SAN JUAN

After our unfortunate detour around Antigua, it was a pleasure to hear that we had the whole day off to explore San Juan. This is one of the ports that I’ve actually been to before. Way back when my family vacationed on the Carnival Destiny and went to St. Thomas, St. Croix, and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

It was crazy how much my memory had stored. After we docked and disembarked it all came flooding back to me. Everything was recognizable. I remembered the exact dock, the casino up ahead and to the left, the sidewalk vendors where I purchased my tragedy & comedy theatre masks that would later be hung up in my bedroom! It was almost a joy to be around something “familiar”.

Erin, Beckie, Kaitlyn, Kelsey, Nic, Jeff (our install director), and I exited the ship and B-lined it directly to Starbucks! After we had our fill of caffeine, we made our way to the Castillo San Cristobal, the largest Spanish fortification in the New World. The Spanish Empire spent over 250 years fortifying this prized location since through it, Spain could control access and commerce in and out of the New World. Castillo San Cristobal protected the city from land based attacks. Castillo San Felipe del Morro protected this rich port from sea going enemies.

We were able to get some beautiful pictures from the heights that the fort provided. There were all of these overlook towers and dungeon cells that were really cool to explore. And iguanas were everywhere! It was as though they had become the permanent inhabitants of this abandoned castle fort. You can tell we were pretty intrigued by this from the many, many pictures we took! We had so much fun all together just running around playing on the fort. It felt like we were children.

The fort also provided an excellent view of our ship, which wasn’t the only one in port that day! Holland America’s Veendam was ported, along with Celebrity’s Solstice. Let’s just say, it was definitely an eye opener. Compared to these two liners, the Voyager literally looked like a yacht.

Anyway, after the fort, we decided to simply walk around the city, going in shops if we pleased, and just relax. San Juan was nothing like I remembered it! It was so clean and pretty! Granted, last time I was there it was night time and we weren’t really able to do much exploring, however, I also think that it’s been very much “Americanized” since I last was here. After all, that was about 10+ years ago!

With several more pictures under our belts, Nic and I decided it was time for some FREE (and FAST) wireless internet, so we made our way back to Starbucks where we sat for at least 3 hours updating our travel sites, uploading pictures, checking emails, and even talking to our family (on OUR cell phones, again…for FREE), after all, we were officially in U.S territory now! It felt so wonderful to catch up with everyone and be able to talk at length!

With a casino nearby, you weren’t able to keep me in Starbucks forever. Eventually I decided to try my hand (or at least $20) on a bit of luck! I found my normal ‘fish themed’ slot machine and went at it! Although I ultimately lost my twenty bucks, at least I didn’t put more into the machine, and I was able to play with that amount for a while. Nic and I were in the casino for about 45 minutes when we got a call from Kelsey saying that the cast was meeting for dinner!

We had a great meal! Nic and I shared a flatbread pizza, something we’ve been craving since we got onboard. Unfortunately, Papa John’s doesn’t deliver to the middle of the ocean, and room service is hard to come by as a mere crew member. Anyway, before we sat to eat, Vanessa delivered a message to us from our passenger friends (Marcie & Co.). They had sent a telegram to the reception desk inviting us to dinner on the island! It was perfect! After we finished with the cast, we split and made our way to “Sofia’s”, an Italian restaurant that sat a few streets back from the dock.

The whole crowd screamed when they saw us enter. They were excited that we had received the message and were able to meet them. There were about 20 of us total. Our friends I’ve mentioned before, along with other members of the Public Television Program that Josh and Kevin were in charge of!

Speaking of which, guess who was on board!? (George & Vera, you’ll probably find this most intriguing!) GWEN IFILL! For those of you who don’t know who she is, Gwen is a political analyst who actually moderated the Sarah Palin/Joe Bidin debate! She also moderated the prior Vice Presidential debate between Dick Cheney and John Edwards, of which she was marked the first ever African American woman to do so! She has something like 11 Emmys for her political shows on PBS, and was even spoofed by Queen Latifah on Saturday Night Live!

Anyway, we had a great time! Marcie even graced us with her song, “You Gotta Have Jews”. And by the request of Kevin’s sister, our waitress sang “Adieu Puerto Rico”.

We’ve been so fortunate to meet such amazing people! We ended our evening with a quick brush up rehearsal for our final show to open tomorrow evening, “Champagne”.

Love,

Erich