Sailing out of San Juan

[mom23guys]

We are trying to decide if we should go out of San Juan. I am in charge of finding a cruise for our friends for next year. I like the choices of islands out of San Juan. We are getting tired of the St. Maarten, St. Thomas itinerary and have done Western to death. We want to see some new areas. I was reading some reviews of both Celebrity and Royal cruises. The Royal reviews frequently mentions long line at embarkation and also rude passenger( cutting in lines- not following the rules or just not making nice) I haven't seen any mention of this in The Summit reviews. I've been to San Juan on other cruises and love it but we've never embarked here.

How would you describe your cruise experiences out of San Juan? Heck Im from the NY Metro area so Im not shrinking violet myself.

 

[Funtimes1023]

We have sailed the summit out of San Juan three or 4 times and Royal once. Love the port intensive itinerary and have always been on the ship fairly early.

 

[davekathy]

9 minutes ago, mom23guys said:

We are trying to decide if we should go out of San Juan. I am in charge of finding a cruise for our friends for next year. I like the choices of islands out of San Juan. We are getting tired of the St. Maarten, St. Thomas itinerary and have done Western to death. We want to see some new areas. I was reading some reviews of both Celebrity and Royal cruises. The Royal reviews frequently mentions long line at embarkation and also rude passenger( cutting in lines- not following the rules or just not making nice) I haven't seen any mention of this in The Summit reviews. I've been to San Juan on other cruises and love it but we've never embarked here.

How would you describe your cruise experiences out of San Juan? Heck Im from the NY Metro area so Im not shrinking violet myself.

 

We like leaving out of San Juan and have done many times as B2B cruises. We like leaving out of SJ because the itineraries are more port intensive. One maybe two sea days is enough for us. I consider any review positive or negative the opinion and experiences of that poster. I respect their opinions but would never book or not book a cruise line, ship, itinerary based on others reviews, opinions or experiences. We're doing a B2B cruise out of SJ on the Freedom Of The Seas March 2019. Like all our cruises we are looking forward to it. We don't mind if we've been to the ports before. No biggie. 

Edited January 1, 2019 by davekathy

[14cruisegirl]

We sailed out of San Juan in October. I felt like we had a bonus port the last day. It is beautiful and had a great time walking around the port and seeing the forts. Good luck! 

[rollie]

One thing to consider is, getting to SJ.  Depending where everyone is coming from this can be a complicated and pricy proposition.  Another option could be a longer cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale.  A 10, 11 day or longer cruise will visit these southern Caribbean ports.

 

Rollie

[Atwell]

17 hours ago, mom23guys said:

We are trying to decide if we should go out of San Juan. I am in charge of finding a cruise for our friends for next year. I like the choices of islands out of San Juan. We are getting tired of the St. Maarten, St. Thomas itinerary and have done Western to death. We want to see some new areas. I was reading some reviews of both Celebrity and Royal cruises. The Royal reviews frequently mentions long line at embarkation and also rude passenger( cutting in lines- not following the rules or just not making nice) I haven't seen any mention of this in The Summit reviews. I've been to San Juan on other cruises and love it but we've never embarked here.

How would you describe your cruise experiences out of San Juan? Heck Im from the NY Metro area so Im not shrinking violet myself.

 

 

We have sailed from San Juan many times and have never experienced the behavior you mention.  We highly recommend sailing from San Juan.  One of the big benefits is that you have beautiful weather from the very beginning of your cruise (if during December-March) versus sailing from Florida where you lose at least 1 day each direction due to cooler weather until you get further south.

[XtaSea]

We've also sailed the Summit out of San Juan several times and always go a day or two early to enjoy the city. Either Old Town or Condado are great for a pre-cruise visit...fun and safe places to stay, wander, drink, eat and prepare for the cruise. We like it a lot better than Miami or Ft. Lauderdale, and it's really not that much longer of a flight. Like you, we're tired of many of the islands so we're happy the Summit is adding the ABC islands to some of their 7-night sailings (we've booked one for early 2020).

 

 

[phoenix_dream]

We have sailed out of San Juan many times and never had any issues at all.  The only real downside has been the higher flight price (than to MIA or FLL).  I guess another downside per se is that you have a choice of one ship - Summit.  We have had mixed opinions of her - most sailings great but a couple where she was not up to par of other Celebrity ships.  However, I have not heard much in the way of negative reviews of late so I don't think I would hesitate to book her again, and even for those not up to par cruises, she was still more enjoyable than other lines we have sailed.

[jsf]

We also have sailed out of SJ many times, as others have said the airfare is more but I tell everyone the Caribbean is south of San Juan.

J.

[varoo]

Another plus to sailing the Summit out of San Juan that I don't think anyone has  mentioned yet is that next year after the "revolution" the Summit will be like a brand new ship.

 

As for the embarkation/debarkation port, San Juan has that vibe and charm about it that you just don't get when sailing from Miami or Ft. Lauderdale.

 

[PROCRUISE]

First, I love the Summit!

Cruised out of San Juan in January 2018 on the 11 day itinerary on The Viking Sea. Great embarkment and debarkation process. Of course old San Juan is great fun. No problems at the San Juan Airport, which can sometimes be a zoo. Really, no problems at all cruising out of this port and, in case you're interested, Viking Sea is simply phenomenal!