Will I make a 10am flight home?

[aainsjen]

I was just reading over all the posts and never have disembarked from SJU before and looks like it may be a bit more hectic then the usual Ft. Lauderale or Miami experiences that Im use too. Should I change the flight to something later?

 

Thanks

[popeye0429]

:(IMO..Cutting it pretty close for "nervous" old me. You never know what type of delay there might be. On AOS (two weeks ago) they have you fill out "flight time" & then you will receive your disembark schedule and early flights get off first...still toooo close for our group. We stayed a night post cruise and we were just about last off the ship at 11ish.. the traffic leaving the Pan Am Pier was a nightmare. If you're on Celebrity or RCCL on a Sunday.. there are about 3500 passengers per ship trying to get out of there.. tons of taxis..but terrible traffic control..only one lane off the pier... I would think there are many posters who could give you a better headsup on your 10 AM flight.. I'll be watching..

 

Good Luck...Have a GREAT Time!!!!!

[wrp96]

Absolutely cutting it too close. Victory sails on Sundays which is the worst day at SJU anyways. When you add in 2 other mega ships in port (plus anyone from the 2 ships the day before that decided to stay over an extra day), it will be an absolute mess.

 

I don't recommend anything earlier than noon from SJU.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

My flight is at noon (bumped up earlier than originally scheduled by the airlines) and I'm a bit nervous! I would definately look for a later flight.

[willow0325]

Just off of AOS 3 weeks ago and it was a traffic nightmare! RCI and Princess are docked at the same pier so imagine 6,000 people getting off ships at nearly the same time. We sat in the taxi without moving for at least an hour. I wouldn't dare try for the 10am flight.! My experience has been that once you're inside the San Juan airport, you move even slower. You wait in line first for the Dept of Agriculture (or something like that!) baggage scanning, then in line to check your luggage, then over to security.

[dsarah]

Hmm. Now I'm worried again. We're disembarking from the Seranade of the Seas on Saturday, Feb. 7th. I've been told that we shouldn't have a problem making a 1:50 flight from San Juan. But reading about the stand-still traffic jams, the extra agricultural check at the airport, etc. I'm worried about having enough time to make that flight without rushing.

 

If the ship docks at 7:30 AM, does anyone know what time the first group would be allowed to disembark? One of the Diamond benefits is "early departure from the ship". Does that mean we can just ask to get off the ship in the first group rather than waiting for our color to be called based on flight time? if that is so, we probably should not have a problem making the flight.

 

If there is any iffiness about making that flight, we may decide to book the 5PM flight instead and do the ship's tour of El Yugnue rain forest. Has anyone done that tour? How was it?

 

Thanks for all the good advice!

[Sunny AZ Girl]

we did the Rainforest as a day tour during a port stop this year and really enjoyed it. It was not prior to the airport. However, I would not be concerned about your flight time. We have a noon flight and I am becoming less concerned as the reports are coming in lately.

[lovemylab]

Hmm. Now I'm worried again. We're disembarking from the Seranade of the Seas on Saturday, Feb. 7th. I've been told that we shouldn't have a problem making a 1:50 flight from San Juan. But reading about the stand-still traffic jams, the extra agricultural check at the airport, etc. I'm worried about having enough time to make that flight without rushing.

 

If the ship docks at 7:30 AM, does anyone know what time the first group would be allowed to disembark? One of the Diamond benefits is "early departure from the ship". Does that mean we can just ask to get off the ship in the first group rather than waiting for our color to be called based on flight time? if that is so, we probably should not have a problem making the flight.

 

If there is any iffiness about making that flight, we may decide to book the 5PM flight instead and do the ship's tour of El Yugnue rain forest. Has anyone done that tour? How was it?

 

Thanks for all the good advice!

 

I wouldn't worry about making your flight.

 

We were on the Serenade last year and had a 1pm flight. We were in the first color group off the ship and we were sitting at our gate at the airport at 9:30am. The only other ship in San Juan that day was a Princess ship which was on the other side of the harbour. There was very little traffic on the way to the airport but as we were just finishing with security we noticed the lines for check-in were growing longer.

 

You can skip the agriculture inspection as long as your luggage still has the luggage tags on it from the ship. When we arrived at the airport we checked our bags and then proceeded through security just like at any other airport.

[wrp96]

You can skip the agriculture inspection as long as your luggage still has the luggage tags on it from the ship. When we arrived at the airport we checked our bags and then proceeded through security just like at any other airport.

 

Just an FYI, people that have flown back in the last few weeks reported that even with their cruise tags on their bags, they were required to go back out and do the USDA inspection. It may be best to stop and do the USDA check just in case, because you don't want to lose your place in the check in line.

[stebul]

It really, really isn't worth it to try to cut corners with airline schedules these days. The days when you could miss a flight and then hop on the next one a few hours later are gone. If you miss your original flight you could be in standby hell for a day or more -- longer if there is bad weather. Where there might have been 6 or 8 flights per day now there might only be 2 or 3. Get to the airport 3 hours before your flight, take things easy, have a soda / coffee / beer / shot, and watch the other crazy people running around trying to catch their flights.

[quincytoo]

Just an FYI, people that have flown back in the last few weeks reported that even with their cruise tags on their bags, they were required to go back out and do the USDA inspection. It may be best to stop and do the USDA check just in case, because you don't want to lose your place in the check in line.

 

That happened to us a few weeks ago :( It took about an extra 10 mins BUT if I was racing to catch a plane.......

 

We were on the CB docking at the Pan Am dock and no way would I try to be catching 10 Am flight back home.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

That happened to us a few weeks ago :( It took about an extra 10 mins BUT if I was racing to catch a plane.......

 

We were on the CB docking at the Pan Am dock and no way would I try to be catching 10 Am flight back home.

 

Hopefully we will be fine with our noon flight......:confused:

[quincytoo]

Hopefully we will be fine with our noon flight......:confused:

 

I would be totally relaxed with catching a noon flight

 

We were at The Embassy Suites after picking up our rental by 11ish :)

[moofus]

We have a 10:00 AM flightfrom SJ on Dec 28th. Planning to carry off luggage and use Diamond disembarkation...Was figuing not so many people would be lined up at 6:20 Am to get out... sounds doubtful we will make it. Using FF miles and can't change the flight. There are a few others on Delta leaving later, in case we miss our flight, but we will probably have to pay more.

There are a few JetBlue directs we can book.

I am thinking of going ahead and booking a fully refundable Jetblue at 2PM in case we miss our flight. But I hate losing the FF miles for a first class ticket... now I am really worried!:eek:

[Sunny AZ Girl]

I would hate losing those miles, too. However, I would do a fully refundable back up if I could. I have never booked a flight after a cruise before 1PM. This is the exception for me with a noon flight. That is because there are so few options available for us. In addition the airlines bumped up our flight after we booked. On a disembarkment in Miami in 2005 we were not able to get off the ship until after 11AM due to some immigration tie up. Last January we weren't off until after 10AM in San Pedro, CA. You never can tell what will happen.

[moofus]

I just booked the fully refundable ticket on JetBlue for a direct flight hoe. Departs SJ at 2:20

850.00 for the 2 of us:eek:

But we can get the full refund if we notify them anytime before the flight. I figure that if we make our original flight, and don't have time to call them to cancel the Jetblue flight, My DB and SIL can cancel for us since they are on the JetBlue flight. SAme flight as us.

Feel better already! But Hate losing 90,000 miles

[Sunny AZ Girl]

I just booked the fully refundable ticket on JetBlue for a direct flight hoe. Departs SJ at 2:20

850.00 for the 2 of us:eek:

But we can get the full refund if we notify them anytime before the flight. I figure that if we make our original flight, and don't have time to call them to cancel the Jetblue flight, My DB and SIL can cancel for us since they are on the JetBlue flight. SAme flight as us.

Feel better already! But Hate losing 90,000 miles

At least you can breathe easy now. Hopefully you won't lose your miles, but that is better than being stuck on stand-by on a busy day in SJU!:eek:

 

Enjoy your cruise. It's coming up fast.:D

[moofus]

Yep, can't wait, 14 more days!

[wrp96]

I would go ahead and book the fully refundable flight on Jet Blue.

 

AOS seems to be doing better on disembarkation than CB but it is just a lot of people trying to get off the two ships and get taxis to an airport that can be a mess on Sundays.

[moofus]

Opps, sorry for the caps,,,

I have another one( $200.00 less) with Spirit.

DH and I have to look at where they all fly just in case something goes wrong and the fully refundable fare isn't "really" fully refundable. Then we'll decide which one we'll keep.

I really wish I could just cancel the FF miles tickets and get an out and in bound on one of these direct... but the 200.00 re-deposit fee for the FF miles, along with 1100.00 for the flights,,, well, we just need to take our chances and go ahead and use the FF miles.

That's alot of money I can use in the casino:D

13 more days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[karmacruiser]

I'm nervous about our 11:25 am return flight from San Juan but after numerous flight and airline changes this was all that was available. We did use miles to upgrade to first class so hopefully that will move us through faster.

 

Any other tips for getting to the airport faster?