San juan airport - question on availability of business class lounge , post cruise.

[Gnoelj]

Next year, we are going on a Viking West Indies Explorer cruise, one of Viking's regular cruises . As many "savvy" Viking cruisers might probably know, that cruise starts and ends in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

 

This is our question. We have booked an American flight on business class from San Juan to London via Miami, does anyone know if American Airlines offer a business class lounge in San Juan airport?

 

We did some research and so far, we found only one lounge at the airport, and it is operated by Avianca, which is a Star Alliance airline partner. As American Airlines is a OneWorld Alliance airline partner, obviously, we are not qualified to go there.

 

It is not a "deal breaker" if American Airlines do not offer a lounge in San Juan airport, but as the Viking cruise ends early in the morning and our flight is not until around 3.30pm, we would have a lot of time to "hang around" at the airport. So having a lounge to spend some time would be nice.

 

If anyone have any information about that (American Airlines having a lounge, or not, at SJU), we would appreciate it.

 

PS: Sometimes, we wish that Viking would operate their West Indies cruises from Miami or Ft. Lauderdale, Florida (like most other major cruise lines), instead of from San Juan, Puerto Rico. For those of us from the UK/Europe, it is not easy to get to San Juan as there are hardly any non-stop flights from the UK or Europe. Practically all flights mean a stopover plane change in Florida or New York. That means, we would have to arrive in San Juan late at night. Ah well, the "hazards" of travelling! Lol.

Edited September 5, 2018 by Gnoelj

[Cyber Kat]

Next year, we are going on a Viking West Indies Explorer cruise, one of Viking's regular cruises . As many "savvy" Viking cruisers might probably know, that cruise starts and ends in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

 

This is our question. We have booked an American flight on business class from San Juan to London via Miami, does anyone know if American Airlines offer a business class lounge in San Juan airport?

 

We did some research and so far, we found only one lounge at the airport, and it is operated by Avianca, which is a Star Alliance airline partner. As American Airlines is a OneWorld Alliance airline partner, obviously, we are not qualified to go there.

 

It is not a "deal breaker" if American Airlines do not offer a lounge in San Juan airport, but as the Viking cruise ends early in the morning and our flight is not until around 3.30pm, we would have a lot of time to "hang around" at the airport. So having a lounge to spend some time would be nice.

 

If anyone have any information about that (American Airlines having a lounge, or not, at SJU), we would appreciate it.

 

PS: Sometimes, we wish that Viking would operate their West Indies cruises from Miami or Ft. Lauderdale, Florida (like most other major cruise lines), instead of from San Juan, Puerto Rico. For those of us from the UK/Europe, it is not easy to get to San Juan as there are hardly any non-stop flights from the UK or Europe. Practically all flights mean a stopover plane change in Florida or New York. That means, we would have to arrive in San Juan late at night. Ah well, the "hazards" of travelling! Lol.

 

 

 

San Juan is a rather small airport. We flew into and out of there for our West Indies Explorer this past March. We were on Delta - which is Sky Team - and they had no lounge. I don’t think there are many at the San Juan airport.

 

However, I was curious and you are in luck!

 

“Other recent improvements are press conference rooms, an American Airlines Admirals Club located in Concourse C, and new restaurant fast food franchises along its corridors, like Subway, Mango's Village and Dominos Pizza, just to mention a few.”

 

I think the reason Viking sails from San Juan is so they can go deeper into the Caribbean and avoid sea days- which they seem to do.

 

It’s a fantastic cruise and we loved it. I should mention that we did many optional excursions and found them preferable to the included ones. Viking hasn’t quite got the hang of the Caribbean. For the most part, the attraction is the beaches and not the historical immersion they are used to in Europe.

 

If it’s offered, the full day Catamaran cruise out to the Pitons in St Lucia was fabulous. We had a great sail, an advantageous view of the Pitons, a visit to Morne Cabrile Estate with a delicious Creole lunch, and a stop for a brief swim on the way back.

 

Another excursion that we greatly enjoyed was the Photography Tour in Barbados. It was a small group in a van with a great photographer guide, Ronnie Carrington. He was very knowledgeable about his Island home and it’s history. He took us to nearly deserted off the beaten path spots and offered great tips. Even those few not interested in photography enjoyed the tour.

 

We also enjoyed the St Kitts Railway, but we are rail fans, so I don’t know how non-train buffs would feel. It was a great way to see the island.

 

I can also recommend this Catamaran Sail and barbecue lunch in Antigua.

 

If you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer any I can.

[Cahpek]

San Juan is a rather small airport. We flew into and out of there for our West Indies Explorer this past March. We were on Delta - which is Sky Team - and they had no lounge. I don’t think there are many at the San Juan airport.

 

However, I was curious and you are in luck!

 

“Other recent improvements are press conference rooms, an American Airlines Admirals Club located in Concourse C, and new restaurant fast food franchises along its corridors, like Subway, Mango's Village and Dominos Pizza, just to mention a few.”

 

I think the reason Viking sails from San Juan is so they can go deeper into the Caribbean and avoid sea days- which they seem to do.

 

It’s a fantastic cruise and we loved it. I should mention that we did many optional excursions and found them preferable to the included ones. Viking hasn’t quite got the hang of the Caribbean. For the most part, the attraction is the beaches and not the historical immersion they are used to in Europe.

 

If it’s offered, the full day Catamaran cruise out to the Pitons in St Lucia was fabulous. We had a great sail, an advantageous view of the Pitons, a visit to Morne Cabrile Estate with a delicious Creole lunch, and a stop for a brief swim on the way back.

 

Another excursion that we greatly enjoyed was the Photography Tour in Barbados. It was a small group in a van with a great photographer guide, Ronnie Carrington. He was very knowledgeable about his Island home and it’s history. He took us to nearly deserted off the beaten path spots and offered great tips. Even those few not interested in photography enjoyed the tour.

 

We also enjoyed the St Kitts Railway, but we are rail fans, so I don’t know how non-train buffs would feel. It was a great way to see the island.

 

I can also recommend this Catamaran Sail and barbecue lunch in Antigua.

 

If you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer any I can.

 

Thanks so much for your reply and for the information.

 

Great to read that the San Juan airport seems to have a lounge for American Airlines. However, as far as we know, that source of information (https://www.san-juan-airport.com) you referred to may not be the official website for San Juan Airport. (The official website, we think is http://aeropuertosju.com/en/passengers/enusda/ ) So, we hope their information (first website) is up to date (it would certainly be to our benefit if it is, so here's hoping!) In any case, we really appreciated your taking the trouble to help.

 

Also, thanks for the tips with regards to excursions. The St. Kitts Railway sounds so good and enjoyable. However, we checked the Viking Ocean website and they do not seem to have an optional excursion for that on offer. Did you get that (excursion) some where else?

 

We also saw that in Antigua, they have a Montserrat Helo (Helicopter) Flight as one of the optional excursions. Is that any good?

 

As for barbecue/catamaran , also for the Antigua stopover, we will probably give that a miss. As we will be eating so much on board Viking, with all its delicious food, we could do without the barbecue in Antigua. Although the Catamaran sounds good, the last thing we would want to do while on a cruise, was to do another "cruise"! We'd probably like to touch some "land"! Lol.

 

When we booked the West Indies Explorer cruise, we based it on the routing in the brochure they sent us. And in the brochure, one of the stops was Guadeloupe. Having seen the exotic and wonderful pictures of Guadeloupe, that was one of the main reasons we booked the cruise. However, after having booked it , etc., we discovered that Viking have REPLACED that stop with Dominica instead. Needless to say, that was a huge disappointment. What was worse, when we contacted Viking to ask why they changed, we were told that it was due to feedback from passengers. If it was due to technical or operational reasons, we would have thought that would have been reasonable, but due to feedback and passengers opinions? What about opinions of passengers like us who wish to go to Guadeloupe rather than Dominica? Do we not count? Oh well, that's life we suppose. You win some, you lose some. Nevermind.

Edited September 5, 2018 by Cahpek

[PRH]

American airlines app does not show anything at san Juan airport. We loved Dominica pre-hurricane. Returning this December so we'll have a comparison. Viking uses customer feedback from people who have actually been there on their cruises. Good way to do it, I would think.

 

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[Cahpek]

American airlines app does not show anything at san Juan airport. We loved Dominica pre-hurricane. Returning this December so we'll have a comparison. Viking uses customer feedback from people who have actually been there on their cruises. Good way to do it, I would think.

 

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We looked at pictures of Guadeloupe and Dominica. Guadeloupe looks like "Paradise" with lovely houses, beautiful bays and inlets, so very civilised. Dominica looks like some wild overgrown jungle with a few poorly built houses/buildings. We know they are just "pictures", but that is all we could base on as we have not been to the West Indies before.

 

Have you been to Guadeloupe as well? Do you think Dominica is more beautiful or less beautiful? Of course, we do realise different individuals would have different opinions.

 

If Viking uses customer feedback, don't you think they should inform future customers BEFORE they book that they have actually changed their schedule/routing which they had advertised in their brochure? We do not think they did it right this time, not for us, anyway. We were, and still are, very , very disappointed. We chose to go to Guadeloupe, but Viking allowed others to chose to stop us from going there. Does our choice not count? If Viking does not let us go to Guadeloupe, why did they sell the cruise indicating they were stopping over there, and why did they not tell us before we booked the cruise that they have changed that?

Edited September 5, 2018 by Cahpek

[PRH]

Switch to MSC. They go to Guadaloupe. Dominica is lovely, lush, there are beautiful homes and the people are delightful. This is the Caribbean. We were heartbroken when Dominica took a direct hit—so glad they are being visited again.

 

 

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[northengirl]

I flew out of San Juan in December 2017 not long after the hurricanes. It is a small airport and was not very well equipped and had suffered damage from the hurricanes. My flight had a long delay and we found a very small lounge, I think it was about 30 dollars to access it. Inside there were a few loungers in a quiet room. The main room had televisions and comfy chairs. You were able to get drinks and a few snacks. Nothing to write home about! It closed for the day at 6pm. The airport shops and food outlets closed about 10 pm also. Things could have improved since.

[Jim Avery]

SJU is seemingly always crowded, especially in the afternoon. A lounge would be a great thing as the last time we were through there it was under construction. American Airlines usually does not let non members of their club use the facilities on "domestic" flights even with paid for first class tickets. I believe you can pay a fee and use the club. In MIA you should be able to use the club before your international flight to Europe. Wish this would change. On our recent flight from Vancouver to PHX in paid first class we were denied club access as it was considered a domestic flight. Last I checked, Canada is a sovereign country but then the airlines rarely ask me for advice. We have the same problem as you as we come from the West of the USA and cannot connect into SJU same day except for late arrival. We have stopped going to SJU a day early due to the excessive taxes/fees which make their hotel per diem excessive. Instead we fly direct to TPA, stay in a nice hotel at the terminal and take the morning flight direct to SJU, arriving in plenty of time to board a ship. Works so far.:cool:

[broker1217]

SJU AA Admiral's Club closed in December 2015.

[Tapi]

San Juan is a rather small airport.

 

 

What is your definition of a “small airport”? SJU ranks in the top 50 busiest airports in the USA with over 4 million passengers in 2017. It ranks between Pittsburgh International and Cincinnati/Northern KY International.

 

As far as American goes, there was a time when they were the dominant airline in SJU. They operated a hub from concourse D which had an Admiral’s Club. However, American has systematically and drastically reduced their operations in SJU over the years. They have completely shut down all American Eagle flights as well as all point to point mainline flights. Currently, they only operate a handful of flights to its hubs in the US mainland. The D Concourse, including the Admiral’s Club, are now closed. It’s literally a ghost town. I’d be surprised if they do build a new Admiral’s Club with the reduced operation, but I guess anything is possible.

 

Other airlines have taken advantage of American’s schedule reduction, predominantly Jetblue which now operates flights from SJU to most destinations that American once flew. They operate from the recently built Terminal A and are, by far, the dominant airline in SJU.

 

As far as lounges go, Global Holdings operates a passenger’s Lounge located in Concourse C and which is accessible to passengers of all airlines. They offer day passes for $35.

 

To the OP: Have a wonderful cruise, and allow yourself some time to explore Puerto Rico. It may be your embarkation point, but it’s also probably one of the most fascinating and diverse destinations in the Caribbean!

 

 

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[Ragnar Danneskjold]

Be sure to visit the Arecibo radio telescope ( a la “Contact”, “Goldeneye”, etc.). Worth the drive. Can get a rental car at the Sheraton Old San Juan, by the piers.

[Cahpek]

Switch to MSC. They go to Guadaloupe. Dominica is lovely, lush, there are beautiful homes and the people are delightful. This is the Caribbean. We were heartbroken when Dominica took a direct hit—so glad they are being visited again.

 

 

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Switch to MSC? Is that you being sarcastic? Quite uncalled for attitude that, isn't it?

 

We haven't been sarcastic to you, so why are you like that to us for?

 

We all realise the standard and quality of service of MSC is a few notches below Viking, although their fares are also substantially lower. No, we booked Viking partly because at the time of booking, the brochure indicated it was going to Guadeloupe. And we were pleased to pay Viking fares to go on Viking, not on MSC, thank you very much.

 

We are not saying that we do not feel sorry for the islanders who were affected by the hurricane because we are. However, we are not as fortunate as yourself who seem to get to visit the West Indies several times (it seems) during the good times and not-so-good times. It is going to be our first visit, and possibly the only one. So, we had hoped that we would get the best experience we could and visit the islands we chose with the cruise line of our choice. As this may be the only West Indies cruise for us, since Viking changed the Guadeloupe stop without informing us , we may never get another chance to visit that island ever.

Edited September 5, 2018 by Cahpek

[Cyber Kat]

WOW! Here I was thinking I was providing a little information and I come back to a maelstrom!

 

#1 I think the St Kitts Railway may be difficult to book for a large group. We did it through Viking but it was off again on again, partly because our itinerary was completely up in the air due to the hurricane. Viking came through and we were able to book. It was great fun!

 

#2 we didn’t do the Montserrat helicopter, so I can’t answer for that.

 

#3 we just love boating! [emoji7]. big boats small boats any boat. It’s the first thing we look for.

 

We were also eating on board the ship, but this was an all day trip with stops at Shirley Heights and Nelson’s Dockyard. The catamaran went out to a reef and people snorkeled and the crew cooked us a lovely barbecue on the boat. Not everyone’s cup of tea, but we thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

#4 Now for Guadeloupe.

 

Viking has every tour guide hand out evaluation forms. They actually change things on the fly as a result of those forms. Our St Lucia excursion was supposed to be Land and Sea. The land portion was canceled because people complained about the bus rides making them sick. We got a notice that it was changed when we boarded explaining, and we could have canceled. We didn’t and it was a wonderful day!

 

Back to Guadeloupe. I have to say it was my least favorite excursion and my least favorite island. The bus was the worst. It was cramped. 5 seats across - all the other tour buses were 2 and 2. We got stopped leaving the port area - along with every other bus - by some French officials doing a vehicle check.

 

We sat there for nearly a half hour while various people got on and off the bus and argued in French. Finally they came in, said everyone had to put on their seatbelts and we were free to go.

 

This was the Jacques Cousteau Nature Reserve and glass bottom boat excursion. Our originally booked excursion - Carabet Falls - was canceled, but we weren’t all that excited for that one, so no big deal.

 

The bus ride was very long through dense kind of jungle with nothing to see but trees. It wasn’t a comfortable ride, but the guide said that it was the only road across the island. The guide was a problem. Lovely man, but he had a very heavy accent. He would forget the English word for what he wanted to say and he would just lapse into French for a bit. He also didn’t use the QuietVox even though we were told to bring them, and we really had difficulty hearing him no matter what language he was speaking. I felt bad complaining because he was nice, but it made the whole long bus ride and the whole tour not so much fun

 

We did stop at a lovely waterfall for about 15 minutes. Barely time to go down the path and back. When we finally stopped to switch to the glass bottom boat, we were told we had time for a bathroom break. By this time most of us really had to go!

 

Guadeloupe has embraced the European custom of charging for bathrooms. So we lined up to pay, then headed to one of THE dirtiest bathrooms I’ve ever seen. It was in a supply closet. Just a toilet, no booth, no toilet seat. There was no place to put a purse or anything you were carrying. But there were 2 bright spots - toilet paper, SOAP and water.

 

The glass bottom boat was okay. Would have been better if there was more to see, but that’s the nature of that sort of thing. We sailed around a bit and the scenery here was really nice and it was relaxing after the bus ride. A lot of people went snorkeling. Then we went back to the bus for the long ride back. ☹️

 

Could have been our choice of excursion, but even riding around before we got into the junglish center of the island I wasn’t all that impressed. It was my least favorite of all the islands we visited. I didn’t hear anyone else raving about it either. So our evaluations were among the ones that probably convinced Viking to change the itinerary. Sorry. They asked. We answered. I have never been to Dominica, so I can’t speak for that Island.

 

#4 If there is one thing that I have learned through 17 years of cruising, is that you can never count on getting to a particular port. Ports change all the time for all sorts of reasons.

 

We originally had Tortola as a port. I’ve been there. It’s a pretty Island. Very unspoiled and I’d hoped to visit Jost Van Dyke a neighboring island. We didn’t get to go there, but we went to St Croix - which I hadn’t heard much good about - yet I very much enjoyed our stop there, and we did nothing more but the included walking tour.

 

Our Eastern Seaboard Explorer was supposed to include Prince Edward Island but I knew we wouldn’t be going there because there are issues with speed and protecting whales. We were supposed to go to Halifax. Not going there. Going to Portland, ME, instead. I have no idea why. This is just the way things go.

 

So I suggest you go on this cruise with an open mind. St Lucia, Antigua and Barbados were absolutely gorgeous. I would return to any one at any time. St Kitts was fun because of the Railway. It wasn’t lush like some, but we liked it. IT did have a lot of charm. San Juan, St Thomas and St Martin were a bit sad and inspiring at the same time because of the resilient spirit of the people.

 

This whole thread has gotten far from the original question. Sorry to take it further afield, but I thought I should address the Guadeloupe questions.

 

I’m sorry if the info about the lounge was incorrect. I didn’t remember seeing any lounges, but we were on Delta. I thought that info I posted was from the airport website. Didn’t mean to mislead.

 

And lastly if you fly regularly from JFK and Newark - yes, the airport in San Juan is small. It’s all relative.

 

Hope everyone enjoys their cruise. I thoroughly enjoyed mine and I can’t wait for the next one!

 

 

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[broker1217]

We also saw that in Antigua, they have a Montserrat Helo (Helicopter) Flight as one of the optional excursions. Is that any good?

 

 

 

Cahpek,

We did a helicopter tour of Montserrat several years ago while staying on Antigua.

It was pretty amazing, and very humbling, to fly over the devastation from the 1997 eruption. That end of the island is still uninhabited. It is also a very beautiful ride from Antigua and we got to see the green, mountainous end of the island which is unscathed.

 

I felt it was well worth the $$, but that was in the context of a 7-10 stay on Antigua. We go to the Caribbean at least twice a year (not on cruises). I would recommend you look on YouTube for a video of the Montserrat helicopter experience to see if that is how you would choose to spend your one day in the area.

[Tapi]

And lastly if you fly regularly from JFK and Newark - yes, the airport in San Juan is small. It’s all relative.

 

 

I hear ya. My “hometown” airport is Atlanta, the busiest airport in the world, so for me, most airports would qualify as “small” [emoji23].

 

But when I think of a small airport, specially in the Caribbean, I think of something like Hewanorra in St. Lucia or others of similar size, with one small boarding area, no jetways and just a handful of flights a day. San Juan is not only one of the 50 busiest airports in the USA as mentioned before, but also the largest and busiest in the Caribbean region. I just felt that I needed to make the clarification so that the OP knows what to expect. San Juan can get crazy busy, with long security lines, long walks to your concourse and boarding gate, and USDA inspections, specially on a weekend when multiple cruise ships are in town and the airlines operate extra flights and bring in some widebody jets.

 

But regardless of airport size and other trivialities, I hope that the OP, as well as everyone else sailing soon, has an absolutely fantastic vacation! [emoji3]

 

 

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Edited September 6, 2018 by Tapi

[Jim Avery]

I agree SJU can be quite a zoo at times. Aaahh, the Good Ole Days, SJU was an open air (no air conditioning) small town, sleepy airport before the '80s. There was a great compensation for no AC, the Bacardi Bars! Complimentary Bacardi drink stands. Little to no security and no crowds. :cool:

[Host Jazzbeau]

The Avianca lounge mentioned in post #1 is available through Priority Pass. You can either join PP directly, or get it free with certain American Express cards.