Early Morning Flight Out After Golden

[Beach710]

I am considering sailing on the Golden in Oct. and researching flights. It seems the only reasonable (cost and convenience) flight out would be at 10:10 am. Even though the ship arrives at port at 6:00am, Princess does not recommend booking a flight before 10:45 am.

 

Can anyone advise on the distance from the airport and availability of taxi's ect. I would like all the information I can gather before making this risky decision. Thank you in advance.

 

Donna

[zuggie]

The good news - It's just a 20 minute ride to the airport, and there's always lots of taxis. The bad news - even though the ship docks at 6 am, the earliest they start letting people off would probably be around 8 or 8:30 - and you would have to arrange in advance to be amongst the first off. And that would be if there were no snags with customs - which, if so, keeps everyone on the ship for awhile. Also, the airport at San Juan is known for long, long lines checking in - especially on cruise ship days. The key just might be where they do customs - in San Juan, or in the preceding port.

If they do it in the port before, the ship would then be cleared before arriving in San Juan, and things would move along much faster.

 

We ran into the same problem once with an early flight, and just decided to stay over that night, and catch the same early flight the next day. We had a wonderful afternoon and evening enjoying the beach and Old San Juan, with no worries about making a flight.

[Coolmama_1]

We enjoyed the Golden in July and ran into the same problem. Rather than stress about getting to the airport, we stayed over till Monday in OSJ and are so glad we did. We got the opportunity to relax and enjoy Old San Juan and El Morro.

Keep in mind also that the Carnival Destiny and AOS are also docking. Add the fact that people are coming in to cruise right behind you and that is alot of congestion.

If you can, stay until Monday.

[Beach710]

Thank you for the response. I would love to spend the day in San Juan but unfortunately I have to be back at work Monday morning. I was kind of hoping an early morning flight would help avoid congestion. I am not sure what to do. I would hate to miss this cruise because of the bad flight times.

[azdmelani]

Donna...

 

I am on the Golden October 3rd and had the same problem... from SJU to EWR the 8 am and 10am flights were considerably cheaper than the 2 pm direct flight. I ended up getting a connecting flight back to cleveland (yeah, totally stinks, but what can you do) for $243. My friend who is going on the cruise was not able to get that price and had to settle for $303.

 

I called princess to double check and they said the earliest flight back they will let you off the ship for is a 10:45. I will put it this way... would you rather spend the duration of the cruise wondering if you will make your return flight (and worry about the hassle of getting on another flight if you cant) or just take a later one and relax?

 

If you go to sidestep.com you can download a companion that searches all airlines (including jetblue and song) for those dates and will find you lowest priced air....

 

good luck!

[lblk]

Does anyone remember how expensive a cab ride is from the ship to the airport? We are trying to decide between cruise ship transfers or a taxi.

[Coolmama_1]

We took a cab from OSJ so I don't remember except it is less than the transfers and faster. Cabs are regulated and the fare will be standard plus .50 per bag. It is most likely 25.00 or less with tip.