A Fascination Graduation and a week in San Juan

Some find it more convenient doing it on tapatalk on their iPad.

That's exactly right. Turns out when you download the Cruise Critic app you somehow are using Tapatalk. However that happened, it works now! And pretty easy too. Although I have learned the hard way that you can only post 6 photos per entry...[emoji15]

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Great start so far! Looking forward to reading the rest :) I love cruising out of Puerto Rico... I've done it 3 times before and will likely do it again eventually!

Enjoying the review! Can't wait to read about the ship and ports!

Loving your review!

Great start so far! Looking forward to reading the rest :) I love cruising out of Puerto Rico... I've done it 3 times before and will likely do it again eventually!

Thank you! I really enjoyed San Juan, and while it is A very long day of flying the cost isn't much more than going to Florida. I would definitely go back!

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Enjoying the review! Can't wait to read about the ship and ports!

Almost there! A day and a half of pre-cruise fun to go[emoji41]

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Saturday- Another day to relax, let the daughters recover from jet lag, and gather the family at the same hotel to prep for the cruise tomorrow.

Even though we went to bed late, I woke up early and took the opportunity to go for a run along the beach before breakfast. It felt very safe going alone. The beach had many people walking and running in the morning. But I didn't let them get in the way of my pictures of this beautiful beach![emoji12]

We enjoyed a relaxing breakfast then headed to the Embassy Suites area on the beach. We spent most of the day here, making trips to CVS and the local market for food and cold drinks.

D#1 and BF checked in about 4 pm. The rest of the evening was filled with Happy Hour, completing the pre-cruise paperwork, running a couple loads of laundry while we ate at the patio restaurant in the hotel, and going night swimming.

Tomorrow is cruise day!

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Great review so far looking forward to your review of the Fascination and the ports! Me and my sister were in San Juan in December 2015 on an Eastern Caribbean cruise. Spent the day in San Juan walking and toured Ft. El Morro. Across from the Cruise port around the corner at a restaurant not sure of the name but signs saying Sangriiia they have mojitos for 2 for $10!!! They are delicious we had several of the strawberry mojitos much cheaper than on the ship too.

We are sailing on the Fascination the week of December 3, 2017 the same cruise and ports we are arriving Friday afternoon so we have the evening and all day Saturday to explore different places and check out the beaches.

Great review so far looking forward to your review of the Fascination and the ports! Me and my sister were in San Juan in December 2015 on an Eastern Caribbean cruise. Spent the day in San Juan walking and toured Ft. El Morro. Across from the Cruise port around the corner at a restaurant not sure of the name but signs saying Sangriiia they have mojitos for 2 for $10!!! They are delicious we had several of the strawberry mojitos much cheaper than on the ship too.

 

 

 

We are sailing on the Fascination the week of December 3, 2017 the same cruise and ports we are arriving Friday afternoon so we have the evening and all day Saturday to explore different places and check out the beaches.

I saw drinks advertised for those prices still this year. Good ones too![emoji12] Have you decided where you are going to stay yet?

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I'll be following along as well. I was on the Fascination last year and loved it, despite all the shortcomings of being an older, smaller ship. We loved the fact that smaller size=smaller crowds. I also started doing my reviews as a way to pay it forward since I learned SO much from reading other people's reviews. Believe it or not I have also learned some interesting things about Puerto Rico that I didn't know or wasn't aware of, which makes it strange since I live in Puerto Rico...LOL. For example, I didn't know about the reserved chairs and umbrellas from Embassy guests at the beach. And I work 5 minutes from that place too!!

I hope you had fun in your trip, especially in PR.

Excited to hear about the rest of your trip. We are in the process of booking this cruise for my "50th" birthday next year and it is somewhat hard to find recent reviews. Also interested in your stay in San Juan as we will also plan to stay a few days after the trip. I completely understand the long day of flying...we will be coming from Seattle.

There are some. You just have to look a bit for them. ;-)

I'll be following along as well. I was on the Fascination last year and loved it, despite all the shortcomings of being an older, smaller ship. We loved the fact that smaller size=smaller crowds. I also started doing my reviews as a way to pay it forward since I learned SO much from reading other people's reviews. Believe it or not I have also learned some interesting things about Puerto Rico that I didn't know or wasn't aware of, which makes it strange since I live in Puerto Rico...LOL. For example, I didn't know about the reserved chairs and umbrellas from Embassy guests at the beach. And I work 5 minutes from that place too!!

 

 

 

I hope you had fun in your trip, especially in PR.

Well, I'm excited you're reading this! Your review was one I really enjoyed and it helped me feel confident in booking this cruise! So thank you for that[emoji41]

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Well, I'm excited you're reading this! Your review was one I really enjoyed and it helped me feel confident in booking this cruise! So thank you for that[emoji41]

 

 

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It's great to know you found my review useful! And thank you for your kind words. You are doing great BTW. Great pictures too!

118 Days and we (11) will be tracing your cruise. Have a great cruise and don't let the little things bother you. Pics of your excursions will be greatly appreciated and possibly will be some of those we will be doing.

I saw drinks advertised for those prices still this year. Good ones too![emoji12] Have you decided where you are going to stay yet?

 

 

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Hi Kathleen, we are staying at the Hyatt House in San Juan.

https://sanjuan.house.hyatt.com/en/hotel/home.html

I found out the name of the little restaurant/bar that has great mojitos!!! It's called Brain Freezee around the corner from the Cruise Port in OSJ. I do believe we will be stopping on Friday after we check into our hotel. We didn't eat there but may split something with my sister we do this alot when traveling.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g147320-d8000240-Reviews-Brain_Freezee-San_Juan_Puerto_Rico.html

Sunday - One thing I had read quite a bit about was the Le Yunque rainforest. It was roughly half an hour away, and there were many tours online that would take you to hike and swim there. It would have been cheaper to rent a car, I’m sure, but we drive so much in our regular life that we just didn’t want to deal with it here. We chose to do a tour, and they were great about working with us regarding the timing. To explain, this family is half early birds and half night owls. So there was always compromise going on about what time to get up. I didn’t want to over plan this vacation, and originally had thought Hubby and I would go alone to the rainforest on Friday. Turned out all the kids wanted to go too! We booked with Puerto Rico Cruise Excursions - The El Yunque Rainforest and La Mina Hike with Cruise Port drop off. About $55 pp. Plus we didn’t have to arrange a taxi to the port. The tour was supposed to start at 9 am and go for 5 hours. They let us start at 11. We figured we would be at the port and eating a late lunch on the ship by 4:30. We checked out of the hotel and loaded all our luggage in the guides black Excursion and were on our way.

Our guide was interesting to talk to. He was older (about our age!) and did a good job of keeping up a running commentary on the towns and sites we passed as well as talking about the economy, living in a US colony, and the upcoming elections. As we drove through the Sunday “going to the beach” traffic we were very happy he was driving, and not us! We stopped at a food stand in the Rainforest park for some grilled meat on a stick and various unusual fried items. Then he walked us to the start of the rainforest hiking trail. He explained where to go, and how he would meet us at the end, and also how long he expected the hike and swim in the waterfall to take. We had about and hour and half. The hike was green, lush and fun.

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We kept up a good pace on the way to the waterfall since we wanted to stay there as long as possible. That water was so cool and refreshing!

The second part of the hike was on the drier, quieter side of the mountain. You could easily hear the birds and frogs. We had of course stayed in the water too long, so there wasn’t much talking as we hiked uphill and to the meeting point. The next stop was the Yocahu Observation tower. 96 steps to the top for an awesome view of the forest. (This was also supposed to be the official bathroom stop, but due to “budget cuts” the bathroom was closed. Lucky us. A couple of us found a “bathroom” in the back behind the large jungle plants)

It was already after 4pm. Our guide didn’t seem to be worried about the time, probably because we were the only people on his only tour that day, but we were all of a sudden ready to be on that cruise ship!. One more stop at La Coco falls for pictures and a geography lesson,

then it was driving through the city of San Juan, then old town and then the Fascination!

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Following along as we will be on this cruise in Nov.

I've always wanted to sail on this class, so I'll be following along.

I've always wanted to sail on this class, so I'll be following along.

It is a fun size ship! Less people, less lines!

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I have to say, the great part about arriving at the port at 5 pm is that there were absolutely no lines. We walked right through every part of the embarkation process. We brought our 5 allowed bottles of wine on without any problems. We actually just carried all our bags on. It just seemed easier to keep going with them, and by that time our room and a change of clothes

seemed so close! (A note about luggage: Just because Southwest says you can take 2 checked bags and a carry on doesn’t mean you should. I will never do that again! )

We found our rooms, our room steward found us, and we got ready for dinner. Even though our rooms were right next to each other we had different stewards. They both learned our names and took care of us. We were asked if we wanted morning or afternoon service. I knew from CC that I could say both, but at the time I thought just morning would be ok. That’s what they do in hotels, and that’s fine, right? But I found that I couldn’t stand dirty towels in the bathroom in the evening and ended up calling for room service, and ice, on the first 3 nights. After that it was taken care of without my asking.

The daughters room

We had signed up for Any time dining, so we used this night to eat in the dining room we wouldn’t be able to go in for the rest of the cruise. The 6 of us were sat at a table for 10 with 2 other couples. I had read about the table cloth controversy, but I thought the wood tables, lighting and decor was lovely. Our food was delicious. Honestly, by this point we were starving, and the ability to order multiple appetizers was wonderful. The funniest thing though. We hadn’t yet gotten used to the small portions offered. It turned out over the week that we really like that, since it was so much fun to order multiple items, but at that time it was a little disconcerting. Especially when the plate came that was the cold strawberry soup. It was literally a 1 inch square of strawberry colored mousse. We were shocked for a minute, as the waiter set down other plates. He soon came back with the “soup” which he poured over the mousse. But that shocked look on our faces when he put that first plate down was classic!

My husband and I had the steak from the daily menu, and it was cooked perfectly. In fact, I think he ended up getting that steak another 2 times over the week. The waiter also met with D#1 (who has celiac) and gave her the next nights menu so she could pre order gluten free meals. Instead of giving her a separate menu, they will make whatever you want on the menu in a gluten free way. She was so excited! They did a good job with it over the course of the week too. Occasionally an item wasn’t as good as it could have been, but most often the gluten free food she got was delicious. Especially the flourless chocolate cake. Ohh, that was so good. We made her order it every night so she could share. And most importantly, they were kind to her and she never got sick.

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We wondered around the ship a bit after dinner. This is the main atrium area. Pretty sparkly, huh?!

Then it was time for the muster drill. It really did take 45 minutes, but (at least at our station anyway) the older people were allowed to sit down. I haven’t really discussed our cruise history much. Hubby and I cruised 3 times in the 80’s, before kids, then twice with extended family and children. Our last cruise was on the Norwegian Pearl, in Alaska, 10 years ago. I mention this now because I knew from reading CC that a 45 minute muster drill is considered long. However none of my family knew that. So no one complained. (Plus they got to laugh as their dad got scolded for having his phone out [emoji14]) We have also never been on a mega ship, so to us this ship size was perfect. After all, I still managed to get lost every day!

The muster drill over, it was time to find a place by the rail for sail away. The music was fun, people were dancing and we were enjoying the lights and breeze as we left San Juan.

More wondering around the ship in the dark, then hubby and I went to bed. I hoped I would be able to get more oriented to the ship once it was daylight. I don’t know how long the kids stayed up (that’s the beauty of a cruise, right?), but we made plans to meet in the main dining room for breakfast at 8am.

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Monday – We met for breakfast in the Sensation dining room. We all got lost a bit getting there, since the walkway through the art is closed in the morning and we had to go up, over and back down. I had the smoked salmon plate, which came to be my favorite breakfast over the week.

The servers were pretty fast with coffee and sweet rolls while we were deciding what to order. Breakfast took about 45 minutes, and then it was back downstairs to pack up and (finally) get off the ship. Seriously, with six of us, it was like herding cats. But we were off the ship and starting the walk to town at 10am.

I had done a lot of research about excursions, and had chosen Brenda and Franko’s Fun tours because of the good reviews and their flexibility with the starting time. Their tours are advertised as starting at 9am with a ride into town and shopping time before the city and beach tour started at 1100. We planned to walk into town on our own schedule and meet Bernard at 1100 for the Sightseeing and Swimming Excursion. ($35 each. Now on sale for $27.50.) As we start walking many taxi drivers are out there offering rides and tours. We kept saying “No, we are meeting someone.” Until the driver replies “I think you are meeting me.” It was Franko! He and Brenda were hanging out near the dock, working at filling up their tour. We waited about 5 minutes for another group and got a ride into town. I’m glad we did. We were not adjusted to the heat, and it seemed like a very long mile walk. We had about half an hour to shop the market stalls and use the bathrooms before the tour began.

Turn left here and keep walking...

Fun shopping here for hats, a dress, tshirts... And she sold me some great jewelry!

I enjoy history, and we have always included historical experiences on all of our family vacations, so I wanted to continue that family tradition on the islands. I find it intriguing to visit a European country and then a “colony” and contrast and compare the culture. Brenda drove us around the town of Charlotte Amali while Franko did a running commentary about the sites and history.

That's our ship in the harbor!

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We stopped at the top of the 99 steps for the history of the Three Queens.

I had a chance to run down and up the steps while they were setting our rum tasting. It was casual. Brenda brought out some tasting cups and three different kinds of rum to try. You could have as many samples as you cared too. Found out that pineapple rum is pretty tasty. So is coconut rum. There was also a cooler of soda and water available.

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