Liberty out of San Juan in October

We just booked our 2nd sailing out of San Juan. This time we will be sailing during the 1st week of October, while our 1st trip was in May. Has anyone else done a Southern Caribbean cruise in October? What kind of weather can we expect? I know obviously it is the tail end of hurricane season, but I'd like to hear others experiences. Our ports include Barbados, St. Thomas, St. Lucia, St. Kitts & St. Maarten.

On our previous trip Dominica was our favorite port, for its beautiful waterfalls & lagoons which we were able to swim in after a beautiful hike through the rainforest! On this sailing, they have eliminated Dominica as a port of call. Any recommendations for other tropical, waterfall based excursions within the other ports?

we did it on the Valor last November and the weather was pretty decent. It did rain a short period most days but it never really lasted long. I am sure you all will be fine. This route is so awesome we are going to do it again in May!

We sailed the Valor the first week of Oct 2013 on the same route. You can expect a daily rain shower in Puerto Rico...but it usually passes quickly and it's warm. It actually rained quite a bit on the day we disembarked but that was the worst of it for us that week. The day we were in St Thomas it was very hot (near 100) and clear. Our sea day was hot and clear. In Barbados we encountered a couple light and brief showers, but nothing that ruined our day or our plans. The morning we arrived in St Lucia it was raining, but cleared up a bit, then rained some more around lunch time, then cleared up again for the rest of the day. St Kitts was a perfect blue sky day, as was St Maartin.

The temps were pretty much mid 80's all week except for the unusually warm day in St Thomas. Rain isn't really bothersome because it's pretty warm rain and typically would clear up quickly.

We are cruising on the Liberty, same route, on Sept 20, so pretty close to the same dates we did last time.

We did this route in May of 2012 - it was perfect! No rain - not even once the entire trip. It was a dream!

Awesome news to hear! Super excited ! Did you do Carnival endorsed excursions in the ports? Or did you venture out on your own? What were your favorite island excursions?

St. Lucia is comparable to Dominica.

As far as October cruising.....just make sure to be flexible. It's hurricane season and ports can be cancelled. In particular if you're thinking private excursions. Make sure these excursions are refundable if the ship misses port.

Plan to fly down on Saturday also. You never know what the weather will be like during that time of year.

We did our southern cruise over thanksgiving. This year we are trying it again in September.

I love this itinerary. Cruised from San Juan in March, June, and end of September. Weather was sunny and beautiful on all 3 trips. June was hot, hot, hot. I prefer fall cruising because the prices seem better.

St. Lucia is comparable to Dominica.

 

As far as October cruising.....just make sure to be flexible. It's hurricane season and ports can be cancelled. In particular if you're thinking private excursions. Make sure these excursions are refundable if the ship misses port.

 

Plan to fly down on Saturday also. You never know what the weather will be like during that time of year.

 

We did our southern cruise over thanksgiving. This year we are trying it again in September.

We are flying in early on Sunday. Flight arrives around noon. Hoping for good luck with that. Travel agent said should be fine as ship doesn't depart until 10pm. We flew in on Sunday, day of boarding last trip as well & didn't have any problems... so hoping for a repeat of the same :)

We are flying in early on Sunday. Flight arrives around noon. Hoping for good luck with that. Travel agent said should be fine as ship doesn't depart until 10pm. We flew in on Sunday, day of boarding last trip as well & didn't have any problems... so hoping for a repeat of the same :)

Did you get a good deal on flights? I have been looking but hope to get something a little cheaper. Haven't done San Juan before so wondering if prices now are the best we will get.

 

We are cruising on the Liberty, same route, on Sept 20, so pretty close to the same dates we did last time.

Looks like we will be on the same sailing!

We were able to book through Southwest, so we get the perk of free bags! Which is always really nice. Also the rates for tickets was around $450 - which is closed to what we paid 3 years ago. Travel Agent said that anything under $500 to San Juan is pretty fair. We originally planned to sail the 6 day southern later in the month, but that flight was nearly booked - causing flights to be about $763 per person! So we switched to the early October flight

I have done this itinerary twice now, and speaking from experience, SJU can be a zoo on Debarkation day... Flying in before noon on Sunday should be fine, but stay an extra day in Old San Juan at thee end of your cruise, and fly home on Monday when the airport is less zoo like.

Plus this gives you a chance to explore Old San Juan on debarcation day!

Check and see how many other ships will be debarking the same day, and multiply that number of ships by 3000 passengers, and you can imagine the back logs at the airport.

If you are planning to fly home on Sunday, get off the ship asap once you are docked, and get your butt over to the airport right away. And don't forget that ALL of your bags need to be x rayed at the agricultural check point BEFORE you check in with your airline... No exceptions!

We were able to book through Southwest, so we get the perk of free bags! Which is always really nice. Also the rates for tickets was around $450 - which is closed to what we paid 3 years ago. Travel Agent said that anything under $500 to San Juan is pretty fair. We originally planned to sail the 6 day southern later in the month, but that flight was nearly booked - causing flights to be about $763 per person! So we switched to the early October flight

We're looking at 420.00 pp on Southwest right now flying in on Saturday and coming back on Monday. Maybe we should look at going ahead and booking.

At that rate I would go ahead & book.. probably won't get much better than that!

Does anyone on the west coast know a decent price to fly to San Juan? We are looking at flying out of Portland, Oregon and the prices are $561 for any of the flights that are decent times. Was wondering if we should book or see if the prices might come down. Anyone have experience of flying to San Juan in September from the west coast and if we should grab those prices or since it is still six months away, is it at all likely that the prices would go down? Thanks.