How "strict" is the boarding time

[CarlandAndrea]

Our flight gets into San Juan at 3:37. I have read on this board that generally the boarding time is 3-5 PM. We will be flying from St Martin which is about an hour flight but that also means we have to clear customs. Does anyone foresee any problems boarding?

 

Should we try to arrive on an earlier flight to avoid any potential problems of arriving late? I have considered booking a flight that arrives at 11:45 and paying for the early embarkation. The downside of this is that we are staying at La Samanna for a few days before and the later flights allows us to squeeze in a little more time there.

 

What would you suggest? This is our first Silversea cruise.

 

Thanks to all!

 

Andrea

[Silver Pearl]

Andrea,

 

I'm a newbie myself, so others may have more information.

 

My first reaction to your question was that you're cutting it awfully close for a 3-5 PM embarkation time. But, looking at the Silversea web site, your April cruise is scheduled for an 11 PM departure, so I think you should be fine.

 

What's puzzling to me is that the Whisper's itinerary on the cruise before yours puts it back in San Juan on April 1. So I don't know what it's doing in San Juan for the few days between when it arrives and when you embark. Does anyone know?

 

--Rich

[CarlandAndrea]

I was wondering the same thing about the missing days between cruises.

 

I have read your posts about the surprise for your 25th anniversary. Your wife is a lucky lady. This cruise is for my 40th. Since I am the travel fanatic in the family, unfortunately my husband would never plan a surprise trip. I have dropped many hints, the galapagos, a safari in Africa, but I decided I love to cruise and love the Caribbean so this is what I want for my big day. My b-day is actually the day we board the cruise so I want it to be relaxing, pampering, elegant, etc. We are spending 4 days on St Martin before the cruise.

 

For his 40th, I planned a surprise cruise - a very short one on RCCL, 4 days, out of Florida and had our best friends booked into the cabin across from us. We booked the royal suite and they had another suite. I called for room service and when it arrived, it was really them wearing their life preservers with huge smiles on their faces. It was the best! They boarded the ship ahead of us and it was real hoot - the room wasn't ready and they needed to "hide" from us. They went straight to the hotel manager who personally escorted them to their cabin and then did little things throughtout the cruise that made it the most memorable one we've been on (we been on about 12). My husband left his cuff links at home and when our friend told the manager about it, he went to his cabin and brought my husband his personal cufflinks to use. We were on RCCL so no all inclusive drinks. He arranged for us to have 2 bottles of wine at dinner each night, and spoke to the matre'd about our "special cruise". When we were on their private island, the matre'd was there for the beach bbq and spotted us and escorted us to head of the line (sorry for the others we bumped....). Then the hotel manager had someone escort us off the ship when we left on the last day to help us through the crowds. It was a terrific trip.

 

I am sure your anniversary trip will be a memorable one as well!

Andrea

[Silver Pearl]

Thanks for the good wishes, Andrea. Actually, though, it is I who am lucky to be married to my wife. The surprise cruise you described sounds great. I hope you have a wonderful voyage in April, and post afterwards to let us know how it was.

 

--Rich

[Seas the Day]

but assume the days are one of two things: (1) a very quick dry dock, fix of something or (2) a charter. My guess is it's a charter because I believe the Whisper was going in for a week of dry dock in December, and shouldn't require a quick fix of something so soon after.

[mdmourges]

I inquired with SS about the two 4 day cruises out of San Juan in Mar/Apr that were missing from the website (both go to St. Barts, etc.) They confirmed both were chartered. They said this happens frequently on the very short cruises.

 

Mark

[deerhouse]

the only relevant issue is the time the ship sails. as long as you are there before that, you are fine.

[CarlandAndrea]

i was unsure of the times since most posts say "between 3-5".

i presumed that SS would be flexible.