Southern Carib, San Juan

[AnJ]

I'd appreciate some help on this... This comming winter wife and I are booked on the Summit for a B2B out of San Juan.

 

For those experienced San Juan Cruisers, what time do they start to let passengers on board the ship? it's scheduled to leave at 8 pm..

 

Also, when we get back to SJ, on that middle week, what time can we expect to leave the ship? Trying to figure a plan for an excursion on the middle week.. Actually wanting to go fishing and want to tell the guide what time to pick us up.

 

Thanks in advance for any help..

[maggie.1008]

I am also doing a Summit cruise out of San Juan that leaves at 8pm. I would like to know what time the Muster Drill takes place.

[Mr. Click]

We have done this trip and were able to board the ship around noon, get into our cabins around 1pm and then leave the ship to go into OSJ but we had to be back around 5pm. Muster drill was around 5pm, before the first dinner seating.

[chrismakris]

They start at about 12. If you want you can drop off your bags at the terminal and take a taxi back and do some sightseeing and then come back to the boat when you originally embark.

 

I found on our cruise from San Juan last January that it gave us plenty of time. to go to the Old Fort, get back(no one at check-in), get to our room, unpack and explore the ship before sail-away.

 

I do seem to remember the muster drill being later than 5 though. Can't really recall what time it was(one too many Old Fashioned's at the Martini Bar I think), but it was definitely later than 5.

[dodger1964]

As to when you can get off, with the caveat that we have only disembarked to actually leave ship (not get off and get back on for next sailing) we always self disembark and have left ship at 730 at the latest. I would imagine (especially if u have same cabin both trips??) you could get off early.

[Atwell]

I'd appreciate some help on this... This comming winter wife and I are booked on the Summit for a B2B out of San Juan.

 

For those experienced San Juan Cruisers, what time do they start to let passengers on board the ship? it's scheduled to leave at 8 pm..

 

Also, when we get back to SJ, on that middle week, what time can we expect to leave the ship? Trying to figure a plan for an excursion on the middle week.. Actually wanting to go fishing and want to tell the guide what time to pick us up.

 

Thanks in advance for any help..

 

Based on our many sailings from San Juan, I agree with those who say you can board around noon (or even a little earlier). The muster drill is before the first dinner seating as I recall, so 5pm sounds about right.

 

As to the process for the B2B on the return, all those passengers who are staying on the ship meet in one of the lounges around 10:00-10:30 am and they walk you off into the terminal and then back on after your passport is re-checked and you are confirmed to be on the list of passengers staying on the ship. You turn in your old sea pass and get a new one as part of the process.

 

I believe that whole process took around 30-45 minutes. You are, therefore, back on the ship before they start embarking new passengers. They leave information in your room the night before, telling you exactly what you need to know.

 

If you want to leave the ship for an excursion and not go through the group process, I believe you can do it, you just go through the regular boarding process like all the newly arriving passengers. Passengers begin to disembark around 8:00-8:30 am as I recall. If you let them know you have an excursion planned, they should let you off in one of the first groups. Perhaps someone else can confirm this.

[Vagabondage]

We did B2B on the Summit out of San Juan last January and I'm certain muster drill was later than 5. We do Select dining somewhere around 7:30 or 8 every night, and I remember our first week's muster came while we were eating. It was a fairly brief, well-organized process. Had to go back to the MDR afterwards for dessert and coffee.

 

On turnaround day in SJ, we were off the ship and back on within 20 minutes. Super-easy. We're doing the whole B2B thing again this January.

 

Happy sailing!

[Lsimon]

...As to the process for the B2B on the return, all those passengers who are staying on the ship meet in one of the lounges around 10:00-10:30 am and they walk you off into the terminal and then back on after your passport is re-checked and you are confirmed to be on the list of passengers staying on the ship. You turn in your old sea pass and get a new one as part of the process. ...

 

We've not done a b2b in San Juan but have in Ft. Lauderdale. I'd expect some similarities as both are subject to US customs.

 

On our b2b the meeting around 10AM to walk off and back on the ship is due to customs & immigration requirements that every passenger, even b2b guests, have to clear US Border Patrol and either they, or Celebrity, want to make sure the ship has a "zero" count of passengers on board. The 10AM call was only for those b2b passengers that chose to stay on board. Passengers who wanted to get off for the day for touring or other reasons could disembark anytime during the general disembarkation, and clear US Boarder Patrol, with the caveat that if they did so they could not reboard until general embarkation started. We were told if we did so that although we'd have to wait for embarkation to begin that we would not have to do check-in at the pier. Instead we were given an "in-transit" pass to bypass check-in at the pier and told to report to customer relations on our return to pick up our new seapass.

 

Perhaps someone who has done it can confirm if the above procedure for b2b guests getting off the ship is the same in San Juan.

[fleckle]

I'd appreciate some help on this... This comming winter wife and I are booked on the Summit for a B2B out of San Juan.

 

For those experienced San Juan Cruisers, what time do they start to let passengers on board the ship? it's scheduled to leave at 8 pm..

 

Also, when we get back to SJ, on that middle week, what time can we expect to leave the ship? Trying to figure a plan for an excursion on the middle week.. Actually wanting to go fishing and want to tell the guide what time to pick us up.

 

Thanks in advance for any help..

The last time we did this at San Juan, we had an excursion on the turnaround day. Since we were not with the group staying on board, we had to go through the regular procedure for leaving the ship along with the passengers who were disembarking there. (Waiting in line to present passports and customs card, having packages sniffed by the cute beagle, that they don't want people to pet, even though some try.)

So plan to allow extra time for that.

 

The procedure is faster for the passengers who are staying on the ship because they take the entire group directly through together, as Atwell explained previously.

 

Whichever way you do it, you will receive a packet with instructions a day or two in advance that includes a transit pass for each B2B passenger in your party, which lets you bypass the check-in lines when you return to the ship.

We find that to be a pretty standard procedure at cruise ports for returning B2B passengers.

 

The instructions that you receive will tell you what time you can leave the ship if going off on your own that day. But allow some slack because it may take longer than anticipated for the ship to be cleared before passengers are allowed to begin disembarking.

There are always some impatient people in a hurry who want to be the first ones off.

 

I would suggest taking a cell phone off the ship with you so you can contact your fishing guide if there is any delay.

 

 

When you return to the ship later in the day, just mention that you are re-boarding B2B passengers, show your transit pass and they will tell you where to pick up your new seapass cards.

At San Juan last winter, a special department had our new seapass cards right there in the terminal, ready and waiting for us when we returned. (Sorry, I forget what it is called, but they will tell you.)

 

It is quick and easy. They take your picture again when you "ding" in with the new card, and then you are back on board.

After that, just keep your transit pass and new seapass card with you, and you are free to come and go throughout the day as you please.

 

Edited July 14, 2014 by fleckle

[AnJ]

Wow, thank you all so very much for the information. Lately I've been getting angry with the posts on this BB, all the complaints ... But then this happens were people truly try to help others out and explain the process.

 

Thank you all so much.

[phoenix_dream]

On our last couple of San Juan cruises, the muster drill was in fact around 5:00 pm. What I was never clear on - do you absolutely need to be back onboard in time for the drill? I know you need to be onboard an hour or hour and a half before sailing (or whatever the instructions actually say), but if I check in and want to go explore the island, can I return closer to 6:00 and do the drill a different time (I know they have an alternate time for people flying in late). Does anyone have experience with this? Would certainly not want to miss my cruise just to enjoy an extra pina colada in Old Town:)

[fleckle]

On our last couple of San Juan cruises, the muster drill was in fact around 5:00 pm. What I was never clear on - do you absolutely need to be back onboard in time for the drill? I know you need to be onboard an hour or hour and a half before sailing (or whatever the instructions actually say), but if I check in and want to go explore the island, can I return closer to 6:00 and do the drill a different time (I know they have an alternate time for people flying in late). Does anyone have experience with this? Would certainly not want to miss my cruise just to enjoy an extra pina colada in Old Town:)

How recent was your last San Juan cruise and was it on the Summit?

 

They may have changed the time of the muster drill since our San Juan cruises on the Summit last winter, where our scheduled departure time was 8:30 p.m. and we had the muster drill at 7:45.

 

But in any case it is nothing to worry about, as they hold a makeup muster drill the following day for the people who miss it.

 

[phoenix_dream]

My last cruise out of SJU was admittedly awhile ago (a year ago March). Years and years ago, they used to sail at 11:00 pm. During those days, we had muster drills around 8:00, in-between seatings. Since they started leaving earlier, we have always had drills around 5:00. Things always change, so it is true that I cannot speak for sure about what they are doing now. They also perhaps change it for various cruises depending on when they are expecting large groups of people to arrive. If they know from pre-check-in docs or air booked through the cruise line that a lot of people are arriving by air late, then perhaps they would schedule differently - who knows.

Edited July 14, 2014 by phoenix_dream