Early morning it is a pain to drag myself out of bed but there is exploring to do. We do the walking tour of old San Juan, the fort (closed due to no electrical ), the squares and by some of the shops. It is stiflingly warm and humid I am glad we changed the time to morning from mid afternoon. Thought about taking a taxi ride to check out the mall(2nd largest) in North America and decided we need nothing except maybe wet weather gear. Another question we had to ask ourselves, what were we thinking and how come the ponchos, light jackets or umbrellas weren't packed?
Since it is vacation we spent the afternoon in the pool after our 2 glass of wine lunch Had to hurry since today was the safety drill. No worries Dan fell asleep so his afternoon nap was intact.
The food on board is terrific. The age of passengers is definitely younger than on the river cruises which may account for all the optional shore excursions. Today the port talk is about Antigua and all of the beaches, 365 in count and it is the sunniest of all the islands, getting only 45 inches of rain a year.
After dinner tonight is the captains welcome. Mostly show and tell and information regarding the cruise. Two interesting facts, the staff on board is 478. The number of passengers usually is 928, this cruise there are only 503. A great number so there is never a rush for seating or entertainment.
After the show we head back to our favorite lounge and close the place down, and then stayed another hour "chatting ". Yes, Dan was up 2 nights in a row past midnight!
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
Sunday, October 29, 2017
San Juan. Day 1 and 2
We have made it. Dan's new antibiotic hasn't kicked in yet but his pain seems a little less. We arrive on the ship. This is our first time on Viking Ocean and we are very impressed. The ship is beautiful . It is only 2 years old and everything is still pristine. The color scheme is blue and tan so there is a calming effect
We were worried about the devastion in San Juan, but what is the biggest concern is the lack of electricity. Around the port major shopping, restaurants and trinket shops are unable to open and remain boarded up. The saddest was for Dan. Here we are in Puerto Rico home of Casa Barcardi and creator of Dan's choice of beverages. We have a tour scheduled but when we get to our cabin, no tour ticket. I go to guest services to see what is going on and find the tours are cancelled. A quick check of their website confirms there are no tours. Is this another sign that we should have deferred the trip?
We arrived early to the ship so we were able to fully explore and Dan was even part of the nap club before dinner, maybe the 2 glasses of wine with lunch and no sleep had something to do with it. But it is a nice change to have wine with lunch.
Off to a little bar after dinner, sitting quietly in the back and not too many people there I guess everyone is off to bed early suffering jet lag. Dan is off to try his nightly glass of Cognac. As we are sitting there our new best friend asks to join us. She is a singer in the ships production company one of three and was bummed because it was her night to stay on board and the rest of her group was partying in San Juan. We chat and close the bar down at midnight. Yes can you believe it, Dan was up until midnight Since it is Viking and no need to cater to the disco crowd most venues/entertainment close at midnight. We have to be up at 6:30 to make the 9:00am tour of the town.
We were worried about the devastion in San Juan, but what is the biggest concern is the lack of electricity. Around the port major shopping, restaurants and trinket shops are unable to open and remain boarded up. The saddest was for Dan. Here we are in Puerto Rico home of Casa Barcardi and creator of Dan's choice of beverages. We have a tour scheduled but when we get to our cabin, no tour ticket. I go to guest services to see what is going on and find the tours are cancelled. A quick check of their website confirms there are no tours. Is this another sign that we should have deferred the trip?
We arrived early to the ship so we were able to fully explore and Dan was even part of the nap club before dinner, maybe the 2 glasses of wine with lunch and no sleep had something to do with it. But it is a nice change to have wine with lunch.
Off to a little bar after dinner, sitting quietly in the back and not too many people there I guess everyone is off to bed early suffering jet lag. Dan is off to try his nightly glass of Cognac. As we are sitting there our new best friend asks to join us. She is a singer in the ships production company one of three and was bummed because it was her night to stay on board and the rest of her group was partying in San Juan. We chat and close the bar down at midnight. Yes can you believe it, Dan was up until midnight Since it is Viking and no need to cater to the disco crowd most venues/entertainment close at midnight. We have to be up at 6:30 to make the 9:00am tour of the town.
Saturday, October 28, 2017
Travel Day
I am now trying to figure out why "red eye" flights were invented. Yes I understand it gets people to the east coast in time to work a full day, but it has to be the worse torture ever. The trip from west to east is a killer and you arrive unable to do anything, but determine that trying to sleep cramped and sitting upright does not work and the trip is really to short to take any kind of medication for sleep It is a losing proposition all the way around. Especially when the tour company makes the arrangements.
Usually when you have connections the time is short and you are always in another terminal that is nothing short of a half mile away or as in Dallas and other airports you need to take a train so when we land in New York I am dubious although we have plenty of time to make the connection (2hours). So as we land after squirming around in our seats all night 30 minutes early. I guess there was a tail wind or some such technical thing. So according to west coast time it is 2:30 in the morning. A quick look around the terminal to figure where we need to go and low and behold we are at the next gate. So we have 2.5 hours to walk 15 feet. So we walk about the terminal in search of breakfast since there is no food on the plane and it will be a 4 hour flight.
We encounter a sign of the future in the airport. All of the restaurants are connected via wifi and ordering is done at your table, you then swipe your credit card to pay and a receipt including a tip is emailed to you. We have seen this a few times at home but never so completely automated
The flight to San Juan was fairly uneventful. It was a 4 hour flight. We are surprised that we were flown first to New York then south to Puerto Rico. It seems way out of the way and more air miles. The best part of the trip was we had an open middle seat. I think I may have actually slept for an hour. Upon getting off the plane I am reminded of Hawaii. Warm and Humid. We are met by no less than 10 Viking staff members and escorted to the ship which is about 20 minutes away.
We hear a lot about devastation after the hurricane From the air it is hard to see it with the exception of the plant life where whole sections of trees and forest is brown and flattened. From the airport to the ship there are several building that were totally demolished but there is no problems with the freeways and streets are very passable, Debris from some of the buildings seems piled on vacant lots
I will discuss more about San Juan in the next installment
Usually when you have connections the time is short and you are always in another terminal that is nothing short of a half mile away or as in Dallas and other airports you need to take a train so when we land in New York I am dubious although we have plenty of time to make the connection (2hours). So as we land after squirming around in our seats all night 30 minutes early. I guess there was a tail wind or some such technical thing. So according to west coast time it is 2:30 in the morning. A quick look around the terminal to figure where we need to go and low and behold we are at the next gate. So we have 2.5 hours to walk 15 feet. So we walk about the terminal in search of breakfast since there is no food on the plane and it will be a 4 hour flight.
We encounter a sign of the future in the airport. All of the restaurants are connected via wifi and ordering is done at your table, you then swipe your credit card to pay and a receipt including a tip is emailed to you. We have seen this a few times at home but never so completely automated
The flight to San Juan was fairly uneventful. It was a 4 hour flight. We are surprised that we were flown first to New York then south to Puerto Rico. It seems way out of the way and more air miles. The best part of the trip was we had an open middle seat. I think I may have actually slept for an hour. Upon getting off the plane I am reminded of Hawaii. Warm and Humid. We are met by no less than 10 Viking staff members and escorted to the ship which is about 20 minutes away.
We hear a lot about devastation after the hurricane From the air it is hard to see it with the exception of the plant life where whole sections of trees and forest is brown and flattened. From the airport to the ship there are several building that were totally demolished but there is no problems with the freeways and streets are very passable, Debris from some of the buildings seems piled on vacant lots
I will discuss more about San Juan in the next installment
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