San Juan Airport - how bad is it?

[Laura61]

I've been reading some horror stories(on the RCCL board) about long lines/waits at San Juan airport on Sundays. We have a 12:30PM flight home after our Golden Princess cruise in May - should I be concerned?

 

Festivale 1989

Majesty of the Seas 1997

Paradise 1999

Imagination 2000

Ocean Princess 2000

Grand Princess 2003

Golden Princess 2004

 

[10XCRUISE]

Not necessarily concerned but at least be aware. We have found extremely long lines that are very distressing but as long as you arrive at a reasonable time you won't miss your flight.

 

I have seen airport personel walk up and down the lines asking people their flight times and then allowing them to "move up".

 

Be SURE you are in the correct line when you arrive.

[mringenoldus]

We avoided the whole thing by simply staying over an extra night. there were no lines at all on Monday.

 

CCL Holiday 2000

CCL Elation 2001

CCL Pride 2002

CCL Ecstacy 2003

RCL AOS 2003

Sun Princess May 14 2004!!

[Coolmama_1]

We too are waiting until Monday. We are going in July and there are 3 ships with fairly same itineraries. Just did the math and decided not to go to the airport with 6000 others.

 

Judy

 

Till our Golden Princess

Cruise

 

[Jacqueline]

WE had no problemthere at all on a saturday. I would guess that there is an ebb and flow like many other airports. Cant be worse than fort lauderdale.

 

Jacqueline

Constellation 3/20/04

HAL Westerdam 7/30/04

Tahitian Princess August 2003

Grand Princess Western Caribbean 2003

Brilliance of the Seas Baltic 2002

Ocean Princess- Alaska 2001

Celebrity Zenith- Bermuda 2001

Grand Princess Med 2000

 

[PeabodyNVL]

Laura -

 

I've heard that one things we have to look out for is to go through the agricultural line before doing anything. If you wait in the check-in line and haven't gone through agricultural, they will make you go over there and then you will have to wait in the check-in line a 2nd time.

 

I think it's also going to depend on the airline you are using and how many flights they have going out. Also how many ships are disembarking on the same day.

 

Pea

 

5/9 Golden Princess  

[doctrd]

If I had a 12:30 flight on my last 2 San Juan cruises, I would have missed the flight. Mad rush to airport, long lines poorly marked. We almost missed a 1:15 flight if not for a porter bringing us to exactly where we needed to be.

Try to get off ship early by letting them know you have an early flight.

 

http://community.webshots.com/user/doctrd

 

 

Paradise 3/04

Destiny 11/03

Destiny 3/03

Voyager of Seas 11/99

Paradise 7/99

Grand Princess (Grand Suite) 4/99

Grand Princess (Grand Suite) 11/98

Imagination 7/98

Fantasy 7/97

[J and H]

SJU Airport is no worse than Chicago O'hare, LAX, or JFK, you just need to allow the time. If your flight is at 12:30pm, check with the guest relations desk on this ship during your cruise and ask them how to go about getting into one of the first groups to disembark. You should try and be at the airport by 10:30am and no later than 11. Sundays are busy days in any airport, but in SJU it is compounded by thousands of cruise passengers both coming and going. And as per the previous poster said, do not forget to go through the argiculture inspection before you check in at the ticket counter. Failure to do so will result in having to stand in the line all over again...

[Happy2cruise]

In March on our return flight out of San Juan, we asked the personel at the agriculture line if we needed to go thru. They told us as long as our baggage had the cruise line luggage tags on them, we did not have to. They said only passenger's who are not coming directly from a cruise and have no tags must go thru.

Hope this helps.

[mags]

We flew out of LAX last May and had no problems, flew out

of San Juan in Feb and it was a total mess. We decided we would stay over until Monday the next time.

[nannyny2002]

It's a good idea to check & see what other ships are disembarking on that day. I prefer to get off the ship earlier; but a good TA would get you a flight after 1:00 so you won't feel so "rushed". SJU is expanding and great Puerto Rico is a great Island.

[Glassman]

Had to fly out of San Juan on a rebooked flight when the air line cancelled the flight that we were supposed to be on. It was Sunday and the security line was over 100 yards long and four people wide. We only made the plane because the rebooked airline found us and put us to the front of the line. My advice, be sure to allow plenty of time and the best bet is a post stay in one of the hotels that will get you to the airport in plenty of time.