Caribbean Princess out of San Juan

[kendon]

Only one time out of about 8 Princess cruises did we dock out of town. All others were in OSJ.

[Coolmama_1]

The UBD is awesome! Someone from food service will call you that morning and you will set up the menu. They have a set menu but will allow substitutions.

Enjoy your cruise!

[tmitchell82]

Thanks for the info. I actually just learned that Princess does not dock in Old SJ the other day. Thank goodness for these boards. Have you been to any of the Southern Caribbean ports? We're scheduled to go to St. Thomas, Tortola, Antigua, St. Lucia and Barbados. I've been to St. Thomas before and have my day planned out there, but I'm still trying to figure out what we should do in the other ports. We were thinking of taking the ferry in Tortola over to The Baths. In Antigua...I have no idea. Maybe Antigua is a good port for one of these couples massages on the beach? St. Lucia - catamaran cruise to the Pitons? Barbados - my fiance wants to do the swim with the turtles. Do you have any recommendations? We are water lovers and love anything that has to do with getting in the ocean and mingling with sea life.

 

We did Herod's Land and Sea Tour in St. Lucia with a group from our Cruise Critic roll call. We had one guys set it up and it worked great. Great tour, saw lots of different areas on St. Lucia. You do need a group to go along (or if he has a group, you might be able to join) Definitely go see the Piton's (and don't forget to have a few Piton's Beers) I wish we would have done the swim with the turtles in Barbados. Heard from some fellow passengers that it was a great time. We went to the Baths and they were pretty good. If you go, go through the caves to Devil's beach.

[jcastro1202]

We've taken the Southern itineraries three times and have a fourth booked - our favorite route. The only catch is that this is a very port-intensive itinerary (one sea day). In three cruises we only docked at the Pan American terminal once. The other five times were at Pier 4 adjacent to the bus terminal in town. Our next cruise also shows possibility of either pier.

 

If you downtown, just check in, get some lunch and head up hill. Forts are on top straight ahead and slightly right or left a few blocks. Lots of shopping, food, bars. What you won't find are good beaches in town.

 

Would highly recommend that you fly in the day before and stay out in the Isla Verde area near the airport. Much better beaches than Condado area. Sheraton is also good, and Condado Plaza has a small very protected beach in the inlet. Try langland.org for good local info on San Juan and lots of links. Search for "San Juan Piers" will also get you there. One reason the ship leaves so late is that there can be a lot of weather delays getting to San Juan. You shouldn't have a problem unless your plane is coming from somewhere else.

 

You will probably need to stand in line again to get in the building, but once in you can bypass the checkin lines and go directly to the metal detector to get on the ship.

 

Make sure you check out the various island boards for excursions. The Barbados 4x4 tour with cat and snorkeling is a pretty decent mix of activities and the turtles were fun to snorkel with.

 

PS - there are a couple of places in town that will store your luggage if you get downtown before boarding opens (check the Puerto Rico board for info). We usually get there around 11:00 AM and pretty much get right onboard. Can be as late as 1:00 depending on when they get the outgoing passengers off.

 

You mentioned how port intensive this cruise is and I have to tell you that I'm a bit concerned. My fiance and I are pretty active, but we did want a relaxing honeymoon. We don't plan on spending the entire time on the island and hope to be able to catch some in-port spa specials. This will be our first cruise with so many ports of call and we are a little nervous about it since we love sea days.

 

I'm glad to hear from so many people that the turtle swim in Barbados is good. I'm really looking forward to it.

 

Happy cruising!

[tmitchell82]

One other word of advice for a more relaxing cruise, don't book shore excursions that leave early in the morning (e.g. 8am in St. Thomas) Booking them later in the day allows you time to relax in the morning, not feel rushed to make the excursion, etc. Plus, if you end up at Skywalkers till 2am partying the night away, you really do not want to have to get up for a tour early the next morning (not that I have ever had this experience......:rolleyes:)

[BratDet]

Hi,

 

There might be a lot of ports, but noone says you have to get off the boat each time...we left ourselves open to change when we had 4 ports and we did kinda change things we had planned on two of the 4 ports.

 

I cropped my UBD picture a little...hopefully it will show and you won't have ot click on the link to see it.

 

We dressed up because we WANTED to.....so no matter what you FEEL like wearing- it will be special!

Bernadette

[Av8tor]

... One reason the ship leaves so late is that there can be a lot of weather delays getting to San Juan. You shouldn't have a problem unless your plane is coming from somewhere else.

 

I'm confused by your comment. :confused: If you are on a plane, the chances are EXTREMELY high that you're coming from somewhere else. Not too many people would fly from SJU to SJU!!! ;)