Luggage problem going to Vieques pre-cruise

[klepton]

We are sailing out of San Juan in April 2011. I'd like to visit Vieques for 3w days, then OSJ for a few days pre-cruise. The problem I'm running into is what to do with luggage. We'll have 3 people (myself, DW and DD who is 5), and we'll each have two weeks worth of luggage, including snorkeling gear, formal wear, and two weeks worth of clothes and swimwear for our vacation. I'm thinking we'll probaby have 5-6 bags about 40-50 lbs a piece. This makes flying to vieques very challenging. But even if we taxi to fajardo and ferry over, that's still a lot of luggage to be carting around. I can't find anywhere to store it in San Juan though. If I can find a place to store the rest, we could probably all get by on one bag in Vieques. Here are some options as I see it, I'd love to hear any thoughts from anyone else:

 

1) Taxi to Falardo and take the ferry - Like I said not ideal. It takes a lot longer, and still requires carting a lot of luggage around that we don't need to.

2) Rent a car, drive to Fajardo, leave excess luggage in the rental - Obviously I wonder how safe the luggage is in the car, and we'd need to pay for the rental for the days we are in Vieques. This would give us the capability to stop at Luquillo or El Yunque on the way there or back though.

3) Charter a plan, take all the luggage on the plane - Very expensive, looks like about $1000 round trip.

4) Use a luggage service, get it shipped directly to hotel in OSJ and only take a few carryons for the Florida and Vieques portions of the trip. This is expensive, but seems very convenient.

 

Any thoughts you may have, please share! Thanks!

[Mercruiser]

I would suggest calling your hotel in San Juan and ask them to store your luggage while you go to Vieques. Virtually all hotels have luggage storage facilities.

[klepton]

I would suggest calling your hotel in San Juan and ask them to store your luggage while you go to Vieques. Virtually all hotels have luggage storage facilities.

 

I had noticed that the Sheraton Old San Juan, which is most likely where we're staying, has baggage service listed on their website. I guess this could be option if we are driving and taking the ferry to Vieques, but would be pretty inconvenient to land at SJU, take a cab to OSJ to drop off luggage, take a cab back to SJU and take another flight to Vieques. It could work though.

 

I don't know that using the specialized luggage services will work, I priced those out today and for four 50lb bags it will cost over $1000 one way to ship them. :eek: I was looking at shipping rates on USPS and it looks like that might be an option.

[Mercruiser]

I had noticed that the Sheraton Old San Juan, which is most likely where we're staying, has baggage service listed on their website. I guess this could be option if we are driving and taking the ferry to Vieques, but would be pretty inconvenient to land at SJU, take a cab to OSJ to drop off luggage, take a cab back to SJU and take another flight to Vieques. It could work though.

 

Here are a couple of ideas:

 

1) The flights to Vieques are cheaper from Isla Grande Airport. Isla Grande (SIG) is right near OSJ. So your logistics are easier than going back to SJU (and maybe cheaper).

 

2) Stay at a hotel on the beach closer to SJU. Here is a map.

 

3) Hire a taxi to deliver your luggage to the hotel. Taxis often do luggage delivery. Call the hotel and ask for the number of a trusted taxi driver.

[klepton]

Here are a couple of ideas:

 

1) The flights to Vieques are cheaper from Isla Grande Airport. Isla Grande (SIG) is right near OSJ. So your logistics are easier than going back to SJU (and maybe cheaper).

 

2) Stay at a hotel on the beach closer to SJU. Here is a map.

 

3) Hire a taxi to deliver your luggage to the hotel. Taxis often do luggage delivery. Call the hotel and ask for the number of a trusted taxi driver.

 

Thanks Mercruiser, those are good suggestions. I don't think staying out of Old San Juan is an option. We want to do a bunch of activities in OSJ the days before the cruise, and because we'll have DD with a car seat taking cabs isn't an option unless I want to carry a car seat around OSJ all day. :)

 

I'll look into the other two though. I'm also going to check at the post office to see if I can ship a suitcase priority mail. According to the size and weight chart on the website, it will be cheaper to do that than to check it on the two flight legs we have on the way there. That could solve all our problems.

 

I appreciate the tips!

[kdooley]

We just returned from a 7 day cruise and 3 days in PR on Wednesday night. We rented a car to drive out to Fajardo, so I have a couple more ideas:

 

At the hotel in San Juan, the La Concha (Marriott), they offered us free luggage storage while we went into OSJ. Like the other poster suggested, I would try to call and see if they will hold it for a few days. They had a storage room, so it seemed quite safe.

 

For your suggestion of a leaving the luggage in a rental car, I believe the parking lots near the ferry were fenced in, so it appeared to be safe. If you went this route, you could tour El Yungue on the way...

 

Another thing I thought of was on Princess, they have a luggage valet that uses DHL to transfer your luggage from home to the ship. Maybe you could set that up with a neighbor or relative?

 

Have fun - we loved it and want to go back :)

[klepton]

We just returned from a 7 day cruise and 3 days in PR on Wednesday night. We rented a car to drive out to Fajardo, so I have a couple more ideas:

 

At the hotel in San Juan, the La Concha (Marriott), they offered us free luggage storage while we went into OSJ. Like the other poster suggested, I would try to call and see if they will hold it for a few days. They had a storage room, so it seemed quite safe.

 

For your suggestion of a leaving the luggage in a rental car, I believe the parking lots near the ferry were fenced in, so it appeared to be safe. If you went this route, you could tour El Yungue on the way...

 

Another thing I thought of was on Princess, they have a luggage valet that uses DHL to transfer your luggage from home to the ship. Maybe you could set that up with a neighbor or relative?

 

Have fun - we loved it and want to go back :)

 

Thanks for the tips! We've actually decided to forgo Vieques this time and do it next we go to PR without the daughter. For anyone else who stumbles on this with the same problem, when I weighed the pros and cons, I determined that taking the luggage to the hotel in OSJ was the best option. If money is no object, a luggage shipping service is the most convenient. In fact, if it was Miami instead of PR we probably would have gone with that option. Unfortunately shipping to PR is about 4x what shipping to Miami cost.