Purchasing wine in San Juan prior to boarding?

[tpadul]

YES ! Shocked to see so many answers with this being the first correct one.

The wine selection isn't great but it's not horrible. Prices are OK and there are also lots of sparkling wines.

BTW, you can effectively take lots of wine on, 2 bottles at a time. As SailingSal posted, the wine shop is after security.

 

 

Really?? You can take several bottles on board, 2 at a time?? I thought that the security at the entrance to the ship was going to keep some manifest of how many bottles each stateroom has already had logged in. I was told they will open all your luggage right before you board, I guess going through this second security check right before you board the ship and they will somehow mark down on some list that you have brought your alloted two bottles on board. So if they don't do this, then we could actually make a few trips to the duty free shop and each bring two bottles on board??

[tpadul]

I'm not sure when you are flying home but if you have a later flight you can get dropped off on OSJ at Barrachina restaurant and leave your luggage (for a tip) and look around and go to the fort. We had a 4:00 Pm flight and was downtown by 10 or before.

 

 

Actuallly our flight back to Chicago doesn't leave until 4pm that day we come back, so we saw a shore excursion for San Juan that appears to be geared toward people coming off the ship at the end of the cruise and it is a tour of SJ/OSJ and included in the price of the tour which is pretty reasonable, I think the quoted $30/35 a person they will end the tour by dropping you off at the airport and they said it was geared toward people that were not flying out until after 2:3pm flights, and since our flight is at 4:00pm, I think we are going to do this the day the ship comes back, since it docks so early at 6am. This will be a nice way to kill the time before our flight leaves and we still wanted a chance to see some of San Juan before heading back home.

[clott]

When we left on the jewel there was no one checking your bags to see what was in then and certainly no one writing any information down. We could have taken on as much as we wanted and it wouldn't have been a big deal. Once thru security at the door the little wine shop is on the left. Could have gone on and off as much as you wanted too and brought some back. Not a big deal

[tpadul]

When we left on the jewel there was no one checking your bags to see what was in then and certainly no one writing any information down. We could have taken on as much as we wanted and it wouldn't have been a big deal. Once thru security at the door the little wine shop is on the left. Could have gone on and off as much as you wanted too and brought some back. Not a big deal

 

AWESOME!!! :D Thanks this really does help!!!!

[tpadul]

OK another question then, so does this duty free shop also have bottled water cheaper than the prices the ship is charging for the water package onboard. Or does it just sell stuff like wine and liquor?? That water package onboard is crazy expensive!!! My Gosh, we are just wanting some cheap water, we didn't expect to have no other choice but to purchase Evian water from them.

 

I'm actually quite shocked that with the price you pay for the cruise you can't even get free water outside meal times.. somebody please tell me there are water fountains for free on board that we could just fill up a bottle of water with.

We are big water drinkers and were shocked to learn that water was not complimentary outside of meal times, I was like ***???? When I called the customer service line and asked them are any beverages included in the price at all that is when they told me only during prescribed meal times are the non alcoholic beverages like coffee/tea/juice/soda/water complimentary and outside of those times you have to pay for them.

[Clarea]

OK another question then, so does this duty free shop also have bottled water cheaper than the prices the ship is charging for the water package onboard. Or does it just sell stuff like wine and liquor?? That water package onboard is crazy expensive!!! My Gosh, we are just wanting some cheap water, we didn't expect to have no other choice but to purchase Evian water from them.

 

I'm actually quite shocked that with the price you pay for the cruise you can't even get free water outside meal times.. somebody please tell me there are water fountains for free on board that we could just fill up a bottle of water with.

We are big water drinkers and were shocked to learn that water was not complimentary outside of meal times, I was like ***???? When I called the customer service line and asked them are any beverages included in the price at all that is when they told me only during prescribed meal times are the non alcoholic beverages like coffee/tea/juice/soda/water complimentary and outside of those times you have to pay for them.

The duty free shop does have bottled water, and much cheaper than the price on board. We bought 8 1L bottles last January and brought them on board. I think they were something like $1.50 or $2.

 

You can get a glass of water for free on the ship from any bar server.

[tpadul]

The duty free shop does have bottled water, and much cheaper than the price on board. We bought 8 1L bottles last January and brought them on board. I think they were something like $1.50 or $2.

 

You can get a glass of water for free on the ship from any bar server.

 

Whew.. that is good news!! Thanks so much again for all this great info,, I'm so glad I found this message board. I was getting a little freaked out reading the RCI website and all the FAQS and looking at the price of the water and the beverage packages. This is making me feel much better that we are going to have a decent time and not be nickel and dimed to death on this cruise. Like I said earlier this is my first cruise since 1990 back when everything was included in the price.

[richstowe]

You missed reading post # 3.

Oops.:o In my defence I only read the first part of any post.:p

 

Really?? You can take several bottles on board, 2 at a time?? I thought that the security at the entrance to the ship was going to keep some manifest of how many bottles each stateroom has already had logged in. I was told they will open all your luggage right before you board, I guess going through this second security check right before you board the ship and they will somehow mark down on some list that you have brought your alloted two bottles on board. So if they don't do this, then we could actually make a few trips to the duty free shop and each bring two bottles on board??

Yes !:)

 

OK another question then, so does this duty free shop also have bottled water cheaper than the prices the ship is charging for the water package onboard. Or does it just sell stuff like wine and liquor?? That water package onboard is crazy expensive!!! My Gosh, we are just wanting some cheap water, we didn't expect to have no other choice but to purchase Evian water from them.

 

You can buy water and soda but the price was pretty high. Cheaper then on board but more then just about any other place.

We have always bought more soda and water, if needed, on board from port stops.

I love minimizing costs but in the end don't sweat the small $ stuff. Most importantly ,have fun !

[Suzyrn89]

Whew.. that is good news!! Thanks so much again for all this great info,, I'm so glad I found this message board. I was getting a little freaked out reading the RCI website and all the FAQS and looking at the price of the water and the beverage packages. This is making me feel much better that we are going to have a decent time and not be nickel and dimed to death on this cruise. Like I said earlier this is my first cruise since 1990 back when everything was included in the price.

 

Sailing on Adventure out of San Juan, please tpadul, tell me how the wine purchasing went. We are considering taking on 2 bottles of white in our checked luggage and then getting back off and buying 2 bottles of red to hand carry on. We will arrive the day before and would buy the wine in town if we can take them on the same way as buying from the pier shop.

 

Any info about the pier checkin and the cruise would be appreciated!

[SailingSal]

I didn't read all of the threads - but we bought our wine near our hotel In San Juan last year, and when we arrived at the port there was a shop right in the terminal that we could have bought the very same wine for about the same price! We will be sailing our of San Juan again in April and plan to just buy our wine at the port:)

[trev71]

I didn't read all of the threads - but we bought our wine near our hotel In San Juan last year, and when we arrived at the port there was a shop right in the terminal that we could have bought the very same wine for about the same price! We will be sailing our of San Juan again in April and plan to just buy our wine at the port:)

 

 

in this store was there any water or soda for sale as well ? Or just wine ?

[Clarea]

in this store was there any water or soda for sale as well ? Or just wine ?

There was Evian bottled water at $2 per liter, soda, wine, liquor, and a small selection of sundries.

[Suzyrn89]

I didn't read all of the threads - but we bought our wine near our hotel In San Juan last year, and when we arrived at the port there was a shop right in the terminal that we could have bought the very same wine for about the same price! We will be sailing our of San Juan again in April and plan to just buy our wine at the port:)

Sailing out today, wine selection limited in the port building mainly sweet wines

[LeeW]

For any folks who want lots of info on wine stores, airport and port location, cabs, etc, you might want to look at http://www.langland.org/cruises/sanjuan.asp.

No advertising, just some comments and links to other sites from a local.