Cruising out of Puerto Rico

[coz09]

Any advice for cruising out of Puerto Rico?? Which nights are formal nights?

[HamSammie]

Formal evenings are Tuesday and Thursday. Check out the Ports of Call forums for each one of your stops. Plenty of good information there. Enforcement of the Liquor and Beverage policy is pretty lax during embarkation.

[lablover61]

I personally would always fly the day before

 

 

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[Jehaams]

I would plan to stay a few extra days in Puerto Rico to see the sights. You can buy wine at the port to carry on. On embarkation day you can get back off the ship to sightsee that afternoon. Go see the forts and get some ice cream from one of the street vendors. The forts are lit up beautifully when you sail out of port that night.

[deladane]

I LOVE cruising out of Puerto Rico and I've done it 3 times before (twice on Carnival). I have some detailed reviews posted in my signature below which may help you with planning things to do in Puerto Rico and each of the ports, but the ship info won't pertain to your sailing because they changed the ships around.

[annee]

I also liked sailing from Puerto Rico. Even though most ships leave late at night I would definitely fly in the day before. Stay at a hotel close to the port so you have more time to explore the city or to take a tour.

[zqvol]

Any advice for cruising out of Puerto Rico?? Which nights are formal nights?

 

 

Don't buy liquor on the ship or in any of the ports, wait and buy it in the airport after you clear security. You can carry it on the plane and there is no limit other than what you can carry.

[nanwel]

Stayed at a hotel away from the port, but close enough to walk downtown hotel supposed to have hotel transfer, but it was mia so we took a taxi $15 for 3 of us. told transfer was coming, but could be another 30 - 45 min wait.

Beach front hotels are beautiful, but expensive - book across the road - lots of areas to walk through to beach - beach is public.

Went for a walk the night before in the downtown area, and bought our carry on wine - had dinner and really felt we were already on vacation!

Do not like staying close to port in most cities - same old stores in everyport -not really interesting.

Loved that there were no port issues - fog, bad weather to worry about flying in - only worry was departing - but we were lucky no snow clear skies.

You are in the heat from the day you arrive until the day you leave!

Also took the cruise port tour on the way to the airport - better than arriving at the airport too soon and sitting there in the a/c too early for our flight. But if we had not done the cruise ship exchange, we would have taken a taxi somewhere for an hour or two before heading to the airport.

[trippingpara]

San Juan is my favorite port to sail out of. I agree with the above posters about flying in a day early. There is a ton to do in Puerto Rico! The 3 main areas to stay in are Old San Juan, Condado and Isla Verde. My favorite is Old San Juan. My reviews in my signature line are pretty comprehensive about what to do in San Juan as well as cruising from there. I'm happy to help with any questions that you may have.

[ibcnusoon]

We flew out Friday afternoon or so before our Sunday cruise out of San Juan. We were a party of 6 from ages 15-75 at the time. We decided to stay in Old San Juan rather than the beach area (enough beaches were already scheduled on our cruise), so we decided on staying in the city and enjoying the history of the city.

 

The younger group toured the city and went to forts while the older group took the free trolly ride around the city. We ate at Barrachina's Saturday night and shopped the stores around Old San Juan during the day. Sunday morning I took my dad to the old church around the corner from our hotel for mass, the city is beautiful.

 

We were easily dropped off at the ship around 11am Sunday and enjoyed the ship that day and took naps and got familiar with the ship until 10:00pm departure. Loved this itinerary too!

[Mr2Scents]

Cruised out of Puerto Rico on the Liberty in December. It is our favorite port to cruise out of. We feel flying in the day prior for us is a necessity since we are coming from the north and weather delays to Puerto Rico can happen. We have stayed in OSJ both times and loved it. It's hectic and crowded and full of life. OSJ is a great place to wander around, tour the forts ($5/pp for both forts). We walked everywhere. They do offer the free trolleys but they can be a challenge to get on.

 

Formal nights on our cruises (Southern Caribbean) were the first sea day, Tuesday and St. Kitts on Friday. We had YTD so we didn't have to rush anyplace at a certain time. We loved getting pre-dinner drinks at the Red Frog. If you show up at 7:30-8:00PM for YTD seating it did appear that there was a wait to get in. We typically went between 6:30-7 and never waited to be seated.

 

What we love about sailing from San Juan is you're already sailing from the Caribbean when you leave. You are truly "cruising" as you're leaving from paradise. The night views of the forts are amazing.

 

You'll love cruising from San Juan.

[MAGNUM PI]

We have taken five southern Caribbean cruises, from San Juan.

What time does your ship leave San Juan?

If you are having an evening departure, you will have a thrill. The most awesome site is observing the San Juan fort,on the cliff, as your ship heads out to see! It is the most exciting sail away we have had; beats Miami, Port Canaveral, Ft Lauderdale, IMO.

Definitely fly down, the night before your cruise. Old San Juan is close by the pier; easy walking to shops, etc. They have a Coach purse outlet, that my daughter's love.

[mpdog42]

Whats the Boarding Procedure at San Juan? Do they have a area for priority Guest?

 

Thanks

Mike

[pghsteelerfan]

We've sailed out of San Juan three times now, two of those times have been recent (Valor, 5/2013 and Liberty, 9/2015). As the others have mentioned, I recommend flying in at least a day early. There is so much to see and do in San Juan. This is our favorite itinerary, regardless of the ship (they change ships around for this itinerary frequently). We love the ship, but on this itinerary, the ports steal the show.

 

mpdog42...you asked about boarding. We had totally different experiences on our 2013 Valor cruise and on our 2015 Liberty cruise. Usually there is no need for priority seating and most of the time you can get right on if you get to the ship at around noon.

 

In 2013, we arrived at the terminal at noon, turned our luggage over to the porters, and were through the check-in process, security and on Valor's Lido Deck with a drink in hand by 12:45PM. No wait, they were letting passengers on.

 

In 2015, we arrived at around 11:15AM, turned our luggage over to the porters then got in line to go in. While we were heading into the terminal, we noticed that passengers were still getting off. The check-in was very fast, no waits, but we were told boarding was delayed and were given Zone 1. We were done with check-in just before noon but again, boarding was delayed. They did have an area with seating for priority guests. Since we weren't priority, we ended up with sitting on the floor but we were passing the time talking with fellow passengers. They didn't start boarding until around 1:30PM and priority were the first to board, then they stared calling the Zones. We were on the ship by 2:00PM.

 

I think most of the time, passengers can get right on, but there are occasionally delays. We heard a couple of different reasons why things were running late, but I don't know the actual reason.

Edited February 15, 2016 by pghsteelerfan

[coz09]

Thanks for all the great info!! Our cruise is in October leaving Sunday night. We fly into San Juan on Friday. We have also been to San Juan before and loved it, so needed a couple extra days!! We are staying right across from the port at a Sheraton. I am going to go back and look at some of the reviews and then we will see if I have any more questions!!

[crazyboutdisney]

We are sailing this itinerary Sunday!! Thanks for the great info! I was curious as to when boarding starts.