Transfers in San Juan ** think twice **

[BTDookie]

:mad: Think twice about buying the post-cruise transfers from X if sailing in/out of San Juan if you are not dealing with an airline that offers luggage transfers/checkin at the dock.

 

When I returned on 2/4, because I was flying Delta, I had to tote my luggage to a huge pile outside the cruise terminal and leave it there to be loaded into a panel truck, which would meet us at the airport. Meet us at the airport turned into a 60 minute wait outside Terminal B along with people from RCCL and Princess. 5-6 bus loads of passengers would disgorge onto the sidewalk, then a lone panel truck would show up loaded with bags. People were all over the place trying to determine which ship the bags were from, then wait while 2 guys unloaded hundreds of bags onto the sidewalk that was packed with people. It was chaos! Then the whole security issue is major because the bags were sitting around completely unsupervised.

 

The company managing these transfers could have given a big you know what about our dissatisfaction. They claimed that the process used to be worse (impossible) and this was their new process. OMG!

 

Once I did rejoin my baggage, life was good. The Delta 1st class/Medallion line awaited me, a 30 minute wait in security (not bad considering 6000 passengers were hitting San Juan that day), and the Crown Room awaited :) By then I did need a stiff drink.

 

DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT do this post cruise transfer unless you have all day to kill and a ton of patience. People with early flights were missing their flights.:mad:

 

Take a taxi from the dock to the airport! It may cost $20.

 

Pre-cruise was different. We taxied from the airport to the hotel in Old San Juan ($20) (a day early) and had a great transfer experience from the hotel to the ship on sailing day. We left our bags with the bellman and saw them again when they were delivered to our stateroom later that day.:) ;)

[MayrMN]

For the record, it was $22 from the airport to the ship, so I assume it was the same on the way back. We took a tour so I don't know.

 

What I was very disappointed with was that the whole Baggage thing I'd heard about with RCCL and X was only for American. Serious bummer!!

[BTDookie]

I think that was to take your baggage directly from ship to airport. USAir had a check-in desk right at the dock. That would have helped some. We paid $20 from airport to old san juan- 2 large bags and 2 people. I know they do charge per bag with the taxis.

[GaryNFla]

;) We met a lovely couple at the airport while waiting for our bags to arrive and split a taxi (van). !0.00 per couple plus a 2.00 tip..easy as pie

[greeneg]

I had printed out our boarding passes ( on-line check-in) in St. Thomas the day before. We did the USAir check in at the Port Terminal, went just as smooth as silk. Took the bus to the airport, got puffed, went to the gate, got on the plane.

Luggage came through in Charlotte without problems.

[on my way]

Take a taxi.

 

Pre-cruise. In the baggage pick up area of the airport there is a taxi kiosk with an attendant. Tell them you need a taxi, they will take all the relevant information (number of people, bags). Then you wait outside for a few minutes in line and get in a taxi. Very simple. About $20 to get to the cruise ship pier. We had 4 adults and 2 children. It was much cheaper than the transfers.

 

Post-cruise. You pass through customs and pick up your bags. You walk outside and there are taxis lined up as far as the eye can see. Jump in the first available taxi and head to the airport.

 

You always have your luggage with you and no one is losing it. If there are two people it will cost you the same as the ship transfers.

[chip1950]

I was disappointed by the transportation both coming and going in San Juan.

 

Everywhere else the Celebrity people that meet you at the airport are so friendly and helpful. In San Juan it was "when you get your bags walk to the far end of the baggage claim". When we got there they asked for our luggage claim checks and left us standing there. When he came back he said "follow me" and headed off at high speed leaving us to try to keep up. We walked back to the middle of the airport (inside), went outside back to where we had been -- by this time we had almost caught up (in traffic). He pointed to a truck where we gave our bags up. Walked back to a bus (across from where we went outside), finally boarded a bus for the boat hot sweaty and breathing hard. Not Celebrity's normal service.

 

The cruise was great -- food, service, ship, etc.

 

Coming back we had a post cruise stay, through Celebrity, at the El Convento in Old San Juan. The voucher said that Celebrity people would meet us when we cleared the baggage area -- no one around. I chose the wrong line, the one for taxis, instead of walking to the Far End whch I was somehow supposed to know about. When I got there they told me that they were not allowed to take busses to the hotel anymore, understandable because of the narrow streets. He walked us halfway back to the taxi stand and told us to "see the lady over there, save your receipt and the hotel will refund your money" and he headed back to the desk. Again, not Celebrity's best moment.

 

Based on our experiences elsewhere I put most of the blame on the Port Authority. Sorry to sound negative but we were surprised at the difference.

 

BTW, the El Convento is Great!

[BTDookie]

Well, no troubles pre-cruise. We booked a pre-cruise deal through X. The hotel voucher did say that we were to be informed through a letter a check-in about transfer to the ship when we checked into the hotel. When this did not happen, I called the front desk to ask them why. Basically they claim X never provides these letters.... OK. So, they told me to have my bags in the lobby by noon and that I would be on the shuttle to the ship by 1. While that all worked just fine, not sure how I was to learn this without having called down to the desk. It seems like X overcommits?

 

We stayed at the Sheraton in Old San Juan and it was good. But I feel I could have done better on my own $$ wise.

 

I wasn't expecting to be met by X at the airport so I can't comment on all that.

 

And, while I would love to take advantage of the dockside luggage check-in or even the luggage valet stuff, living in Atlanta I fly Delta. So if there is a next time in San Juan, I will be doing a taxi and making my own hotel reservations locally.

 

Seems like disembarkation at FLL was much smoother.