KatPem

I am hopeful that this newest power outage at the airport and other places in San Juan will get fixed soon. I have been trying to call my back-up hotel reservations to confirm since this morning, after I heard from original hotel I booked that they will not be open yet like they had thought. We do have a rental car booked and reconfirmed, it would be really nice to be able to contact our hotel though. We cruise out Saturday(10/14) but our flights are for Thursday AM and only flight on that airline with seats on Saturday arrives at 9pm so flying in isn't an option unless we just have to eat the cost of the ones we have and buy new, provided there are any even available. Similar issue, we are not scheduled to fly home (via Southewest) until 10/25. Have 4 nights booked in Vieques, house has minimal damage and if they get power, we can still stay there. Southwest has no available flights out between when the ship gets into port (10/21) and when our tickets are for...having a hard time finding alternate flights or hotel for that time period too.

That being said, I really hope that it all somehow works out. lol

I can tell you that I spoke with Da'House Hotel today and they are not open for business yet, they had thought they would be by Oct 4. They are now saying they hope for this weekend but we were supposed to stay Thursday thru Saturday this week.

Tonight's update from the San Juan Tourism website:

 

If you’re thinking of visiting Puerto Rico or have travel plans booked in the coming weeks, we’re here to keep you informed.

 

The safety and security of everyone on the Island is our biggest priority in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. We continue working with state and federal government agencies and collaborating with our industry partners to assess the impact and continue to provide updates to you.

 

Airport Updates:

 

The Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport (SJU) is operational again but on a limited schedule from 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM EDT until Monday, September 25.

 

There are approximately ten commercial flights scheduled daily:

 

Six American Airlines flights: five to/from MIA and one to/from PHL

 

One Delta flight to/from ATL

 

Two JetBlue flights to/from JFK

 

One Spirit flight to/from Orlando

 

International flights are expected to resume Monday, September 25.

 

Reservations are not being managed at the airport. Only travelers with confirmed flights should go to the airport. Travelers are encouraged to make flight arrangements by contacting airlines directly.

 

Airplane seat capacity is extremely limited and airlines continue to work on additional recovery flights.

 

Please note that all this information is subject to change. We encourage travelers to contact airlines directly, as they have the most up-to-date information specific to each traveler’s circumstances.

 

Lodging Updates:

 

While an assessment of all properties is still underway, this is what we’re able to share at this point.

 

The following hotels are closed and not taking new reservations until further notice. If you have an existing reservation in the coming days, please contact the hotel directly for rebooking.

 

Condado Plaza Hilton

 

El San Juan Hotel

 

Embassy Suites Dorado del Mar Beach Resort

 

Ritz-Carlton Reserve Dorado Beach

 

W Retreat in Vieques

 

Gran Melia

 

Coral by the Sea

 

The following hotels are open, but not taking new reservations prior to September 30:

 

Hilton Ponce Golf & Casino

 

El Conquistador

 

Las Casitas at El Conquistador

 

Caribe Hilton

 

Hilton Condado Lagoon Villa

 

Embassy Suites Isla Verde

 

Hampton Inn Isla Verde

 

DoubleTree Hotel San Juan

 

The following hotels are open, but not taking new reservations prior to October 15:

 

Hyatt Place San Juan

 

Hyatt House San Juan

 

The following hotel is open, but s not taking new reservations prior to October 22

 

Hyatt Hacienda del Mar (Dorado)

 

Hotel El Convento

 

Sheraton Old San Juan

 

Vanderbilt Hotel

 

AC Hotel in Condado

 

La Concha Hotel

 

InterContinental Hotel in Isla Verde

 

San Juan Marriott

 

The Wave Hotel

 

Holiday Inn Express San Juan

 

El Canario Inn

 

Coral Princess Inn

 

At Wind Chimes In

 

Verdanza Hotel

 

Best Western Condado Palm Inn and Suites

 

Comfort Inn San Juan

 

Hotel Miramar

 

Hotel Villa Montaña

 

If you have a trip scheduled for this upcoming week, we recommend you call your hotel or travel agent directly and consider alternative plans.

 

This is some contact information that may prove useful:

 

Hilton Hotels 1-800-445-8667 hilton.com

 

Marriott Hotels 1-800-721-7033 www.marriott.com

 

Hyatt Hotels 1-800-323-7249 hyatt.com

 

Wyndham Hotels 1-800-466-1589 wyndhamhotels.com

 

Puerto Rico Tourism Company Travelers Support Center:

 

 

 

 

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Thanks for the info! We are supposed to fly to SJU on 10/12 and have a room booked at Da House. IF we are still able to fly there and go on our cruise, I imagine we will have to look for alternative reservations for our hotel.

I am watching carefully, we are on the AOS 10/14 sailing. We were supposed to leave 10/12 and then spend a couple of days after on Vieques but are in limbo for now. We couldn't get any info if we wanted it, most places still don't have power. We are going to just wait and see, we can change our plans at the last minute if we need to.

I'm esctatic to have found your review via aubrey1988's. Even more excited to see since I had already decided on Carambola in St. Kitts (I've been researching for our next cruise for 10 days non-stop now) that the first picture appears to show the view I've read about called Timothy Hill.

 

I thought that my beach choice was going to circumvent this view and was constantly wavering on my prefered beach. Is there an overlook or pull off spot that the taxi might have stopped if you'd request?

We have been to Carambola twice on previous cruises. Cab was $4 per person each way if it was shared with others. The driver set up a time to come back and did both trips. We had reserved chairs and umbrellas ahead of time by emailing them. It seemed like IF they got full, the pre-reserved chairs were in the best location next to the water and closer to the center of the beach where the facilities are. I would recommend walking Left (while looking at water), there is some cool black sand beach not too far down and past that there is a shipwreck bar that you can sometimes see wild monkeys and mongoose. There is decent snorkeling that runs parallel to the beach, then length between shipwreck and carambola. Lot of urchins but saw some cool stuff too. Snorkeling is also along the rocks as she said. I like Carambola because it is definately higher quality so I feel like I am getting pampered. Nice tile restrooms, nice bar and restaurant (we got a bucket of 6 drinks (beer or soda) for $20), and the chairs are a teak looking wood, very sturdy with a 4 inch or so pad on top of it, very comfy!!!

Every cab we have been in has stopped at Timothy Hill. Very beautiful and most will take your picture for you!

If he wants to stay away from the crowds, try a catamaran tour. If you are able to get in the water, they usually have pool noodles so you could float around a little bit and enjoy the water too and maybe see some fish at the same time. I would probably say St Thomas as well for the best snorkeling of those options. I love sitting on the net of the catamarans and just enjoying the moment and scenery!

If you haven't cruised before nor snorkeled, I would honestly choose the catamaran tour. St Thomas is gorgeous and it won't disappoint, no matter what you choose. If opting for a beach, I would probably just select one. No reason to waste time in a cab and the cabs can be pricey on St Thomas. My favorite thing to do is go on a catamaran tour and snorkel, I absolutely love it! It would be a great opportunity to see if they are things you enjoy as well. Luckily, many cruises go to St Thomas, so more than likely if you started cruising regularly, you will be back!!!

There is plenty you can do on your own, however it can get kind of pricey. Taxi to Red Hook Ferry was $10 per person, even if you had a large group. Ferry was $14 Round trip, then another $7 per person to get to Cinnamon Bay Beach on St John. Cab Rides would have to be paid again on the way back. For that reason, this is one island where i always consider an trip with an excursion company.

Thank you!! We aren't in a hurry but we will be getting a rental car and driving to Ceiba to fly over to Vieques for a couple of days and are wondering which flight time would be best for us. We won't do the self-assist as I don't want to have to lug all my stuff lol. I think we will just play it safe and take an early afternoon flight as we will need to catch the rental car shuttle and then drive about an hour or so to Ceiba. Thanks again!

You will get a schedule the night before departure with times and locations on the ship to prepare for disembarkation. Self-assist was 7am.

 

We had a choice between a 10am and 2pm flight. I was scared that if there were any last minute docking issues, we'd never make the 10am, so I booked the 2 pm flight.

 

I was also nervous about the vegetation customs at the airport which could really slow you down.

 

We were luggage self-assist, and little did I know that we could have gotten off the ship at 8am, as I had seen other passengers do. We didn't even go to the location for the self-assist passengers, as we were told to just exit the ship- which we did. We got to the airport by 9:40 and hoped to get on the early flight, but the gate had just closed. And, there was no line at the vegetation inspection! We could have made the 10am, but that would have been with the perfect scenario we had just experienced.

The tank top prohibition is for men. Hairy armpits can be a bit off-putting at meal time. :eek: :)

 

 

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Oh I know....just pointing out that they aren't specific (even about it only applying to men) so they have the wording there to be able to enforce things they see as unacceptable. There are going to be exceptions but they aren't going to list all of them on those signs.

Thanks for the thread...new to RC. My husband wears dress shorts normally at dinner a couple of nights with a collared shirt...think country club, golfing attire. I will be sure to have him take at least an extra pair of dress pants just in case. He wears a suit and tie for formal night. I wear a dress every night. It will be interesting to see the difference with the lines. I think all rules can be interpreted different ways. I mean no shorts could mean a dressy short that a female is wearing, just as a tank style dressy top is technically a tank top. They aren't going to list every exception.

I agree, cruising out of San Juan has the best itineraries in my opinion. I base my cruises on Itinerary first, the rest after. I can tell you that Dominica is my favorite island (Not for beaches.....lots of rainforests, waterfalls, nature) with St Kitts being a close second (snorkeling between the Pitons, mud baths top the list). I wasn't impressed with the Bahamas myself and avoid cruises going there but especially Nassau. Good luck! The Eastern itinerary including San Juan and St Thomas is nice as well if you want to avoid cruising out of Puerto Rico.

Thanks for all of the commentary. My husband and I will be on the Adventure, our first RC, in October. Chose it for the itinerary, a little nervous about the unknowns as we are used to Carnival but excited cause it is a cruise lol Love to hear other's input.

What time were you able to get off the ship? We will be on the cruise out of San Juan and are trying to plan after we get back but being our first time on Royal Caribbean, not sure what time we can expect to be getting off..

Spent several days in Puerto Rico in February, cell coverage was fine and just as if I were at home on my Verizon Galaxy S7. Some places the internet was spotty but I had no trouble using it in San Juan at all.

Yes, you can get 3 others in as well. It is the same with a disabled National Parks Pass. Just FYI, if anyone is going to get a senior pass, before August 28, they are $10, On August 28th they go up to $80! RIght now they have long wait times so you can mail it in and they state there is approx. a 9 week wait, or you can get one in person.

Looking forward to the rest of your review. We are sailing on the Adventure in October, our first on Royal Caribbean. We are doing a different itinerary but look forward to it all the same. Thanks for sharing!

Here are a couple of photos of Adventure I took in February, which is after the last refurb. (I was wondering the same thing as you so when I ran across Adventure in Barbados I zoomed in and snapped some pics.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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You don't happen to have any pics of the rear of the ship do you? We are going on this in October and have a balcony at the very rear on the side and I have seen where it looks like it may be partially obstructed. Thank you!

In St Kitts, there is some decent, not great but decent snorkeling from the beach by Carambola Beach Club. Facing the water, the snorkeling area runs parallel to the beach to the left. It's a great place for us as my husband could snorkel all day where as I get worn out so he can explore while I catch some rays. It doesn't cost to get into Carambola but you can rent loungers and umbrellas (I think it was $10 each for loungers and $10 for umbrella. They have decent prices (bucket of drinks...beer, soda or mixture for $19ish). The loungers are nice wood with a 4 inch pad on them, nice and comfy!

Thanks for taking the time for this great review! We have actually done this itinerary twice on the Liberty (once with the kids and once without) and my oldest has decided it is the cruise she wants to do next year for spring break....her last before she graduates next December and hopefully heads off to med school where she will have no time for cruising. This itinerary really is the best, I cannot wait to go at it again. I was a little nervous about the ship. We are taking my sister-in-law and her husband as well, he hasn't cruised and she only did an Eastern Itinerary a few years back with us. Anyway, I was nervous about it being an older, smaller ship but you have helped to put my mind at ease. Thanks!

I would agree that Paradise Beach is a better option for those with older children/teens. If it were just my husband and I, I would go somewhere a little more private, I did enjoy our time there with our two teens and one almost teen.

Call and ask. My husband got a free inside and we were able to upgrade to an aft for $500 including taxes and port fees.

Yep, was just there...took a cab was under $25 each at for four of us, price is dependant on how many in cab.

Yep, you can opt out of the automatic gratuities and get envelopes...however, please understand that those automatic gratuities may be distributed to those behind the scene that you may not realize are there. Typically we leave the auto grats on and leave extra if anyone has gone above and beyond...having worked in the service industry in the past, I know there are people that get a cut of tips that people may not think about and by removing the automatic gratuities, it could result in people that are deserving of those tips not receiving any.

Ok' so. I'm going to be different and say the splendor. I have four kids, our first cruise was on the liberty and they were 9, 11, 12 and 15. If this is their first cruise, I wouldn't start out in the Breeze. It will all be new enough to them on the splendor and that itinerary is better in my opinion. They would probably love the forts in San Juan. We gave sailed the liberty twice with them as well as the glory. Now, the gave seen the Breeze and want to go on it but have been happy with the ships and itineraries we've chosen. My fear is "setting the bar" too high by going on a ship like. The breeze and in the future, them only being satisfied with a large waterworks area. Don't miss what you don't know lol