Hillbillygram

6 minutes ago, RoperDK said:

 

It clearly states "delivery fee" on my Funshop order.

 

Dawn

Now that you mention it, it seems like that is what was on my receipt for the water I ordered for the cabin- 18% delivery fee. I know I had read about the 18% being added to all the Funshop orders either here or on the other website we can't mention here. Fortunately for us, we don't order anything expensive from the Funshop.

19 minutes ago, RoperDK said:

Just ordered our customary 2 bottles of liquor with mixers from the Funshops.  They added on an 18% delivery fee which totaled over $30. When did this begin?  The bottles and mixers are way overpriced, but we enjoy a cocktail on the balcony and gave up on "smuggling" years ago.  I knew you could order a bottle on board, but there was an added gratuity, so we always pre-ordered to avoid that. Don't know that we will order from the Funshops again. It's a pain sometimes to get a drink at the bar and haul it back to the cabin. As much as we don't like the idea, then Cheers may end up being a better option for us.  Regardless, it's still a pain to bring drinks back to the cabin.  I hadn't seen any posts about the 18% delivery charge, so just wanted to let everyone know.

 

Dawn  

The 18% gratuity was announced a couple of weeks ago. Not only is it bbeing added to Fun Shop purchases but also to Cheers; Bottomless Bubbles, and any other beverage purchases if I remember correctly.

4 minutes ago, OceansOfTravels said:

I think you could prolong getting your luggage, be as slow as possible, and then just take a taxi like most would into OSJ. Get dropped off at a restaurant or bar near the ship, and just hang out there. Drink some coffee, get some breakfast, you'll be tired. Hold out until 10:30-11 when the ship begins its first rounds of boarding, and then go ahead and board the ship. If you pack a bathing suit in your backpack, you'll be able to hang by the pool and eat some lunch until rooms open between 1-1:30PM, and then you'll have your room to likely take the needed power nap. I don't think you need to splurge on a hotel like many others are suggesting, I know about this 4AM flight and chances are, you wouldn't have taken it if money wasn't a factor somewhere in the equation.

 

Or, you could always taxi to Barrachina, have them hold your luggage, which they do for free (but expect a tip), and walk around OSJ until 11:30-12 or whenever, before grabbing your bags and heading to the Fascination to board. Taht way, you can tour OSJ a bit, not have to worry about your bags, and then when you board, especially if you board closer to 1-1:30, you can have your room and your bed to yourself and relax. 

I think this is a great plan. 

1 hour ago, CruzinKristin said:

When did you get your S&S card?

 

Did it appear that many people check in, eat lunch then debark to go explore PR?  How big of a deal is it to do this?

We cruised on the Fascination in September. We received our S&S cards at check-in. We had FTTF, so we were able to go directly to our cabin after check-in. We grabbed some lunch on Lido; ran into a couple we had met the night before at Barrachina's. The four of us disembarked; did some sightseeing; picked up wine and sodas at CVS (they are across from the port); shopped the vendors that were set up outside the cruise terminal; and then reboarded the ship. It was not a big deal at all. Oh, there were taxi drivers outside the terminal offering rides to Wal-Mart to pick up last minute supplies. Since sail away wasn't until 9 PM, back on board was 8 PM, so there is time to do some exploring depending on how early you get checked in.

On 1/4/2019 at 7:47 AM, jsglow said:

Wow, that IS early.  And if I'm recalling correctly, the ship leaves at 9 or 10p.  I think I'd try to get a room.  Don't know if they do day rentals down there but you can check.  The ship won't even arrive for a few hours to disembark.  Things like the forts open at perhaps 9 or 10a.  Boarding is at a 'normal' afternoon time so you could sleep then onboard but I'm not sure what you could possibly do from 5 to 9a.

We sailed out of San Juan in September. I was able to watch the ship pull into port from our hotel room balcony at 6:30 AM. They started disembarking at 8 AM; we walked across at 10 AM and we were checked in and were dropping our carry-on in our cabin at 11:00 AM. We did have FTTF, so I'm sure that made a difference.

On 1/4/2019 at 7:22 AM, MinnesotaCruizer81 said:

My group waited until the last minute to book our flight and ended up getting a flight that arrives at 4:00am in San Juan the day the ship leaves port. Has anyone ever done this? What are my options? Is anything open and how early can I drop my bags off? Would it be worth it to just book a cheap hotel room just to have a place to go? Sailing in a couple weeks here. Thanks in advance.

We sailed on the Fascination out of San Juan this past September. We flew down 3 days early due to a travel alert due to Hurricane Florence. We stayed at the Sheraton the night before sailing. Our room had a balcony overlooking the cruise terminal. I was sitting out on the balcony when the ship pulled in to port at 6:30 AM. We checked out of the hotel at around 10 AM and walked across and checked in by 11 AM. We had FTTF so we were able to go directly to our cabin and drop off our carry ons. We then went back off the ship to go to CVS to pick up sodas and wine to take back on the ship. At the airport, transportation leaving the airport is limited to the taxis at the taxi stands as you leave the airport terminal--Uber & Lyft aren't allowed to pick up at the airport but you can use them to take you to the airport for your return flight home. As someone said, Barrachina's allows luggage drop offs until time to board the ship. The Sheraton also has a luggage drop off service for a fee. The advantage of using the Sheraton over Barrachina's is the distance to the cruise terminal from each--Barrachina's is several blocks away while the Sheraton is just across the street. Good luck and enjoy your cruise.

15 hours ago, GimmeAdventure! said:

We did fly down 1 day early, then flew home late the night after arriving back in San Juan so that we would have some time.  We went to one of the forts, ate lots of great food and walked around quite a bit but I would still love more time to explore San Juan as well as other parts of the island.

Our itinerary included Antigua instead of Dominica-  as we were there in June of this year, I don't think any ships had returned there yet after the hurricane.  I would love to see Dominica and Grenada as well.

We are booked on a Journeys cruise next month and Antigua is one of our ports of call. Grenada is on our bucket list also.

3 hours ago, GimmeAdventure! said:

Yes!  We did the itinerary out of San Juan with zero days at sea-  it was wonderful yet exhausting.  I would definitely do it again someday though, and want to spend more time in San Juan also.  

We did a land vacation in Aruba about 15 years ago so a return trip is long past due, but I'd love to see Bonaire and/or Curacao too.

We sailed on the Fascination out of San Juan in September. We had no sea days either as Dominica was included as a port of call. We got a travel alert from AA that Wednesday as we were to make a connecting flight out of Charlotte on that Saturday. We flew down to San Juan 2 days early and are so glad we did. So, if you ever get a chance to spend some extra time in San Juan, do it!

17 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

Breeze. It's my favorite ship and the extra day and I want to go to St. Thomas and San Juan. I'm actually looking at that exact cruise on the Breeze for 2020. 

We have been to St. Thomas and San Juan twice now. We cruised out of San Juan on the Fascination this past September. We had to change our travel plans due to Hurricane Florence so we had 2 extra days in San Juan. We thoroughly enjoyed it. We would go back to both places again.

The Breeze! We did the same itinerary last May but on the Glory.

3 hours ago, helensobol said:

 

 

Hey Hillbillygram.   It was the first statement of 'Its a ship'.     I said boat in my post asking for information and she was criticizing my reference.     

 

Please Note: I didn't insult her improper use of grammar when they wrote 'Its a ship'.  I don't understand why people must be rude.  This is a community board to help people not to be condescending.

 

 

Sorry, I didn't catch the boat/ship thing.

46 minutes ago, helensobol said:

 

Thanks for being so rude.  Seriously I don’t understand people! 

What was rude about the reply? The Fascination is an older, smaller ship that doesn't have the capabilites of the larger ships to show the Dive In Movies.

Loving this review. When we were in Grand Turk, we went to the right side of the pier because there were a lot of clam shells available. We soon found out why. As you said, it was a challenge to get in the water. A man fell and cut his leg that required stitches. The left side is so much better. Looking forward to the rest of your review.

I love your reviews! My husband and I have been doing this same itinerary on the Horizon in November 2019. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of your review.

53 minutes ago, jenseib said:

I am sooooo glad to see you back.

I noticed you left Facebook a while back and worried about you.

 

I decided to give a look today as I just booked a cruise on Monday that sails Jan 27 (I love booking last minute cruises for a deal!) and wanted to find your ports you visited.  We are going out of San Juan, a first for us.  Which hotels did you stay while there? I believe the Sheraton was one?  I'll have to do some digging to find your reports.

So far my pre-cruise choices are super limited and I booked an airbnb for the first night, but I am looking at options for a post night.

 

Dec. 10 is a great birthday! Congrats to your son. My youngest daughter has that same birthday!

 

I am enjoying this so far and can't wait to read more.

Hi! I'm not Kim but we sailed out of San Juan in September. Based on her review from when they sailed out of San Juan, we stayed at the Sheraton the night before our cruise and at the Decanter Hotel the night we got back. Due to Hurricane Florence, American advised us to change our flight plans, so we actually flew down 2 days earlier than planned. For those two nights we stayed at the Navona Guest House. Of the three, we liked the Decanter best. If we ever go back to San Juan, that is where we will be staying.

St. Kitts--we did the island tour with Thenford Grey. (We wanted to do Royston but He was not on the island when we were there). The tour with Henry from Thenford was one of the highlights of our cruise in September. It was an excellent tour and we saw/learned so much about St. Kitts.

112 days. Glory Journeys Cruise.

Hubby and I did this cruise last month. Our itinerary included Dominica. We loved it. We sailed on the Glory in May. The Fascination is a smaller ship but we didn't find it uncomfortable. The only negatives for us was there wasn't a refrigerator in our cabin and our ocean view cabin on the Fascination was smaller than the one on the Glory.

There are no packages available to purchase once on board. We purchased the $99.95 package before our cruise last month. It was well worth the money. We received a 16x20 canvas of our choice of pictures and for our other 5, we chose 5 8x10s. It was a savings of $69.70. 

Scrapbooking the pictures from our Southern Caribbean cruise last month; watching the UT-Alabama game; planning for Christmas; researching hotel rooms in Miami for our stay before and after our next cruise in February.

119 days until our Journeys cruise on the Glory.

We sailed out of Old San Juan on the Fascination on 9/16. Due to Florence and the fact we were suppose to fly from Charlotte to OSJ on the 15th, we changed our plans and flew down on the 13th. We did selection and price comparisons on wine between Walgreens and CVS--CVS was better on prices for the same wines.

You embarked on the Fascination the day we disembarked. We had one more port of call than you--Dominica. We loved this cruise.

The Decanter Hotel in Old San Juan. We flew in to Old San Juan 9 /13 prior to sailing on 9/16. We had to change travel plans due to Florence. We stayed at the Navona Guest House 9/13-9/15; Sheraton Old San Juan on 9/15; and then the Decanter on 9/23. If we ever find ourselves back in Old San Juan, the Decanter it is.

We were in Dominica on Sept. 18, 2018 the one year anniversary of the devastation that Hurricane Maria wrought upon this beautiful island. They are a long way from recovering--many, many buildings have been abandoned, many of the people living in caves there now. My husband and I were struck by the obvious poverty that Maria left in her wake. We were happy to help by buying items from the vendors in the open air market at Roseau and also from the ones along our stops on our tour of the island. We visited 7 ports of call on our cruise but Dominica left a very tender spot in both our hearts.