Hubby and I live in Seattle, Washington and were so happy taking an Eastern and Western B2B cruise 5 months ago that we decided to get out of the cold once again and sail the Southern Caribbean. This sailing was out of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and we decided to do a five day stay pre-cruise, at a rental cottage in Rio Grande, PR, to rest up and relax, before our departure on Monday, March 7th, 2011.

We dropped off our Hertz rental at the Hilton Caribe Hotel and took a taxi to the Pan American Cruise Terminal. A reminder.....there are two cruise terminals and our cruise itinerary stated we would be leaving from the San Juan Terminal. This info was incorrect. Fortunately, a CC member pointed out to me prior to our departure that they were on the same cruise and that we indeed needed to check in at Pan American. Apparently the San Juan Terminal is used by Celebrity when San Juan is an actual port stop. Most taxi drivers do know which terminal to take you to when you tell them which ship you are on.

There was a long line outside the Pan Am terminal when we arrived. However, we had filled out the Express Check-In online which allowed us to move to another line where we were processed through quickly. One of the easiest embarkations since we began cruising 6 years ago. Read more