Wonder, Feb 3-7 2019, San Juan to PC

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My second trip report! And still no good at catchy titles. I did think about using "Princesses don't get naked," which is something DH overheard a grandmother telling a little girl who did NOT want to leave her clothes on.

So this was our second Disney cruise. We are not really Disney people and we're barely cruise people. And we really weren't interested in the DCL upcharge. But then somehow a brochure about Marvel Day at Sea showed up in our physical mailbox and that's something we couldn't pass up. DH and I actually met at San Diego Comic Con. The big one. And we have a son following close in our footsteps. That was April 2018 and we enjoyed the whole thing a lot more than cruising Norwegian with my in-laws. We even bought a placeholder. But we booked Norwegian for July 2019. A Baltic cruise. The ship doesn't matter as much for something that port-intensive and the price difference was huge. But then the New York Times ran a story about how much Puerto Rico needs tourism dollars to help recover from the hurricane and suddenly we'd canceled that cruise and booked this one instead.

We live in balmy North Dakota, although we're both West Coasters. I'm a librarian and DH co-owns a record store. Actual vinyl. DS is 7 and in 2nd grade. His teacher assured us he'd learn much more on this trip than he would in class.

 

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Our first day was all travel and very long. The alarm went off at 4:15am and we didn't land in San Juan until 11:30pm their time. And that's only two hours difference. We had 3-hour layovers in both Minneapolis and Atlanta. First time in the Atlanta airport. This was two days before the Super Bowl, which was happening there, so it was pretty busy. We got really lucky with the weather. Both those airports were canceling flights for snow just two days prior.


What we were leaving:

Minneapolis airport breakfast with our fancy new reusable straws.

Smoked salmon Benedict

Kids French toast with sausage

Bacon, egg, and cheese croissant with an impressive side of fruit. Sadly not available a la carte.

I don't know how common it is because I don't travel for business all the time like I used to, but a lot of the dining in the Minneapolis airport is done via iPads bolted to the table. You place your order on it and there's a scanner attached for payment. It also has internet access and games while you wait.

We mostly take food photos when traveling. It drove my aunt crazy when we went on our honeymoon but all our friends appreciated them.

 

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And in fact I have no more photos until dinner in Atlanta. They have a P.F. Changs in the airport, which is a chain DH loves but we don't have, so we went there.

Coconut mojito. Malibu Coconut Rum with house-made coconut cream, lime juice and mint leaves
I've been avoiding mojitos because I'm not a big fan of mint but this was delicious.

For some reason Flickr will let me share every photo except my entree, so I'll steal the official one. It looks the same except for better lighting. So so delicious. You don't get seafood out on the Great Plains. Except walleye.

Oolong Chilean Sea Bass - Wild-caught tea-marinated filet, ginger-soy sauce, wok'd spinach

I had to talk DH into his combination fried rice. It's what he wanted most but he felt bad not ordering something fancier. But it would have been too much food to get it along with something else. That's also our appetizer of Orange Ginger Edamame (Sprinkled with our zesty citrus salt, orange peel and chili flakes). Sadly they did not have the amazing salt and pepper calamari at this location.

I was impressed by the amount of veggies that came with DS's chicken yakisoba kids meal. We also helped him eat an order of pot stickers. He was disappointed they had filling. He'd been learning about chicken and dumpling type dumplings so that's what he was expecting.

A bit confused by my fortune until I turned it over.

DH's was very appropriate: You are about to embark on a delightful journey.

We saw this on our way to our gate. Someone is unclear on the concept.

 

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We didn't prearrange transportation in San Juan. The taxis have fare zones, so that keeps things simple. We did bring DS's Bubble Bum. It's an inflatable booster seat. He is such a joy to travel with at this age. We used to lug diaper bags and a stroller and a car seat through airports. Now we feel so free! And because DH has a Delta credit card, we check our bags at no cost and have even less to carry around. Not needing to worry about overhead bin space is one of my favorite luxuries. I appreciate the heck out of it.

Getting to the hotel was painless. We stayed in Old Town, which meant driving through a lot of the city. It was pretty dark though, being midnight, so we didn't get a clear impression. Not to mention we were on the freeway the entire time. Not something to judge a place by.

We stayed at El Convento. Actually built as a convent in 1651. It was also a bordello for a while in the early 1900s. Beautiful place. And very central, Old Town-wise. Most people in the FB cruise group were staying in the beach part of town, about $15 away, but we wanted historical.


There was a tiny park in front of the hotel with quirky statues.

 

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Old Town is full of feral cats. Friendly ones. I'd read about it ahead of time so we had some cash on hand when we came across the donation drop box for the organization that feeds and spays/neuters them. We have two cats at home so we had to keep dragging DS away from these.

I love neighborhoods with colorful buildings. Burano, Italy is a great place for this too.

 

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On our way to breakfast, DH stopped in an official Information office for a physical map. DS and I waited for him out on the sidewalk and DS spotted a flock of pigeons in a park right across the street. To him, pigeons are very exotic. We don't have them. And he's fascinated by how they gather in large groups on the ground and don't fly away when people get close. So we crossed the street for him to take a closer look and there was the inevitable older man with a bag of feed who immediately approached us. I really knew better but DS was so thrilled. All I could think about was how many locals were laughing at us and how many germs those things were carrying. To his credit, I really had to argue with the gentleman to get him to take money in exchange for the bird food.

 

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We attempted Cafeteria Mallorca for breakfast but it was packed. So we backtracked just a couple blocks to La Bombonera. It's over 100 years old and wonderfully cool inside, with super high ceilings and marble tables.

We started with quesitos, which have cream cheese filling.

Then mallorcas, which every guide calls the must-try breakfast. Ham and Swiss inside. Super buttery pastry. See that shine?

 

[buteraa]

Hi Following along on your journey. It's nice to see you chose to stay in the city to experience some of the historical aspects.

 

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Then more colorful buildings on the way to El Morro.

Why yes, I dressed DS in pastels today on purpose.

Bonus mosaics

Wedding cake style

And more free range cats.

This one is apparently less social. But ingenious.

 

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And we reach the fort.

Bad mother confession: When packing, I thought DS's slip-ons were purchased after he went up two shoe sizes overnight. I was mistaken. He ended up pretty blistered. But didn't complain all that much considering. They did have Band-Aids in the fort's gift shop, which helped a lot. And then we bought him new shoes later that day.

DS wanted to race all the way to the fort. Fortunately for DH, he changed his mind about a third of the way there.

Looking back from the entrance. I generally don't mind being landlocked, but I really miss the ocean when I actually see it. Even if this is the wrong one. I grew up in Southeast Alaska and DH is from Los Angeles.

I didn't even need to suggest the pose. He's always been a ham.

Looking out at the rest of the fort...

And looking back the other way. The circles up in the wall.

Obligatory poses with cannons.

Two views of a lookout post.

I forgot two things on this trip. My refillable popcorn bucket (from the Marvel cruise, so I guess it's extra refillable somehow) and my National Parks pass that would have given us free admission. It could have been so much worse.

 

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Spotting iguanas back on the city side.

As a former journalist, DH took several photography classes in college and gets artsy sometimes. Thank goodness, because I don't have the gene.

These patterns turn out to be guide tracks for the cannons. Child for scale.

This was super strenuous. We were going up and the individual steps were really tall. And I'm 5'8".

Even the bathrooms have a balcony view.

 

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The white and red flag turns out to be the Cross of Burgundy, a Spanish military flag used from the 16th to the 18th century to identify warships, forts, and regiments of troops loyal to the king of Spain.

It's a super interesting place with all kinds of posted historical information. That just doesn't photograph well.


After about 90 minutes, that felt even longer in the heat and with all the stair-climbing, we headed back into town. We were going to stop at a well-reviewed ice cream place but it turned out they didn't open for another 15 minutes. Here are some unicorns with rainbow fairy wings across the street from them.


We went into a random tavern one block up to have a cool beverage and wait, and it turned out to be a microbrew place. We're both still working on developing an enthusiasm for beer but we each found something local that we enjoyed.


Those are acid yellow lawn gnomes on the far wallpaper. Flickr won't let me share my close-up either.


45 minutes after it should have been open, the ice cream place was still locked. There was a crowd of frustrated Instagrammers out front. We decided to try again later and set off for lunch at Barrachina, one of the places that claims to have invented the pina colada.

I had the drink special instead. Another coconut mojito but this time with guava added.


I love how the umbrella in DS's virgin pina colada matches his shirt. He ordered nothing else to drink, when available, the rest of the trip.


Appetizers.
Chorizos al Jerez: Sautéed with sherry and onions, served with fried plantains or garlic bread
Trozos de Filete de Mero: Grouper fillet strips breaded with coconut, served with pico de gallo or tartar sauce


The original plan was to have an appetizer sampler and maybe something light for DS and then go somewhere for dinner that had mofongo. But they had paella. And after much back and forth, we had to stay.

This had everything. Chicken, steak, sausage, shrimp, fish, mussels. And more fried plantains. The leftovers were eaten cold out of our room's mini fridge for dinner and were still delicious. We also got some tres leches to go because tres leches.

 

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After lunch we bought new shoes for DS. And ended up getting DH some new flip flops as well. He's always worn the $5 kind, so the fancier version was a revelation. He kept bouncing.

We thought about trying the ice cream place again on the way back to the hotel but a popsicle place that I'd read about turned out to be closer. And now my own feet were hurting a little.

Mango and strawberry. This is one of those places that always has a bit of a line out the door. There was a nice square overlooking the water right across the street, full of other people with their own flavors. Very important discovery: Frozen treats with a juice base melt much much more slowly than frozen treats with a cream base. DS picked chocolate brownie and was a goopy mess while mine was still frosty.

An extremely mellow cat right outside our hotel who is apparently not a stray. We saw him more than once.

The hotel bar was in the courtyard. We had a couple drinks before bed. Check out this menu! It's backlit.

 

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Sunday! Time to leave but we had time for a leisurely breakfast. Our port arrival time was 1:30.

We went to Chocobar Cortes. Super trendy but everything is chocolate. How could we not? About half our FB group seemed to eat there one day or the other.

Don Ignacio: Barrilito 3 star rum, cognac, spiced syrup, sweet vermouth, angostura bitters, dark chocolate rim

Churros (a little underdone), a guava-chocolate puff pastry twist, and a Nutella-filled croissant for DS

Another mallorca. Although I thought long and hard about the deep-fried chocolate French toast.

Chocobar Pancakes: Vanilla-chocolate pancakes, homemade strawberry marmalade, caramelized salted almonds

Cocoa tree.

Across the street was the Stuffed Avocado Shop. Very cute. And sounds wonderful for lunch.

We swung by the umbrella street on our way back to the hotel. They were having some sort of street fair the previous evening and there was someone dressed as a character from Coco. Like an official mascot costume.

 

[allaboutthemouse]

Can’t wait to read more, thank you! Looking at the February 2020 San Juan to New Orleans...

 

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Some hotel photos and then we're on the ship.

Wonderfully old fashioned check-in desk.

Which gives out appropriately old fashioned room keys.

All the rooms open out onto the courtyard.

Looking towards the courtyard. We were on the second floor. That's the roof of the bar. And then there's a pool on the roof that we never visited.

Street view from our room. Kind of like being in New Orleans. It's a Juliet balcony but they have rooms with full ones. And rooms with ocean views.

Upon check-in, they gave us a tri-fold brochure with an extensive history of the building. It was a neat touch I hadn't experienced before.

 

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I appreciated the extra toilet paper and Kleenex as a just in case. And that the coffee maker could make two cups at a time. The coffee packets were local. The fridge was just a fridge. No mini bar. The other side of the closet had plenty of hangers and a couple bathrobes.

Cool print of a famous local statue we didn't get a chance to see IRL.

I will apologize in advance for running out of time to take photos before we had the room fixed up. We booked this at least six months ago and in the meantime I'd completely forgotten choosing a room with just one queen bed. There wasn't an option or even space for a trundle. Probably a price thing. But DS is still small enough that we all slept comfortably.

Tiny bathroom but it had a tub.

Loved the lever action on these lamps. Just something different. And very ergonomic.

Fun medieval touches.

Also liked the very Spanish ceiling. We honeymooned in Granada, Spain, so we could visit the Alhambra, and our room there was very similar to this one.

 

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Needless to say, we didn't spend nearly enough time in Puerto Rico. Which is ironic considering that officially it was why we booked the cruise. But leaving on a Sunday just made it really hard to add extra days with us having very limited leave and DS being in school. We did get enough of a sampling to know we would definitely like to return. It was beautiful and we all really enjoyed it. There are all kinds of different things to see outside of San Juan. And I still need to visit a bioluminescent bay.

 

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There was a cab just hanging out front of our hotel so we were on our way immediately. A 10-15 minute ride to the port. The line out front to drop off our luggage moved quickly. They did demand a 'tip' but there some posted signs from Disney at the front of the line alerting you to that fact. Things moved a little more slowly inside but there were lots of agents and it was pretty steady. If there were characters to take photos with, we were too late. But we figured we would be with a 1:30 port arrival time. We did leave the hotel right at noon because that was check-out, but we weren't treated like we were early and our boarding group was called almost as soon as we arrived in the boarding area.

The boarding area is just a big warehouse-y room with some rows of folding chairs but a CM was playing Disney tunes in the corner to keep it festive. There's a backdrop to take an optional photo with your own camera (a CM is there to take it) as soon as you walk in, and then they had three stations for the official boarding photos. DH asked why there were two different kinds of boarding photos, and since many people reading these are preparing for their first cruse, it's so you have something to post to social media or text to family right away. You won't get the official photo until you've left the ship at the end of the cruise.

Unofficial

Official

I got a lot of compliments on my new shirt, especially from CMs. Only my second-ever Disney shirt. I also have an It's A Small World one. I love Mary Blair.

DS's shirt is from our first Disney cruise and very appropriate. Although he loves the unlimited free pizza even more.

 

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And in no time at all, we're on the pool deck with our rum-boosted Dole Whips, just like last time. DH doesn't care for buffets and I have issues with crowds, so the reason I don't try to get us an early PAT is we're not going to hit Cabanas anyway. And the sit-down restaurant never sounds as festive as being out in the sun. Especially since we're always coming from snow. Even when we sailed in late April.

We brought our fancy new folding metal straws that DH found on Kickstarter. He was actually inspired to order them after our last cruise. It was round trip from Miami and we visited the aquarium and there was a presentation on sea turtles and the problem with straws. He's been avoiding them ever since. I also ordered us some wider silicone ones for smoothies and thicker cocktails. But the Disney straws were usually fine. DS had to get a second one a couple times because he drank his smoothie so slowly that the straw collapsed.

Shawarma!

Our muster drill station was out on deck but we weren't in direct sun and it went pretty quickly. There was so much scootching down beforehand that we ended up in the next group but they just cared that our cabin was checked into the system somewhere.

It was really great being on a sister ship to the last one. We knew where everything was! It felt really decadent.

Last time we were on deck 2 midship and that was fine. This time we moved up to deck 5 forward, mostly to be close to the kids club but also to be nearer the pool deck since we avoid the elevators. Still in an oceanview. Balconies terrify me. Not because I have a kid. Like me personally. I don't even get too close to the railing out on the promenade.