Just got back from the Golden 5 minutes ago

[cruisinfirst]

Hi Kitty!

On the Southern itinerary - we're you tendered at any of the ports? Just trying to plan timing on some independent shore excursions.

Thanks!

[kitty555]

We were not tendered in any ports. As a matter of fact, Princess had the 1st and best spot in St. Maarten. We left after RCCL in San Juan and in St. Maarten. It was nice to see them leave the port.

When you go to St. Thomas you have to wake up a little earlier to show immigration your passport to get off the ship.

This was a little confusing the way they worded it on the Princess Patter. They said everyone must show their passports etc.. to get off the ship. I thought this meant that they would not let anyone off the ship until everyone went through it.

It actually meant that you could get off the ship after you showed them your passport. So we went down around 7:45 and were off the ship in 5 minutes.

Thanks

We did the Barbados, Antigua, St. Lucia Cruise.

Hope this helps.

[aclay]

Thanks for the valuable, detailed info Kitty!

We are also staying at the Wyndham Old San Juan for one night before our Nov 14th sail on your same itineray. Yesterday we booked a non refundable special offer for a suite overlooking the bay for $180 after a lot of other hotel research. Obviously the research wasn't enough because only today have we realised that the Princess ships dock elsewhere and we wont have the pleasure of being able to see the Golden arrive on the Sunday morning from our hotel balcony. We're flying in from Zurich via JFK and with jet lag will wake up very early Sunday I'm sure. Also we wont be able to cross the street from the hotel to board on Sunday (we're European and we like to walk ;-))

Here's my questions:

We don't land until 8.30 pm and all we'll want to do is go for a dip in the roof top pool and take a night-time glimpse of the surroundings to get our bearings ready for a morning sightseeing excursion (haven't nailed down the details yet!). Would the roof pool still be open late in the evening??
Any recommendations for transportaion from SJU airport to the hotel?
The hotel has two breakfast dining rooms- any recommendation here?

Would you suggest a taxi from the Wyndham to the Pan American port? Any idea of cost or time needed? We don't have much time to hire a car and will be groggy still with jetlag (looking forward to that first day at sea!!), so will probably walk the Old San Juan sights and then see if there is time for a rainforest visit.

When do you suggest the best time to embark? If we could wave a magic wand, we would check our stuff in as soon as possible (12 noon), eat a lunch on board and then go ashore again for sightseeing in the afternoon (rainforest maybe?). However if 3,000 other cruisers have the same idea then this is no fun 'queuing' as we Brits call it (even though we are supposed to be good at it;-))..

I know most of these questions can be cleared in ten minutes when we arrive by consulting the concierge, but as time is very tight we want to make the most of our stay in San Juan. Incidentally- is the Wyndham hotel concierge very helpful with tours, itineraries etc? IMHO a good concierge can transform even the shortest schedule into a very memorable pre-cruise stay.

Cheers!

Alex

[meyerhaus]

[quote name='aclay']We are also staying at the Wyndham Old San Juan for one night before our Nov 14th sail on your same itineray. Yesterday we booked a non refundable special offer for a suite overlooking the bay for $180 after a lot of other hotel research. Obviously the research wasn't enough because only today have we realised that the Princess ships dock elsewhere and we wont have the pleasure of being able to see the Golden arrive on the Sunday morning from our hotel balcony.[/QUOTE]Yes you will! You can see the dock from across the bay! We just stayed there last week before our Golden cruise!

[quote name='aclay']We don't land until 8.30 pm and all we'll want to do is go for a dip in the roof top pool and take a night-time glimpse of the surroundings to get our bearings ready for a morning sightseeing excursion (haven't nailed down the details yet!). Would the roof pool still be open late in the evening??
Any recommendations for transportaion from SJU airport to the hotel?
The hotel has two breakfast dining rooms- any recommendation here?[/QUOTE]The rooftop pool is open until 11:00p, but don't get youir hopes up...it's a little "cloudy." Take a taxi from the airport; it's the only way. You just walk out of the CRAZIEST AIRPORT IN THE WORLD to a line of waiting taxis. We paid about $16 for two people with bags, I think. For breakfast, walk three blocks to La Bombonera on Calle San Francisco; you will not regret it at all. Get there coffee, fresh orange juice (best I have ever had), and a mallorca.

[quote name='aclay']Would you suggest a taxi from the Wyndham to the Pan American port? Any idea of cost or time needed? We don't have much time to hire a car and will be groggy still with jetlag (looking forward to that first day at sea!!), so will probably walk the Old San Juan sights and then see if there is time for a rainforest visit.[/QUOTE]Take a taxi. About the same as the fair from the airport to the hotel. Takes about 20 minutes. Once you get to the boat, you will need to take a taxi to get to Old San Juan again. It is not a walking distance.

[quote name='aclay']When do you suggest the best time to embark? If we could wave a magic wand, we would check our stuff in as soon as possible (12 noon), eat a lunch on board and then go ashore again for sightseeing in the afternoon (rainforest maybe?). However if 3,000 other cruisers have the same idea then this is no fun 'queuing' as we Brits call it (even though we are supposed to be good at it;-))..[/QUOTE]We got there at 11:30a, but there were embarkation problems that day, so we didn't get to our room until 1:30p. Had customs been up and running correctly for the disembarking passengers, we would not have had a problem at all. Once you are on the ship, getting on and off is easy. Driving around the port is a nightmare, so I really would not recommend renting a car to save on taxi fare. I know that I would have wrecked a rental. :eek:

The rainforest is a good distance away, but you can get an excursion to pick you up from your hotel before you even go to the ship. Since you have all afternoon/evening to get to the ship, that would be my recommendation. The Wyndham will keep your baggage for you even after check out...I think. Try calling [url="http://www.exapr.com/index.html"]this company[/url]...they look like they know what they are doing. Maybe someone on the boards has used them. They will transport you all around.

[quote name='aclay']I know most of these questions can be cleared in ten minutes when we arrive by consulting the concierge, but as time is very tight we want to make the most of our stay in San Juan. Incidentally- is the Wyndham hotel concierge very helpful with tours, itineraries etc? IMHO a good concierge can transform even the shortest schedule into a very memorable pre-cruise stay.
[/QUOTE]I did not even notice the concierge at the hotel. He may be good, I don't know. The front desk is not all too helpful.

If you want to get your best out of your time in OSJ, walk around. In know it sounds lame, but it was beautiful. You can see most of the really neat stuff in about 2 hours on a walking tour. My friend, Luis Salazar, a OSJ local has a great walking tour [url="http://**********************/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=3458"]here[/url]. He has an optional extra hour, plus you want to leave time for El Morro.

If I would have had it to do over, I would have gotten to the ship later and spent more time in OSJ.

Hope this helps,

[aclay]

That's some great advice. For breakfast I have a two for one coupon at the Wyndham, but we'll suss it out when we get there and bear your recommendation in mind. Thanks also for the referrals- we'll definitely check those out also. Maybe we will keep the luggage at the hotel and check onto the boat later then. The temptation is always to get on the boat asap out of excitement!

[kitty555]

ACLAY

It looks like meyerhaus all of your questions the way I would have. The only difference is that we did rent a car and had no problems at all. I guess driving in Georgia traffic every day makes San Juan look pretty nice as far as driving goes.
You won't however really have enough time the day you will be sailing to rent a car to make it worth it. I HIGHLY recommend going to both Forts in Old San Juan.

If you are anxious to get on the ship around noon after checking out of the hotel you can always do that and then take a taxi back to Old San Juan.

However, you would save a couple of cab fares if you would just leave your lugguage at the Old San Juan Hotel and take a walking tour and maybe take a taxi up to the forts. It was just a little too far and too much walking for me from the hotel to the forts. But it sounds like you're use to a lot of walking.

You'll have a great time.