Freedom - Arrival in San Juan

[LetsSailAway]

Our Eastern Caribbean itinerary calls for arrival in San Juan at 5 pm. I've heard from some cruisers that they arrived earlier, like around 3 pm! Is it normal for the ship to arrive early, or is the 5 pm scheduled arrival accurate?

[TheVegasMan]

"I've heard from some cruisers that they arrived earlier, like around 3 pm!" Are these people that normally lie to you? We arrived at many ports earlier than the stated times, but that is normal, the scheduled time is more like a "No later than" time. Even though we were at the dock at 6:00 am for a scheduled 7:00 or 8:00 am arrival time we were not allowed off until the scheduled time as at some ports the ship needed to be inspected by that countries officials. At least that is what we were told.

[astropilot]

Our Eastern Caribbean itinerary calls for arrival in San Juan at 5 pm. I've heard from some cruisers that they arrived earlier, like around 3 pm! Is it normal for the ship to arrive early, or is the 5 pm scheduled arrival accurate?

 

Yep. it's pretty much normal. I've been in San Juan three times now on Carnival cruises, and have always arrived right around 5:00 pm. When arriving at this time, there's not much to do or see in old San Jaun, so this port is pretty much, in my opinion anyways, a waste of time.