After cruising excursions?????

[calenta]

Our plane doesn't leave until 4:00 and I heard that if you do some kind of excursion with RCCL they take care of your luggage? Has anyone done one of these excursions in San Juan? Thanks

[dougp26364]

Not in San Juan but in Alaska when our plane left late in the evening. Our luggage was waiting for us in a secured area at the airport. We needed ID and the stubs off our RCI luggage tags to claim them at that time.

[lisara]

Just returned on 11/14. Wish we were still there! To make a long story short, we were supposed to fly from Harrisburg, with a connection SOMEWHERE, instead I found out it was $300 cheaper to fly from PHILA and we would have a straight flight. So changed our plans and then it was pretty late and ended up getting a 6:40 flight out of SJ. In the end that was the best! We signed up for the rainforest tour through RCCL. You needed to have a flight no earlier than 5:30. Wonderful! We were the first off the ship, right through customs and onto a bus. Luggage wasn't to bad finding, I had pink flamingos attached to the top of mine and they reallly stood out! I think there were 3 buses (maybe 2) that day because our Cruise Critic friends made it on the first bus! We had to wait for 3 people that got stuck at customs. Finally left without them. Very nice tour with a wonderful guide. After you retreived your luggage you put it on a truck that took it to the airport. When we returned our luggage was all sitting there just waiting for us. Picked it up and we were on our way. Everything went very smoothly!

You won't be able to do the rainforest tour but I'd suggest picking another (possibly the walking tour of SJ) just to have something to do! We arrived back to the airport a little after 3. Sitting there for 2 and 1/2 drove me nuts!!

Have a wonderful time.

[elaineb]

Yes, we did the Old and New San Juan tour as our flight didn't leave until 3:15. It was a great way to spend time instead of sitting around the airport! We toured San Cristobal fort, then were given some time to shop in Old San Juan. Here we actually bought subway sandwiches to eat at the airport. Food at the airport is scarce and the lines are ridiculous! Got to the airport around 12:30 and by then the mobs have dissipated. It was smooth sailing through security - only took about 5 or 10 minutes. I would highly recommend doing this tour and when you think about it, you'd have to pay about $10pp anyways to get to the airport. So this way you get a tour and are dropped at the airport for about $25pp.

[calenta]

Thanks ElaineB for the info and we are considering the tour. We don't want to sit that the airport for 8 hours if we don't have to. Thanks for the tip too about the food, we will definitely get some food on one of the stops. How long do they give you to shop and what time did you get on the bus?

[elaineb]

Calenta -

 

We had only about 1 hr to shop. We first stopped about 45min to 1 hr at the fort, shopped for 1 hr, then drove through the Condado and Isla Verde areas and back to the airport. There was a bus waiting for us through customs. We left about 9:30 or so and got to the airport around 12:30. There is another tour which is 4 hours, but we wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to get through security. On another trip we had a flight after 5pm and did the El Yunque rainforest tour - we really enjoyed that excursion. Any excursion beats waiting at the PR airport. Although it has improved a little since our last trip, it still leaves a lot to be desired. Seriously - only 1 take out food concession and 1 sit down restaurant in the gate area we were in (US Airways).

[sayhello]

I'm planning on doing the Walking Tour of Old San Juan after disembarkation. My question is, you say they take your luggage, and you pick it up at the airport. What about my carry-on with my valuables? It's really too heavy to shlep all over Old San Juan. What happens to that stuff?

 

Thanks!

sayhello

[bUU]

I'd plan on carrying any valuables with you.