How far is the San Juan Pier from the airport?

[holdon216]

Going on the Victory in July 09. When told by Carnival that we could not board the ship until "around 5pm" we booked a later arriving flight. (We get in at 4:30pm.)

Now i see on the message boards that we could board much earlier.

I called Carnival who booked our flight and was told i needed to call Continental myself seeing it was more then 45 days before we sail.

I then called Continental to possibly change the flight to an earlier one. The charge is 235.00 EACH!!! We are three traveling. So that is out of the question.

How far is the airport from the pier??? And does anyone have any suggestions on how we could possibly get on the earlier flight without paying the 235.00???

Thanks All!!!!

[rainforestgirl]

The piers is not too far- maybe a 10- 15 min taxi ride(depends on traffic).

There are plenty of taxis right there at the airport, so that won't be a problem.

 

Good luck with changing the flights. Let us know how it goes.

[holdon216]

Thanks BUT we booked our transfers with Carnival. So we would have to wait for them to bring us to the ship.

Anyone have any advice on trying to change to earlier flight??? Seeing it was the Carnival agent that told us we could not get on the ship till around 5pm???

Thanks

[wrp96]

Cancel the cruiseline transfers and just take a taxi to the pier. You paid more for the transfers than the taxi would be.

[mama02girls]

If your flight is delayed, and you have the cruiseline transfers, they will usually wait for you (depending, of course on the length of delay). If you do your own transfers, they will leave if you are late arriving. Since you are arriving the day of the cruise, I would pay a little extra and keep the cruisline transfers. They will make sure you get on your ship. It is so nerve wracking for me to travel the day of the cruise and then do my own transfers. If the airline won't let you change your flight, could you cancel and book on another airline and save the credit for future travel? Just an idea.

Good luck!

[wrp96]

That is a myth. The ship won't wait just because you've purchased transfers through them. The ship won't even wait if you've purchased air through the cruiseline.

[mama02girls]

Well I'm glad you cleared that up! We were told that that is one of the reasons for booking thru the cruiseline, but I have always chosen to go a day early and pay less and feel at ease. But come to think of it, we cruised with people once that told us that they were the reason the ship left late because their plane was late and the RCCL rep was on a phone with the ship the whole time...was that a crock?:confused:

[toonjie]

WRP96 is absolutely correct. Sometimes they won't even wait for you if you booked the air through them, it's all what is most cost effective, it can cost 10's of thousands to stay at the pier late and then go a knot or two faster. Sometimes they will wait though if enough passengers are missing. Either way, I would drop the transfers, taxi is cheaper and faster and since you booked your flight through Carnival, there are bound to be other cruisers on it and if the decision is made to wait if you are late, you will still be covered. As for changing the flight, call the airline and let them know what happened, hopefully you'll get a nice agent that will waive the fee, if not call back a few times, you never know. In the future, always come in a day early or at worst get the first flight out that morning.

[holdon216]

Thanks TOON. It was like a lite bulb moment. If the plane has other cruisers on it for the Victory and it runs late. They would possibly wait for them anyways. So, if we grab a cab. We save some money and get to the ship before the rest of them.

We actually had the Conquest wait for a bus load of cruisers back in 2003. Out of Mississippi. The bus was making noise and the driver pulled over to check it out. We made it to the ship after the life boat drill. The ship waited for us!!!

Thanks

[ancldaca]

Maybe fly stand-by on an earlier flight? But I don't know what happens to the luggage in that case since I've never flown stand-by.