San Juan Cruises

[carnival03]

We are looking to do the southern caribbean route out of San Juan probably next June (2017). Anyone have any advice on the cheapest time to book? Also, with Carnival's flight program, has anyone found prices cheaper at Carnival than on Southwest?

 

If all else fails and San Juan is out of the price range, we'll probably do a cruise from Florida, but looking at a longer cruise (8-10) days.... Any suggestions? We want to hit the southern caribbean and not the Bahamas.

[cntrydncr1]

Usually hurricane season is cheaper as well as the first week of December and January from what I have seen. I don't think you will beat Southwest's prices!

[evandbob]

We are looking to do the southern caribbean route out of San Juan probably next June (2017). Anyone have any advice on the cheapest time to book? Also, with Carnival's flight program, has anyone found prices cheaper at Carnival than on Southwest?

 

If all else fails and San Juan is out of the price range, we'll probably do a cruise from Florida, but looking at a longer cruise (8-10) days.... Any suggestions? We want to hit the southern caribbean and not the Bahamas.

 

I found that for a solo sailing on a southern Caribbean itinerary, the first week or so of December is usually the cheapest on Celebrity Summit, rather than the Carnival ship.

[queeniemi]

I booked my fifth straight San Juan cruise for November 13 in February. I have early saver and the cruise is now $220 more. I like to book my own flights. I just watch for sale alerts.A lot of the hotels consider the Thanksgiving week the beginning of the high season, so prices are good. The weather is perfect and the water is still summer warm! Absolutely my favorite itinerary.

[Beach_gal]

Check Jet Blue as well. We found fares less than Southwest.

 

This is our second summer doing the southern itinerary out of San Juan and both times we booked a year out. That itinerary is amazing with such beautiful islands :)

[skidawg79]

We are looking to do the southern caribbean route out of San Juan probably next June (2017). Anyone have any advice on the cheapest time to book? Also, with Carnival's flight program, has anyone found prices cheaper at Carnival than on Southwest?

 

If all else fails and San Juan is out of the price range, we'll probably do a cruise from Florida, but looking at a longer cruise (8-10) days.... Any suggestions? We want to hit the southern caribbean and not the Bahamas.

 

Not sure if they fly out of your airport, but check Jet Blue. When we did our cruise out of San Juan, Jet Blue had great prices out of Newark. Not sure about the best time to book to be honest.

[cricket_7]

If you have the option, check different airports. We are driving 4 hours to Dallas because flights are 1/2 the cost and there are 4 airline tickets to buy.

 

Check Spirit Airlines (although it doesn't service all airports). We flew to Miami last year for $200 round trip. They also fly to PR but American out of Dallas was actually cheaper for us this time around.

 

 

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[carnival03]

Thanks everyone! I'll check up on Jetblue, thankfully we live in Maryland and have three airports to choose from!

[loubetti]

If you have the option, check different airports. We are driving 4 hours to Dallas because flights are 1/2 the cost and there are 4 airline tickets to buy.

 

Check Spirit Airlines (although it doesn't service all airports). We flew to Miami last year for $200 round trip. p

 

Friends don't let friends fly Spirit. The worst rated airline in the USA, and for good reason.

[cruiseonthebrain]

Maybe not the cheapest airline- but I have found that Delta is by far the best airline to fly in and out of San Juan. I lived in Puerto Rico for years and Delta was almost always on time and had the best service by far.

[Mary Ellen1]

We just got back from an 8-day Southern on the Conquest, and we sailed from Fort Lauderdale. We went to Grand Turk, Dominican Republic, Aruba & Curacao. Nice itinerary! So don't limit yourself to just San Juan departures (although those SJ itineraries are wonderful!!!).

 

Good luck.

[cyntil8ing]

Thanks everyone! I'll check up on Jetblue, thankfully we live in Maryland and have three airports to choose from!

 

We do too, about 45 min from BWI and 70 min from DCA and IAD. We have flown to San Juan four or five times. We just booked Southwest from BWI for our summer cruise.

 

Don't shop just on flight price, but consider luggage fees and parking. The over $10/day difference between DCA and BWI for parking more than ate up our savings on the flight. Lesson learned!

 

We also choose Southwest because we could get non-stop flights. We couldn't find anything comparable on any other airline. Jet Blue was close price-wise, even adding luggage fees, but we would have had to go to either Miami or Boston to change planes.

 

As far as when is the best time to book a June 2017 cruise, I think it would depend on which week you're looking at. Early June is before school generally lets out and there may be last minute bargains to be had by waiting. Later in June gets into summer season and waiting may mean there are no cabins available.

 

San Juan is our favorite port to leave from. If you can, go down early or stay after.

[luv2trvlnow]

As far as when is the best time to book a June 2017 cruise, I think it would depend on which week you're looking at. Early June is before school generally lets out and there may be last minute bargains to be had by waiting. Later in June gets into summer season and waiting may mean there are no cabins available.

 

San Juan is our favorite port to leave from. If you can, go down early or stay after.

I understand there is a part of the country that is in school until sometime in June. In fact I graduated from high school in June. But I lived up North then. Now I live further south. And a lot of the schools down south end school before Memorial Day. So you have to take that into account. Not everywhere will be in school the first part of June so there might not be any last minute bargains for early June.

 

We also love leaving from San Juan. And I agree to try to spend some time there either before or after your cruise. And sometimes getting there a day or two earlier or later and save money on the airfare.

Edited May 8, 2016 by luv2trvlnow

[BenjiRodney]

San Juan we go 1 day before and stay 1 day after always fly American. Does not hurt that one of us has Platinum Status with American.

 

 

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[carnival03]

Thanks again, everyone. I hate that Carnival moved an older ship to San Juan, I get the logistics of it, but still not liking it. We enjoy balcony rooms, but with supply and demand of those rooms, balconies on older ships tend to be pricy, I have noticed.

[bakersdozen12]

While I totally understand how you feel about balconies, with one sea day and five port days, how much are you going to use the balcony anyway? My husband and I are doing the San Juan southern itinerary in November, and we booked a port hole for that very reason. Just couldn't justify spending more money for something that we wouldn't get to use as much as we normally would with multiple sea days.

 

This is actually why I'm not disappointed at all that it's a smaller ship either. Figuring we won't even be on the ship much anyway. What I will miss, though, is the dive-in theater. But, if the ports are as beautiful as everyone has said they are, it will be a justifiable trade-off.

 

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Edited May 15, 2016 by bakersdozen12

[Steve Dore]

While I totally understand how you feel about balconies, with one sea day and five port days, how much are you going to use the balcony anyway? My husband and I are doing the San Juan southern itinerary in November, and we booked a port hole for that very reason. Just couldn't justify spending more money for something that we wouldn't get to use as much as we normally would with multiple sea days.

 

This is actually why I'm not disappointed at all that it's a smaller ship either. Figuring we won't even be on the ship much anyway. What I will miss, though, is the dive-in theater. But, if the ports are as beautiful as everyone has said they are, it will be a justifiable trade-off.

 

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I agree with everything you said. We did this itinerary on the Valor in 2015. It didn't have the newest bells and whistles. It didn't have the overhyped 2.0 options. It was our favorite cruise to date.

[Tapi]

Check Jet Blue as well. We found fares less than Southwest.

 

 

Check ALL airlines. A lot of people get hung up on the "low cost" airlines and fail to check the traditional airlines like Delta, United and American, which a lot of times these day have better fares and much better itineraries.

[carnival03]

While I totally understand how you feel about balconies, with one sea day and five port days, how much are you going to use the balcony anyway? My husband and I are doing the San Juan southern itinerary in November, and we booked a port hole for that very reason. Just couldn't justify spending more money for something that we wouldn't get to use as much as we normally would with multiple sea days.

 

This is actually why I'm not disappointed at all that it's a smaller ship either. Figuring we won't even be on the ship much anyway. What I will miss, though, is the dive-in theater. But, if the ports are as beautiful as everyone has said they are, it will be a justifiable trade-off.

 

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I agree with what you said, we like balconies for the fact that we have space in the cabin. We have three people and with a balcony and a window we fell less closed in compared to an inside cabin. Of course, I do not know if this stands true for ships as old as the Fascination.