Flight time - San Juan

[CruisingSince1982]

Hi - are we safe booking a 11:55am flight out of San Juan after our cruise? If it makes a difference, we are in the Haven. The next available time would be 1pm. Not that big of a deal to wait the extra hour, but I'd like to take the noon flight if it's possible. The ship is the Epic. Thank you. 

[robcolem]

Will you be choosing to carry off your own bags?  If so you could leave the ship early versus those leaving who had checked their bags to be carried off the ship.  If you booked a transfer with NCL then they'll give you a departure time to get off the ship based on your flight departure time.

 

[CruisingSince1982]

We can take our own bags off, yes. No NCL transfer. We will just grab a cab, if it's easy to do so. 

[ColeThornton]

Personally, I would take the 1300 flight time,    I never want to end my cruise stressing about my flight time if we get delayed a bit getting off the ship, which can happen for many reasons.

[CruisingSince1982]

1 minute ago, ColeThornton said:

Personally, I would take the 1300 flight time,    I never want to end my cruise stressing about my flight time if we get delayed a bit getting off the ship, which can happen for many reasons.

Very true

[Oakman58]

You're talking about a difference of 1 hour and 5 minutes.  I would take the later flight just in case customs had a major slow down.  It happens!

Under normal conditions you should be able to make the 11:55 AM flight.

[don't-use-real-name]

Do the Walk-Off with luggage in hand - grab a cab - you will be OK - - -

This unless the longshoremen have trouble tying the ship up or the pilot and ship are late docking.

Still yet you should be OK

 

If you have TSA Pre-Ck or any airline affinity (flying First or Business Class) the early flights

should not be much of a problem getting you to the gate on time.

Of consideration is your destination on the mainland a non-stop one - OK -

if making connections review your options going early gives you more connection time.

 

If things have not changed I believe that there is some kind of agriculture pre-baggage check-in

before you get to the airline counter - readers a little help here - not a serious concern for time. 

[Oakman58]

Yes, just after entering the San Juan airport there was an USDA inspection station that we had to go through and a sticker was placed on our bags.

 

[BermudaBound2014]

I'd go with the later flight. The inspection line in San Juan can be super time consuming pre-covid. Getting workers back to their job sites is proving a challenge in many areas. I'm erroring on the side of lots of extra travel time for the next year or so. We just don't know how similar things are going to be once we get back up and running. If the second flight was 5:00 p.m. I'd say take the noon, but an extra hour in the airport isn't a big deal. Less stress.

[CruisingSince1982]

We took the 1pm flight. Thanks everyone!! 

[mpdog42]

5 hours ago, Oakman58 said:

Yes, just after entering the San Juan airport there was an USDA inspection station that we had to go through and a sticker was placed on our bags.

 

Just going to mention that....It's a hassle

[kitty-sail]

If I remember correctly, it was a distance from the pier to the airport.  Leave as early as possible, but don't forget to enjoy a good final Haven breakfast first. Love those chocolate filled croissants.

[don't-use-real-name]

2 hours ago, kitty-sail said:

If I remember correctly, it was a distance from the pier to the airport.  Leave as early as possible, but don't forget to enjoy a good final Haven breakfast first. Love those chocolate filled croissants.

Once leaving your ship you have about a city block to walk to a cab stand.

If you didn't walk-off with luggage - you will pass the luggage claim and therein

a penalty waiting time to claim your tagged color coded luggage (Avoid this).

 

NCL generally uses the Pan Am pier but has used the Old Town #4

 

There are two distance factors to work with here at San Juan -

The Old Town pier # 4 (Viejo San Juan) about 7.x miles to airport

and The Pan American pier (Isla Grande) about 6.x miles

 

Reference map LINK:

You can zoom in - out and pan left right for more detail - - -

Google Maps

 

Both of these meet at Highway 26 which is the direct best route and about 5 miles to the airport.

Time of the day weather and any holiday or festival traffic 20 - 30 minutes +/- YM&TMV.

 

San Juan Terminal Map(s)

 

 san juan airport terminal map - Bing

[missnd]

I made an 11:18am flight with tons of time to spare.  I walked off with my bag just about as early as I was able and got an Uber.  Getting the Uber that early was a little tricky.  I had to wait a bit, and there was another guy who wasn't able to get one at all who ended up just riding with me.  Once I got to the airport, I had time for a sit down breakfast and still felt like I was there way too early.

[don't-use-real-name]

misshd

 

Of course being that early you beat the far maddening crowds bravo !

 

Consider if your ship is the only one in port that day !

 

Better early rather than just in time for the airline to lower the boom on your check in time and

required presence at the gate before departure.

[prov2727]

One of the few hiccups I experienced on my last cruise was disembarking the Epic in San Juan so I would say take the later flight. (They neglected to call our color and it didn't show up on the TV until the next color was called. Then the walk-off with luggage, our color and the next one were all trying to leave the ship at the same time and it was chaos.) My flight left at 2:50 so it didn't end up being an issue but I think noon would have been pushing it. The extra scanning at the USDA didn't take too long for me.