Sunday, January 22 - CRUISE DAY!

You know how during the week you can hardly wait for the weekend so you can sleep late…and then on Saturday morning you wake up at 5:30 am because your biological clock said it was time to get up?? That was what I was expecting…but the room was dark…and the bed was so comfortable…I slept till after 8:00. And…I finally woke Bob at 9:30 by pulling back the drapes and opening the balcony door to let the warm air and sunshine come into the room.

After a little coffee in the room, we spent the morning taking some photos around the hotel…

…and then taking a walk along the beach before heading to the port around noon.

Forgive me if this photo is of you or someone you know…I couldn’t help myself. I guess it is a good thing that she feels so comfortable with her body?

There were taxis waiting as we checked out of the Intercontinental…a $24 fare later and we were at the port. There was a pretty sizable line and it probably took about an hour from the time we arrived until we started boarding. Even once we started boarding it was slow going. I do remember that we were in Zone 6 and the boarding hadn’t started yet when we sat down. Once the boarding started it was a bit disorganized and while some people were waiting until their zones were called others were just getting into line right away.

There was a liquor store (or maybe two) as you entered into the terminal on the ground floor and then a couple more upstairs that you passed by while in the line going to security. We aren’t drinkers so it wasn’t anything that I paid close attention to. I did notice that pop was also for sale.

The whole process of boarding the ship just seemed to take a lot longer than usual. One thing that was unique was that we had our picture taken for the Sail & Sign card once we were on the ship…on previous cruises this was always done before we boarded.

We were told cabins would not be open until 2:30 pm so we made our way up to the Mediterranean Restaurant on the Lido deck to grab some lunch. Bob loves Chinese food so he wandered around until he found the window for the Yangtze Wok. I’m not a huge Chinese food lover, but the guy working there was preparing the food fresh and it looked so good that I just ordered the same as Bob. The restaurant was not overly crowded…one of the staff took our carry-on bags for us while we were ordering and saved us a table.

After eating we did go and check to see if by chance we could get into our cabin, but the hallway doors were closed. We walked around the ship taking a few photos and then plopped down on a couch by the casino to wait. 

The casino.

Another ship docked at a different pier. It was nice that the Victory was docked right at Old San Juan.

The promenade deck...a busy place in the evenings.

The wine bar.

Our plan was to drop off our carry-ons and see if we could get into Jim & Kim’s cabin. Kim’s birthday was the following day and we wanted to do a little decorating. We were anxious to get this done so we could get back off the ship and spend some time checking out Old San Juan. I got impatient just sitting there waiting so around 2:00 I insisted we go check one more time to see if we could get into the cabins.

Hallelujah! The hallway was open and we could proceed with our plans. Our cabin was number 1371 on Deck 1. Our friends were in adjoining cabins 1401 and 1403…just a little further aft. This was our first time having a true ocean view cabin. We had actually sailed on the Victory in 2005 when she was doing the western route. On that cruise we had booked an ocean view cabin but were upgraded (for FREE) to a balcony. (I sure miss those days of free upgrades!)

I didn’t take any photos of the room…but there are lots of photos of the ocean view cabins online. FYI, the ocean view cabins are the largest on the ship (except for the suites.) The space that would normally be allotted to a balcony is included as part of the square footage inside the cabin in this category. 

In our six cruises we have “sampled” pretty much every type of cabin…inside, port hole, French door cabins, ocean view and balcony. Bob actually prefers the inside cabins…he loves sleeping in the extreme darkness. Me?...I would take a balcony any day…except my frugal side usually wins out and I go for “cheap” instead.

The room steward was still working and we asked if it was OK to drop off our stuff. The door to Jim & Kim’s cabin was propped open and he said it would be fine if we wanted to decorate. I had picked up a couple of birthday banners and a bag of balloons and we went to town decorating. I also took time to decorate the cabin door using some stuff that was left over from our previous cruise.

Jim, Kim, Lowell & Nancy had booked their air through Carnival which had them flying in the day of the cruise. The ship was scheduled to sail around 10 pm so that gave Bob and I the rest of the day to explore Old San Juan.

Getting off the ship was easy…except they routed you sort of a weird way that took you round-about and involved a lot of walking just to get out of the terminal. This pirate ship was docked right next to the Victory. For a fee you could go on board and get a tour.

We looked around trying to find where the free trolley stopped. There was a tourist info booth across the street from the ship, but…no one was there. We did find a brochure on the trolley routes and debated what to do. There was a stop nearby, but since we hadn’t seen ANY trolleys yet we didn’t want to waste our time just waiting.

Instead we just started walking in the direction of the fort which we could see (San Cristobal). I had imagined that it would be a long walk and we were surprised to find out just how close it was…but it was an uphill walk to get there. Once we figured out where the entrance was we paid our $3 admission fee and went in. 

It amazed me that there were so few people in the fort on a Sunday afternoon. The weather was beautiful and we just took our time wandering around checking out pretty much all of the fort.

Bob was taking his time enjoying all of the displays so I sat on these benches and called all of our kids back home...mostly just to make them jealous since Minnesota was having freezing rain and snow all day! Thank you to Sprint for including Puerto Rico in your coverage area! 

Puerto Rico feels like a foreign country so it seemed a bit odd to see the U.S. flag waving from the fort.

There was a great view of the Victory and the city of San Juan from on top of the fort...

A few more photos from inside the fort...

Down the coast we could see the other fort (El Morro) and started walking that way. 

The traffic was horrendous…it would have scared me to death to drive here.

As we walked it was interesting to see the walls that surrounded most of the city. What a contrast to see the centuries old wall right next to an outdoor basketball court!

After walking part of the way we decided it was going to take too much time and too much energy to make it all the way to the fort AND then walk around inside so we backtracked and started meandering our way back towards the ship. Occasionally we would stop and go in a shop, but mostly we just walked ...enjoying the warm weather and being a part of a different culture.

The doorways of the buildings fascinated me as we walked the narrow blue cobblestone streets of the city.

Back on the ship, we found our luggage waiting outside our cabin when we returned. Unpacking was pretty easy…there is plenty of storage space and after multiple cruises we pretty much know where we want things to go. I had brought along some cheap, wire hangers and was glad to have them…there are never enough in the closets. Once emptied, the luggage was stashed under the bed.

It felt good to be settled in for the week, but our friends were still on their way. The four of them had booked their flights through Carnival and were en route to San Juan. They left Minneapolis around 7 am and the last I had heard from them they had a layover in Charlotte. At that time Kim had texted me that the flight was running late due to mechanical problems. The flight had been scheduled to arrive around 5:30 at SJU so we calculated that by the time they collected their luggage and waited on the Carnival bus to fill up it would be at least 6:30 before they arrived at the ship. With the delay now we were guessing possibly 7:00 pm.

Around that time we went down to the lobby to wait for their arrival. We waited…and waited…and waited. Everyone was supposed to be on board by 8:30 pm and I was starting to get worried. At 8:00 I went to guest services to see if they could give me any information about their flight or what might happen if they were late. I stood in line for about 10 minutes before I was able to inquire about them. The guy behind the counter checked his computer and said “your friends are already on board”. What?!?! As I was trying to figure out how they had gotten past us in the lobby Bob came running over and said “they are here!”

Open seating in the MDR was scheduled until 8:30 pm so they quickly dropped off their stuff in the cabin and we made our way to dinner in the Pacific Dining room.

By the time dinner was over it was almost time for the muster drill which was scheduled for 9:30 pm. Being so soon after the Costa Concordia disaster in Italy I thought people would take this more seriously, but it took forever to get all of the stragglers there. People also continued to talk throughout the briefing which made it hard to hear and understand the directions.

Once the safety drill was over our group of six headed to the “secret door” on deck 6 for sail away. Bob and I had first discovered this on our first Victory cruise in 2005. There were a few others who also knew about the access to the front of the ship (must be Cruise Critic people!) but for the most part it was just our group. Sailing away in the dark was a new and strange experience. It was interesting to see the lights of the fort as we sailed past…but made for terrible photos.

There was no show in the main lounge that first night so we explored the ship a bit and then called it a night.

Saturday, January 21 - Leaving on a Jet Plane

I never rest easy the night before a trip. My son lives about 20 minutes from the airport, but I imagined every sort of problem that could make us late for our 7:45 am flight. I was up before the alarm, rushed to get ready and then waited…a bit impatiently…at the door with my coat on wishing my husband and son would move a bit faster.

As we started to leave, I noticed my shoes sitting by the door…the shoes that I planned to wear on the plane. I looked down at my feet and realized that I was wearing one of the roommate’s shoes instead of my own!! After all of my nagging about the guys moving too slow I sheepishly sat down and changed my shoes and we were on our way.

The drive to the airport was smooth…at 5:30 am on a Saturday there was very little traffic. After going through airport security and getting my “free mammogram” (ie body scan) I grabbed some Caribou Coffee (yum!) and some muffins. By the time we had eaten, it was time to board. Of course I had to take one last gulp of my coffee that spilled down the front of my white shirt. :(

The flight took about 5 ½ hours to get to San Juan…the longest I had ever flown at one time. To help survive the boredom, I had loaded up my iPad with movies, TV shows, audio books, Kindle books, magazines, games, etc. I don’t enjoy flying and being cramped up on a plane for that many hours was not something I was looking forward to.

But…thanks to these nifty, neat-o video monitors that Delta put in the seat backs, the time just flew by. Watch a movie, play some games and voila…the trip is over!

The screens had a map that showed the location of the plane and information on the speed, etc. so it was fun to watch our progress getting to San Juan. Compared to the air temperature at 37,000 feet, Minnesota seemed absolutely balmy!

I had read about great Priceline deals that people were getting on San Juan hotels but after a few weeks of bidding I had nothing. My preference would have been the Sheraton Hotel in Old San Juan but they have a two-night minimum. I am a bargain hunter at heart but also didn’t want to end up in a crummy hotel just to get a good price. For some reason there just weren’t any good deals to be had on the weekend of January 21st in San Juan!! At $150 I finally “won” the Intercontinental Resort Hotel.

The hotel was located in the Isla Verde section of San Juan…fairly close to the airport. When we checked in we were told that a “resort fee” would be added onto our bill. From my research, this didn’t surprise me, but I think it is a bit shady to charge this extra fee…for what? The resort fee was around $25 which was in addition to the other hotel taxes that had already been added onto the Priceline fee. So…for $200 a night what kind of room did we get? A very small one.

The bed was very comfortable, but it pretty much filled the whole room. There was a small balcony that was just large enough to stand on…but no way big enough to fit a chair. We had a city view. The hotel was filled so there was no chance of upgrading to an ocean view…but at $60 extra I wouldn’t have done it anyway.

With the two hour time difference between San Juan and Minnesota we had just enough time to sit on the beach for about 45 minutes before the sun went down. Ahhhhh…it is January and we were ON A BEACH!!

There were a lot of chain restaurants within walking distance of the Intercontinental…but I could eat at a Burger King or Red Lobster back home…I wanted something a little more “local”. I knew there was a restaurant called the Metropol not too far away so we turned left as we went out of the hotel and started walking. We walked along the fairly busy street for 10 minutes or so and eventually found the restaurant.

It wasn’t too busy when we first arrived, but it started filling up quickly. Our waiter was very friendly and recommended the smoked chicken which Bob ordered ($16.99). I asked about the mofongo. I saw it listed on the menu but the waiter said I didn’t want that because it was just plantains and nothing else. He said they would make it for me with shrimp and garlic sauce and that is what I should order…so I did ($18.99). If I understood correctly, the mofongo is made from plantains that are first fried…and then mashed. It was an interesting taste and pretty good…but now that I’ve tried it I probably wouldn’t order it again.

On the other hand…Bob said his smoked chicken was the best he had ever eaten. It came with rice, sweet potatoes, plantains and a bowl of black beans. 

The restaurant is located right next door to a cock fighting arena…we could hear the crowing as we walked by. We just assumed that Bob’s dinner was the loser.

Walking back to the hotel was so enjoyable…the warm night, the bustle of the city…and we were on VACATION!

Back at the hotel we changed into our swimsuits and headed to the hot tub. The grounds of the hotel are beautifully landscaped and it was almost magical hearing the chirping crickets in the foliage. The joke was on us…we figured out the “night sounds” were actually a recording coming through hidden speakers in the flowers! Whatever…it was still a beautiful evening!

Let's Go on a Southern Caribbean Cruise!

Friday, January 20 – Minneapolis Here we Come!

This cruise started out with our good friends, Jim & Kim, traveling with Jim's sister & brother-in-law, Nancy and Lowell. The two couples had been married just a week apart and the cruise was to celebrate the joint 30 year anniversaries. When Kim mentioned casually that "wouldn't it be fun if we could join them"...the words were barely out of her mouth and we had the cruise booked! Bob and I would be having our 35th wedding anniversary in May so we would be celebrating too...just a little early!

Although we had taken five previous cruises, this would be the first time to do a southern Caribbean route and the first time ever to take a vacation in January. Our other cruises had all been in the summer. As a teacher, traveling in January was a bit tricky, but I was able to make it work. Jim and Kim had been on one 3-day cruise several years ago, but Lowell and Nancy were first time cruisers. Right away my cruise obsession kicked in and by default, I became the planner of the group. 

The cruise others booked their cruise through a travel agent which included booking the air through Carnival and arriving in San Juan on the day the cruise left. I booked our flights myself and we went down a day early knowing that flying in the winter can often mean delays.

Although the winter was a relative mild one, the day we left, we got snow. The first leg of our trip was to make the three hour drive to Minneapolis on Friday night after work. We have two sons that live in the Twin Cities and the home of our number one son (age-wise at least!) was our destination for the night. My son owns his own home, but has three roommates who share the house and help take the sting out of his mortgage payments. He graciously let us have his bedroom and he took the couch for the night.

The photo is a bit blurry but if you look close you will see the temp was reading 7º….brrrr. 

Living on the frigid, landlocked prairie you can understand why we were so excited to be heading to the Caribbean!!

Akumal Beach Resort - Part 4

I'm sad that I didn't get one single sunrise photo on this trip...I just couldn't drag myself out of bed. However we did get a few photos at sunset and I figure they are fitting for the end of this report.









And finally...sadly...it is time to go home...

Be sure to check out our next (and 3rd) trip to Akumal in 2015. Here is the link to the beginning of the blog posts...South of the Border Birthday Trip