Historic San Juan and On To the Caribbean

Bob and I have reached the point where we don’t buy each other Christmas presents since we not only have everything we need, but plenty of stuff we don’t need. Usually, though, we decide to book some sort of a trip as our gift to each other. Recently those trips have been to NYC to see a play but this year we decided a cruise to the Caribbean would be lovely. By March we are sick of the cold weather, although we recognize that cold weather in Virginia is still better than many places. So, I started watching the costs of cruises and kept an eye out for something fairly inexpensive to get us into the sun.

Princess had just the thing. A week long cruise to several Caribbean islands we had never been to, for a reasonable price. We did have to coordinate around several doctor appointments but the best week for us was a cruise from Puerto Rico, so we booked it. Since it sailed during March, and spring break, the plane fare was the worst part, but I had some points and we made it work. I initially booked a room with a large window, but no balcony, to get the rate I wanted to pay, but learned that Princess allows you to make a bid for a higher class. After researching the costs, we put in what we thought was a good offer, and 3 days before the cruise, we were rewarded with a balcony! We’re not big alcohol drinkers, but when we costed out the benefits of the Princess Plus plan, which gives a ridiculous amount of daily alcohol, but also specialty coffees, non-alcoholic smoothies, WiFi and covers tips, we realized the offer was better than what we would pay for those things piecemeal. Finally, we decided to try to get on the ship as early as possible to get access to the Sanctuary, which would give us reserved lounge chairs and little treats throughout the day. All in, we jacked up the cost of the bare bones cruise, but after all, it was Christmas.

We booked our flight to arrive a day before the cruise since it is massive folly to depend on any plane getting you where you want to go on the day of a cruise, so we elected to stay in PR at the La Concha resort with an ocean front room, just to get us in the mood. La Concha is a beautiful resort and our room was right over the ocean with a nice balcony to listen to the waves. Our flight was right on time, and we got a free upgrade to business class on the longest flight, so we arrived rested and ready for a vacation. We had booked the Authentic Flavors of San Juan Food Tour for the evening, promising a walking tour of PR restaurants that would satisfy any dinner needs.

In order to meet our tour guide, we booked a cab from the La Concha to Old Town San Juan. We left pretty early, thinking we could wander around before the tour, and it was lucky we did because the traffic was unbelievably bad. It took almost an hour to cover the 7 miles to the meeting point. Our cab driver told us this was not unusual. As always in the Caribbean, I am grateful we never elect to rent a car and drive. The streets are narrow, aggressive driving is the norm, and we found it the usual for drivers to not only not wear a seatbelt but to be proud of that fact. If you decide to rent a car, please buy the insurance!

Our tour guide was Pablo, who was in his early 20’s and was well versed in PR history, lore and food. Our group was 7 couples, mostly from the US mainland, and one couple hailed from Serbia, although they currently live in Chicago and were also escaping winter. We were led over cobblestone streets, while Pablo told us the history of Puerto Rico, and stopped in 5 different restaurants. Old San Juan is a beautiful city, very colorful, and brimming with life. Music is important, and every street had music pouring from bars and restaurants.

My favorite food by far was mofongo, which we actually assembled ourselves at one of the restaurants. We learned mofongo is a national street dish, available everywhere. It can contain different ingredients, but plantains are a must. Our group was provided with a wooden mortar and pestle each and told to mash the plantains into paste. A bit of chicken broth helped this process. After they were mashed, a measure of cooked chicken cubes was added, then the mixture was dumped out and mixed with red beans and white rice. Filling and delicious. I was less enthusiastic about the alcapurrias, which are torpedo shaped fritters stuffed with ground beef and deep fried, and are available from multiple street food vendors. Tasty but not crazy about the deep frying. All in all the food tour was well worth it, and after a dessert of cheesecake, we hailed a Lyft back to the hotel.

Earlier as we checked in to La Concha, I stood next to a very angry man who was yelling at the staff because he had paid for an oceanfront room, but was distressed that the room was over the pool, and he wanted to know how they were going to solve that. I wasn’t clear on what the problem was, until we returned from the food tour. We were on the tenth floor, with a great view of the ocean, and clearly over the pool. The problem was the band. They were playing popular music, quite loudly, while people talked and danced. It was loud, even with our balcony door closed and the curtains pulled. But since we woke up at 3:30 am to catch our plane, we were so tired that we fell asleep quickly despite the noise.

Next morning, we went to the hotel restaurant, where our buffet was included, had breakfast and took a cab to the pier. The Grand Princess is the oldest ship in the Princess fleet, launched in 1998, and was once the largest and most expensive passenger ship ever built. It can serve around 3,000 passengers, and there are internet complaints that she shows her age. She does, but nothing that we felt was an issue for us. We quickly got through the embarkation process, and our plan was to go up to the Sanctuary, on the 15th floor and buy a weekly pass for exclusive lounge chairs, an adult pool and periodic treats like afternoon tea and scones. We were successful and assigned lounge chairs right next to the large windows over the ocean. Our stateroom was on the tenth floor with a nice sized balcony and comfortable deck chairs. Our luggage was already in the room; we unpacked and went to dinner. We don’t usually go to the shows on board, but this night they had a musical about the British groups of the 60’s and 70’s, our kind of music, so we went. The cast was great, most with Broadway level voices, and we enjoyed the show.

Because I often suffer from vertigo and motion sickness, I had put on a scopalamine patch, had started twice a day meclizine, and had some compazine just in case. But the seas were kind, the ship’s rocking was gentle, and the mattress and pillows were perfect. The first stop on our voyage was Tortola, a British Virgin Island, and we had a reservation to take a boat to Jost Van Dyke for a beach day. Looking forward to a beautiful day in the 80’s!