tour. It was actually a decent tour but the biggest benefit is if you drink rum, you can buy it at their store for 30% of what you pay in the states. We may take that same tour again for the same reason in March.

 

You can check in online & print your boarding pass...but you still have to go thru the AG screening line...and drop off your luggage...