Pre-Cruise in Santa Ana, Costa Rica
Ship: Swan Hellenic - SH Diana
Itinerary: 11-Night Puntarenas to Cartagena
Our three-hour-and-twenty-minute flight from DFW to SJO (San Jose, Costa Rica) was scheduled to depart at 10:20am. We arrived at the airport just before 8 am to ensure we would have enough time to get through security and perhaps visit the Admiral’s Club lounge or Capital One lounge.
We were pleasantly surprised to see very few people at the airport this morning. We checked our luggage and were through the TSA checkpoint in under ten minutes.
Capital One Lounge - Gate D23 - DFW International
Fortunately, the Capital One lounge was not too crowded when we arrived and we were able to get in. Any Capital One Venture X credit cardholder can gain free access to the lounge and bring a guest. We find this lounge to be far superior to the Admiral’s Club lounge. The atmosphere is more modern and the complimentary food and drinks are far superior.
We were in the first group to board the flight as today we have upgraded to Business Class. In fact, we were in seats 1E and 1F (bulkhead). This aircraft was an older Boeing 737-800 and the Business Class seats are showing their age. The seats were comfortable, but legroom was no better than you would get in the exit row in Economy. In fact, I think there is more legroom in the exit row!
As we were the first to board, we had no trouble finding space in the overhead bins for all of our hand luggage (no under seat storage at the bulkhead).
Each seat had a flip up armrest revealing a storage pocket large enough to hold an iPad. There was a universal electrical outlet here, but no USB ports, so make sure to bring an adapter with you.
The Business Class service was sort of a mixed bag. We were not offered any pre-departure drinks. Once the plane had reached cruising altitude, the flight attendants did bring us a bowl of nuts and offer drink service. We each ordered the Champagne, which was served in a glass and was quite good.
In Business Class, you can now pre-order your preferred meal on the AA website 30 days before your flight, which we did. American does appear to have leveled up their meal service in Business Class from our last flight in 2023.
I ordered the Beef Short Rib (below) which was served with macaroni and cheese, a salad, and a grilled shrimp with fruit. The beef was very tender, and served hot. The mac and cheese and salad looked good, but I am on a carnivore diet so could not partake. However, I did enjoy the grilled shrimp, which was surprisingly good.
Beef Short Rib w/Mac & Cheese
Rickee had pre-ordered the fruit and cheese plate which was very good. The grapes were excellent and there was a variety of cheeses to enjoy. After all meals were served, a flight attendant came through the cabin with a basket of warm breads from which to choose.
Fruit and Cheese plate
The uneventful flight landed in San Jose about 20 minutes ahead of schedule and we had to wait on the tarmac for quite some time for a gate to become available.
It took about 15 minutes to get through Immigration and another 10 minutes for our luggage to arrive at baggage claim. After exiting baggage claim, we started scanning through the long line of limo/taxi drivers and transportation services holding signs for arriving passengers. We found our greeter holding a Swan Hellenic sign along with a sign for Globus and Costsaver (other tour operators).
We were the first guests to arrive and the greeter asked us to stand and wait for the other guests to arrive. Little by little, others began to arrive and we met a few of the other guests on our cruise. We ended up waiting for more than an hour for one other couple to arrive, and finally, the transportation company decided to go ahead and transfer us to the hotel. It turned out that the missing couple had already arrived at the hotel so we waited for no reason!
We were all very ready to get to the hotel by the time the van arrived curbside. Swan Hellenic’s pre-cruise hotel is the Hilton Garden Inn in Santa Ana, which is about a 45- minute drive in traffic. And, there is a LOT of traffic!
When we entered the lobby of the hotel, which, by the way, is very nice, we found a hospitality desk for Swan Hellenic guests. The desk was staffed by personnel from the transportation company that picked us up from the airport. We were asked to complete a health questionnaire and shown the schedule for the next morning which was on a whiteboard next to the desk. Interestingly, the schedule on the whiteboard was different from the one in the information packet we were given, but we were told that we should ignore the one in our packet, and go by the one on the whiteboard.
Our room was on the fourth floor with two queen beds and was very large, very clean and modern. There were plenty of US-style 110 volt outlets and USB ports at the desk and bedside. The hotel is located next to a small and modern “mall” with shops and restaurants. We saw pizza, Japanese, Indian, and Costa Rican restaurants all within easy walking distance of the hotel. This would definitely be a good option for any pre-cruise stay if you are boarding a ship in Puntarenas.
Tomorrow morning we have to have our luggage outside of our hotel room by 11:30am, identify our luggage in the lobby at 12:30pm and board the bus for the transfer to Puntarenas at 1:00pm. The drive to Puntarenas takes about two hours, so we should be embarking SH Diana around 3pm.
More to come.
