Dawn San Juan

We will be on the Dawn in March 2019 out of San Juan. Since the ship gets in from the previous cruise at 5:00 am and doesn't leave for our cruise until 9:00 pm, I assume we can board anytime after 11:00 or so? About what time might the rooms be ready? Since we don't leave until 9:00, I wasn't sure if they take longer getting the rooms ready. I would love to check in and bring our luggage straight to our room and then head back out to explore San Juan a bit more. The last cruise, we carried our luggage on and off.

Thank you

Rooms are usually ready around 1:30. Why not leave your bags with the porters, check-in and then go sightseeing??

I know I’m weird, but I like to unpack and get everything put away before I set off to explore the ship or port.

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All things being on schedule without any hitches - DAWN arrives 5-6 am disembarks all guests by 9 am or

so and begins to prep the boarding for embarking guests around 10-11 am - you arrive at the pier after 10 am

give your checked baggage to the porters who will load it onto the ship where the crew will start delivering

the luggage to your cabin sometime after 1-2 pm.

In the mean time while that is going on you check-in and await boarding starting say at 11 am with certain

categories of guests getting priority first dibs on going on board. This being the case you board with your

que and perhaps have a bite to eat or drink waiting on your luggage and the cabin clearance announcement

that your cabins are ready. This is the BIG VARIABLE - you could be lucky and have everything in place

for putting your luggage away AND THEN maybe not so lucky and have the cabin ready but no luggage till

say 4 pm - No consistent regular pattern here. Thus if you get into your cabin and get your luggage squared

away leaving the ship at 4 pm - you have to be back on board at 7 pm or so for the muster - 3 whole hours

of time to explore.

Option - you could check your luggage with the porter - register and get you key card start your San Juan

exploring at 11-12 noon and have more time say 6-7 hours but miss lunch on board and squaring away your

luggage.

A bit of improvement in exploration time but not in your game plan to get organized and then tour.

Note if you are in a Suite or higher class cabin - after registration meet your Butler and have him secure your

luggage for prompt delivery to your Suite cabin while you go about touring San Juan - this maybe the best

compromise.

Realize that NCL uses the Pan American docks (pier) and it is not centrally located conveniently to tour

the old town San Juan - 3 hours is a hit and miss - with 6-7 now you have something to work with.

If for some reason NCL is able to use the Carnival Pier #4 adjacent to the old town this changes a lot but

probably will not happen.

 

Note if you are in a Suite or higher class cabin - after registration meet your Butler and have him secure your

luggage for prompt delivery to your Suite cabin while you go about touring San Juan - this maybe the best

compromise.

Having a butler has never made a difference in us getting our luggage sooner. Just my experience.

OP - we will be cruising the Dawn in March of 2019 as well. So looking forward to it! It will be our first time on the Dawn, in Puerto Rico and to many of the islands.

OP - we will be cruising the Dawn in March of 2019 as well. So looking forward to it! It will be our first time on the Dawn, in Puerto Rico and to many of the islands.

We are on the March 17th sailing. We have only been to Sts. Thomas and Maarten, so everything else will be new.

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I am also on the St. Patrick's Day sailing of the Dawn. I hope we end up at the pier in Old San Juan as we are booked in the hotel across the street. Looking forward to this trip. We plan on boarding and just hanging on the ship since we will be in Puerto Rico the day before.

I am also on the St. Patrick's Day sailing of the Dawn. I hope we end up at the pier in Old San Juan as we are booked in the hotel across the street. Looking forward to this trip. We plan on boarding and just hanging on the ship since we will be in Puerto Rico the day before.

The chances of being at the pier in Old San Juan are basically nil. That is only used by Carnival for cruises that start in Puerto Rico. Royal and NCL use the the Pan American Pier.

When we did this cruise last year, the muster drill was at 5:00 or 5:30, so you need to be on the ship for that. We flew in that morning and got to the pier around noon. We waited in a line outside of the pier and were on the ship pretty quickly.

We are on a December out of PR on the Dawn. Does anyone know when we will get the info stating what time we have to be on board? We leave at 9pm and the website shows you must be on board 2 hours in advance- which would be 7pm. But by the sounds of comments on this thread we have to be on board earlier. We were planning on staying in PR and not getting on board until that evening.

It probably will be 7:00 (it will be in your eDocs -- when I get home I'll see if I can find mine from last year), but if you wait until then, you will miss muster and have to make it up the next day.

It probably will be 7:00 (it will be in your eDocs -- when I get home I'll see if I can find mine from last year), but if you wait until then, you will miss muster and have to make it up the next day.

Thank you for the info!! I will look at the edocs when they are available. Thank you again :D

I just looked at the Dailies from last year and the muster was actually at 4:30. I didn’t save a copy of the eDocs so I didn’t have the on board time but I’m assuming it is 7:00. If you arrive later than 4:30, you’ll have to do the make-up drill.

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We are cruising out San Juan in January - I literally just got off the phone with the Norwegian Customer Service and this is what they told me about embarkation.

1) Embarkation is from 12:00 till 7:00pm --- the 12 as you know is approximate..

2) They close embarkation at 7:00 pm - HOWEVER -- you can still board by coming to the front desk on board.

3) This runs from 7:00 till 8:00pm...

4) At 8:00pm they close and lock the door and you will NOT be boarding. So you need to make it by then. :o

From what I gathered from the same rep from Norwegian about another cruise that actually starts with a night in port you CANNOT leave the ship during the embarkation process - but you may after all night long just like and overnight in other ports. (see even called a supervisor to make sure). On this cruise that would only leave an hour between times so I am not sure if you can get on and then get off before the closing of embarkation.

I am not sure exactly when the muster drill is. I do hear if you miss it you make it up the next day.

Any questions - call customer was really helpful as usual - call during the day if possible and it's quick too. It was the same number as dining reservations.

Happy Cruising!

We are cruising out San Juan in January - I literally just got off the phone with the Norwegian Customer Service and this is what they told me about embarkation.

 

1) Embarkation is from 12:00 till 7:00pm --- the 12 as you know is approximate..

2) They close embarkation at 7:00 pm - HOWEVER -- you can still board by coming to the front desk on board.

3) This runs from 7:00 till 8:00pm...

4) At 8:00pm they close and lock the door and you will NOT be boarding. So you need to make it by then. :o

 

From what I gathered from the same rep from Norwegian about another cruise that actually starts with a night in port you CANNOT leave the ship during the embarkation process - but you may after all night long just like and overnight in other ports. (see even called a supervisor to make sure). On this cruise that would only leave an hour between times so I am not sure if you can get on and then get off before the closing of embarkation.

 

I am not sure exactly when the muster drill is. I do hear if you miss it you make it up the next day.

 

Any questions - call customer was really helpful as usual - call during the day if possible and it's quick too. It was the same number as dining reservations.

 

Happy Cruising!

All of this may be true for cruise, but the cruise we were on last year left promptly at 9:00. Where is your first port? Ours was Barbados.

Our first port is Aruba... I am sure it will leave promptly at 9pm.. That is why the doors have to close at 8pm...

Our first port is Aruba... I am sure it will leave promptly at 9pm.. That is why the doors have to close at 8pm...

Sorry...I misread your earlier post and thought you weren't leaving until the next morning. I guess I shouldn't read Cruise Critic until I've had some caffeine! And I'm envious of your Aruba itinerary.

No problem - I need coffee to function in the morning... We found the cruise on Latitudes Rewards still good till August --- Even got free gratuities .... Not sure if that is still going on... But 10 days of tips x2 is $400. And they gave us all 5 free at sea promotions and the tour agent kicked in another couple of hundred in on board cash with excursion credits. Mid January - early Feb truly is when we you can get the best deals... If you can go then.