Earliest disembarkation from Dawn San Juan

[Trimone]

What do you think would be the earliest disembarkation from the Dawn, docking hopefully at 5.30 am in San Juan.

 

Obviously we would carry off cases ourselves.

[rjm11]

When we sailed out of San Juan two years ago it was around 7:30-8:00.  Beware though, at least for that cruise, the line through customs was enormous- over 2 hours.  This was around 9am.  It was worth it to pay a porter (who were located all the way to the right of the huge customs room)- they were able to get us through the security line faster because they had their own customs line.  Even with the porters it was probably 30-45 minutes, but still much quicker.  Maybe this has improved- I'm reporting from November 2016.

[newmexicoNita]

It seems like our experience has been the time it takes to get through customs often depends on the day of the week. I am not sure how much time is saved by doing self walk off but it certainly is popular. We choose to do like rjm suggested. Anyway, make sure you allow enough time before booking your flights. Regardless how early the ship will dock it is unlikely you will be able to even start exiting the ship before about 8:30. Good luck and enjoy your cruise. 

[brookie848]

We sailed in the November of 2017. We docked a little early and the ship cleared early (before the scheduled 6:00 a.m. time). We had never sailed out of Puerto Rico before, so I was a little worried about customs and the airport (especially since this wasn't long after the hurricanes). We walked off the ship maybe around 6:30 and ended up having to kill time at the airport before we could check our luggage.

[VideoTech]

I'm assuming the OP's question has to do with the usual speculation about how early a flight one can make when disembarking from a cruise. 

 

All the usual "if's" apply to this question, but also remember that there's one unusual hurdle at the San Juan airport that isn't present at U.S. mainland ports: All your checked and large carry on baggage has to go through a USDA agriculture inspection machine before you can even take it to the counter to be checked. That line can be long and slow too. 

 

I wouldn't treat flight selection out of San Juan any differently than I'd treat any other port & airport. I'd take a flight at noon or later, maybe 11 am at the earliest. That removes the stress of feeling like you've got to rush, rush, rush or you'll miss your flight!

[tacoville]

Sailed November 2018.  Disembarked in San Juan for flight home the Sunday before Thanksgiving.  We got transfers through NCL from the port to the airport.  You can do that even if you make your own flight arrangements.  I've never cruised before and didn't want to chase taxis all over San Juan.  This couldn't have been easier and, maybe we were lucky, but we did not encounter any lines anywhere along the way.  I think we docked around 6am, the ship was "cleared" fairly quickly and we saw people getting off the ship shortly after carrying their own bags.  We got breakfast and waited for our color to be called, probably around 8-8:30ish.  But, it was a repositioning cruise and not full passenger capacity so that may influence timing of things.

 

If you are catching a flight look into the transfer, have a porter assist you with your bags to the bus, they zip right along and you zip right along with them, the bags will go from the bus to the USDA checkpoint (which was right where the bus stopped).  By the time we got off the bus our bags were tagged from the checkpoint and ready for us to check-in for our flight.

 

[Tanker]

We are planning our cruise on the Freedom for this Sep and would like to know what to expect at SJU for our return flights.  How are the lines at the San Juan airport for return flights on Sunday's.  Last time we flew out the lines were extremely long and it took us several hours to get from curb to gate.  Based on the posts I am reading it is recommended to take flight at noon or later.  Is that still the case?  Thanks! 

[bostonfred]

Sailed past cruise....people were walking off by seven....customs was a breeze, 10 minutes