10pm ship departure 1pm plane arrival what to do?

[CHuntMD]

Serenade of the sea this Saturday but the only direct flight gets the 8 of us to San Juan at 12:35pm.

 

Books say 7pm but do they let folks in earlier?

 

Anyone ever check their bags at one of the resorts nearby?

 

CH

[cruiserbryce]

cant speak for SJ but for LA the book said 2ish and we got on at 12:15, so maybe the wait wont be too bad

[Sue L]

Go straight to the port and you will be able to get on. We go at 11am and are always on within a little bit. You are paying for that first day get there as early as possible and get on and enjoy. Click on the link in my signature for pictures of the Serenade. LOVED IT!!

[Darkwolfe]

Go over to the ship when you hit town. You'll probably be able to either board anyhow or at least check in your bigger bags.

 

Both cruises I've been on said boarding began at 1pm. We were on board much sooner than that.

[sherry7]

Serenade of the sea this Saturday but the only direct flight gets the 8 of us to San Juan at 12:35pm.

 

Books say 7pm but do they let folks in earlier?

 

Anyone ever check their bags at one of the resorts nearby?

 

CH

 

 

I've been on the Serenade, out of San Juan, a couple of times. Great ship, and awesome itinerary...you'll enjoy it.

 

Yes, you'll be fine to board as early as 11:00 am or so...in fact they'll be serving lunch in the Windjammer. Cabins are usually available at 1:00 pm. I've also heard of people leaving their carryons in their cabins, and going back off the ship to explore the city. I've never done that though. Just make sure you make it back in time for the muster drill and sail away.

[golfer1966]

Serenade of the sea this Saturday but the only direct flight gets the 8 of us to San Juan at 12:35pm.

 

Books say 7pm but do they let folks in earlier?

 

Anyone ever check their bags at one of the resorts nearby?

 

CH

 

at the ship, then we did a little sightseeing, picked up a few things...etc, then back to ship around 4 or so. At that time there was no line and basically walked right on and to our cabin. Now that we are Diamond, we can get to board right away, but before that we'd wait to go to the dock and avoid the rush.

[rjg41]

Go to the ship and check your bags and then go to the land based casinos in SJ. They pay better than on the ship anyway.

[karena1]

When we sailed Serenade, we were at the port at 11:15 and on the ship by 11:30, so go and enjoy!!

[Sheffie]

Ditto to what most everyone said. We got on the ship a little after 11 both times. We checked in, boarded and then went to the pool bar until the Windjammer opened at 12:30. We couldn't get into our cabin until 1. We enjoy the day like an at-sea day. With that port intensive itinerary, it was a nice way to start the week. We went to Old San Juan when we disembarked the next Saturday. We were able to check in our luggage at the pier (you have to sign up for this during the week, and only some airlines offer this), and then we went to OSJ on our own. Worked out great for our afternoon flight out.

Have fun on this ship. She is beautiful! Be sure to see the cows on deck 13!

[CHuntMD]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. This will be my 2nd Thanksgiving cruise. The last one in 2004 we went on Navigator of the Seas (eastern route) and had 22 people. My sister had the "wonderful" idea of dressing up as Pilgrims and Indians. As the oldest "Child" at 40 years myself and younger all the way to 6 years olds were Indians. Everyone older including my 81 year old grand mother were Pilgrims. Cruise director got word (thanks sis!) and we had to parade around all three levels of the formal dining room ;) We even made the cruise DVD and took pics with our fellow passengers ;)

 

CH

[vickiw0318]

What a wonderful idea! Bet you all made everyone's day. (Of course, being on a cruise would help, too.)

[Cassandra]

You can start boarding as early as 11:30am.