Lovestotravel

Thanks all!  You have been very helpful.  And yes, @DublinFC, that is our experience.  Our TA added our flights, and we have until our final payment to pay them off.  I am going to ask her to run the rates one more time before we finally pay and lock in those flights.  She said that was an option.  Our flights are not cheap going in to San Juan, so would love to get them down a little.  

I'd like to add that another advantage of taxi service in San Juan is the flat rate price from zone to zone. (+bags).  I found this helpful for our last two cruises.

Can't wait to read your blog!

Ah, thank-you so much!  We don't go till end of May, but I am already counting down the days!! Less than 200 now!

Thanks for posting these!  

I did this on my first Royal cruise Jan 14th 2019 on Mariner. It was out of Miami. Our flight landed about 20min early so I was pumped to get to the port  and check in. The plane to ship transfer rep met us at baggage claim at 10:30. A supposed 15min wait, they say the shuttle is every 30min, turned into noon. I remember the time because my companion keep asking me "why aren't we leaving its....?" We boarded the coach bus at 12:40 and then went to another terminal to get more people, this took another 20 mins. As you can imagine boarding this late was very busy so I will never do another transfer, I probably would do A2S for a good enough deal.

We are going on FOS at the end of May!  From what I understand, once you check in at the cruise terminal, they take our luggage, and then we will find it in our room sometime after we board the ship.  We can check in as early as 10:30 and then once on the ship, enjoy all of the many amenities until our rooms are ready.  BUT, this is my first cruise, so I could be wrong!!

Just to add it was really the transfer that made things bad.

I used Royal's A2S program and to be honest it was a hassle and far too expensive. I could have flown Southwest for cheaper. I flew United in first class because it was actually cheaper than adding bags. My companion couldn't leave the day before so we flew in the same day. With a 4:30pm sail time I had plan to get there early because my flight landed at 10am. Had I took a Lyft I would have been checking in at around 11am. Instead we had to wait for more passengers to come, so that he bus was full. We left the airport at 1pm, full on traffic meant we got there at close to 2pm. We were in our room at 5 min to 3 and starving because everything was closed to prepare for drills and departure.

We are also using air2sea and RC transfers for our upcoming cruise on Liberty in 17 days! We chose this for the same reason as well, if there are delays they will help us get to the ship. We are flying in from NY so weather can be unpredictable. We were able to pick flights that get us there a day before the cruise as well. Unlike what other people have said, going this route was actually about $1000 cheaper than booking directly with the airlines, got to pick seats ahead of time, and also got a free upgrade. I’ll be doing a live blog of the trip and will chronicle the air2sea experience as well, so feel free to look for that. I have not started it yet, I don’t want to get grouped into the “they tart their blogs sooooo early group” but it’s coming. Have a great cruise!

I will sometimes do the same thing, for the same reasons when I am flying in the same day.  There is nothing wrong with using the Royal shuttle service and I have done it too, for the same reason that you gave for using A2S.  To be honest, up until very recently, the ride share services on PR were banned at the airport and very unreliable elsewhere.  I think they have recently been permitted to service the airport and port but frankly, I would choose either the Royal shuttle or a taxi.  Once you are on the island, you’re golden and the ship has a very late departure so there’s no hurry to get on board except just to get on board !  I recommend you do whatever makes it easiest for you.  You would probably get to the ship a bit quicker using a taxi b/c you wouldn’t have to wait for other passengers to board the shuttle....but there’s nothing wrong with using the shuttle.

Was in San Juan last year enjoyed it that much going back in 5 months time and i cant speak Spanish in fact being Scottish it takes me all my time to talk English lol 
 

Check out a Navigator or Oasis or Symphony cruise compass for typical hours.  

They have build your own tacos..and a taco salad is basically the inside of a taco, so yes!

Yes. Yes. They have 20 different toppings. My mouth is watering. I will be on Navigator for April spring break. Taco salad is a favorite of mine also. 

I can not wait ..... we're on Freedom in March and this is one of the things I most look forward to.  Question..... do they also have the fixins for a Taco Salad?  That's one of my wife's weaknesses.  Also, how are the hours at El Loco Fresh?  I'm hoping it stays open relatively late, it would make an awesome late night snack.

That is GREAT news!!

Yes, it is a complimentary restaurant 

We used porters on disembarkation and it made a world of difference. I think it may be that we had bad timing so there were too many people. I think we’ll show up early and leave early too. 

Can't wait to follow along!  We are doing the ABC's plus St. Marteen in May on Freedom! 

In San Juan, using a porter absolutely saved a ton of time in the terminal while waiting for customs.  We probably saved at least 10 minutes of waiting by ponying up $5 to use one.

It's an app similar to Google maps called maps.me
Super easy to use once you figure it out. The guy that we picked up the ATV from taught us how.
I liked it so much I used it in Bonaire the next day when we rented a golf cart to explore the island. 

I just wanted to follow back up and stated that we rented an ATV for 8 hours through Viatour for our visit to Aruba.  My reservation was handled through a company called Roadrunner.  We had an amazing time as you get to explore on your own.  When we picked up the ATV they went through a map and helped us bookmark a bunch of places on a map program so we could see what we wanted.  With the ATV you get to use the normal surface streets as well as the offroad trails.  You aren't stuck with a tour where you're as slow as the slowest person in your group.  We went to the national park and the caves and the natural pool and it was tons of fun..we also stopped by a couple of beaches that were off the beaten path and so serene and beautiful.  Well worth it for our 8a-8p port stop.

Thanks!

Check out rcperiscopers.live
I'm sure some folks will be scoping if VOOM allows!