C. Victory Sept. 16 '12 Review with pics

[Karpkg]

C. Victory Sept. 16 2012 Story Review with pics

 

Itinerary

 

Friday- Arrival

Hotel- InterContinental Resort at La Isla Verdes (stone’s throw from the airport)

Saturday- Combination El Yunque Rainforest and Bioluminescence Bay Kayaking excursion

Sunday- San Cristobal Fort, Old San Juan, Boarding the ship

Monday- St. Thomas- Taxi- Touring and Coki Beach, snorkeling

Tuesday- Sea Day

Wednesday- Barbados- Calypso Cruise- snorkeling with the turtles, shipwrecks

Thursday- St. Lucia- Herod’s Land/Sea Tour

Friday- St. Kitts- Taxi tour, South Friar’s Beach, snorkeling

Saturday- St. Maarten/St. Martin- Using the bus exploration, Marigot exploring, local beach hangout

Sunday- El Morro Fort, Old San Juan, departure

 

We are a family of 4 with 2 kids, DD age 9.5 and DS age 8. We live in Woodstock, GA, an hour’s drive north of Atlanta. This is our 2nd cruise, and we’ve been choosing to do major vacations during the kids’ fall break to take advantage of the off season prices. My sister flew in from Los Angeles, CA and my hubby’s(DH) childhood friend from Minnesota, so we are a party of 6 for the cruise.

 

Tip: We flew Air Trans, direct flight. I booked the air fare 5 months prior from their website. Tickets were not cheap, but I caught 2 price drops and phoned them in each time. (Can't do this if you book your tickets through a 3rd party, like Travelocity. United Airlines is affiliated with Air Trans so supposedly you can do this with them as well) They credited me toward a future flight(vouchers) up to a year from when I first booked the flight. (ie, they expired May 2013). Flights were dropping within 3 months of the cruise but prime return times were gone, so this method was the best for me, and I was able to use the credit toward Christmas flights to LA anyways.

 

Seeing Puerto Rico for the first time

 

Little tidbit: Did you know the names of the island and the city was interchanged by mistake a hundred years later after the island was named? Puerto Rico means "rich port", and the island was originally named San Juan. (Found this out while visiting the forts):D

 

Like other CC’ers I had bid on Priceline and tried for the Old Sheraton at Old San Juan. We had 2 nights pre-cruise so the 2 night restriction Old Sheraton had wasn’t going to be a deterrent but we ended up with the Intercontinental Resort at the Isla Verdes. This turned out to be a better choice for us because we got to relax at the beach and pool and enjoy the resort atmosphere before the cruise.

 

 

 

 

Friday- Sept. 14, 2012

When we arrived in San Juan it was in the high 90’s and humid, just a tad hotter than Atlanta at the time. We were an hour earlier than Billy’s flight so we went across the street to the Wendy’s there and had a late lunch.

 

Tip: Go to the Taxi Stand for the taxi. There’s people there with walkie talkies who’ll get you a taxi appropriately sized for your group and luggage. They’ll tell you the fare up front before the taxi arrives (it’s regulated). We were at the B terminal so we loaded up, headed over to D terminal to pick up Billy and away we went. ($18 total- $10 ride, $6 luggage, $2 more for extra passenger past 4 people) not including tip.

Taxi Rates by Zones

 

FYI: Cell Phones, Wifi- Puerto Rico is US Territory. My family and sis have Iphones via AT&T. Our reception was great and we used our phones as if we were in the States. I don't remember what Billy had but he used his phone fine as well. Finding free wi-fi hot spots for my friend was another matter. I heard Starbucks had free wi-fi but I didn't check, and our hotel didn't have free-wifi.

 

My sister had arrived earlier and was already hanging out at the beach. She met us in the lobby and we went up to our room. Hers was the penthouse and ours was several floors lower. We dropped off luggage, changed and headed for the beach. Don’t have pics, but it was funny seeing my sis in the water holding onto her raspberry mojito while bobbing up and down in the water. Came to realize that will be a common sight seeing cruisers in the water neck high just hanging out and sipping on their drinks.

 

 

We asked for a place to eat a late dinner at the concierge. We walked out of the resort, turned left and a block later settled into Don Jose’, a local bar and restaurant.

 

 

The place was fairly deserted except for a few locals and the owner looked ecstatic and literally danced his way over to us. Tasted their Mofongo for the first time. Loved the chicken! The Mofongo part is the starchy plaintain the shape of an upside down cup with the chicken concoction poured on top; that was so plain it needed the richly flavored chicken to complement it. On its own it was too bland. I noticed too that Puerto Rican meals used more of the starchy plantains than the sweet plaintains I was used to. (sorry, forgot to take a pic of my food) The kids wanted sweet tea and lemonade. They don’t have that but the owner was offering limeade and they settled for that.

 

My sis had the pork and rice.

 

[kimmyg726]

Love the review! Keep it coming please :)

 

We leave on the Victory on the 14th of October so I love reading the reviews.

 

Kim

[Karpkg]

I took a sipped of their limeade and then wondered why lemonade was more popular than this! It was delicious, I think I’ll start making more of this at home. The guys and my sis had the local beer, Medalla. I chose a Coke. For dessert I had the tres leches cake and passed it around for everyone to taste. It tasted like sweetened condensed milk was in it. Tiny!

 

 

For those who wondered about the InterContinental Resort and the surrounding area I felt safe walking at night. There were cops everywhere. The main street had multiple speed bumps which slowed the cars waaay down and pedestrians were haphazardly crossing the streets but didn’t seem to have a problem. The cops were mostly interested in ticketing cars; some were parked forwards and backwards no matter if they were facing the traffic or not. I asked the Don Jose’ owner and he said tourism is a huge deal and the cops keep the reputation of the area up. That made me feel a lot better.

 

We headed back and retired for the night. I had us planned for a full day excursion; a combination rainforest hike and kayaking the bioluminescence bay at Fajardo!

 

Following are pics of InterContinental Resort.

 

Our room:

 

 

We were facing the front of the resort. Looking out straight ahead.

 

Looking to the left.

 

Looking to the right and down.

 

You can see in the pics Burger King across the street and a Supermarket we later checked was closed but my sis found Walgreens using her Yelp app that was within walking distance.

 

[Karpkg]

Love the review! Keep it coming please :)

 

We leave on the Victory on the 14th of October so I love reading the reviews.

 

Kim

 

Okay, my little fingers are typing away madly, LOL! :D

[critcatny]

We were on this cruise in May. Loved, loved, loved it. Hope to do it again someday. reading others reviews is like re-living the cruise all over again. Especially love the pictures.

[Karpkg]

How about some pics of the beach and outside resort?

 

You exit the lobby to outside.

 

See this island, and head straight for it.

 

Past this fountain on the right,

 

 

The really nice cabanas at the back and left of the pool. Free for anyone to use.

 

Then see this and say, I'M OFFICIALLY ON VACATION! WAHOO!

 

Hubby doing a dive bomb into the pool. Notice any similarities to Hugh Hefner's pool-cave?

 

[trippingpara]

Keep it up. We're leaving a week from today for San Juan and this cruise. Can't wait!!

[kimmyg726]

Okay, my little fingers are typing away madly, LOL! :D[/color]

 

I promise I wasn't trying to rush you! I'm just excited to read!!!

[Karpkg]

The tropical foliage. Yep, air plants attached to trees

 

and others I don't know the names of.

 

 

 

 

Oh yes, the beach you ask? Go past the security guards that guard the resort from the public beach, through the gate and see this:

 

Straight ahead:

The blue chairs are for resort guests only. Talk about low season. We felt like we had the place to ourselves!

 

To the left:

 

To the right:

[Herfnerd]

We were on this cruise with you - sorry I missed the Meet and Beat! Looking forward to seeing your take!

[LBumb]

Nice start

[Karpkg]

Oh yeah, I did not regret getting the Old Sheraton right by the pier that everyone spoke of. Arriving from the airport we were hot and tired and this was a fantastic day to unwind and relax. I thought we would need a car for the pre-cruise but nope!

 

Saturday-Sept. 15, 2012

 

We woke up bright and early and went out looking for breakfast. We again asked at the concierge and was directed to go right once we got outside. We found Galuzzo Bistro’s Café and ate here.

 

 

 

This was also a bakery and apparently their specialty was Macaroons. They would make their cakes in the see thru room nearby but since it was early morning they hadn't started yet.

 

I was hoping more of local food but was just as happy that it was a traditional style breakfast. A pretty large variety on the menu to choose from. I even saw crepes on the menu and settled for that. The fruit toppings were local fruit- bananas and watermelon and it was delicious. (Me and hubby)

 

The adults had their Puerto Rican coffee, which hubby said it was an espresso with milk (latte? I'm more of a tea drinker). See-thru room, pastry chef getting started on something.

 

My DD had a croissant sandwich, my DS the “manwich”. (DH makes for him an omelet with ham and cheese, which is also DH’s usual breakfast)

 

[Karpkg]

We were on this cruise with you - sorry I missed the Meet and Beat! Looking forward to seeing your take!

 

 

Hello Herfnerd! Saw you a lot on the roll call thread; was hoping to meet you and your beautiful bride. But I believe we all had a great time.

 

I write lengthy reviews, so it'd be interesting to see what you think of this review! :D

[Karpkg]

Okay, back to the excursion:

 

I've been wanting to do the bio bay at the Vieques Island (Mosquito Bay) but it was too far for us and required an overnight trip or an exorbitant amount of $$$ to fly or rent a catamaran so I settled on the one at Fajardo. The timing was fantastic, it was a moonless night this night. Add a rainforest that was "the only tropical rainforest in the United States National Forest System" (yeah, this was a quote off a webpage) and I was excited.

 

I booked our trip two weeks earlier with http://www.kayakingpuertorico.com/ This particular excursion required enough people for them to send out a guide to pick us up at the hotel but our party of 6 fulfilled that and the tour had a total of 10 people.

 

Our trip didn’t start till 10:50AM so we wandered around the lobby a bit and I took some pics.

 

To the right:

 

To the left:

 

We met our tour guide Flor who came into the lobby to get us and got into a white van that also held four other people. We got to meet Andi (aka pyropoodle), Darone, (I know, I’m probably butchering names here, sorry!) Poochie and Christine. And away we went!

 

Tip: What to bring for this excursion: Wear your swimwear under clothes you can sweat or get wet in, a towel, sturdy water shoes, any snacks, and for the women, toilet paper, camera. Waterproof camera-optional. Non-deet bug spray- optional but spray is provided at the bio bay part of the tour. Cold bottled water was provided by Flor throughout the trip.

 

A shot of Puerto Rican life through the van windows:

 

 

 

I wish I could have taken a picture of this truck. These humungous speakers were blaring Caribbean music out loud. It vibrated all the cars surrounding this thing. I saw several trucks doing this on the way to and back. It reminded me of ice cream trucks but were strictly music filled speaker trucks slowly going up and down the highways and main streets, including around the fort areas.

 

It took about an hour to reach El Yunque.

 

We stopped at a couple places once we went past the checkpoint.

 

Our first stop, the Yokahu Tower. “The Forest Service built this 75-foot structure in 1962 as an observation tower. It was constructed in the style of the older Mt. Britton Tower, build by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1935. There are 98 steps to the top of the tower. At the top you will have a panoramic view of the northeast coast, offshore islands and magnificient views of mountain peaks.”

[hockeyluver]

great start looking forward to more

[Karpkg]

Inside the tower walking up gazillion steps. "99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer..."

 

The view! San Juan in the distance...

 

 

The picturesque architectural views on the way down.

 

 

 

Alrighty, taking a quick break and going out for dinner this Friday night.

 

[whendoweleave?]

Can't wait for more!

[wrigley80]

Great review!!! Thanks for sharing

[sooner33]

Awesome , I leave in a week :)

[ibcnusoon]

wonderful review!! I am really enjoying it, looking forward to reading more!!!

[t1adams]

Can't wait to read more too!!! :D We live "just down the road" from you. We're doing this cruise (but on the Valor) on 3/31. Still looking at airfare. 3/31 is Forsyth County's spring break (We have two kids....14 and 10). Still trying to decide whether to fly in on Friday evening or Saturday morning. Depends on flight deals out of Atl. and hotel deals (don't want to rent a car...trying to do this as economical as possible at this point).

[Karpkg]

We then went on a hike through the rainforest. Flors was an excellent guide, pointing out trees, flowers, animals that inhabit the area.

 

 

 

The Red Vine that's native to Puerto Rico.

 

 

Orchids growing on trees.

 

 

We walked about 40 minutes up and down a steep and narrow trail.

 

 

that ended at La Mina Falls.

 

 

[Karpkg]

After a perspiring climb everybody got into the water. It was cold and refreshing in this heat!

 

Upper falls above the bridge

 

 

Hey Andi!

 

More falls below the bridge.

 

 

 

We could have stayed all day. As it was we reluctantly glanced up and saw Flor motioning to us that it was time to leave. Apparently the rest of the group had gone on ahead. Yikes, my family were the only ones left! We sped up the return hike and actually returned in half the time it took us, 20 minutes!

 

Flor after huffing and puffing, remarked that was the fastest a group has hiked back, LOL.

 

Quote from the http://www.puertoricodaytrips.com/hike-la-mina-trail-to-la-mina-falls/. " La Mina trail is rated "Moderate to Difficult" due to it elevation changes – almost 500 feet in a little over a half mile. It should take about 30 minutes to go down, but longer on the way up, depending on how well you can walk up stairs. Luckily the trail has a number of rain and picnic shelters where you can sit and rest. Make sure you wear sturdy shoes, the trail is paved, but it can be slippery."

 

 

[Karpkg]

 

How we looked on the way to the falls

 

On the way back from the falls with Flor waving his arms and yelling, Andele! Andele! (Just kidding!)

 

We dried off and went back into the van. Five minutes later we were at another falls, La Coca Falls. This was our last stop before leaving El Yunque.

 

 

Depending on the rain, the stream can be seen either streaming or cascading down an 85 feet vertical natural stone wall. It’s located at the side of the highway so Flor could just pull off and we clambered the rocks to it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Karpkg]

We then got back into the van and I was starving by that point. Flor took us to a local out of the way restaurant. We were the only guests, but boy were we catered to!

 

 

The empty bar.

 

 

What's for dinner?

 

 

The owner and cook showed us fresh fish that was caught the day before. There were 2 Snappers and 1 huge Grouper.

 

 

We oohed and ahhed and decided who would get what. Local beer and mixed drinks were enjoyed.

 

My family chose the Grouper and it was delicious!

 

 

It was such a large fish and it fed us four adults. Plantains, rice and beans were the sides and I find that the rice and beans are so much more flavorful than in the US, I dunno what seasonings Puerto Ricans use but my mouth is watering right now in rememberance. I do find I don’t like their starchy plantains- they’re mashed and flattened into hockey-like pucks so I now skip those. I did threaten the owner with my plastic fork when he tried to take my plate away thinking I was done but I was still looking for more under the bones.

 

Not even started!