This morning, we sailed into San Juan harbor, and docked at the Pan American pier. I could tell, because the ship stopped rocking and rolling when we entered the harbor at 4am. I think the slow speed of the ship, size of the swells and the location of our cabin (all the way aft, up on the highest deck) conspired to keep me up all night. Everything was creaking or moving and I think I would be lucky if I slept for a few hours at most.
We were officially back, and getting ready to make our trek back to Portland. Our flight was at 1140am, so we were assigned group 1 tickets, and were scheduled to get off about 730am and head for the the airport. A quick shower, breakfast, finish packing stuff into the carryon and off we went to the Rende-vous lounge to wait for our time to be called, we were lucky, as we barely had settled in our seats when they called #1, and off we went. A trick for cruising in and out of San Juan? ALWAYS get a porter. I know, you just have to tip them and you can carry your own bags, but they get you through the fast line at customs (not that there was much of a line at 720am!) and they will get you a taxi, so no random wandering about once you exit. We were in the cab by 735am, headed for the airport. Our friends (who got off about 930am) said it was a nightmare because the customs lines were about 50 people deep.......except the porter line, so that's where you want to go!
Once at the airport, needed to rebalance the bags and go through the agriculture inspection - don't forget to do that, because if you don't do it, they won't let you check your bags. I have no idea what they see, but you put your bags on the conveyor, and then you get a sticker saying they've been inspected. Weird.
Checked our bags, and headed out to the gate. The time? 815am. Under an hour from leaving the ship. Very nice, but you can't alwasy count on it, sometimes the airport is a disaster area, and getting off the ship can be a problem later as well. Better to be 3 hours early in this case.
Our flight to Atlanta was uneventful, and we landed at gate e2, and were going out of e26, so should be simple, right? Oh, not so much.
We were actually on the jetway to board our PDX flight, when they decided the plane was broken (?) and we needed a new aircraft. Um, really? So we got a new plane (and a new gate! A29!) and made our way over there quickly - they boarded the aircraft, and then realized we needed the catering to be moved (as well as the luggage that had been loaded on the other plane!!!) so we ended up with a 1 hour 40 minute delay, and we are decending into PDX RIGHT NOW. So I will finish this once I'm at home (and probably tomorrow.....!)
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