San Juan Play Time

[Ematic81]

Our return flight leaves San Juan at 2:40pm. If we disembark at 9am do we have time to do anything before going to the airport, or should we head straight to the airport after getting off ship??

[shawne71]

Following...

[MinnesotaCruiser423]

Good question. If this was Miami I would say there was at least 3 hours of play time. But with San Juan does customs play a roll in how early you need to be at the airport? I am cruising out of San Juan next month and I am curious too!

 

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[Tapi]

But with San Juan does customs play a roll in how early you need to be at the airport? I am cruising out of San Juan next month and I am curious too!

 

Customs to get off the ship should be the same as in any other US port.

 

The flight is considered a domestic flight so no more customs after that. There's one additional step when checking in for a flight though (the USDA checkpoint to ensure you are not smuggling prohibited fruits or plants back to the mainland). It can be a quick process (literally, it has taken me 60 seconds if there's not a line), but if its backed up, it may take 20 minutes.

 

To the OP, just enjoy a leisurely breakfast on the ship and get off as late as possible. Head to the airport and take your time checking in and going through the security checkpoint. The San Juan airport can be an unpredictable zoo on the weekends.

 

One good piece of advice is to remember that all security checkpoints give you access to all airlines, so if the checkpoint for your airline is backed up, walk up to the next one and backtrack. I've seen lines going out the door at JetBlue but then you walk to American and the TSA agents are picking their noses out of boredom.

[joecleveland]

Good question. If this was Miami I would say there was at least 3 hours of play time. But with San Juan does customs play a roll in how early you need to be at the airport? I am cruising out of San Juan next month and I am curious too!

 

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4

 

No customs at the airport, PR is part of the US. If I were you I'd sign up for the Bacardi rum tour that drops you off at the airport. We've done that several times, and enjoyed the 'refreshements'. Getting to the airport takes about 1/2 hour tops by cab, we've also arrived by 9:30 AM after stalling on board and then had to kill 5 hours until our flight. There are also tours of Old San Jaun most cruise lines offer for a few hours in the morning. The Airport gets busy after 12PM but we've never had problems getting through airport security ... just remember to run all your bags through the separate scanners before you get to the ticket check-in counter and get their little tags on everything including carry-ons. I think they're looking for live items or farm produce, not sure, but the scanners are in front of the airline check-in counter lines. (looks like I've repeated a lot from post above , but now you should get the point on the scanners)

[cloverseeker]

Allow at least 2 hours from ship to boarding area. There is an agricultural scanner you must place your bags through and then the line for checking your bags and the last line for security. Took us 30 minutes for checking bags and at least 45 min to get through security. We boarded at 12:30pm.