Questions on leaving out of PR and the Jewel.

[jaymo30]

Hey all... Looking into maybe booking a cruise on the Jewel out of PR in May of 2013.

 

Itinerary looks great, Nice long days on the islands and a couple of islands I have yet to visit.

 

How is it leaving out of San Juan? Terminal easy to navigate??

 

Finally how is the Jewel Of The Seas? As in condition and feel of the ship. How is the crew?

 

Ive been on Explorer twice and Oasis once and had a great time on all three cruises so I would expect the JOS to be great as well just looking for some first hand feedback

 

Thanks all

[printingchick]

Hey all... Looking into maybe booking a cruise on the Jewel out of PR in May of 2013.

 

Itinerary looks great, Nice long days on the islands and a couple of islands I have yet to visit.

 

How is it leaving out of San Juan? Terminal easy to navigate??

 

Finally how is the Jewel Of The Seas? As in condition and feel of the ship. How is the crew?

 

Ive been on Explorer twice and Oasis once and had a great time on all three cruises so I would expect the JOS to be great as well just looking for some first hand feedback

 

Thanks all

 

I've cruised out of San Juan three times. San Juan airport is GREAT at carting passengers away from the facility. You'll exit baggage claim to a kiosk on the sidewalk just outside. They will assign you to a cab that will take you to your ship. It costs about $20, plus an additional fee of about $1 per bag. The ride is about 20-25 minutes.

 

I haven't cruised on Jewel, but on her sister, Serenade. It was my FAVORITE ship. The Radiance class ships are smaller. There is no Royal Promenade and no Ice Rink. I expected that to be disappointing to me, but the itinerary is SO port intensive, you really don't have time to miss those things.

 

Radiance Class ships - in my opinion - are the most beautiful. You'll love the Solarium pool. (Look for some images on-line - really pretty.) The size is great. All the activities are more intimate and friendly, because there are fewer people. The Quest show is much more participatory, rather than a spectator event. The service is unsurpassed.

 

San Juan airport can be a nightmare for your flight home. You have to realize that THOUSANDS of cruise ship passengers are all hitting the facility at the SAME time. Expect long lines and poor communication.

 

You have to have your bags x-rayed BEFORE you check-in. As I recall, this isn't really announced, you're just supposed to know.

 

I'm sure you'll LOVE the cruise. I'm sailing on the same ship in March 2014.

[alfaeric]

Couple of other Puerto Rico things to add to the above....

 

When taking a taxi, make sure they take you to the correct cruise terminal. Twice we've been dropped off at the first one, and both times we had to carry all of our stuff to the next one over. We do carry on only, and can't imagine how painful it would be to have a more typical 7 night cruise luggage.

 

We've sailed out of the "newer" terminal 4 times, and only once was it bad- when the Adventure was delayed in disembarking due to weather. Other than that, it was great.

 

I love San Juan, and would also suggest going down the day before and spending a night there. Plenty of places to try, and with a little work, you'll find places that allow just one night bookings.

 

As for the Jewel, we sailed her this past March/April, and found her to be a very typical Radiance class ship. And I mean that in a good way- that you see SO many great posts about the Jewel, Radiance, Serenade, etc. They are wonderful ships. We'll be on the Brilliance later this year largely for the same reason (ironicaly, out of San Juan, too!).

 

On the flying back out- if you somehow manage to do carry on only, you do not need to get your bags x-rayed twice. That's only for bags that are being checked, and it's a USDA inspection (so you don't take bugs with you to the mainland- although, knowing the situation down there, there should be incoming inspections- Puerto Rico's fruit is largely without the same bugs).

 

One final thing- if you like rum, the prices you find in the Duty Free shops are the same as you find anywhere on the island. So I'll suggest splurging for a Don Q Gran Anjeo. :D

[iamsunnysarah]

Let me start by saying that DH and I have NEVER traveled out of the country, but we sailed out of SJ last year for our honeymoon with no issues. I will echo the others- there will be a mass of cruisers! We followed the masses to the baggage claim, our pilot did not say which number ours would be at. No big deal. Taxi is set fare, which is nice- we shared a van with another couple, but they were cruising on Carnival. We flew in the day of, direct from Charlotte with no issues- probably won't take that chance again, but we got married the day before, so our hands were tied. On the way back, let me echo again- if you check bags, you MUST go through the USDA station before security! We caught on to this, but others did not. You do not want to stand in line for security twice! It was crowded, but we had a 12:40pm flight and were through security before 11am.

 

I've never sailed Jewel, but we're also looking at her first SJ route next May. We did the same route on Serenade last year and loved it! Maybe we'll try a FL cruise down the road, but for us, the route takes the cake. Thrilled to have another Radiance class ship out of SJ. They are BEAUTIFUL! Don't miss the outdoor seating behind WJ. Glass everywhere...views of the water are amazing, something folks say lacks on the Oasis class.

 

Happy travels!

[NorbertsNiece]

Just to clarify the above excellent advice. RCCL embark / disembark out of the Pan Am pier NOT the pier in Old San Juan which is used for visiting ships.

[alfaeric]

Let me start by saying that DH and I have NEVER traveled out of the country, but we sailed out of SJ last year for our honeymoon with no issues.

 

Well, there shouldn't be international issues with Puerto Rico for Americans- it's part of the US.

 

The real isses for Americans is that the main language is Spanish, as opposed to English.

[MOSusan]

We sailed on the Serenade in March the cruise was so port intensive I didn't really take advantage of too many things that the ship offered. My family laughs about me nodding off during three (yes, three) shows! And they were good shows - comedians etc.

 

We had a late flight home (4:00) and wanted to tour old San Juan. I had read that there were places where you could store your luggage for free and we were going to do a short walking tour. We grabbed a porter at the pier and he asked what we had planned, we told him and he said "I know someone, let me take you to him." We met a guide outside the terminal that wanted $25 per head to take us on a tour and drop us at the airport. I feel it was a FAR better option that taking a taxi and negotiating the narrow sidewalks with all of our luggage. We had a bus tour of San Juan and then he dropped us in Old San Juan with a designated pick up time.

 

We walked to Barrachina, home of the Pina Colada, and paid homage to it's creation. Barrachina advertises that they will store cruise passenger's bags for free while you tour. After eating there, I still feel we made the right choice in not dragging our bags around.

 

Hope you have a great time. And if you have time, don't be afraid to have one of the local tour guides take you on a short tour and to the airport.

 

P.S. We had no language problem, English is taught in their schools from an early age. My only problem was in a small bar where we stopped to use the ATM. When I asked for a restroom the bartender did not understand me. I now know to ask for El Bano!

[SeaBaby]

We just did a Baltic cruise on the Jewel. She is still a beautiful looking ship. Very well maintained. Staff are wonderful, they can't do enough for you.

 

We have sailed many, many times from San Juan. It is a great departure port - much faster to board there than we recently experienced on the Baltic cruise that departed from the U.K. We also enjoy spending a couple of days in San Juan prior to the cruise.

 

I agree with the other posters that San Juan airport has to deal with masses of disembarking cruise passengers at the same time. Getting there early from the ship makes it swifter to drop off luggage and go through security, but then you may have to sit and wait for quite a while for your flight and there is not a whole lot to do there in terms of shops or restaurants.

 

Cheers,

Suzanne

[cruisenfever]

On the flying back out- if you somehow manage to do carry on only, you do not need to get your bags x-rayed twice. That's only for bags that are being checked, and it's a USDA inspection (so you don't take bugs with you to the mainland- although, knowing the situation down there, there should be incoming inspections- Puerto Rico's fruit is largely without the same bugs).

Has this changed since 2010? When we flew out of SJU we had to have all our bags inspected, including any carry-on, by x-ray by USDA and then a sticker was placed on each bag verifying that they had been inspected. This had to be done prior to them being checked and our going through TSA.

[alfaeric]

Has this changed since 2010? When we flew out of SJU we had to have all our bags inspected, including any carry-on, by x-ray by USDA and then a sticker was placed on each bag verifying that they had been inspected. This had to be done prior to them being checked and our going through TSA.

 

 

This is the wierd part- we've been travelling to Puerto Rico since 1994, and the only luggage we've ever had inspected was the check in. We did notice a few carry on's that had been inspected, but when we got up to security, nobody batted an eye. It helps that there's an x-ray machine that they do use on the bags, so maybe they figured out that being redundant wasn't a good thing.

 

And we've traveled there 6-8 times in the last 2 years.

 

If you want to be 100% that you won't be checked, it's not a big deal to have all of the bags done at the same time. But I did want to post our story of walking off the rental car bus, straight to the counter, through security, and to the gate. I hope it works for others!

[Debde]

Is the luggage valet service available out of SJ?

Something tells me I read somewhere that it is no longer available.:(

Used it when we sailed Serenade and loved it!!

[cruisenfever]

Is the luggage valet service available out of SJ?

Something tells me I read somewhere that it is no longer available.:(

Used it when we sailed Serenade and loved it!!

They have not reinstated it as of yet.

[Clarea]

Has this changed since 2010? When we flew out of SJU we had to have all our bags inspected, including any carry-on, by x-ray by USDA and then a sticker was placed on each bag verifying that they had been inspected. This had to be done prior to them being checked and our going through TSA.

We flew out of SJU after an Adventure cruise last March, and the process was just as you describe.

[bouhunter]

 

San Juan airport can be a nightmare for your flight home. You have to realize that THOUSANDS of cruise ship passengers are all hitting the facility at the SAME time. Expect long lines and poor communication.

 

.

 

That's why, in addition to flying to SJU a couple days before the cruise, we stay a night there after:D

[printingchick]

That's why, in addition to flying to SJU a couple days before the cruise, we stay a night there after:D

 

Unfortunately, I have not reached the point in life where I can afford the additional cost or time off. Someday...

[msakmom]

San Juan is my favorite port to cruise from.

[BenjiRodney]

San Juan airport is easy to get around. Have only left out of Carnivals terminal which is in old San Juan. We always fly out the day after to avoid the crush at the airport.