San Juan

[cruze610]

Does anyone know why Princess seems to have stopped using San Juan as a departure port? I much prefer the itineraries that are offered when sailing from SJ.

[1025cruise]

Because it is expensive and a massive pain to fly to San Juan.

[cruze610]

Because it is expensive and a massive pain to fly to San Juan.

 

Expensive for Whom? I don't think that Princess would discontinue using it as a port because its more expensive to fly there. Yes While it is a longer flight to San Juan then to Fort Lauderdale, I'd hardly call it a pain. The itineraries are so much more varied. I can remember the days of taking a 7 day that took us to Antigua, Tortola, St. Lucia, Barbados and Aruba. That was one of the best itineraries I've ever taken. Its gotten to the point where The itineraries are no longer the deciding factor when going to the Caribbean. (I and so many others I'm sure) have been to St. Thomas and St. Maarten so many times that its become "the same old thing".

[caribsun]

For the same reason NCL left. :D

[senior lady]

I think the big reason was that the ships were hard to fill up. They were really "deep" discounting those cruises. All about making a profit. I think Carnival is the only one still sailing out of San Juan.

[Babr]

I really enjoyed our only cruise out of San Juan. We flew in a day early and stayed in Old San Juan, but that was not enough time to see it all. We found a cafe/bakery for breakfast and enjoyed cafe con leche and pastries with the locals. If I had a chance to go again, I'd go earlier so I could see more of Old San Juan and El Moro.

 

My first guess as to why Princess isn't doing San Juan would be the availability of flights. As I remember, there were few direct flights, and the timing was awkward. It wasn't more expensive than going to Florida, but it wasn't nearly as convenient. We got a you-won't-believe-this price on a Celebrity cruise on short notice. I guess the only reason they would sell it so cheap is that people weren't willing to fly to San Juan.

[Times Prince]

Expensive for Whom? I don't think that Princess would discontinue using it as a port because its more expensive to fly there. Yes While it is a longer flight to San Juan then to Fort Lauderdale, I'd hardly call it a pain. ...

Expensive for almost everyone. As an example from an actual cruise which included Christmas onboard:

• 8 day Cruise cost: Balcony guarantee cabin: $ 848 per person
  
• Air cost (coach), flying from Texas: $869 per person.
  

That particular cruise contained a high percentage of Puerto Rican passengers, because it was just too expensive for mainland US based passengers to get to the cruise., requiring the cruise line to deeply discount the cabin prices to fill the ship - and you can see how deeply they had to discount from the price above where a holiday cruise usually is over twice that cost for a balcony cabin.

 

Compare that with other US based home ports, and you will find the overall cost to get to/from the port combined with the cost of the cruise to be significantly less expensive compared with San Juan, meaning more passengers can afford to book those cruises.

 

With low passenger bookings because of high costs, it was a business decision for the cruise line to withdraw from Puerto Rico for a while.

 

And yes, after those flights, I would call it a pain.

[fishywood]

Yes, its all about the money. Seven night cruises with only one sea day are a thing of the past; they need the onboard revenue from a captive audience for at least two sea days plus one port day only 7am to 1pm or 2pm to 7pm. (And one of the most common survey replies was that if the effort and expense was made to fly to San Juan, passengers wanted NO sea days at all, only port days).

 

And as for deep discounting: when these cruises ran I regularly received 'last minute deal' e-mails for $279! Yes, $40/pp/pd--and even that wasn't low enought to tempt enough people to spend the money for last minute airfare; most of the late bookings were to Puerto Rican residents. Princess then had to find additional Spanish speaking staff and make most announcements in two languages--which became another area of negative survey feedback.

 

And as an aside, yesterday I received this last minute deal e-mail: four day Caribbean getaway for $129--$33/pp/pd! Have to wonder how long Princess will stay in the already saturated half-week from Florida cruise market.

[caribill]

Because it is expensive and a massive pain to fly to San Juan.

 

Expensive for Whom? I don't think that Princess would discontinue using it as a port because its more expensive to fly there.

 

Since the flights are expensive for many, not as many people are willing to book cruises starting in San Juan. If Princess cannot sell sufficient cabins at pricing that makes sense to the company, then Princess will no longer offer cruises from there.

[cruze610]

Expensive for almost everyone. As an example from an actual cruise which included Christmas onboard:

• 8 day Cruise cost: Balcony guarantee cabin: $ 848 per person
  
• Air cost (coach), flying from Texas: $869 per person.
  

That particular cruise contained a high percentage of Puerto Rican passengers, because it was just too expensive for mainland US based passengers to get to the cruise., requiring the cruise line to deeply discount the cabin prices to fill the ship - and you can see how deeply they had to discount from the price above where a holiday cruise usually is over twice that cost for a balcony cabin.

 

Compare that with other US based home ports, and you will find the overall cost to get to/from the port combined with the cost of the cruise to be significantly less expensive compared with San Juan, meaning more passengers can afford to book those cruises.

 

With low passenger bookings because of high costs, it was a business decision for the cruise line to withdraw from Puerto Rico for a while.

 

And yes, after those flights, I would call it a pain.

 

 

 

 

 

I think the big reason was that the ships were hard to fill up. They were really "deep" discounting those cruises. All about making a profit. I think Carnival is the only one still sailing out of San Juan.

 

Just checked to compare what a flight would cost from NEWARK to FLL vs. SJU Christmas week 12/22-12/29 to FLL-$595 and to SJU $692. While I find those prices to be obsurd (even for a holiday week) its less than a difference of $100.00 for the extra $100 I'd fly to Puerto Rico EVERY TIME.

 

I don't know about other departure cities but from Newark, its a nonstop flight to SJU. Its obviously a longer flight than going to FLL but not a pain by any means.

 

Every time I cruised out of SJ there was a sign displaying that the sailing was sold out. But in fairness, this hasn't been for about 3-4 years when air fare was a lot less. I used to be able to fly rt from EWr to SJU for under $400.00 and the cruise fare was discounted I'd say. I used to book a BA balcony mid ship on Caribe deck for $749pp.

[cruze610]

Yes, its all about the money. Seven night cruises with only one sea day are a thing of the past; they need the onboard revenue from a captive audience for at least two sea days plus one port day only 7am to 1pm or 2pm to 7pm. (And one of the most common survey replies was that if the effort and expense was made to fly to San Juan, passengers wanted NO sea days at all, only port days).

 

And as for deep discounting: when these cruises ran I regularly received 'last minute deal' e-mails for $279! Yes, $40/pp/pd--and even that wasn't low enought to tempt enough people to spend the money for last minute airfare; most of the late bookings were to Puerto Rican residents. Princess then had to find additional Spanish speaking staff and make most announcements in two languages--which became another area of negative survey feedback.

 

And as an aside, yesterday I received this last minute deal e-mail: four day Caribbean getaway for $129--$33/pp/pd! Have to wonder how long Princess will stay in the already saturated half-week from Florida cruise market.

 

Makes a lot of sense that they would want to have more time at sea. I didn't think of it from that aspect. Makes perfect sense. and I will definitely agree that the multilingual constant announcements that I had to endure when on a Carnival cruise out of SJ SUCKED!!!

[cruze610]

Since the flights are expensive for many, not as many people are willing to book cruises starting in San Juan. If Princess cannot sell sufficient cabins at pricing that makes sense to the company, then Princess will no longer offer cruises from there.

 

 

So I guess using this theory, Princess will eventually pull its fleet out of FLL. because the ships out of there don't seem to be selling out any more on a weekly basis.

[beachseeker]

We have not sailed Princess since they pulled out of San Juan. We love starting in a warm port and prefer the Southern Caribbean ports so we have sailed with other lines and will be leaving out of San Juan with Azamara on the 28th. Our tickets to San Juan are only slightly more than our flights were to Ft Lauderdale over Thanksgiving. Sailed out of Galveston and New Orleans the last two years and both times the sea days were too cold to enjoy. IMO wasted days so we prefer San Juan. We are sailing again with Princess to Alaska this summer and looking forward to returning to Princess.

[beachseeker]

I think Carnival is the only one still sailing out of San Juan.

 

Carnival Valor, 2 Royal Caribbean ships, and Celebrity Summit

[caribill]

So I guess using this theory, Princess will eventually pull its fleet out of FLL. because the ships out of there don't seem to be selling out any more on a weekly basis.

 

Well, they may stop the 3 and 4 day cruises.

 

Offers just received:

Ruby inside from $32.25/day, balcony from $62.25/day for a 4 day cruise

Royal or Crown inside from $71.29/day, balcony from $99.86/day for a 7 day cruise.

 

(Also interesting that the newest Princess ship in the fleet on its first season in the Caribbean has the same pricing as a five year old Princess ship. To compare, cheapest pricing I see on the RCCL Oasis of the Seas for 7 days in the same time frame as the Royal is $91.14/day for an inside, $140/day for a balcony. For the Allure OTS, $109.14/day for an inside, $164.14/day for a balcony.)

[Host Jazzbeau]

Celebrity Summit offers 2 different 7-day itineraries out of San Juan. Both are very interesting, and the ship is a very classy older ship with great food (especially the extra-cost restaurants Normandie and Qsine).

[cruze610]

I am very surprised that Princess has not left at least 1 ship in San Juan. If they were to have the Sea Princess for example, they should not have too much difficulty filling a ship that size. It really is a much better itinerary IMO from San Juan. Southern Caribbean is so much better than Eastern. So many people that I speak to onboard have said that they don't even bother getting off the ship in St. Thomas or Princess Cays since they have been there so many times. I feel like I'm getting to that point.

 

I will try Royal or Celebrity next time I want to go to the Caribbean. Who knows, I might even enjoy them as much or more than Princess. if that happens, it can open up a whole new world of possibilities. up till this point I have cruised with only Princess (except for one awful Carnival cruise back in 02)

[davekathy]

Celebrity Summit offers 2 different 7-day itineraries out of San Juan. Both are very interesting, and the ship is a very classy older ship with great food (especially the extra-cost restaurants Normandie and Qsine).

 

We are doing a B2B on the Summit March/April 2014. Also doing a B2B on the Adventure Of The Seas March/April 2015. Love the itieraries. Spending a couple of days in San Juan prior to embarking on the Summit.

Edited December 8, 2013 by davekathy

[DrivesLikeMario]

I really wish Princess would put a ship back in SJU. Even though we paid much more for our airfare than we did for our balcony cabins, we still would consider flying back to SJU simply because in the winter time, it is one of the only embarkation ports that starts you off immediately with hot weather!!! This alone in the winter months is enough to entice us to fly that far and pay that pricey airfare.

[davekathy]

I really wish Princess would put a ship back in SJU. Even though we paid much more for our airfare than we did for our balcony cabins, we still would consider flying back to SJU simply because in the winter time, it is one of the only embarkation ports that starts you off immediately with hot weather!!! This alone in the winter months is enough to entice us to fly that far and pay that pricey airfare.

 

I just checked airfare fro SLC to FLL and SLC to SJU. $6.00 more to fly into San Juan vs Fort Lauderdale. But then again it's always expensive to fly from Utah to the East coast. Something we budget for in our vacation savings account.

[Pam in CA]

I think the big reason was that the ships were hard to fill up. They were really "deep" discounting those cruises. All about making a profit. I think Carnival is the only one still sailing out of San Juan.

I agree. There are a number of factors why Princess no longer sails from San Juan, all related to profit. It has less to do with filling the ship and more to do with the price point to fill the ship. If the cruise line can make more money deploying the ship to another port, they will. If another line, such as Carnival, is sailing from San Juan, Princess could very well have decided that Carnival is filling the need. Supply and demand. There probably isn't enough demand for Princess to charge a substantial amount for cabins so they go elsewhere.

 

Not having a large drivable market to draw from is also a factor. Most passengers HAVE to fly and from many parts of the US, there aren't a lot of flight options and airfare can be expensive and inconvenient. For instance, there are no non-stop flights between LAX and SJU which means you have to change planes and all that hassle.

[orangetabby]

I really wish Princess would put a ship back in SJU. Even though we paid much more for our airfare than we did for our balcony cabins, we still would consider flying back to SJU simply because in the winter time, it is one of the only embarkation ports that starts you off immediately with hot weather!!! This alone in the winter months is enough to entice us to fly that far and pay that pricey airfare.

 

Totally agree. We loved our two cruises out of San Juan and for us the extra airfare was worth it to start off in hot weather. We also like the variety in ports since you do not have to sail as far on the first day to reach a port. St Thomas is nice but on the regular eastern Caribbean cruises out of Fort Lauderdale, it would be nice if Princess exchanged San Juan for St Thomas on some weeks. At least this would add some variety.

[fishywood]

I am very surprised that Princess has not left at least 1 ship in San Juan. If they were to have the Sea Princess for example, they should not have too much difficulty filling a ship that size.

 

I too would like to see a Sun-class-sized ship sailing routes other than the Panama Canal out of the US. But merely selling out a 1900-pax ship isn't good enough for Princess in the Caribbean or Europe. Starting this year only the newer Crown-class (or 'Super Grand' as some on here refer to them) are out of Ft. Lauderdale or Houston, the original Grand-class ships being exiled to the west coast. Result is Princess increasing the number of berths for sale without increasing the number of sailings and port calls. The almighty dollar reigns supreme.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Maybe when the new Panama Canal opens in 2015 Princess can put Coral or Island in SJU for the summer (and the other in the Med!).

[Scotto97]

Make that another vote for bringing back SJU as a embarkation port. It's still our absolute favorite with the warm weather and great islands to visit. If Princess doesn't come back there soon we'll be forced to try RC or Celebrity there