fly to San Juan day of departure?

[beachrus4]

Is it safe to fly to San Juan the day you sail or must we fly a day earlier in stay in a hotel? I live in Ohio.

[nibird2]

Coming from the east coast we always fly in one day early in case weather conditions interefere with leaving Phiily on the same day the ship departs.

[rjack22]

I think that it is always a good idea to fly the day ahead. BTW, I live in Ohio also.

 

First of all it will give you peace of mind to not have to worry if you are delayed.

 

Second, it is a good tourist destination in itself so why not enjoy it.

 

And third, you will have a chance to rest up and not be so tired when you board.

 

I can remember on our first cruise where we flew to Tampa the day of the cruise that we were so tired we skipped the show the first night and went to bed early.

 

And on our second cruise, if we had flown in the day of, we would have missed the ship. We were supposed to arrive in Fort Lauderdale at noon. Instead we arrived at 7:30 PM. Ship sailed at 5:00. And that was in April.

[Dot Cotton]

I also recommend flying in the day before. I know a family who were set to arrive early afternoon on day of sailing but there was a horrible schedule change that made their flight arrive that night! It was a big mess.

[beachrus4]

Thank you everyone. This is my inclination as well to fly the day before. rjack - airfare from Cincinnati or Dayton is crazy expensive - I think it really looks like the best option is to purchase the air through Princess. Do these air itineraries through the airlines end up being not very satisfactory as itineraries go?

[Clutterlady]

Flew into San Juan last May, same day. Got to the pier around 2:30 pm. If we did this again, I would fly in the day before, so much to see in San Juan.

[Steven_&_Daniel]

Our first cruise was out of San Juan. Not knowing any better, we flew down the day of the cruise. We were so late boarding that the muster drill was over when we boarded! :eek:

 

The checkin was so empty you'd have thought the ship had already sailed and everyone went home.

 

I definitely recommend flying down the day before.

[jlines]

We also live in Ohio. On our most recent cruise we left out of San Juan and didn't have a choice but to fly down the day of. Cruises from SJ typically leave at 11:00pm so if you don't have a choice (like us) its not too bad. Our flight on Continental left CMH at 6:30am and we arrived at SJU at 12:49pm with a plane change at EWR. I would rather have gone the day before and if your schedule permits it (and you've never been to SJ) then you should do it. My point however is that it is doable from Ohio - just choose the earliest possible flights and if you can go direct out of CVG you'd be in good shape.

[Pam in CA]

Several years ago, I was taking a cruise in January leaving from San Juan to Acapulco with flights to San Juan the day before embarkation. A massive East Coast storm shut down airports from Atlanta to Boston. My 10:30AM flight was cancelled and Logan Airport (Boston) closed until the next day. Due to the ice storm that followed, there were massive delays and overbooked flights. I wound up flying to MIA figuring that I could get to anywhere in the Caribbean from there. I finally caught up with the ship in Martinique the day after along with literally hundreds of others who had also missed the ship. (I had fortunately booked Princess air and had hard-copy tickets so that I didn't have to pay for a thing, not even the extra airfare, hotel and food. Everything was comped.)

 

Look at the weather in the Midwest and Chicago right now. Their airport operations won't be back up and running for another 24 - 48 hours. The bottom line is that if it's wintertime, don't leave anything to chance if you have the flexibility.

[beachrus4]

Pam,

I didn't think insurance covered the airfare portion even if it was purchased through the cruise line?

[serene56]

We cruised from San Juan in Sept. We booked same day flights since the ship does not leave til later. We had 7:30am flights.

we arrived in San Juan on time--but that night by 9pm we were too tired to enjoy our first day of the cruise...with everything that was going on it was hard to relax during the day... didnt want to miss anything.

 

For that reason--go the night before--get a good nights sleep. eat a nice breakfast and head to the pier about noon. The money for the hotel is well worth it.

[mwlillie]

I would look at using jetblue out of Columbus. Drive there the day before, then fly to SJ. Cost is about 325 round trip

[Tak8]

I would fly down the day before. It is much more relaxing.

[vator90]

The most important thing to consider IMHO is are you booking your air seperate? If you are, then the day before would be by far the wisest choice of course. Our choice is not to fly day of if we will have a conecting flight. You could also look into which hotels Princess uses for stays before departures and possibly get a room there and pay the tranfer so you could be picked up with others going on your cruise. BTW, w live in Cincinnati and often will look for airfare in either Louisville or Indy. We flew same day CMH to San Juan for a cruise and the air travel was a total disaster. Good luck and enjoy your trip.

[sultan_sfo]

Yes -- IF Princess books Air and you have Princess Insurance. /Sultan

 

Pam,

I didn't think insurance covered the airfare portion even if it was purchased through the cruise line?

[Hflors]

First cruise out of SJ we flew in the same day. NEVER AGAIN!!! A very long day. We flew Princess. They flew us from BWI to Newark to San Juan. Long flight. For our next cruise this March we are going to SJ two days before our cruise. Booked our own air direct from BWI - got a great price on price line for the Caribe Hilton. This trip we will have plenty of time to do the sight seeing that we didn't have time for the first time.

 

By the way during our first cruise the pilots went on strike and Princess had to charter planes to bring us home. Now that was a mess!

 

Take everyone's advice and do a day or two before the cruise you will enjoy it much more.

[Pam in CA]

Pam,

I didn't think insurance covered the airfare portion even if it was purchased through the cruise line?

I didn't have Princess insurance. (I've had it ever since.) I had paper tickets issued by AA when I paid for Princess Air. AA covered all my costs because my paper tickets were specially-coded. They put me on standby from BOS to MIA where I was the last on the plane, gave me vouchers for food and hotel at MIA airport, and booked me on Air France to Martinique the next day. I didn't have any $$ outlay. Not only that, but when I got to Martinique, the Princess rep met us (there were others in the same boat, so to speak) at arrivals, had a van for our luggage and transported us directly to the ship. Our luggage was delivered directly from baggage claim to the cabin.

 

Two things to note: this was in 2000 when paper tickets were the norm and before 9/11. Something else to note: I had a passport. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have been allowed to fly to Martinique since we had several stops (five of them -- it was real island hopping where we left MIA at 8AM and arrived in Martinique at 4:30PM, an hour before sailaway) along the way. We had to get off the plane each time and go through immigration in each country, our passports were examined and stamped at each airport. This is one of the reasons why I'm such an advocate for getting a passport. You really never know what's going to happen. It was certainly an "adventure." Very stressful since I was traveling by myself to meet up with my sister and BIL on the ship.

[EviesCruisin]

Flying nonstop from DC to SJU on the day of our cruise (Dec 16th). Our flight should arrive around 1:30 PM. I felt comfortable with this since the boat boards until 9 PM and doesn't leave until 11 PM I believe. If it was leaving at 5, I'd be more nervous about delays. Of course it doesn't snow as much in DC as it does in Ohio. I would purchase travel insurance from a 3rd party so it covers cruise & airfare - put your mind at ease. We used Travelex, the pries were pretty reasonable. I think around $50-60 per person for the week.

[Jacqueline]

For the last 3 years I jhave always flown in the day of the cruise. And this year I plan to as well.

If you cannot fly direct, that is a different story.

[MrSchwump]

We were on the Thanksgiving week cruise and flew from Cincinnati to San Juan on Sat. morning. It wasn't a bad flight, less than 4 hours, and we were on board by 3:30p. Next time, I think I'd fly in the day before.

 

You just have that margin of safety with weather delays or lost luggage. Plus, with the departure being changed to the Pan Am pier, you are a distance from Old San Juan. We'd hoped to tour around there for a couple of hours or so prior to departure.

 

Airfare out of Cincinnati is the highest in the country, I'd definately go the day before, departing from somewhere besides there.

 

Your old pal,

Joe

[chasetf]

We did a San Juan departure some years ago. Coming from SF, we did the redeye, flying all night through Atlanta, getting in about 10am. Our first day was at sea, and we spent it recovering from our flight.

 

If I did it again I would go in a day or two earlier and see some of the island. :D And, as others have mentioned, there is always the chance of missed flights or late connections. We fly into Ft Lauderdale with a connection in Chicago. We made it but our bags didn't. Fortunately we had the next day to go get them because we flew in the day before. ;)

[chasetf]

Refresh key does it again.

 

This board baffles me. Waited ten minutes for the other post to show up.... and then two show up.

 

Go figure.

[bjboothman]

Yes, bags are another reason to go a day early. On a direct flight from Pittsburgh - Fort Lauderdale, we arrived in plenty of time the day before, but some of our bags did not. When they did arrive the following afternoon, USAirways delivered them directly to the Grand for us. I would have hated to have gone on a cruise without them.

[willysgrandma]

We are experienced cruisers and flew to SJ the day of our cruise -w e had no problems, but when we do our cruise next year, we are flying in the day before.

 

I'd rather get on the ship relaxed rather than having to get up again at 5 AM to get to the airport.

[Umbarger]

Always go in a day early if at all possible. You always think it wont happen to you.

 

We flew thru ORD and found our flight had been cancelled. We had to wait there for 8 1/2 hours for another flight. American couldnt have cared less that we were on a cruise. We finally arrived at 1:30am instead of 2:30pm. The cruise left at 5:00pm. :eek:

 

Thankfully, I flew in the day before and we MADE the cruise. :D

 

I will always go in a day early for evermore. :)