Can I Leave The Ship?

[Cariad3600]

We are flying into San Juan the day before our cruise date and intend to use the day of departure to tour some of Old San Juan. My question is ... "can we come and go from the ship once we have checked in and gotten our seapass card"? The ship departs San Juan at 8 p.m. in the evening and we had hoped to do some touring in the morning - register at the ship - leave ship and continue touring until evening as we have late dinner seating. An alternate would be to ask the hotel to store our luggage - tour old San Juan and board the ship late in the day. Any suggestions would be appreciated as this is the first time we will be arriving the day before a cruise.

[4xcruisers]

Should be able to. There is a set time that you must return by, usually 1-2 hours before sailing. Ask on ship they can tell you. After this they do not let anyone on.

[kenandlaura06]

I would give RCCL a phone call and ask them.

[springtxbill]

Yes you can.

[Ocean Boy]

You absolutely can leave the ship. When we sailed on Serenade we checked in and moved into our cabin then we went in to Old San Juan for several hours. You can come and go from the ship just like at any port of call. When you come back to the terminal you just use your seapass card to get through security and back onto the ship.

[Cariad3600]

Thank you all. I suspected it would be treated as any other port, but wanted that confirmed by more experienced cruisers than I.

[Murphy]

Yes, you absolutely can leave the ship after checking in. I tell myself we are going to do just that every cruise, but once we are onboard, I get so excited about the ship, I have only gotten off once after boarding and that was only for a quick tour of Old San Juan. We like to tour the ship the first day, even if it's a ship we have already been on. Check for changes, look for the "fastest" route between cabin and dining, dining and casino, etc. Make my spa appointment... you get it, I'm in love with the cruise ships!

[erniesband]

As others have said, you can definitely leave the ship once you've checked in, but practically you'll have 2 issues. It doesn't matter how early you get to the pier, check in doesn't begin until 11:30-12:00, usually, and there's no where to drop your bags and then come back. You get in line and wait. At some point, porters will take your bags, but not your carry-ons. Second, even if you get on early, you usually can't get to your room until early to mid-afternoon (as late as 3:00, sometimes), to drop your carry on, so, again, you've got that with you. In the past we've checked out of our hotel and gone to the pier about 11:00, then just stayed on board. This year we're considering asking our hotel to put our stuff in their bell closet, spending some morning time in OSJ, then going back past the hotel to pick up our luggage before heading over to the ship.