Our flight home on Sunday was scheduled to leave San Juan at 4:00 pm. I considered trying to find some sort of tour in San Juan for the morning after we debarked but wasn’t thrilled with the two choices offered by Carnival…1)City tour & Bacardi Distillery; and 2) City tour. There was also a Rainforest Drive that might have been interesting but it was only recommended for those whose flights were after 4:30 pm.
We…and our friends…were assigned to zone 31 for debarkation so I knew we could hang around the ship for awhile in the morning before heading to the airport. Little did I know just how long this would end up being…
On our last cruise we learned that having breakfast in the main dining room on the last day was so much nicer than fighting the crowds at the buffet…so that is what we did. We timed it so we got to the dining room around 8:15, shortly before it closed.
Self-assist debarkation started pretty early and then slowly they started announcing the zones…one at a time. We finished our breakfast and headed up to wait by the aft pool. It was a beautiful day and we were trying to soak up as much sun as possible before we headed back to the frozen north.
Nancy had brought a dice game that was fun, but didn’t take much brains or concentration and we sat around a table playing to pass the time.
Bob even gave Jim a juggling lesson using the dice!
There were very long gaps between numbers being called and we waited…and waited…and waited. Finally it was getting close to noon when zone 31 was announced.
Getting off the ship was not too painful and we found our luggage waiting for us. There was a line to get through customs that took some time…and I was starting to appreciate the fact that our flight was late in the afternoon. Jim & Kim and Lowell & Nancy, however, had a 1:30 flight.
They had booked Carnival transfers so once outside they got on a large bus headed to the airport. When we talked the next day Kim said they almost missed their flight because they had to wait for the bus to fill up before leaving for the airport.
It was a little confusing as we came out of the terminal and when a guy asked where we were going I just assumed he was in charge of coordinating the taxis. Instead he directed us towards a shuttle. I asked the price and was told $10 per person. Knowing that a cab would be about the same price we just got on. There seemed to be a little competition for passengers between the various means of transportation and it took about 15 minutes before the guy had the shuttle full and was on the way to the airport. One family was going to a hotel so we made a stop to let them off before heading on our way.
As we walked into the airport, I knew to look for the agriculture check point. It was right by the door, but I imagine that others walk right by not realizing what it is. They sent our bags through the scanner and then put stickers on the luggage showing that it had been checked. They don’t do a good job of putting the stickers on however and had I not “fixed them” they probably would have fallen off.
We were looking around trying to find where we should check in for our Sun Country flight and saw a line with at least 100 people in it! The line snaked around a corner and we finally found the end and joined the others. No one was working at the counter and the people said they had already been there for an hour waiting.
Since the scale was not being used, Bob grabbed my suitcase and weighed it…53 pounds. We shuffled a few things around between our luggage and got it down under the 50 pound limit. No one was for sure about the reason for the delay so we just stood there.
I called my son back home and told him to see if he could call or go online to find out what was going on…and then figured I might as well just call Sun Country myself. (At this point I was really glad that Sprint does not charge roaming fees in Puerto Rico!) The recording said that the flight was going to be delayed until 7 p.m. Ughhh.
As word spread through the line about the delay, some people left. I heard them making plans to get a taxi and go out to dinner and come back later. We waited for over an hour and finally the check in started. It turns out that the plane we were to get on was still in Minneapolis and had been hit by a de-icing truck. The damaged wing had to be repaired before it could fly down to San Juan.
Getting off the ship was not too painful and we found our luggage waiting for us. There was a line to get through customs that took some time…and I was starting to appreciate the fact that our flight was late in the afternoon. Jim & Kim and Lowell & Nancy, however, had a 1:30 flight.
They had booked Carnival transfers so once outside they got on a large bus headed to the airport. When we talked the next day Kim said they almost missed their flight because they had to wait for the bus to fill up before leaving for the airport.
It was a little confusing as we came out of the terminal and when a guy asked where we were going I just assumed he was in charge of coordinating the taxis. Instead he directed us towards a shuttle. I asked the price and was told $10 per person. Knowing that a cab would be about the same price we just got on. There seemed to be a little competition for passengers between the various means of transportation and it took about 15 minutes before the guy had the shuttle full and was on the way to the airport. One family was going to a hotel so we made a stop to let them off before heading on our way.
As we walked into the airport, I knew to look for the agriculture check point. It was right by the door, but I imagine that others walk right by not realizing what it is. They sent our bags through the scanner and then put stickers on the luggage showing that it had been checked. They don’t do a good job of putting the stickers on however and had I not “fixed them” they probably would have fallen off.
We were looking around trying to find where we should check in for our Sun Country flight and saw a line with at least 100 people in it! The line snaked around a corner and we finally found the end and joined the others. No one was working at the counter and the people said they had already been there for an hour waiting.
Since the scale was not being used, Bob grabbed my suitcase and weighed it…53 pounds. We shuffled a few things around between our luggage and got it down under the 50 pound limit. No one was for sure about the reason for the delay so we just stood there.
I called my son back home and told him to see if he could call or go online to find out what was going on…and then figured I might as well just call Sun Country myself. (At this point I was really glad that Sprint does not charge roaming fees in Puerto Rico!) The recording said that the flight was going to be delayed until 7 p.m. Ughhh.
As word spread through the line about the delay, some people left. I heard them making plans to get a taxi and go out to dinner and come back later. We waited for over an hour and finally the check in started. It turns out that the plane we were to get on was still in Minneapolis and had been hit by a de-icing truck. The damaged wing had to be repaired before it could fly down to San Juan.
Sun Country was giving out $15 food vouchers for McDonalds which was located right around the corner. We weren’t hungry…yet…but once we went through security we couldn’t get back to McDonald’s to use the vouchers.
Instead we found a quiet courtyard and spent an hour or so waiting outside. I was tired and wanted to get home…but yet how could we complain when we were sitting under a palm tree in January!!
Instead we found a quiet courtyard and spent an hour or so waiting outside. I was tired and wanted to get home…but yet how could we complain when we were sitting under a palm tree in January!!
Anyway we eventually did get some dinner and then went to the gate to wait. I had downloaded a movie on my iPad which helped, but the time still seemed to just creep by. It was close to 8:00 before we took off for Minneapolis. We gained two hours with the time change which put us in Minneapolis about 11:30 pm. Our son (bless his heart) was there waiting and drove us back to his house to get our car.
We pulled into our driveway at 3:30 am after a 3 ½ hour drive from Minneapolis…and being awake for 23 hours straight! I crawled into bed at 4:00 am and the alarm went off at 5:30 am for me to get ready for school. I can honestly say I have never been so tired in my life...and our wonderful week in the Caribbean seemed more like a dream than reality!
We pulled into our driveway at 3:30 am after a 3 ½ hour drive from Minneapolis…and being awake for 23 hours straight! I crawled into bed at 4:00 am and the alarm went off at 5:30 am for me to get ready for school. I can honestly say I have never been so tired in my life...and our wonderful week in the Caribbean seemed more like a dream than reality!
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