We will be sailing in February out of San Juan. The departure time is 8:30. How late can we arrive at the airport and make it? Thanks!!

If the ship departs at 8:30 pm, you should be boarding the ship at least 4 to 6 hours earlier. I think they will allow you to baord up to the last minute.

If it is up to me, I will not arrive to San Juan on the same day. I will try to be there at least 1 or 2 days in advance, especially if you are flying anywhere close to the snow belts. This is February you are talking about where snow delay is common.

It really depends on where you are flying out from. Weather will cause flight delays and if you miss the boat ... big opps.

This maybe considered fear mongoling, but I might even consider paying the ship extra and let them arrnage for air and transfer. In this case, if the weather delayed your arrival, they will get you to the ship somehow. If you book air and transfer on your own, well, you are on your own if you miss the boat.

Good luck!

I think Eschew has a point, but you can arrive as late as 2pm and have plenty of time to make your cruise. But that's probably as close as I'd cut it.

I don't usually have the luxury of having that extra day before or after a cruise or a trip, so I'm often arriving the day of my cruise.

My real qualm is that in February you could be delayed by weather depending on where in the country you live. And that might be a several-hours delay rather than just an hour. Or your flight could be cancelled altogether. If it were me, in the middle of winter, I'd take a very late flight and arrive in San Juan late the night before (even if it were after midnight) just to ensure I could make the cruise.

I think that if the cruise line arranges your air, it's their responsibility to get you there on time. I don't really understand the compulsion to save a few bucks on fares when so much else is at stake. Save two hundred on air fare and then ahve to chase the ship to start your 4K vacation.

It's not just saving a few bucks by not using a cruise line's air service. Those tickets can be substantially more if you find a good sale somewhere, and the routings are often horrible, requiring you to leave at odd hours and have multiple connections so you arrive at your ship exhausted and frazzled.

I always book my own air when taking a cruise (at least I have so far) and will continue to do so unless I get a really good deal from a cruise line. I'm willing to run that risk, as I'm sure a lot of cruisers are. And on some lines (HAL for instance), if you book your airfare far enough in advance and alert them of your flights, you still get free airport transfers.

I understand why not everyone wants to do that, but I'm willing to take that risk to have more convenient flight times and to save that money, which I'd prefer to use on board the ship than on my airplane ticket.

El Nino or La Nina? We certainly would not take that chance with less airplanes available and the normal airport delays.
The ships will not wait for you. In fact, even when you get on board, visiting ports does not allow you to board when you want to. Arriving a day earlier does give us that peace of mind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEXE9Dk4Y0M

Better safe than sorry. Travel at least one day ahead. I think all of you still remember what the snow storm did to air travel last Christmas. I pity those who saved the few bucks and missed the boat. If you were travelling last Christmas, the delay wasn't for a few hours or even a day. It was for at least 48 hours. If you book on seat sale and on economy fare, good luck getting a seat on the next flight out!

By the way, I don't think all airlines have daily flights to San Juan so you are limited anyway. If you travel out of Miami, the snow storm may not be a problem. However, I was delayed in San Diego because of a snow storm hitting San Francisco.

I regretted sailing out of Bayonne NJ, until we hit that snow storm. I got off the ship at 8:30 a.m. and was home by 10:00 a.m. I would still have been in Miami or San Juan, if I'd flown there for a different itinerary. On my next cruise, I want to fly out so I can explore more distant Caribbean islands. I will probably fly out the night before & stay over as I usually cruise in December.

We are cruising from San Juan in November & I am looking at flights from New York the night before. Should we be OK with the weather at that time? Looking at flying Continental or AA not sure if one is more reliable than the other as we are coming from Australia & not familiar with these carriers.

Actually why come in a few days early if possible. SJ is a great place to see, lots of nice attractions, great restaurants, nice beaches, a rain forest and nice hotels. Especially if you are coming from Australia then give yourself a few days to get over jet lag, then start your cruise fresh. Larry

Thanks Larry we are actually travelling through South America first, so are flying from Lima to New York where we thought we spend a night, which is not long but will break up the trip. We are spending time post cruise in San Juan.

Great! Try having dinner at the Dragonfly in Old San Juan. Its themed ala a 1930's San Fran bordello and has very good food, an Asian-Caribbean fusion and has live music too. its quite popular.

If you're coming from Lima, I wouldn't fly to NYC if I had a choice, especially for just one night. It would make much more sense to fly into Miami and spend the night rather than NYC, which has much more expensive hotels. It's also a shorter flight. Then you could sleep late, catch a late-morning flight to San Juan and make it to your ship.

Thanks Jacketwatch Dragonfly sounds like fun have made note of that & thanks for your thoughts Doug will do a little more research.