Thread: Serenade Check in time

My S. Caribbean cruise on the Serenade is scheduled to start at 10pm, 4/8. I'm flying into San Juan at 11am and I would like to either check in as earliest possible or do some sight seeing if I cannot check in around lunch time. Any suggestion?

Ok, since no one else answered so far. When you receive your cruise documents a time should be stated there as to what time you can board the ship.

Generally speaking, you can board the ship soon after all of the passengers from the previous cruise have disembarked. Most ships arrive at the end of their cruise at around 7 or 8 am. The turnaround time is very short.

Most of the time the cruise line, RCI in this case, will start allowing check in around 11 or 11:30 am. They generally let pax on the ship around 12:00 pm. You can tour the ship and go to Windjammer for lunch. They will make an annoucement around 1:00 pm that you can go to the cabins.

thanks for your input JSTDucky! once i check in, can i get off the ship to tour San Juan and Old San Juan? or am i stuck once i check in?

I've never done it before, but I know of plenty of others who have.

I beleive that once you check in, you can get off the ship. You just need to swipe your sea pass so that they know you've gone off. Just be sure to be back on the ship before it sails. Confirm with someone there what time you need to get back.

Hold on, let me see if I can find more info about this for you. I beleive someone mentioned it... one second.

Originally Posted by bs_outwest

As we arrived at the terminal, there were people everywhere, cabs all over the place and luggage piled up on all the walks. The line-up for the terminal looked about 1,000 people deep, so we thought that this would be our afternoon, standing in line. However, as we exited out cab, a porter took our luggage and told us to follow him. We did, he checked our luggage and we headed to the back of the line, about a mile away[img]images/smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img]

We then spotted an RCL employee. We asked if we had to stay here, as the ship did not sail until 10:00 pm. She told that our bags would be checked through and we were free to return anytime. This was great, off we went to Old San Juan again, no luggage in tow and the better part of a whole day to explore.

the above was quoted from bs_outwest's cruise on Adventure of the Seas in November 2005. his cruise was out of San Juan as well.

he didn't exactly check in and then leave the ship and come back later, but he did a variation. he just dropped his bags, then explored the city then came back to check in later.

this may also be an option for you.

but as i said, i am almost positive that you can check in, then get off the ship and explore and just come back before ship sets sail.

hopefully someone else will see this and have a better response than me.