Booked on the Valor with much hesitation as we're usually RCL cruisers, but the price and southern Caribbean itinerary was just too good to pass up.

We arrived in San Juan the day prior and stayed at the Marriott Courtyard Miramar. Good hotel for a short night. Our flight arrived late so we slept in and got a late check out courtesy of my MR Platinum status. The hotel recommended lunch at Los Pinos down the street for some traditional Puerto Rican food. Great late lunch and very reasonable priced. We left the hotel at 2pm for the port via a taxi. We arrived and immediately handed over our bags to one of the porters and proceeded through the maze. The lines were long but since we had our infant son in tow, they shuttled us through the special assistance line. We felt bad getting to the front of the very long and slow moving line, but since traveling with an infant is not the easiest task, no one seemed to mind.

Sail cards in hand and through security with our bottle of wine per adult, we were on board within 15 minutes of pier arrival. My guess is the regular line probably would have taken an additional 30 minutes. Read more