Trip Report: Caribbean Cruise (Day 5)

Sorry for the delay in posts!  I've been busy with work events and didn't have time to write until now.  Let's continue...

Day 5:

On Tuesday we were in port in San Juan, Puerto Rico. We weren't supposed to arrive until 2pm so we had all morning to hang out on the ship and relax. By this point we had started a routine of meeting each other for breakfast in the buffet at 8am. After eating breakfast we decided to play Phase 10 because we knew we had quite a while before we had to be ready to get off the ship.

After playing cards for a while Marisa and I decided to go get lunch at the buffet. We were surprised when we walked past the windows and we saw that we were pulling into port already. We were both really bummed out that we didn't have our cameras because we went right past one of the fortresses on our way in. It would have made a really cool picture and it was too late to do anything about it. I went back to my room to get my stuff ready and heard the announcement that we had arrived early due to a medical emergency. So obviously that was more important than getting a good picture.

Later when I was on my balcony I saw two ambulances on the pier and saw a younger looking girl who didn't look too sick getting loaded up but then also an older gentleman who look to be in pretty bad condition was put into the second ambulance. It was sad because you could see that his wife was really upset and they were also traveling with family who also got off the ship that day. I definitely sent up a prayer hoping that everything would be okay for them. 

Now that we were in port I went up to the top deck to get some pictures of Old San Juan.  While I was up there I got some pictures of the sports deck and pool deck as well.

The sports deck

Mini golf

The surf simulator

Pool deck

The adult only area, called the Solarium

A view of Old San Juan

Another view of town from the ship

My excursion was due to meet at 2:30, so I got my stuff together, slathered on a ton of sunscreen, and headed down to the ice rink where we were supposed to meet with our group. The excursion I had chosen for San Juan was a walking tour of the 17th century fortresses in Old San Juan. The fortresses are pretty close to the port but they still loaded us into a small bus and drove us the 10 or 15 minutes it took to get to the first fortress which was Castillo San Cristóbal. Our guide did a great job telling us the history of the fortress and pointing out interesting facts and features.

Outside the walls of the fortress

The dungeon or jail

There was some interesting artwork on the wall of the jail

This is what the living quarters looked like for the soldiers

A pretty view of the flags

I loved this old bell

A view of Navigator of the Seas from the fortress. The yellow spots in the water are the crew testing out the lifeboats.

A view of El Morro, which we would be visiting next

A view of the flags from below

​After about an hour looking around the first fortress, we hopped on the bus for another 20 minutes and headed to the second fortress, which was called El Morro. I think this one was my favorite one of the two because I really liked that it had really amazing views of the water and it also had a really cool looking lighthouse at the top.

When we arrived our tour guide  and explained that there are six levels to that fortress and that we had come in on level five. We had the option of either going with him and exploring the bottom four levels which he explained would involve climbing about 200 steps on the way back up or we could explore levels five and six on our own and take pictures of the scenery around the fortress. I decided that not only were my feet too sore to do all of the steps but that I also wanted the time to take pictures of the amazing water views from the top level.  So I went off and did my own thing for about 45 minutes.

Arriving at the second fortress

More flags!

Heading into the entry of the fortress

I loved the architecture

An interesting door

A view from the top level

I thought this watchtower was pretty cool looking

Look how blue the water is!

Of course I had to get a picture of a cannon!

The guide gathered us up when it was time to leave the fortress and walked us through Old San Juan, continuing to point out interesting buildings and telling us some more history. When we were in the middle of Old San Juan he gave us another choice, which was whether we wanted to go off on our own and do some shopping and head back to the ship on our own time or follow him all the way back to the ship. I had booked an appointment at the spa at 6:30 so I decided that I needed to get back in time so I could take a shower before I went for my massage.

I thought this was a pretty view of Old San Juan

This house is in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the narrowest house!

By the time I got back to my room I was hot and sweaty and ready for a shower. So I cleaned up and then headed up to the spa. They had a deal where you could get an hour and 15 minute neck and shoulder massage, scalp massage, facial, and foot & ankle massage, all for $120. I decided it was a great deal and a great way to relax so I signed up for it that morning. I arrived at the spa and there was a little bit of confusion about the time they had in their system for me, but they were ultimately able to get me in to see someone. The whole experience was really relaxing and I did enjoy it a lot. It felt like a great way to pamper myself on such a great trip.

Because Mark and Marisa had an excursion they got back pretty late and we knew that we wouldn't be able to all eat in the dining room like we usually had been doing this trip. So we decided we would meet at the Windjammer buffet for dinner. This was my first time having dinner at the buffet and it was pretty good. I had heard good things about it being nice and quiet and relaxed, which is quite the contrast to how busy and somewhat crazy it can be for breakfast and lunch. 

After we ate dinner we headed straight to the theater in order to see a ballroom dancing show. The guys weren't really interested in seeing it so Marisa and I went and watched it. I thought they did a really good job and I really liked a lot of the music and of course the costumes were a lot of fun to see as well. By the time the show got out we were ready to meet back up with the guys and set up to play some more Phase 10. We played for quite a while and I don't think I got to bed until about 12:30am. The next day we would be in St. Kitts, arriving at around 10:30, so we didn't have a super early morning to worry about. This was actually the first day that I didn't go to the casino at all, which was actually okay because I wasn't winning anything anyway and wasn't really loving many of the machines either.  When I got back to my room I had a towel friend waiting for me.

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So that's all for the fifth day of the trip.  I can't believe we're only halfway through! There's still so much for me to write about!! Stay tuned and hopefully I can get day 6 posted tomorrow.