The customs/immigration line was a bit long, but it didn’t take too long for us to pas through it. From there, it was smooth sailing to and through the airport. All told, we were sitting in the JetBlue terminal’s food court sipping coffee by a little after 10:00.

We happily passed two hours playing with Emerson and then boarded our plane on time for a roughly 3 hour flight back to Tampa.

Here’s a cool photo from over the Bahamas:

While it might seem like a hassle, I actually think San Juan is a fairly ideal cruise port. The cruise fares usually seem to be a bit cheaper, thereby offsetting the cost of the flights. Plus, with direct flights on a good schedule from Tampa, it’s not much more time consuming than driving down to Port Everglades and Miami. What’s more, the itineraries are usually better. By “better” I mean a greater variety of ports and fewer sea days. San Juan: two thumbs up.

For this trip, I’ll skip writing an in-depth cruise review. Overall, it was a good cruise. We like this class of ship (having sailed on her sister ship, Brilliance, twice) and the large balcony was awesome with the little one (as I expected). I think our cruises aboard the Caribbean Princess (itinerary, food, and truly “escaping completely”) and Norwegian Dawn (duration, family, Freestyle dining) were a bit better, but it’s been our best RCI cruise in the Caribbean.

The goal for this trip is just to relax and have fun. We don’t really have anything planned… just hitting some beaches and chilling out. Sadly, the rest of the family is at home… but, we have a New Year’s cruise planned with Mom and Pop, and then we have another cruise on the docket for March with the entire clan (sans Pop, who ain’t up for flying to Rome).

We flew JetBlue today. It’s my new favorite 2nd rate airline. I paid $35/pp extra for “even more space” seats. They were pretty comfortable for our two and a half hour flight.

Arrival at the ship was uneventful. Quick taxi ride, check-in, drop off our stuff, and go grab lunch. When we returned to our cabin, our luggage was already upstairs. We unpacked, took a nap, and then went to the kids pool to let Emerson play.

Dinner tonight was at the Windjammer.

Here’s Emerson enjoying our al fresco dining, as well as a photo overlooking the Celebrity Summit:

Heading to our muster drill now… then we’re setting sail!

I’ve actually managed to post new photos from a recent trip!

Here’s the link to the photo album:

Southern Caribbean (2011), Caribbean Princess (San Juan Roundtrip)

Having spent a fair amount of time in Old San Juan, we opted for a shore excursion / airport transfer ($39/pp.) to visit El Yunque, the Caribbean National Forest. We departed the ship at 8:00am and were on our way to the rain forest about 30 minutes later. The drive takes 45-60 minutes (each way). We made a number of stops in the forest, including a 20-25 minute walk along a nature trail. Today officially starts the rainy season… a fact that wasn’t lost on us during the visit.

Here’s a photo of one of the waterfalls in the park:

Like our other rain forest experiences, this too was lovely. Who knew? Puerto Rico is great!

We returned to the airport around 1:00. Since we have only carry on luggage and because I snagged an upgrade again for us on AirTran, we were able to skip the LONG check-in lines and the LONG security lines. All told, we managed to zip through in less than 15 minutes (versus what I have to imagine could have been a 1-2 hour process).

We’re now awaiting our flight which departs in a few hours.

Another successful trip! Six more countries (making the total 45)!

Next up (in July) will be our beloved London and then on to Northern Europe.

We strolled along the waterfront. I have to say, we were once again struck by the beauty and charm of San Juan! It’s much nicer than we’d expected. Indeed, I think I’d actively look to sail out of this port again. Anyway, we walked to the Cathedral and enjoyed a bit of the Easter mass, which was broadcast into the plaza on loud speakers. It all felt right: San Juan is a good place to visit on Easter.

After returning to the hotel to checkout, we had lunch at the Parrot Club. We enjoyed some riffs on traditional Puerto Rican cuisine: chicken pinchos, mofongo (a kind of plantain and yuca dumpling), and fried yuca. I also had a local beer (Medella — unremarkable) and a sort of Caribbean quesadilla (pulled pork w/ tropical fruit salsa).

Following lunch, we hopped in a taxi for the 15 minute drive to ship. Check-in wasn’t supposed to start until 2:00. We arrived a bit early at 1:40ish. But, operations were already underway. We checked in without a wait and were aboard the ship well before 2:00. Our cabin, B201–a forward balcony–was also ready.

I’ll write more about the ship later. A couple of quick notes: the decor is a little underwhelming compared to what we’ve seen on same vintage or newer RCI, HAL, and Celebrity ships. The upper outside decks, however, are very impressive with a range of pools and seemingly ample space. The casual dining options look good (yet to eat there) and have excellent operating hours. We also found the soda package and specialty coffee cards to be of excellent value on Princess! Upon embarkation, we also booked ourselves in all of the speciality restaurants, plus reserved “ultimate balcony dining” for tomorrow night.

Tonight, we had Easter dinner in the Island Dining Room on Deck 5. With programs like Anytime Dining, we’ve found that service can be lacking. Not tonight! This was some of the most efficient and helpful service we’ve ever had on a cruise. Better still, the food ranged from good to excellent. We both started with a twice-baked goat cheese tart (wonderful). Libby then had a salad (fine), and I enjoyed a bowl of mushroom soup (very good). We then had a wonderful strawberry and thyme sorbet (excellent). Libby’s entree was a cocoa-crusted pork tenderloin (good flavor but overcooked) with truffle mashed potatoes (excellent). I had diver scallops with roasted red potatoes (good). Our desserts and coffee were also very good (Libby had a fudge cake; I had a trio of delights). Indeed, this was probably the beat regular coffee in a main dining room on any cruise ship.

Well, we’re off to the muster drill (at 8pm!). I’ll leave you with photos of the ship’s Easter decorations and my trio of sweets:

We’re staying at the Cervantes. It was well received on TripAdvisor, located in an ideal spot, and available at a great rate. Overall, we like the hotel. Our room is modest in size, but seemingly recently refurbished and in good condition. Our only complaint — the air conditioning is too good and centrally managed. As a result, we’re freezing in the tropics! Yes, that’s right. I’ve actually found a place too cold even for me.

After checking into the hotel and having a brief snack around the corner, we went out exploring Old San Juan. We walked for about four hours. We visited San Jose Church (2nd oldest in the Western Hemisphere), El Morro (as well as San Cristobal) fort, watched the locals fly kites in the winds coming off the ocean, spent a little time popping in and out of shops / galleries, and strolled along the city walls. All in all, Old San Juan is high on the Caribbean sightseeing hit parade. It feels a little like a smaller-scale Buenos Aires or Montevideo. Nice!

We returned to our hotel, freshened up, and discussed options for dinner. Most of Old San Juan’s highest rated dining venues are within a block or two of our hotel… so, we had plenty of choices. We ultimately settled on Toro Salao, a tapas bar. We sat outside and ordered a refreshing, small pitcher of rose sangria. We ate plates of a warm and creamy crab and artichoke dip, roasted potatoes, and mahi mahi fritters w/ caramelized onions and a garlic/lemon aioli. All were good to very good. We then turned our attention to a sweet ending. Wow! I ordered cinnamon dusted churros w/ chocolate, nuts, and a homemade ice-cream (tasted like butter pecan). Excellent! Libby order a hot chocolate cake topped with vanilla ice cream, sour cherries, and candied orange zest. Her cake was “hot” in two ways: it was warm with a gooey center and it had a slight hint of cayenne pepper. It was, without a doubt, one of our all-time favorite desserts!

After our leisurely al fresco dinner, we returned to our freezer, err hotel room, and retired early.

Here’s a photo of one of the art galleries we visited:

Today’s box score: +1 “country” (Puerto Rico)