Victory/San Juan question

[mrypop]

We are going on the Victory out of San Juan and the return flights do not leave until almost 4pm or later. (there are ealier ones, but they have become much pricier) We want to see a little of San Juan instead of waiting at the airport, but then what do we do with our luggage? We have seen that some places will hold your luggage for a fee, but is this really safe? I don't want to come back and find by bags are gone or items missing. My husband read somewhere that there was an excursion you could take after the cruise that goes from the boat to the forts and then the airport, but we cannot find it on the Carnival website.

 

Has anybody done either of these two things or something else they can suggest? We have not booked our flight back yet and we are willing to leave even later if we can find a good option for our luggage.

 

Thanks for all the help!!

[panamatiger]

Since you haven't booked your flight back yet, why not pick a hotel and stay an extra day as well. That way you won't have to deal with the crowd at the airport or feel rushed taking a tour first. Flying pre and post cruise has worked for us each time

[mrypop]

We are flying in the day before the cruise, but due to work we have to leave on that Sunday. I wish we could stay another day, but I an using all my vacation time to go on the 7 day cruise.

[michellejed]

Depending on how many ships are in port that day, it could take you all of that time to get to the airport and check in!

 

We will be staying an extra day just to avoid the mad house, we will have 3 ships in port on the day we return.

[excalwop]

We are going on the Victory out of San Juan and the return flights do not leave until almost 4pm or later. (there are ealier ones, but they have become much pricier) We want to see a little of San Juan instead of waiting at the airport, but then what do we do with our luggage? We have seen that some places will hold your luggage for a fee, but is this really safe? I don't want to come back and find by bags are gone or items missing. My husband read somewhere that there was an excursion you could take after the cruise that goes from the boat to the forts and then the airport, but we cannot find it on the Carnival website.

 

Has anybody done either of these two things or something else they can suggest? We have not booked our flight back yet and we are willing to leave even later if we can find a good option for our luggage.

 

Thanks for all the help!!

Mrypop'

1) Check Carnival web site shore Excursions They have a couple listed there

2) check the ships fun times ship paper there is usualy a shore excursion listing which has all carnival shore tours listing for all the Islands inc. Post cruise tours

3) Check the ships shore excursions desk. They have a listing of thier end of cruise tours for those who have later flights out that day. These tours inc. a meeting place for the tours, luggage tags, early departure off the ship, luggage taken care of. luggage waiting outside for you.

 

We take the Rain forest tour even when we are spending a few post cruise days in San Juan. With the tour ending at the Airport we just pick up our bags and catch a taxi to our Hotel. Most hotels there have a check in 3PM or later And by then most of the cruisers have checked in and there is little or no one checking in.

Paul

238 days to go

[hehrball]

I dont remember how much it was a person but there were vans all over after you got off the ship in San Juan that take you sightseeing on the way to the airport. I will say it wasnt expensive otherwise my cheap rear wouldnt have done it. I will say the Forts you go to and Old San Juan are definitly worth it. I will warn you though the lines at the airport terminal arent bad the FDA screening is BAD! Everyone has to go through it so you need to line up there first. We saw many people have to turn around and go back out of line at their flight desk to go through the FDA line. Otherwise it wasnt bad really cause we were warned about it but I wouldve been really upset if I found our after waiting in another line. Have a great trip we are wanting to go back it was AWESOME!!!:D

[sherilyn70]

We take the Rain forest tour even when we are spending a few post cruise days in San Juan. With the tour ending at the Airport we just pick up our bags and catch a taxi to our Hotel.

 

This is what we did at the end of our cruise in February. It was definitely worth it. They take your bags to the airport for you. We decided to to his at the last minute and they refunded us the transport fee we had already paid since it's the same company and it's included in the cost of the tour.

[mrypop]

Thanks everyone!

[mrmrs2]

We go our Victory cruise in August and will be staying an additional day to prevent leaving late.:p

[JUST TRIPPIN']

We did the Victory cruise 2 years ago and were wondering the same thing. As we debarked, there were several people at the walkway leading away from the ship asking if we wanted to do a tour followed by a ride to the airport. They put your luggage in the back of the van and once it fills up with about 12-15, they head out. It was only $25 per person which we thought was a great bargain. Our flight did not leave until 5:00pm.

 

We did a tour around the hotel district and then over to old San Juan. Our particular group asked to be let off downtown to go our own way. We all had about 1.5 hours until we had to return. We then were driven out to the airport.

 

As mentioned make sure you do the agricultural check first. It is located just inside the doors of the airport. We had no lineup at all. We absolutely would recommend this tour. Not much more than taking a cab and you don't have to be stuck at the airport all day.

[Controller4vvm]

What about checking in at the airport to get rid of your luggage and get your boarding passes and then leave? Is the airport too far away? I have done this in other cities. The airport will usually let you check in and take your luggage within four hours of your flight. Do you think that would be enough time to leave the airport for some sightseeing and get back?

[Putter]

Drop off your luggage at Barrachina. This was a nicer restaurant that does luggage storage in the back of their restaurant. It’s free, but a $5 tip is suggested. We had 10 people and 14 luggages, so we gave a $20 tip. It’s a well established bar and there was no fear of our luggage being taken. There are plenty of reviews that say the same thing I just did. They open nice and early at 8:00 am, though the website says 9:30. They even told me that the cruiselines say that they open late so they want to take a tour through the cruise while you wait for your late departure flgiht. In short, you can take your luggage there either before or after the cruise. Not for sure, but if I had to make a guess, it's probably about a mile or a tad more from the terminal, so you will have to take a taxi there. Too far to lug around luggage, especially with the busy streets.

[libtrek]

The ship offers a service where you put your luggage out at midnight as usual. They pick it up and deliver it to the airline. You don't have to carry it, you don't have to do agricultural check. Just keep your carry on with you. We got off ship and wondered around San Juan for hours. Got a taxi to the aiport, can't remember if we had to do agricultural for carryons, but then went to security and gate. Easy peasy. Carnival charged about 25 for service plus whatever baggage fee your airline charges.

Libtrek