San Juan Departure

[Wildcatter]

We are going on the Adventure of the Seas off San Juan Thanksgiving week. Can any of you give me tips for hotels for the night before? We fly in Sat night and leave Sunday evening for the cruise.

 

Thanks,

 

Wildcatter

[GarrenS]

we stayed at the Caribe Hilton last year and really enjoyed it. Nice beach, nice pool, several restaurants (including a Morton's Steakhouse) and only a short cab ride from Old San Juan - and only a short ride to the Pan American pier for the cruise. We booked thru the cruise line, so it also included a voucher for breakfast -

Have fun!

Garren

[maggieq]

You do know there is a group for a "Quincera" that week right?

[Wildcatter]

What is quincinera (sp?)

[LindaAL]

Hi - happened to see this posting...a quincera (sp?) is a huge latin/spanish celebration for girls turning 15. We had a group of them on a Celebrity cruise several years ago. Unfortunately, I think they take a whole village of them..lol. We probably had 40 or so. What I found to be a problem was that they appeared to have very few chaperones with them. Maybe you could check with RCL to see if they are staying with family on the ship, or going to be only chaperoned by a few adults. I'm not sure how "maggieg" knows that there is a group on the cruise, but RCL may be able to answer any questions. It's a lot of young girls running around unsupervised on the ship! Great for them - not always so great for other passengers. :(

[nanfromatlanta]

Hi - happened to see this posting...a quincera (sp?) is a huge latin/spanish celebration for girls turning 15. We had a group of them on a Celebrity cruise several years ago. Unfortunately, I think they take a whole village of them..lol. We probably had 40 or so. What I found to be a problem was that they appeared to have very few chaperones with them. Maybe you could check with RCL to see if they are staying with family on the ship, or going to be only chaperoned by a few adults. I'm not sure how "maggieg" knows that there is a group on the cruise, but RCL may be able to answer any questions. It's a lot of young girls running around unsupervised on the ship! Great for them - not always so great for other passengers. :(

 

A Quince is like a Sweet 16 party, but for 15 year olds. They always have their parents and quite a few family members with them. This is a big deal in Latin American cultures, and is also like a 'coming out party'. They wear very expensive ball gowns, and are introduced by their families. You may not have seen the families, but they were definately there. They would never let their daughters cruise without them. Some families spend as much money on a Quince as they do on a lavish wedding.

[Twaincruisers]

We had lots of Quince partiers on our end of May cruise on AOS. At times it was very crowded and groups seemed to take over the stairs and elevators, but many times it was simply very entertaining watching so many people with a common interest have a good time. The problems were with the poor service and attitude of too many of the food and beverage department!

[Happy Mom]

We too will be on this cruise and not concerned at all about the "quincinera". It's a big ship and I'm sure there will be many groups celebrating whatever it is they choose to celebrate. To each his own...

We cruise Thanksgiving week every year, and this is our second time cruising out of San Juan. We are really looking forward to this itinerary.

[IBookHePays]

Although I have yet to be in a hotel in San Juan, I thought I'd share what others here have said and what I decided to do. Of course it's a matter of choice of location and price, but we are going to be staying at the Mariott Stellaris.

 

I don't particularly want a hotel in Old San Juan, as when we arrive after a long flight the day before, we'll want to be relaxing rather than touring, before we board the ship.

 

We will also be doing a day pass at the hotel when we return to San Juan before our late afternoon flight.

 

Have a great cruise!!!

[maggieq]

I know because I started reading a thread a couple of weeks back on an aos cruise. There is a ta that is based in Puerto Rico who offered that information as well as other information regarding sailing from San Juan.

 

She was very helpful.

[Happy Mom]

I know because I started reading a thread a couple of weeks back on an aos cruise. There is a ta that is based in Puerto Rico who offered that information as well as other information regarding sailing from San Juan.

 

She was very helpful.

 

 

 

Just wondering why you would feel the need to post that info. I for one don't care if a cruise that I am going on with thousands of people, have others on there celebrating a special event. Every cruise I've been on has had unsupervised children, that sometimes crowd the elevators or the stairwells. No biggie.

[mchin]

I have booked us at the Caribe Hilton for our pre-cruise night in April 2008. I have read very good reviews and am looking to kick back and enjoy the beach and pool the day before cruise. We've been to San Juan twice before and the second time, stayed at the Wyndham OSJ.

[leahsdad]

Just wondering why you would feel the need to post that info. I for one don't care if a cruise that I am going on with thousands of people, have others on there celebrating a special event. Every cruise I've been on has had unsupervised children, that sometimes crowd the elevators or the stairwells. No biggie.

 

Many times large groups--conventions--sales reward groups--bikers--company groups ---whatever can "take over a ship" with parts of it being closed off to other guests ------I think the reference to the quince groups was not a family or two celebrating ----but many many families celebrating--- ie a quince cruise--that is information many would like to know

 

hope this answers your question

 

Paul

[frudutx]

We stayed at the Courtyard 801 Ponce de Leon Avenue. It was clean and convenient. We've also stayed at the Normandie which is nicer but a little more off the beaten path. With the Courtyard there were restaurants within walking distance and also a drugstore nearby for things we needed but couldn't carry-on.

d

[nanfromatlanta]

Many times large groups--conventions--sales reward groups--bikers--company groups ---whatever can "take over a ship" with parts of it being closed off to other guests ------I think the reference to the quince groups was not a family or two celebrating ----but many many families celebrating--- ie a quince cruise--that is information many would like to know

 

hope this answers your question

 

Paul

 

Paul, just to carify, no areas of the ship are ever closed off during a Quince cruise... just a bunch of 15 year old girls and their families celebrating. With the total number of guests on any given sailing, the people celebrating the Quince, are really very small in number.

 

Nan

[55J5-5]

We stayed at Tres Palms night before the cruise. Small inn, 18 rooms. Clean and very nice but small. Good for a couple or a quick overnight for a small family. The four of us stayed in one room with 2 dbl beds. VERY CROWDED!!

After the cruise we stayed at the Hilton. Room was much bigger and roomier. More expensive, but the pool and beach areas were wonderful. The breakfast is awsome!!! We had vouchers for 2 and had to pay for the kids $20 each. Kinda steep for breakfast but tons to choose from.

Our next cruise we are staying the night before at the Sheraton. Hope it is better than the reviews I read on tripadvisor.com.

[robtulipe]

We stayed at the Mariott San Juan resort and Stellaris casino in Condado after our AOS cruise the 1st week of March of this year. It was really nice and since we rented a compact car (Dollar under $25/day inc. fees and tax) location was not a concern other than there was a $12 parking charge. We got this on Priceline for a resort hotel bid of $85 ($109 with taxes and fees).

In late Oct/06 we stayed at the Hotel Miramar on Ponce de Leon Ave near the Pan Am pier on Isla Grande . It wasn't as luxurious nor as large as the Mariott but quite nice with very large rooms and close to the pier. I dropped DW and another couple off at the ship before returning our rental car since we arrived two days early in order to have time to visit before embarkation. Go to miramarhotelpr dot com for more info.

[drifting_away]

Answering the original question: You can't go wrong with the Caribe or the Marriott. Both are nice. I did think that for the post stay it would have been nice to be in OSJ. We had a blast exploring the town and forts.

 

Addressing the Quince cruise, as long as you are aware of it you will be fine. It does change the dynamic of the cruise though. All announcements are made in Engish and Spanish and by the end of the cruise you get a little tired of it just because of the length of the announcements. English speaking guests were a minority on our cruise, but hey we were leaving/visiting a US. territory that speaks spanish we should not be that surprised. Just don't think that they all got reduced fares on their cabins, they spend a ton of money on their daughters quince celebration. Just sit back and enjoy and learn a little salsa dancing!! Side Note: Their dresses are beautiful white wedding type gowns so if you get a chance check them out!

[polodad]

We stayed at the Marriott precruise on AOS 5/6 2007 and loved it. Pricier than I expected on Priceline $125 plus $30 fees but a gorgeous hotel.

[Happy Mom]

All announcements are made in Engish and Spanish and by the end of the cruise you get a little tired of it just because of the length of the announcements. English speaking guests were a minority on our cruise, QUOTE]

 

 

 

this has been the case on every cruise we've been on that left from san juan. it didn't bother us though. in fact, our cruise last thanksgiving on the freedom had a latin themed bar with lots of salsa dancing going on that we enjoyed watching. maybe this time i'll get up the guts to give it a try!

[lv2bcruzin]

We stayed at the comfort inn and we will never go with them again. Not clean looking or smelling. I don't know when the next time we will take a cruise from San Juan again. The hassle of disembarkation is one that I have only dealt with in San Juan (Have been there 3 times). It took us about 2 hours to get off the ship last December. They didn't have enough customs people and the lines were rediculous. Thankfully the cruise was one of the greatest I've ever taken and that had to do with the ship (Serenade), the ports, and the folks from our M&M, which we spent most of our time on the ship with, were really fun.

 

I'm sure some of you won't like this opinion, but having latin music every single night in the lobby gets really old. I actually like latin music very much and listen to it on the radio quite often here in AZ, but just because we make port in San Juan doesn't mean some variety wouldn't be nice.

[lovemylab]

All announcements are made in Engish and Spanish and by the end of the cruise you get a little tired of it just because of the length of the announcements.

 

When I sailed on the Explorer out of Miami the announcements were also in both English and Spanish.

[drifting_away]

When I sailed on the Explorer out of Miami the announcements were also in both English and Spanish.

 

I am sure the announcements are geared toward the demographics of the passengers. This was the first cruise we had been on where the majority of the passengers spoke Spanish. I thought it was almost unfair for them since the shows were in English. There was a lot of talking during the performances since (at least around us..) someone would be translating to the person next to them. I know that the love and marriage show had a Spanish version as well as English, but all the comedians were in English. One comedian even joked about giving a shout out to the "other five english speaking people" in the audience. Ultimately it really does not have an effect on what is really important (having fun and drinking lots)...(but not so much that you fall overboard), so don't worry about it.