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April 13th - Day 5 – San Juan, Puerto Rico 7:30am – 3:30pm (continued)

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April 13th - Day 5 – San Juan, Puerto Rico 7:30am – 3:30pm (continued)

I hydrated on the Balcony while Dee laid down but not before making me ‘promise to wake her up when we stated moving.’ We didn’t start pulling out until shortly before 4:00pm and my attempts to stir Dee were met with a signal that she wanted a Coke so I told her ‘I was taking the Camera and heading over to the Smoking Section mid-ship on our Deck to get the Views from the other side of the Ship.’

Not too long after I got out there Dee came walking up saying she knew she’d ‘regret if she didn’t see the City.’ The Ship reversed out of its Berth

.. before swinging around and moving forward out towards the Caribbean Sea so Dee was able to get a goodlook at all of San Juan...

..... plus see El Morro on the way out.

April 13th - Day 5 – San Juan, Puerto Rico 7:30am – 3:30pm (continued)

More Pics from our Walk

April 13th - Day 5 – San Juan, Puerto Rico 7:30am –3:30pm (continued)

We continued along a Street just inside the Muralla de la Cuidad (City Wall) towards the Cruise Ship Terminals stopping ata few different spots to take some Pictures ...

...and were back on the Ship around 2:30 pm; just in time to have our daily feeding at the Tandoor Station because well….we were starving.

Back at the Cabin we found this sassy little Animal perched on the Pillows....

... and our Platinum Gifts –must say we LOVE the Tervis Tumblers; think we are up to 11 Carnival Tervis Tumblers now.We were lucky in October as we each got a Tervis Tumbler on the Carnival Inspirationbefore being mortified to see both a Red and a Blue Croc Visor on our Bed as our Platinum Gift on the Carnival Miracle. Conclusion# 801 – ‘YES’ tothe Bin.

Jim, one more thing about the Kon Tiki that I remembered from the last time we were on her back in 2004. The rum punch, which was VERY potent, was in a barrel with a spout on the bottom. Next to the barrel, they had a bottle of Bacardi 151 which you could free pour into your rum punch to give it a little extra kick. Do they still do that? Don't know how I remembered that. I lost a LOT of brain cells on that barge!! :D

LOL...I didn't notice a Bottle of 151 and I have a pretty good eye for Liquor :D ...The Bartender 'free-poured' the Rum behind the Bar - choice of Dark or White(?)...we only got Dark - and then the Barrel with the Spout on it you mention had Fruit Punch in it - that might have been be the Family factor.....so we got Rum and Ice from the Bartender and then added a little Fruit Punch as needed

Great review and photos!

Thanks...appreciate that....will get the rest of the San Juan Day up shortly

You do realize that now many of us are going to be searching up this cruise and pricing it out to follow you right? ;p

You are more than welcome to join us :)

Absolutely loving your review! My sister and I are going on this cruise in July on a b2b, and it's one of the legs.

Thank you....we really LOVED the Itinerary...and even though it was 4 Port Days in a row the stagerred 'Arrival' times worked well for us...early to DR, late to ST, early to SJ, late to GT....

Continuing to enjoy your review. Loved the segment on the Kon Tiki. We've been on it several times going back to the late 80's. As I remember it, the excursion was always sold as the Kon Tiki Party Raft, so I don't know what the Disney people were thinking! :D

Thanks again....we'd definitely do the Kon Tiki again cause we really saw the 'potential' there for a GREAT time...and don't get me wrong...we had fun and made the best of it....just wasn't quite what we envisioned...and Hey, some of those 6 - 9 year olds learned a new dance...lol

A cruise with you two is on my bucket list as well, hubs and I are S&S'ers but didn't get to go when you were with the group. And I know some of the folks on the Swine Flu aka "Mexico is Closed" cruise also. Someday... Fun fact, we went on a tour after our first cruise out of San Juan, those blue paving stones were actually ballast on the sailing ships of old. They would come over mostly empty, leave the weight of the stones behind, then sail back loaded down with sugar cane and barrels of rum. Yo ho ho!

That's cool about the Bricks....we Cruise with quite a few of the old S&S'ers ....bunch of us trying NCL in Oct of '18 out .of Miami....Just sayin

following

Thanks for following along

April 13th - Day 5 – San Juan, Puerto Rico 7:30am –3:30pm (continued)

We each ordered a Pina Colada...

... and they were very good and our Waiter convinced us to try the ‘Special Sampler for 2’ featuring Corn and Grouper Fritters, Beef Turnovers (Empanadas) Calamari and stuffed fried Plantains.

There was a couple a few Tables over who were on the Oceana Marina who we heard say to their Waiter that they were visiting San Juan for the 1st time. The Husband ordered a Local Beer, the Wife a Water and then he ordered a Club Sandwich while she ordered Chicken with Rice Soup. I looked over at Dee and said “I can’t believe they came to Puerto Rico and ordered food from Home."

Our Sampler plate arrived and we both tried the Calamari – it was good. Next up were the Turnovers (Empanadas) and neither of us grooved on the Meat inside and it was all downhill from there. We just couldn’t stomach any of the remainder of the food on the Plate. It just wasn't to our liking. The Plantains that we had in the Dominican Republic were cut thin and fried and were almost like Potato Chips. These Plantains were thick and dense and stuffed with Fish or Chicken or Beef and left me wishing for Chicken with Rice Soup.

We were more than a little embarrassed and apologized to our Waiter for “not eating much” before adding “we really wanted to just try a little of everything” and he said he’d 'leave the Plate there in case we wanted to pick a little more.' After he left I looked across at Dee and said “I’d rather eat that guy’s breath from last Night”……and we laughed and we laughed and we laughed.

Our research was right because at 3 Pina Coladas after 12:00pm the place was packed with lots of people waiting for Tables. And we must say all the other food that arrived on other Tables looked really, really good especially that Club House 2 Tables over. We settled up with our Waiter, headed outside and then continued down Calle de la Fortaleza towards La Fortaleza.

We try and buy a souvenir of some sort that is Living Room or Rec Room worthy on each 'new' trip we go on. Some of our purchases have been very good ones while others have been alcohol-fueled poor decisions which end up in a Bin in the Shed with the Slingshot and Maracas from Cozumel, the Coconut with the Face from Jamaica, etc. Conclusion # 799 – Nothing worse than waking up after a Day in St. Lucia and hearing “The eyes on this wooden Carving we bought were drawn on using Green Marker”.

We checked out a few stores before we found one that had exactly what we were looking for with Artwork and Items made by local Artisans ONLY. Conclusion # 800 – No ‘Made in Taiwan’ here. The Owner of the Store was very personable and made us want to do business with him.

We found a number of Works that were done by Savatore Cantanzaro who was born in Italy in 1945. and his story went like this: “just after WW II his Family immigrated to the United States and settled in the Bronx, NY. When he was 17 he met the beauty of God at a Church Service one Sunday at Holy Trinity in the Bronx. In his continuing search for God he decided to explore the world at the age of 19. His first stop was Puerto Rico which is rich in history. He fell in love with the Island and stayed here ever since. He was mesmerized by the natural beauty and warmth of the people of the Island. This feeling allowed him to grow the idea of exploring the art of daily life as a Priest saying “I enjoyed the freedom to explore and to see where art took me” He currently lives in Catano, PR. All his works are made of natural materials including any paints, glue or colourings he uses and the fact that he is a Priest meant all of his works have been ‘blessed’ – something we knew wanted with anything we bought in Puerto Rico.

We found a Cross we really liked and the Owner of the Store mentioned that Salvatore would be in later that Day and playing a hunch with regards to items being ‘blessed’ and Artists being present I figured that probably meant the prices had been raised so I asked the Owner exactly that. He looked almost shocked and said “Yes the prices have been doubled” and asked ‘How did I know?’ I just pointed at my Temple and said “Kidneys” .......and we laughed and we laughed and we laughed

We agreed on a Price just below 50% off of the Ticketed Price which the 3 of us seemed happy with and we were and are extremely HAPPY with our Purchase. Conclusion # 801 – ‘No’ to the Bin.

So Happy we went skipping further down the Callede la Fortaleza a few blocks before turning left and headed towards Parque de las Palomas Conclusion # 802 –Note to Self: Don’t order the Palomas Soup.

Dee is as fond of Birds as she is of getting up early so I was very surprised that she came into the Park with me but one of the things I LOVE about her is the fact that she loves an adventure.

April 13th - Day 5 – San Juan, Puerto Rico 7:30am –3:30pm (continued)

Our next Goal was to have a Rest. As we came down the Hill from the Castillo San Cristobal there was a Business on the right-hand corner across from the Square (Business is on left-hand side if looking up the Hill) and there’s a Bar at the front of the Space and a Take-Out Food Station inside at the very back where we saw a lot of Locals going. This Place was the complete opposite of a Mullet Haircut cause the Party was in the Front and the Business was in the Back.

In talking to the fellow who runs the Party End we found out that ‘the Empanadas he was selling in that Warmer right there were from the Business End in the Back’ and were “very good”. One of the things I wanted to have in San Juan was an Empanada so we shared a Chicken Empanada and each had a couple Bottles of Water…and since it wasn’t a Coffee House we were both able to quickly use the Bathroom.

The Empanada was everything I had envisioned it would be even though it didn’t look like much wrapped in the Napkin.

We spent about ¾ of an hour here watching the comings and goings of both the Locals and us Tourists and with 2 Ships in Port + all the‘local traffic’ of Residents of San Juan getting take-out from the Restaurant in the Back there was a lot of comings and goings.

Next up was the Barrachina Restaurant where the Pina Colada was invented and we wanted to try 1…or 3 + have some authentic Island food. We walked along the Calle de la Fortaleza for several blocks before we arrived at our destination.The research we had done told us to get there at 11:00am or shortly thereafter as the Restaurant really fills up and we arrived shortly after 11:00am.

Barrachina was much bigger on the inside than it looked from the outside with 3 distinct eating areas and we requested and were accommodated with a Table for 2 indoors.

April 13th - Day 5 – San Juan, Puerto Rico 7:30am –3:30pm (continued)

Pics from the Fort

April 13th - Day 5 – San Juan, Puerto Rico 7:30am –3:30pm (continued)

We were really enamored by the Architecture,Cobblestone Roads and all the colourful Houses we saw during our walk. It looked like the facades on many of the Houses and the Cobblestone were getting re-done on a street by street basis.

April 13th - Day 5 – San Juan, Puerto Rico 7:30am –3:30pm (continued)

We made it across the Street to the Walgreens under the Sheraton Old San Juan and spent 10 minutes under cover hoping theWeather would break – it did

Our first Goal was to go to one of the Top 2 Rated Coffee Shops in Old San Juan – Finca Cialitos Coffee House. I have never had a Cup of Coffee in my life but Dee loves the Stuff so we trudged up the Hill and along a Cobbestone Roadway until we reached our 1st Goal.

The Coffee House was really cool and the Staff were very friendly and helpful. Dee said the Cappuccino she got was the BESTshe has ever tasted. My Bottle of Water was cold, clear and refreshing.

I wanted to use the Bathroom there but just as we sat down one of the Locals took a Newspaper and headed in to Men’s Bathroom…………and he was in there the entire time were in the Shop. Dee said 'Coffee does that to you.'

Our next destination was the Castillo San Cristobal so we backtracked a little along a couple of Streets and then made our way up the Hill to the Fort. We had no desire to go inside but just wanted to have a look and take some Pictures which we did.

An hour earlier we were trying to stay dry from the Rain and now we were trying to stay dry from the Heat. The Air was thick to the point I swear I saw a Pigeon leaning up against the Humidity. We briefly thought about walking over to El Morro but decided against it as the walk over to the Entrance to the Grounds had a little downhill and then uphill and then more uphill…and then uphill on the Grounds at the Fort; if we headed back towards Old San Juan we would go downhill. Gravity won.

April 13th - Day 5 – San Juan, Puerto Rico 7:30am –3:30pm

More Pics from our Arrival into San Juan

April 13th - Day 5 – San Juan, Puerto Rico 7:30am –3:30pm

More Pics from our Arrival into San Juan

April 13th - Day 5 – San Juan, Puerto Rico 7:30am –3:30pm

The wake-up call came as ordered at 7:00am. Dee had made me promise to wake her up as we were sailing into San Juan. Having never been here before we wanted to take in as much as we could but she would not move. Conclusion # 798 – She did not make herself Promise. So I made my way out onto the Balcony to watch our arrival and take some Pictures.The views were amazing but the Weather looked a little iffy.

Once we were docked the Oceania Marina came in and docked a few Berths over.

I was eventually able to wake Dee up and with us still having to eat and wanting to get off the Ship as early as we could to see and experience as much as we could we decided to delay our Run and Workout until later.

San Juan is the capital and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated Territory of the United States. As of the 2010 Census, it had population of 395,326 making it the 46th largest city under the jurisdiction of the United States. San Juan was founded by Spanish colonists in 1521, who called it Ciudad dePuerto Rico ("Rich Port City"). Puerto Rico's capital is the second oldest European-established capital city in the Americas, after Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic.

Several historical buildings are located inSan Juan; among the most notable are the city's former defensive forts, Fort San Felipe del Morro and Fort San Cristobal and La Forteleza, the oldest executive mansion in continuous use in the Americas.

We went down to the Dining Room and one of the Hostesses took us on a Cellular and frustration free walk over to a Table for 2. Dee went with the Eggs Benny with her OWN side of Bacon while I had Bacon and Eggs.

Before we left home we had done some research and decided on a DIY Walking Tour that would get us to the places we wanted to see and visit so we grabbed our knapsack and headed down to Deck 0 and walked down the Gangway into a Monsoon. The Photographers had moved the ‘Welcome to San Juan’ Lifesavers over under some Shelter so we stopped by to have our Picture taken.

Jim & Pee, :cool:

 

I have laughed until I practically spit drink out my nose. I now have a cruise with the two of you on my bucket list. Please continue to entertain us!

Glad you are enjoying it...I am trying desperately to get San Juan, Grand Turk, the Final Sea Day and our Flights home finished as I am away at a Conference for work all next Week....all this 2-finger typing has taken longer than I expected ...apparently I am 'wordy'...lol

T-Shirts

For our Group Cruises I usually by a new T-Shirt for each day of the Cruisefrom www.roadkilltshirts.com – nothing offensive just things I find funny –but with this Cruise being just the 2 of us I decided to save some money and bringsome of my favourites. It got to the point on the Ship that I was the “T-shirtguy” and several different people would come running up to me each day whenthey saw me just to see what T-Shirt I had on.

In addition to the "Trust me you Can dance" Shirt these were the T-Shirts I brought for this Cruise - 'Message' is correct but the T-Shirt Colours were a little different ...

I also brought one that we got in Vegas that within the Logo on the Front essentially says:

Trophy

Husband

which is not Dee's favourite

April 12th - Day 4– Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas, USVI 11:00am– 7:00pm

We got back off the Ship and walked across the Pier Area to the Senor Frog’s and settled in for a 3 hour Session of Margaritas, dancing, singing and people watching.

Our view....

The Marg’s had the desired results and we absolutely enjoyed our time there. It was very neat to watch the Disney Fantasy back out and around the Carnival Splendor....

....and while it was doing so I used the WiFi at Senor Frog’s to see if in either San Juan or Grand Turk we were being joined by the ‘Happiest Ship on Earth’. Seeing the answer was “No” I celebrated the Good News with another Margarita

I had changed into this T- Shirt...

...and our Waitress got quite a kick out of it and asked if she could take a Picture. All in all that Shirt probably had its picture taken 25 times on this Trip.

Having been pleasantly 'overserved' at Senor Frog’s...

...we got back on the Ship about 6:15pm and went up to the Cabin for some Drinks and some Balcony time. We spent the next 90 minutes enjoying our liquid refreshments and Sail-Away and had some laughs as we remembered some of the expressions on the faces of the Passengers - young and old - during the ‘Cent, 5 Cent 10 Cent Dolla’ Dance Contest...and said 'Until Next time..." to St. Thomas

8:00pm found us dressed for Dinner and standing at the Oceanview Bar for our pre-dinner Patron Shot neat and then we were off to Table 511 in the Gold Pearl Dining room where Wayan was waiting for us with 2 Glasses of Wine…and the Pack of Smokes I had left there the Night before.

Dee went with a couple Appetizers; the Spring Rolls a Satay Dish which was Grilled Beef on a Skewer and then ordered the Flat Iron Steak as her Main while I went with a Shrimp Cocktail, the Flatbread and also got the Flat Iron Steak. Dee wasn’t crazy about the Sauce on her Satay Dish and didn't eat much of that but that was to taste and nothing to do with the way it was prepared. This was the 1st time I have had the Flatbread on a Carnival Cruise and I am kicking myself now for not having it sooner – it was VERY GOOD.

Dee had some Ice Cream for Dessert while I went with the WCMC Mickey Mouse Style. My only complaint about the Food in the Dining Room during the Cruise, and it’s a minor one, was that the WCMC was a little overcooked each Night for my liking. I like it gooey and when mixed with the Vanilla Ice Cream it becomes a pudding-like mess of tastiness – this Cruise the Cake just crumbled resulting in Vanilla Ice Cream with WCMC Chunks.

Once the Entertainment was finished and we were done playing “Who are they?” about the Family at the Booth by the Railing we signed the Check for our Wine and then went over to the other side to visit with Natalja.

We made it back to the Oceanview Bar at 10:15pm and the 2 of us found an empty 10 Dollar Table and spent the next 2½ hours counting Cards up to 21 and Drinks down from 11. We were joined by Leslee and Rick shortly after we started playing.

At about 12:30am a Gentleman sat down beside me at the Table and unfortunately for me, the Dealers, the last of whom we could see wince a little when the Gentleman spoke directly to her, and for anyone else at the Table he directed conversation at his breath was enoughto make a ‘Freight Train take a Dirt Road.’ Conclusion # 797 – He ate the Entire Satay Meal with Sauce. As soon as he left, the Dealer looked at all of us knowingly and said “Normally I am not but tonight I am so HAPPY this is a Smoking Table”…and we laughed and we laughed and we laughed.

We ordered The Traditionals at 12:45am, said Good-Night to everyone and headed up to the Cabin, set the Wake-up Call for 7:00am and then went out on the Balcony for a little wind-downtime.

Our day in St. Thomas had been a lot of Fun.

April 12th - Day 4– Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas, USVI 11:00am– 7:00pm

We were slowly moving across the Harbour towards our Pier...

As we approached our Dock we were happy to see that they were just finishing painting the ‘N’, the ‘D’ and the ‘O’ on the Portside of the Carnival Splendor. We were whole again.

Back on Land we headed up the Gangway to the Ship and made our way up to our Cabin where we were greeted by a Box and Bag of Candy from the Casino...

and our 3rd Towel Animal.

We had a Shower and then went to the Lido Deck Aft for our daily Tandoor fix. We were able to talk to a couple of the Chefs and they were gracious enough to help us put a Plate together as if they were going to eat it using all the Sauces they would use. It was a SPECTACULAR Meal.

April 12th - Day 4– Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas, USVI 11:00am– 7:00pm

Next the Captain of the Kon Tiki 2 steered us over towards Hassel and Water Islands...

......and then stopped over a Coral Reef where the Crew lowered the ‘glass bottom viewers” so everyone could see the Sea Life on the Reef. The jockeying for space around the ‘viewers’ was too much for some and the Meltdowns started so Dee and I grabbed our stuff, headed to the Bar to grab 2 glasses each of the free-poured Dark Rum, tipped the Tarbender, added Fruit Punch from the Cooler and made our way upstairs to the 2nd Deck and Sunshine and Peace and Quiet to enjoy the Drinks and have a Smoke. It wasn’t long before we were joined by several others.

The Kon Tiki 2 continued over to Honeymoon Beach where we’d be spending the next 90 minutes.

Just after we pulled in several other large Excursion Boats pulled up beside us increasing the number of people at the Beach. It was nice to get off the Boat and we grabbed a Picnic Table 10 or 15 steps from the Water. There was a non-permanent Bar-B-Q, Food Station and Bar set up right by where we were sitting and it catered to the Kon Tiki Passengers as well as the other large Boats with all the snorkelers on them that anchored right next to us. Despite the Crew’s advice to get in line for food right away we chose not to do so and the net result was that we didn’t eat but we did make multiple trips back and forth on to the Kon Tiki 2 for Rum Punch.

Eventually we walked down to the far end of the Beach where it was much less rocky entering the Water and were happy to see a Beach Bar and Food Truck there. However the wait time for food was 45 minutes and after waiting 15 minutes to try and order a Drink I walked way back up the Beach to the Kon Tiki for 4 more Rum Punch.

We swam, we drank, we admired other people’s food and we made the best of our time at the Beach. I spoke to a man who had one of the new to the Market ‘Snorkel’ or Diving Masks which is basically a full-face clear mask with a built in hard-plastic snorkel on the Top. I have trouble with traditional snorkeling and have been interested in taking a look at one of these. The man had no problem with me trying it on and I really think it would work for me.

Soon enough it was time to head back to the Kon Tiki 2 so we made the trek along the Beach. We grabbed some more Rum and added a little Punch and grabbed a Seat to watch the Entertainment. The 1st of which was a Dance Contest to the song ‘Cent, 5 Cent 10 Cent Dolla’ and the Crew did a dry run-through for all the participants. The dance move at the ‘Dolla’ part of the song looked a lot like the Pelvic Thrust move from the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Conclusion # 796 – Mickey and Minnie were blushing.

Next up was the Limbo Contest and as soon as we saw the 1st Stroller go under the Bar we looked at one of the Crew Members and he said “this just isn’t right.” On that note we grabbed some more Rum and Punch and went top side for the rest of the Journey.

April 12th - Day 4– Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas, USVI 11:00am– 7:00pm

More Pics from the Harbour Cruise

April 12th - Day 4– Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas, USVI 11:00am– 7:00pm

We started our cruise around and through the Harbour and the Host pointed out the “points of interest” all the while giving us a very thorough and interesting HistoryLesson on Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas and the USVI.

We made our way over to the Crown Bay Dock where the Allure of the Seas and the Celebrity Silhouette were docked and picked up another 15 - 20 Adult Passengers. Welcome Aboard!!! Come join the Mouseketeers!!!