Seeing Old San Juan with New Eyes

It wasn’t my shining moment. In San Juan on our recent cruise, we were the last ones back on the ship.

We weren’t the ones who come running down the pier just as the gangway is pulled in, to the hoots of onlookers hanging over their balcony railing.

But pretty darn close. One of the crew came running over to usher us in.

I do have an excuse, if a lame one. I can’t tear myself away from Old San Juan.

When we were last there, it was right after Hurricane Maria. Most of the places were shuttered. The few that were open were dark and hot, without power or customers.

This time, however, Old San Juan was restored to its usual, fascinating self. And though I’ve been there many times, I felt as if I were seeing it for the first time. Never did the buildings look more colorful, more ornate or more majestic. The Golden Trumpets and bougainvillea seemed to burst with color and joy.

We wandered down side streets and found places we’d never seen before. Like the splendid little pastry shop shown below, a Spanish Parisian-style patisserie. We took pictures and moped away, tortured that we were in port too short a time to go in.

Another street found us facing a sprawling ceiling of umbrellas—a commemoration of Puerto Ricans who served in U.S. wars.

At every turn seemed to be a beguiling boutique and bohemian café. Lapis-toned cobblestones, mosaic tile stairways and storefronts. Tropical flora-laden parks. The forts. The fountains. And on and on.

How can you not love Old San Juan? It’s old world Europe meets trendy urban chic, and truly one of the best destinations for the Caribbean cruiser.

When it’s the Destination, Not the Journey

I’ve always thought that cruising is right for everyone. But I was wrong.

After speaking to a friend who just returned from his first cruise, I rethought my assumptions.

While cruising has a lot to offer all ages, it’s not necessarily the best way to travel if you’re all about the destinations. Here’s why:

Itineraries change. Weather, a damaged pier, a government travel ban or a passenger with a life-threatening condition are just some of the reasons you may not make it to the port you lusted after. On one of our early cruises, we almost didn't get to Grand Cayman because the sea was rough and getting into the tender proved tough.

 

As the tenders bobbed briskly, the captain almost called off our visit to Grand Cayman
(pictured on a calmer day!)

Tenders take forever. If the port you long for requires tenders, know that the process of getting on and off, and back and forth to the ship eats up significant time.

 

Tenders can take forever; build in lots of time

Crappy weather can rain on your parade. I planned one cruise just for a stop in Martinique. When we got there, it poured. All day.

It could be Sunday or a holiday. If the pouring rain in Martinique wasn’t enough, it was also Sunday. The sole thing open was the supermarket. Another trip, we went to St. Maarten, only to discover it was a national holiday. But no parades or costumes. Just a half-empty city.

The stay may be short. In San Juan on one trip, we had to rush back to make a 1:30 p.m. deadline. While port stays of 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. may work for early birds, it doesn’t for night owls.

Excursion diversion. An excursion to ruins may sound great online, but you could spend most of the day getting there and back. Our first time in San Juan, we planned a visit to the Bacardi factory. The bus ride was long, the wait for the tour was long, and the tour was short. And so was the time we had left to actually see the city.

 

We missed seeing the fabulous El Morro our first visit to San Juan because the Bacardi excursion ate up the whole day

One of the neat things about cruising is that you can visit interesting ports, and hit multiple ports in one trip. But to view the cruise ship as merely transportation can set the traveler up for disappointment. Cruising is as much about the ship as the ports.

If that weren’t true, cruisers wouldn’t salivate as they do at the thought of a new ship debut.

So, go for the journey as much as the destination. You’ll have double the fun and none of the disappointment.  

15 Shades of Blue

Think of the Caribbean and you think blue, right? In fact, there are many “shades” of blue when you cruise the Caribbean Sea. 

Blue is the color of:

1. Your passport—Don’t leave home without it! And be sure it doesn’t expire within six months of your trip.
2. The sky above your balcony—With no powerlines to obstruct your view, the sky seems bluer, bigger, bolder. And if you’re headed for the ABCs (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao), you’ll see more of that blue sky than anywhere else. Aruba gets only 16 inches a year of rain; compare that to 46 for New York.

   

   The sky seems bluer, bigger and bolder from your balcony
3. The water below your boat—If you’ve never cruised the Caribbean, know this: those photos you’ve seen are real. The waters of Bonaire, St. Maarten, and the U.S. Virgin Island gems of St. Croix and St. John are just that blue, just that clear, just that calm.

   

   Blue as far as you can "sea" in Bonaire 

4. The resorts the lines call their own—Carnival’s private resorts of Princess Cays (Bahamas) and Mahogany Bay (Roatan), and Royal Caribbean’s Labadee (Haiti) boast blue hue water that’s tranquil and see-through, perfect for swimming, sunning and snorkeling. And when your ship comes in, you (and your 2,000-6,000 fellow travelers) get the resort all to yourself.

   

   Calm and comfortably cool is the blue water at Princess Cays

5. The pools of port—Three neat port pools that come immediately to mind are at Grand Turk, Costa Maya and Carnival’s newest resort in the Dominican Republic, Amber Cove. These three pools are big, with plenty of room for making a splash.

   

   A part of the vast winding pool of Amber Cove

6.  The flags of Barbados and Curaçao—Barbados in the Eastern Caribbean and Curaçao in the South—both great ports to visit—use blue as the primary color of their national flags, to reflect the sea and the sky.
7.  The iguana of Grand Cayman—This blue lizard, according to Wikipedia, is a special variety found in Grand Cayman and is on the endangered list. In fact, the only one we saw on our visit was this guy below:
   
8. The cobblestones of old San Juan—Pull into port in San Juan and you’re just a few steps away from cobblestones made from adoquine, a blue stone cast originally brought over on Spanish ships.
   
9. The logos of the lines—Not surprisingly, the mermaid, ship, anchor and X logos of Princess, Holland America, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity are all blue.
10. Curaçao’s namesake liquid—Made from local oranges, with a little help from food coloring, curaçao liqueur is unmistakable in its color and squat round bottles.

    

    
    

11. The delft and faux delft trinkets of the ABCs—Browse the tourist shops of the Dutch isles of Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao to find some of the real hand-painted stuff, but more of the mass-produced kind. These are inexpensive, and make great Christmas tree ornaments, magnets and collectibles.

    

    Mass-produced delft, but that everyone can afford

12. Larimar—The lovely baby blue stone is from the Dominican Republic, but sold on many of the islands at a very reasonable price (note that they vary in quality). We picked up good quality earrings in St. Thomas’ Charlotte Amalie for about $40.
13. The female cruiser—What cruising woman can resist a shirt with blue-and-white stripes in classic nautical style (or “nausical” as one retailer calls it). Navy blue, says Wikipedia, got its name from the dark blue uniforms traditionally worn by many navies around the world.
14. That sign that it will come to an end—Alas, blue is also the color of the Customs card that appears on your bed—sometimes as early as the second day of the trip.
15. My mood…when it’s all over.

The Meal Deal—is the Same Time, Same Place Right for You?

First, I must come clean: I’m a “my time” convert.

Mind you, this didn’t happen overnight. When we first cruised years ago, it was on Celebrity’s Constellation, then under the expert oversight of Michelin-starred Michel Roux. The main dining room food was a true treat and the waiters had time to chat. Every fourth man or so on formal night wore a tux, and the women enjoyed a rare chance to show off their sequins and spikes.

Well, Roux left in ‘07 and Celebrity’s food immediately became indistinguishable from the other mass market cruise lines—merely edible.

Today, on all ships we’ve been on—from Celebrity to Royal Caribbean to Princess to Holland America—we’ve found hardly a tux in sight and the gowns are going too. Waiters are more harried. Few seem to take the trouble any more to get to know their guests, or their preferences.

In short, the MDR experience feels less like Saturday night fine dining, and more like Applebees by the Sea. Given these changes, it does make one wonder, does the same time/same place traditional set seating still make sense? Royal Caribbean certainly has its doubts, evidenced by the debut of “dynamic dining” on its Anthem of the Seas.

However, like most things in life, the set time vs. my time comes down to personal choice. Consider:

The Case for Set Seating

You’re in love with your waiter. There are still a few waiters who manage to squeeze in a bit of chitchat between food order and delivery. And if you’re lucky enough to find one, you may just get rewarded with a glimpse into his home, culture and ship life.

You snagged a great table. Tables for two are, on some ships, treated as an afterthought and can be
shoved in the most unlikely and uncomfortable places. Whether you’re dining just with your
companion or a larger group, if you get a great location, it can make a big difference in how much you feel like coming back.

Getting a great table in a dining room like this one on Navigator of the Seas is worth coming back for.  

The pace is not too fast, not too slow. We’ve had the best and we’ve had the worst; the worst topped two hours for three courses. If you’re with a group, you might not mind a long wait between courses. But if there’s just two of you, the long wait can be painful.

There’s a lot of you. If you’re with a large group and you want to eat together every night, your best bet is probably with set seating. That way, you’ll always know you have a table ready for you.

The Case for My Time

You’re on vacation. Unless you’re retired, your life is essentially dictated by the big hand and the little hand. The flexibility of my time can’t be beat—you show up when you’re ready to eat.

You can avoid the rush. It can be a real challenge sometimes to work set seating around entertainment—particularly on Oasis class ships, where you need to book the shows before you leave home. And you may think you’ve left enough time to chow before the show, only to find that you didn’t.

Have your meal and port stay too. If your seating’s at 6 and you’re still nursing your drink at 8 in

an Old San Juan café, you can forget your MDR dinner. Do my time and show up any time.

Linger too long in Old San Juan and you can forget your set seating.

My Time Misconceptions

Misconception #1: If you show up when you feel like it, you’ll be waiting a long time. Since I’m a recent convert, I can’t speak for the other lines, but on two different Royal Caribbean ships, we waited not more than about 10 minutes for a table.

Misconception #2: You won’t get the table you want. Every time we’ve asked for a table for two, we’ve gotten it.

Misconception #3: If we find a waiter we love, we’ll never have him again. If you find a waiter you want again, simply ask. You may wait longer, but the ships will generally accommodate you.

The Final Word

Whether you opt for my time or set time, it’s always best to do it at booking because if you wait, you may not have a choice.

Watch for the Signs—How the Ports Tease and Tempt You

In San Juan, they’re in Spanish. In St. Barts, they’re in French. And everywhere else in the Caribbean, they’re colorful, often kooky, design to tempt, taunt and tease. I am, of course, talking about the signs.

We take restaurant and shop signs for granted. But they can stop you in your flip-flops. Bring a smile to your face. Some of them are even memorable. Like the one at the St. Thomas Crown Bay pier greeting cruisers with “Free Beer Tomorrow.”
 
Below are some of our favorites for your viewing pleasure. And don’t forget, the next time you’re tripping the Caribbean, watch for the signs!

Glad we settled that. (Dominica)

Sure beats chicken noodle! (St. Maarten)

Any funnier and you’d have to feed us. (Grand Cayman)

Leave your fishing rod at the door. (Grand Cayman)

Anything else come with that? (St. Maarten)

 

Taking a sip? Leave your partner on the ship! (St. Maarten)

Wahoo! It’s ladies' day! (St. Maarten)

Their clothes or their grammar?  (St. John)

Amen to that! (St. Maarten)









Making the Most of Your First Cruise

If you’ve booked your first cruise, you’re probably not quite sure what to expect. But you’ve got a lot invested in this trip and expect a great time. Here are a handful of tips to help ensure you make the most of it:
 
Read, read and read some more. About everything—the ship, the cruising experience, the ports. The more you know, the more you’ll get out of the trip. Be sure to read the forums in cruisecritic.com and other sites (see the posting “Cruising the Web”).
 
Inside or out. Consider an inside or outside room your first trip. Avoiding a balcony room your first cruise is the best way to ensure you get the whole ship experience. We love having a balcony, but it’s so tempting to stay on it at sail-away, on a sunny sea day, coming into port—nearly all the time! Our first trip, we had an outside room and never regretted it. Check out “The Cure for Deck Plan Distress” to help you navigate deck plans and find the right room for your needs.
 
Plan, but don’t plan. You may want to do some planning; for example, if you’re taking the Oasis or Allure of the Seas, you’ll need to schedule your shows before your trip. But you don’t want to plan every minute of your cruise; you may miss out on great spur-of-the-moment experiences.
 

Ice show on the Oasis: worth making plans for

Don’t feel compelled to excursion. For our first visit to San Juan, we booked an excursion. Mistake! The bus trip and Bacardi tour took forever and by the time we got back to town, everything was closing. When the ship sailed away, we knew we were in San Juan, but hadn’t a clue what it looked like.
 
Open for fun. If you got pushed into going, go with an open mind. One of the great things about cruising is that you can have any type of trip you want. Relax or be active. Be social or recluse. Eat to your heart’s content or sweat it out at the gym and spa.
 
Oh-oh. If something goes wrong, know it can happen on any vacation. Try not to judge the whole experience by your one trip.
 
Join in the fun. Some of it may feel silly and may not be to your taste. But getting into the games,

Joining in on the fun at Mardi Gras, Caribbean Princess-style

dancing the disco, singing the karaoke and showing up at the shows will guarantee you a good time. And no worries—you’ll never see your fellow passengers again!
 
Tap the wealth of info around you. Share a table. Seize the moment in a bar. Go to a Cruise Critic Meet and Mingle. You can learn a lot by talking to others on the ship, who may be experienced cruisers.  They can tell you where to go in port, what not to miss and what on the ship is worth seeing or doing.
 
Digital pictures are free. Whether your memory-capturing tool of choice is a smart phone or camera, don’t be stingy with taking photos. You’ll really appreciate it when you get home. I filled a digital frame with tropical pictures and it does wonders on those days of stress and strain.
 
Don’t leave the ship without it. Book your next cruise while you’re still onboard. You may get some great deals, like a super low deposit and shipboard credit. It’s a no-lose because you can get a refund at any time. I share this because I know once you get a taste of cruising, you’ll be lusting after more!

Photos by RJ Greenburg

Of Chocolate, Rum and Spice: Food Souvenirs of the Caribbean

It’s truly hard these days to find any real handicrafts. From Basseterre to Bridgetown, most of what we see is all the same—made in China, but stamped with a different port name.
 
What you can still get that’s unique and local is of the edible (and drinkable) kind. Food stuffs make great gifts for those you left behind—if you can bear to part with them once you get home. And if you pick up a few for yourself, it’s one way to keep the cruise going after it’s gone (for other ideas, see the posting Keeping the Cruise Going After its Gone).
 
Here’s a sampling of what you can pick up and take back from your next cruise:
 
Curaçao: You won’t have to look far to find the island’s namesake liquor; there’s a vendor right at the pier. It’s actually made from oranges and you certainly wouldn’t guess that from its iconic blue color.

Cozumel: Vanilla, Kahlua and tequila is all locally made and excellently priced. You can get all three at the shopping plaza at the pier or in town.  

Granada: Known ‘cause it’s grown there—nutmeg, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, and cocoa. In the outdoor market (a short walk from the pier), you can buy inexpensive baskets of spices, packaged to go. There’s also fun spice necklaces you can pick up from the vendors, but be forewarned—the necklace deteriorates within 24 hours.
 
St. Maarten: Guavaberry liqueur is this island’s special concoction and national drink made from wild guavaberries (not guava). You can buy the brand name, Sint Maarten Guavaberry, or get a version of the liqueur in an attractive hand-painted bottle from many Philipsburg liquor stores.
 

Grand Cayman: The ubiquitous Tortuga rum cake made on this island makes a good gift; it’s well packaged and compact so it won’t take up much room in your luggage. It comes also in flavors like coconut and key lime. You can even sample it before you buy in a number of George Town shops.

Roatan: Honduras produces a high-end cacao bean and a husband-and-wife team have become the first on the island to make chocolate bars from the local stuff. You can buy this special chocolate with a variety of different flavors in the craft market at Mahogany Bay, Roatan’s pier used by Carnival, Princess, NCL and a few other cruise lines.
 
San Juan—and everywhere else in the Caribbean: Rum. Need I say more? So many choices, so little time! Just about every island has its own—from Jamaica (Appleton) to Barbados (Mount Gay) to Grand Cayman (Tortuga). But for me, San Juan is where it’s at—the home of Bacardi. You’ll find versions of its rum you won’t find anywhere else. A visit to the distillery is an excursion on many trips; it’s fun, but it is a bus trip away and when we went, a lengthy wait for the tour was in store.
 
A few more morsels...If you’re lucky enough to make it to St. Barts, you can pick up French products in the supermarket right on the main street—from chocolate to confiture. And Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee in, of course, Jamaica. But it won’t come cheap.

 

These Ports are Made for Walking

If you’re like me, you really appreciate a port with lots to do right around the pier. After all, ease of travel is one of the best parts of cruising.
 
Fortunately, there are a number of ports that are made for walking. And two that come immediately to mind are the Eastern Caribbean’s San Juan and St. Maarten. Here’s why:
 
San Juan


The colorful, captivating Old San Juan--just steps away from your ship

Even before you pull into the pier, you know this place will be special. The imposing 16^th century San Felipe del Morro fort greets your ship as you enter the harbor and land at old Europe’s doorstep. Walk off the gangway and you’re smack in the middle of Old San Juan, complete with lapis-blue cobblestones, horse-drawn carriages, statue-studded fountains and thriving cafes. Throw in the pastel facades of the Caribbean and you’re in picture-taking paradise.  
El Morro is one of two fascinating forts you can walk to in town; 17^th century Fort San Cristobal is the other. They’re well-preserved and each takes hours to explore. And with their positioning on the ocean, the photo ops are perfect.
 
Then there’s the shopping, the restaurants, the bars and the people watching. With your ship still tied up at the pier when night falls, you can see the place really heat up. Hang out at the plaza near Starbucks on the Calle Tetuan and let a fellow fill your arms with parrots—for a price, of course.

St. Maarten



Philipsburg has it all—shopping selections from high end to tchotchkes priced just right, a beach with cheap umbrella-chair-beer combos, restaurants, bars, casinos, all manner of water sports, Segways on the sidewalk and an overall lively scene. And once you take the water taxi, it’s all as far as you can throw your flip-flop.  

You can pick up the little ferry at the end of the cruise pier and it’s a great bargain: $5 for one way or $7 for an all-day pass (yes, you read that right). The ride is 10 minutes max, and you can even get a brew to go with your view of the turquoise water, beach and town.

Musing’s Top Tip: At the end of a cul-de-sac alley off the Boardwalk, near the courthouse, is a shop that sells inexpensive original paintings by local artists ($10-50 and up). Look for the cluster of paintings leaning against the wall (see photo above, third row) at the alley's entrance. Bargaining is accepted and don’t be surprised to find your artwork wrapped to go in the local newspaper.

 

What I Wish Someone Had Told Me

If you’re like me, more than a few times after an unpleasant surprise, you’ve thought: why didn’t someone warn me?

Well, today I’m going to share some cruise planning tips that we found out the hard way. So you don’t have to.

Like to gamble? Cruise during hurricane season. When you cruise the Caribbean, sun and warmth is a given. But go during hurricane season and you’ve just shot the dice. Getting stuck on a cruise ship in strong winds and rain isn’t much fun. So, know that Atlantic hurricane season is June 1 through November 30, with the peak in early September.

Just a word or two about the peak: that only means the odds of a hurricane go way up. It’s still a gamble going the other vulnerable months. One year, we thought we were safe going the first week in November, but just missed a hurricane by a few days. And though the weather was fine, the seas were still rough. The cost? The captain bypassed our stop at the cruise line’s  Bahamas private island, a highlight of the trip.

Build in time for coming and going. Then, add some more. You can never build in enough time for getting to the pier and getting out of it. This is not the time to cut it close. Flights get cancelled. Luggage gets lost. Cars break down. The cab gets lost. Customs takes forever. The port is under construction. There’s going to be a hard rain. Or fog. You get the idea.

It helps to find out as much as you can ahead of time about what to expect:

• Read the forums such as cruisecritic.com
• Go into port websites to find your way around in advance. Is there going to be construction to slow down traffic? Where’s your ship going to be docked? Closer to the port entrance or at its furthest point? If you visit Ft. Lauderdale’s Port Everglades’ website (see “Ship Schedule”) two weeks or less before your cruise, you can find out your ship’s pier and how many other ships will be in port. This could impact your parking options

Is that itinerary stop open for business? This one still pains me. One time, I chose a particular cruise because it was going to Martinique. What I didn’t notice was that it was pulling in on a Sunday. The port was closed up tight. Another trip, St. Maarten was celebrating a national holiday and most of Philipsburg took the day off.

Some itineraries have you getting into a port very late in the day. By the time you get off the ship, it’s even later. If everything closes at 5, what are you going to be able to see?

And some get you into port when the sun rises and leave just a few hours later.

Tendering to Philipsburg, St. Maarten. The ships dock,
but you still need a tender to get into town.

My advice? If the ports are important to you, study the itinerary carefully. Call the cruise line with questions. And read the forums.

Tendering adds time. It helps to know in each port whether you’re going to be sitting in the middle  of all the action or in the middle of the harbor. Tendering can easily add an hour or more to the process of getting on and off the ship. You also want to know what pier you’re arriving at. In St. Thomas, for example, there’s a big difference between the piers at Havensight and Crown Bay in terms of proximity to Charlotte Amalie.

Choose your excursions wisely. We made the mistake of picking a tour of the Bacardi factory on our first trip to San Juan. The whole process of busing there and back, and waiting around with the huge crowd for our turn to tour took hours. When we finally got back into the city, everything was closing.

I hope this helped a bit. And if you had your own wish-someone-had-told-me moments, don’t make us suffer—please let us know!