Nightmare disembarking on AOS

[Karencruiser43]

Just returned home from AOS. We had a party of over 40 people all of us having a flight at noon out of San Juan. We had #3 tickets given to us to disembark. We thought we would be disembarking early with the #3 and because we had a noon flight. Not the case. Passengers with 2:00p.m. and lagter flights were getting off before us and also before passengers who had 11:00a.m. and 11:30a.m. flights. It seems no matter what time you put down for your return flight, this does not guarantee an early disembarkment. This was very stressful for the elderly people we had with us as half of the group had connecting flights overseas in New York. We made our flight within about 10 mins of boarding as did the other half of the group who were flying to New York. This really put a damper on our vacation. RC employees also were not checking the tickets, so technically anybody could get off at any time. We found this out too late unfortunately. I don't know what happened to the poor people who had flights at 11:00 and 11:30a.m. So, future passengers, keep this in mind if you have early flights. We were really upsest by this ordeal. We had had a fabulous cruise but are very disappointed with the way RC handled disembarkment. There were a lot of people who were very angry. Also one of the members in our group put her suitcase outside her room the night before disembarkment and the lock on her case was tampered with and broken, this also put a damper to the end of the cruise.

[Merion_Mom]

That is an unfortunate end to a lovely cruise. It is so selfish of people who COULD and SHOULD wait to just push their way to the front.

[Happy ks]

So, how was the cruise?

 

Give yourself a few days to get over this, then try to only remember the good parts of your trip. I'm sorry you had a sour ending, but you must let it go, especially since there is nothing that can be done about it now. Remember what happened and next time make your flight arrangements later. We even like to stay over an extra day, it's more relaxing, the airports aren't as crowded, sometimes we even save quite a bit on air fare the following day.

 

My dearly departed MIL used to drive me crazy when she would return from a vacation. I'd ask "how was your trip?" and she would only tell me about the flight home, including the life story of her seatmate.

[syndyj]

October 2nd, 2004 THAT was nightmare...port strike against Royal Caribbean (all other ships were not affected) and hours onboard, we did not get off the ship until the afternoon and missed our flight home. We had to spend one unexpected night in Puerto Rico. Be thankful that you got on your flight, though I know it would have been very stressful.

 

We had a really fantastic cruise and it was a very sour ending, for those who have never been through something like that it's pretty hard to feasily forget and focus on only the positives. I am sailing with Royal Caribbean again (took my husband a longer time to warm up to the idea as he was very upset for a long time) and I would never book a return flight for the day of disembarkation!

[texancruzer]

There have been many many many posts on here about what time to book a flight out of San Juan.

 

There have been many many many posts on here about all the things that can go wrong in San Juan getting off the ship, going thru customs etc, getting checked in at airport, security at airport etc etc....

 

You always need to be at San Juan airport AT LEAST 2 hours prior to your flight. Then you have to factor in taxi time, customs, immigration and just getting off the ship.

 

We had custom air with RCI and ended up cancelling it (we ate $200.00 worth of air charges) so we could book a later flight and not have the stress mentioned in the op's posts even though RCI assured us they would get us to the airport in time to make our flight.

 

I did this because I read the many many many posts on here :D

 

As far as people "cutting" in line - well that is the nature of some people.

I know that on the Serenade there was no way to make people go to the "back of the line" even if tickets were checked...... the hallway was full and no one was going backward thru that.

 

Was she aware that customs goes thru suitcases and should not be locked unless with a special lock they have a key for or one of those plastic tie type things? It could have been customs - they will break locks !

[wannabecruzn]

I have to agree with KARENCRUISER, I was on the same cruise with a noon flight to Dallas and a connecting flight. I was given a no. 4 tag. I had to go to guest relations at 930am and complain about the slow disembarking process. They gave me some 3's to try to help out.

What further complicated the process was I purchased transfers from the pier to the ariport for us and also purchased the transfers for our luggage and got our boarding passes on the ship (something new between RCI and AA). The luggage truck left 5min before we got there and our names were not on the roster for the shuttle to the airport and I could not find my packed ticket book (my fault).

One other thing I noticed was the lousy 'don't give a damn" attitude of the RCI employees on the pier.

A very poor ending to a fantastic cruise.

 

greg

[MGoBlue2]

Karencruizer43,

 

As I recall from our recent AOS cruise, early departure tickets were only for people whose flights were 11:00AM or before. And no, they don't order departure by flight time. There are two categories early flights (and Diamond members, etc.) and everyone else. So, it was likely that there were people with noon flights, 11:30AM flights, 2:00PM flights all mixed in together.

 

texancruzer,

 

Typically, customs opens your suitcase in your presence. That's why everyone has to carry their own bags though the customs checkpoint.

[Clarkk W Griswald]

The San Juan Airport is a nightmare in itself, let alone trying to depart a ship with 3000 passengers, most with the "me first" attitude. Keep in mind that some people with later flights need to depart early because they are going on excursions in San Juan. It's always best to plan for later flights, especially when you are trying to get and keep a group of 40 together.

 

Flying home is always stressful for us, mainly because it signals the end of vacation and the start of work! But, hopefully you had a great cruise, and with a little planning, next time will go better!

[grangermom]

Last month, we also sailed on AOS. It was a fabulous cruise, but the disembarking was truly a pain in the butt. The thing that is so maddening is that the RCI staff don't do anything to control the lines. People cut in from all directions. I wish they could set up some lanes like they do at the customer relations desk. We saw one man walking around, trying to cut in line, but to no avail. 15 minutes later, we saw the same guy being wheeled out in a wheelchair by RCI staff. I guess he found a way to get out of there quicker :rolleyes:

[texancruzer]

Regarding locking your suitcase.....

 

I guarantee you that all luggage goes through screening BEFORE you see it and walk it though customs. And if there is something they deem suspicious - it will be opened - locked or not.

 

We saw them tear one apart in Houston when coming back from Mazatlan in Sept. 04.....

 

It is just best not to pack jewelry, electronics or any thing of value.

[dougp26364]

I'm so sorry this happened to you and very glad you were able to make your flight. There is nothing worse than a stressful ending to a relaxing vacation. Sort of ruins the nature of the vacation.

 

This just highlights my decision to never book an early flight again and, most likely, book and extra nights stay when disembarking. Having missed one flight in Barcelona and finding out what a pain it can be (not to mention the stress), I swore to never do that trick again. From now on it's either a late flight out or stay an extra night.

 

For our next two cruises we're spending more than one night post cruise. In Seattle post cruise we'll spend 3 nights exploring the town. For our W. Caribbean cruise out of FLL we tacked on a weeks land based vacation.

 

I realize this can't be done by everyone and it's those times when one should condsider booking cruise/air through RCI and putting the weight on their shoulders rather than your own.

 

There is nothing worse than having to run through the airport trying to catch a flight or having other passengers who just want to get off first, just because, delaying the passengers who really DO need to get off the ship to catch a flight. From now on, I'll take the late flight and lounge on the ship watching other people worry about their flights. People cutting in line won't stress me out (tick me off yes but stress me out no). It's a vacation and I don't want to end it on a stressful note anymore.

[hardingk]

We sailed on AOS this past September and we too encountered the same thing you did disembarking. We are diamond members and when they called the first color to get off, everyone tried to get off. It took over an hour to walk about 20 feet. People were coming down the stairs just cutting into line and only one person was taking the sea pass card. There was NO RCL crew members anywhere to be found to help or control the situation.

 

Our flight back to NY wasn't until the late afternoon, so we actually got a day room at the Hampton Inn and spent the afternoon there. It turned out to be a great idea bc there was a really bad thunderstorm and our flight was delayed over 2 hours. I couldn't have imagined sitting in that airport for 8 hours!

[texancruzer]

"I realize this can't be done by everyone and it's those times when one should condsider booking cruise/air through RCI and putting the weight on their shoulders rather than your own."

 

This is exactly why we cancelled our custom air thru RCI. They booked us on a 10:45 flight out of San Juan..... said no problem - we would make it.

 

Well when I did a little digging I found out that IF YOU MISS YOUR FLIGHT THEY WILL TRY to get you on another flight out but chances are that is not going to happen since most later flights will be booked and some overbooked..... therefore you end up sitting at the airport on standby until there are no flights left - then they put you up in a hotel (no say so on which one) until the next day. In our case since Serenade came in on Sat. am that would be Sunday and there are numerous other cruise ships coming back into port on Sunday in which case those flights are also full......

 

So...we just booked a 3:07 flight and took our time - no rush - no stress - no hurry. Got to the airport and played Texas Hold em in the lounge for 3 hrs. while eating lunch.

[Elva]

October 2nd, 2004 THAT was nightmare...port strike against Royal Caribbean (all other ships were not affected) and hours onboard, we did not get off the ship until the afternoon and missed our flight home. We had to spend one unexpected night in Puerto Rico. Be thankful that you got on your flight, though I know it would have been very stressful.

 

We had a really fantastic cruise and it was a very sour ending, for those who have never been through something like that it's pretty hard to feasily forget and focus on only the positives. I am sailing with Royal Caribbean again (took my husband a longer time to warm up to the idea as he was very upset for a long time) and I would never book a return flight for the day of disembarkation!

 

We were waiting in the terminal to get ON BOARD the ship and I remember it well. In fact, we felt really lucky to be IN the terminal and not in the line that snaked around the outside of the terminal for hours. It was a nightmare!!

[cb at sea]

Maybe it would be better NOT to use San Juan as your home port! Too many horror stories! I'll stick with Miami! They seem to have this cruise thing down to an art!

[wrp96]

Maybe it would be better NOT to use San Juan as your home port! Too many horror stories! I'll stick with Miami! They seem to have this cruise thing down to an art!

 

I've had worse luck with Miami. Miami's where I missed my flight home after my Voyager cruise.

[bplazo]

When we disembarked from the Serenade in San Juan we were off the ship and had our luggage in 15 minutes. It was the easiest disembarking we have ever had.

[bankofdad]

Maybe it would be better NOT to use San Juan as your home port! Too many horror stories! I'll stick with Miami! They seem to have this cruise thing down to an art!

 

My worse debarkation experience was in Miami getting off of Carnival Triumph. Stood in line for an unbelievable amount of time after leaving the gang way. For whatever reason, my embarkation expereinces in Miami have always been legnthy as well (we've experimented with different port arrival times, and it always seems the same). Of the four ports I've sailed from, Miami is my least favoite, but that's JMHO. Maybe just my luck of the draw!:eek:

 

Reading all of this is making me glad we're staying an extra day post-cruise, but we'll still plan to get to the airport early (in case many others had that idea, to).

 

Thanks to everyone for contributing experiences!

[Former Goalie]

As someone who used SJU to/from AOS, I'll say getting off the plane was OK, getting on that Sunday would have been a nightmare, had not our porter sped us through.

All leaving SJU, be prepared for lines and waits. Book flights accordingly or, as some have mentioned, book flights the day after the cruise, if that is possible.