Boarding issues in San Juan

[PMGNJ04]

Returned yesterday from our cruise on AOS and let me start by saying I read about the good, bad, and ugly others reported at this port prior to going. We went with an open mind and have cruised with Rccl 2 times prior from another port.

 

Boarding in San Juan was very slow and my wife likened it to being held in a pen. We have cruised with rccl 2 times before and neither time was like this. The terminal is not air conditioned. We are gold members and were supposed to have a priority check in area. The area was just a line in the middle of the other lines. The woman acting as the traffic director was not allowing our line to move and instead continuously ushered everyone else in front. Everyone waiting was unhappy and felt that the process was unorganized and poor at best.

I went and spoke to the pier coordinator who told me it was because there were a lot of people..... Aren't their always??? We got in line at 12:10 and boarded just short of 2 hours later.

 

I know that it is not always like this from what other posters have reported and after we got through that the cruise was great!

[cruisinfanatic]

Returned yesterday from our cruise on AOS and let me start by saying I read about the good, bad, and ugly others reported at this port prior to going. We went with an open mind and have cruised with Rccl 2 times prior from another port.

 

Boarding in San Juan was very slow and my wife likened it to being held in a pen. We have cruised with rccl 2 times before and neither time was like this. The terminal is not air conditioned. We are gold members and were supposed to have a priority check in area. The area was just a line in the middle of the other lines. The woman acting as the traffic director was not allowing our line to move and instead continuously ushered everyone else in front. Everyone waiting was unhappy and felt that the process was unorganized and poor at best.

I went and spoke to the pier coordinator who told me it was because there were a lot of people..... Aren't their always??? We got in line at 12:10 and boarded just short of 2 hours later.

 

I know that it is not always like this from what other posters have reported and after we got through that the cruise was great!

You do realize that anyone who has ever been on a Royal cruise is at least a gold member and there are 5 tiers above you that are Sr to your gold. By the way, 12:10 is way too late if you expect to be on fast. You showed up at peak crowded time Edited November 8, 2015 by SeaUs

[loubetti]

You do realize that anyone who has ever been on a Royal cruise is at least a gold member and there are 5 tiers above you that are Sr to your gold. By the way, 12:10 is way too late if you expect to be on fast. You showed up at peak crowded time

 

Right on, 100%. "Gold"? It might as well be "plastic".

[racerxspeedy]

Take it easy everyone - IMHO the OP is just trying to provide some recent information to future SJU cruisers on Adventure.

 

We recently sailed AOS and were shocked to see the huge line to drop off luggage. I estimate the wait was more than 30 minutes just to drop luggage. I have never experienced this on any other cruise. The line to check in added another 30 minutes. We were lucky enough to be able to use priority bag drop off. The local ground crew did not allow the others in our group to use the priority check in line with us (The opposite of FLL check in).

 

The only positive about this experience .... when we finally got on the ship the rooms were available and the Windjammer crowds had thinned out. It's amazing how easy it is to put this behind you once your on board. Get there early or be prepared to wait a while if you show up at your "allotted" time.

[steveru621]

Take it easy everyone - IMHO the OP is just trying to provide some recent information to future SJU cruisers on Adventure.

 

We recently sailed AOS and were shocked to see the huge line to drop off luggage. I estimate the wait was more than 30 minutes just to drop luggage. I have never experienced this on any other cruise. The line to check in added another 30 minutes. We were lucky enough to be able to use priority bag drop off. The local ground crew did not allow the others in our group to use the priority check in line with us (The opposite of FLL check in).

 

The only positive about this experience .... when we finally got on the ship the rooms were available and the Windjammer crowds had thinned out. It's amazing how easy it is to put this behind you once your on board. Get there early or be prepared to wait a while if you show up at your "allotted" time.

 

There is always a long line at SJU.

 

there

[pixiestyx]

We'll be there in a couple of weeks. We're hoping to arrive right at 2pm as the cabins are ready. Hopefully there won't be too long of a line/boarding back-up at that time.

[alfaeric]

We've done something like 7 cruises out of San Juan.

 

Sometimes, the lines are long- no idea why, except the very first time- the weather slowed down disembarkation, which let the line get really, really long. But other than that one time, the 2 other times it was slow was far from clear.

 

Thankfully, our cruises always made up for the poor boarding.

[davekathy]

Returned yesterday from our cruise on AOS and let me start by saying I read about the good, bad, and ugly others reported at this port prior to going. We went with an open mind and have cruised with Rccl 2 times prior from another port.

 

Boarding in San Juan was very slow and my wife likened it to being held in a pen. We have cruised with rccl 2 times before and neither time was like this. The terminal is not air conditioned. We are gold members and were supposed to have a priority check in area. The area was just a line in the middle of the other lines. The woman acting as the traffic director was not allowing our line to move and instead continuously ushered everyone else in front. Everyone waiting was unhappy and felt that the process was unorganized and poor at best.

I went and spoke to the pier coordinator who told me it was because there were a lot of people..... Aren't their always??? We got in line at 12:10 and boarded just short of 2 hours later.

 

I know that it is not always like this from what other posters have reported and after we got through that the cruise was great!

 

Glad you enjoyed your Cruise.

[snow1]

Do you think the lines will be shorter if we arrive between 2and 3??

Also we have never cruised Royal but have Gold level from our MLife tier. It gives us that priority check in also. Just adds to more people. On our last NCL cruise we found the normal line was shorter than the priority line. Oh well!!

Edited November 9, 2015 by snow1

[TexCruise371]

We are on Adventure now. I have to agree with the OP. We arrived at the port at 11 am. The doors were opened around 11:15. This was by far the worst we have ever encountered. There were only THREE people checking this whole ship in.

 

We were directed to the suite waiting area and watched as lines grew both for those wanting to check in and those that had. By this time there wasn't much room at all for everyone in the building. We waited close to an hour until they raised the door and that's when the staff lost complete control of the crowd as everyone rushed the door. Priority boarding went out the door, [emoji16]Lol. It was a wild scene for a while.

 

We went to the WJ, had a little to eat. The rooms were opened at 2 pm and all is well now. Great cruise so far.

[borcherk]

TexCruise371, who is the cruise director on board AOS right now?

 

We get on the ship in two weeks, sold out, and I'm not looking forward to the Thanksgiving masses at port but I'm sure once we push away from the dock it will be great. Thanks to the OP; we will head to the port with a little more patience in our carryon's.

[bouhunter]

We've cruised from SJU 6 times and never had any issues arriving around 11:00 at the port. Have been on board by noon every time. Being "gold" one should not expect anything special. It's the lowest membership level that exists.

Edited November 9, 2015 by bouhunter

[bigque]

We didn't have this kind of experience back on October 10th. We were Gold members also and the Gold Line once inside the terminal was about 3 people long when we went through at 11:30. We got out of the taxi at 11:15 and handed our luggage right over to the porters, went through the Gold Line and was eating in the Windjammer by 12:15. I don't know what it is like an hour or two later but we get to every port for a cruise at about the same time 11 or 11:30 or so and never have problems arriving at that time. After that cruise on October 10th we are now platinum and I think on our next cruise I will still try to go through the Gold line as from what I see that is usually the shortest line.

 

Even though everyone who has cruised at least once if a Gold Member, not all have signed up with Crown & Anchor to know that they are Gold Members and can go in the Gold line on their next cruises. :cool:

[lady_cruiser]

Returned yesterday from our cruise on AOS and let me start by saying I read about the good, bad, and ugly others reported at this port prior to going. We went with an open mind and have cruised with Rccl 2 times prior from another port.

 

Boarding in San Juan was very slow and my wife likened it to being held in a pen. We have cruised with rccl 2 times before and neither time was like this. The terminal is not air conditioned. We are gold members and were supposed to have a priority check in area. The area was just a line in the middle of the other lines. The woman acting as the traffic director was not allowing our line to move and instead continuously ushered everyone else in front. Everyone waiting was unhappy and felt that the process was unorganized and poor at best.

I went and spoke to the pier coordinator who told me it was because there were a lot of people..... Aren't their always??? We got in line at 12:10 and boarded just short of 2 hours later.

 

I know that it is not always like this from what other posters have reported and after we got through that the cruise was great!

 

Hopefully the rest of your cruise was fun-filled and relaxing and far off-set your experience at the terminal.

[TexCruise371]

TexCruise371, who is the cruise director on board AOS right now?

 

We get on the ship in two weeks, sold out, and I'm not looking forward to the Thanksgiving masses at port but I'm sure once we push away from the dock it will be great. Thanks to the OP; we will head to the port with a little more patience in our carryon's.

 

 

Mercedes...... Haven't caught her last name. She seems to be pretty upbeat and has a great personality projected from the stage [emoji3][emoji3]

[bld44]

Just out of curiosity, how are the lines at the port in the late afternoon? If I recall most of the sailings out of there depart late (like 8pm). Do the lines peak early (like noon-2p) and then thin out from there? Would one expect short lines if they arrived at say 5pm?

[Garavar]

I dont know how to ask this questions without sounding conceited but here goes...

 

Is there a separate faster line for suite guests like there is in Fort Lauderdale?

[Jestocost]

I dont know how to ask this questions without sounding conceited but here goes...

 

Is there a separate faster line for suite guests like there is in Fort Lauderdale?

 

If there is it would have to have been put in place since our cruise on Adventure a few years ago. We had one of the Royal Family Suites and priority check-in was listed as a benefit but the RCI staff looked at us like we had two heads when we asked about a separate line. We wound up in the same long line as everyone else, which sounds very much like the more recent accounts.

[alfaeric]

I dont know how to ask this questions without sounding conceited but here goes...

 

Is there a separate faster line for suite guests like there is in Fort Lauderdale?

 

There is. It's all the way to the left of all of the lines. It's also fairly empty. But it's hidden pretty nicely by all of the people lined up.

 

On our last cruise- we asked, and found the short line.

 

To the immediate right of it was the line for D and D+.

 

Both of those funnel into one of the metal detector lines.

 

I would not call it faster, just shorter. Once inside, there are separated lines like all other check in locations.

[xrayvin]

Mercedes...... Haven't caught her last name. She seems to be pretty upbeat and has a great personality projected from the stage [emoji3][emoji3]

 

 

We had Mercedes on our VOS sailing in May. She was very good!

[Firefighterhoop]

Was never impressed with the lines/boarding procedure in San Juan.. One of the places I don't think I would cruise from again (don't mind stopping there though on an Eastern cruise).

 

The only benefit it has is that it is already a warm climate when you get off the airplane. I also like the Jewel, and the great crew that it has, and that would be the only reason I would cruise out of SJU again.

 

Also, Gold Check in - some ports have it some ports don't. However on a lot of trips 1/3 to 1/2 of the ship are Gold Members (Not to be confused with Gold Card Members). Sometimes it is better to look in the regular embarkation lines as they are often the same or shorter

Edited November 10, 2015 by Firefighterhoop

[karena1]

We were there in April and had great service. Guy saw we were D+ and told us to go to the priority line. Got checked in so fast, maybe 10 minutes, then sat in the priority D+ area and waited for them to open the ship

 

We have cruised out of San Juan so many times I have lost count and can honestly say we have never had a bad check-in. We get there early so we can get on the ship as soon as possible and everything is extremely easy.

 

San Juan is one of our favorite places to cruise from

[JimAOk1945]

We get there early so we can get on the ship as soon as possible and everything is extremely easy.

 

What time (early) do you usually get there?