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San Juan cruise in March 2018


enjoylife5

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Hi there. I took a few months off of following all of my cruise sites, so Im behind on all of the cruise news. I booked a cruise leaving San Juan in March and just received word today that my hotel reservation through Hilton has been cancelled due to hurricane renovation. It suggested changing to another Caribbean destination. I kinda figured By March things would be up and running better?  I also noticed the last time i was on cruise planner there weren’t a lot of excursions options for my itinerary. Does this mean the ports will have limited options too? 

 My final payment is due this week and I’m just trying to gather opinions/info as to the current state of San Juan and whether I should switch to a different itinerary while clean up continues?  I’ve really struggled to find a decent air fare to SJU and may have to stay there a day or two before and after to get the fare down. You are my experts. I appreciate any advice. 

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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.

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9 hours ago, enjoylife5 said:

Hi there. I took a few months off of following all of my cruise sites, so Im behind on all of the cruise news. I booked a cruise leaving San Juan in March and just received word today that my hotel reservation through Hilton has been cancelled due to hurricane renovation. It suggested changing to another Caribbean destination. I kinda figured By March things would be up and running better?  I also noticed the last time i was on cruise planner there weren’t a lot of excursions options for my itinerary. Does this mean the ports will have limited options too? 

 My final payment is due this week and I’m just trying to gather opinions/info as to the current state of San Juan and whether I should switch to a different itinerary while clean up continues?  I’ve really struggled to find a decent air fare to SJU and may have to stay there a day or two before and after to get the fare down. You are my experts. I appreciate any advice. 

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.  

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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.

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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. 

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8 hours ago, KLAconQueso said:

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. 

Thank you! I will look forward to your live blog!

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21 hours ago, KLAconQueso said:

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. 

 

You haven't booked a hotel yet? I haven't looked but when I booked mths ago BEFORE the hurricane hit, it was already quite pricey and somewhat limited at that point for my April booking.

 

I am sure your on top of it, but I would never have a cruise booked for 2mths from now and no hotel booked. Hope things are better and cheaper now than when I booked mths ago!!

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1 hour ago, monctonguy said:

You haven't booked a hotel yet? I haven't looked but when I booked mths ago BEFORE the hurricane hit, it was already quite pricey and somewhat limited at that point for my April booking.

 

I am sure your on top of it, but I would never have a cruise booked for 2mths from now and no hotel booked. Hope things are better and cheaper now than when I booked mths ago!!

Good call - Just grabbed a 2 Queen Bed room w/ Balcony at the AC Marriott in the Condado area. Looks like it has some good reviews! 

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2 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

Ummm, aren't you married now? Why does your husband have to sleep in a different bed? :10_wink:

HAHA! We're travelling with family, and there are two other sets of married siblings in law that are going with us. The six of us had mentioned trying to split a room together, but not sure that's doable at this point so going to see who might want to split with us (if anyone).

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23 hours ago, KLAconQueso said:

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. 

Which itinerary on Adventure - the ABC islands, or the one that goes down to Barbados?  We sailed on Adventure for the 6th time over Thanksgiving....I just love that southern Caribbean run!

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9 minutes ago, bcarney said:

Which itinerary on Adventure - the ABC islands, or the one that goes down to Barbados?  We sailed on Adventure for the 6th time over Thanksgiving....I just love that southern Caribbean run!

Barbados one! 

St. Maarten, St. Kitts, Antigua, St. Lucia, Barbados! :) 

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