Mitsugirlys FASCINATION with San Juan-review & pictorial

[mitsugirly]

I have just read the intro and want to say that I've been waiting for this review since you said you'd be sailing on the Fascination before us, so I have definitely been looking forward to it:).

 

Wait no longer...it has arrived. :D Well actually, you might have to wait awhile. This is going to be a long review and I'm consumed with school so I will try to get something accomplished little by little.

 

So excited to see another review from you. I really enjoyed your last one on the Breeze!!

 

Thanks for joining me with this one too.

[mitsugirly]

Ok, I'm headed to work (early day for me) and will return in a little while. I'm glad everyone is enjoying the review so far and there's plenty more to come.

 

I have to get the next batch of pictures together before I start again. Be patient with me please. :)

[WinstonsMom]

Yay! So looking forward to this review. I think I would love this itinerary. Thanks for carving out time in your busy schedule for this review!

 

Lisa

[littlekid58]

Thank you for doing this... cannot wait for the rest...:)

[crewsweeper]

OMG!!

 

Stumbled upon this a few minutes ago. Kim, your departure trip, rental car nightmare and hotel checking were hilarious. I'm sure you didn't think so at the time. The hotel is gorgeous! Can't wait for the rest. Well, I can because I'm now behind on work.

 

Crew

[sunbird21]

Hi Kim!!

 

I'm so glad that you are back with this review to occupy my last few days before cruising!!! The Fascination was my first ever ship,so interested to hear your thoughts...hope you liked pink!!!

 

I also did this itinerary two yrs ago on the Valor, and it's right up there with my Med cruise as an itinerary I would repeat. I almost did it this past spring but Aruba itinerary won out. In any case, I had a feeling your group would've liked it-and that you found the sea turtles in Barbados!

 

How is school going? I remember you started last year around the time of the Breakaway cruise. I actually got crazy and just started my MSN online, so I get the struggle.( hoping to finish in time to treat myself to the Horizon inaugural cruise).

 

Anyway, take your time and I will read in semi envy as my cruise next week is in the opposite direction weather wise... Alaska!

 

-fellow Pop drinking nurse Stacey☕️

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[pghsteelerfan]

I just have to tell you how much I have been looking forward to this! :D I'm pretty sure you already know that this is my favorite itinerary and hope to do it again in the near future. At this time, last year, we were counting down the days (less than 3 weeks), but no such plans this year, so I will really enjoy cruising through your eyes...again. I just hope to find that you love this itinerary as much as we do.

 

I am really enjoying what you have so far and your pictures are beautiful, as always. I think I'm the one who told you "left side of plane" to see Old San Juan, the forts, and the piers. You did get the forts in your pictures. You may have seen mine but I didn't mention that I used the zoom for a couple of them.

 

These are my pictures, but I edited to add arrows and captions so you can actually "see" where the forts are to find them in your pictures.

 

 

 

I am really looking forward to the rest and very excited to see what all you did. Always looking for new ideas for the next time. :D

[SenatorsFan]

Thanks Heather. I'm glad you are here. If you haven't done this itinerary yet, BOOK IT! Seriously hands down one of the best.

 

Believe me, a cruise like this is on my list! Between you and pghsteelerfan's review and all your beautiful pictures still to come I am convinced. :D:p:) That hotel looks amazing, too.

 

Also, take all the time you need. I know how busy you are and can wait patiently. :)

 

Heather

[NightOne]

We cruise with Southwest only, thanks to having a business card that gives my hubby a "free companion pass yearly"

 

Their ships tend to sail too high over the ocean for my taste. :D:D:D

 

Seriously, subscribing with this post. :)

[cruiselife4me]

Loving it, Kim!! Can't wait for more...but no pressure. :p

 

Mary

[NYGirl1002]

Thanks for being here. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for the compliments and yes, Sakari is growing fast.

 

 

Oops sorry I spelled Sakari's name wrong. At any rate looking forward to the next installments and especially your photos.

[Luvnlyfagain]

Love your reviews Kim! We are looking at doing the Southern route late next year. Following :)

[Jenny in TX]

I always enjoy your reviews.....looking forward to the rest!

[blarko]

I've been waiting for this review and am excited to see you've started it! You write the best reviews and I enjoy reading every one of them! Can't wait for the rest of it!! Thanks for sharing.

[Cruzin4fam]

I'm fairly new to cc. I ran across one of your reviews about a week ago. I think it had somewhere in the ballpark of 55 pages. I just had to keep reading. Every spare second I had that is where I would be. Of course I got to the point where I just scrolled to read your posts and not so much everyone else's. ;) I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of your review.

[mitsugirly]

Yay! So looking forward to this review. I think I would love this itinerary. Thanks for carving out time in your busy schedule for this review!

 

Lisa

 

Thank you for your comment. I can't imagine anyone not loving this itinerary. :D

 

Thank you for doing this... cannot wait for the rest...:)

 

Thanks for joining me. :)

[mitsugirly]

OMG!!

 

Stumbled upon this a few minutes ago. Kim, your departure trip, rental car nightmare and hotel checking were hilarious. I'm sure you didn't think so at the time. The hotel is gorgeous! Can't wait for the rest. Well, I can because I'm now behind on work.

 

Crew

 

Crew!!! Glad you made it! :D

 

Yea, I always find something hilarious when traveling. :o I think I attract things like this.

 

The hotel is spectacular to say the least! I could stay here a week and be perfectly happy.

 

Hi Kim!!

 

I'm so glad that you are back with this review to occupy my last few days before cruising!!! The Fascination was my first ever ship,so interested to hear your thoughts...hope you liked pink!!!

 

I also did this itinerary two yrs ago on the Valor, and it's right up there with my Med cruise as an itinerary I would repeat. I almost did it this past spring but Aruba itinerary won out. In any case, I had a feeling your group would've liked it-and that you found the sea turtles in Barbados!

 

How is school going? I remember you started last year around the time of the Breakaway cruise. I actually got crazy and just started my MSN online, so I get the struggle.( hoping to finish in time to treat myself to the Horizon inaugural cruise).

 

Anyway, take your time and I will read in semi envy as my cruise next week is in the opposite direction weather wise... Alaska!

 

-fellow Pop drinking nurse Stacey☕️

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Aww Stacey, we are going to lose you in a few days. Darn. I won't even get to the good part by then. (But going on a cruise is much better than reading my review I promise :D). I hope you have a wonderful time. Hey, I'm considering Alaska next summer. (Sakari tells me she'll sit this one out. LOL Yea, wait until I show her all the "new" animals she'll get to see. I'm sure she'll change her mind).

 

I definitely want to do the "ABC" islands for sure. It's been on my radar for quite some time now. I will get there one day!

 

School is back in session (the day we were still in Puerto Rico actually) and I'm back on the grind. It makes it hard to concentrate when all I want to do is check out my vacation pictures (I haven't even looked at them yet myself and pretty much get to see them as everyone else does, except a few minutes prior when I'm sifting through them to pick which ones to share). I started last November I believe it was. I remember I was the last class to start in that semester right before Christmas. So, it hasn't been quite a year yet. I'm counting down the classes now...2 classes until my next vacation. LOL :eek: :p Good luck with the MSN program. You go girl!

 

Have a fun cruise.

 

-fellow pop drinking nurse Kim ┣▇▇▇═─

[mitsugirly]

I just have to tell you how much I have been looking forward to this! I'm pretty sure you already know that this is my favorite itinerary and hope to do it again in the near future. At this time, last year, we were counting down the days (less than 3 weeks), but no such plans this year, so I will really enjoy cruising through your eyes...again. I just hope to find that you love this itinerary as much as we do.

 

I am really enjoying what you have so far and your pictures are beautiful, as always. I think I'm the one who told you "left side of plane" to see Old San Juan, the forts, and the piers. You did get the forts in your pictures. You may have seen mine but I didn't mention that I used the zoom for a couple of them.

 

These are my pictures, but I edited to add arrows and captions so you can actually "see" where the forts are to find them in your pictures.

 

I am really looking forward to the rest and very excited to see what all you did. Always looking for new ideas for the next time. :D

 

Yep, definitely on my to-do list again. I just loved this cruise. You probably are the one who told me left side, but I started questioning myself if I remembered it right.

 

I do see where they are now. I'll be better prepared next time. I knew where they where but I got myself turned around when we were on the plane and somehow pictured that we were coming in a different way than I had pictured in my mind.

 

Zoom on my Olympus=the suck. Seriously. I hate zooming. It distorts really bad. I would have to say it's the worse feature of the camera. :(

 

 

Believe me, a cruise like this is on my list! Between you and pghsteelerfan's review and all your beautiful pictures still to come I am convinced. :D:p:) That hotel looks amazing, too.

 

Also, take all the time you need. I know how busy you are and can wait patiently. :)

 

Heather

 

Thanks.

[mitsugirly]

Their ships tend to sail too high over the ocean for my taste. :D:D:D

 

Seriously, subscribing with this post. :)

 

Thanks for coming in Carl. I might be seriously tired after the day I had today...or just not hip with what you are saying? LOL :D

 

Loving it, Kim!! Can't wait for more...but no pressure. :p

 

Mary

 

Thanks for coming in and joining me Mary. Glad to have you here.

[mitsugirly]

Oops sorry I spelled Sakari's name wrong. At any rate looking forward to the next installments and especially your photos.

 

No biggie. Spell it wrong, say it wrong, she'll still answer. She's still convinced her second name is Shakira from one of our cruises several years back where the lady in the kids club either could not pronounce her name or remember her name. She just called her Shakira the entire cruise and to this day, Sakari will still say "call me Sakari or Shakira" lol (including this cruise).

 

Love your reviews Kim! We are looking at doing the Southern route late next year. Following :)

 

Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it! :D

[mitsugirly]

I always enjoy your reviews.....looking forward to the rest!

 

Thanks. I'm glad you are here.

 

I've been waiting for this review and am excited to see you've started it! You write the best reviews and I enjoy reading every one of them! Can't wait for the rest of it!! Thanks for sharing.

 

Thanks and thank you for the warm comments. I appreciate it.

[mitsugirly]

I'm fairly new to cc. I ran across one of your reviews about a week ago. I think it had somewhere in the ballpark of 55 pages. I just had to keep reading. Every spare second I had that is where I would be. Of course I got to the point where I just scrolled to read your posts and not so much everyone else's. ;) I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of your review.

 

 

Hi there! :) Glad you found this site and review. All I can say is you have to have a lot of patience and time on your hands to read my reviews. :eek: :o :D I like to talk a lot and only come up for a breath every once in awhile. ;)

[Njcruiser60]

Thank you so much for this review. We have this same trip booked for 2018! You have me thinking about adding an extra day or two pre-cruise. Your pictures are great. Can't wait to read more. Thanks again.

[mitsugirly]

So back to the review...

 

Once we made it to our room, I had to change my britches and clean up. I really didn't feel like taking a full blown shower and having to redo the perfect hair (that I just had colored before vacation) and makeup that I had blindly applied at 2:30am in the morning when I thought I was wide awake.

 

Everyone wanted to take a nap but there really wasn't time for a nap because we only had about an hour before it was time for our excursion...TO BIOLUMINESCENT BAY!!

 

Now here's a funny story. One of my nursing classes we had an assignment that had to be a "descriptive" essay. We had to describe something we had done before and make it as if the reader felt as if they were there with you and could picture it. Well, although I hadn't done it (but knew I would some day), I decided to do an essay on bioluminescent bay. I did so much research and learned everything about it. Now it was time to experience it...in person. Would this trip live up to my expectations? Would I feel as though I was reliving something I had already done before? Only a few hours stood between me and finding out.

 

We grabbed the shuttle and headed to the hotel parking lot. Once in the car we couldn't figure out how to get out. We headed out the back way only to find that it only led to another parking lot. The shuttle driver told us to turn around and head back. That took us to a gate arm that you put your "ticket" in it and it is supposed to raise. Ours didn't. The shuttle bus driver saved the day and took off the cover of the box the arm was attached to and opened the arm. (This must happen a lot since it just popped off and he acts like he does it a lot). He would later tell us that you had to have the parking pass stamped at the valet desk in order for it to work. Ok, noted!

 

I put the "address", which really wasn't an address to me, into my phone and it said we were only about 6 minutes away from the place. Sweet...that meant more like 20 minutes for someone like us who can't follow a GPS well because ...well have you ever seen the names of these roads???? YIKES! They are so long and of course in Spanish and the GPS pronounces them differently and backwards. For instance our hotel was located on El Conquistador Avenue. The GPS would say Avenida El Conquistador. Now of course this don't seem to bad you say? Well that was easy because it was the same name as where we were staying. BUT, once you put in a Spanish "twang" to it...or changed the name of the streets, well...it got a little confusing.

 

We followed the GPS and I was shocked that we actually made it in about 10 minutes...but where did we make it to? It just kinda took us down toward the water and stopped. We weren't the only vehicles looking for it and thank goodness we were not the leader of the pack so couldn't be held reliable for the wrong ways we turned that included a few U-turns.

 

We headed down a road close to the water and didn't see any place with the name of the company we had booked with.

 

 

 

However, once you start seeing a bunch of kayaks, you know you have to be in the right place.

 

 

We drove along the road and the minute I seen a parking spot, I pulled in. It was a really tight squeeze but I managed with my small race car.

 

It was right in front of a playground. Of course Sakari was excited about this, but I assured her there was no time for playing and we were doing something more exciting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We walked across the grass and playground area and found that there was also parking on the other side of this...plenty of parking, which was closer to where we needed to be. But that's ok. I needed to work off some of the cruise weight I would be gaining the following week.

 

 

[CookiePie]

We are crusing to Bermuda on Sunshine out of NYC on Oct 1! We are counting down the days (31) hehe! It's our second time on Sunshine, first time going to Bermuda and our first time sailing out of NYC! Also the first time we are sailing from a port that is close to home. It's about a 2 hour drive for us!

 

I look forward to following along on your review! :)