Anyone just of the AOS???

[Ms.Fixit]

If anyone is just off the AOS and has a later flight leaving San Juan, what did you do for most of the day? I am interested if you chose to book an excursion or just stash the luggage and do your own thing?????

[KKeeganS]

Hey there!

 

We did another round on the Adventure this fall as well (despite the embarkation fiasco in 2004, we had a blast). We had a 5:30 flight back to Logan both times, and did the El Yunque rainforest excursion last year and the Barcardi Rum Tour this year to kill some time and to have a place to store our luggage. It worked out really well. I think some hotels also offer a "day pass" where you could go and spend the day at the pool before heading to the airport. For the tours through RCI, they take your luggage straight to the airport and you pick it up when the tour ends, so it's pretty convenient.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Have a great time!

Sarah

[iheartshoes]

We were on the aos in the summer. We killed time by walking around old san juan-so cool and we also went to the fort. you could also just go to the beach and then catch a taxi to the airport. theres a lot to do on your own without having to pay for another excursion.

[hoogie]

We just got home last night at about 11:30. Our flight was at 4:10 pm.

 

What we figured our options were:

 

If you are using american or usair, you can check your luggage at the pier then do whatever you want for a while. We didn't have either.

 

There is a room at the airport that will 'watch' your bags for a few bucks. We didn't use that.

 

We were going to do the rain forest excursion through rccl but they don't get to the airport until 3:00 pm and we were concerned that we'd get back too late so didn't do that.

 

We were going to check in at Spirit Air and then take a taxi to somewhere and grab lunch but didn't do that after we saw how slowly everything moved.

 

What we did end up doing was this, waited until the last possible minute to go grab breakfast at the vivaldi dining room. Hung around the promenade for a while then got off the ship. When we got to the airport we waiting about 10 minutes to send our luggage through the usda machine to get a sticker. Then we waited in the Spirit check in line for about 1.5 hours to get checked in.

 

Security was fairly quick, took about 15 minutes total. Then off to our gate. Got to our gate about 1:15 for a 4:10 flight. The waiting was hell until we found the beer stand and had a couple of beers and it went by just slightly quicker.

 

Next time I'd either book a much earlier flight and just get there and leave or book a later flight and do the rain forest tour or the bicardi tour but even the ship suggests that your flight should leave at 4 or later for those.

 

If you have usair or american definitely use the pier check in and then go do something for the day.

 

Hoog

[syndyj]

Hey there!

 

We did another round on the Adventure this fall as well (despite the embarkation fiasco in 2004, we had a blast). We had a 5:30 flight back to Logan both times, and did the El Yunque rainforest excursion last year and the Barcardi Rum Tour this year to kill some time and to have a place to store our luggage. It worked out really well. I think some hotels also offer a "day pass" where you could go and spend the day at the pool before heading to the airport. For the tours through RCI, they take your luggage straight to the airport and you pick it up when the tour ends, so it's pretty convenient.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Have a great time!

Sarah

 

Hey Sarah,

we were on the cruise that disembarked last year September 26th to October 3rd !!!! That was a fiaco, but we had a great time so doing the Freedom next :)

[Former Goalie]

"If you have usair or american definitely use the pier check in and then go do something for the day."

 

Just off the AOS yesterday. You can only do pier check in with AA, and not US Airways. We got to the airport and hailed a porter, he probably saved us 45 min. to an hour. The line was long, and slow. He said, "you help me, I help you," he went right to the US Airways electronic baggage check in, got the baggage tags and tickets, and we tipped him an appropriate amount, which was IMHO well worth the time and frustration he saved us. We then went through security, which was easy. Total time from hailing the porter to getting through security was probably just over ten minutes. We then chose to purchase a day pass to use the Delta flight lounge, which was also very much worth it for us to avoid the crowds of SJU on a busy Sunday.

[cruiseseeker]

My wife and I took a horse and carriage ride around the downtown area. It was very romantic.

[KKeeganS]

Hey Sarah,

we were on the cruise that disembarked last year September 26th to October 3rd !!!! That was a fiaco, but we had a great time so doing the Freedom next :)

 

We still had folks on our cruise at the end of the week complaining that the long delay embarking had ruined their cruise. It wasn't ideal, but everything else was so great, it was easy for DH and I to let it go. We had such a blast.

 

Freedom may be next for us as well. Or the one after the next. :D Decisions, decisions.

 

One thing about checking in with AA at the pier, you can only use this service if your fight is before 5 p.m. I believe. Our flight back to Boston was at 5:30. We didn't check to see how flexible they would be in working around that rule because we were on a ship excursion so our luggage was taken care of for the most part.

[CINCY40]

...our Sunday in the San Juan airport was miserable and I would not want to repeat it. How do you purchase a Day Pass for the Delta lounge?

 

Nancy

[kcagg16]

We booked an 11:30 a.m. flight with American airlines. I hope we will be okay as Royal said they also book 11:30 a.m. flights for their passengers.

We did not want to wait around as we are doing precruise activities and want to get home. We have heard two different stories - some with long waits and others who said they were at the airport by 9 a.m. So we know we are taking a chance.

[Former Goalie]

...our Sunday in the San Juan airport was miserable and I would not want to repeat it. How do you purchase a Day Pass for the Delta lounge?

 

Nancy

Go in to the Delta lounge, and pay them $25 pp. Full bar, if you want it, we just had soft drinks, coffee, etc., which was readily available. Pretzels and other very light snacks. Wi-fi and dial up (we used dial up) were available at no extra charge. Just a better option than sitting around in the terminal for the almost three hours we would have had to wait.

[Former Goalie]

We booked an 11:30 a.m. flight with American airlines. I hope we will be okay as Royal said they also book 11:30 a.m. flights for their passengers.

We did not want to wait around as we are doing precruise activities and want to get home. We have heard two different stories - some with long waits and others who said they were at the airport by 9 a.m. So we know we are taking a chance.

As I said in a prior post, we hailed a porter immediately, and he hustled us right through, totally avoiding the lines. We gave him a generous tip, but it was more than worth it.

[Ms.Fixit]

Hey there!

 

We did another round on the Adventure this fall as well (despite the embarkation fiasco in 2004, we had a blast). We had a 5:30 flight back to Logan both times, and did the El Yunque rainforest excursion last year and the Barcardi Rum Tour this year to kill some time and to have a place to store our luggage. It worked out really well. I think some hotels also offer a "day pass" where you could go and spend the day at the pool before heading to the airport. For the tours through RCI, they take your luggage straight to the airport and you pick it up when the tour ends, so it's pretty convenient.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Have a great time!

Sarah

 

Hi Sarah....How did you like the other itinerary this time and compare the two?? How did the ship look? We are actually staying again on the 9th floor balcony, but on the other side of the ship. This will be probably the opposite view as the other time I think.

 

I was hoping to be able to use this service for AA, but my flight isn't until 6:30p.m. We did the Bacardi Rum Factory tour last year, but I really do not want to repeat again this time. I had done the El Yunque Rain Forest way back years ago, but the bus actually never made it to the top of the mountain, so we really didn't get the full tour experience.....Another possibility is staying at the Water Club. I heard it was a great little hotel near the airport with a nice beach, but I will not know if they will accept day rates until I either call or show up there. They have not answered any of my e-mails. I also am a Wyndham By Request Member, so maybe they will also honor my card and let me take a room until later that day. I guess I will make up my mind on the cruise. I certainly do not want to wait in the airport!

 

I see you took the Magesty also? How was that cruise?? I think we are going to either look into booking another cruise for the four of us on this cruise and transfer to my travel agent. This cruise is just for Mom and Dad this time!!!!! Can't wait....

 

I still haven't packed totally yet....I have to get on it soon here. We are supposed to get 1-3 inches of snow tonight here in the Springfield area. I am just anxious to get on that ship!

Take care, happy cruising,

Luann

[KKeeganS]

Hey Luann,

 

We liked the Aruba itinerary slightly better, but that had to do with a couple of poor choices we made in Antigua and St. Lucia (we went shopping in Antigua because DH was sunburned and went to Choc Bay in St. Lucia, which we hated). Had a great time in St. Thomas, St. Marteen and Barbados and heard great things from other passengers about the other islands. The ship looked great - no major changes from last year.

 

Another hotel nearby the airport is the Intercontinental San Juan. If you search the threads, I'm pretty sure someone posted that they do have day rates, but as with the other hotels, I'm not sure how far in advance they are available. The pool area is lovely, and they are also on a beach. I would say it is a 5 minute cab ride to the airport and maybe a 15-20 minute ride to the pier.

 

We did do the NCL Majesty out of Boston to Bermuda in June. Obviously a lot different from the newer, mega-ships. We got a guarantee cabin that shook violently whenever the ship was in motion, but other than that, we enjoyed ourselves. The "freestyle" dining was a nice change, the food was pretty good, and Bermuda is gorgeous. The entertainment was not as good as on the AOS, but we often got off the ship at night and walked around downtown St. Georges and went to a bar there. It was really nice to use the ship as a floating hotel and have 3 days and nights to explore all over the island. It is definitely something we will do again. We left the house at about 11:30 and by noon were on the ship with a drink, so there is definitely something to say about that.

 

I definitely need to book another cruise for next year. The withdrawal is killing me. I hope you have a fantastic trip!

 

Sarah