Difference between Mediterranean Vs Caribbean experience on the Epic?

[Bra_BE2014]

Hi Everyone!

I've done 4 cruises on the Epic from Barcelona in the past and am about to take my first Caribbean (Southern 11 day) cruise next Jan 26th.

I was wondering if anyone that has experienced both could give me some pointers on what to expect for the onboard experience, debarkation, etc compared to the Med. I'm debating if 9:30 AM is too early for an international flight back home.

 

Thanks in advance!!!

 

Priscila

[KeithJenner]

Disembarkation is different, in that there is immigration. I've done two Caribbean cruises and on one occasion we queued for maybe 5-10 minutes at immigration. On the other occasion it was 30 minutes plus. Nothing like the Barcelona walk off.

 

I would certainly not go for a 9.30am international flight, although it depends a bit on when you are arriving at Miami. If you are trying to get off early you may find queues and you don't have much room for delays there.

[Nola26]

What's your next flight option? This one requires a 7:30am arrival at the airport. 

 

I encourage using an NCL transfer either one that tours San Juan prior to dropping you at the airport or direct ride to the airport. Those will make your departure easier. NCL has departure time guidelines to match their transfers. 

 

I loved the ports and post cruise tour and transfer after my 7day cruise. 

[KeithJenner]

Apologies, for some reason I just assumed you would be disembarking at Miami. It doesn't alter my view that 9.30 is too early though.

[MeHeartCruising]

In my opinion, 9:30am is way too early to make an international (or any) flight when you have to factor in US Immigration Control.   There is just too much uncertainty on how long it will take.  Even with fast processing, a 9:30 flight would be very tight.  I generally do not book flights before Noon. 

[mcmomny]

On board experiences, in Europe it felt more "grown up" and sophisticated. Very few kids, we were traveling mid Sept.

Everyone was exhausted from long port days so it was pretty quiet at night.

I think people dressed up more and the bars were always busy with people relaxing with their before dinner drinks.

Dinning was relaxed and like I said grown up

We only did one night show as we were so exhausted

Our at sea day was spent in H2O and a lot of relaxing fun getting to know people

 

The Epic in the Caribbean was a constant loud bunch of people and tons of kids, everyone seemed in a hurry to get somewhere and not relaxing and enjoying the cruise. Rude behavior at the buffet and rude towards the poor bartenders who couldn't keep up with the unlimited beverage drunks.

We did a lot more shows and enjoyed them all

We did find some quiet spots but we also enjoy stupid people watching and there was a lot of it on our Caribbean cruise.

 

We have sailed The Epic twice and really liked her both times, now looking forward to The Getaway!

[Bra_BE2014]

Thank you all! I guess the trip summary saying the ship arrives back in San Juan at 5:30 AM is a bit misleading, as indeed that doesnt mean I will be able to walk off so early. I have a 2PM flight option, I'll go for that one.

 

Experience wise, I'm thinking to book a Spa pass and specialty dining to escape if things get too loud and crazy. The solo meetings were so much fun in the Med, hoping it will be as fun in the Caribben :-)

[Nola26]

18 hours ago, Bra_BE2014 said:

Thank you all! I guess the trip summary saying the ship arrives back in San Juan at 5:30 AM is a bit misleading, as indeed that doesnt mean I will be able to walk off so early. I have a 2PM flight option, I'll go for that one.

 

Experience wise, I'm thinking to book a Spa pass and specialty dining to escape if things get too loud and crazy. The solo meetings were so much fun in the Med, hoping it will be as fun in the Caribben 🙂

 

Edited August 25, 2019 by Nola26
nevermind

[Stinger-pr]

I am local to Puerto Rico so I don't have to worry about flights post cruise. But I can relate to disembarkation from a NCL ship (Dawn) at the terminal the Epic will be using for its inaugural winter season homestead from San Juan. While the ship will be dockside at 5:30am, the process to get passengers off will not start until about 7:30am. Hopefully the disembarkation process on the Epic will be less of a mess than the one I experienced on the Dawn last year (2018). They asked that everyone be out if the staterooms by 8am but the process to get everyone off was painfully slow and this caused major bottlenecks at the gangway. We had a high group number (NCL calls out guests by groups to head for the gangway to exit on debarkation) and it was obvious that the person calling out the groups had no idea what was going on below. We waited for almost one hour AFTER our group was called (about half of that time on the Promenade in the morning sun) to finally cross the gangway into the terminal. 

 

Traffic is also and issue: You will have the Epic and RC's Freedom of the Seas debarking at the same time in the terminal right next door. Pick-up areas are very small and the road is just one lane in, one lane out for both terminals and traffic jams last for hours. When we got off the Dawn, it took our relative who was picking us up over one hour to drive less than one mile. There will be taxis there at the start of debarkation but as they start to leave it might take a while for others to cycle back in to the terminal due to this.

 

The trip to the airport is about 15-20 minutes and once there you need to scan all your bags on the USDA scanners BEFORE checking in and/or checking bags. Then you go through TSA which will likely take a while as well.

 

This might be a (too?) long post but I just wanted to give you an idea of what you might face so you guys can make a more informed decision when booking flights out of PR. Having said that I never recommend anyone take a flight before 11am. You could make something before 11am work if you are one of the first passengers to leave but 9:30am would be overkill, IMHO.

[Sweetnspicy]

21 hours ago, Bra_BE2014 said:

Thank you all! I guess the trip summary saying the ship arrives back in San Juan at 5:30 AM is a bit misleading, as indeed that doesnt mean I will be able to walk off so early. I have a 2PM flight option, I'll go for that one.

 

Experience wise, I'm thinking to book a Spa pass and specialty dining to escape if things get too loud and crazy. The solo meetings were so much fun in the Med, hoping it will be as fun in the Caribben 🙂

We booked a 2pm flight home from this same cruise. We only had a couple of options and this seemed this least crazy. I’m hoping to just be the last people off and leisurely make our way to the airport. 

[Bra_BE2014]

3 hours ago, Stinger-pr said:

I am local to Puerto Rico so I don't have to worry about flights post cruise. But I can relate to disembarkation from a NCL ship (Dawn) at the terminal the Epic will be using for its inaugural winter season homestead from San Juan. While the ship will be dockside at 5:30am, the process to get passengers off will not start until about 7:30am. Hopefully the disembarkation process on the Epic will be less of a mess than the one I experienced on the Dawn last year (2018). They asked that everyone be out if the staterooms by 8am but the process to get everyone off was painfully slow and this caused major bottlenecks at the gangway. We had a high group number (NCL calls out guests by groups to head for the gangway to exit on debarkation) and it was obvious that the person calling out the groups had no idea what was going on below. We waited for almost one hour AFTER our group was called (about half of that time on the Promenade in the morning sun) to finally cross the gangway into the terminal. 

 

Traffic is also and issue: You will have the Epic and RC's Freedom of the Seas debarking at the same time in the terminal right next door. Pick-up areas are very small and the road is just one lane in, one lane out for both terminals and traffic jams last for hours. When we got off the Dawn, it took our relative who was picking us up over one hour to drive less than one mile. There will be taxis there at the start of debarkation but as they start to leave it might take a while for others to cycle back in to the terminal due to this.

 

The trip to the airport is about 15-20 minutes and once there you need to scan all your bags on the USDA scanners BEFORE checking in and/or checking bags. Then you go through TSA which will likely take a while as well.

 

This might be a (too?) long post but I just wanted to give you an idea of what you might face so you guys can make a more informed decision when booking flights out of PR. Having said that I never recommend anyone take a flight before 11am. You could make something before 11am work if you are one of the first passengers to leave but 9:30am would be overkill, IMHO.

 

This is really helpful, thank you! I will definitely book the 2 PM flight then!