Flight to San Juan

[wc52204]

We received our cruise docs today and learned that our flight doesn't even arrive in San Juan until 7:48pm. This seems extremely late to me and I am very worried that we will not make the ship in time. We booked our flight through Royal Caribbean. Tomorrow we are going to talk to our travel agent but is it going to be easy to change the flight?? The travel agent made it seem like she has no control over the time of the flight and it's up to RCCL. Does anyone know what our options are here? Thanks.

[superjerryw]

If you take no action you get stuck with whatever they give you. You normally have the option of paying a fee for an air deviation to get a flight that you want. Keep in mind that if the flight that you want is more expensive than the flight they want to put you on they may ask you to pay the difference in the airfare as well. We always book our own flights to avoid problems like this. The only down side to booking your own flights is that you are on your own if any problems arise. If you use the flight given to you by the cruise line and you miss the ship as you fear, the cruise line would be responsible for getting you to the next port to catch up with the ship. In the future you should consider booking your own flights and flying down to the port a day early. It gives you piece of mind since you have that extra day in case problems arise. Most people are also able to book their own airfare for less than the cruise line price. The reduced air fare cost more than offsets the cost of a hotel for one night.

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Donuts, is there anything they can't do....

[birdyhunter]

Couldn't agree more with Superjerryw. The other thing about the cruise line booking your flight is if you have multiple cabins they won't guaranty you all will be on the same flight.

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[B]<MARQUEE>RCL Adventure of the Seas July 4, 2004 </MARQUEE>[/B]

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Carnival Destiny 7/01
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[pcur]

I'd like to add that the cruises out of San Juan leave really late at night, and they do wait for the passengers booked through RCI. We've sailed out of SJ twice, and once we didn't sail until midnight. I think the usual time is 10PM.

Peggy - RCI since 1973

[scbutler]

It only takes about 10 minutes to get to the cruise dock. Our luggage was out and waiting by the time we got to it. It took longer waitiing in the cab line.

Stacey

Serenade of the Seas 2004

[skigirl]

If all goes well you'll make sail away with no problem. But to me, the really sad thing about this is that you basically miss a day of vacation. We've cruised out of SJ twice and both times arrived a day early, so that on embarkation day we are onboard by lunchtime, have lunch, get back off the ship and explore Old San Juan and do some shopping, and then enjoy the ship and dinner. I would be so sorry to miss this!

[atonal1]

I must be really lucky. I have sailed out of San Juan 3 times--all cruise line air, and travel on the day of departure. When I travel in Nov. or Dec., I cannot arrive a day early or leave a day later. I have always had decent flight times, and on two occasions, had non-stop flights. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] I'll continue to thank my lucky stars, and hope for the same luck in November. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif[/img]

Inspiration 6/96, 12/01
Carnival Destiny 7/97, 11/00
Rhapsody of the Seas 11/98
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[wc52204]

Good news...we got our flight changed so that we get in at 1:15pm. It cost an extra $50 a person to change it, but I'd say it's well worth it!!!!

[sherryberry71]

WC, that is definitely well worth it, because arriving at 748 makes it so you miss the whole first day! I would have changed as well!

~SherryBerry~

Adventurer OTS 2/2004 Yippee!
Disney Wonder 12/2002
Carnival Paradise 1/2001
Carnival Fascination 10/2000
Celebrity Galaxy 11/98
Norwegian Norway 1/96
Celebrity Century 2/95

[kitty1]

The ship does not sail from San Juan until 10pm, but you can't board after 9 and the muster drill is usually around 8:15 or 8:30.

If you do make it in time, I'd be more worried about my luggage missing the ship than me actually. Lots of people didn't get their luggage the first day. Some didn't get it until day 2 or 3.

[QueensChick]

WC,

I'm so glad you decided to do Custom Air and get your flight changed. When are you cruising and, if you don't mind my asking, where are you flying from?
We're doing cruiseline air to SJU this September and I'm a little concerned.

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-Marcus Aurelius Antonius

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2. July 2002 Celebrity MILLENNIUM (Southern Caribbean)
3. January 2003 Carnival CONQUEST (Western Caribbean)
4. August 2003 Celebrity GALAXY (Western Caribbean)
5. September 2004 Royal Caribbean ADVENTURE OF THE SEAS (Southern Caribbean)
6. May 2005 Celebrity INFINITY ()

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[wc52204]

QueensChick,

We had to pay an extra $50 a person for the air deviation fee. Plus we were supposed to pay another $35 each for a reissue fee, but our TA fought her way out of it. Apparently there were plenty of earlier flights for us with no extra cost, so I have no idea why they gave us such a late flight. They did assure us that the ship [B]would[/B] wait for us with the 7:48pm flight but it made us too nervous...plus we were missing a whole day on board.

We are flying out of Pittsburgh on 5/30/04 for Adventure of the Seas.