Live from San Juan - Adventure of the Seas

[Darcy03231]

So AC canceled on you after you called 4 to 5 different times? That is crazy.

 

Glad you found another place to stay.

 

Bill

 

 

Sent from my SM-G935V using Forums mobile app

 

Yes, they did. We received a confirmation email three days before we were supposed to arrive and then a cancellation the next day.

 

Luckily I had made a backup reservation at the Comfort Inn.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

Yes, they did. We received a confirmation email three days before we were supposed to arrive and then a cancellation the next day.

 

Luckily I had made a backup reservation at the Comfort Inn.

 

That is a shame what you dealt with. Luckily you had made the backup reservation.

 

I know they canceled ours by telephone the week before and thought since you kept calling and they kept confirming you had a reservation you would be alright.

 

It makes for a good story in the future.

 

Take care

 

Bill

[csss]

First, thank you for your insights. We will be boarding Dec 2, and found out today our reservation at the IC was cancelled. Ah well. I changed our flights to arrive day of sailing. That being said, I’m wondering if there is still a duty free shop in the cruise terminal. I was hoping to buy a couple bottles of wine...

[luv2cruise391]

There are two, one at 5:45 and one at 8:15.

 

Thank you so much for that and your review. It has been most helpful. Just one more question on the drill. Inside or outside on decks? Also, what were the temps ( I know this will vary of course) in SAn Juan and were the islands about the same temps?

[wahoonakwa]

thank you, for your reports

[Darcy03231]

First, thank you for your insights. We will be boarding Dec 2, and found out today our reservation at the IC was cancelled. Ah well. I changed our flights to arrive day of sailing. That being said, I’m wondering if there is still a duty free shop in the cruise terminal. I was hoping to buy a couple bottles of wine...

 

Yes there is one there. We didn't go in so I don't know what kind of selection they had.

[Darcy03231]

Thank you so much for that and your review. It has been most helpful. Just one more question on the drill. Inside or outside on decks? Also, what were the temps ( I know this will vary of course) in SAn Juan and were the islands about the same temps?

 

Ours was out on deck, but you don't have to bring/wear your life jacket. It was hot and humid.

[Darcy03231]

Well, we made it home (in the wee hours of the morning)!

 

We did the self debark and used a taxi to get to the airport. We were there by 7:30 am, but our flight wasn't until 4:55 pm, so we had a long day in the airport.

 

We used the porters and they made the process really easy. We were able to check in for our flight 8 hours ahead of time (JetBlue) so we just waited in the waiting area. If you're flying JetBlue don't prepay your luggage. We were able to check four bags for free by using the porter. They put it in as a good will waiver. We didn't see any really long lines. There were plenty of seats at the gates. The food court was open (Dominos, Quiznos, Popeyes and Carl Jr.'s). AC was working and we had running water. All of the shops and the food court were taking credit cards. Only thing that was down was WiFi.

 

Our flight ended up being delayed so we didn't get out until about 5:30. I did notice that there were a lot of elderly people in wheelchairs on our flight (about 20), which slowed the boarding process. Most of them appeared to be from PR.

 

One gentleman sat next to us. Because of the issues still facing PR a lot of families are sending their elderly parents and grandparents to the states to stay with family/friends until the situation improves. This man's home was totally destroyed and everything was lost. He hopes to return to PR in the future, but right now is planning each day as it comes. It's very heartbreaking to hear. He obviously didn't want to leave, but because of his health he can't stay there right now. He has a son in Boston, another in Florida and a daughter in Texas, so he said he's very lucky because he has family to go to. It was amazing to hear him kind of gloss over the loss of his house and possessions and call himself lucky because he has family and a place to go.

[EatonDoolittle]

We did the self debark and used a taxi to get to the airport. We were there by 7:30 am, .

 

Best news ever.

I am flying / cruising next month, and Jet Blue changed my return flight to 9AM. Based on all the horror stories here (no traffic lights, an hour drive port to airport, etc), I bought a back up ticket on Southwest for 11AM. I did not want to spend the entire cruise worrying if I would make my flight home or not.

 

I look at it as a $150.00 insurance policy, but if things go well, maybe I can make the original flight.

 

Thanks for all your reporting.

[Darcy03231]

Best news ever.

I am flying / cruising next month, and Jet Blue changed my return flight to 9AM. Based on all the horror stories here (no traffic lights, an hour drive port to airport, etc), I bought a back up ticket on Southwest for 11AM. I did not want to spend the entire cruise worrying if I would make my flight home or not.

 

I look at it as a $150.00 insurance policy, but if things go well, maybe I can make the original flight.

 

Thanks for all your reporting.

 

Use the porters at the airport. They really get you through the system quickly. It looked like there were separate lines for them.

[shadowcat67]

I was on the 10/21 cruise and American wasn't charging for checked bags either. I thought I remember seeing something were they were letting up to 3 bags free.

 

Puerto Rico was 85 when I was there on 10/28, we did the 4 hour city tour before going to the airport, it was interesting to see, but when they lets us off in the city center for 45 minutes, there really wasn't much open, just a couple of restaurants and a couple of stores, all running on generators.

[accio_7]

Hey Darcy,

 

Thank you so much for your review, I hope you and your family had a blast! I’m sailing on Adventure solo next December from Ft. Lauderdale and was really happy that you guys enjoyed sailing on her; like yourself, I prefer smaller, medium-sized ships :)

Edited November 5, 2017 by accio_7
words

[arcticcatmatt]

I was on this same cruise.

 

Are you assigned a time or can you pick which one to go to? Hope you are feeling better. Maybe you will run into my friends, Steve and Barb Schoonerman:cool:

I'm new friends with them :) Great people!

 

Hi!

I'm curious about Martinique. Did you see any taxis or tour companies waiting for people to walk off the ship and hire them for the day? We don't have anything booked there for our December stop. I prefer to use local guides, but I've been concerned about the language barrier. I've also read that there aren't a lot of people waiting at the pier who can be hired on the spot for a day tour.

Thanks!

Please see my quick review below.. Contact Thomas and tell him I sent you. We are looking at flights back there right now. We want to go and spend a week!!

 

Thought I would post my experience to help people leaving out of San Juan.. My lady and I both felt that only bringing carry on's really helped us out in a ton of ways. San Juan airport is operational but wayyyyy overpacked. We did not wait in the line of hundreds to get our luggage to the ship in the various trucks. When we got off ship we didn't have to deal with the lines of people trying to get luggage to the ship or them being separated from their luggage with unknown truck numbers in the chaos. We didn't have to deal with the 3 lines with 100+ people in each checking bags. Food in San Juan airport is 3x the price you would expect to pay (we waited in line 30 mins for land shark restaurant and got out of line when we found out a simple burger was $18). There are 30 seats to wait in for a plane that holds 200 people. Spotted tons of damage in San Juan but nobody seemed to be in fix up mode. Small sessnas still sitting on fences, billboards down still sitting in streets. Many places appeared to be in rough shape prior to hurricane.

Favorite stop for us was Martinique. Book Thomas of Taxi Norden Vincent for a little island tour.. he is SO nice and his email was so informative even with a map of what you are doing.. We hit rainforest, waterfall, free rum spot, black sand volcanic beach with floating pumice and more. Just a heck of a nice tour and very nice man. Bonus was no hassling at the port from locals. The workers on the ship said Martinique didn't take USD, didn't speak english, and other bad stuff. All false. Best stop we had! Even finished it with a beer out of a locals cooler on the pier for a couple bucks. 2nd favorite for local stop was Barry Taxi tour in Antigua. Great deal and beautiful beach stop, they really treated us like a non-tourist and showed us what they love. Tied with 2nd was Barbados. We walked to carlisle bay and snorkled the ship wrecks and tossed in a stop at the carribean cigar company to see cigars get hand made and we purchased. Least favorite was St Kitts - lame snorkling at cockleshell beach and rip off rental pricing.. not to mention the hassling and monkey guys all over. Liz was great (we jumped on her taxi to the beach). The beach wasn't nice, water wasnt' clear, $30 to rent 2 snorkle masks, $35 for 15 mins on a jet ski and the riot act read to us with a $200 penalty if we tipped it over in the water, drinks took forever to get at reggae beach but the wifi worked. I have great pictures to accompany this but no idea how to add them.

Also, 3 in our group got sick. Dayquil is $18 in the gift shop. Day 4 and we are still sick. Bring some with you :)

Edited November 6, 2017 by arcticcatmatt

[MontanaMaryT]

Yes, we did. I couldn’t find anywhere to book it independently.

 

I am referring to the Railway on ST. Kitts post, since it only quoted your reply ;)

 

I looked at the railway site and they said if you are cruising, you had to book through your cruise line.

(Of course I can't find the link now)

Edited November 6, 2017 by MontanaMaryT

[Darcy03231]

Yes, I booked the railway through the cruise line. I booked it when they were having a shore excursion sale and we saved a bit. I think it was about 15%.