I’m pretty excited today. Yesterday, I booked a cruise for this March. The reason I had to wait so long is because the person I travel with has all of these hoops she needs to jump through in order to get a vacation request approved. Waiting until less than 60 days can be either a blessing or a curse. Luckily, this time it was a blessing. I was able to secure a cruise, airfare and hotel accommodations for less than I have ever paid.
I ended up choosing a Carnival cruise out of Puerto Rico for my March cruise. Although some people have reservations about cruising out of San Juan, it is one of my favorite ports of embarkation. For one I love the feel of Old San Juan and now that I have cruised out of there five times I know my way around pretty well. It almost feels like home. Secondly, Puerto Rican food is one of (if not) my favorite types of food. In my opinion when faced with a similar cost cruising out of San Juan is a no-brainer.
Since the weather in the Northeast in mid-March is pretty spotty, I will be flying in a day early just in case something goes wrong. Hopefully all goes well in which case I end up with an extra day in the Caribbean. I’d advise anyone who will be flying into or out of an airport which is subject to extreme weather to take similar precautions. While spending an extra night in a hotel (as well as dining out and other expenses) does add to the total cost of your trip it is an expenditure that is completely worth it. I’m also a big fan of the extra rest not flying in the same day provides. I find that it greatly increases my enjoyment of embarkation day.
This year I have heard a lot of rumblings about a lack of deals. In my experience this simply was not true, I ran across numerous deals while I was searching. While the deals weren’t jumping up and biting me like they were last year at this time, by digging just a bit deeper I came away extremely impressed.
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Taking a similar cruise in April; Carnival out of San Juan. Never embarked out of PR before. It will be just us two females and I was curious about the safety. I’m wondering what some of the “reservations” are outside of crime and the casarios? We also got a very good price for a 6-port Southern Caribbean. We’re in the Northeast also. The biggest issue we’re seeing is that while we got a good price for the cruise, the airfare is a killer!
Believe it or not, San Juan is actually really safe. While out in old San Juan you’ll always see a strong police presence. The main thing you want to remember is to stick to the main areas and avoid side streets. Alot of the night life is centered around Fortelleza street, to that also helps with safety since there are always a ton of people around.