Adventure - San Juan

[TamaLee]

We are sailing on the Adventure in October. I'm trying to get an idea about airfares and schedules. We live in Phoenix so are good options are very limited. There is an American flight that leaves San Juan at 11:40 am.

 

For those of you that have sailed this ship out of San Juan, what is the earliest you remember people being left off the ship?

 

If I take my own luggage off and catch a cab, is it possible to make the 11:40 flight.

 

I know I'm cutting it close, but again, my choices are extremely limited.

[estreetbandfan523]

i dont think you would have to worry about getting off the ship in time, you would have to worry more about San Juan Interational airport since it is horrible, i have had bad experiences, and the airport is poorly run, so dont worry about the ship as you can get off early enough- worry about the airport its self, my opinon take a later flight

[Fritz265]

We are sailing on the Adventure in October. I'm trying to get an idea about airfares and schedules. We live in Phoenix so are good options are very limited. There is an American flight that leaves San Juan at 11:40 am.

 

For those of you that have sailed this ship out of San Juan, what is the earliest you remember people being left off the ship?

 

If I take my own luggage off and catch a cab, is it possible to make the 11:40 flight.

 

I know I'm cutting it close, but again, my choices are extremely limited.

 

If you walk off with your luggage at 6:30, I'd think you would make it.

[wrp96]

If you walk off with your luggage at 6:30, I'd think you would make it.

 

There is no self disembark option in San Juan.

[TamaLee]

Anyone else have any thoughts as to when the first passangers were allowed off the ship?

[S2az]

I'm a fellow Arizonan who sailed AOS over Thanksgiving. We were staying over in San Juan, so we were in a later group to get off the ship (I think group 8). We were in our hotel, which was maybe 10 minutes closer to the pier than the airport is to the pier, before 10:00 a.m. I would think if you were in an earlier group (and politely but forcefully managed your way through the mob scene at the pier) you would be fine. Keep in mind that you have to go through not just security but also agriculture inspection at the airport, which takes a little extra time.

[TamaLee]

duffys -

 

Hello from Laveen. Thanks for your imput. Might I also ask what airline you flew on and what your schedule was and if I might be so bold...what you paid for your airfare?

 

Thanks

 

Tamara

[swmichigan cruiser]

If you fly American Airlines and are willing to pay $10.00 person they have a valet service that lets you get your boarding passes on board the ship and your luggage tags also. When you get off the ship you get your bags in the terminal and give them to American Airline employees right there and they take care of of getting your bags to the airport and you get to go directly to the airport and go through security and go to your gate. Its really nice not to have to deal with your bags We just used the service this past sunday.

[TamaLee]

swmichigan cruiser - Yes I'm familiar with the AA program. But I thought is was for later flights...like 1:00 or 2:00. Do you remember if there was a restriction?

[S2az]

Ah, Laveen. We're Glendalians.

We flew Continental through Houston. Outbound left 11:20 a.m. arrived 10:15 p.m. (so we stayed over before also.) Return left 10:40 a.m. arrived 4:20 p.m. (By the way, we left our hotel at 8:20 a.m. and had about an hour to kill at the SJ airport.) We paid A LOT for airfare (it was around $500 each with taxes, charges, etc., etc. ) but we made our plans only three weeks out and it did straddle Thanksgiving. With better planning or a different time frame (or if we were willing to fly some grand tour of airports route) we could have found something in the 350 range, maybe lower.

[TamaLee]

Duffys - Right now I am thinking Continental on the outbound flight through Houston. Leaves Phoenxi at 10:30 and arrives in San Juan at 9:25. The return flight is on US Airways. It leaves San Juan at 12:30 and gets into Phoenix at 6:45...via Charlotte. I would have to book these via the airline web sites or through Orbitz or Expedia. This cost for this is $818 for the two of us.

 

There is an American Airlines flight through Dallas that leaves Phoenix at 7:25 and arrives in San Juan at 6:50. However, the return flight is tight. It leaves San Juan at 11:40 and gets into Phoenix at 4:55.

 

The flight is $750 for the two of us. I am really trying to decide if we can make this flight or if we should go the multiple carrier route.

 

For some reason I can't seem to get the AA flight as a one way into San Juan.

 

Thoughts?

[Rala]

We used the luggage service this past Sat (12/2/06) and I THINK it was available for all flights (of the participating airlines) AFTER 11AM, but I am not absolutely positive about the time frame. Maybe you could check with Royal Caribbean about this. Hopefully, you will get a knowledgeable representative. Some are better than others, so if you don't get your answer, call back and ask to speak to a supervisor.

 

In any event, we took our time getting off the ship and we were at the airport at about 10:45 am. If you hustle a little, you should have no trouble making an 11:40 flight providing there is no hang-up with clearing the ship, in general. Good Luck!

[S2az]

I'm guessing the Continental flight you are looking at is the same flight we took, adjusted for the fact that you would be on the flight when these "other" folks do their clock switching nonsense.

If it were me, I would go the AA route. Unless there is some really odd ship clearance issue as stated above, I think you'd be fine. My only question would be, is this the Aruba/Curacao/St. Maarten/St. Thomas route (which we took?) I ask that only because the final leg, St.Thomas to San Juan, is really short (I think it's 40 miles or something) so it's not like the ship is likely to have a timing problem if it has an engine issue. (I'm sensitive about that because I've been on one that did.) I think the ship was doing 5 knots all night and we still pulled into the pier at 5:30 a.m. If you're on the other route that I think it does some times, I don't know where it's coming from so you might not have the same relative llikelihood of getting in on time.

[on board]

Also, the first day you board the ship go to customer service and tel them you have an early flight and want to be the first group to get off, they will help you no problem!

[Az's Cruising Nana]

Hi! Fellow Glendalian here also. We have booked JetBlue for our March Serenade sailing out of SJ. We are taking a redeye that leaves Phx @ 10;00PM. We catch a connection from NY that gets us into SJ before noon. Our flt back is @ 1:00 pm and we get back to Phx at 10:00 PM. We unfortunately are flying peak spring season in SJ and paid $1050 for 2 tix. It was only a little more then the other carriers. Good Luck with your travel plans and happy cruising... Sue

[swmichigan cruiser]

I'm pretty sure it was for AA flights leaving between 11 AM and 11 PM. But pretty sure is not the same as definitely sure. Wish I could be 100% sure.

[TamaLee]

Thanks for all the great advice. I'm still torn between what flights. I really want to take the American 11:40 flight since it gets home at a decent time. We, unfortunately, will have to get up and go to work the next day.

[Aquahound]

We are sailing on the Adventure in October. I'm trying to get an idea about airfares and schedules. We live in Phoenix so are good options are very limited. There is an American flight that leaves San Juan at 11:40 am.

 

 

I am sailing the Adventure October 14. My roud-trip flights from MIA are $360 pp on AA. My return flight from SJU is at noon. Jet-Blue is not available for me becasue it doesn't fly from MIA. Try looking into them.

[Madkitty]

we came off last week and disembarkation was a breeze - the earliest slot was 8:30-9:30.....we were at the airport by 10am!!!

[TamaLee]

You guys almost have me convinced I can make the 11:40 flight. Keep sharing with me the positive experiences! But knowing me I'll probably chicken out and take the later flight.:rolleyes:

[TamaLee]

I am sailing the Adventure October 14. My roud-trip flights from MIA are $360 pp on AA. My return flight from SJU is at noon. Jet-Blue is not available for me becasue it doesn't fly from MIA. Try looking into them.

 

Aquahound - you have no qualms about having a 12:00 return flight? The one I'm thinking about booking is at 11:40.