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San Juan departures

CruiseCrew123

By CruiseCrew123,
in Celebrity Cruises

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WrittenOnYourHeart Great Review Rare

WrittenOnYourHeart

Posted
Posted (edited)
24 minutes ago, PelicanLvr said:

Flying in on departure day will always have at least some risk.

 

However since you are flying from Orlando, winter weather is not really a concern. 

 

You should be ok, .....but anything can happen.

 

 


Only not really a concern if the plane and crew are solely based in Orlando. (And even then equipment issues can cause problems.)


All it takes is a storm around a major hub area to throw off equipment and crews getting where they need to go and on time even in “non-weather places”.

Edited by WrittenOnYourHeart
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phoenix_dream

phoenix_dream

Posted
Posted

Less risk than some living in snowy areas, but I would never, ever sail in on the day of for any cruise.  Stuff happens.  Anywhere can have storms.  Consider that back-up/Plan B flights to Puerto Rico are much less easy to come by than say flights from where I live (Chicago) to Lauderdale or Miami.  If a Puerto Rico flight gets cancelled the next one may not be until the next day - and then that one may be filled!  

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MarLieb

MarLieb

Posted
Posted

We just flew from Orlando to San Juan in December for our Summit cruise.  Our flight was delayed about 3 hours due to mechanical issues and all other subsequent flights were booked due to people getting rescheduled onto those flights.  We tried flying stand-by on another flight but couldn't get on, so we just sucked it up and waited.  We eventually did get to San Juan that day - it was the day before the cruise, thank goodness.  There are some nice, fairly inexpensive hotels in San Juan.  I would highly recommend flying in the day before and having a nice, leisurely embarkation day. 

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beloum

beloum

Posted
Posted

Not just weather and mechanical issues that can disrupt arrivals.   One time our flight was diverted to Tampa due to medical emergency.    Barely made it to ship in time.    They were actually doing muster drill when we were boarding.  Lesson learned and the last time we ever flew in on embarkation day.  

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The Mommy

The Mommy

Posted
Posted

I would fly in on the day unless you have loads of free time to extend your holiday and go the night before - its always safer if you are arranging your own flights.

Celebrity arranged ours and we flew in the night before but that was from Manchester England 

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Mike981

Mike981

Posted
Posted

We have done both, but much prefer going the day before. Last time we also booked a post cruise hotel day so we didn't have to deal with the masses at the airport. It's been a few years, but we booked on a third party website and got a great deal on the Intercontinental pre and post cruise.

Have a great trip!

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Maya_C

Maya_C

Posted
Posted

What everyone said about ease of mind is true. I flew from Washington DC to Rome twice and San Juan once, arriving on the day of the cruise all three times, and had no problem. I risked it only because the flight was nonstop and the port for the next day was easy to get to--Naples is a 2-hour train trip from Rome, and San Juan has numerous 45-minute flights to St. Croix.

 

But airline delays aren't the only possible glitch. The itinerary on the Summit from San Juan changed to avoid over-crowding at ports. So instead of St. Croix, the first port was going to be Curacao after a sea day! Needless to say, we were sweating that one. We made it on time and got to the ship before  1 PM. Here's what happened to one passenger: Flight to San Juan was delayed. Passenger arranged to fly directly to St. Croix because he didn't get the message about the itinerary change. When he landed, he found out the Summit wasn't going there, but to Curacao. So he flew to Curacao from St. C. But at the last minute before departure from San Juan, the Summit had a computer problem that affected navigation, so the ship didn't leave San Juan until 24 hours later than scheduled. The passenger ended up flying from Curacao to San Juan.  I hope he had insurance that covered those flight changes. 

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kenevenpar

kenevenpar

Posted
Posted
11 minutes ago, Maya_C said:

What everyone said about ease of mind is true. I flew from Washington DC to Rome twice and San Juan once, arriving on the day of the cruise all three times, and had no problem. I risked it only because the flight was nonstop and the port for the next day was easy to get to--Naples is a 2-hour train trip from Rome, and San Juan has numerous 45-minute flights to St. Croix.

 

But airline delays aren't the only possible glitch. The itinerary on the Summit from San Juan changed to avoid over-crowding at ports. So instead of St. Croix, the first port was going to be Curacao after a sea day! Needless to say, we were sweating that one. We made it on time and got to the ship before  1 PM. Here's what happened to one passenger: Flight to San Juan was delayed. Passenger arranged to fly directly to St. Croix because he didn't get the message about the itinerary change. When he landed, he found out the Summit wasn't going there, but to Curacao. So he flew to Curacao from St. C. But at the last minute before departure from San Juan, the Summit had a computer problem that affected navigation, so the ship didn't leave San Juan until 24 hours later than scheduled. The passenger ended up flying from Curacao to San Juan.  I hope he had insurance that covered those flight changes. 

 

Yeah, I think I'll keep going a day early.

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Cruiser_1977

Cruiser_1977

Posted
Posted

Short answer: I'd do it.

 

Long answer: I live in the DC area with easy access to three major airports. For East Coast or Gulf departures if I can get on a direct flight, first out where the aircraft if already at the airport (there are websites you can check this) then I'll do same day. For CA departure, I went the day before. For my Summit departure (Jan 2021) from SJ I am going the day before. I could risk the same day (it's only a 3hr 45m direct flight) but I've never been to SJ and hotels are reasonable.

 

 

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gotcha3

gotcha3

Posted
Posted

I retired form the airlines after 29+ years as a crewmember. IF you fly in on the day of cruise departure, it's only a matter of time before you get burned. Weather, strikes, maintenance, computer gliches, medical issues, security issues, inflight diversions, baggage issues, catering issues, fuel issues, missed connections (crew/airplane/you), etc, etc, etc ad naseum. I've been delayed and canceled by all of them and more than I can remember.

I t ' s    o n l y   a   m a t t e r   o f   t i m e!

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K.T.B.

K.T.B.

Posted
Posted (edited)

I will always fly in the day before, no matter what.  It's peace of mind.

 

With that said, there's only been one time I nearly did fly in the day of the cruise, and that's when we flew into Vancouver for our first Alaskan cruise.  The flight was supposed to leave at 7:30PM Chicago time, but ended up leaving the gate later than that because another airplane blocked its path.  After we got on and moved away from the gate, we sat another 45 minutes on the tarmac because of 30+ flights ahead of us.

 

By the time we landed, after all the delays, including one during the flight, we landed at 10:40PM Vancouver time (original landing time was about 8:30PM).  By the time we go to the hotel it was 12:02AM, the day of the cruise.  I'll always remember that time!  :classic_smile:

 

I repeat, always fly in the day before!

Edited by K.T.B.
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volk904

volk904

Posted
Posted

If I was flying out of FL to San Juan I would try to book the earliest possible flight.  Because the ship leaves later you have some cushion but the issue is what you cannot control.  
 

2 years ago we booked a flight day of to San Juan because it was post Hurricane and hotel rooms were almost impossible to find.  We flew out of KY at 6am. When the snow pasted Friday night I relaxed and our flight left on time for Orlando.  When we landed in Orlando we got a SW text 2 hour delay followed by another 90 min delay. All because our plane to SJU was stuck in Buffalo.   We finally landed at 4::20. Arrived at the Pan Am pier at 5::20 or so.  Very stressful.   

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Fouremco

Fouremco

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, CruiseCrew123 said:

Thanks for all your replies 

Think the plan is now to fly on the Thursday from London to Orlando and stay in an airport hotel . Will then get an early flight on Friday to San Juan and have an overnight there ready for the Saturday cruise

Good choice. Use the time in Puerto Rico to visit old San Juan.

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bunnyette

bunnyette

Posted
Posted

After barely making a Mediterranean cruise thanks to flight delays, we always fly in 1-2 days before. We booked the Hampton Inn, spent our day picking up some items we forgot at Walgreens, walked along the beach then hung out at the pool area which is great then met our roll call peeps for dinner.  Our flight was 2 hours late leaving Newark but I wasn’t worried...thanks to planning our early arrival. Nice to relax in beautiful San Juan too

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