Cruising from San Juan - hesitations and ???

[nattie]

Hello all,

 

I am looking into booking a So Caribbean out of San Juan either with Carnival or RCI. I have been reading reviews and such and am really concerned about all the stories of Puerto Rican people basically taking a ship hostage and running amok (not my words). Heard tons of nasty things about rudeness, hygene issues, huge lines, "no English" rules and nasty kids...

I love the itineraries coming out of Puerto Rico and since I can't take more then a week off work, they are the best for me. So, to everybody who actually sailed out of San Juan:

"Is the itinerary worth all the aggrevation?" and

"Was it really as bad as some people put it?"

 

Thank you in advance,

 

P.S. I also apologize in advance if I have offended anyone. I was merely quoting what other people put in their reviews, for whatever reason there were A LOT of really bad ones.

[ali07]

All I remember is our cruise on the Serenade, out of San Juan, was our nicest cruise to date. We're doing it again this year. Our embarkation was the fastest we have ever embarked. However, I wasn't wild about the airport.

 

If you are cruising on the big ships, there will always be a couple of thousand other folks on board (at least). You never know what little issues you may have to deal with on any particular ship, with any particular passenger(s). Don't worry about what might happen, just go with a mind that you are going to have a wonderful time.

[paul929207]

We took a Panama Canal cruise from San Juan in 2006. We did not encunter any of these problems.

[cruising to paradise]

We were just on AOS 1-13thru1-20 and we had a very good time. We had a full boat and we met a lot of nice people.All announcements were done in Spanish and English, there was a latin dance by the pool one night,I dont think there were any more problems than usual with rude people etc. I think you will have a great cruise.

[Karysa]

We were on the Destiny out of San Juan in August of 2005. Honestly, the differences we felt were all just funny. Easy to find our pictures, really easy. There were always lounge chairs by the pools. Really easy to keep an eye on our DD's heads bobbing around in the pool. Like on all of the cruises we have been on there were a few unruly kids in the kids club but that was the only negative for us on that cruise.

The islands were beautiful and we would not hesitate to take a cruise from San Juan again.

Karysa

[cruising to paradise]

We were just on AOS 1-13 thru 1-20 and we had a very good time. We had a full boat and we met a lot of nice people.All announcements were done in Spanish and English, there was a latin dance by the pool one night,I dont think there were any more problems than usual with rude people etc. I think you will have a great cruise.

[cb at sea]

I really think it varies from cruise to cruise! We've had some totally obnoxious folks on our cruises out of Miami! I don't think rudeness is limited to PR!

I wouldn't worry unduly about it--folks tend to keep to themselves, for the most part!

[ljtinney]

I just came back from the Crown Princess out of San Juan for the 3rd time in just over a year. We love sailing out if SJ and love the itineraries.

As far as those issues from PR.....I agree with the previous poster. It would seem to vary from cruise to cruise and that you will have some rude and nasty people no matter where you sail from. I find the people much nicer in SJ than another port that I would rather not sail from.;)

[#1TravelMom]

I agree with the last post. Try the Crown out of PR. We've done it twice, the above poster has done it 3 times. We had a great cruise both times!

[deppong]

we did 2 rci cruises out of san juan at spring break. both ships were full. I read all of the posts about the rude PR and unruly children. I thought that I had made a mistake in booking these cruises. We went anyway and had a wonderful time. I honestly have to say that I dont even remember hearing announcements in spanish. I saw lots of families on both ships but none of them were rude or unruly. I also read about how PR like to "party hardy" and we are not big party people. I dont have too much tolerence for drunks. We didnt see any of this. The only time I felt the least bit uncomfortable was in San Juan in the shops and restaurants near the fort. I couldn't understand the language! It was my problem not theirs. Everyone was very friendly I was just uneasy not knowing what was being said. Go ahead and have a great time.

[rainforestgirl]

Let me start by saying I live on PR (though I am not PRican).

We have done two cruises out of PR. I too had read all the bad posts about the PR people on the ships that get on for almost free and ruin it for everyone.

 

1st- There are no super cheap deals for anyone. Since they don't have to pay airfare, there will be more people from the home port on any ship.

 

We really liked our cruises. No one ruined anything for us.

We had some loud, rude and obnoxious people of all ethnicities just as we had some really great, fun and pleasant people from all ethnicities. As we all know, PR does not have the market on rude people!

I think some people just don't like certain ethnicities and any cultural differences are WRONG and BAD.

I found it less annoying hearing someone enjoying themselves by singing or laughing loudly, than hearing someone else complaining loudly about it!!

These ships are large- we found if someone was too loud, or full of themselves for our taste, we just moved to another part of the ship.

[Loves_Dogs]

Although my Destiny cruise out of PR was my least favorite, it had absolutely nothing to do with the other passengers. PR is beautiful and I thought it was an added 'bonus' to cruise from there because it was like we got another port day. We flew in early the day before and went out and about visiting the forts etc. I wanted to cruise Adventure of the Seas out of PR this year, but my son balked at the long plane ride to PR. The beautiful ports on the Southern route are so worth the flight. So, to answer your questions:

 

 

YES..the itinerary is worth the flight and time. And no, it is not as 'bad' as some people put it as far as the the passengers are concerned. Yes, there were a lot of PR people on board, but I didnt see any more rude or obnoxious behaviour than I had seen on any of my previous cruises.

[melgray13]

I agree with the other posters. We said AO out of San Juan and are getting ready to do Serenade also out of San Juan. The only major differences we noticed were announcements are in English and then in Spanish. There was a larger concentration of hispanic guests that on our other cruises. Other than that - no real differences. Crazy and rude can happen anywhere. If you are concerned, I might recommend going with RCCL or Princess - less "party" environement that Carnival and not going during time when it is easy to have kids out of school - ie summer, spring break, etc.

[tnsail]

"Jerks" are everywhere, just seems like you notice them more when the circumstances change.... Everyone who is cruising out of San Juan is on vacation just as you are. Some vacation different than others....

 

When we sailed the Destiny in May of last year we had an excellent time.. The ports of call were terrific... San Juan in itself is a great port of call... As was posted earlier, our problems were in the inability to understand the language... Our problem, not theirs.... A few simple phases of Spanish kept us on the right track....

 

The ships that sail from San Juan are no different than ships that sail from anyport... The passenger mix may have been a bit more Latino but we expected that... Were the Latino's rude? Not in the least. The rudest people that we met on the whole trip were a couple of asnine rednecks who thought that the world turned around them (Americans). I would wager that if they filled out a comment card or a post cruise review that they had a awful cruise.

 

Which brings me to my last point... I know from having to deal with people on a day to day basis that you can't please some folks. They were born on this earth pissed off... I know that some folks had a bad experience on ships sailing from SJ. I also know that it happens every cruise on every ship... You can read reviews from several ships, you will see reviews of the same sailing and the posters have a completely different cruise... Sometimes you wonder if they were on the same ship....

 

If your offended by worn carpets or paint peeling. Or if you get a meal that is not to your liking will spoil your cruise then SJ might not be the port of choice for you. But then again that could be said about every port or ship that we sailed on. Haven't had a bad cruise yet....

 

Now SJU is another story....:eek: ...;)

 

Joey

[ricntina]

I agree with the other posters. We said AO out of San Juan and are getting ready to do Serenade also out of San Juan. The only major differences we noticed were announcements are in English and then in Spanish. There was a larger concentration of hispanic guests that on our other cruises. Other than that - no real differences. Crazy and rude can happen anywhere. If you are concerned, I might recommend going with RCCL or Princess - less "party" environement that Carnival and not going during time when it is easy to have kids out of school - ie summer, spring break, etc.

Melissa:

Spring Break. Think thats when both you and I are sailing. Oh-well.

Rick

[djandnic]

Hello all,

 

I am looking into booking a So Caribbean out of San Juan either with Carnival or RCI. I have been reading reviews and such and am really concerned about all the stories of Puerto Rican people basically taking a ship hostage and running amok (not my words). Heard tons of nasty things about rudeness, hygene issues, huge lines, "no English" rules and nasty kids...

I love the itineraries coming out of Puerto Rico and since I can't take more then a week off work, they are the best for me. So, to everybody who actually sailed out of San Juan:

"Is the itinerary worth all the aggrevation?" and

"Was it really as bad as some people put it?"

 

Thank you in advance,

 

P.S. I also apologize in advance if I have offended anyone. I was merely quoting what other people put in their reviews, for whatever reason there were A LOT of really bad ones.

 

We have sailed out of SJ twice before, and will be again in March. It simply amazes me the things people say about SJ, and PR in general. People are people, and you will find good behavior and bad behavior in all areas of this world. There is absolutely nothing I've ever encountered in SJ that would cause me to think about not cruising from there. In fact, we are going down early this year to spend some time in SJ prior to the cruise.

 

If there is anything negative to say at all, it's about the cost of airfare from the mainland USA to PR, but that's not the fault of PR (but I'm sure the people that write these terrible reviews would attribute that to the folks of SJ as well!)

 

I hope you will pick a cruise leaving SJ, because I know you will enjoy the many different island you can see versus a cruise from FL. Good Luck, keep an open mind, and enjoy others!

[nattie]

Thank you all for reassuring me.

We visited San Juan on a cruise before and I found people there (shop owners mostly) to be just wonderful, so I am hoping to meet them on the cruise :)

As for culture differences, I am Russian leaving in US for 8yrs now, my DH is American, I guess we should be OK. And I agree with all of you who stated that you can encounter rude people anywhere, but some countries/cultures have more or less of their fair share.

 

Thank you again for replying to my post.

 

It looks like we are going on a Southern Caribbean cruise :D !!!

[ncdachsiemom]

Thank you all for reassuring me.

We visited San Juan on a cruise before and I found people there (shop owners mostly) to be just wonderful, so I am hoping to meet them on the cruise :)

As for culture differences, I am Russian leaving in US for 8yrs now, my DH is American, I guess we should be OK. And I agree with all of you who stated that you can encounter rude people anywhere, but some countries/cultures have more or less of their fair share.

 

Thank you again for replying to my post.

 

It looks like we are going on a Southern Caribbean cruise :D !!!

I have sailed out of San Juan, and I didn't find any more Latinos on the ship that on any sailing out of other ports. As some other posters have said, some people can find fault with everyone and everything. I have traveled around the world and I find that a smile is the same everywhere. I visited your country several years ago when Gorbachev was President, and I enjoyed Moscow, Kiev, and Leningrad (now St Petersburg) for 10 days. When I travel I feel so fortunate to be able to go places that I always have fun! Enjoy your cruise.

 

Linda

[lovemylab]

We were on the Serenade in November out of San Juan and had no problems whatsoever with the locals who were onboard. The people in San Juan are very friendly and the Southern itineraries are fantastic!

 

I would love to do a cruise out of San Juan again.

[melgray13]

Melissa:

Spring Break. Think thats when both you and I are sailing. Oh-well.

Rick

 

I think we'll just miss it :) Easter is March 23rd.

[texancruzer]

We LOVED San Juan, Puerto Rico and our cruise from there on Serenade.

 

The RUDEST cruise I have been on was Legend OTS out of Tampa..... I had my toes run over by more scooters in one week :eek: but I was taught to respect my elders..... they definately made it a challenge to smile and "let it ride"

[kruznkanuk]

We arrived in SJ on the Galaxy in December from a transatlantic. We have sailed out of 9 different ports, speak 4 languages, lived in Europe for a year, and love discovering the differences in culture.. so are not "rednecks". And there are wonderful people and jerks wherever you go.

However, I found San Juan one of the most unpleasant places we have ever visited.

If you tend to be polite and value orderliness and civility, the PR "exuberance" will be disturbing. If you have limited Spanish, you will receive poorer service. In the airport at a US airline counter, those who did not speak Spanish were sent to the end of the line while announcements in Spanish told others to avoid the lines and push to the front. It was chaos and very unpleasant. We were fifth in line when the check-in opened but waited nearly two hours while rude and shoving people who arrived 90 minutes later for the same flight were served in minutes. The restaurant bills had spanish notices that 15% tip was included, but when neighboring English speaking diners asked if the tip was included, they were told "no, not included". At our hotel, simple attempts to get the keys reprogrammed so they would open the door were interrupted 4 or 5 times while other guests elbowed their way in front of you at the counter and the hotel staff served them first.

There are wonderful things to see in PR but many people, perhaps due to socio-economic issues, seem to feel that non-Spanish speaking visitors are scum and deserve to be fleeced.

We love travel, we love cruising, and if I won a free cruise out of San Juan I might take it. But I would overnight in Miami or the Virgin Islands or somewhere other than San Juan if there was some way I could do so.

[bgcruise35]

Two of my previous cruises departed San Juan on RCCL and my next cruise is on AOS departing San Juan 2/24/08. Like most posts above I never experienced an issue with passengers from PR or any other country. The ships are just too large to stay around anyone that annoys you.

If you are concerned about long check in lines try a pre cruise stay in San Juan. Get there a day ahead and kick back around the pool and bar at your hotel. Be first in line the next day boarding since you are already there.

Also be sure to do the on line pre boarding check in if your curise line offers it to save time.

Have a great cruise and don't worry about others.

 

Bill

[tiyana4]

We LOVED San Juan, Puerto Rico and our cruise from there on Serenade.

 

The RUDEST cruise I have been on was Legend OTS out of Tampa..... I had my toes run over by more scooters in one week :eek: but I was taught to respect my elders..... they definately made it a challenge to smile and "let it ride"

 

Although we were on the Legend at different times, I have to agree there were a lot of complaints about scooters on our cruise too. I have flashbacks of elevators being bombarded with these things.:D

[shark&minnow]

Hi

We were on the Destiny out of SJ. I think because it is a lower priced cruise it attracts a different socio-economic crowd (like me!) We always eat in the dining room for all meals, so the issues of lines and crowds don't affect us. We had a balcony, so we had privacy. We were very happy to have sun lounge chairs at the back of the boat, not in the main pool area. My husband and I are on our own cruise and I don't pay much attention to what other people are doing on their vacation. The PR people seem to, in general, be louder (I'm a very quiet person)..but, so what? I also enjoyed Old SJ and found it enjoyable in the same way as other ports I've been to. All different ports and cities have their own charms.