What would you do?

[bluefintuna]

We live north of Boston and if it's January we always fly into Florida a day early and San Juan definately a day early. With only one flight that would be very stressful.

[Chexmix]

Yes it is a non stop flight but the only flight to San Juan for the day - so if for some reason they can't leave I believe we are stuck??

 

 

Just out of curiosity has the airline changed your flight times yet? If so you may be able to get them to change your date for free. Its worth asking. Just tell them that the times do not correspond with your schedule. (Don't tell them you will be on a ship after you get there.)

 

This has worked for me in the past with Delta.

 

As for hotels I can't help you there but if you visit the San Jaun ports of call board I'm sure there are many reccomendations there.

[mcorrus]

Hey there, having lived in PR and flown in and out of San Juan at least a dozen times, I say fly a day early if you can. There is a Wyndahm directly across from the cruise terminals that you can check rates on, I don't know how pricey it will be but its worth the piece of mind. When we lived there we went on the Inspiration and stayed the night before our cruise at this hotel, but we did it because Hurrican Georges was on a direct course for the island. My hubby was military and we were afraid they were going to lock down the base and we wouldn't be able to get off to go to the ship the next day. I think we paid like $200 for the night. http://www.wyndham.com/main.wnt?cid=ROMSSP1 As for San Juan airport, we had more problems with delayed luggage while we lived there that anytime we flew back home to Maryand we knew to expect our luggage the next day:)

 

Good luck!!!

[fllady61]

Yes it is a non stop flight from Minneapolis, MN to San Juan

 

If I had travel insurance would it cover if we missed the ship because of weather delay with the airline?

 

 

Check out www.insuremytrip.com read what some of them do.

 

We live close to the port we leave from, so we go the morning of. But we have friends who come in a day early just in case.

 

If there should arrive overnight a bad storm, and you flight is postponed, you could miss the boat.

 

Insurance also is handy if you are going during the Hurricaine season. You never know when you may get cancelled due to a storm. If you don't have nsurance, you are out the cost of the cruise. With insurance, you at least get your money back.

[ShedQueen77]

We're from Iowa and are flying to San Juan and sailing Destiny on December 30. We decided to go in to PR a day early to try and avoid a potential weather delay. Air travel in the Midwest during the winter is just too unpredictable to take a chance. We paid to change the tickets and found a room at the Courtyard San Juan Marriott for a one night stay.

 

On the San Juan "Port of Call" board, I posted a link with some maps that really helped me decide which hotel to use. I found ones based on location first and then read the reviews from CC and TripAdvisor and checked prices.

 

HTH :)

[CruiseCentric]

There is a Wyndahm directly across from the cruise terminals that you can check rates on, I don't know how pricey it will be but its worth the piece of mind. . I think we paid like $200 for the night. http://www.wyndham.com/main.wnt?cid=ROMSSP1

 

Good luck!!!

The Wyndham has been a Sheraton for the past 2+ years. The OP already said they were sold out.

[dlstjs]

We had a group of 11 fly out of Minneapolis on SunCountry the end of Jan. 2006 and had no problems at all, we were on the Destiny by early afternoon. Its true we have no control over MN winters but for what it would cost you to change your flights I would put that money towards good travel insurance, relax and have a good vacation.

[tjcox5]

As a retired airline pilot I always go a day early. Things can easily go wrong, weather, mechanical, etc. Even with travel insurance you still miss part of your vacation. And as an added bonus you can use the extra time to explore P.R.

[Fairsky]

I used to live in the northeast and when we went on a cruise to Antarctica, we chose to leave several days early....the only mistake we made is we decided on a stop to North Carolina instead on New Jersey..bad mistake....North Carolina had a serious blizzard the day we arrived and we were not able to fly onto Miami until the next day....the storm actually hit our city the day we would have left for Miami so we would have missed out on a day in Santiago Chile...there was couple from NY and they just made our flight to Ushuaia...our flight out of Santiago actually waited for them

 

I now live in Florida...so I just leave from a port in Florida...no stress with flights...

[Homeseller]

As a person who also lives in an area where there is SNOW and knowing that this white stuff falling out of the sky can, and often does, cause delays at the airport. and knowing that you don't want to be sitting on the dock in the bay watching your ship go by without being on it I would recogmend going in a day early and avoiding all the stress.

[kiraryker]

Wow Thanks for all the opinions!!! I have read all of them and given them to my hubby - but now we are at the opposite ends!! He says to save the money and use it on our excursions & cruise and I say to spend the money just for peace of mind!!!!

 

GRRRR

 

Either way it'll be something that either he was right or I was right but which one to choose????

 

I don't want to be standing on the pier watching our ship sail and he doesn't want to possibly waste $600 to get there a day early.

[Slowboat2]

On our first cruise we were told to go a day early, we didn't. NEVER AGAIN

 

#1 Plane left late, mechanical problem, landed 1 1/2 late.

 

#2 Missed our shutlle, had to wait for next RCCl bus, waited over an hour

 

#3 Leave airport, police have a raod block, major traffic jam

 

#4 Shuttle bus takes another couple to hotel, a car blocks bus, can't find driver

 

#5 Get to pier at 7:45 check in, board ship and are told to hurry to our cabin to get life jackets, muster at 8:15.

 

#6 Return lifejackets to cabin, message to go see purser immediatly, the check in clerk didn't forward our credit info to the ship.

 

#7 Go to get something to eat, buffet closed at 9:00, too late to go to dinning room.

 

Talk about a streesful way to start a vacation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GO A DAY EARLY

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

On our first cruise we were told to go a day early, we didn't. NEVER AGAIN

 

#1 Plane left late, mechanical problem, landed 1 1/2 late.

 

#2 Missed our shutlle, had to wait for next RCCl bus, waited over an hour

 

#3 Leave airport, police have a raod block, major traffic jam

 

#4 Shuttle bus takes another couple to hotel, a car blocks bus, can't find driver

 

#5 Get to pier at 7:45 check in, board ship and are told to hurry to our cabin to get life jackets, muster at 8:15.

 

#6 Return lifejackets to cabin, message to go see purser immediatly, the check in clerk didn't forward our credit info to the ship.

 

#7 Go to get something to eat, buffet closed at 9:00, too late to go to dinning room.

 

Talk about a streesful way to start a vacation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GO A DAY EARLY

Wow:eek: Sounds to me like you weren't meant to be there at that time. Everything happens for a reason and if you miss the ship, then you are right where God wants you to be at that particular time. Don't stress about it. At least thats what I try to tell myself evertime something goes wrong.

[kiraryker]

I'm trying not to stress but I'm also the one making all our 25th Anniversary Vacation plans - he's in charge of the packing & seeing that the kids will be watched. The way things are going so far maybe we won't make it to our 25th!!! HA HA:p:p

 

We've hit an disagreement already and we don't leave until January!!

[Djptcp]

DH and I used to live in the Twin Cities and we cruised out of San Juan 3 times in the mid to late 90's during the winter. We always flew in the day of the cruises and never had a problem. We left the MSP airport as early as possible in the morning and only had one non-stop flight, the rest were stops in St. Louis or Atlanta. That was before all the security mess at the airports now and I probably would think twice now about flying down the day before. But if you already have your reservations and it would cost almost $400 to change them, I know we wouldn't change them. Out of 13 cruises, we flew to Florida and San Juan 7 times and always the day of the cruises. Since 2002, we have always driven because we live in FL.

 

Have a great cruise.

 

Carnival - 1995, 1998, 2006, 2006, 2007, 2007

Holland America - 2004, 2006

NCL - 1994, 2006, 2007, 2003

Royal Caribbean - 2002

[Sureshot26]

Another reason you might consider heading down a day early is that even if the weather in Minneapolis is OK, the plane may be arriving there from someplace where the weather's awful. Add that to the fact that your options for getting to San Juan are probably limited (I think you said only one direct per day?) if things go awry, and you could easily miss a couple of days. I doubt that the extra money to switch would be "wasted" - you start vacation a day early, get to enjoy San Juan, and ease your mind. Plus if bad weather hits, you look like a genius. :)

[Cuizer2]

Well I've already booked our flights from Minneapolis to Jan Juan for January 27th 2008 - we are suppose to get in at 2:25pm and our Carnival rep said that was plenty of time to get on the ship-I believe they leave at 8pm.

 

Well now I'm getting paranoid and thinking we should fly in a day early but to change the tickets would cost us an additional $390.00 plus the hotel room of course.

 

What would you "seasoned" travelers do?????

 

Having already booked the flights, your options are limited. Given that, I would buy insurance. You are leaving from Minneapolis in January. There is a chance that weather could affect your flight. If you miss the connecting flight, when is the next flight to San Juan. Can you make it to your ship if you have to take the later connecting flight?

 

I just flew from Atlanta to LAX. The flight finally arrived in LAX four hours late. This was the connecting flight, so I didn't have to worry about missing another flight. Now weather problems in Atlanta in the summer are not that unusual, but that only results in a delay. A snow storm in Minneapolis can cause a cancellation, and that is a much bigger problem.

 

Given your situation, I would book a flight at least one, and perhaps two days head, because one snow storm can prevent you from making it to your cruise.

[billsrobb]

Can't say about anything being as close as the Sheraton, which is literally walking distance, but if you're searching you want northern San Juan area.

 

We actually stayed in Condado when we sailed the Destiny. About 20 minutes by taxi if memory serves, but we could still see the ship from the hotel.

Great Hotel. d/w and I stayed there when we sailed on the Inspiration in 1998. We had a regular room but when we checked in I mentioned that we were celebrating our weddinbg anniversary and they gave us a suite on the 9th floor I think for the one night.

To the OP I would spend the extra money. I am from Buffalo, NY the true capitol of SNOW country. I have been to your city and I know about unexpected storm in January. Stay in the Condado if you can.

Robb