San Juan Embarkation Continues to Be Horrible....WHY WHY WHY

[makeyourself]

I'm taking a list here, please respond with date into Pier 4 of San Juan, approximately how long you waited. Also, any notes of bad experiences. I plan to write something up to Princess and send...

:mad:

 

Ok, I've seen a million comments in a million threads about how San Juan after many many years (I can attest to leaving from San Juan on numerous cruises since 2000) and NOTHING IS IMPROVED, in fact reading some, it seems to even have gone badly downhill....

 

how is this possible? why hasn't Princess made ANY attempt at doing ANYTHING?? I'm sure its hard to get control in another country or find the help they need, but COME ON really, there MUST BE A BETTER WAY.

 

I saw maybe a good comment here and there that people hit it at a good time (say after 4pm) but honestly- you pay a TON to be on a cruise and I really can't stand leaving Newark Airport any later then butt crack of dawn and I don't feel like hanging out in San Juan all day just because Princess and whoever else uses the pier can't get their acts together. I'd prefer to get off the plane, stand in a reasonable line for a reasonable amount of time (less than hour in total) and then get myself on the boat to enjoy WHAT WE HAVE PAYED FOR. Everytime I've embarked from san juan i'm so stressed out that I need a ton of drinks once entering the boat to get back into vacation mode.

 

PRINCESS FIGURE IT OUT, i'm seriously almost as irate about this as the extra charges because of fuel.

[chrysalis]

FYI...San Juan is not another country

 

...also, explaining that you need a ton of drinks when you board is not a convincing argument

[makeyourself]

People that feel the pain of San Juan embarkation would understand what I am getting at, obviously I would not write this to Princess.

 

I am aware San Juan is part of US territory, but it has obvious differences in jurisdication say as a port in Florida, and it is handled, and run quite differently.

 

If you have a problem with my post (or any of other which you have also attacked me on) please feel free to write me separately to discuss so that we may leave an open forum. thank you. email is: qtkrissy7@aol.com

[chrysalis]

I have not attacked you,.....

 

You stated "another country" and I was just pointed out a fact.

 

I also was pointing out that Princess is glad to sell you lots of drinks when you board.

 

Yes, it is clear. You do need a vacation:D

[makeyourself]

Well then the best way to describe all of your responses, to me and to other people is "kill joy" while some of your responses and comments have been very helpful, I honestly think that many of them are focused more on pointing out what people say wrong.

We're all just trying to have a good time here and get ready for our vacations, yes me needing it probably one of the most on this site

 

but no need to point out every single thing in posts, and just let us have a forum.

 

thanks for distracting from a serious subject in which I honestly plan to prepare a report to send to princess.

 

I was hoping to get responses from everyone that felt up to it (other then just going through all of the posts here on a search) so that I could actually list this intelligently instead of writing to Princess..."san juan sucks"

And when I go on vacation I can give my personal story at San Juan in 2008, and hopefully I will be pleasantly surprised.

 

So anyone still reading and not distracted or bored by the bickering, please send me your san juan princess embarkation date, time waiting, and any notes you'd like to include.

 

thank you and happy cruising

[Pam in CA]

One thing to keep in mind when embarking on a cruise is that the local port authority has more control over your embarkation experience than Princess.

 

What part of the embarkation process in San Juan was "awful"? Perhaps that would help with the responses. Was it the baggage handling? Long lines at check-in? Long lines at Security? Was the ship's disembarkation that morning delayed? There are lots of things that can, and do, go wrong so it would help to pinpoint what aggravates you so.

[jennifers490]

i don't understand the stress, princess tells passengers to arrive after 2 for less lines, of course i arrived at 12:30 to find a long line, everyone is anxious to get on as soon as they can...instead of stressing out we just handed our luggage to a porter walking around and had a few drinks at sr. frogs across the street. we went back to the ship just before three and had no line at all, we were on in 15 minutes (our luggage was in the cabin and we already had our drinks so we were relaxed!)

 

when we disembarked it was after noon so of course the next group of passengers wouldn't be able to get on before 1.

 

weathergirl don't worry so much about the anticipation of going through stress in san juan, i'm sure you'll have a great cruise once you get on and if you just wait until after 2 or so you should be fine...the good thing about all of the posts is that everyone going out of pier 4 should be prepared and plan accordingly...i'm happy they dock downtown though because you can leave the ship if you want and see san juan...i thought the other piers had smoother embarkations but weren't as convenient...

[jennifers490]

btw i would take boarding in san juan over venice any day ;)

[Host CJSKIDS]

When we boarded the Crown in Nov 2006 it was a nightmare but that was because they had some problems with immigration on the transitioning cruise that had just finished. This was at the Pan Am pier.

When we boarded the Crown for our 3/31/07 sailing at the Pier 4 East it was great and we couldn't believe the difference.

 

I'm not going to stress over it for our next cruise. If the lines are that long I'll just leave my bag and go have cocktails some place else and come back later. After going through what we did on the Star I've learned to just roll with the punches on my vacations because stressing over delays or minor issues doesn't really end up doing anything for me, rather it just ends up ruining part of that day and gets my hubby annoyed at me!

 

I appreciate you wanting to write a letter to Princess. Make sure you make it short and to the point. I'm not really sure what Princess will do, probably nothing. Most of what happens is beyond their control as they don't control the pier. This is the reason that we've all gotten Emergency Notifications to show up at 2 PM, Princess is basically telling us that nothing can be done and if we go before hand we're going to wait, wait, wait. I guess if we chose to roll the dice and show up earlier than we've go to be willing to deal with whatever comes our way.

 

Hope you enjoy your cruise, I look forward to hearing about your experience when you return.

[LarryF]

We sailed Golden Princess out of San Juan in April 2005 and Serenade of the Seas (RCCL) out of San Juan in April 2006. We were on both ships no more than 30 minutes after arriving at the dock. We went out of the dock that is near the convention center and executive airfield. I like to get on the ship as soon as possible and we were in line around 11am each time and on board around 11:30 am...

 

Larry

[Kerry&LuAnn]

We sailed on the Crown Princess out of San Juan Pier 4 on December 15. We arrived at the pier at 4:00 p.m. and were on the ship in a matter of a few minutes.

 

We don't understand why so many people choose to arrive early just to stand in long lines.

[kates70]

I think the issue is that people arrive too early (and I do this as well). If you don't want to wait in line ... go after 3:30 p.m. ... drop off your bags at the pier and go have lunch.

 

We have cruised on Princess out of San Juan three times in the last year, and only had an issue once. Lines moves very slowly in December, but they did move. If you decide to go early, bring water and a hat.

[jennifers490]

When we boarded the Crown in Nov 2006 it was a nightmare but that was because they had some problems with immigration on the transitioning cruise that had just finished. This was at the Pan Am pier.

When we boarded the Crown for our 3/31/07 sailing at the Pier 4 East it was great and we couldn't believe the difference.

 

I'm not going to stress over it for our next cruise. If the lines are that long I'll just leave my bag and go have cocktails some place else and come back later. After going through what we did on the Star I've learned to just roll with the punches on my vacations because stressing over delays or minor issues doesn't really end up doing anything for me, rather it just ends up ruining part of that day and gets my hubby annoyed at me!

 

I appreciate you wanting to write a letter to Princess. Make sure you make it short and to the point. I'm not really sure what Princess will do, probably nothing. Most of what happens is beyond their control as they don't control the pier. This is the reason that we've all gotten Emergency Notifications to show up at 2 PM, Princess is basically telling us that nothing can be done and if we go before hand we're going to wait, wait, wait. I guess if we chose to roll the dice and show up earlier than we've go to be willing to deal with whatever comes our way.

 

Hope you enjoy your cruise, I look forward to hearing about your experience when you return.

 

very well said...

 

weathergirl are you going to write a complaint letter to princess before you've personally experienced the problem with them? i wasnt' sure from your original post

[makeyourself]

I had previous really bad experiences at San Juan, even when getting there after 2 or 3pm so if it happened again, I was going to do a write up since I saw so many other people (if you search through threads) that are having the same problem.

 

I was hoping to bring light to the situation that is bothering many people.

 

I'm deleting previous things because people are understanding what I'm trying to do here

[britsbest]

Mnay people?????

 

I would hazzard a guess that maybe 1% of Princess passengers read these threads, many more are not wingeing !!

[Catnip]

I don't cruise out of San Juan anymore because it's such a hassle, starting with that zoo of an airport. :cool: Miami's bad enough, but SJU is worse.

 

jmho.

[dcrow72]

The folks that arrive too early really mess up everything for everyone. We disembarked on 10/27/07 to a 3 ring circus. It was bad enough that we didn't get off til 12:30 PM, but trying to get through the chaos of people pushing their way into the terminal was disgusting. They tell you 2 PM so wait til 2 PM. There's plenty to do in the area so no one should be bored. I'ts my understanding that the ship sails late at night so why show up at 11 AM and ruin the day for everyone? Princess has no control over the pier so I don't know what good it would do to complain. WE were told by crew that it was one of the worst ports they had been to when it comes to clearing the ship to disembark/embark. As bad as it was that day we sat for 5 hours in a lounge, we booked it again for this year! Roll with the punches and it makes the vacation more enjoyable for everyone.

[Host CJSKIDS]

The folks that arrive too early really mess up everything for everyone. We disembarked on 10/27/07 to a 3 ring circus. It was bad enough that we didn't get off til 12:30 PM, but trying to get through the chaos of people pushing their way into the terminal was disgusting. They tell you 2 PM so wait til 2 PM. There's plenty to do in the area so no one should be bored. I'ts my understanding that the ship sails late at night so why show up at 11 AM and ruin the day for everyone? Princess has no control over the pier so I don't know what good it would do to complain. WE were told by crew that it was one of the worst ports they had been to when it comes to clearing the ship to disembark/embark. As bad as it was that day we sat for 5 hours in a lounge, we booked it again for this year! Roll with the punches and it makes the vacation more enjoyable for everyone.

 

They don't tell you to show up after 2, they say 1:00 and if you show up after 2 the lines won't be as long. And those emergency notifications just started showing up. We never got them for our 11/06 or our 3/31/07 sailing, so we would have had no way to know.

 

In all fairness, many show up because that's when they arrive in San Juan. Not everyone flies in the night before for various reasons. Our friends have a flight that arrives at 8:30 am the day of our sailing and have to go to the port to get rid of their luggage so they can run around Old San Juan.

 

I agree about how great it is, we're going for the third time on the Crown ou of San Juan, we really enjoy it. Hope you enjoy your next cruise as much as you did this one!

[Unca Pete]

This must change from cruise to cruise?

 

We sailed on the Crown the November before last

and arrived at the pier early, and had a very short

wait to get on the ship. I wonder why everyone has

a different experience at different times???

 

Pete

[fti]

I sailed on Nov 17, 07 from San Juan (pier 4, Crown Princess). Arrived at 11am to drop off my checked luggage. Returned about 12.30pm, got into line for check in, check in opened at 1pm. Was on the ship less than 1/2 hour later. Very easy actually. Had lunch, the rest in my party stayed on board, I got off the ship for a walking tour of San Juan on my own, boarded again about 5.00-5.30pm and no lines whatever.

 

John

[blueclawfan]

well i know that i am staying the night before and will be staying by the pool until around 4pm. I hate lines and just hope that it is sunny and warm. Hotel is going to keep my bags till i depart and i can use the facilities. Thank You Hilton.. These pier things are a way of life. I will leave all you early birds to enjoy the buffet. Don't eat it all :)

[bhopal21]

I don't cruise out of San Juan anymore because it's such a hassle, starting with that zoo of an airport. :cool: Miami's bad enough, but SJU is worse.

 

jmho.

 

We have sailed twice out of the Pan American pier with no wait at embarkation at all. But I have NEVER seen anything as disorganized as that airport.

 

It is strange that consistency does not seem to be the norm.

 

Mike:)

[nittanysam]

It seems to be hit or miss depending on the week. I have seen many posts that described a nightmare at embarkation in San Juan, and others that say it was a breeze. Perhaps it is the luck of the draw?

 

We were on the Crown last year in March and arrived around 11:30 as that was when we had to check out. We were on the ship in less than an hour, though lines were slightly long. However I thought I read on these boards that this year they are preventing early embarkation (before 1:00) due to increased cleaning to be proactive for Norovirus. If lines still start forming early I would expect them to be much longer by 1:00 and it take longer to clear out.

 

Weathergirl, We are also on the 2-9 cruise this year. So we will see how it goes and hope for the best. Thanks to all the responses to your post, I now know the porters can take your bags when you get to the pier and you can leave, so we plan to gauge the lines and try to enjoy the surrounding neighborhoods if they are too long. Does anyone know, if the lines are past the area where the porters are, if people get upset if you just walk up to drop off your bags? Don't want to make enemys before we even get on.:)

[San Diego Ellie]

It usually works best to get to the San Juan cruiseport about 11:30 AM. At noon the buses start arriving and it gets chaotic.

[Familycruzer11]

For those of you on the 2/9 cruise, did you get the emergency notification advising you to board later and that early-birds will be turned away? Just wondering if only certain sailing are getting them.

 

If you did get one, would love to hear about your experiences. We usually do arrive early because we have to check out. We were on the same cruise in March as CJsKids and also found it to be relatively smooth, in our cabins less than 1 1/2 later (including stop at liquor store).

 

From other posts I saw, some of the problem is with the Princess check in lines being disorganized. There may be some things out of their control, but maybe this is an area that can be improved.

 

Question - does anyone know how early they will accept luggage? Maybe we'll just drop the luggage off, and then follow the advice of others here - find lunch, or a bar..