Disembarkation in San Juan?

[GaTravelingMom]

Hi All,

 

Please accept my apologies if this has been asked and answered many times before. I can't figure out how to search the boards.

 

We are on a cruise in November from San Juan, then all fly out the afternoon we get back. Because all the flights out of San Juan were either at 7 a.m. or mid afternoon, we are opting for mid-afternoon.

 

What is the latest we can get off the ship? We obviously are not going to be in any hurry, and we like to sleep 🙂

 

If we want to sight see more in San Juan, can we go to airport and check or store luggage, then sight see - extra cab fare is worth it to not have luggage out of our sight to me.

 

If it matters, I am RCCL Gold - which I know does not mean much - but better than nothing!

 

Thanks for any advice you have to offer!

 

Cathy

[ARandomTraveler]

You can only stay in your room until 8 or 9am, but you can stay on the ship until 10am I believe. 

 

Its not worth the cab fare to take your luggage to the airport and come back. For 2 people that’s about a $25 each way cab ride. What you CAN do, is take a cab to old San Juan, drop your bags at the restaurant Barrachina, then pick them up when you’re ready to head to the airport. They don’t charge a fee, but expect tips. The luggage stays secure in a locked storage room at the back of the restaurant. I’ve done this twice and it’s been seamless and we’ve had no problems. 

[ATC cruiser]

The latest you can get off the ship is about 10 am. There is a restaurant called Barrachina’s in Old San Juan that will store your luggage. That way you can walk around Old San Juan and have a leisurely  lunch before you head off to the airport. Leave yourself plenty of time at the airport, you must put your luggage thru an agriculture inspection before you can check it. That usually doesn’t take long, but it is an added step. 

[ATC cruiser]

Guess I type slow🤓

[SG65CB]

Royal Caribbean also has post-cruise excursions where they take your luggage to the airport while you do some sight-seeing, then drop you at the airport in the afternoon where you pick up your luggage and check in with your airline. 

[Jmulks]

We did the post cruise excursion tour of old San Juan post cruise. It was actually cheaper than the Cab fair to the airport. They will give you time to explore old San Juan on foot and grab a quick bite to eat. The tour guides are local and really need your support. My heart breaks for a lot of those people. Our tour guide was a great guy. 

Edited February 12, 2020 by Jmulks

[stevea36]

Make sure to leave plenty of extra time at the airport.   You need to take your bags thru agriculture screening before you can even get in line to check in for your flight.    and, depending on the day, there could be other ships arriving in San Juan adding to the load at the usually slow airport.  (btw, if you have TSA Pre-check, it should be accepted there as you are theoretically in the US.)

 

[BirdTravels]

4 hours ago, GaTravelingMom said:

Hi All,

 

Please accept my apologies if this has been asked and answered many times before. I can't figure out how to search the boards.

 

We are on a cruise in November from San Juan, then all fly out the afternoon we get back. Because all the flights out of San Juan were either at 7 a.m. or mid afternoon, we are opting for mid-afternoon.

 

What is the latest we can get off the ship? We obviously are not going to be in any hurry, and we like to sleep 🙂

 

If we want to sight see more in San Juan, can we go to airport and check or store luggage, then sight see - extra cab fare is worth it to not have luggage out of our sight to me.

 

If it matters, I am RCCL Gold - which I know does not mean much - but better than nothing!

 

Thanks for any advice you have to offer!

 

Cathy

Sorry Cathy, you can't sleep in. They want you out of your room and off the ship so they can start boarding the next cruise by 11:00. That means you need to be out of your room around 8ish and they will call all-ashore around 9:30 (and you have to be off shortly after). 

[mommao729]

I was looking into doing the city tour before going to the airport. 

 

We we have a 3:30 flight. Which one did you do? The one that takes you sightseeing or the one that they let you walk around on your own?

 

if you do the one where you walk on your own is anything open on a Sunday morning? Trying to figure out if it’s worth it. 

 

What time do you get off the ship for the tour? And do you have enough time to get to the airport to go through the agricultural scan? 

 

 

Edited February 12, 2020 by mommao729

[Jmulks]

9 minutes ago, mommao729 said:

I was looking into doing the city tour before going to the airport. 

 

We we have a 3:30 flight. Which one did you do? The one that takes you sightseeing or the one that they let you walk around on your own?

 

if you do the one where you walk on your own is anything open on a Sunday morning? Trying to figure out if it’s worth it. 

 

What time do you get off the ship for the tour? And do you have enough time to get to the airport to go through the agricultural scan? 

 

 

We did the guided tour by bus. They did give us time to walk around on our own for a little under an hour. We were off the boat by 8am. Royal instructed us to meet in the comedy club prior to disembarkation. There you are grouped with others on your tour and told where to meet the tour. I believe we were to the airport by noonish maybe a little before. The agricultural scan was super easy and fast for us. We were Into the airport and to our gate within a half hour. Granted we are young in good shape and quite quick on foot. The tour guides are sure to get you where you need to be at the appropriate time. They are in the business of making sure you have a good time. 

[trey420]

Not to thread Jack at all but what's the latest you can get on the ship?  It leaves at 830 pm.

Edited February 12, 2020 by trey420

[mommao729]

Thank you so much for the information. This is what we will probably do. 

 

Did you book it on the ship or in advance?

[ARandomTraveler]

1 hour ago, trey420 said:

Not to thread Jack at all but what's the latest you can get on the ship?  It leaves at 830 pm.

I think you can still get on at 11am, like other ships. If I recall correctly you need to be on by 4:30pm, even though the ship doesn’t sail until 8:30, because of the muster drill. 

[bonsai3s]

1 hour ago, ARandomTraveler said:

I think you can still get on at 11am, like other ships. If I recall correctly you need to be on by 4:30pm, even though the ship doesn’t sail until 8:30, because of the muster drill. 

 

Agree with ARandomTraveler.

 

Just wanted to add, that there's a second muster drill for passengers who arrive late.

 

Note: Uber is now available FROM the Luis Munoz International Airport.  We also used Uber from our hotel to the Pan American Pier, from the Pan American Pier to Old San Juan and other areas.  We found Uber to be reliable, safe, and the drivers very nice.  The time we had a glitch was during our embarkation...we didn't realize that there would be two ships disembarking.  This resulted in a major traffic coming in and out of the Pan American Pier.

It took the Uber driver about 20 minutes to arrive, (longer than usual), but we made it to the airport in plenty of time for our flight. 

 

We were on the Freedom for 6 weeks.  During turn-around days, the Freedom was "zeroed out" as early as 9:40am and as late as 10:20am (there was a family of 4 that they had to look for.)  New passengers were onboard by 11am.  The B2B passengers and the crew had the ship for themselves for about an hour.

 

Happy Sailing!

[island lady]

Just off our B2B2B on Vision Saturday.  Our flight was at 2 pm.  Agree with others, we felt guilty staying in cabin until 8:15 (which is when our tag number was scheduled to be called).  Probably being one of the last out of the hallway on that deck at that time. The crew really does want you off the ship pronto to get ready for next guests.  

 

We simply took a cab to the airport right off the ship, knowing process could be slow with Ag check in, but it was very quick.  

 

Took a book to read, walked around a few times, had a nice long lunch near the gate.  No big deal. 

 

Embarkation is like any other ship that leaves from 4-5 pm.  We were on board by 11 am from the hotel.  Muster was at 5:30.  Sail away at 8:30.  

[lusyrsgirl]

My boarding pass for Freedom says boarding is up until 7pm

[ARandomTraveler]

3 hours ago, bonsai3s said:

 

Note: Uber is now available FROM the Luis Munoz International Airport.  

Are they allowed to drive up to the taxi line now, or do you still have to meet them outside the taxi area? A couple years ago it was really hard to get an Uber to the airport without a lot of harassment from the taxis.

[bonsai3s]

51 minutes ago, ARandomTraveler said:

Are they allowed to drive up to the taxi line now, or do you still have to meet them outside the taxi area? A couple years ago it was really hard to get an Uber to the airport without a lot of harassment from the taxis.

 

There are now signs on the wall at the baggage claim area saying "Rideshare"...we simply followed the arrow.

There are now designated areas for Uber and other rideshares at each terminal.  There was an airport employee helping passengers who wanted to use Uber...that was nice.  (Effective October of 2019).

 

 

At the Pan American pier, there is still no designated spot for Uber drivers.  Those of us who used Uber from the Pan American Pier just walked across the street in the parking lot.  It was easy to see our Uber driver coming in and we just waved him/her to us.  This is the same if you take Uber from your hotel or other locations, to the Pan American pier...the driver will drop you off in the parking lot, across the street from the terminal.

 

Some samples of how much it cost us:

Airport to hotel...$9

Hotel to Pan American pier....$7

Pan American pier to Old San Juan....$5 each way.

Pan American pier to the Bacardi Rum Factory....$11 going there and $12 going back. (We asked a local taxi driver how much it would cost to drive us back to the Pan American pier...he said $42.)

[SG65CB]

10 hours ago, mommao729 said:

I was looking into doing the city tour before going to the airport. 

 

We we have a 3:30 flight. Which one did you do? The one that takes you sightseeing or the one that they let you walk around on your own?

 

if you do the one where you walk on your own is anything open on a Sunday morning? Trying to figure out if it’s worth it. 

 

What time do you get off the ship for the tour? And do you have enough time to get to the airport to go through the agricultural scan? 

 

 

 

We did the "Old San Juan On Your Own" excursion. They dropped us off in Old San Juan and picked us up later at a prearranged time. There were two pickup times, you could choose either one depending on your flight time. A 3:30 flight will be no problem. 

 

This was on a Sunday. Everything was open - the forts, restaurants, shops etc. 

 

The agricultural scanner at the airport is a slight inconvenience, it adds maybe five minutes. 

 

[ARandomTraveler]

1 hour ago, bonsai3s said:

 

There are now signs on the wall at the baggage claim area saying "Rideshare"...we simply followed the arrow.

There are now designated areas for Uber and other rideshares at each terminal.  There was an airport employee helping passengers who wanted to use Uber...that was nice.  (Effective October of 2019).

 

 

At the Pan American pier, there is still no designated spot for Uber drivers.  Those of us who used Uber from the Pan American Pier just walked across the street in the parking lot.  It was easy to see our Uber driver coming in and we just waved him/her to us.  This is the same if you take Uber from your hotel or other locations, to the Pan American pier...the driver will drop you off in the parking lot, across the street from the terminal.

 

Some samples of how much it cost us:

Airport to hotel...$9

Hotel to Pan American pier....$7

Pan American pier to Old San Juan....$5 each way.

Pan American pier to the Bacardi Rum Factory....$11 going there and $12 going back. (We asked a local taxi driver how much it would cost to drive us back to the Pan American pier...he said $42.)

That’s so much cheaper than a taxi. That’s great news. Thanks for the info. 

Edited February 13, 2020 by ARandomTraveler

[mommao729]

Sg65cg do you happen to remember the times you can pick from? We have a couple traveling with us who’s flight is 2:30. 

 

Also, if we don’t do the tour what time would you suggest heading to the airport with a 3:30 flight? I’m sure it’s going to be crazy traffic. 

[island lady]

16 hours ago, lusyrsgirl said:

My boarding pass for Freedom says boarding is up until 7pm

 

Yes, 90 minutes before sail away is the norm.  But you will have to do the "makeup" muster.  They hold one for pax arriving after the main muster at 5:30.  

Edited February 13, 2020 by island lady

[LeeW]

San Juan is one of the places you can't check bags more than 4 hours before flight.  They do have a luggage storage area but it is poorly manned - you might have to wait 45 minutes for the person to get back.  Very much island time.

[island lady]

57 minutes ago, LeeW said:

San Juan is one of the places you can't check bags more than 4 hours before flight.  They do have a luggage storage area but it is poorly manned - you might have to wait 45 minutes for the person to get back.  Very much island time.

 

I must have been lucky.   I got there last Saturday at 9:00 am, with flight not departing until 2 pm.  We were at Jet Blue terminal.  Lots of book reading, long lunch.  

[JamesEM]

Thanks everyone for the great info.