There is a very easy solution and great itineraries available. Either Carnival Destiny or Royal Adventure of the Seas. Take your pick, they both have multiple, great southern caribbean ports. You begin and end in SJ so you can see the island as long as you'd like at either end of the cruise. You port time begins in the morning at every port on both itineraries. No day and a half travel time from south Florida or late stops to worry about. I guess on these ships the Captains missed the meeting about only hitting ports in the evening for a 1/2 day to maximize revenue.
Want another option for a full day beginning in the morning in SJ? Explorer of the Seas out of Bayonne has a 9 day that not only hits the caribbean including SJ. You also get to stop at Bermuda on the way, what a treat! There is only one ship with the issue of an afternoon stop in SJ. Avoid the Freedom of the Seas and the problem is solved.
Actually, I couldn't find ANY RCCL cruises that arrive in PR earlier than 2:30-3. NOT ONE. Liberty, Freedom,Explorer,Independence, Grandeur, Jewel, Navigator, All visit PR and arrive at the same time. Who's arriving in the morning. Doesn't it seem strange? hence the reason for my post. I was not trying to be sarcastic or hard to get along with Travel pro, I was curious if there was a reason I was over looking why they do this.
__________________
Carnival Fantasy 6/05
RCCL Sovereign of the Seas 4/07
RCCL Navigator 12/07
RCCL Navigator 11/08
RCCL Liberty 7/4/09
Sorry shelby, I don't mean for my post to come across the way they sometimes do. I meant it tongue in cheek, not as a criticism. Hard to go for dry humor in text form and have it come out right.
Explorer has SJ from 7:00am to 2:00pm on the itineraries from Bayonne.
Adventure starts and ends there so time at port is not really a factor.
I didn't see originally that both Freedom and Libery both hit SJ, and you're right, they both arrive and stay late. There really isn't a choice as discussed earlier. Some 7 day sailings reaching down that far only have St. Thomas and St. Maarten for full days and a day or half a day in the Bahamas or Key West or some other port on the way. There is so much sailing time required to reach out this far from FL, they have to abreviate something or only offer 2 ports. In this case the short stop is SJ.
They also have Serenade of the Seas running from SJ when the Alaska season ends. So there are several ships, with RCCL alone, with SJ as part of their itin. Some work better than others for different peoples needs.
Well there is a good explanation of why they use san juan...is a money issue so they won,t let Ponce get their money everytime a Cruise ship dock they had to pay to San Juan good money and the stores they have there well if they let Ponce get it they will never get it back believe me
Actually for all I know freedom Of the seas will dock on Mayaguez in their new route not on San Juan or that is what they had been telling us here so if that the case you will see the other Puerto Rico better than San Juan.
It does appear to be a specific reason, when it comes to San Juan-at least a small one. Liberty's Eastern route goes from Miami to St. Maartan as a first stop for the whole day, then goes to PR for a few hours, then Labadee for a whole day. There has to be a reason that we're just not privy to-maybe someone could ask RCCL for their reasons.
I have to say, rather than try and change Royal Caribbean's itinerary here on this forum, I would seriously consider checking out another cruise. That's why it is a free country.
rather than try and change Royal Caribbean's itinerary here on this forum
Brad,
You underestimate the power we wield here. Why, just this morning Adam Goldstein himself called me to see what could be done. We discussed putting turbos on the cruise ship engines, as well as adjusting the gear ratios on the shafts in hopes of getting a few more RPM on the screws. He also has a call in to the producers of Star Trek, in hopes they really do have warp drive and transporters. I had to tell him he'd probably be disappointed.
Linear Mode
