Cruise Jan 2011 - Day 1 SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO

I actually consider Day 1 to be the day we started off on our journey but I will combine Jan 28th and 29th and call it Day 1.

Our trip actually began when we left home on the evening of the 27th and headed to Halifax. We stayed with Donald & Sarah H., which was a lovely way to start our vacation. They treated us to some delicious nachos and a mouth-watering salsa, imported straight from Albuquerque. We stayed up late talking and were up around 4am to head to the airport so I don’t think I got more than a couple of hours sleep.

Our flights on US Airways went fantastic! They were both on time leaving and arrived a bit early at each destination. With all of the storms that have been hitting Atlantic Canada and the east coast of the U.S., I don’t need to tell you that we were happy to get out between storm systems!

We landed at the Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan at around 2:20pm. It took a long while to get our baggage as, in typical island fashion, they couldn’t seem to decide which carousel the baggage would come out on. It ended up coming out on two different carousels – neither of which was labeled in any way with the flight number! Do not expect things to work in the same way as they do at home. Island time is much slower and efficiency is not often a priority. You have to go with the attitude that you are on vacation and will go with the flow.

We caught a cab to the Comfort Inn on Calle Clemencau in the Condado area. Cab fares in San Juan are regulated so there is a flat fee depending on which zone you are traveling to as well as $1 for each piece of luggage. Our trip from the airport to the hotel cost $25. We checked in around 4pm and went directly to our room and changed into some ‘warm weather’ clothing and headed out to Condado Beach. The beach is just a five minute walk from the hotel and we wanted to get whatever warmth and sun remained of the day. The sun was going down behind the hotels and apartment buildings lining the beach but we found a sunny spot and just sat in the sand, smelled the salt air and watched the big waves crashing on the shore. Condado is a great beach for surfing and boogie boarding as San Juan is on the Atlantic Ocean side of Puerto Rico.

We were getting quite hungry after our long day of travel so we headed up Ashford Ave to Danny’s Pizza. They make absolutely delicious pizza with a light but crispy crust and tomato sauce to die for!! We always have to order a couple of extra dishes of sauce to dip our pizza in. So yummy!

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at the Walgreens on Ashford to pick up snacks and a case of water to take on the ship with us. Bottles of water on the ship usually run about $4 each so it is much cheaper to buy your own or take on a refillable bottle to fill at one of the drink stations on ship. We usually tuck an extra collapsible duffle bag into our luggage to put our water in and check at the pier.  It was a quiet evening and an early bedtime since we had been up for many, many hours and were ready for some shut eye.

There is nothing like waking up and seeing beautiful sun and fluffy white clouds outside your window – and NO SNOW!! We started the day off with some scriptures and a couple of worship prayers seeing as it was Sunday. We grabbed some free continental breakfast in the breakfast room and headed out to the beach again. We weren’t planning on checking into the ship until around noon and didn’t want to miss one ray of sunshine. The guys braved the big waves and the girls relaxed on the beach and read…and kept an eye on our men to ensure that they weren’t drowning!!

Back to the hotel, showered and caught a cab to the Old San Juan Pier 4 where the Carnival Victory was berthed. The cab fare from the hotel to the OSJ Pier was $21. We arrived later than we normally would (around 12:45pm) but it actually worked out perfectly because there were no line-ups and we were checked in and on the ship within 15 minutes. In no time, we were at the Mediterranean Buffet grabbing some lunch. There are so many lunch options available – the regular buffet line, the deli sandwich station, the sushi station, the grill station out by the pool area. If you couldn’t find anything to eat – you had some issues! We topped off lunch with a soft yogurt which is available 24 hours a day.

We did a bit of touring around the ship to check out what changes had been made since our Victory cruise in March 2010. The Victory went to dry dock in October 2010 so there were a few changes we noticed. Specifically, there was a new adult-only retreat area called Serenity which offered a gorgeous spot for sunning and relaxation with vibrant teal lounge beds and woven chairs. You could tell that carpets had been updated and a few other smaller refurbishments made around the ship. The cabins were ready around 2:30pm so we dropped our stuff and found that most of our bags had been delivered.


Serenity Retreat



The view of the central pool, hot tubs and water slide



The view across the bay to the Pan American pier where most ships depart San Juan

We got off the ship to find the Marshall’s store that I read about online. It is located right beside Plaza de Armas in Old San Juan. It was about a 10 minute walk to get there. I wasn’t as impressed as some of the online reviewers were. There were definitely some good deals to be found but not as many deals or as much selection as I had hoped. Rebecca bought a bathing suit top and I bought a bottom for $10. Between us, we had an entire suit : - ) There were rain showers starting when we exited Marshall’s so we walked back to Paseo Gilberto Concepción de Gracia, which runs right along the waterfront, made a stop at the CVS and then quickly got back to the ship. Our missing suitcase was outside our door so I unpacked and then a nap was definitely called for. A wonderful thing about vacation is that there are no restrictions on the number of naps you can take in one day!

Supper that evening was open seating with no scheduled time so we made our way to the Pacific Dining Room around 6:30pm. The food on cruises can be one of the things that receive widely ranging reviews but I have rarely had any problems with the food options and quality on most of our cruises. There are generally about five appetizer options, two or three salad options, six or seven entrées and three dessert offerings. Dave has a very restricted diet and he had no problem sticking to it throughout the cruise. I think most of us had the ribs for supper and they were so tender, they would just fall off the bone. Delish!!

We attended the required Safety Briefing at 9:30pm and then hurried back to our cabins to get our bathing suits on so we could enjoy the hot tub near the aft (adult) pool. Sail-away was at 10pm and we sat in the hot tub for a good hour and a half while the Victory sailed out of San Juan Harbour past El Morro Fortress on our way to many delightful island adventures.