LittleYiaYia

You are welcome.  I do hope that your cruise will sail.  Fingers crossed.  Whatever hotel you choose (and no matter how you choose to make the reservations), have a great time in Puerto Rico.  We have been staying there for over 30 years and it is one of our favorite places.  We sometimes take land vacations there because we enjoy it so much. We have stayed all over the island, from OSJ to "New" San Juan, from the beaches to the neighboring islands, something for everyone.  Enjoy PR  and your cruise. 

I did not say you could not get a good rate by booking directly with the hotel.  In my experience, booking directly with these two hotels I mentioned did not save any money over Hotels.com. 

The Fascination will port in OSJ at Pier 4.  Yes, the Sheraton OSJ is across the street.  It is a large, crowded, typical Sheraton.  My suggestion is to go into town a few blocks to El Convento or Casa Blanca (our favorite).  You will be right in the middle of all the restaurants, and if you wish, shopping. If you book through Hotels.com you can book a fully refundable rate, with cancellation 24 to 48 hours before arrival.  The price booking at Hotels.com is not any different than calling and booking direct.  A taxi from the airport to OSJ cost us $25 (3 bags).  If you want to taxi to the port instead of walking, it will cost approximately $12.00.  This is our favorite itinerary, have a great cruise.

We have done this cruise the last four years.  We have always purchased FTTF when we booked the cruise, at least a year from sailing, each time.  This year, I do not remember it selling out.  It was always available whenever I looked at excursions. Are you sure you aren't overlooking it? That being said, we purchase FTTF mainly for the perk of going to the head of the line at guest services and being able to access our cabin immediately.  To us these two perks are worth the cost of FTTF. The line at GS can be extremely long, especially on embarkation day and the night before debarkation.  If you time your arrival to the port to be between 12-1:PM you can walk right on the ship. 

Enjoy this cruise, the itinerary is amazing.   

Thank you.  I finally found the paperwork that explains all of this.  I am in the process of reading it right now. I have not got to the paragraph where it tells you if the points expire or not. I am thing  "no" .  Hope I am right. 

Thanks UrbishN

Sorry to be so dense.  Here is what I understand from your post. Let's say I was onboard and purchased a excursion for $300...I would get $216 off the excursion  Right?  Now if I made a purchase for $1600....I would get $324 off the purchase?  Can I use the points to receive a statement credit at final payment?  If so, if I owed less than $1500, I would get $216 in credit and if over $1500 owed I would get $324? 

I am having a hard time finding the answer to this question:  My MasterCard statement says I have 21,630 fun points. 

How much is this in dollars?  I have not been able to get through to Barclays to ask anyone.  I would like to use these fun points to purchase items on our next cruise. 

We just returned from our 4th sailing on the Fascination to the Southern Caribbean.  We sail for the ports, not the ship.  We prefer port days to sea days.  You will only have one sea day on the Fascination.  There will be enough to do for that one day.  If the ship and all the bells and whistles of the new ships is important to you, choose the Vista.  If you prefer not standing or waiting in line for anything, easy embarkation and disembarkation, being able to walk into a production show or comedy show ten minutes before the show starts, pick the Fascination.  If the ports are important, pick the Fascination.  I am not a big fan of tendering, especially on larger ships, so we would not pick Grand Cayman.  Cozumel is good, but Jamaica is not.  So much to decide, have fun which ever you choose!

Just returned from the Casa Blanca.  We ate twice at Punto De Vista, no wait either time when we arrived by 4PM (to take advantage of BOGO mojitos.  This is our favorite in OSJ.  The restaurant is across the street from Casa Blanca.  Just get there early or you will face a wait.  For the first time we tried Sophia's.  Wonderful food and great service.  Walk out of your hotel and take a right, Sophia's on the corner.  Sit outside to people watch.  Casablanca has a great breakfast.  Service slow (the waiter takes your order and then goes and cooks the food).  Mallorca is our favorite for breakfast, but again, get there early or after the breakfast rush as it is also very popular with locals, especially on Sunday when the Mass ends at the church across the street.

We are on the Fascination this coming Sunday for the 5th time.  We love the small ships.  Took a cruise on Princess to Hawaii, we were miserable.  Lines everywhere. No place to sit at the buffet.  Could not get into a show, they filled up 1/2 hour to 45 minutes before the show and so many people saving seats. You had better have fixed dining, because the wait for your time was sometimes 1 hour or more. Had to make reservations for everything on the ship.  What's the point of having all the amenities if you can't experience them because of the crowds. 

We were not going to sail on the Fascination in 2021 as we had booked other cruises, but may have to change our minds when we see what ship if any will take her place. I hope they do not replace her with one of the larger ships.  We can drive to Mobile, maybe we can catch a quick cruise on her when she home ports there.  Very sad to see her leave San Juan. 

45 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

If the virus is spreading in your area that could happen. They did that in parts of China. 
 

Also several International conferences have been cancelled. 

Charles, I am certainly not belittling your concern, but I simply do not share your panic.  I am old enough to remember the Asian flu (maybe the late 50's-that was a nasty bug) the Swine flu (yes it made it's way through our household), Ebola, the Bird flu, Sars, and recently the Zika virus, etc. The media made it sound like doomsday was right around the corner.  Until my Doctor advises me to stay in my home and not go out in public, I will continue on with my life as usual.  We are leaving the country on this Thursday....hope you are wrong and  we are allowed back in when returning in middle March. 

1 minute ago, dltvermont said:

Just saw a note from JH that the Fascination is moving to Mobile in 2022

3 hours ago, Aplmac said:

 

Fascination entered service waay back  in 1994

but quite honestly I don't think Carnival is even listening to us!!

Have you ever heard that old adage:  be careful what you wish for................................

26 minutes ago, ducklite said:

So shut down the WalMarts.  got it.

And all schools, churches , movie theatres, sporting arenas, concert venues, subways, trains and all airline travel etc.  Basically anywhere where more than 10 people at a time gather.  Better head to the grocery store before they shut down too. 

16 hours ago, Ms411 said:

Plaza de Armas is for me within walking distance from the pier and if you can't get there I don't see how you'll have time to eat it. You can't take it on the ship.

 

They do have delicious avocados so will be taking some home!

 

I'm not sure where "home is", but if you have to fly, how are you going to get them past the agricultural check-point at the airport?  They are strict about this, they made me open my bag last month as they thought I had an orange in my bag. It was an ornament, just shaped round like an orange.

Good Morning,  I am listening to Fox News even as I type this.  They just had a Doctor on discussing the Corona virus.  She was asked  "Should we travel"  She replied "Of course".  Use common sense.  Wash your hands, keep your hands away from your face, avoid touching things you don't have to,  etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.  We should all know the drill by now. 

We are leaving Thursday for our Southern Caribbean cruise.  We are not worried.  I am a cancer survivor and my husband has survived 3 heart attacks.  I agree with TSUmom, life is too short to curl up and watch the world go by. 

We have stayed at the Casablanca 4 times, in fact we are leaving for a cruise next week and will be staying there again.  We have never experienced elevator problems.  Not saying they don't happen, just that we lucked out and never had it happen to us.  Were these reports written after the recent earthquakes?  There were frequent power outages during this time, It would make sense that the elevator would be down.  We stayed in the months after Hurricane Maria and there were power outages every day.  What time of the year is your cruise?  The Casa Blanca requires a minimum of 2 nights over the weekend during   the peak season.  They do not say this on their web-site, instead it will just say that the hotel is fully booked for the dates you chose. 

Yes, we used to sail Celebrity exclusively.  We now have branched out to other lines.  We sailed the Galaxy 4 times before she was sold.  I think you will enjoy this cruise on the Fascination.  The ship is older and smaller, but the crew is wonderful, never a line to stand in and magnificent ports.  When is your cruise?

4 minutes ago, so,ton saint said:

Hi yep had to go on line and go through U.S.border control and get our Esta,s  $14 each i do believe Pto Rico is part of the U.S.

They do last for a couple of years as we have got a lovely cruise in June 2021 the first time a British company has home based a cruise ship in the State,s based in port Canaveral doing  Charleston two day,s in the big Apple    Miami   Key west  and then drops down to the Caribbean ,the ship Ex R.C.I Splendour of the sea now Marella Discovery have been on her twice just the right size 1800 pac and same size as Fascination.

Yes, you are correct.  Puerto Rico is part of the United States.  Did not know you had to go through immigration again after Barbados.  Is there any other port on this sailing that requires you to do this? 

Hi,  we will be on this cruise for the 4th time next week.  We normally board with our two bottles of wine, put them in the cabin and disembark .  We then go to CVS to buy two more bottles and embark again.  I say CVS because CVS  has been cheaper than Walgreens for the same bottle of wine (may be because you have to walk a block  to get to CVS and Walgreens is across the street from the pier). In fact, we have done this and brought on 6 bottles.  Now, there is a liquor store right in the terminal, but the only time I have ever had a bottle checked is when leaving this store, it could be because I had the bottle in a paper bag instead of a backpack.  There was a security guard in the hallway outside the store last year and he asked to see my bottle.

I do not know about passengers that boarded in Barbados.  I did not know you had to go through immigration in San Juan again after boarding in Barbados?  Maybe someone else who has had that experience can advise.

1 hour ago, Cricket551 said:

Hello!  I have a question for anyone that has done the 7 day San Juan cruise! On Sunday after the cruise our flight time is 4:10pm. I was thinking we should leave old San Juan area no later than 2pm.  Google map suggests it takes about 15 minutes to get to the airport. I'm giving us 30 minutes or so, expecting to arrive about 2:30, which gives us 1 hour and 40 minutes to get through customs and to our gate! Does this sound reasonable? Should I allow more time? We have never flown in or out of San Juan so just not sure what to expect there! I don't want to cut anything to close!

I figured we would get off the ship (check our bags at one of the places Ive read will keep them) and walk around a bit, maybe grab some lunch.  IDK just don't want to sit at the airport all day if we don't have to!

Thanks for any replies! I understand everyone's experience is unique, Just curious what others did in similar situations! 

 

Hi Cricket,  2 hours should be enough time at the airport. They do not have curbside check-in at SJU.  You must take your bags inside the terminal and go through the agricultural check point.  They simply scan your bags like they do on the cruise ships to make sure you are not trying to bring home any fruit, etc.   After the agricultural check, you can go check any bags you don't want to carry on.  Depending on how many ships are disembarking on that Sunday, the line for bag check might be the longest line you encounter.  We have flown out of SJU many times and allow around 2 hours each time.  On Sunday SJU can get very crowded with arriving and departing flights, but we have had no problems with allowing the 2 hour time. 

Enjoy your time in San Juan and your cruise.  We are leaving two weeks from today for our cruise out of San Juan.  We can't wait!!

1 minute ago, mrsfuzzmo said:

Good to hear!!  I read this on another review and was hoping it was as good as it sounded!  I'll be in San Juan 3 nights pre-cruise by myself, so looking for some great places to try.

Go early in the afternoon so you can take advantage of the bogo Mojitos (if you enjoy them).  They stop happy hour at 5PM.  If you decide to go in the evening, let's say 6PM or after, you may have a wait.  If so, put your name in and they will text you when they have a table available.   

We will be there 2 weeks from tonight, can't wait.  

Enjoy your cruise. 

Your taxi ride to Divi Little Bay Resort will take all of 5-7 minutes and cost you $6/pp each way. In fact, when standing in front of the resort you can see your ship across the bay.   No need to book with a tour company.  When you arrive just head down to the beach and there will be an attendant there to rent chairs and umbrellas.  There will be taxis waiting when you get ready to leave.

Yes, this is what was explained to me when I called and asked why we were assigned this type of cabin when we weren't handicapped. Now, I do not use a wheelchair, but I do not think a wheelchair would fit through this type of cabin door, or there was not enough room in the cabin for a wheelchair. A wheelchair could certainly be used in the bathroom, but that was the only area that had extra room.   

I have not had this type cabin on Horizon but have had it on Glory and Fascination.  The only differences I found from a regular cabin were in the bathroom.  The bathroom was larger and there was no lip on the threshold to the bathroom or the shower.  There were numerous hand rails in the shower and in the toilet area.  I think there was a pull down seat in the shower?  I did not request these cabins, they were assigned to me a few days before each sailing.   

About 8 years ago my husband and I were on a Celebrity cruise that had just ported in Barbados.  We were having breakfast outside on the Oceanview deck and there was a lady sitting at the table next to us.  For some reason we started a conversation and found out we were both from St. Louis, though she lived in a different suburb about 30 miles from us.  She remarked that she was writing a letter to her son's high school math teacher.  She said she was thanking him for being so patient with her son and helping him understand math.  He had just graduated from college with an engineering degree and she was sure that this math teacher was responsible for her son's success.

  I told her that I was going to mention that to my son when we got home as he is a Math teacher at a private school.  Well, you guessed it, she was writing to my son.  She finished the letter, put it in an envelope and I hand delivered it two weeks later.  By the way, I never saw that woman again on the cruise.