EPIC San Juan Haven embarkation process.

[CruiseAF]

Boarding the Epic in a few weeks from the pan American pier in San Juan. Also staying in the haven.

 

I am looking for information or recent experience with this process. Some people have said it has been a nightmare while others said it went smoothly. Any advise or insight is appreciated.

[CILCIANRQTS]

If you’re on the 3/12 sailing, FishTacos(etc) advises that RC will add another 3500 to the pier that same day! That can’t be good. 

[TheycallmeDrew]

I went beginning of Feb and process was pretty smooth. We went around 11:30 to miss the opening rush and were on the ship by about 12:30.

[shelbymac19]

Getting to the port was a nightmare...took 45 minutes in a cab from our hotel (the Aloft) and we could have walked there in about 15 minutes.

Once at the port there is a Haven entrance for the terminal.  Drop you bags there, go through the security dedicated for Haven guests, wait in the Haven marked off area (if they haven't already started boarding Haven guests) where they have coffee, juice, water, breakfast pastries, etc.  

We arrived at 10:00 a.m. and were in Posh having our first cocktail by 11:00.

[vacation44]

22 minutes ago, shelbymac19 said:

Getting to the port was a nightmare...took 45 minutes in a cab from our hotel (the Aloft) and we could have walked there in about 15 minutes.

Once at the port there is a Haven entrance for the terminal.  Drop you bags there, go through the security dedicated for Haven guests, wait in the Haven marked off area (if they haven't already started boarding Haven guests) where they have coffee, juice, water, breakfast pastries, etc.  

We arrived at 10:00 a.m. and were in Posh having our first cocktail by 11:00.

Is the Haven drop off area easy to find?

[TheycallmeDrew]

24 minutes ago, shelbymac19 said:

Getting to the port was a nightmare...took 45 minutes in a cab from our hotel (the Aloft) and we could have walked there in about 15 minutes.

Once at the port there is a Haven entrance for the terminal.  Drop you bags there, go through the security dedicated for Haven guests, wait in the Haven marked off area (if they haven't already started boarding Haven guests) where they have coffee, juice, water, breakfast pastries, etc.  

We arrived at 10:00 a.m. and were in Posh having our first cocktail by 11:00.

When did you go? I heard that getting there was a mess but when we went they had changed things that made it easier. From our hotel to dropoff in front of terminal was 15 min max.

[CruiseAF]

That’s encouraging!

[vacation44]

On 2/27/2023 at 1:50 PM, vacation44 said:

Is the Haven drop off area easy to find?

Anyone have any more input?

[TheycallmeDrew]

18 hours ago, vacation44 said:

Anyone have any more input?

I didn't do Haven but the terminal is small so should be easy to find and staff right out front to direct you

[vacation44]

4 hours ago, TheycallmeDrew said:

I didn't do Haven but the terminal is small so should be easy to find and staff right out front to direct you

Thank you.   This does make me feel better about not finding the right place to go.

[laudergayle]

We were on 2/5 sailing. 

We left our hotel in Condado Beach at 9:35 by taxi  we’re at the pier right before 10.  Taxi driver knew where to drop us off and pointed out the luggage porters. Cost $30 plus tip.  We went directly through security into the warehouse and got a seat.  We were about 1/3 away from the front. By 10:20, the warehouse was full and all other arrivals were held outside of security and outdoors until boarding, which was at 11:20.

 

They didn’t call for any Latitude status…if you were inside the warehouse, you boarded based on where you were seated.  They also didn’t check docs for checkin time…which we did have the earliest at 11 am.  We were onboard by 11:30 and were about 3rd in line at GS to request Posh passes.

 

RE: Haven entrance, I believe it is to the right of the main entrance.  There was a double door entrance under a canopy flanked by employees.  
 

Happy cruising 🛳️

[FFFJanet]

We were on the 2/26 sailing. I dreaded getting to the port yet it was very easy. We took a taxi around noon from our hotel to the port... There were no issues getting to the port. It took about 10 minutes to drop off our luggage. Once inside there were literally no lines to check in. In total I would say in 30 minutes from start to finish we were on the ship, and our cabin was ready about 2:30. This was probably the easiest process out of the 10 or so cruises that we have taken.