bluzchick

We went on the Victory for my big 4-OH. I absolutely loved Old San Juan. We stayed in the Sheraton for one night and were really pleased with it, plus got a free breakfast with our AAA membership. The best part was waking in the morning, going to the pool on the roof and seeing the Carnival Victory waiting for us. An awesome cruise!!!

I have heard nothing but great things about the Sheraton...we will be staying here if we sail out of SJ again!

Can you tell me the options regarding the luggage at the end of the cruise. Some of the info on the boards is confusing me. We are flying out that afternoon--is there a way to get your luggage to the airport without carrying it ourselves. Or is it safer to get the luggage at the pier and carry it to airport ourselves?

Thanks,

Tracey

Early in the cruise, eligible guests receive an invitation in their stateroom to participate in the program. They complete the registration form and sign it to authorize a $20 per person charge to their Sail & Sign account and then drop it off at the Guest Services Desk. The day prior to debarkation, airline boarding passes, luggage tags along with a letter are delivered to the stateroom. Guests place the tags on the luggage that will be checked in and then place it outside their stateroom for collection. On debarkation day, participants may debark at their convenience. The luggage will be transferred from the ship to the corresponding airline and flight. Guests must claim their bags upon flight arrival at their final destination. If there are any delays or problems with their luggage, guests need to contact the airline directly to report any problems.

Some are saying this isn't available anymore but it was when we were onboard, we didn't use it. I do know that trying to get all of our luggage into the airport in SJ SUCKED! No carts or anything and we had six....

love seeing the Carib beer in your pics--was that the beer provided by bernards. We'll be with him next week and I"m dying for a Carib.

It was Carib beer with Bernard..yum! Have a great time, I am jealous!

We didn't have to wear our life jackets in January...and it was miserable. The ship actually set sail DURING this, not cool.

There is a plug in the bathroom but its only good for I wanna say your blow dryer. Curling iron etc will not work in there

I don't know what ship you will be on but I also thought the doors were metal and they are not on Carnival. Most of my door decorations stayed in my suitcase.

You can get free motion sickness meds/patch at guest services

I say stock up--pack then unpack half of it--never used most of what we took! Extension cord, sunscreen, antibacterial wipes or spray and hand sanitizer a must

Why would you not cruise out of Puerto Rico again? We leave this Saturday for the Victory and we are so excited!!!!

 

Thanks

Kellie

After reading another review, apparently we sailed during their week long holiday...that is why it was so loud and had so many kids. So to revise: I loved PR and would sail from there again only next time will be sometime other than DEC/JAN and only if airfare is cheaper! I don't have to tell you to have a great time..you will!! I am jealous!

I would like to know what all you packed that you didn't need. I am going on my first cruise and I don't want a bag full of extra things that I will never use!

 

Love the review and pics, it makes me so excited.

I didn't use MOST of what I packed. I packed way too many clothes.

I wore a sundress every day into port over my swimsuits(I wore 2 the entire cruise-we did use the laundry). 2 formal nights...3 cruise casual nights. The first night is come as you are.

Once I got a little sun, I didn't really wear makeup other than some mascara.

Never used:

Most of my toiletries..they provide toothpaste, soap, Dove makeup removal clothes, a razor, shampoo. Bring good conditioner and lotion!!

Wrinkle release

Playing cards

Books to read

70% of my clothes and shoes

Didn't need a bungee cord for balcony door, it stayed open just fine

Binoculars

Snacks

Ginger gum we bought in PR, what a waste of money!!

Waterproof watch, hubby had one, that is all we needed

A small purse other than my regular one

Lanyard--got the free one in the casino

We never purchased an over the door organizer, and glad we didnt. There is a medicine cabinet in the bathroom with plenty of counter space. There is a ton of storage in your room!

Glad I packed:

-IPOD and docking station--to drown out the noise in hallway and husband snoring

-Many memory cards for my camera as we found out mid cruise that two didnt work

-Spanx

-Our own snorkling gear(but never used the fins and they took up too much room in luggage)

-Our own water bottle

-Small notepad

-Tote bag

-Lots of cash LOL

-Duct tape, they busted our luggage so this came in handy believe it or not.

Our post cruise hotel was the Courtyard Marriott Isla Verde Beach Resort. This place was heaven...gorgeous!!! A+++++ If you expect to eat here expect to pay big bucks, we were shocked at the price of the not so filling buffet(almost $60 for two of us!!). Beaches in PR are once again public so we walked and walked and never felt unsafe. There was NOBODY further down the beach. It was also patrolled by police on ATV's.

We really wanted to do nothing and just relax before going back to the snow the following day. The beach had many hammocks and we took advantage. I sure hope nobody filmed us trying to get in the thing!! We ordered a pizza, ate in our room and once again, packed. This time we had to pack to fly, ick! Our room looked like a tornado hit it.

Our flight was at 330. We had checked in online at the hotel and printed out our boarding passes. We got up and headed to the airport around 1230. Less than a mile away it still cost us $26. We headed for the agriculture screening room which had no lines. We were given our luggage tags for our checked bags and off we went on an adventure to find food!

We could not remember if there was food once you got past security so we decided not to chance it. Silly us found a sandwich shop and ate....me not realizin this was the same chain we had breakfast at when in Old San Juan the week before and I didn't like it then!

The security line was sloooow! Hubby fogot he had two cans of coke in his pocket, which we were going to drink with our lunch, oops. He of course got pulled aside but they just laughed and off we went to sit for an 1+ hours.

I am thankful we left a day later as everyone else in our group were routed to Chicago instead of Atlanta due to snow. They then had to rent a car and drive 2 hours home.

All in all we had a fabulous vacation. The Victory was a great ship. I read terrible reviews for a year, and I could not find anything wrong with the ship. It was beautiful. It got us from island to island and the crew was amazing.

Sure you run into rude people...heck I run into them every day at home, you just deal with it. Don't let them ruin your vacation you worked so hard to pay for!

The only things I will do different if we cruise again are:

• Pack less, much less
  
• Leave from Florida, or anywhere other than PR
  

I am very glad we put money on our account before leaving. We got $16 back. I would highly recommend this to anyone, less to worry about. You can go down and check your balance at anytime and view your purchases anytime you want on the television. We had a cash account and used cash on most of the islands. We did use a debit card a time or two on land and had no problems, we did notfiy our bank ahead of time where we would be and when.

If you have specific questions, I would be happy to answer what I can! Now to prepare for the 7-12 inches of snow over the next three days!

After drinking a lot of beer and rum punch all day long, we all decided a nap was certainly due before dinner! We also had to have our bags packed and in the hall by 9pm. This was also our second formal night. This is our entire group along with Richard (I bet he was glad to get rid of us haha) We had eaten so much throughout the cruise and on our excursion we could hardly finish our starter, let alone our main dish and dessert. This was also the night my husband had a birthday cake brought out for me. I was amused at a fellow cruiser at the table behind us who got up and danced for me as they sang happy birthday. We tipped Richard and off we went to back, boooooo

The last night of the cruise is when items in the gift shop are 50% off so if you want items that say "Carnival" get them this day. We also went to look at our picures anxious to buy the ones taken on formal night...none of which turned out so we bought none.

I laughed at the safety message today. Normally for each port you are reminded that they drive on the left, you can't smoke, watch your step etc. Today it was...Remember, you are on a moving ship, be careful and use the handrails. Really, we have not figured this out yet!!

Chaos was happening in our cabin, trying to pack and repack, where did all this stuff come from?! We had six bags but only 4 that had the same Carnival tag number. We called and were told it would be taken care of. After dinner, it had not yet been taken care of so we saw our steward in the hall and he got us two more with the correct number. This by the way was the second time we saw him, the first was our first day when we could not get our safe to work. Finally got it all organized and out in the hall. All luggage is to be out between 8-11pm. Putting our luggage out in the hall with kids running the halls all night made me uncomfortable. Our room service or do not disturb sign never stayed on our door. But much to my suprise, nothing was touched. PLEASE have your Customs form filled out, many did not which just holds up the process.

We sat out on the balcony in disbelief that our vacation was ending:(

We were exhausted so went to bed, had no clue what to expect in the morning.

This is blurry but shows what you will be charged if you drink the pop or water provided in your room...the night I was ill I drank a Sprite and was never charged for it. The sign says the last night the steward removes these and accounts for all drinks...ours was never removed.

Our last towel animal



 

Welcome back to PR...laying on the Lido, wiating for our luggage tag number to be called. The Pacific Dining room was open seating 630-830am and the Lido was open from 630-930am for breakfast. The coffee shop was also open from 7-10am. Hubby grabbed some food and brought it out to the deck as I was relaxing in a lounge chair. We disembarked around 10am. We found our luggage, flagged down a porter and off we went. In less than 15 minutes we were in a taxi on our way to the hotel.

We did eat here after getting some great video of some planes coming in. We found somewhere to sit after waiting a short time and ordered. Part of the menu with prices down below. After drinking all day long, we needed food and a lot of it! We left happy and full and looked for some shells, which we also did on each beach.

Inside the Mall where everything was very pricey!

Orient Beach was nice. We ventured over to the sign on the nude side but that was as far as we went. From now on, I will ALWAYS have a towel on my beach chair before sitting on it. My oh my the nakedness! Even the guy who rented us our chairs dropped his drawers when crossing the imaginary line to the other side! Chairs ran us about $20 with an umbrella. Here, we were going to snorkle as the waters were very calm. Into the water we go!

Call me strange..I took a picture of my toes, on the beach, on every island at every beach. Here I caved and bought an ankle bracelet. The sand was so very powdery here, perfect.

Divided roads..haven't seen these for almost 2 weeks!!!





Wait, what, we have the same trunks on?!





Next up, Maho Beach

Coming into St. Maarten it was cloudy and raining..BUT..it was near 75 so who cares!!

The poor guy up front with Bernard had the job of making sure the cooler was empty at the end of the tour. Let's just say, Bernard had to keep buying more beer and somehow filling up the rum punch bottle(which by the way was potent, nasty, gross, disgusting, stuff but we all kept drinking it)

Off to St Martin- Orient Beach and shopping on the Marigot Waterfront at The West Indies Mall and all the open air craft markets. Here you had to either pay for a toilet or find one on your own and they were GROSS!!! By the way, you flush with the foot pedal on the floor

A few times we had to return to get spoons because they were out after we waiting in line for over a half hour. Hubby would just ask if he could grab one..most couldn't understand anyway.

We had NUMEROUS people literally cut in line, and just stand there like they had been there all along, very frustrating! This was mostly on the Lido deck or for the grand buffet...both of which we stayed away from after a few times.

This day was about laying on Cockleshell Beach. First we thought we would eat breakfast in the dining room for a change. Hubby was thrilled with his eggs benedict and my pancakes were good. I am pretty picky about my eggs..they can't be "wet" at all and this was hard to find on the ship, no matter where we ate. Other than that, all was good.

We found our taxi and told him where we wanted to go. Fare was $5/pp each way and he took no money from us(strange we thought) but he was there at the time we told him to be and collected the money from us then. I guess to guarantee we didn't go back with another driver? He was NOT friendly or informative at all which instantly made us not like the island.

Monkey on the beach

Beer I think was $3 and Rum Punch $5...no food

She was just opening up shop when we got there. Beach chairs, umbrella and a table for $14..awesome!



 

Once again we planned on going to Marigot and of course seeing the Pitons. As we headed off the ship another couple in our group was flagging us down and talked us into going on an excursion with them. We ended up with 2 couples from our group, us and a family of 5(she had been hypnotized night before)

We got into the boat and headed out. Rum punch, yes thank you! Mario was very informative throughout the tour, both by boat and van. We stopped in Soufriere where we could use the restroom and caught the van. We headed to La Soufriere, a "drive-in" volcano and sulfur springs. The roads were in very poor conditions, due to the hurricane. There were huge boulders in the middle of the winding road(apparently people had lost their lives here)

This water is about 106 degrees and healing powers...not so much!

The Pitons were beautiful

After a great day in Barbados and an entertaining dinner, we decided tonight we would stay up late, you know, past 10!

The show tonight was Variety Showtime starring the amazing hynotist Doug MacCraw. Before the show started we played Jackpot Cash Craze Bingo. It was $20, and for every triple card you bought you got two free Cash Craze pull tabs. I didn't win the $1500 but I did win $5..which was given to me in cash in the casino.

The guys stopped in the Cigar Bar to smoke what they later discovered were Cuban's. After joining us ladies, two of the guys were called up on stage. I could never do this, my husband says it's because I am too much of a control freak. He doesn't know what he is talking about!! Well this turned out to be freakin' hillarious!! Jim-friends husband was the star of the show. I have never laughed so hard! We ended up doing an excursion the next day with one of the ladies up on stage along with her family the following day. Neither one of them recalled all that had happened but it would come to them over the next couple of weeks.

As the show ended, Doug informed all that had participated that 3 steps on to the Lido deck after the show, they would remember they had just been hypnotized. Off to the Lido deck we went, to the "Monster Deck Party".

3 steps in, the two in our group along with the kid in the blue shirt up there all stopped dead in their tracks and, yea, remembered and were like, what the *(@&(#&$(^@. Funny stuff!!

We hung out on the Lido for an hour or so, drank some beer.....Bud Light Lime(have I mentioned yet this wasn't on their menu online so I was very happy to see someone drinking it!!) We ordered a bucket and got a free Corona t-shirt. Tonight was the Mexican buffet at 1130pm. We didn't stay and heard the lines were super long and people from our group never did get any food.

We called it a night, because we are party animals and headed back to the cabin with our beer bucket.

Every three hours there are movies on the TV in your room. We did watch a couple throughout the cruise.

PS--We are no longer smokers but the government of Barbados prohibits smoking while in Barbados

Sunsets were generally around 544pm and it was tough for us to see any as we were always rushed to get to dinner at 6.

Tonight hubby decided we would use the laundry facilities which were right down the hall from us. $3 to wash, $3 to dry He put clothes in when we went to dinner and got them out when we returned. Nothing missing and honestly...use this, don't pack so much!! I could not fathom the idea of using a carry-on only until this trip. Now I can see myself taking one suitcase!

I also wore capri's and/or jacket/sweater most nights. The Carribean Lounge was cool no matter what time of day we were in there. If you get a sunburn, you are also going to be cold so bring a sweatshirt or something!

Can you give me some info on debarkation times and airport info . AA changed my granddaughter's fight and now it leaves at 11:30 am. I am very worried about getting her off in time. I know I will request self debarkation but am interested in the airport lines as well. thanks

From the pier to the airport is about half hour with all the traffic. All bags have to go through agriculture which took us all of 5 minutes but there were no lines for us and we flew out the day after we got back. I would give her an hour at the airport to be safe..Would want her off the ship and on her way to airport by 930 at the latest!

We disembarked around 10am but we had to wait for our bags.

Great review so far! What did the lady tell you NOT to do in San Juan?? Can you tell me where the Harley store is at SDt Thomas?? Thanks

She said to be very careful at the bars at night and to never leave your drink unattended. She along with several locals told us to avoid the northern part of the city, which we did.

The HD store is right across the street from the pier/taxi stands. You won't miss it. Walk out, look ahead and its across the street on the left.

...........

Arrival at 8am, back on board at 430....today was going to be a good day of snorkling and sun. Wait..hubby want to book the Atlantis Submarine Excursion. What? I not only hate heights but going down into the depths of the ocean in a tiny capsule....I hate this idea instantly but we are both on this vacation and I tell him he can do whatever he wants today. Us wives know our husbands don't hear that too often, so off we go to the excursion desk, him with a great big smile on his face. Oh and it's $99/pp--ouch! Hubby was thirsty so he found a duty free store, bought a tiny bottle of rum and poured it into his Coke.

Oh and there are NO bathrooms on this submarine..just an FYI ladies! We went down to about 141 feet I think. Pictures didn't turn out so well so I will spare you.

I looked thrilled, I know!!

Whew, that is over!!! At least we got a glass of rum punch. Now lets get a taxi and head to the beach baby! After we were done here, they took us back to the Pier. Here we wandered around looking lost until we were asked if we needed a taxi. Yes sir we do! On about every island it cost us about $20 to get anywhere. We asked our driver if there was a Harley shop on the island and he informed us that one had just opened in April. He drove us to the store, came inside with us, waited and then walked us back to his car. He asked where we were going and I told him we wanted to snorkle and let him pick the best beach. We arrived at Payne Bay. Well we actually pulled into a small driveway and got out. We didn't take towels because we had planned on going back to our cabin after the submarine but we didnt. He popped his trunk and had towels for us to use...okayyyy! He led us across the street, between houses, kinda creepy, and ta daaa..there was the beach! He flagged down a guy who asked if we needed chairs, gave him around $16US and got comfy. This gentleman assured us he would keep track of the time and that our taxi would be out front waiting for us.

Hubby realllly wanted to rent a jet ski. They were asking an arm and a leg but he talked them down. Then we had to wait forever so they added time on. Off we went and once we got out there, decided that 40 minutes was a VERY long time to be on a jetski in the middle of the ocean LOL This beach is where my first vacation injury occurred when a wave crashed the jetski into my ankle after I got off of it. Ouch!

Hotel where Tiger Woods and Simon Cowell got hitched

It was a little before three and we were ready to leave. The snorkling was great, the water was beautiful, the people were friendly. This was our favorite island.

Our driver was not there yet, because we were ready early but the gentleman who was to keep track of us found us on the sidewalk and said he would get our taxi driver right away. Well he was unavailable but his good friend from the same company showed up right away. In we got, along with him and his two little girls he had just picked up from school. We stopped to get gas..which was almost $8/gallon, dropped them off at their grandma's house and to the ship we went. We passed by the University of the West Indies. Maybe I can talk my daughter into going there!!!

We made it back in time to get on the ship, I was a little nervous as I didn't expect a stop at grandma's but all was good.

We were starving so had a burger and fries...FYI..this does spoil your dinner! Speaking of....I am going to go eat and will post more later..this really is a lot of work AND is making me wish I was still on vacation.

Good Morning Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

Might I point out that I am terrified of heights..funny I never took this in to consideration when booking a balcony!! More than one time my foot caught the little lip and I thought I was a goner

He was cruisin around in the sand...good thing he didn't suprise me because I would have screamed....loudly!

We spotted the Harley shop on our way to the beach. When we were ready to leave we walked out to where he dropped us off, waited for another family going the same way, and off we went. We were dropped off and walked over to the HD shop, spent too much money and got back on the ship.

We never had to show ID to get back on. You scan your S&S card and off you go. Your bags are scanned each and every time you get back onto the ship. We never had to wait in line.......but please not, when getting off the ship in the morning..there are TWO lines after you scan your S&S card!

We had early dining at 6pm. We didn't really eat any meals on the islands so by the time we boarded at 4ish..we were starving!!! Toward the end of the cruise we went straight for the hamburgers/fries etc. But tonight being our first night in the MDR, we waited. Then we ordered 2 starters, 2 entrees, sometimes 2 desserts. Everyone in our group ordered a ton of food and ate it nearly every night. Don't be shy..the portions are small! If you want to try 3 entrees or three appetizers....do it! It's vacation! The wait staff were all fabulous. We ate in the Pacific Dining Room--4 aft (back of the boat, errr I mean ship...you will get to know all the terms well when on board!!) and most nights you could feel movement while eating.

We had a wonderful meal with our friends sharing what we all did during our time on land. A few swam with the turtles and they highly recommended this!

Tonight my hubby wanted to sing Karoke so we headed to teh Black and Red Lounge around 8:30. There were very few people there but boy did it fill up fast. It was standing room only and maybe 8 of us that spoke English as our primary language. The spanish speaking guests were less than thrilled with songs not sang in spanish. He got up and sang, did great, and we left as we were bored listening to songs we couldn't understand. Walked around for a bit, hung out on our balcony then went to bed.

Good-bye St. Thomas (hmm I don't like leaving the Islands)

Tomorrow should have been Dominica dangit! We were not looking forward to a sea day.

She was docked at Pier 4 and it was crazy busy with taxi’s, passengers disembarking and us waiting to get on. As soon as we got out of the taxi ($26), our bags were loaded up and taken away, including all of our carryon bags (oops). The process went smoothly and after getting out of line to buy wine (which was expensive and they didn’t carry Moscato) the entire process took about 45 minutes. My hubby walked right on through after being scanned with his bag of Medalla beer and champagne that was leftover from New Years Eve and I got stopped and checked with my 2 bottles of wine!! None of our rumrunners were detected.

We walked around the lido deck and happen to meet up with another couple in our group that we had not yet met. Checked out everything and went to our room to get a glimpse of our new home for the next 7 days. I didn’t find anything wrong with our cabin other than we figured out they are not well insulated from sound. We heard everything from all our neighbors, which by the way were VERY loud until all hours of the morning. Many teenagers! There was a ton of storage and our steward brought a bucket of ice and our requested ten extra hangers promptly. We took pics and hubby took off to find a collapsible cooler. He never did find one but did get our allowed amount of pop. After unpacking we decided to head to the dining room to eat (come as you are). We sat with a family that didn’t speak English so that was fun! Food was good, company not so much. The muster drill was long and drawn out but we all survived. This was done at 9:30 and before it finished the ship had started to sail away. I thought this was crappy as we should have all been up on deck for this!

Cabin 6339 reading

Hubby decided he wanted to check out the Karaoke Live. Before he could finish reading the list of songs..He was sick. We headed back to the room, he downed Dramamine and we went to sleep. Not a good first night! The seas were VERY rough and we were in the middle of ship (by the way the light on balcony could never be used due to navigational reasons, grrrr).

The cruise has been booked for over one year and I was pretty sure I would have packed, unpacked and repacked at least three times by now. The guest room had been full of summer clothes and cruise items for several months but the suitcases sat empty, until tonight, the evening before we leave! Hubby is swearing up a storm because his outfits are not “together” and the room is a mess, etc I let him pack for a few hours then head in, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Two hours later the four checked bags and two carryon bags are packed and ready to go. Did I mention we were first time cruisers and packed EVERYTHING we read about?! THIS won't happen again

We flew out of our small local airport at 6:00am which meant arrival around 430am—and yes we were running late but all went well. We met up with the friends we were flying out with and headed to Chicago for our connecting flight. We had enough time to walk to the terminal, grab some Starbucks, hit the bathrooms then board the plane. We flew United and yes, it was nearly more than our entire cruise for airfare to PR!

After nearly a five hour flight (Much too long for me), we landed in San Juan Puerto Rico at San Juan Luis Munoz Marin International Airport. My hubby sat next to a very nice lady who was from the the States but had taught in PR for over 20 years. She gave us a quick rundown of what not to do! By the way...when you land in PR--clap, it's apparently customary. We quickly found the baggage terminal and had our luggage minutes later. We headed outside and to the left was the taxi line. I thought the airport was fine..busy like any other in the world. There were four adults and 14+ bags. We stayed in Old San Juan at the Howard Johnson Inn Plaza De Armas. The taxi’s charge $1.00 per bag and $26 for the ride. We paid him $40.00 and headed into the hotel to check in.

I had read some very bad reviews of the hotel and most were right. The rooms dirty…inches of dust on pipes under bathroom sink, tops of curtains had layers of dust, as did the ceiling fan. The door to our balcony (which we loved) had about a 2 inch gap at the top. Thank God there were not bugs or heavy rain!!! My prescription medication was stolen and the front desk didn’t seem to care too much as “the staff wouldn’t do this”. They no longer served breakfast and the vending machine was broken. Toward the back of the lobby, down a hallway, there is a seating area and televisions for you to watch. The dreaded elevator worked up until 0 1/02/11 when we checked out. Carrying all of those bags down 4 flights of very narrow stairwells was not fun for my husband. They did have someone there looking to fix the scary elevator and told my hubby the cables were ready to snap to only use it for luggage!!! He suggested they post a sign on EVERY floor with that information but they did not.. We proceeded to check out and they stored our luggage for us until we were ready to board the ship. I would not worry about your luggage and if you are, just lock it. I bet they had over 50 bags throughout the lobby and behind the desk area. You are welcome to come back to the hotel throughout the day to use the bathroom or just hang out and watch TV…which we did for about an hour.

The tiny stairwell--steep, narrow and HOT!

Old San Juan

Great to walk around, we never felt unsafe, day or night. We asked the hotel staff where to go for cheap drinks and good food and she directed us perfectly. The best map of the city is provided free by any of the Starbucks. Make sure you have good shoes, sunscreen, camera and water! We walked so much two days later we all woke up and could barely move as our leg muscles hurt so bad! The streets are steep and narrow and the traffic is very slow and heavy.

We shopped, ate, drank and toured Castillo de San Cristóbal and a friend along with myself stopped in The Cathedral de San Juan, to say a prayer for family members who at the time were not doing so well. We also passed The municipal cemetery of Santa Maria Madgalena de Pazzis El Castillo San Felipe del Morro along with the Governor’s Mansion. We ate at several restaurants…you will not be hungry while in OSJ as there is food and drink everywhere.

There was not a lot going on New Year’s Eve so we just bought alcohol, and drank on our balcony. The Plaza De Armas was directly across the street from our hotel and it is VERY loud every night until after 1:00 a.m. You will never get used to some horn they blow non-stop and pop-its. We were unable to see the fountain as they had a gigantic Christmas tree in it. The lights put up for Christmas were amazing and throughout the city. The local beer is Medalla and all of us thought it was pretty gross! You can’t walk around on the street with alcohol and the many signs will tell you there is a strict $500 fine. You can however pour it in a plastic cup and walk around. They sell alcohol in many of the souvenir shops along the way. We bought our t-shirts at the Harley Davidson store and it was time to go see our ship. We gawked at her like most first-timers do---it was HUGE!! We walked back to the hotel, got a taxi, loaded our bags and took off for the pier around 2pm.