Victory/San Juan Airport Question

[pearlygrl9]

This will be my first time on the Victory and flying out of the San Juan airport. How early should we plan to get to the airport to fly out at the end of the cruise? Will I be able to safely make a 1:30pm flight? How does debarkation work?

 

Thanks!

[mrbill936]

If you carry your own luggage off eleven am will not be a problem. one thirty should be fine

[jordanaire]

When we sailed aboard RCL's Adventure of the Seas from SJ, our flight was scheduled to depart at 3:30pm. We stepped off the ship at exactly 8:25am. By the time we got to the airport, stood in line for the Delta Airlines check-in counter and went through security, our flight was boarding when we got to the gate. It was absolutely horrendous!

 

There were 3 other cruise ships that arrived back into SJ at the same time, and 99.9% of those passengers all headed to the airport at the same time. That's why I stood in Delta's line for over 3-hrs, while my wife stood close to the counter with our luggage. And I had no way to contact her to let her know what was going on without stepping out of line and losing my spot!

 

Next time we fly out of SJ, we will spend the night after the cruise and leave early the next morning!

 

Good luck!

 

:cool:Bill

 

 

 

 

 

[airhead22]

We had no problem leaving...that being said there were 2 ships and the security line took about an hour!!!

[pearlygrl9]

Jordanaire - Your story is scaring me a little bit!!

 

Is there any way to find out how many other ships will be coming into San Juan that day?

[CShelly]

Just off the Victory a couple of weeks ago. My flight out was at 12:55 and I had no problem at all and I did not carry off all my luggage. My zone number for debarking was Zone 3...when called, I left the ship, collected my luggage from my zone, waited in the long, but fast moving customs check, walked out, caught one of the many waiting cabs and was at the airport by 9:30. The Delta line to the kiosk machines were about a ten minute wait. If you're on Delta and have your docs with the barcode you can print out your boarding pass yourself and save time in lines. Not sure what the other airlines do. The security check lines at the airport are what takes so long...about an hour, but I was at the gate by 10:30. I'm not sure how many ships were docked that day but there were two that I know of. Carnival considers your flight time when issuing debarking zone numbers so you should be fine at 1:30. The Victory was wonderful, you'll have a great time!

[CShelly]

On this website there's a schedule of departures by date out of of the San Juan cruise port. Usually ships depart on the same day they arrive so departures should give you an idea of the number of ships debarking on your morning.

http://www.cruisetimetables.com/cruises-from-san-juan-puerto-rico.html

 

If the auto editor messes up the url try this...

 

cruisetimetables.com/cruises-from-san-juan-puerto-rico dot html

[jdvmd]

You should be fine with a 1:30 p.m. flight BUT San Juan's airport is crazy.

[balcony bound]

When we cruised the Victory earlier this year, our flight was at 2:30 and we could have easily made a flight much earlier, before noon would have been great. We were off the ship by 7 something and had many hours sitting around the airport. We couldn't even check our luggage in right away, they would only let us check it 4 hours before the flight so we had to sit with it for hours. I resolved to try for a flight around noon next time, at the latest.

 

You should be fine... have a wonderful cruise! I can't wait to do that one again.

[pearlygrl9]

On this website there's a schedule of departures by date out of of the San Juan cruise port. Usually ships depart on the same day they arrive so departures should give you an idea of the number of ships debarking on your morning.

http://www.cruisetimetables.com/cruises-from-san-juan-puerto-rico.html

 

If the auto editor messes up the url try this...

 

cruisetimetables.com/cruises-from-san-juan-puerto-rico dot html

 

If I'm reading this correctly, it seems that the Victory is the only ship departing from San Juan on that day. I should add that we haven't actually booked the flights yet, but I'll save about $200 if I book this one vs. a later time (4:00).

[frito58]

This will be my first time on the Victory and flying out of the San Juan airport. How early should we plan to get to the airport to fly out at the end of the cruise? Will I be able to safely make a 1:30pm flight? How does debarkation work?

 

Thanks!

 

We just came back from the Victory in Oct. had a Noon flight , did self disembark , was at the airport by 8am. Someome from our CC group actually made an 8:45 flight, they were going to the west coast and wanted to get out early as the next flight as like 4pm so they were on standby for the earlier one and made it . Now that would scare me , but the earlier you are the the easier it is to go through the Agriculture check and check your bags . We tried for an earlier but none were availalbe.

[pearlygrl9]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. We just booked the flights!

[Spincognito]

We just got off Victory a couple weeks ago as well. Had a 2PM flight on Jet Blue direct to Boston but we knew there was an 8:35 flight with seats available. Ship cleared at 7:12AM, we were the very first ones off the ship (self assist), breezed through customs, in a cab by 7:22 and at the airport by 7:36AM. Paid the extra $40 to secure the seats and made it home to Boston at 11:50 instead of 6PM! If the ship had not cleared easily we would have been at the airport all day waiting for that 2PM flight.

 

 

You are going to love Victory! Have a blast!

[erby2283]

Just got off the Victory on Sun and there were 3 ships (including us) disembarking that day (RC - Adventure of the Seas and the Caribbean Princess). I cannot imagine how busy the airport would be with 3 ships coming and going. In 2007, I flew out the same day but had a late flight. This time we choose to stay around an extra day and not worry about the hassle (plus airfare was cheaper to do it that way).

 

I would think if you self-disembarked you'd be fine. Don't forget to go through the Agriculture line first at the airport prior to checking in your bags!