Advice needed...

[norwane]

Hi -

 

A few friends and I are looking to go on a cruise in the Southern or Eastern Caribbean in January, 2019. :D The top 2 contenders are RCI and Carnival. The primary departure ports we are looking at are Miami or San Juan. The Horizon has the ports and dates we want, but is a bit more expensive than what we were hoping to spend. On the other hand, if we did a cheaper cruise out of San Juan, would we be paying more to fly into and out of San Juan? We are from the Minneapolis area. So, would it be a wash? Is there anyway to get a ballpark idea of what flights MIGHT cost to fly into San Juan (and/or Miami/FLL) from MN in January?

One ship we are also considering is the Fascination. I know it is an older ship. What are people's thoughts on the Fascination?

The other thing is that it looks like San Juan's festival might be going on at the same time as our cruise. A couple of people in our group are a little twitchy about getting to and from the airport/cruise port during a festival. They are also concerned if San Juan is a good place to cruise out of nowadays?

 

TIA!

[evandbob]

We just cruised out of San Juan a few weeks ago on the NCL Dawn. We had no problems flying in the morning of the cruise and getting from the airport to the cruise terminal by taxi was easy.

 

On the flight in, you will see many many many houses still covered with blue tarps because of hurricane damage that hasn't been repaired yet. Most of the island is still dark at night with no electricity when we sailed out past San Juan.

 

As far as the Fascination goes, many on this board swear by that ship. I am not one of them. I previously booked the Destiny, Celebrity Summit twice and now the NCL Dawn repo for my SJ sailings. All were comparable in price and tons better IMO, on decor and comfortability.

 

As far as your airfare, do mock bookings for the dates, looking for non stop (preferably) or one stop only from your home airport to SJU. Do this on your major carriers web sites as well as other mass air travel sites.. For an SJU late night sailing, it is not totally necessary to fly in the day before, but for January flights out of Minnesota, you may want to have a few days buffer prior to your cruise.

[RWolver672]

Hi -

 

Is there anyway to get a ballpark idea of what flights MIGHT cost to fly into San Juan (and/or Miami/FLL) from MN in January? TIA!

 

Not without knowing the specifics. Which airport are you flying out of? In a lot of cases, it's cheaper to drive a few more miles and get to another airport that's cheaper. In our case, if we drive 50 miles instead of 30, it's $100 cheaper. What day of the week are you flying? There are different prices for the same flight depending on which day of the week you fly out on. What time of day? Earlier (I'm talking "O Dark Thirty" are the cheapest. Later in the day, they go up. Non-stop or connecting flights? Which airline? Southwest and Allegiant are cheaper than say Delta or American.

 

Go online to the airline that you choose and do a mock booking. You don't have to finish the booking. Just keep going until they ask for your credit card.

[RHilla619]

I know Jan 19 flights are not posted yet, but you should be able to get a rough idea of flight cost by searching for flights leaving and returning on the same days of the week that you will be. Assuming you are not flying out around any of the January holidays, so search for October or November. The flight cost you'll see now should be pretty similar to what you'll have available when the Jan 19 flights get posted.

 

Personally regardless of the flights, I would prefer the Horizon out of Miami over the Fascination out of SJ.

[Havingfun2010]

Hi -

 

A few friends and I are looking to go on a cruise in the Southern or Eastern Caribbean in January, 2019. :D The top 2 contenders are RCI and Carnival. The primary departure ports we are looking at are Miami or San Juan. The Horizon has the ports and dates we want, but is a bit more expensive than what we were hoping to spend. On the other hand, if we did a cheaper cruise out of San Juan, would we be paying more to fly into and out of San Juan? We are from the Minneapolis area. So, would it be a wash? Is there anyway to get a ballpark idea of what flights MIGHT cost to fly into San Juan (and/or Miami/FLL) from MN in January?

 

Yes, go to Orbitz or Expedia and do a mock booking for each. Also, for RCCL go to air2sea and do a mock booking. You have two tabs, and pick the tab that is quick check.

 

One ship we are also considering is the Fascination. I know it is an older ship. What are people's thoughts on the Fascination?

The other thing is that it looks like San Juan's festival might be going on at the same time as our cruise. A couple of people in our group are a little twitchy about getting to and from the airport/cruise port during a festival. They are also concerned if San Juan is a good place to cruise out of nowadays?

 

Just want to point out you said Jan 2019 which is 11 months away and nearly two years after the hurricane. You also must be aware that another hurricane can hit the area this year. Using the hurricane as a reason to chose is not a real concern. So just throw the concern away. As far as a festival, you might want to go a day or two early to enjoy it. San Juan has much to offer and a great place to visit.

 

TIA!

 

My vote is San Juan

[Nic6318]

Hi -

 

A few friends and I are looking to go on a cruise in the Southern or Eastern Caribbean in January, 2019. :D The top 2 contenders are RCI and Carnival. The primary departure ports we are looking at are Miami or San Juan. The Horizon has the ports and dates we want, but is a bit more expensive than what we were hoping to spend. On the other hand, if we did a cheaper cruise out of San Juan, would we be paying more to fly into and out of San Juan? We are from the Minneapolis area. So, would it be a wash? Is there anyway to get a ballpark idea of what flights MIGHT cost to fly into San Juan (and/or Miami/FLL) from MN in January?

One ship we are also considering is the Fascination. I know it is an older ship. What are people's thoughts on the Fascination?

The other thing is that it looks like San Juan's festival might be going on at the same time as our cruise. A couple of people in our group are a little twitchy about getting to and from the airport/cruise port during a festival. They are also concerned if San Juan is a good place to cruise out of nowadays?

 

TIA!

 

 

Hi

 

First question from me would be are you planning to fly in to the departure port on the day of embarkation? What comes with that question is, what are the chances of any sort of weather or mechanical delays on a flight leaving from Minneapolis on any given day in January?

 

Since you haven't tried to get information on the price, I would guess that a flight to San Juan will be more expensive that a flight to Miami (don't forget you can usually also get a flight to For Lauderdale even cheaper). More important is that your flight to San Juan would likely not be a direct flight. This can have a bearing if your timing is critical.

 

The difference between the typical Southern Caribbean cruise leaving from San Juan and an Eastern Caribbean cruise leaving from Miami (apart from the ports of call) is that you will be at a new port almost every day on the Southern route, so it can be somewhat hectic, if you are planning on doing something off the ship every day. Cruises going south from Miami you will have at least two days at sea. It will give you more downtime to relax. Your choice.

 

I can't get into your mind but I wouldn't book a cruise that was from the start "more expensive than you were hoping". I would want to book a cruise that was less expensive than I was hoping, so that I would extra money to blow on anything else I wanted.

 

Also, while reparation is taking a long time in Puerto Rico, I would be inclined to think that another year from now most services (at least for tourists) would be reliable as expected.

 

have a great cruise

[bobandsherry]

Do what makes you feel happiest. Can't lose either way, no one here can tell you what will be best for YOU.

 

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[Hotel CA]

We love San Juan to start a cruise but the flights are a little more--if you book 4 months out on SW it would be 226 each way or 452 RT--not sure what costs are to FL are from MSP. Also from San Juan you are already deep in the Caribbean so many more interesting stops are available. But in the end it never sucks to be on cruise ship no matter where you board

[jessMN74]

We live in MN too and we checked into this option as well. Our cruise is the end of this Feb. I crunched a lot of numbers. Because we do live in MN and you have to take not only mechanical issues into play but the weather......you really should fly in the day before. The cheapest was flying into Florida. Because we love Universal Studios we did decide to fly in a couple days early and enjoy a couple of days in Orlando first but at the time Miami was the cheapest. Miami is close to the port so you save money on getting there as well. Hope this helps. Happy cruising!!

[ParrotRob]

Kayak.Com will give you an idea across a whole host of airlines. You can even put in flexible date ranges and sign up to get email alerts as prices rise or fall.

[dporter]

Hi -

 

A few friends and I are looking to go on a cruise in the Southern or Eastern Caribbean in January, 2019. :D The top 2 contenders are RCI and Carnival. The primary departure ports we are looking at are Miami or San Juan. The Horizon has the ports and dates we want, but is a bit more expensive than what we were hoping to spend. On the other hand, if we did a cheaper cruise out of San Juan, would we be paying more to fly into and out of San Juan? We are from the Minneapolis area. So, would it be a wash? Is there anyway to get a ballpark idea of what flights MIGHT cost to fly into San Juan (and/or Miami/FLL) from MN in January?

 

Flights to San Juan typically cost more than flights to Miami. I took a quick look at American for Minneapolis to Miami in October (before holiday travel) and it was about $361 while Minneapolis to San Juan was $476. Also, like someone else said flying to San Juan from Minneapolis will have 1 stop, where flying to Miami will be non-stop.

 

The other thing is that it looks like San Juan's festival might be going on at the same time as our cruise. A couple of people in our group are a little twitchy about getting to and from the airport/cruise port during a festival. They are also concerned if San Juan is a good place to cruise out of nowadays? TIA!

 

We took a cruise out of San Juan during their festival, unfortunately I didn't know there was a festival. The festival usually happens right around Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. birthday. We flew in the night before and had no trouble getting from the airport to the hotel. Traffic for the festival started as soon as it was dark. The next morning we had no issues getting to the cruise terminal for our trip. We chose not to venture into Old San Juan that night because of the festival and tons of people.

 

A couple years later we had a cruise that stopped in Old San Juan, during festival week. This was great. We got off the ship very early and walked Old San Juan. By mid day there was so much activity to see, tons of great live music, and fantastic food. I still don't know if I would have ventured into Old San Juan at night with the crowds, but that is because of personal preference not safety concerns.

 

I have read lots of posts here on Cruise Critic of people that have gone the day before and stayed near or in Old San Juan and while not everything was open there was plenty to do and to see. The tourist dollars are of a great benefit to the city.

 

Like other have said you will be going in over a year so the damage from the last round of hurricanes will most likely be hard to notice. However, a hurricane can happen anytime, getting travel insurance would protect you financially in that instance.

[norwane]

Hi all,

 

Thank you very much for the advice! We would be starting from Minneapolis, and flying in the day before, no matter which port we sail out of. We were thinking of the Martin Luther King weekend. I did attempt to do dummy bookings as well. I did check and it looks like the festival might be going on when we disembark. How hard will it be to get to the airport if the festival is going on?

 

Thoughts on the Fascination? I'm not impressed with how it looks, but wanted to hear from people who have been on it.

 

Thanks again!

[dporter]

Hi all,

 

Thank you very much for the advice! We would be starting from Minneapolis, and flying in the day before, no matter which port we sail out of. We were thinking of the Martin Luther King weekend. I did attempt to do dummy bookings as well. I did check and it looks like the festival might be going on when we disembark. How hard will it be to get to the airport if the festival is going on?

 

Thoughts on the Fascination? I'm not impressed with how it looks, but wanted to hear from people who have been on it.

 

Thanks again!

 

You won't have any problems getting to the airport at disembark during the festival because you disembark in the morning and the big crowds are typically in the evening.

[smurfm69]

We did a cruise out of PR years ago on the Victory and it was great! With only one sea day it is a very busy cruise though. We didn't stay up late partying as we were getting up early every day to get ready to hit a different port. We flew in a couple days early and stayed in the Condado area which is just outside of San Juan and really nice. I'm sure things are a little rough since the storm and I know firsthand that it takes a while for a city to rebuild after a major hurricane. Hope you enjoy whatever cruise you decide to go on.

[heids32]

We are flying from MSP to San Juan in a couple of weeks for a cruise on the Fascination. I found direct flights on Sun Country for around $450 per person (price has actually dropped to under $400...). It seems like last year when we flew to Miami it was around $400 as well, but I can’t remember for sure. We chose this itinerary for all the islands we get to see, I will definitely write a review when we get back!

 

 

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[LuckyStar]

Hi -

 

A few friends and I are looking to go on a cruise in the Southern or Eastern Caribbean in January, 2019. :D The top 2 contenders are RCI and Carnival. The primary departure ports we are looking at are Miami or San Juan. The Horizon has the ports and dates we want, but is a bit more expensive than what we were hoping to spend. On the other hand, if we did a cheaper cruise out of San Juan, would we be paying more to fly into and out of San Juan? We are from the Minneapolis area. So, would it be a wash? Is there anyway to get a ballpark idea of what flights MIGHT cost to fly into San Juan (and/or Miami/FLL) from MN in January?

One ship we are also considering is the Fascination. I know it is an older ship. What are people's thoughts on the Fascination?

The other thing is that it looks like San Juan's festival might be going on at the same time as our cruise. A couple of people in our group are a little twitchy about getting to and from the airport/cruise port during a festival. They are also concerned if San Juan is a good place to cruise out of nowadays?

 

TIA!

 

Hubs and I are looking at the same itinerary. We're most interested in the Fascination itinerary on Jan 13. I have cruised out of San Juan before the hurricane and it was an easy time getting to and from the port. My sisters and I arrived at varying times the day before the cruise. I was coming from Denver, so I would most definitely fly in a day early again. We were on RCCL so we didn't have FTTF but we didn't need it either. We got in line about 10:30 and were on the boat before 11:30. I wouldn't worry about getting to the port since it doesn't leave until 10:00 pm, flying a day early, I expect it shouldn't be a problem.

[heidiatmn]

Hi -

 

 

 

We fly from MSP and are booked on horizon Marin Luther king week from Miami. Flights to Miami right now are less than $300 but ideal times haven’t been released. Historically I’ve paid between $275 and $350 to MIA. I would expect Puerto Rico to be more however everyone I’ve talked to that has done Eastern and southern has told me southern is much better. Also-the eastern itineraries seem to be the ones that were hit hardest by hurricanes last year. I could be wrong but that’s what it seemed at first glance.

 

 

 

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