Expert: Barbon - 3/13/2001

Question
I'm leaving San Juan on Celebrity Galaxy at midnight.  My flight arrives in San Juan at 6:40pm.  Does that give me plenty of time to get on the boat, get checked in, etc.?  (I've never been on a cruise before, so I'm not familiar with how long it takes to get to the boat, checked in, etc.)  Thanks.

Answer
Hi Rob,
  Yes, you have plenty of time to get to the ship.  The airport is not far at all from the port and checking in takes no more than 10 minutes.  Don't forget people arrive at all times of the day, so there is really no wait to get on board.  The only time it is crowded is when the ship first opens for embarkation.  That time also has been considerably cut down due to Celebrity's new early embarkation time.  It use to be, especially when leaving from Florida, that many flights arrived early in the am (and many locals arrived early also), causing a wait to embark at 1 or 2 pm., whatever the stated time was. Now on most cruises you can start boarding around 11am so it really does spread out the embarkation time.  Remember in Puerto Rico almost all of the passengers arrive by plane so the embarkation is spread out over a longer period of time.  Some people do come in the night before to San Juan (we are doing this on our Infinity cruise), so this may be an option to consider the next time you cruise.
I hope this answers your question.  Please do not hestiate to e-mail me with any further questions, and have a WONDERFUL cruise.
Barbara
Barbon2@aol.com