My wife and I are in our early fifties, live in the center of the United States and both work. This trip was to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary although it was almost five months after the fact due to an overseas deployment for me. We booked this cruise because first, we wanted to sail from San Juan; second, it fit the precious days off we had and third, it called at several ports we wanted to visit. I booked through an interline agency where I have travel privileges.

Based on weather fears and the desire to see Puerto Rico before the cruise, we departed on Tuesday before the Sunday sailing. We flew through DFW effortlessly although the airport closed later that day for heavy snow. Arriving in San Juan, we spent the fist night at the Best Western at the airport. The room was fine, breakfast was good and the staff friendly. I did obtain a military discount which made the rate extremely reasonable. We rented a car from Payless and toured the island for the remainder of the week. I recommend Payless at the San Juan airport. On cruise day, we returned the rental car and went to the terminal to wait for a transfer. The airport was a zoo at noon on Sunday. We found a bar called the Buffalo Wings (no relation to the Buffalo Wild Wings chain) across from the jetBlue terminal in the parking garage. There is also a Wendy's there if you are looking for cheap food at the airport. We sat at the Buffalo Wings bar for two hours before grabbing a taxi to the pier. The taxi was $22 as advertised.

We didn't want to arrive too early as we had been warned that there is nowhere to go and nothing to do at the Pan American Pier. This is true but fortunately, we were able to speed through the inprocessing and onto the ship. As others have mentioned, there is a duty free right in the terminal before you get on the ship. Don't forget to pack a corkscrew. Read more