MONDAY
At the formal dinner last night, one of the guests at our table told us that her doctor said that an anti-histamine would help with seasickness. Well, Cindy is a walking drugstore with her asthma problems. So, after dinner I started taking an allegra each day which did help. But I think it made my ankles swell up. Monday, I just slept in. I don't remember doing anything that day until later on that afternoon. We arrived in San Juan, Puerto Rico around 4:00 pm and we weren't able to leave the ship til about 4:30 or so. It was pretty good where our cabin was located because we could use the stairs to walk down to the Zero Level. That's the level you walk the gangway to the ports you visit. And of course, you put your sign and sail card into this machine to leave the boat and returning to the ship. On the gangway, be prepared to have your picture taken, if you want. We didn't buy any of our pictures from the different ports because the wind was blowing and we just didn't feel pretty, I guess.
Well, we waited for Barry and the rest of the piano bar gang. Barry was going to give us a tour of San Juan. We waited and waited and got tired of waiting and decide to do our own exploring. I'm so glad we did this. We had such a great time doing this on our own pace.
We walked a little ways and saw someone driving one of these funky electric cars. It looks like a modified golf cart. It has no doors. I'm going to get one of the classic pictures scanned in one of these days of that car. Cindy drove through the streets of San Juan and hit almost every curb. Just kidding. She did hit quite a few and the maximum speed you could go was about 20 mph. At one point, we had a couple stop us and wanted their picture taken in front of it. We finally reached the Old San Juan Cemetery but it was closed. We were still able to take some beautiful pictures of the cemetery by the ocean. We had different opinions on how old it was. Either it was 400 years old or 700 years old. I'll find out and change it to the correct year. After leaving the cemetery, one of us pointed out this street (it was probably me, I can't remember) to do down. That took us through a really rough spot of San Juan and there were speed bumps every 10 feet it seemed. This street started out a pretty wide street then became very narrow with cars parked on one side of the street and it's still considered a two way street. Luckily, we were in this tiny car. It took us about 10 minutes to get out there and the last thing we saw what appeared to be a drug deal and the dealer saying, "Hello, Ladies" And we were outta there. That was very scary for us but we had no problems from the locals only this kid jumped on the back of the car and then he jumped off.
Beth wanted to park the car and get out and walk. Cindy and I were hesitant about leaving this car parked on the street. I didn't want anything to happen to it and neither did Cindy. We drove around some more. We had this car for almost an hour at $25/hour. We had driven around all of Old San Juan. The hour was almost up and decided to head back and drop it off. We're on this street and we have to turn left to take it back to the shop. We can see the shop and the guys that charge up the cars and the car dies. Cindy motions them to come over there and they try to start it up but can't get it started. We walk over to the shop and Cindy goes inside. Good thing we had only rented it for an hour, if it had died near the cemetery, I don't know what we would have had to do. We walked down to the Hard Rock Cafe and there was the extremely long line and we were hungry. It was around 6:15 or 6:30 and we were standing outside the Hard Rock Cafe and this weird local guy came up and asked if we wanted him to take our picture and we told him no thanks. Well, we decided to walk around and went into this cigar shop. Cindy and I, occasionally, smoke cigars. This store had other things like t-shirts and other souvenir items. We did a little shopping and we each bought a big cold drink. It hit the spot. It was very hot outside.
We found another shop down another street and went in and looked around. This shop and the previous shop was owned by the same company. We left this shop and we were on a mission to find food. We passed several places and we were like, "no, I don't think so" But then we found this wonderful Spanish restaurant named "EL PATIO MEXICANO" . We had a great waiter and the atmosphere in this place was really pleasant. The decor reminded us of the old haciendas in the western movies with the wooden floor. It was really beautiful. All three of us ate tacos there...the cheapest thing on the menu. Their burritos were over $21.00. The three tacos were filled with three different meats: chicken, pork, and beef for $6.00. It was the first meal we've had to pay for while on the cruise ship. But I must tell you they were absolutely the best tacos I have ever eaten. Cindy said there margarita was the best margarita she's ever had.
After a really relaxing dinner, we decided to do some more walking. We walked by a few pubs but didn't go in them and we started walking back towards the boat. It was around 9:30 or 10 and we just sat by the pier in front of the boat. We were exhausted and eventually headed back onto the boat.
We got to our cabin and Cindy wanted to head up on the deck and then I wanted to head up on deck and blow bubbles. I had called Barry before going up on the deck and he wanted me to call him later. So, we blew bubbles for awhile. Cindy went back to the cabin to get her bubbles and I told her to call Barry for me. Cindy called him and she said he sounded like he was asleep. He strolled up on deck like John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever. He blew a few bubbles and went to go get something to drink. He said he'd be back in a few minutes. But we hung out for about 10 minutes and decided to go exploring the ship. We took the bubbles back to the cabin. Beth decided to stay in the cabin since she had stayed out pretty much the entire night before. Cindy and I went up to the 5th floor which is the main deck with the clubs and the casino. Since we were in port, there wasn't anything open...except the bar. We started drinking and I started singing. It was pretty fun night. We met some different people. On the next night, one of the guys said, I was the bad girl and Cindy was the good girl. Cindy is the evil one :P everyone knows that. Eventually, I started writing on a napkin. I was writing a note to Barry because I felt bad about ditching him...if his ass ever went back up on deck looking for me. I think I threw them away, I can't remember. Let's go back to the room, my buzz has ended and I'm tired.
TUESDAY
Man, hated getting up early today. We were in St. Thomas at 8 am. Beth and I had paid for a snorkeling excursion to Buck Island. Cindy had went on a sailing and snorkeling excursion. Our excursion was at 9 am. We had to be out there on the dock at 9 am. We are leaving the room and we're at the elevators and I realize I had left my ticket in the room. So, I walk back to the room and get my ticket. By this time, Beth is a little stressed out. We get off of the boat and head towards our group. Beth asked about the snorkel equipment and this girl said you have to get on the ship. So, Beth is really stressed out now and we get back on the boat to go get our snorkel gear. Beth walks up to the 3rd floor, I wait on the elevator. The time is like 8:50. I get up to the 3rd floor and Beth is there with the guy going through the fins and she asked me my size. So, we finally get our snorkel gear and walk back down the stairs and as we're coming off of the ship, our group is walking away. We made it on time. We took off our shoes and boarded the boat. The water is very beautiful and it took us about 30-45 minutes to sail out to Buck Island. You could wander around the boat, I sat in the shade. We get to the spot and we get anchored down. We put on our vests, masks, and snorkel and walk down the stairs into the water. This is my first time snorkeling in the ocean. I've snorkeled before in pools and lakes. It was fun but there wasn't a lot to see in coral reefs or marine life. After we snorkeled for awhile, we started heading back to the boat. That's when our ride gets really interesting. We get free rum runners and they are selling beer and soft drinks. Some of the guests that are drinking beer decide to start disrobing. Men and female guests are doing strip shows. We are passing other boats and their guests are taking pictures of our naked people. That was a very interesting snorkeling adventure. There weren't any young kids aboard this boat, just wanted to get that out. Well, after snorkeling and the boat ride, I was pooped. I'm not sure if we ordered room service or went up to the Lido Deck, I can't remember. We were hungry and we ate. Cindy and Beth went on shore and did a lot of shopping in St. Thomas. I stayed in the room and did the beauty thing that was well needed.
They came back and showed me everything they had bought and they were very pleased with their souvenirs. We started getting ready for dinner. As always, we looked gorgeous for dinner.
The family was there at our table. We never saw the mother/son again at our table. They were quiet at first and then we started talking to them and they were very nice. We had a very pleasant dinner and we did our rounds through the casino. The first night, I fell in love with one of the casino dealers, Peter from Poland. He was such a cutie with a great smile. Cindy was able to get a picture of him but at a distant. We did our rounds to find which table he was at. He had to know we were in love with him. After dinner, we'd stroll through the casino and hang out at World's Way. Then eventually stroll into the Big Easy. Well, tonight Barry had no voice. This guy, Chris was belting out tunes. He knew a lot of songs, I'll give him that. But it wasn't the same and it just wasn't as much fun in there. We stayed in there until it closed and then went over to the Hollywood Disco and closed it. I think, Cindy went up to the room and Beth and I went up to the Lido Deck for a little while and then eventually headed back to the room. NEXT port...St. Croix.
Copyright © 2004 roxydoodle