4:35pm Arrival for AOS, will we make it??

[dedle]

We arrive in San Juan at 4:35pm...I know that the muster drill is at 7:00pm, are we cutting it too close?

 

Thanks,

Deana

[Jimbo]

Winter time............yes

 

Summer time ......nope

 

 

The ship doesn't leave until 10 pm ?

 

Jimbo:)

[Cruiser_Guy]

Why does the ship leave San Juan so late?

[wrp96]

To give people time to fly in the same day. Otherwise they'd have to put up a lot of cruiseair passengers in hotels at their expense.

[Jimbo]

Why does the ship leave San Juan so late?

 

Plus the Southern Caribbean Islands are all close together so they really don't need much sailing time to get to the first port.

[Grandma Dazzles]

Jimbo has given me lots of great advice - made me a believer in AFT cabins, however, in this case I have to disagree.

 

Always fly in a day early - regardless of summer or winter.

 

We live in a tough "winter" area, however, we have had bad delays in the spring and summer - thunderstorms can play havoc with Florida air traffic, as an example. Also don't get me started on "mechanical delays" "crew delays" "equipment delays" etc. They all happen at all times of the year.

 

Husband flies weekly and gets just as many delays in the summer as winter - baggage too can often be delayed.

 

Unless you have no choice, I stand by flying in a day ahead of time, or at least "early" - plus you can then board early and have almost an extra half day on board.

[dedle]

Thanks guys...It is in January, and the ship does leave at 10pm. So, I hope we will be okay.

 

Why would it be different...summer vs. winter? We are arriving at 4:35pm their time.

 

Thanks,

Deana

[FunCruiser56]

I too say go a day ahead. If there is a winter storm anywhere flights will be delayed all over the place and you take the chance of missing your cruise.

Not a fun way to start your vacation.

We're sailing in January also and going down 1.5 days ahead through Miami,

having to fly through Chicago was a big factor for us...LOL

 

Funcruiser

[Alexis]

To give people time to fly in the same day. Otherwise they'd have to put up a lot of cruise air passengers in hotels at their expense.

 

Good luck on that happening. :D

RCCL used to pay for the hotel to bring everyone in a day early when coming from across the country. They used to pay ours from Nevada to Florida, San Juan, etc. They no longer pay for your hotel even if you have cruise air booked with them. That is why so many people get the red eyes from them now when flying from one side of the country to another with their cruise air packages.

[sl0905]

Thanks guys...It is in January, and the ship does leave at 10pm. So, I hope we will be okay.

 

Why would it be different...summer vs. winter? We are arriving at 4:35pm their time.

 

Thanks,

Deana

Remember if there is bad weather anywhere, it can affect your flight. For example, if you are flying out of Atlanta, but the plane that was to be used for your flight is held up in New York due to a blizzard, there usually is not an extra plane in Atlanta just waiting to be used, not to mention the crew to fly it. If your plane is held up due to a blizzard there are going to be others held up also. Then you will have thousands of stranded passengers in Atlanta trying to get out. That was just an example of what COULD happen. Last year at Christmas our airport CVG (Cincinnati) ran out of deicing fluid. We had a HUGE snowfall at this time and they used something like a seasons worth of deicing fluid in one or 2 days, and were unable to get more in because the trucks couldn't travel the highways. People were stranded at the airport for days. Another thing to think about like another poster said, thunderstorms or even tornados.

[dedle]

Now everyone has me scared. We have a direct flight from Houston, leaves at 10:25 our time. There is no red-eye, and flying in the day before would cost me an extra $500.00 (300.00 room, it is a Saturday night and 200.00 plane fee change). Oh well, too late now :)

 

Deana

[trish1c]

Dedle --

 

Can you try flying stand-by? Go on the internt to your airline's site. Find out what leaves earlier & try to make that flight. Standby is free if it works. On my last trip to San Juan we got the last 2 seats on the direct flight & arrived 4 hours earlier than scheduled. I didn't book that flight because it was $400 more than the one I did book.

 

We'll keep our fingers crossed. Good luck.

[dedle]

No, we are already on the first flight out that morning. If we fly standby, we would need to get a hotel room the night before. We might as well go ahead and reschedule our flight...

[travelgirl913]

We arrive in San Juan at 4:35pm...I know that the muster drill is at 7:00pm, are we cutting it too close?

 

Thanks,

Deana

 

Just off AOS. Muster drill isn't until 8:15pm and 2nd seating dinner is at 9pm that night. As long as there are no delays with the plane you can get from the airport to the port rather quickly on a weekend.

[dedle]

How long does it take to get from the airport to the ship (Pan American) Pier?

I have heard conflicting stories...

 

Do we have to go through customs when we arrive at the airport? Continental has it as an international flight. I know it is a territory, but I do not know about customs.

 

 

I have been looking everywhere for rooms and I think I can get one on Saturday night at Hotel Miramar for 125.00. So I am looking at an extra $325.00 plus tax...I really do not want to do this, but I am so scared. We rushed into planning the trip, now I am second guessing myself.

 

Thanks so much for all your help...

 

Deana

[travelgirl913]

No customs to go through in San Juan airport. It should take no more than 15-20 minutes from the airport to get there. It's a sunday so there shouldn't be rush hour traffic. We got to the pier from out hotel at 2pm in 10 minutes. I wouldn't reccomend going anywhere from 12-4pm. Oh my god the lines. I have never seen lines so bad after 7 cruises. We stood in line almost 2 hours to get on. It took over 1 hour just to check our luggage in. Very unorganized there. I would go as late as possible.

 

If you do decide to fly to San Juan early just for peace of mind becuase of weather delays. Here is a hotel idea we stayed at.

 

Wyndham, Conado plaza was bought out by a luxury hotel company. I wouldn't say it is luxury quite yet but it was decent. 7 restaurants, 2 pools, huge casino. I was able to get a $99.00 rate on Thanksgiving weekend. Hopefully it will be less for you during a non-holiday weekend. http://www.luxuryresorts.com/

 

Good Luck with your decision.

[alw1977]

To get a cheaper hotel room in San Juan, you might try www.biddingfortravel.com - it's a website that helps you with priceline bids. I got the Sheraton Old San Juan for around $130 last year using priceline.

[travelgirl913]

We also got the Marriott through priceline for this past sunday night for $85.00 bid. But, then you add fees it goes to $103.00 through priceline. Then once you check in they charge you an additional $17.50 plus $8.50 city taxes and fees. I wonder how much we really saved after all these fees & taxes.

[dedle]

Most hotels are sold out, as is the Coronado suggestion. That is the proble. The ones that aren't are 350.00 a night, as is the Sheraton Old San Juan.

 

I guess I will have to try priceline, if we decide to change the flight.

 

This has definately taught me not to do things "last minute"!!!

 

Deana

[CruisinBabe]

Deana --

 

If you do end up sticking with your original flight I highly recommend you purchase travel insurance!!! Take it from someone who flys rather frequently and has expereinced her share of late/delayed/canceled flights!!

 

Hope it all works out for you!!

 

Amy

[marcmedic]

Seeing as how you're flying from Houston direct to San Juan I really wouldn't worry about the weather too much. If you had a connection through an airport like O'Hare then I'd be concerned. We got into SJU at around the same time you did and made it to the ship just fine. Just don't take the cruiseline transfers. Take a taxi. As long as you're in line by 9PM they'll let you on...regardless if you missed the muster drill or not. You'll be fine. I would just make sure I had travel insurance for the slim chance that something crazy happened. I would not spend 500 dollars to go down a day earlier.

[Ohestu]

plenty of time. I just got off teh AOS and my arrival was 4:35. I also had to spend an extra hour at the Airport due to the Airline not loadign my walker onboard the last leg of my trip. Best thing about arriving after the main crowd is checking in and boarding is a snap. Right through and on-board withing 15 minutes.

[nerak]

Regarding flying in the same day...

We have had one close call flying in on the same day...that was bad enough, BUT I will never do it again after problems we just had on Thanksgiving Day. We were not going to a cruise, just a fun trip to Chicago. Went to open the garage door at 5a.m. to leave for a 8a.m. flight from Indy (almost an hour away) and the very unexpected happened...the cable for my garage door broke trapping BOTH cars IN the garage. Something to think about I guess....park one car out of the garage the night before. :rolleyes: It did prove to me that it could be more than weather, plane mechanical problems, ect. that can hold you up.

 

On the up side...we have flown into San Juan arriving at 3:30 and have been just fine. With the 10:00 departure, you do have some cushion there. Good luck!

[wrp96]

Regarding flying in the same day...

We have had one close call flying in on the same day...that was bad enough, BUT I will never do it again after problems we just had on Thanksgiving Day. We were not going to a cruise, just a fun trip to Chicago. Went to open the garage door at 5a.m. to leave for a 8a.m. flight from Indy (almost an hour away) and the very unexpected happened...the cable for my garage door broke trapping BOTH cars IN the garage. Something to think about I guess....park one car out of the garage the night before. :rolleyes: It did prove to me that it could be more than weather, plane mechanical problems, ect. that can hold you up.

 

You know. The morning I was leaving to go to Europe I actually had a similar problem. We had bad storms come through the night before and knock out our power. In the morning, we still didn't have power. The cord to override the garage door opener was broken and we didn't have a ladder tall enough to reach up and grab what was left of the cord. We ended up having to call a cab to get me to the airport.

[SPARKLE10]

Hi:

 

My DH and myself, we've been taking cruises since 1989, and we're getting ready to take our 35th cruise this New Years on the Dawn Princess. We also have the AOS booked for next March. We live in the midwest and for many cruises (and we usually travel in the winter), we would leave the same day and always made the ship until one time. It was 15 years ago for our 25th wedding anniversary and due to a iced in airport in St. Louis, they re-routed us from Des Moines to Minnesota. When we arrived in Miami for our RCI cruise, we were told by the RCI rep in the airport that we had missed our ship by half an hour. I know in the past we've waited for passengers coming in from bad weather states and the ship has left late, but I found out they do not wait for only two people. It was also New Years Eve and we wanted to be on a ship for New Years, so we had two options. Either catch up to our original 10 day cruise or spend the night in Miami and go on a shorter 3-day cruise for New Years Eve. Well, we opted for the shorter cruise. RCI put us up in a room for the night and gave us food vouchers. Needless to say, that every cruise after that, no matter what time of the year we cruise, now we always fly in a day early so that will never happen again. Also, when we would fly in the same day we would be so tired from getting up at 4AM, the same day,that we would be too tired to enjoy the ship and dinner the first night. We have the AOS booked for next March and we are staying at the Sheraton Old San Juan the night before. For our NY Eve cruise this year, we are flying in a day early to spend the night in San Francisco. Like I said for many years we were lucky and never missed the ship but all it takes is one time and we changed our way of doings things.

Good luck and happy cruising....

Sparkle 10