The Palm Trees are Really Cool: A Pictorial Review of the Valor's Southern Route

[Nicole721]

Subbing! Love your writing style. I LOL'ed when you said Gasolina? As in the Daddy Yankee song?? lolol

 

I had it stuck in my head every time I saw an ad!

 

Enjoying your review..looking for ideas for Valor cruise next year.

 

Hope you find it helpful! :)

[Nicole721]

Looking forward to your review

 

I hope you enjoy it!

 

I'm really looking forward to another of your reviews. Valor was our first Carnival ship, so lots of fond memories, obviously. :)

 

Thanks for the Virgin America safety demo link; I had never seen it. I LOLed at the seat belt bit. We just got back from Las Vegas flying on WestJet, one of Canada's airlines. Most of their flight attendants have a sense of humour, and this time the comment that cracked me up was "For those of you who rode your horse to the airport today, this is how we fasten a seat belt". :D

Keep up the good work!

Heather

 

Delta has a retro 80s one that's pretty great, but I think Virgin America's takes the cake. Seriously, God forbid anything happens when I'm on one of their flights, I know every word to that song. It's so catchy! So in that, they did their job. It's one hell of a way to get people to pay attention to the safety instructions LOL.

[Nicole721]

Great review, thanks for all the pictures!

 

Thanks for reading and commenting! :)

 

Love it! Can't wait to hear more :D

 

Thanks!!!

[Nicole721]

Glad to see the pictures of the caribe Hilton. Sounded very familiar. My mom said we lived there for six weeks while my dad has transferred there. Now this is many moons ago.

 

What a place to live!

 

we were first booked at the Caribe Hilton ... than changed to the Embassy Suites ... Never stay at the Embassy Suites ... Major dump

 

I've had really good and really bad luck with Embassy Suites' in the past. We rode past the Embassy Suites in San Juan on the way too and from the airport and it probably wouldn't be one of our top choices just because it seemed a little far away from everything.

[Nicole721]

Enjoying your review and all your wonderful photo's, thanks for posting them.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Enjoying your review, loved this itinerary when we sailed on the Victory!

 

Thank you!!

[Nicole721]

I'm so following this review!!

 

Woooooooooo!

 

Love reading your reviews! DH and I are hoping to do this cruise next year. The Caribe Hilton looks wonderful. I need to remember that for when we go. Thanks for sharing!

 

I really can't recommend the Caribe Hilton enough. One of my favorite hotels we've stayed in!

[Nicole721]

I am so glad you posted pictures of the Caribe Hilton! We are going on this cruise on Nov 2nd and we are staying one night there. I just told my DH he might be in trouble with this hotel as they 2 of all time favorite things in one location...the beach and Starbucks!!! :D:p How awesome is that!

 

It's fate!

 

They also opened up a Quiznos on the grounds while we were there, and a froyo counter. It was nice to have so many options, even if we opted for Starbucks for pretty much everything :)

 

Glad to know you will finish, I was really enjoying. I had about forgotten till someone posted on it today.

 

OP loving the review!! Can't wait to read more.

 

Thank you!

[cruzininga]

Patiently waiting for more. My boyfriend and I will be doing this cruise in October. We are very excited! Looks like Caribe Hilton will be the place to stay.

[iriegirl]

Stalking...er, SUBSCRIBING. :D I'm so excited to have another one of your reviews to read. Oh, and that's a super-cute dress you have on in the pics from your first day!

[TheTravelista]

Love your reviews. Never stop writing them okay? LOL

 

Your review mimicked everything I read about Barrachina when trying to pick a restaurant in San Juan. Terrible service, overpriced average food and just okay pina coladas. It got eliminated quickly. I eventually decided on Raices instead (in part because of its feature on Man Vs. Food) and loved it. Our server was amazing, the food was delicious, the drinks were great and the restaurant was adorable. If you're in the area again, try it out. I think you'd like it.

[sjn911]

Great Review, will enjoy following...I have seen The Caribe Hilton Hotel long distance beach shot on so many photos...looks like a great location for serenity yet close to things..would love to see more of San Juan and thanks for info...Sarah

[starfish the second]

really enjoying your review cant wait for more

[christyran1228]

I am so glad you posted pictures of the Caribe Hilton! We are going on this cruise on Nov 2nd and we are staying one night there. I just told my DH he might be in trouble with this hotel as they 2 of all time favorite things in one location...the beach and Starbucks!!! :D:p How awesome is that!

 

We will be getting on as soon as you get off ... 150 days for us! [emoji14]

 

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

[sjcruiser]

Really enjoying reading the review, and can't wait for the rest.

[Nicole721]

Patiently waiting for more. My boyfriend and I will be doing this cruise in October. We are very excited! Looks like Caribe Hilton will be the place to stay.

 

You'll love it, I'm sure of it! :)

 

Stalking...er, SUBSCRIBING. :D I'm so excited to have another one of your reviews to read. Oh, and that's a super-cute dress you have on in the pics from your first day!

 

Woo hoo! And thanks! :D

[Nicole721]

Love your reviews. Never stop writing them okay? LOL

 

Your review mimicked everything I read about Barrachina when trying to pick a restaurant in San Juan. Terrible service, overpriced average food and just okay pina coladas. It got eliminated quickly. I eventually decided on Raices instead (in part because of its feature on Man Vs. Food) and loved it. Our server was amazing, the food was delicious, the drinks were great and the restaurant was adorable. If you're in the area again, try it out. I think you'd like it.

 

You got it! :D

 

And I love Man vs Food! I must have missed the San Juan ep! I'll keep a note to try Raices for our next Puerto Rico trip. Thanks for the tip!

 

Great Review, will enjoy following...I have seen The Caribe Hilton Hotel long distance beach shot on so many photos...looks like a great location for serenity yet close to things..would love to see more of San Juan and thanks for info...Sarah

 

Thanks, Sarah!

 

And that's an incredibly accurate and succinct way of describing the Caribe Hilton. It was nice and quiet but close enough to the action to not waste time getting there :)

[Nicole721]

really enjoying your review cant wait for more

 

Thanks!

 

Really enjoying reading the review, and can't wait for the rest.

 

Thank you! Hope you enjoy! :)

[Nicole721]

We woke up bright, early and ready to explore on our first full day in Puerto Rico. Well, to be fair, it was also our only full day in Puerto Rico, so we were ready to make the most of it.

 

 

Finding breakfast was quick and easy – Starbucks it was! Mom and Stephanie grabbed bagels. I ordered what Starbucks touted as a local favorite – quesito con Nutella. Loosely translated, it was a sweet cheese pastry with Nutella, and I’m not sure how much the locals favor it, but it was super delish! We took the food out to the lobby and plotted out our day.

 

 

 

The plan for the day was to taxi over to Old San Juan, hop on a ferry to Cataño to tour the Bacardi factory and…from there we didn’t know! Maybe tour some forts (or leave that for tomorrow). Maybe walk down the streets and see how many places we could find that some of my blog readers suggested. We didn’t know! We did make a reservation on OpenTable for Barrachina based on the suggestion of many of the reviews we found on Cruise Critic. We couldn’t get one during the Flamenco show hours (and later found out you need to book on the phone to snag one of those ressies), but we figured if we lingered, we could catch it.

[Nicole721]

There was a taxi stand next to the concierge desk, so we had them grab us a taxi into OSJ (a flat $10 fee plus the gas surcharge). We asked to be dropped off next to Pier Two (where the ferry to Cataño departs), but they left us off…in a centro somewhere. What we came to realize is that the taxi’s into town will not take you to your exact location, but rather to the closest taxi stand to your destination. Likewise, if you need to pick up a taxi, standing in the middle of the street with your hand out won’t fetch you a cab – you need to find a taxi stand.

 

 

Our plans took a bit of a detour here because we realized that we had been dropped off steps from Castillo San Cristóbal, which was at the top of my list of forts to visit. Since we were already there, we figured we’d take advantage of this random stroke of location luck and tour.

 

 

It’s a short hike up to the entrance (you can take the free trolley if the incline bothers you – more on that later) and even though it was just a few yards, I was immediately struck by how colorful the streets are in Old San Juan. Vibrant strokes of culture were splashed across each building and down each street. I held Mom and Stephanie up far too long composing snaps and alternating cameras. It was stunning and I wanted to capture a bit of the wonder I felt before we pressed on.

 

 

 

[Nicole721]

You can view a bit of the grounds for free, but to see the real bulk of the site, it’s a $5 fee per person. That fee also covers entrance to some of the other historic sights (like El Morro) for seven days.

 

 

 

[Nicole721]

I paid our entry fees and we made our way into Castillo San Cristóbal. What can I say about it? The site is gorgeous…stunning. It’s steeped in culture and though the inclines are incredibly steep to climb up to the top, the view is worth it. Words are nearly worthless here, so I’ll let the photos speak to it.

 

 

 

 

[Nicole721]

 

 

 

 

[Nicole721]

 

 

 

 

[Nicole721]

I’d seen photos of a cemetery that I thought was near Castillo San Cristóbal, but for the life of me, I couldn’t find it. When we were getting ready to leave, Stephanie decided to look up the free trolley stops to see if we could take it to the pier (since Puerto Rico is a US territory, service on this part of our trip was covered by our plan. Thanks, AT&T) , and since it seemed we could, we headed towards the nearest stop.

 

 

So lets back track a bit and talk about the trolley. In my initial San Juan research, I came across a few reviews talking about this free trolley that would take you around, but I didn’t find anything too in depth. A Google search took me to this page, which explained the system a bit and had a system map. Here’s what I learned using the trolley system:

 

1. It is 100% free of charge. There is a small donation box onboard where you can contribute to the programs that keep this going, but the drivers cannot accept tips and all rides are free of charge. There are no tickets, stamps or wristbands – you simply stand at a stop (like the one in the above photo) and board the next trolley that comes.

 

2. The trolley moves really slowly and there might be a bit of a wait to board one. If you’re looking to get somewhere in a time crunch, you’re probably better off with a taxi. Or walking, depending on where you’re going.

 

3. If you’re sitting in the outside seats, place your handbags and backpacks towards the inside. More on this in the next post.

 

4. The trolley always fills up at El Morro. If you’re boarding at El Morro, you might be better off walking a couple of stops up to catch the trolley earlier.

 

5. All of that said, if you have free time and aren’t sure what to do in San Juan (or maybe you just want to see San Juan), this is a fantastic way to pass time, to see some of the town or to take a rest. It’s a tour without the narration.

Edited June 12, 2014 by Nicole721

[Nicole721]

Since Pier Two was towards the beginning of the trolley route and we boarded at stop 13, so we had a bit to go. We enjoyed taking in the sights and the time off our feet after all the climbing at Castillo San Cristóbal.