Airport transfers to ship (

[dis2cruise]

Landing in San Juan...should we book through celebrity or just book on our own or just get a van at the airport ( we’re a party of 5 adults)..

[ghstudio]

You will save money booking on your own.....and you won't have to wait for the bus to fill or until Celebrity gathers everyone together.

[tango9]

I second that. Taxis are around and drive to port is rather short.

[Luvcrusn]

Take a taxi, not X transfers. The one time we took a X transfer in PR we waited an hour and a half for the bus to fill up and paid 5X as much for DH and I as we would have for a taxi for the 2 of us.

[coolio]

The taxi dispatcher will give you a slip with the amount from the airport to the cruise port. It is a fixed price.

However always confirm the price to be sure.

[leaveitallbehind]

Agree - taxis will be less costly, easier, and less wait than a cruise based transfer. Plenty of taxis waiting outside baggage claim. Depending on traffic it is about a 20 - 30 minute ride airport to pier.

 

On your return, plan at least two hours arrival at the terminal prior to you flight. SJU gets very crowded and slow on cruise days. Also be sure to have your luggage inspected by the USDA first upon arrival prior to luggage check in. The stations are as you enter the terminal. You will be asked to leave the luggage check in line and go back to do this if you don't and this will also add time.

Edited August 1, 2018 by leaveitallbehind

[bigbeergut]

I agree 100% with all of the previous responses. Can anyone suggest a situation where it is better to take the Celebrity booked transfer instead of arranging transportation on your own?

[Luvcrusn]

I agree 100% with all of the previous responses. Can anyone suggest a situation where it is better to take the Celebrity booked transfer instead of arranging transportation on your own?[/

Maybe if you are in a port where you neither speak nor read the language or want to pay at least twice as much for the service or like to stand in line.

[bigbeergut]

I agree 100% with all of the previous responses. Can anyone suggest a situation where it is better to take the Celebrity booked transfer instead of arranging transportation on your own?[/

Maybe if you are in a port where you neither speak nor read the language or want to pay at least twice as much for the service or like to stand in line.

 

I never heard of any situations where Celebrity transfers are cheaper than private arrangements. Time standing in line should be balanced against time sitting on a bus waiting for it to fill. Sometimes if taxi lines are long, you can arrange for a car and skip the lines. I don't speak or read any language except English and I've never found that to be a problem in a port area to get to an airport.

 

Perhaps you share some specific situations it would be more helpful.

[fleckle]

I agree 100% with all of the previous responses. Can anyone suggest a situation where it is better to take the Celebrity booked transfer instead of arranging transportation on your own?

It is better to use the ship's transfer if you must fly in on embarkation day and have a tight connection time for getting to the port before sailaway.

 

In such situations, they are likely to hold the ship for their own transfer bus, if they can, but they are not going to hold the ship for peons like us if we are arriving independently.

 

They have a list of which passengers they are supposed to pick up and which flights they will be on. So when and if they are able to do so, they will wait for late arrivals.

They can easily check flight schedules so they know when flights are delayed.

 

This is why people complain when their bus keeps them sitting around waiting for more passengers to arrive.

 

Your attitude will depend upon which side of the fence you are on.

 

If your flight arrived early and there were no delays in picking up your luggage, you are eager to get to the ship. So you may get very annoyed if you need to sit around waiting for the bus to fill up with other passengers.

 

But if it is your own flight arrival that is delayed, then you are very relieved and happy to know that the bus waited for you (even though upon boarding you will get dirty looks from the other passengers who needed to sit there waiting for you). :o

Edited August 1, 2018 by fleckle

[bigbeergut]

It is better to use the ship's transfer if you must fly in on embarkation day and have a tight connection time for getting to the port before sailaway.

 

In such situations, they are likely to hold the ship for their own transfer bus, if they can, but they are not going to hold the ship for peons like us if we are arriving independently.

 

They have a list of which passengers they are supposed to pick up and which flights they will be on. So when and if they are able to do so, they will wait for late arrivals.

They can easily check flight schedules so they know when flights are delayed.

 

This is why people complain when their bus keeps them sitting around waiting for more passengers to arrive.

 

Your attitude will depend upon which side of the fence you are on.

 

If your flight arrived early and there were no delays in picking up your luggage, you are eager to get to the ship. So you may get very annoyed if you need to sit around waiting for the bus to fill up with other passengers.

 

But if it is your own flight arrival that is delayed, then you are very relieved and happy to know that the bus waited for you (even though upon boarding you will get dirty looks from the other passengers who needed to sit there waiting for you). :o

 

 

Ok, this is one possible example. Does this also require the air line tickets to be booked with Celebrity?

[pattyj 1204]

On an Alaska flight they held the airplane waiting for a late plane from Texas and they announced that very thing. Would you complain if you were the one that was late. The delayed passengers(there were a number of them) were so grateful that they were going to make it to the ship on time--There was a big cheer for them when they arrived. Great passengers on that flight.

[Aunt Tina]

I have taken Celebrity transfers back to the airport in the past few years and twice have had the whole bus dropped off at the wrong terminal!!!! Once in NY where they left a passenger on the Statue of Liberty for a tour/airport transfer - and more recently in San Francisco on just a transfer. We ended up schlepping our 50 pound suitcases, carryon luggage, purses and coats through strange hallways, onto elevators that held only 4 people and luggage, and miles to the correct terminal. Give me a taxi!

[leaveitallbehind]

Ok, this is one possible example. Does this also require the air line tickets to be booked with Celebrity?

 

No. The purchase of airline tickets is separate from transfers.

[leaveitallbehind]

It is better to use the ship's transfer if you must fly in on embarkation day and have a tight connection time for getting to the port before sailaway.

 

In such situations, they are likely to hold the ship for their own transfer bus, if they can, but they are not going to hold the ship for peons like us if we are arriving independently.:o

 

I don't think so. As I understand it they will only hold the ship for delayed flights when the air arrangements were made through Flights by Celebrity. Transfers can be purchased independent of airfare and I doubt they would hold a ship for transfers only.

 

Maybe others can confirm, but it would surprise me if they did.

 

And BTW, just to be clear, the bus transfer service is contracted through a third party.

[Denny01]

I’ve heard of only a few times that a ship held up a departure for a late flight that wasn’t Celebrity ticketed passengers. We had friends flying the day of a Transatlantic and connections were late. There was a relatively high number of people on that one flight going on the cruise, so that may have been why, along with if you miss a Transatlantic, the ‘next port’ could be on the other side of the Pond! They will Never fly in the day of a cruise again!

 

I’ve never heard of the ship holding a departure for those that only signed up for the airport shuttle and not on a Celebrity fight, and I wouldn’t use that as an option unless Celebrity itself says it does. Doesn’t really make sense, since the point they push is to use their flight contracts and a shuttle isn’t really very close to that. Not sure.

 

Personally, I don’t ever fly in the day of the cruise. Too many chances of late flights, missed connections and since the airlines fill up their planes, you don’t have lots of options. And think about the days before you leave, sitting there worrying about the weather and your flights.

 

For airport cruise shuttles, I agree with what most of the posts say, use a shuttle/taxi/limo you can set up on the internet, or a taxi at the airport. Cheaper, quicker and nicer than standing around waiting for a full bus load. We used a ship shuttle once and we waited to fill the bus, then someone got off because they left something and we couldn’t leave until that person came wandering back. The bus then left us at one terminal for all and it took minutes to unload all the luggage and then walk and use the airport shuttle to get to the right terminal.

 

Read enough good stuff about ship airport buses???

 

Even when we flew into Heathrow to go to Southampton, a goodly ways away, we used a private taxi once and then the UK National Express buses. Great way!

 

Den

Edited August 1, 2018 by Denny01

[fleckle]

Ok, this is one possible example. Does this also require the air line tickets to be booked with Celebrity?

No, only the ground transfer.

Although some passengers do buy a package that includes both air and ground transportation.

[fleckle]

I’ve heard of only a few times that a ship held up a departure for a late flight that wasn’t Celebrity ticketed passengers. We had friends flying the day of a Transatlantic and connections were late. There was a relatively high number of people on that one flight going on the cruise....

 

That is the key right there, the relatively high number of people involved.

 

They will hold the ship (when and if they can) for a large number of late arriving passengers, but not just for individuals arriving on their own,

(unless you are LLP, or a VIP, or maybe in a penthouse suite). ;p

 

 

I’ve never heard of the ship holding a departure for those that only signed up for the airport shuttle and not on a Celebrity fight.....

When using the term "airport shuttle" there is a significant difference between the type of airport shuttle available to the general public at almost any hotel or airport, and the special shuttles that are chartered by the cruise lines specifically for the purpose of transporting their own passengers.

Now I certainly am not claiming that they will always wait for late passengers who purchase their transfers.

There can be many different variables involved in making the decisions of when to wait and how long to wait.

But they do try to wait when they can, especially if there are many people who will be impacted. The people who run the transfer bus do not care (and may not even know) how you booked your air fare, or if you even bought an airline ticket at all.

All they care about is that you bought the ground transfer and your name is on their list.

 

This is why we find it better to be among "many people" if we must arrive late, instead of trying to wing it on our own.

 

But when arriving early with plenty of time to spare, we take exactly the opposite approach because we would much rather take a taxi or rent a car than sit around waiting for them to fill a bus.

 

Like you Denny, we also try to avoid flying in on the day of departure, but on rare occasions a situation arises where that becomes necessary.

 

Now that I think about it, I cannot recall ever being asked to show an airline ticket when boarding a transfer shuttle. All we ever needed to show was the transfer ticket or voucher.

Edited August 2, 2018 by fleckle