Flights from UK to San Juan

[Jammy Bun]

We're keen to do the San Juan to Barcelona cruise in March 2019, but it looks like we will have to spend almost 24 hours travelling.

Do any of you have any experience or advice about the best way to make this journey - our nearest airport is Manchester UK.

[Peregrina651]

We're keen to do the San Juan to Barcelona cruise in March 2019, but it looks like we will have to spend almost 24 hours travelling.

Do any of you have any experience or advice about the best way to make this journey - our nearest airport is Manchester UK.

 

The shorter flights plans are more expensive than the longer ones and the longer ones are longer mostly because you arrive in the US after the last flight to SJU, forcing you into an overnight stay (which may be a good thing). Do keep in mind that flying time alone from Manchester to the US and then onto SJU is at least 12 hours, no matter how you split it up.

 

Out of Manchester, online resources say that you can fly non-stop to Philadelphia (PHL) or Atlanta (ATL) and then non-stop to SJU. You aren't going to get any faster than that but you probably won't arrive in SJU until late in the evening. Both are good cities for a layover but I would choose the flight plan that gets you into SJU the earliest in the evening.

 

Or you can choose one of the longer but less expensive 2 stop itineraries that will get you to the US in the late afternoon, check into a hotel near the airport and get a good night's sleep before flying to SJU the next morning--and perhaps a bit more refreshed than if you try to fly all the way in one day. At the current prices (which will change again tomorrow), even with the night at a hotel, these flights are still cheaper than the one stop.

[Jammy Bun]

The shorter flights plans are more expensive than the longer ones and the longer ones are longer mostly because you arrive in the US after the last flight to SJU, forcing you into an overnight stay (which may be a good thing). Do keep in mind that flying time alone from Manchester to the US and then onto SJU is at least 12 hours, no matter how you split it up.

 

Out of Manchester, online resources say that you can fly non-stop to Philadelphia (PHL) or Atlanta (ATL) and then non-stop to SJU. You aren't going to get any faster than that but you probably won't arrive in SJU until late in the evening. Both are good cities for a layover but I would choose the flight plan that gets you into SJU the earliest in the evening.

 

Or you can choose one of the longer but less expensive 2 stop itineraries that will get you to the US in the late afternoon, check into a hotel near the airport and get a good night's sleep before flying to SJU the next morning--and perhaps a bit more refreshed than if you try to fly all the way in one day. At the current prices (which will change again tomorrow), even with the night at a hotel, these flights are still cheaper than the one stop.

 

Thanks for all that useful information. Here in the UK I'm not sure that we have any choice in what Viking organises for our flights - they seem to be included in the price quoted and we accept what we're given unless we book everything ourselves. I may be wrong here, perhaps another Brit will be able to correct me. We did a Rhine river cruise two years ago, and decided to spend time at the end of our cruise with family who live in Switzerland. The flights that Viking included in our package weren't direct even though it's less than 2 hours away. I queried it, as we visit Switzerland twice a year - there are several direct flights every day from Manchester or Liverpool, but on budget airlines, which Viking won't consider! So we just booked our own budget flight home - cost us an extra £100 or so, but saved us the hassle. Of course, we were confident to do that because we know the route so well - I don't think I would be happy to make my own travel arrangements to San Juan.

 

If we decide to go ahead with the cruise, we will almost certainly book 2 nights pre-cruise in a hotel in San Juan. The price Viking quoted for that seems extortionate though, so I may have to be brave and look for a better hotel deal!

[Hockeyump]

Thanks for all that useful information. Here in the UK I'm not sure that we have any choice in what Viking organises for our flights - they seem to be included in the price quoted and we accept what we're given unless we book everything ourselves. I may be wrong here, perhaps another Brit will be able to correct me. We did a Rhine river cruise two years ago, and decided to spend time at the end of our cruise with family who live in Switzerland. The flights that Viking included in our package weren't direct even though it's less than 2 hours away. I queried it, as we visit Switzerland twice a year - there are several direct flights every day from Manchester or Liverpool, but on budget airlines, which Viking won't consider! So we just booked our own budget flight home - cost us an extra £100 or so, but saved us the hassle. Of course, we were confident to do that because we know the route so well - I don't think I would be happy to make my own travel arrangements to San Juan.

 

If we decide to go ahead with the cruise, we will almost certainly book 2 nights pre-cruise in a hotel in San Juan. The price Viking quoted for that seems extortionate though, so I may have to be brave and look for a better hotel deal!

 

We're in the UK and travelling in March 2019 on the Bangkok, Bali & Beyond cruise. Our travel agent will be checking as soon as the flight schedules are available for that time and contacting Viking to see what we have been allocated and what other options there are if these don't suit. We don't use one of the main travel agents but a small company that we have been with for years. No guarantee that we will get what we want but if you don't try...... When she rang Viking to sort out our booking she said the person she spoke to was one of the most helpful she had ever dealt with so you never know!

[Jammy Bun]

We're in the UK and travelling in March 2019 on the Bangkok, Bali & Beyond cruise. Our travel agent will be checking as soon as the flight schedules are available for that time and contacting Viking to see what we have been allocated and what other options there are if these don't suit. We don't use one of the main travel agents but a small company that we have been with for years. No guarantee that we will get what we want but if you don't try...... When she rang Viking to sort out our booking she said the person she spoke to was one of the most helpful she had ever dealt with so you never know!

 

I agree, if you don't ask, you don't get! Your cruise sounds very exciting - too warm for me out there, but I'm sure it'll be fascinating.

[Mrs Miggins]

I have two friends from the UK who have done Viking cruises from San Juan. Both said that the outward journey was something of a trial. Remember that you and your baggage have to clear US customs in Miami even though the bags may well have been marked as 'through' to San Juan. My friend had a 4 hour layover in Miami so had time to collect her baggage then resubmit for the second leg. Some others on her flight thought that they baggage would automatically go on - but they had no bags on arrival - they didn't turn up until the second day.

I think it is to do with clearing immigration and customs at the 'first point of entry' in the US.

However on the return journey baggage did transit without intervention.

 

Both friends loved the cruise and Viking, one has now done both itineraries from San Juan and has now booked a Far East Cruise. The other has now booked a Mediterranean cruise.

 

We will be on our third Mediterranean cruise with Viking over the New Year. They really are a class act.

[Mrs Miggins]

Sorry just realised that the cruise you are on ends in Barcelona - so its just the outward journey that is a little problematic. Viking booked my friend on BA from Heathrow to Miami and the onward flight was on American Airlines. Actually the flight back was over Philadelphia.

[photopro2]

Hello Jammy,

We did San Juan to Barcelona out of the UK this year so do have some useful tips for you.

For this trip I think you will find that Viking only use flights out of Heathrow, that was certainly our experience, but it is always worth checking with them, as you say if you don’t ask you don’t get!

We had booked early and were offered a 2 night free prestay in San Juan at the La Concha hotel (very nice!) However we met other Brits at the hotel who had also been given one night in the hotel by Viking because, as you have noticed, it is not really possible to travel to San Juan for an afternoon departure on the ship without overnighting somewhere. So it might be worth asking Viking if they will offer you at least a one night prestay if not two!

Even with the one night in the hotel the other Brits had quite a strenuous journey. They left LHR in the morning, had a rushed and stressful transit through Miami Airport and arrived at the hotel in SJ very late at night before being taken to the ship the next day.

Viking do offer some flexibility even on the flights that are included in the cruise price. We arranged with them to fly out to Miami from LHR a day early, overnight at the airport (at our own expense) and continued to SJ on a flight the next morning. This made a huge difference and we arrived rested and ready to enjoy our holiday. As you may know you will need to clear US customs and collect your bags even if just transiting in Miami so overnighting there is no real inconvenience and saves all the rush to get from one plane to the next.

Another factor was that BA used its oldest 747’s on the morning flight that connected directly with the early evening flights to SJ. Because we were breaking the journey with the night in Miami we were able to have Viking book us on the afternoon BA flight that featured a reasonably new A380. We reserved a pair of seats upstairs, which was much better for us as a couple than the 3-4-3 seating in the 747.

If you do end up going via Heathrow and choose to drive we would suggest staying at the Sheraton Skyline with 21 days parking (you can book this direct with the hotel) We stayed there the night before our flight and picked the car up straight after our much shorter flight back from Barcelona. So we had a four-day vacation in total before even getting to the ship :D

The crossing itself was fantastic and we really recommend it. I have already gone on a bit but if you need any clarification or further advice then just ask!

Edited April 30, 2018 by photopro2
Removed spaces

[Jammy Bun]

Mrs Miggins and Photopro2

Thank you so much for all that information - we certainly have a lot to consider. I appreciate you taking the time to try to help us make the decision!

Janet

[Parsley Cruises]

We're opting for flights from LHR and making it all the way to San Juan via Miami then having a couple of days rest before embarking the ship.

 

We'd prefer a 747 if possible, and we'll go for business class on all flights. We are hoping to leave as long as possible for the transit through Miami, just in case.

[Jammy Bun]

We're opting for flights from LHR and making it all the way to San Juan via Miami then having a couple of days rest before embarking the ship.

 

We'd prefer a 747 if possible, and we'll go for business class on all flights. We are hoping to leave as long as possible for the transit through Miami, just in case.

 

That sounds good (or at least, as good as it could be!) but for us would also mean a not-straightforward journey to Heathrow from the North West. Not ruling it out, but the logistics are a pain!

[photopro2]

We're opting for flights from LHR and making it all the way to San Juan via Miami then having a couple of days rest before embarking the ship.

 

We'd prefer a 747 if possible, and we'll go for business class on all flights. We are hoping to leave as long as possible for the transit through Miami, just in case.

I love the old 747 and have spent many hundreds of happy hours on the type but things have moved on with newer aircraft designs, especially in the area of cabin pressure and humidity.

It is also of note that BA made a great fanfare a few years ago about refitting their 747’s but this only applied to the newest 18 out of (currently) 36 aircraft. The remaining 18 will not be refitted and the whole fleet will gradually go out of service by 2022. Generally this means that one now has a 50/50 chance when flying on a BA 747 of getting a fairly recently updated interior or a rather tired and out-dated interior and in flight entertainment.

Unfortunately the Heathrow / Miami route operates out of terminal 3 and comments suggest that this is where the older aircraft are used with the refits operating mostly on the “premium” routes out of T5. So flying to Miami on a BA 747 I would say there is a much better than evens chance you will fly on an old aircraft with an old interior.

That said the 747 upper deck 4 across set-up in Club World may still be a better option than the 7 or 8 across seating that BA packs into its other business class cabins. IMO American Airlines offer a much better business class product on the route with 4 across seating in the same cabin width that BA puts 8 across! If Viking would upgrade you to business on AA that is certainly the way I would go.

 

Flying American should give you a little extra time to transit Miami too. (especially useful if the first leg is delayed!) Although the exact schedule might change depending when in the year your flight is, currently the AA57 Departs 09:45 and arrives MIA 14:20. Giving a transit time of 5 hours 40 mins to the AA379 at 20:06. The BA 207 Departs 10:40 and arrives MIA 15:00 giving 40 mins less transit time. In both cases you would get to San Juan at 22.43 so you would not be in bed much before midnight, after about 22 hours of travel hotel to hotel. This is why we opted to leave a day earlier and overnight in Miami (without spending 5 hours in transitin the airport straight after our TA flight) so we could arrive in good shape and enjoy our 3 days/2 nights in San Juan to the full.

Of course you will have your own angle on this Parsley Cruises and I am not pushing what is just my opinion. This post is simply to explain my logic and give my own point of view in detail in case your flights have not yet been ticketed and you want to check again with Viking on the options and also for others in the UK who might look at this in future.

Edited May 1, 2018 by photopro2
Corrected typo

[photopro2]

That sounds good (or at least, as good as it could be!) but for us would also mean a not-straightforward journey to Heathrow from the North West. Not ruling it out, but the logistics are a pain!

 

Please don't let the somewhat complicated outward journey put you off. You will get there in the end and Viking are very good at guiding people through the travel process. In our experience it was a fantastic journey on a wonderful ship with a brilliant crew, not to be missed!

 

I am a bit of an airplane geek and enjoy the planning stage so might have made things seem more involved than they need be. There is usually a relatively easy way around travel issues, it is just a case of finding the best option for you. For instance, you could maybe pay to fly from Manchester to London the day before the trip and back on the day you return from Barcelona?

 

The best thing is to call Viking to talk about your concerns and what might be done to address them. They really do seem to do all they can to look after their passengers before, during and after the cruise!

 

If you have not heard more than enough from me and have further questions just say :)

[Oceanboy1]

We did this trip in January flying with American from Manchester to Philadelphia and on to San Juan. It was about 8 and a half hours to Philadelphia with approximately a 4 hour lay over before the connecting flight which is another 4 hours to San Juan. There was a slight delay at Philadelphia. American immigration was not a problem and yes we did have to collect baggage and resubmit which was not an issue because of the lay over time. Viking are not there to help you through this process but it is very straightforward and airport staff were very helpful. We arrived at the ship just after midnight having been travelling for 22 hours from leaving home. We were absolutely exhausted as were our fellow travellers. We would not do it again and would definitely recommend breaking your journey in the US. Some people had flown Heathrow to Miami and had a couple of days in Florida before continuing. We had not wanted to spend time ahead of the cruise in San Juan, but by travelling on the first day we had lost the entire day to travelling with little time to recover, unpack or find our way around the ship before we were out on our walking tour. We knew this would be the case, although we had expected to arrive a couple of hours sooner than we did and had not fully appreciated just how tired we would be. Consider your options carefully.

[Jammy Bun]

We did this trip in January flying with American from Manchester to Philadelphia and on to San Juan. It was about 8 and a half hours to Philadelphia with approximately a 4 hour lay over before the connecting flight which is another 4 hours to San Juan. There was a slight delay at Philadelphia. American immigration was not a problem and yes we did have to collect baggage and resubmit which was not an issue because of the lay over time. Viking are not there to help you through this process but it is very straightforward and airport staff were very helpful. We arrived at the ship just after midnight having been travelling for 22 hours from leaving home. We were absolutely exhausted as were our fellow travellers. We would not do it again and would definitely recommend breaking your journey in the US. Some people had flown Heathrow to Miami and had a couple of days in Florida before continuing. We had not wanted to spend time ahead of the cruise in San Juan, but by travelling on the first day we had lost the entire day to travelling with little time to recover, unpack or find our way around the ship before we were out on our walking tour. We knew this would be the case, although we had expected to arrive a couple of hours sooner than we did and had not fully appreciated just how tired we would be. Consider your options carefully.

 

Thank you so much for your response. I was interested that you'd flown from Manchester to Philadelphia, as we did that about three years ago on our way to a cruise on Oasis of the Seas (don't judge!) which sailed from Fort Lauderdale.

At least I now know it's feasible to do the journey in two legs, and if we decide to go ahead with the cruise, we will consider breaking the journey as you say.

Thanks again,

Janet

[Parsley Cruises]

I love the old 747 and have spent many hundreds of happy hours on the type but things have moved on with newer aircraft designs, especially in the area of cabin pressure and humidity.

It is also of note that BA made a great fanfare a few years ago about refitting their 747’s but this only applied to the newest 18 out of (currently) 36 aircraft. The remaining 18 will not be refitted and the whole fleet will gradually go out of service by 2022. Generally this means that one now has a 50/50 chance when flying on a BA 747 of getting a fairly recently updated interior or a rather tired and out-dated interior and in flight entertainment.

Unfortunately the Heathrow / Miami route operates out of terminal 3 and comments suggest that this is where the older aircraft are used with the refits operating mostly on the “premium” routes out of T5. So flying to Miami on a BA 747 I would say there is a much better than evens chance you will fly on an old aircraft with an old interior.

That said the 747 upper deck 4 across set-up in Club World may still be a better option than the 7 or 8 across seating that BA packs into its other business class cabins. IMO American Airlines offer a much better business class product on the route with 4 across seating in the same cabin width that BA puts 8 across! If Viking would upgrade you to business on AA that is certainly the way I would go.

 

Flying American should give you a little extra time to transit Miami too. (especially useful if the first leg is delayed!) Although the exact schedule might change depending when in the year your flight is, currently the AA57 Departs 09:45 and arrives MIA 14:20. Giving a transit time of 5 hours 40 mins to the AA379 at 20:06. The BA 207 Departs 10:40 and arrives MIA 15:00 giving 40 mins less transit time. In both cases you would get to San Juan at 22.43 so you would not be in bed much before midnight, after about 22 hours of travel hotel to hotel. This is why we opted to leave a day earlier and overnight in Miami (without spending 5 hours in transitin the airport straight after our TA flight) so we could arrive in good shape and enjoy our 3 days/2 nights in San Juan to the full.

Of course you will have your own angle on this Parsley Cruises and I am not pushing what is just my opinion. This post is simply to explain my logic and give my own point of view in detail in case your flights have not yet been ticketed and you want to check again with Viking on the options and also for others in the UK who might look at this in future.

 

Thanks for the info, but with 40+ years between us in the aviation industry, we've made our choice and won't be changing it. There's nothing wrong with the older aircraft, and nothing wrong with T3 LHR either.

 

The flights are a very small part of the holiday, and with a couple of days in San Juan before embarkation we should be fine.

 

However, thanks for your opinion.

[fairbourne]

We did the journey from Scotland to San Juan during the worst week of March this year to join the Viking Sky for the TA - the week of The infamous Beast from the East! We booked our own flights using Avios.

 

Our travel plans were disrupted but we had built in extra days pre-cruise, always a wise thing to do. Our original plan was to fly British Airways from Scotland to Philadelphia (PHL) via London Heathrow and then overnight at an hotel at the airport in PHL then continue on the next day on an early flight leaving PHL at 0800 (approx) arriving at San Juan (SJU) around mid-day for 2 nights pre-cruise.

 

However the Beast from the East had other plans. We were lucky that our flight was able to get into London Heathrow, however, we missed our connection to PHL and were automatically rebooked onto the next day's service. Overnight required at an hotel at Heathrow. We managed to get British Airways to rebook us instead on the next day's flight to Miami (MIA) which was preferable as there are more flights out of MIA to SJU and at the time the north-east of the US was also suffering from horrendous weather. Thank goodness we did this as the LHR - PHL was diverted mid-atlantic to Washington. And around 30 people literally missed the boat in San Juan due to late/cancelled flights, weather disruption. They flew to St Maarten, our scheduled first port of call but we missed that - port closed.

 

We find T3 at LHR a delight compared to T5! We were through security in a few minutes and settled into the Cathay Pacific lounge. (If you're flying business class on a one world airline you can use any of the one world airline lounges and the Cathay Pacific lounge is particularly good.) American also flies out of T3.

 

We had a great journey on a clean 747 - upper deck Club World - we had forgotten how nice it is. The BA BA0207 schedule for March 2019 shows the flight leaving LHR at 0915 and arriving into MIA at 1405 (local times). In spite of leaving 45 minutes late we arrived into MIA around 1330. This gave us plenty of time to clear immigration, collect our luggage and re-check it in with American Airlines for a flight to SJU at 1830. We had a nice meal and freshen up and then got ourselves onto the AA flight for SJU. It was a short flight (shorter than PHL to SJU) but our "second wind" had well and truly gone and we were seriously starting to flag at this point and we did think we should have broken the journey at MIA but we had decided just to plough on as we had the hotel already booked at San Juan. At SJU our luggage came out very quickly and ample taxis were waiting. We did spot a Viking rep waiting but as we had booked our own flights, we did not have transfers with Viking. It was $30 for the taxi. We literally fell into bed!

 

We stayed at La Concha Renaissance and it is a very busy, noisy hotel in the public areas in the evening - but and this is a big but, we heard no noise at all from our room. If you stay there, ask for an ocean view room - spectacular! The breakfast is lovely and the pool areas and service are excellent.

 

 

Of course, if you wished to avoid connecting at LHR could you look for flights from Manchester via Paris to MIA (Air France operated by Delta) or Virgin/Delta MAN-Atlanta-MIA? Skyscanner website is your friend. As someone else said if you don't ask you won't get, and I find if I have my ducks in a row first it makes it easier. :D

 

You also don't have to take the Viking included flights - you can ask for a "cruise only" fare and then you can work out what's best for you.

Edited May 2, 2018 by fairbourne
Added bit about cruise only fare.

[Riocca]

We are in the U.K. and booked our first Viking cruise last year, the West Indies Explorer itinerary round trip from San Juan for February 2019. We also booked the two night pre cruise extension, and asked to be notified about flight upgrades.

Last week we were notified of the flights outbound via JFK and returning via Atlanta both with Virgin/Delta, the upgrade to Premium Economy was £795pp and this was advised as on the Virgin flights only. In comparison to booking the flights ourselves this seemed expensive so we asked if we could remove the Viking flights from the booking and we were told that there would be a reduction of £500pp. So we removed Vikings flights and booked our own with Delta in Premium Economy & Comfort Plus for only £80pp more than Viking were asking for the upgrade alone. The outbound flights are exactly the same ones as Viking offered but we have chosen to fly back via JFK as well.

As already mentioned the outbound flights from the U.K. arrive San Juan very late in the evening making the 2 day extension an expensive option, so we have booked our own hotel and again made a substantial saving.

So in answer to the OP it’s fairly easy to find reasonable flights from Heathrow to San Juan this might apply to Manchester as well. We found Delta are selling the same code share flights as Virgin substantially cheaper and Viking will give U.K. customers a price reduction for removing the included flights.

 

 

 

 

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[fairbourne]

......

We are in the U.K. and booked our first Viking cruise last year, the West Indies Explorer itinerary round trip from San Juan for February 2019. We also booked the two night pre cruise extension, and asked to be notified about flight upgrades.

Last week we were notified of the flights outbound via JFK and returning via Atlanta both with Virgin/Delta, the upgrade to Premium Economy was £795pp and this was advised as on the Virgin flights only. In comparison to booking the flights ourselves this seemed expensive so we asked if we could remove the Viking flights from the booking and we were told that there would be a reduction of £500pp. So we removed Vikings flights and booked our own with Delta in Premium Economy & Comfort Plus for only £80pp more than Viking were asking for the upgrade alone. The outbound flights are exactly the same ones as Viking offered but we have chosen to fly back via JFK as well.

As already mentioned the outbound flights from the U.K. arrive San Juan very late in the evening making the 2 day extension an expensive option, so we have booked our own hotel and again made a substantial saving.

So in answer to the OP it’s fairly easy to find reasonable flights from Heathrow to San Juan this might apply to Manchester as well. We found Delta are selling the same code share flights as Virgin substantially cheaper

and Viking will give U.K. customers a price reduction for removing the included flights.

 

 

Riocca - This is a very good point - when we flew home from Barcelona to Scotland via Amsterdam, we flew with KLM, but I booked the flights on the Air France website which was cheaper than booking with KLM! Apparently Tuesday afternoon is a good time to get the best prices for flights too! No idea why!!! And no proof either! Ha ha!

 

 

 

 

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[Riocca]

fairbourne you are correct the price on Tuesday was substantially cheaper than it was on Wednesday. But to counter that we actually found a company selling the flights lower than Tuesdays prices on Thursday (if that makes sense) but it was a one off as everyone else was more expensive.

 

 

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