NCL Pulling Out of San Juan

[Barry H]

Just returned from the Panama Canal Cruise on the SUN. Ryan, the cruise consultant, indicated that NCL will be pulling out of San Juan as a terminal port. They may use San Juan as a port of call.

 

This is not surprising considering that the SKY is being repositioned to Hawaii and that the SKY was heavily discounted while in San Juan.

 

Norwegian Sun 5/04 (Panama Canal)

Norwegian Majesty 4/03

Norwegian Sky 12/02 Norway 4/02

Holiday 11/01 Sensation 2/01

Fascination 4/99

Carousel 4/97

[eric-n-beth]

Barry thanks for the update on the Southern Carribean. My DH and I wanted to sail out of San Juan next year for our 10th anniversary (Same cruise we did for our honeymoon ), but we are going to have to look into another line. I've heard from many posters that the Sky was heavily discounted. Too bad we already had a cruise booked for Spring 2004 and missed our opportunity. Hope you enjoyed the Sun. We disembarked the 28th of March off of the Sun as it was entering dry dock for 2 weeks before your sailing. We had a very enjoyable cruise on her!!

 

Eric and Beth

 

Seaward (Norwegian Sea) - Southern Caribbean - 1995

Norway - Eastern Caribbean - 2001

Sea Princess - Mexican Riviera - 2002

Norwegian Sun - Western Caribbean - 2004

 

Hoping our next cruise is in:

 

 

 

[The Scotsman]

I wonder if this has anything at all to do with the situation at the airport. In my opinion it couldn't cope with the passengers from 5 cruise ships departing on one day. I am sure many many people comment back to the cruise line.

 

I have to say this year was an improvement on previous years but was still a horrible experience.... not how you want to end a lovely vacation.

[SecondMate]

It might have something to do with that, Scotsman, but I'm betting it has even more to do with the fact that most of the passengers are coming from the mainland US and find it much cheaper to fly in and out of Miami.

 

The cruise consultant said the new southern Caribbean itinerary will be 10 days (I think), alternating with a 4-day western Caribbean itinerary. Smart marketing on NCL's part, as people are more likely to go for two weeks when it's just four extra days over the original cruise. Some members of the Sun crew headed over to Hong Kong yesterday to bring over Superstar Leo, soon to be the Spirit, for her summer Alaska run. Then she goes through the Panama Canal in the fall for her winter Carib run.

[gdries]

The replacement actually is a 9 day trip from Miami on the Spirit alternating with a 5 day trip. Being that the ship will leave late from Miami, it makes it so you can take the normal 5 vacation days, perhaps 6 and still do a Southern Caribbean trip. In addiotion if you can drive to port the savings are compounded. Given that we have to take at least 1 extra day to get to SJU from DEN, and connections and 4 more hours of flight. this is a GREAT alternative. So I am all for it. the Dawn at Christmas is also looking very nice this year. I think that NCL may be on to something here. Now if we can get the service issues that some are having solved, again, they will be a leader.

 

Aloha Hawaii from LA via San Francisco

 

[SecondMate]

The Spirit is the new name of the former Superstar Leo, until now part of the Star fleet in Asia (Star owns NCL or NCL owns Star, I forget which). She will be taking over the old Sky route with these modifications we're discussing.

 

Gene, thanks for the correction on the 9 day/5 day thing. I agree that this will be a GREAT itinerary and am looking forward to learning more. Haven't checked the NCL site to see whether the southern Caribbean ports are listed yet, but I will soon. I probably wouldn't consider adding the western Carib portion if it weren't a 5-day option instead of 7 days--it's so much more tempting this way. Man, I need to get back to work and stop thinking about my next cruise!

[newmexicoNita]

I am not sorry to hear this as long as they can leave out of Miami and still cover some of the southern ports. We have sailed out of San Juan on 3 cruises; it's a hassle to get there and back, costly and the airport isn't the best in the world. We made a decision last November never to cruise out of there again. At least we have done most of those islands so won't miss anything. Of course right now Miami airport isn't much better. NMNita

 

Commodore 1984, Costa 1985, RCL 1987, Chandris 1989, NCL 1989, Commodore, 1991, NCL 1997, Carnival 1997, Carnival 1998,NCL 1998, NCL 1999, RCL 2000, RCL 2000, NCL 2002,NCL 2003, Celebrity 2003, NCL 2004

[Laura4cruise]

This is the schedule for the 9-day Spirit cruise.

 

Day Port Arrive Depart

Fri. Miami, Florida - - 7:00pm

Sat. At sea - - - -

Sun. At sea - - - -

Mon. Bridgetown, Barbados 11:00am 7:00pm

Tue. St. George's, Grenada 7:00am 6:00pm

Wed. Castries, St. Lucia 7:00am 6:00pm

Thu. St. John's, Antigua 7:00am 6:00pm

Fri. Tortola, British Virgin Islands 7:00am 4:00pm

Sat. At sea - - - -

Sun. Miami, Florida 12:00pm* - -

 

The 5-day goes to Roatan and Grand Cayman.

 

I think it's a great itinerary, and sailing from Miami would be so much easier!

[SecondMate]

Pretty good southern Caribbean itinerary! Thanks for posting, Laura.

 

Glad they got rid of St. Thomas and kept St. Lucia, Tortola and Barbados. Sorry they dropped Dominica and Martinique, though. Antigua and Grenada would be new to us. I like the three sea days...never thought I would enjoy a lot of sea days, but on this past trip we loved our time to kick back.

[Zeno]

Well I am sad about the routes changing. Their 2 southern caribbean routes from San Juan were excellent. But I won't miss that hideous airport experience. Please tell me Miami is a little better- since our next cruise will probably be from there.

 

 Until NCL SKY

 

[zimmerjulie]

We haven't encountered problems at Miami airport. Things have always gone pretty smoothly for us. We do arrive the day before the cruise, to eliminate some of the stress, as we fly from WA state.

[newmexicoNita]

Landing in Miami and getting to the port has never been a huge problem: it's the teminal changing we have had trouble with and that's when we have flown in from San Juan and had to get to a different terminal with very little time. It is a nightmere. Of course last time we did this was November so hopefully before long the upgrades will be finished. I just plain do not like the airport! Will this have any influence on when and where we cruise? NOPE

 

NMNita

 

Commodore 1984, Costa 1985, RCL 1987, Chandris 1989, NCL 1989, Commodore, 1991, NCL 1997, Carnival 1997, Carnival 1998,NCL 1998, NCL 1999, RCL 2000, RCL 2000, NCL 2002,NCL 2003, Celebrity 2003, NCL 2004

[smudge's mom]

Was at the San Juan airport in Feb 04 and I thought it was looking good. There was still a little renovating going on, but the people seemed nice and it wasn't much of a hassle at all. However, we did arrive on Thursday, so one would expect little hassle when arriving mid-week. But we did leave for home on Sunday - with all the other cruise pax, and we had a pretty decent experience that day also.

 

The way they handle one's getting a cab at the San Juan airport was well done also.

 

Personally, I'm sorry they are avoiding San Juan. Maybe it has more to do with the fact that they get shoved off into the Pan American Pier while others get to dock in Old San Juan.

 

San Juan is lovely. If one can affford it, I think one can lessen their airport hassles by extending their vacation for a couple of days prior and a day after the cruise.