San Juan Puerto Rico Port Embarkation

[yodacruiser]

Have not cruised in years but elected to book this cruise in late October for a New Year's experience. Never again on a large ship, too many people, long lines for or wait times for dining. But what most distressing was the embarkation process. Epic uses the Pan American Pier. On the 28th there was another large ship boarding as well. Between passengers and crew it was estimated that ten thousand needed to board. Traffic patterns into the terminal went from five lanes down to one. This caused bad gridlock throughout the area. Cabs and Ubers became scarce, Uber cancelled on me twice. prices quadrupled Once I was able to get cab it took about an hour to get to the terminal for what should have been a 10-minute ride. Once at the terminal it became even worse, the line to get through the security check point was 2 to 3 hours long. Bags were not collected until you arrived at the security check point. Even then porters were not bashful to ask for a tip. Once into the terminal line were about 30 minutes to check-in and get the key card. Needless to say, this was not a good start to the cruse. It is understanding the NCL has nothing to do with the process, but certainly they have influence with the San Juan Port Authority to improve traffic patterns and terminal practices.

[Funky Fusion FoodsJ]

Must have been just really bad timing.....I was on the Epic 2/27/22 out of San Juan.  Check in and boarding was a breeze.  Dropped off by a taxi and 20 minutes later we were sipping Mojitos.  Ports all have their bad days now and then.

[J0Y0US]

18 minutes ago, Funky Fusion FoodsJ said:

Must have been just really bad timing.....I was on the Epic 2/27/22 out of San Juan.  Check in and boarding was a breeze.  Dropped off by a taxi and 20 minutes later we were sipping Mojitos.  Ports all have their bad days now and then.

 

Its every single sailing out of San Juan so far. The advice is to get there super early or late.

 

NCL just hasn't properly spaced the boarding groups. What makes matters worse is the low capacity terminal (sounds like 300-600 people or something like that) in addition to the ship not being cleared to board until 10-11am while people start arriving at 9am.

[vacation44]

I also think this is why the ship will be getting in an hour earlier now so they have an extra hour to clear it.   But, then again, what do I know.   We are sailing March 19th so I hope it improves by then.   However, we plan to get there early before the larger crowds.   

[laudergayle]

1 hour ago, yodacruiser said:

Have not cruised in years but elected to book this cruise in late October for a New Year's experience. Never again on a large ship, too many people, long lines for or wait times for dining. But what most distressing was the embarkation process. Epic uses the Pan American Pier. On the 28th there was another large ship boarding as well. Between passengers and crew it was estimated that ten thousand needed to board. Traffic patterns into the terminal went from five lanes down to one. This caused bad gridlock throughout the area. Cabs and Ubers became scarce, Uber cancelled on me twice. prices quadrupled Once I was able to get cab it took about an hour to get to the terminal for what should have been a 10-minute ride. Once at the terminal it became even worse, the line to get through the security check point was 2 to 3 hours long. Bags were not collected until you arrived at the security check point. Even then porters were not bashful to ask for a tip. Once into the terminal line were about 30 minutes to check-in and get the key card. Needless to say, this was not a good start to the cruse. It is understanding the NCL has nothing to do with the process, but certainly they have influence with the San Juan Port Authority to improve traffic patterns and terminal practices.

Thanks for the play by play.  We sail in 3 weeks.  A couple questions. 1) what time did you arrive?  2) was the 5 lanes to 1 normal or due to some construction?  3) did both ships use same line/building/porters for checkin?  Beyond the bad start…how did you enjoy the cruise?

[Lisabcurlyq]

I'll also be on the March 19 sailing. Hoping for smooth sailing through the process and on board.

[njhorseman]

On 1/13/2023 at 8:34 AM, yodacruiser said:

the NCL has nothing to do with the process, but certainly they have influence with the San Juan Port Authority to improve traffic patterns and terminal practices

The government of Puerto Rico recently signed a long term contract with a new cruise port operator and it's expected they will be making a significant investment in upgrading San Juan's cruise port facilities. Of course this isn't going to happen overnight, but hopefully we will start to see improvements in the not-too-distant future.

 

https://www.cruisehive.com/new-pier-and-terminal-coming-to-san-juan-after-major-cruise-port-deal/79191

 

https://cruiseradio.net/puerto-rico-san-juan-cruise-port-receive-425-million-dollar-upgrade/

 

https://maritime-executive.com/article/global-ports-wins-san-juan-port-concession-with-425m-investment

Edited January 16, 2023 by njhorseman