San Juan Departure - Jewel .. 2 Questions!

[F27TW]

We sail on March 12 on Jewel Of The Seas - never sailed from San Juan before and had such a late evening departure .. so I am curious ...

 

- How early typically do they start allowing boarding?

 

- When do they do lifeboat drill ? .. (since 8:30p is pretty much dinner time)

 

 

Thanks for the info !

[Clarea]

Our experience has been that boarding starts between 11am and noon.

[DJLDRUMS]

5:30 for the lifeboat drill.

[Ashland]

5:30 for the lifeboat drill.

 

They also do another one at 8:00pm for late arrivals...but if your on the ship earlier than 5:30pm you must attend that one...Just off Adventure and they stopped allowing people to board during the 5:30pm muster drill until it was completed.

[Denise Ann]

muster is at 8 on the Jewel.

[cruisenfever]

muster is at 8 on the Jewel.

That was also our experience this past January. There was only 1 muster drill.

[gagirl7143]

That was also our experience this past January. There was only 1 muster drill.

 

 

Our experience as well.

[skiiergirl]

Yes.....typically JW muster is at 8:00 while AD does 5:45 with a make -up at 8:15. However.....they are all subject to change as it varies depending on the Captain.

 

As far as boarding....it usually starts between 11:00 and 12:00 but can't start until all pax are off and the ship has a zero count from the previous cruise. We have been told that CBP has been slow clearing all departing pax in recent weeks so this also varies. I know one week last month they didn't let folks on u til 2:00.

Edited June 16, 2016 by skiiergirl

[EMED2010]

So is the MDR open or do you have to eat in Windjammer that night? We have My Time Dining and usually eat at 7:30 so I know that couldn't work with the muster drill.

[Magellan321]

So is the MDR open or do you have to eat in Windjammer that night? We have My Time Dining and usually eat at 7:30 so I know that couldn't work with the muster drill.

 

I'm wondering how this works also....

[mjgep0316]

We were on the Jewel in March. Only one muster at 8PM. For my time, you will need to make a reservation. They'll give you a range of 5:30 to 6:15 or 8:15 to 9:30. They won't let you make a 7:30 reservation. It's more like "sort of My time Dining." Anyone else's recent experience different? Oh, and the Main Dining Room is definitely open on the first night.

[Magellan321]

We were on the Jewel in March. Only one muster at 8PM. For my time, you will need to make a reservation. They'll give you a range of 5:30 to 6:15 or 8:15 to 9:30. They won't let you make a 7:30 reservation. It's more like "sort of My time Dining." Anyone else's recent experience different? Oh, and the Main Dining Room is definitely open on the first night.

 

Thanks! I'll make sure to reserve as soon as the system allows.

[mjgep0316]

No problem. Also, I made a video of our cruise that you may enjoy. We were on the Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua and St. Maarten route. Let me know if you like it...

 

[Big_G]

We sail on March 12 on Jewel Of The Seas - never sailed from San Juan before and had such a late evening departure .. so I am curious ...

 

- How early typically do they start allowing boarding?

 

- When do they do lifeboat drill ? .. (since 8:30p is pretty much dinner time)

 

 

Thanks for the info !

 

We're on Adventure in March and appreciate the questions. Even though you were asking about Jewel, answers about Adventure were slipped in. Thanks for asking.

[Magellan321]

No problem. Also, I made a video of our cruise that you may enjoy. We were on the Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua and St. Maarten route. Let me know if you like it...

 

 

Awesome....thank you so much!!

[Jovocrtt]

Tony, the last cruise we did out of PR allowed us on the ship around 11...the boarding hall was a mess, and it's very unorganized compared to what you are used to! I suggest we get there early vs later, as I can't imagine the mayhem of boarding later. One guy got so upset he actually started screaming and walked away from the terminal!

 

Muster was about an hour before sailing. If you have evening dining, as we do, the dining room pushes out the normal 8:30 dining to later...

 

CANT WAIT!!!

[davekathy]

No problem. Also, I made a video of our cruise that you may enjoy. We were on the Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua and St. Maarten route. Let me know if you like it...

 

 

Thanks for sharing your Cruise. Jewel is our favorite ship. We'll be doing a B2B Cruise out of San Juan April 2017 on the Jewel.

[mjgep0316]

Tony, the last cruise we did out of PR allowed us on the ship around 11...the boarding hall was a mess, and it's very unorganized compared to what you are used to! I suggest we get there early vs later, as I can't imagine the mayhem of boarding later. One guy got so upset he actually started screaming and walked away from the terminal!

 

Muster was about an hour before sailing. If you have evening dining, as we do, the dining room pushes out the normal 8:30 dining to later...

 

CANT WAIT!!!

 

For our Jewel cruise in March (which departed on a Sunday and was the only ship at the Pan Am Pier that day), we planned to get to the port early and get on the ship as soon as they would allow. However, our plans changed when we found there was a large Triathlon going on right at our hotel that would have all nearby major streets closed for several hours.

 

Being that we were lucky enough to stay at a gorgeous resort (The Caribe Hilton) we decided, against every grain in our anxious minds, to stay at the resort until 1 PM and head to the pier once the streets opened back up.

 

At 1:00, we took a cab to the pier. Within 20 minutes, we dropped our bags with the porters, checked in and got our Seapass cards and walked right on to the ship with no lines. We grabbed a quick drink and snack at the cafe and by 1:45 we made our way to the room and our bags were already there!

 

Bottom line is that many different factors can contribute to you embarkation experience- we got lucky with a good one, but YMMV.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[anewmac]

We were on the Jewel in March. Only one muster at 8PM. For my time, you will need to make a reservation. They'll give you a range of 5:30 to 6:15 or 8:15 to 9:30. They won't let you make a 7:30 reservation. It's more like "sort of My time Dining." Anyone else's recent experience different? Oh, and the Main Dining Room is definitely open on the first night.

 

Do you have to make a reservation every night? Or once you make it does it stay for the whole week at that time?

 

Glad you stated this, as Im used to Carnival where you go when you want and get a pager like at a restaurant at home.

[Clarea]

Do you have to make a reservation every night? Or once you make it does it stay for the whole week at that time?....

It's your choice to make a single reservation or a standing reservation.

[mjgep0316]

Do you have to make a reservation every night? Or once you make it does it stay for the whole week at that time?

 

 

 

Glad you stated this, as Im used to Carnival where you go when you want and get a pager like at a restaurant at home.

 

 

We were able to make a reservation for a different time each night. You can also opt not to make one - there is a separate line as you enter the dining room for folks without a reservation, but that line tends to move much slower.

[murphy4]

we were on the Jewel in February, we opted to stay at our hotel for an extra beach day and didn't head to the port until 4:30. There were NO lines when we got there. we walked right up to the desk to register and right onto the ship. fastest embarkation I have had!

[kathiewe]

We will be on this sailing as well and also never sailed out of San Juan. We are flying in on Friday and staying at the El Cervantes for the weekend. Its been 30 years since I last visited San Juan as a teenager.

 

Was wondering the same questions, so thanks for asking.

[LucyBugTravels]

we were on the Jewel in February, we opted to stay at our hotel for an extra beach day and didn't head to the port until 4:30. There were NO lines when we got there. we walked right up to the desk to register and right onto the ship. fastest embarkation I have had!

This is exactly what I wanted to hear! We have a cruise planned on Jewel in March 2017, and we would love to treat embarkation day like an extra port day and spend more time exploring San Juan before getting on the ship.

[akcruz]

We were just on Jewel a few weeks ago. We left our hotel in Old San Juan at noon. We were sitting in the Windjammer at 12:30 enjoying our first meal. One of the quickest embarkation we have had.

 

Our muster was early, 5:30, as it was superbowl Sunday, but I understand normal time is 8 for Jewel.

 

We did MTD and had reservations each night, did early the first night and 6:30 the rest of the week. The dining room was open right after muster that first night. Each other night we walked right up to the hostess stand and were seated immediately. There always seemed to be a line on the non reservation side but it did move pretty quick.

 

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