HELP! Worried about missing flight home...

[monkeboat]

[img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif[/img] I am so worried now about our flight home from San Juan in 2 weeks after all we have been reading! We cruised the Adventure 2 years ago and had no problem at all coming home and actually found that airport a pleasure. What has happened to it over such a short time? Is there more than one airport in San Juan? Our flight home to JFK is at 12:10....we spoke to our TA about our concerns and she blew us off basically saying if we make sure we are one of the first to get off and use the taxi vs. the RCCL transfers we should be fine. No one at the travel agency is aware of how bad that airport is and still books early flights home. She told us not to bother with a flight deviation and change now because it is too expensive. We have the travel insurance so what happens if worse comes to worse and we miss our flight? Do we have to pay again for 2 more tickets? Who reimburses us? or do we not need to pay anything since we already paid for AA round trip? Any advice would relly help us....I dont want to worry about this our whole week away.

[serene56]

Your travel agent is correct with telling you to get off with the first group of cruisers. Take a cab and getr to the airport. You will be fine.
You are going on a cruise so no stressing allowed.

Going NOWHERE
[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=000080&cdt=2004;10;22;16;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img]


Miracle, February 13, 2005
Legend, October 22,2004
Voyager August 31,2003
Victory September 22,2002
Regal Empress,June 2001
Sensation,August 2000

[lmmn]

I know two people (separate trips) who have made 10:30 AM flights with no problem. As the others stated, just make sure you're first off the ship. The time of your flight is perfect...you'll have plenty of time to make the flight, but not too much that you have to wait around.

Explorer of the Seas ~ 10/02
Majesty of the Seas ~ 1/03
Majesty of the Seas ~ 8/11/03
Navigator of the Seas ~ 10/11/03
Serenade of the Seas ~ 1/31/04
Caribbean Princess ~ 8/14/04
Adventure of the Seas ~ 1/30/05

[cruisinfanatic]

A noon flight is rarely a problem and I wouldn't hesitate to book the same as you have. Make sure you get early color tags and leave as soon as flights are called even if your color (flight) is not called yet. No one checks. Just go.

[I][B]
Tropical 9/91
Ecstasy 9/93
Monarch 9/95
Sensation 9/96
Grandeur 9/97
Inspiration 9/98
Enchantment 9/99
Grandeur 9/00
Explorer 3/01
Grand 9/01.........[url="http://cruisereview.homestead.com/GrandPrincessReview.html"]Review!![/url]
Victory 9/02........[url="http://cruisereview.homestead.com/VictoryReview.html"]Review!![/url]
Navigator 3/03....[url="http://cruisereview.homestead.com/CruiseReviews.html"]Review!![/url]
Adventure 9/03....[url="http://cruisereview.homestead.com/AdventureReview.html"]Review!![/url]
Voyager 9/04
Email....Cruisinfanatic@AOL.COM
[/I][/B]

[monkeboat]

Thanks so much all of you! I feel better already. For the past 5 years I have been reading posts from cruise critic and should know by now not to take seriously all that I read...if you let it it can make you paranoid! Trust me I plan on having a blast no matter what, but coming home is a "downer" already and being worried about the airport and not getting our flight just makes it worse that last day.

Enchantment 8/2000
Adventure 5/2002
Navigator 8/2003
Adventure 2 weeks!!!!

[trish1c]

You'll be fine. The key is organization.

1. Have everything you need ready.

2. Be among the 1st off the ship.

3. Do something to ID your luggage so you can pick it out easily at customs. We wandered around for about 15 minutes trying to find our bags in the big hanger.

4. Take a TAXI not any other means of transportation, especially RCI bus / transfer

5. Don't dawdle; get through check in, get through TSA, then breathe a sigh of relief as you board your flight home

Finally, in the event of a "disaster" & you miss your flight, check w/ the airline but I don't think you have to pay for another full fare. You either fly standby for free (I know it's free for earlier flights; not sure about later / missed flights) or you pay a fee like $75 per ticket. Depending on whether the "disaster" was covered by insurance -- malfunction at sea or accident on highway to AP, as opposed to you just taking your time -- it may be covered by travel insurance.

I too was paranoid about the SJU AP but b/c we arrived 3 hours before flight time it was easy & painless. It did get noticably more crowded as flight time approached.

Trish

[iluvcruzin]

What everyone is saying is correct. If you booked your own air, they (RCCL) doesn't know the flights. You will get a piece of paper a couple days before the end of the cruise to sign up for tags. Find someone on the sailing who's a diamond C&A member and ask them what color tags they have. Fill out the paper work with those tags (ours were white on the last cruise). You will be able to disembark first.

Maureen

Princess Sun 2/27/2005
Mariner of the Seas 10/16/2005

[emeraldcity]

Relax ... I was stressing about an 'early' flight so I checked with the airline to find out how they handled it if you got to the airport late. They told me that as long as you make it within two hours of your scheduled flight, they will get you on the next available flight at no extra cost as a courtesy. Check with your airline and see what their policy is.

I decided that I had a comfort level with that concept and I made sure that my carry-on luggage held swimsuits, nighties and change of underwear in case we ended up having to do an overnight in an airport hotel (frankly, that is a good practice to follow for any flight).

Sovereign of the Seas (2/88)
Nordic Prince (2/92)
Sovereign of the Seas (2/93)
Voyager of the Seas (7/02)
Splendour of the Seas (4/04)

[wherenext]

We have always been able to make an early flight, just check with the pursers desk and they will give you the tags that you need with proof of your flight. I really wished they would revamp their disembarkation proceedures and let people leave as they are ready. This works on port days. Have those that need to clear imagration exit on one level and others on another level. On our last cruise out of Galveston the majority of the cruise was from Mexico and they had them clear imagration first and then all of the other guests. Many people missed flights but in this instance we had a later flight so no problem for us. Also isn't there something they could begin to do the night before, no one is going anywhere. Personally I would rather have a leisurely breakfast then the hurry up and wait.

[imsulin]

[B]Everyone[/B] has to clear Immigration at the final debarkation port, no matter what their nationality. The reason you can get off the ship in ports of call right away is because you [B]don't[/B] have to go through Immigration (unless you're a US citizen stopping in St. Thomas after visiting a foreign port). Not only do the passengers have to clear Security and Immigration at the debarkation port, but the crew does, as well. The ship itself has to clear Security before anyone can get off. They can't do anything the night before (except call over the loudspeaker for those who need to pay their final bill) is because the ship hasn't arrived at the final port yet.

[alexkrn46]

We are going to San Juan in December, Our return flight is 12:30pm. To reduce time at check in I am planning on signing on at the internet cafe and printing our boarding passes.
Post a review after your cruise, I will be interested.