enjoylife5

My approach to Maho Beach

Waiting for @KLAconQueso live blog like

Hoping Adventure Voom was upgraded to O3b but haven't heard yet.  Looking for latency results in a speedtest if you have a minute to test it onboard.  Also curious if the recent announcement of more bandwidth is being realized on ships yet.  
 Easiest way to know is a speedtest and look at ping time.  If 200-300ms its O3b, if 500-600+ms its the old satellites.
This is from Freedom:

Thanks for the input everyone. I do love that ship and the itinerary. Hilton notfifed me that I still have room at the Hampton Inn, although Embassy Suites will not open to the public until April. I’m going to go through with it, purchase trip insurance and pray for better air fares! Thank you for listening!

My understanding is that San Juan and PR in general are still in bad shape and will be for mths to come. That being said, cruises are able to dock there so its business as usual when it comes to that.
 
If you are able to change or delay the date, it may be worth looking into. I know in April there are some cheap cruises out of San Juan. However, that doesn't solve your flight issue into SJU. I have a cruise booked for April on Jewel coming due soon and unless airfare drops, we will be cancelling/changing ours as well. Its too bad as it was a great ship/deal/ports.

You're right a lot can change between now and March.  Furthermore, the situation in San Juan is different than in the rest of the island (it's generally better).  
If nothing else, you might consider investing in trip insurance rather than considering cancelling the cruise.

Islands seem to be bouncing back, Puerto Rico is on the way to being declared condemned (IMO). If you are just passing through San Juan headed to the islands I would say your fine, if you were hoping to do anything in Puerto Rico, I would reconsider.

Check out @twangster live blog from Anthem.  He was just in San Juan yesterday and reported it's doing quite well
 

I too received the email cancelling our reservation at the Hilton in March.  We usually do a three day pre-cruise stay in San Juan.  I hustled to find a hotel in the Condado Plaza area so that we could enjoy an extra three days  and avoid having to change our flight.  I found that the Marriott Stellaris Resort and Casino down the road from the Hilton has been opened for business since Dec. 1st..  I spoke to a person at the front desk of the Marriott and she said that the situation in that area is pretty much doing well.  That being said you need to know that we usually stay on or around the hotel property and just relax since we've been to San Juan many times and there is nothing new for us to see. We just like to escape the cold weather and enjoy the sun.  

My stop in San Juan all seemed very normal.  Granted this was just a stop on our itinerary as opposed to a hotel based stay. 
As I wandered around Old San Juan it struck me how hard it must be for all these tourism based businesses such as hotels, bars, restaurants and stores.  It costs money to operate a business and absent of money coming in some may be forced to close temporarily not because they can't open because of the hurricane but because they can't afford to pay their employees to do nothing for very long.
I may go out of my way to book a cruise originating from San Juan in the coming months.  Now is when they need our support more than ever and there is no better way to help in this phase of recovery than putting money into local businesses so that they can get through this.  Having a job, going to work and earning money to support their family gives locals a sense of purpose.  It may be a little extra effort to find an open hotel but they need us.  It's worth the effort.

I'm booked on Adventure 2/24 - probably a sailing or two before you. We're flying in to San Juan a couple days early, but haven't booked any hotels yet. 
From what I understand, some hotels are up and running while others are still either renovating or housing people. A lot of Old San Juan is also back up and running from what I hear, whether that be from restored or generator power. It can only keep getting better from here. 
I'm actually really excited to go there and spend time prior to the cruise - at this point, I'm really not deterred and I'm sure they could use the tourism dollars. 
I'm considering trying to live blog here pre and during the cruise so that I can 1) offer info on San Juan and 2) share the improvements coming to Adventure post dry dock. 

Have you looked into a rental car? We found it was cheaper to rent a car for the week and leave it parked at the port than the transportation costs to and from the port through private transfers.

We have cruised Eastern several times in February. The weather has always been wonderful. Highs in the mid-80s and lows in the low to mid-70s.
We prefer the spring because the Carribean becomes too hot for us in late April. I say go for it.

I don' t think the risk of bad weather and cancelled ports of call in the Eastern Caribbean is worse that time of year compared to the rest of the non-hurricane season...I'd say go for it...there are fantastic ports in the Eastern.

Have done a lot of eastern Caribbean and never had a port cancelled. We typically cruise march and November so I would say go for it.

March is not a time of year where missing a port is common.  It really boils down to which islands are of greater interest to you.  In general, Eastern Caribbean islands tend to have the perception of having prettier beaches (clear water, white sand, etc) but Western Caribbean beaches are lovely too.
I'd probably consider a secondary option for picking the sailing, like ship, cost, room type, etc.

I've cruised the Eastern in March and had zero issue. I don't prefer one over the other, eastern has beautiful beaches and that lush tropical feel, Western has it perks as well, if you snorkel it has some of the best reefs in the Caribbean in the Grand Cayman, Honduras, Belize, Cozumel.

Personally, I prefer the Eastern Caribbean. Plus the water always seems warmer on that itinerary than the beaches I visit on the Western itineraries.

Of course you don't want to lose your passport, but the entire reason to have a passport in the first place is not necessarily to just get on the ship on embarkation day, but rather, to have it if you get stuck somewhere and need to get home. 
 
If you leave your passport onboard the ship, there is really no point in having brought the passport in the first place. If you are marooned somewhere and the ship leaves, a photo copy will not allow you to leave the country.  
 
A lot of people leave their passports onboard, but unfortunately, it does them no good to have it there.  

I'd much rather lose a wallet, etc over the passport.  If I lose my wallet I can still enter the US when I get home.  If I lost my passport, I may be S.O.L.

I'd say roughly 11:30/12 to 1:30/2 is the most crowded. My goal is to always arrive before 11, with 10:30 being the sweet spot for me.

I see many ask about the best time to arrive and avoiding traffic at Port Everglades, but I am curious, what is the WORST time to arrive? Is there a time frame that is typically most crowded and should be avoided there,  or at any of the ports for that matter? 
 
BTW love, love, love this blog and the periscopes. It has been so educational and helpful in planning my trips!

In terms of local vehicle traffic it's pretty standard in Ft Lauderdale - weekdays 0730-0930 and 1700-1900.
 
Now, if you're asking when the worst time is to arrive for your cruise, then I'd say, for a standard departure time (late afternoon) somewhere around the 1pm marker seems to be the busiest time.  That in mind, if you're on a smaller ship it's not as big of a concern, and largely, cruise lines have tuned these processes in a way that long lines are a thing of the past.

10:30 is our preferred time to arrive as well!

I'd say the worst time to arrive would be after 12:00pm (noon).