Royal Caribbean offers cruises that begin in San Juan, Puerto Rico that offer some great Southern Caribbean itineraries to try.  If you're considering going on one of these cruises, here's what you need to know about embarkation day in San Juan.

It's not where you think it is

If you've ever taken a cruise that stops in San Juan for the day, you've likely been to the San Juan Cruise Port, but that's just for cruise ships that are in the city for the day.

Royal Caribbean cruises that originate in San Juan will dock at the Pan American Pier, which is across the channel from the San Juan Cruise Port.  It's adjacent to the Isla Grande Airport and is about a 5 minute taxi drive from Old San Juan.

As you're driving in, you should be able to see the ship docked since there isn't much around there.  As of the writing of this blog post, Jewel of the Seas and Adventure of the Seas are offering cruises out of San Juan.

Getting checked in

Once you arrive at the pier, the check-in process is similar to other ports but we've also noticed a few differences too.

There will be porters at the pier to help take your luggage and load it onto the ship.  In addition, there is a special line to enter the building for Platinum and above Crown and Anchor Society members.  Everyone else will wait in a separate line.

Waiting to check in for our Jewel of the Seas cruise #cruise #JewelOfTheSeas #cruiseship #travel

A photo posted by Royal Caribbean Blog.com (@royalcaribbeanblog) on Sep 21, 2013 at 7:48am PDT

We've gotten to the pier as early as 10:30am and we've generally heard passengers are let into the embarkation building around 11am.  One potential issue is the check-in building is not very large and the staff will only allow batches of passengers in at a time, so you may get stuck outside waiting to get in.  Given this is Puerto Rico, the temperature and humidity outside can be quite high.

Since most Royal Caribbean ships do not leave port until later in the evening (usually around 8pm), so getting to the port early in the morning is not as critical but lines outside the building are possible.  The good news is, often the lines outside are infrequent.

Embarkation

Once inside the building, you will find lines for Crown and Anchor Society members and lines for everyone else.  

You will be subjected to a security check that consists of an x-ray machine and metal detector.  Once through there, you will enter your line and get checked in.

We should also note there is a duty-free liquor store inside the check-in area, which is a great place to pick up a few bottles of wine to bring onboard your cruise. Remember, Royal Caribbean allows up to two bottles of wine per stateroom to bring onboard.

After check-in, it's just a short walk onto your Royal Caribbean cruise!

Boarding #jeweloftheseas!

A photo posted by Royal Caribbean Blog.com (@royalcaribbeanblog) on Sep 21, 2013 at 8:11am PDT

Have you embarked in San Juan?

Did you have a chance to take a Royal Caribbean cruise out of San Juan?  Share your tips and suggestions for embarkation day in San Juan in our comments below!

Royal Caribbean's Quantum of the Seas has a lot of different staterooms to choose from and today, we will look at the Grand Suite with Balcony (GS) stateroom to give you an idea of what to expect if you book this category.

On our Quantum of the Seas cruise, we had a chance to see the Grand Suite while on a stateroom tour. Like all staterooms on Quantum of the Seas, entry to the room is by RFID scanner, which is above the door handle.

The Grand Suite is essentially two main rooms, a living room and a bedroom.  The Grand Suite measures 351 square feet in size and can sleep up to four people.

You will walk into the living room area, which has a full sized sofa and some chairs that are position perfectly to watch television. The sofa does open up to a double bed.

There's a small writing desk that features electrical and USB outlets too.

Connecting to the stateroom is the bedroom, with two twin beds that convert to a Royal King, measuring 72.5 inches wide by 82 inches long, and separate dressing area with entrance to bathroom.

Also in the bedroom is a closet.

The bathroom is much larger and fuller than other bathrooms in stateroom categories below the Grand Suite, and offers a tun, two sinks and a second entrance to the living room.

Marble and mosaics are a big decor motif for the bathroom and just like all suites, there's a lot more space to enjoy here.

Of course, no suite is complete without a balcony and the Grand Suite features a 109 square foot balcony with seating and private dining area.

After many weeks of waiting, Royal Caribbean has released its Royal iQ app for Android devices on the Google Play store.

Royal iQ is the brand new smartphone app that was created for the launch of the Quantum-class cruise ships but until now was available only on iOS devices.

Royal iQ's current functionality allows passengers to see their plans via a calendar, book dining reservations as well as text and call other guests onboard their ship for a nominal fee.  There's also an option to make ship-to-shore and shore-to-ship calls billed at a per-minute rate.

Royal iQ is currently only compatible on Quantum of the Seas, but Royal Caribbean will roll the app out to sister ships Anthem of the Seas and Ovation of the Seas when they debut in 2015 and 2016, respectively.  Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas will get access to Royal iQ in 2015.

Royal Caribbean is offering a quick weekend "WOW deal" on all Caribbean and Bahamas sailings.

The new deal runs on January 10 & 11, 2015 and is valid on all all Caribbean and Bahamas sailings between January 11 – March 31, 2015, excluding Quantum of the Seas.

Boooking a qualifying cruise this weekend will net you

• $25 onboard credit per stateroom – Interior
• $125 onboard credit per stateroom – Ocean View
• $250 onboard credit per stateroom – Balcony / Suite

This promotion also inlcudes the current deal of 50% off the second guest's cruise fare.

A passenger fell overboard from Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas on Thursday but was resuced by a Disney Cruise Line ship.

The man, identified as Frank Jade from the United States, fell overboard approximately 8 miles from Cozumel, Mexico.

The Disney Magic found the man after the ship followed the same path as Oasis of the Seas.  The Disney Cruise Line ship lowered a rescue boat into the water and were able to pick him up. The crew took him on board and the Disney Magic docked at Punta Langsota so Jade could be transferred to a private clinic for medical care.

Frank Jade is said to be in stable condition without any serious injuries. 

If it's Friday, that means it is time to share some more awesome photos our readers have sent in of their Royal Caribbean cruise vacations!  As always, we want your photos too, so send us your best Royal Caribbean photos so we can share it with the world.

First up this week is this photo from Bryan Rupp of Adventure of the Seas docked next to Explorer of the Seas while in St. Maarten.  That's quite an impressive perspective!

Speaking of two ships, here's a great one of Navigator of the Seas next to Allure of the Seas by Scott Stoeckle.  Two beautiful ships!

You want more ship groupings? Here's one by Francois St-Onge of six ships in Cozumel.

Next is a photo by Jennifer Silverman taking a formal night selfie in Central Park.  Looking good ladies!

We will round things out with this photo by John Siegmund of Quantum of the Seas in Nassau, Bahamas during her inaugural 8-night cruise from Cape Liberty.

Thank you to everyone who sent in their photos this week. Have a great weekend and be sure to send us your photos so we can post them next week by using this form.

Royal Caribbean's newest cruise ship, Anthem of the Seas, will leave ship builder Meyer Werft's covered building for its official float out on Saturday, February 8, 2015

Cruise expert Stewart Chiron confirmed the February date for the new ship's float out.

Hard to believe! @RoyalCaribbean upcoming #cruise #AnthemoftheSeas float-out at shipyard set for Feb 8. pic.twitter.com/ZNurxDS55I

— Stewart Chiron (@CruiseGuy) January 7, 2015

The 167,800gt vessel will be floated out of Meyer Werft's building dock II on the date.  Float out dates are subject to weather conditions and can be delayed if the weather does not meet requirements.

Anthem of the Seas is the second Quantum-class cruise ship built for Royal Caribbean and follows sister ship Quantum of the Seas, which was launched just a few months ago.

Our newest podcast episode is out to help give you a quick "audio escape" to a Royal Caribbean cruise!

Episode 75 is available for downloading, which has a review of a listener's experience on Quantum of the Seas.

Podcast listener Victor is back to share his experience on his family's Quantum of the Seas Christmas cruise.  Victor shares how his cruise went along with some great tips for those going on Quantum of the Seas.

Here’s the podcast page for Episode 75. And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Stitcher or on iTunes!

Take a listen and as always, let us know what you think! Please rate and review the podcast on iTunes and leave your comments below!