San Juan, Puerto Rico

Our first port after the 6 sea days was colonial San Juan, Puerto Rico. We had been here years ago and had done a hike in El Yunque, the rain forest, as well as the panoramic tours of the San Juan area. The culinary walking tour we signed up for had such a long waitlist that, despite having three departures, we still didn't get on the tour. But we have a backup plan - we will be in San Juan again in March with our Silversea cruise, and have already reserved a similar, if not the same, tour.

After Immigration clearance we set off to visit the Fort San Cristobal, which was closest to our ship. Puerto Rico has been an important gateway to the Caribbean since Christopher Columbus first arrived in 1492. As the Caribbean islands were controlled by England, Spain, France and the Netherlands in varying degrees since their discovery, it was also important for military defense. San Juan itself was founded in 1521.

We walked up to San Cristobal and spent an hour wandering about, checking out the fortress. The views are spectacular, and it is easy to see why the fortress complex of San Cristobal and San Felipe del Morro was built on this point.

San Cristobal from the ship

Walking toward San Cristobal

The entrance gate

The ship from San Cristobal

We spotted this guy on top of the wall, and
he came down to check the tourists out

Some of the views from San Cristobal. There were rather ugly towers added to the fort during World War II used a gun emplacements and observation posts, looking for German U-Boats. So the forts have been used defensively for about 500 years.

The views along the coast from one of the World War II tower additions:

The original guard towers, still the most iconic structures in the forts, and probably in San Juan itself.

We strolled toward El Morro, but it was getting quite hot outside and we didn't want to go all the way up to the fort. We had been there before, and although the views are amazing, there is not as much there as at San Cristobal. There is, however, this very interesting cemetery just outside the walls of the fort itself.

We had noticed a number of school buses coming toward the grounds at El Morro, and as we got nearer, we saw that the kids were having a field trip to fly kites in the breeze off the ocean.

                                               

The main street running alongside both fortresses, Calle Norzagary, has some beautiful houses on it. It actually runs along the top of the original fortress wall. The area between the bottom of the wall and the sea, called La Perla, was pretty much destroyed by Hurricane Maria in 2017. There are still many buildings with missing walls and tarp covering roofs that still need to be replaced.

                                      

Wednesday evening we went to Pacific Rim for our second dinner. We had a few things different from Tuesday's meal:

The Siu Mai, steamed dumplings

Larry's Sashimi platter. They certainly don't scrimp on size.
Larry had to cut these pieces up before eating them with
his chopsticks

Under here is a very delicious Duck and Watermelon 
Salad

Larry also had a selection of Sushi before
his repeat of the Lobster Tempura

                                     

This is the Giant Shrimp plate. Also
very different and delicious.

                                       

So that was it for our port stop. Two more sea days, including the big reveal of the Needlepoint Challenge, to come!

Transatlantic Sea Time

 There's only one thing wrong with lots of sea days --- everyone seems to be on the internet for most of the day every day. We haven't been posting regularly during our 6 day crossing because it was almost impossible to do so, especially to upload photos to the blog, unless it was either very early in the morning or late in the evening.

Today we're in San Juan. Between US Immigration clearance and the guests going out on tours, I thought I might be able to actually get a post up in one day!

We had absolutely fantastic weather for the entire crossing, not even much movement of the ship. There are activities on Splendor (trivia, puzzles, MENSA challenge, and Artwork scavenger hunt, etc), and they did have a lecture program by 2 guest speakers, but nowhere near as different and extensive as Crystal had. In fact, we had already seen one of the lecturers, Bob Ray, on Crystal.

I had already mentioned the needlepoint challenge set by the Social Hostess, Annabel, and I worked diligently on that for much of the crossing. Here's a photo of my finished work:

The challenge was to put something into
the centre section of this frame
project. I'll complete the outside
as well.

All of the projects will be on display for the day tomorrow, our next sea day, so guests can vote for their favourite, and at 3:45 when the needlepoint gathering usually happens, Annabel will announce the winner.

Outside of that, we did our deck walking on the Deck 12 jogging track. There is no wrap-around promenade deck here, but the jogging track is a good length - 7 laps to a mile. The pool was only closed for part of one day as the sea swell was causing water to splash out of the pool area and onto the deck, but otherwise it was nice to get in and swim on most days.

    

So, what else is there to do but check out all of the eateries on board????

We had met up with Laraine and her friends, and were included in some of their specialty restaurant reservations as they had 2 extra places. We ended up going to the steak house, Prime 7, two nights in a row:

Surf and Turf

A very interesting 'deconstructed' Caesar Salad

Prime Rib

Lamb Chops

Red Velvet Cheesecake

The Pool Grill has both a regular buffet and table service grill items, and every day there's a special theme buffet as well. We had burgers one day:

Southwest Turkey Burger

And a Regular Burger

And on another they had a German specialty buffet: three kinds of sausages, potato salad, sauerkraut, spaetzle, bread dumplings, fried potatoes, even herring...and it was very good.

The Observation Lounge was our favourite spot to go before dinner and after the show. The pianist, Gino deLuca, is great, playing and singing a variety of music. The sunsets weren't too bad, either.

 

  Last Friday evening we were invited to Laraine and Bob's suite for a cocktail party. They are in a Grand Suite that comes with butler service and a complimentary cocktail party. These suites are at the front of the ship, under the Bridge, and are a good size, but not worth the money, especially if you like to use your balcony while sailing. The balcony wraps around a little at the front to the side of the ship, but there is no wind break so it is almost impossible to sit out there according to Laraine. Here are a couple of photos of the suite:

Bedroom - the oval window overlooks the front
of the ship under the Bridge

The bathtub in this large bathroom is
 underneath the second oval window

Laraine standing beside the canapes laid out
on the dining table. Just out of view is a couch
and chair by the TV. Six of us were quite
comfortable

In the evening, La Veranda, the breakfast and lunch buffet dining room, becomes Sette Mari, a table service Italian restaurant....well, actually the appetizers are available on the buffet, but we were warned that we might overindulge in those and not have enough room for our main courses if we went there. A selection was brought to the table anyway. The meal was quite delicious. We haven't had any opportunity for a second night there yet. We may do that on the last night onboard.

The appetizer selection included bruschetta, zucchini 'chips'
fried mozzarella and focaccia with dips and olives

The gnocchi in basil pesto was delicious

Monica had to try the Osso Buco

And Larry had the Beef Short Rib

Sunday was my birthday. We were thinking of ordering room service breakfast, but then we found out that the special Sunday Brunch was on offer from 10:00-1:00 so we went there instead. The brunch is laid out in the centre of the Compass Rose Dining Room, with stations for seafood, salads, hot foods, a crepe and chocolate fountain table, desserts and breads. It was certainly extensive enough, but we were disappointed in the Eggs Benedict - it was cold, and the English muffin underneath was impossible to cut through. But the rest of our meal was delicious.

 

Seafood 

Cheeses

Desserts including a huge Croquembouche display

Fresh made crepes and a chocolate fountain for dipping

A selection from the buffet including the Eggs Benedict

The sushi station was very popular - it also included
caviar

Desserts - there were individual Croquembouche filled
with pastry cream, and mini Pavlovas

When we got back to our suite, we had found that our attendants hung some balloons from the ceiling and put up a Happy Birthday banner. What a nice touch!

That evening we had dinner at Chartreuse. We had asked Mary Ellen and she suggested this as the best restaurant on the ship. The maitre d', Peter, had been with Crystal for many years although we didn't know him, and when he brought the birthday cake dessert, he expressed best wishes from our Crystal family as well as Regent, but very quietly....

The (electric) candles on each table

Beef Tartare

Mushroom Soup

Tournedos Rossini

The Chartreuse signature Dover Sole

The Birthday Cake

The cake was delicious, light and not 'sweety-sweet'

And just in case there wasn't enough selection of dining venues, on certain days both Chartreuse and Prime 7 were also open for lunch. We had to try that out so we had lunch at Prime 7 yesterday (Tuesday). The menu and portions were smaller than the dinner menu, but just as delicious.

Quesadilla appetizer

Kansas Style Back Ribs

Pulled Pork Sliders

The selection of desserts was all served in these
small (and they ARE small) cups by the waiter from a stand
he carried over. Here are Key Lime Pie and
Caramel Pudding

And finally, last night we had dinner with Laraine and the group at Pacific Rim, the Asian style restaurant with the dragon in the entrance. Again, everything was delicious and the portions not too big.

The Amuse Bouche - Edamame with Nori 'chips'
and a sesame dip

Potstickers

Laraine had the Soft Shell Crab Tempura

Salmon Tartare

The Lobster Tempura main course with 3 dipping
sauces. There was lots there and it was
fabulous!

We'll leave our day in San Juan for the next post. There's already a lot to 'digest' in this one! So far so good on the posting, even though the pool is already busy as people have come back from tours.

If you happen to be checking the dates, you'll see that this is being posted on Friday December 2, so you know what happened in between.....