Millenium 8pm departure San Juan, 9am arrival flight, way too early?

[whataboutport]

Hi all. 

Haven't been on X for a while, never to SJ, and will be flying in from Vegas. Nothing is direct, so at least one layover. A good price flight with only a 1 hr layover gets me there at 9am. What time does the port start boarding for a 8pm departure time? What to do if I don't get a hotel and have to schlep around luggage for several hours?

 

Or should I get there one day earlier and stay at a hotel?

[Mark_K]

I don’t know post-covid, but prior to that in my experience boarding began at the normal late morning time

[garyl62]

I believe the boarding schedule is similar to most other ports, you should be able to get on around 11:00.  The late departure is to accommodate later arriving flights, but you can still enjoy the ship for the day.  No reason to get a hotel and pay for drinks when you can drop your bag in your cabin and use your drink package.  Now, the question about flying in day of sailing vs a day before is a whole other can of worms you've opened 😮

[cruisestitch]

Before the restart, if something happened and you were late getting to the ship, you could board at the next port. But no more. So keep that in mind when you are thinking about flying in on the same day the cruise departs. If for some reason you are delayed, you will miss the whole cruise

[whataboutport]

Thank you both. I'm thinking it might be better to tack on a night post cruise bc I'm seeing many late afternoon/evening flights back to Vegas without a ridiculous layover somewhere. I do love forts! And I hear PR is beautiful. Tho that still doesn't solve my luggage issue after the cruise and most hotels don't allow check in until after 3pm. Do most hotels around the world offer bag check like we do in Vegas?

[whataboutport]

1 minute ago, cruisestitch said:

Before the restart, if something happened and you were late getting to the ship, you could board at the next port. But no more. So keep that in mind when you are thinking about flying in on the same day the cruise departs. If for some reason you are delayed, you will miss the whole cruise

Yes I am aware of that change now. I feel confident about a 9am arrival and a 8pm departure tho, and i am planning on getting travel insurance.