CRUISE 2014 - DAY 2 - SAN JUAN, PR - EMBARKATION

A beautiful sunny morning welcomed us and I spent some time writing in my travel journal and eating a muffin while enjoying the sun and warm breeze at a café table on the small patio. 

Open shutters let in the morning breeze

The lovely little patio

The night before, word got down to the 4^th floor that we were sailing on the Jewel of the Seas the following day and a fellow cruiser came up to chat with us and ask some questions as a first-time cruiser.  He and his wife had been in OSJ for a couple of days and raved about Café Manolin (251 Calle San Justo) for their reasonably-priced and tasty local food so we knew we had to try it out for breakfast.  We walked up to the restaurant to see what all of the fuss was about. 

Dave had an omelette and I had eggs, fried potatoes and ciabatta toast and we each had a glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice, which beats packaged OJ anyday!  Total bill - $11.77US.

We got back to the hostel just in time to pack our stuff up and meet the couple from the prior evening for a shared cab ride to the Pan American Pier (our half - $11US) to meet the Royal Caribbean Jewel of the Seas...our home for the next week.

 

I think that the check-in was the fastest of any cruise we have ever been on.  We enjoyed the Gold Status perk of using the priority check-in line.  I think from the time we arrived until the time we walked onto the ship was 10 minutes.  We did a quick tour of the Jewel of the Seas, stopped by the Windjammer Café for something to quench our thirst and then got off the ship again to meet our friends, Mark & Kim, who had just finished a cruise on the same ship and were in town for another couple of days. 

The Windjammer Café

Dining area where we ate many lunches - outside, but covered

The atrium

The Solarium (adults only)

 We hadn’t seen them for several months so we were excited to spend the afternoon together seeing the sights since it was their first time in OSJ and it is always fun to see things through someone else’s eyes.   We caught a cab back to OSJ and made a stop at CVS on the front street near the OSJ pier to get some sunscreen and bottles of water for our day.  It was already extremely hot so we knew we had to hydrate well and protect our white northern skin!! 

You sure can tell who has just arrived and who has been in the sun for awhile :-)

The next stop was back at Café Manolin to have some lunch.  Traditional Puerto Rican food was on the menu.  Fish or chicken dishes with rice and beans and some fried plantains.  After lunch, we wandered the streets for a bit.  I cannot get enough pictures of the cobblestone streets and the beautifully coloured buildings.  The next stop was El Morro Fortress ($3 per person entry or $5 for entry to both El Morro and San Cristobal for the day) where we spent a couple of hours exploring just about every nook and cranny of the fort.  We have been there several times and, for some reason, it never gets boring to us.  We learn something new each time we visit.

We walked back to the pier area by the walking path that goes along the old city wall beside the water.  It is a beautiful walk and we took our time, bought a pina colada smoothie and stopped at CVS again to pick up a case of water and some snacks.  Things are so expensive on the ship so we always bring along an extra duffle bag to allow us to check our water onto the ship.  This time, we just carried it on board and put some bottles immediately into the refrigerator in our cabin.  We had brought some things for Mark and Kim from home so we took them back down to them and said our farewells.  We had an absolutely stellar day with some wonderful friends!!

We were unable to get an early seating for supper so we grabbed a bit of food at the buffet and headed back to our cabin to unpack, since our bags had been delivered while we were off the ship. 

 

We had walked so much that we both had blisters on our feet so had to do a bit of first aid as well.  We went to the formal dining room for the late seating meal and had something light and then went to the mandatory muster station drill before going back to the cabin and crashing.  I never have any problems sleeping well on a cruise.   We were looking forward to our first stop – St. Thomas, USVI.

CRUISE 2014 - DAY 1 - WEST PALM BEACH TO SAN JUAN, PR

We began our next cruise adventure in a leisurely way instead of a very early morning wake-up call in order to get to the airport in time for an early flight.  We got up at a reasonable time and finished packing and drove the hour to West Palm Beach Airport in time for our 12:10pm flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico.

 

We were thankful to be able to enjoy a JetBlue flight.  It has quickly become our favorite airline to travel with.  Comfy seats, great snacks and free TV…until you reach that point, somewhere over the Bahamas, where satellite coverage ends.  Our flight arrived early and after waiting quite awhile and finding that the luggage was actually coming out on a different carousel without any prior announcement (par for the course in San Juan - go with the flow), we made our way to the taxi stand and caught a cab to Old San Juan.  Taxi prices are regulated by zone in San Juan and you know up front what your cost will be.  Our rate was $23 to Old San Juan plus $1 for each piece of luggage we had, not including carry-on items.

We decided to be adventurous on this trip since we were alone and weren’t splitting hotel costs with another couple.  I found a guest house/hostel in Old San Juan whose price just could not be beat and it had excellent reviews on Trip Advisor…not just from backpackers or younger travelers.  The rate for a night came to $62US.  We have always stayed in the Condado Beach area and were excited to spend some time in Old San Juan instead of just a few hours.  The cab dropped us at Posada San Francisco and we had to look for a bit to find the entrance.  There is no sign outside and the guest house takes up the 4^th, 5^th and 6^th floors of a beautiful old building, a former nunnery, that is gradually being renovated in keeping with its history.  There is one small elevator that won’t break any records but will eventually get you to the office on the 6^th floor.  We checked in and were shown to our room on the 5^th floor.  It was a simple room with just the basics, but very clean.  A bed, one wrought iron chair and a small refrigerator were the only furnishings.  There was an in-room air conditioner that they requested by turned off when you are out, in order to save expense.  We quickly checked out the common areas: a lounge area and separate kitchen area.  We were impressed at the set-up and how clean everything was.  The bathrooms definitely showed some wear and tear and had some patchy performance in the shower that I used but, again, everything was very clean and, for the price, I can overlook some missing tiles here and there.  I considered it part of the adventure!

The view from the small patio was gorgeous!

To the left you can see San Cristobal Fortress

We dropped our bags, changed quickly and made our way down the five flights of stairs and into the cobblestone streets of OSJ on the hunt for a place to eat.  We walked up Calle San Francisco to a tourist information booth and got a map of OSJ.  We weren’t in a major rush so we spent our time getting oriented and checking out the menus of restaurants that we passed to see if they had options that Dave’s restricted diet could work with.  We walked almost up to El Morro Fortress and then made a circle back around and settled on a spot called Moreno’s on Calle Tetuan at the end nearest to San Cristobal Fortress.  We had a very simple meal of pan-seared chicken and a green salad.  It was filling, if not inspiring, but we understand the difficulties of trying to find a place that will cater to someone who cannot eat flours, starches (no rice or potatoes), or sugars.

The colours....

The entrance to the hostel was the door to the right of the blue awning

After supper, we made our way back to the guest house…in a bit of a round-a-bout path.  We walked around the corner from the restaurant and past a small park and up the hill toward where we thought the Posada was located.  When we reached the top of the street and realized that we were at the edge of OSJ and overlooking the water, we checked the map and made a loop back down to the correct location….which was on the other side of the small park!  We didn’t mind the extra walk and got to enjoy another look at the huge waves on the Atlantic side of OSJ.  The waves were so high that there was a hazy mist in the air all day and night.  The cab driver had told us that the area is popular with surfers when the waves are that big, but they had closed it to surfing because they were having a problem with an abundance of sharks in the water because they were following the cruise ships into port scenting food. Yikers!  My shark phobia made a crawling trip up my spine at that point!

Back at the guest house, we settled into the common living area to watch some TV (Dave) and watch a cultural music and dance show taking place in the park right across the street (me).  The guest house had these lovely little patios that were open to the air and had a great view of the goings on in the street and park.  We just enjoyed the atmosphere and the warm breezes and enjoyed meeting several of our fellow guests and getting to know them a bit. 

 

After a particularly bitter and long northern winter, we soaked it all in!!