how late can we stay onboard?

[searoses]

don't need to leave the ship until 11am-can we stay in public areas until then? will be on the summit which doesn't leave san juan until 11pm. thanks.

[florisdekort]

No, disembarkation typically starts anywhere between 7.30 am and 8.30 am (depending on Immigration formalities) and they always try to have the last people of the ship by 9.45 am.

 

Floris

[Lois R]

don't need to leave the ship until 11am-can we stay in public areas until then? will be on the summit which doesn't leave san juan until 11pm. thanks.

 

Hi,:) I have been in the last group off quite a few times

and that was between 10:00 and 10:30.

 

Make sure you go to Guest Relations and request being

in the very last group.

[jollyjones]

I just recently disembarked from the Galaxy (which also has a late departure time) in San Juan and, because I was staying there for several days, was given a 10.30am time to meet in the lounge to await the disembarkation call. However, there was a delay at Immigration and I didn't actually leave the ship till 11.30am and then stood in line in the terminal for ages. Plus, at SJU there is the extra delay for the Agricultural inspection so if you are timing your departure for a flight, don't cut it too fine - I'd plan to be off the ship at least three hours before your flight and probably longer to cover the sometimes crazy conditions at the airport.

 

That said, apparently all the luggage is unloaded before pax disembark and there is nothing to actually stop you walking off the ship at whatever time you choose - the 'colours' seem to be used merely to reduce queues in the the terminal and give priority to those who need it.

 

You should remember that you are asked to be out of your cabin by 8am and breakfast closes at 8am (it was definitely all shut down by 8.30am) and just sitting around the ship in one of the lounges is not very interesting - have a good book!

[oakrunfarm]

We had the same embark/disembarkation times and port on a cruise in 2005 and are doing it again next week.

 

Once we arrived in SJU at the end of the cruise, it was pretty evident that they wanted us off the ship ASAP so they could work on getting it ready for the next sailing.

 

Nothing really definable, just a real hustle and bustle on the part of staff, and a general feeling of "OK! Time to go!"

 

Not the bum's rush or anything, but not an atmosphere conducive to tarrying around on the ship.

[shipshape sam]

don't need to leave the ship until 11am-can we stay in public areas until then? will be on the summit which doesn't leave san juan until 11pm. thanks.

 

I think that under normal circumstances you will be off well before 11:00 am.

 

Secondly, other than sitting somewhere in a limited number public areas, there is nothing to do on the ship. They are preparing for the next sailing.

 

Once we did not get off till 2:30 pm and around noon, they served some food and actually opened up the bar for cash purchases of which I took advantage of. Got to read the next week's compass also. It was an immigration issue in San Juan, PR but I am sure it could have happened at any port.

[geoherb]

We were among the last passengers off Century on our cruise last month. They made an announcement around 8 a.m. that passengers did not have to wait--that everyone could leave the ship. We had not eaten yet--and were still in bed. I guess our cabin steward would have woken us up eventually.

 

We made it to breakfast right before they stopped serving in the Islands Cafe. They were actually lowering the blinds section by section as people made it through the line. They did put out a cart with some fresh fruit, muffins, bagels, and pastries for anyone who was later than we were.

 

By the time we finished breakfast, they announced that all passengers were kindly requested to leave the ship.

[The_Big_M]

That said, apparently all the luggage is unloaded before pax disembark and there is nothing to actually stop you walking off the ship at whatever time you choose - the 'colours' seem to be used merely to reduce queues in the the terminal and give priority to those who need it.

 

It might be an organisation thing, but last time I got off around 8:15 a.m. and one bag was missing. I asked the area controller and he said it may be in another colour area and they were still unloading, which they were. We did find the bag eventually (phew! - they had placed it in another section), but they were only a couple of colour zones ahead of the schedule at the time we got off.

[grandgeezer]

We just got off of Mercury, from Hawaii, on Saturday. They asked everyone to be out of their staterooms by 9am. Disembarkation was supposed to start at 9am but didn't actually start until about 9:45.This is our 11th cruise and only had one disembarkation start after 8:30 (Norwegian, go figure). I think most people expected to get off earlier as there was alot of people nervous about missing their flights. Once they started disembarkation, it was every man for himself, disembarkation order was ignored.

HAL's Oosterdam was next door and they were walking off the ship shortly after 8am and they came from Mexico.