MITSUGIRLY has a JEWEL of a time on my 1st RC cruise in years!

[mitsugirly]

 

Down to the 3rd level.

 

 

 

 

 

The "rooms" were on one side and the breeze was plentiful over there. The opposite side (which was the kitchen and dining) had absolutely no breeze. I can only imagine cooking in it.

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Somebody is missing somebody...

 

 

I guess we were about to head to Level 2, which was part of the original tower.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

And yet there's another level. So down we went to Level 1 .

 

 

 

No idea what this was and there was absolutely nothing down here to see. What a waste of steps I'll have to climb back up.

 

 

 

 

Whew I was wore out.

 

 

We made it back up to Level 3. I could have done without seeing level 2 or 1. It was SO hot in there. But, at least I can say that we were able to see the "original" part of the fort.

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Ok, here we go!!!

 

 

 

It took awhile with a few rest stops for the hubby, but we made it. We are both so out of shape these days.

 

The church

 

 

 

Hmm, do I really want to try to conquer the other fort after all that?

 

 

We headed out and I can finally say I've been to a fort/historical site before. I can't say I have changed my mind or point of view about seeing these types of things. They really don't interest me. But, trying to kill a few days on foot in OSJ and I'm glad I did it. I know there's a lot of history buffs and people that will go here during a port stop, so I figured it might benefit them to get an idea of what it's like.

 

We made it outside and actually sat for awhile and rested...in the sun. But, the wind was still blowing and it felt good. I had to take off my socks and shoes to air things out and it felt so good.

 

 

When I come back to Old San Juan and if we do stay here before hand, I will bring Sakari a kite to bring here. It was just so perfect.

 

 

The Dutch Attack of 1625 monument.

 

 

[mitsugirly]

We made it back down with no problems (down is always easy right?). We decided to take a different route back (hubby wanted to, once again, try to see if the skate shop was open).

 

 

 

BALLAJA is a sculpture commemorating the rescue of Ballaja by the Puerto Rican people and is located in the Plaza del Cuartel de Ballaja.

 

This sculpture has 3 bronze figures that are intertwined in a struggle. It depicts the rescue of the district of Ballaja. The figures are on top of a cloak, which represents "the forgotten" and a women represents "the district". The old man is presented as a predator bird of prey who has neglected the district. Between them is a young man who is rescuing the woman and symbolizes the new spirit of a generation of Puerto Ricans struggling to rescue his past and affirm the value of their identity.

 

This sculpture was installed in 1992 at the old barracks where Spanish troops were quartered.

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

This is the Eugenio Maria de Hostos sculpture. It commemorates this famous Puerto Rican educator, philosopher, intellectual, lawyer, sociologist and independence advocate. It is located in the plaza near Case Blance (which people call it "skateboard park" due to the teenagers that hang out there skateboarding). <--how ironic since we were headed to the local skate shop around the corner.

 

 

 

I just love all the bright colors of all the places in OSJ.

 

 

[mitsugirly]

We finally made it to the skateshop and they were actually open. We met the owner and his friend that also hangs out there a lot (he's a skateboarder) and the hubby and them talked for hours.

 

 

It was a very small place. They talked about the local skateboarding and shops around there and the parks. They talked about the pro's from the area and business. They hubby showed them pictures of his shop and website and gave them pointers on "business" stuff.

 

They were really cool people and we enjoyed chatting with them.

 

 

The owner took me out back to show me the building. The store lined up and down this street were just stores and then you had a back door, which lead into an enclosed alley-like type of place. Everyone shared the same restroom at the end of the alley. The top was completely open above and they store things out there. No way for anyone to get to it unless you were renting the building.

 

 

 

Hubby continued to talk and talk and I went out and took a few pictures outside.

 

 

 

 

We finally decided to leave and the hubby did his share to support this local skate shop and small business owner and purchased a shirt with their skateshop name on it. Then off we went.

 

[mabones]

The hubby ordered the Apple Pie A La Mode and said it was very good. As stuffed as I was...I had to try it and it was amazing!!! The apples were cooked just right!

 

 

After dinner, Sakari was off to the kids club to spend time with her own people and we were off to the casino for a bit. I won $32 and called it a night walking out a winner. LOL

 

We picked up the munchkin and headed back to the room where I wouldn't have homework tonight because I had planned ahead and did my test for the week last night. Go me!

 

Here was our towel animal.

 

 

The hubby would watch a little t.v (I might add that EVERY commercial was in Spanish for some reason) and I wanted to check in with my son...to see if the dog and fish were still alive. You see this pattern of non-trust here?

 

Our dog, Loki, does not like Kolin for some reason. From the minute we brought him home last year he has never liked Kolin. Kolin has never done anything to him but I can only speculate that he must have been abused by someone that either looked like Kolin or something. (Trust me, there's a story behind me thinking he was abused).

 

He loves his mini-human though and has a fit when she's out of his site (at least according to my blinds that I've had to replace several times).

 

 

Kolin has a hard time with him as far as getting him to come inside from going potty or anything else. He pretty much has to hide for Loki to walk past the door and into the house or go get my neighbor to call him in. It gets frustrating. He's a Husky...so he's a runner too and can not be caught.

 

 

But we love him just the same and Sakari would have a fit if anything would ever happen to him. She takes good care of him and she says "He's my brother too". So I guess I actually have 5 kids. :o

 

So far...Loki was doing just fine.

 

Loki looks just like our female Skyekura. We had her for 12 years & my hubby misses her everyday. She would throw a fit every time he came home from work, running from room to room and screaming. She was very vocal.

[mitsugirly]

We were getting pretty hungry by now and we had passed this little restaurant/bar, called Marilyns, several times when walking to the skateshop. They had a bar inside and seating outside with umbrellas and flowers and plants. It looked cute. I told the hubs we should stop and eat there.

 

 

 

The menu:

 

 

 

We placed our orders and enjoyed the breeze along this closed-type street.

 

 

Before long, our food came out. The hubby had ordered 10 wings, Sakari ordered 10 wings, and I ordered the chicken quesadillas.

 

The hubbys food looked good.

 

 

[mitsugirly]

My food definitely looked and tasted good.

 

 

 

Sakari's food...well, it never came. Daddy shared his with Sakari and when the waitress came back out, we let her know that Sakari didn't get her food. I guess there was a misunderstanding and she thought they were sharing. So, she brought out another order and then Sakari shared with daddy.

 

We had a visitor. I guess he didn't get his order either.

 

 

After eating, Sakari found a friend.

 

 

We paid our bill and off we went.

 

Here's the cigar house that we went to the day before.

 

 

 

Here's the outside of the pizza/Italian place we were at before. They also have seating upstairs.

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

I did a little bit of shopping and found a change purse I just had to have.

 

 

Still walking around...like we didn't do enough of that earlier today.

 

I keep ending back around this area for some reason. I guess we just always cut down that alley.

 

 

And those dreaded stairs...

 

 

I wonder if you can have it your way here?

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Some paintings on a building

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

Circling around and back toward the park.

 

 

Sakari wanted to stay for awhile. There is a drug store on the corner here and my head was pounding for some reason. I decided to go in to get some Aleve while she played with the birds and daddy rested on the bench.

 

Someone brought some type of hard cereal type food or something. They gave her a piece to feed the pigeons.

 

 

Too much fun!

 

 

We stayed until it was almost dark out.

 

 

It was time to head back to the hotel. After all, I still had a test to complete.

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

On the way back to the hotel, the church that was in front of our hotel that I always took pictures of from upstairs, was all lit up. I had seen people going inside earlier in the day.

 

I noticed the huge cathedral ceiling and thought it looked so pretty. I told the hubby I wanted to go inside. He gave me that blank stare like "you have got to be kidding me". I responded with "come on, it'll be fun".

 

 

I also noticed the stained glass windows.

 

 

The entrance was right past our hotel and around on the corner on the other side. It was closed. Well darn. We'd have to try again tomorrow.

 

On our way back around, Mr Attack Kitty was perched up high on this concrete fence. He did not want to play nice.

 

 

 

We made it back to the room and Sakari immediately started to draw from her daily activities...which included a visit to the graveyard...only with dragons. Oh, and of course Loki. The things that go on in that child's head.

 

 

I would try to get logged on again and do my test. But, I would find out that it said my time had expired and had been active something crazy like 9 hours. What??? Oh gosh! I was in complete panic mode. I went ahead and did the test and submitted and then looked at my grades and it said 0! Yikes! I emailed my professor to tell him what had happened and kept my fingers crossed. This caused me to drink tonight...and we finished off the bottle of wine on the rooftop and just hung out.

 

I texted my son to make sure that Loki and the fish were still alive and he assured me they were. I let him know we had 1 more day in PR and then we'd be home.

 

We headed to bed early tonight because we were just so tired from so much walking.

 

[mitsugirly]

There is a new Sunscreen out there now made specifically without all the above ingredients. It is made by Sea2Stream. It works great. It comes in different strengths plus they have shampoo & body wash. I suggest you check them out.

 

This is awesome and I looked up the product. However, there is a major problem with this. It only comes in 20 and 30 spf. When we cruise and being in that Caribbean sun, we only use 100spf. We even have dark skin and tan super easy (as you can probably tell from the pictures). BUT, we still use the 100 spf. So, I'm not sure this would do us any good in the Caribbean. They should really think about making a higher grade.

 

 

 

HI Kim,

 

You must live near Grove City, My Husband Works for AEP and was helping clean up all the damage from the Storms

 

Love your reviews

 

Yep, we live in Grove city. :D

 

 

 

Loki looks just like our female Skyekura. We had her for 12 years & my hubby misses her everyday. She would throw a fit every time he came home from work, running from room to room and screaming. She was very vocal.

 

Aww, so sorry to hear about your Skyekura. It's never easy to lose a family member. Loki is only vocal when you first arrive and when you talk to him. Otherwise, he is so quiet. He's just an amazing dog and I don't think he's your "typical" husky from all the horror stories I have read about the way husky's act. He's a pretty good dog...but yet his husky "ways" are always there (laying on his back with his paws up in the air, the hopping like a jackrabbit and so on). They are definitely a "different" species!

[gatr_girl]

Her face painting was looking mighty chic this morning and smudged down the side of her face.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Yayyyy I’ve looked for us in every pic but here we are! That’s my husband eating lunch behind Sakari!

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[mitsugirly]

 

 

Yayyyy I’ve looked for us in every pic but here we are! That’s my husband eating lunch behind Sakari!

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Lol, I never even noticed someone behind her in that pic until you said that. Good eye! :D

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

I hear you on not getting the appeal of forts.

 

I'm glad Sakari did not fall - not sure there would have been any recommence had she fallen since there is a sign saying to use the stairs!

[mitsugirly]

So it's our last day in Puerto Rico and it's 7am and I'm wide awake. It's sorta rainy out off and on. I'm honestly not even sure what to do today. Do we visit the other fort? Do we just keep walking the same old streets? We've pretty much done everything we could do within walking distance. I was starting to wonder why I decided to stay this long. I was ready to go home.

 

I noticed that we are out of toilet paper again and that shower going from scalding hot to ice cold was really bothering me. I took a trip down to the front desk to let them know that once again, housekeeping did not leave any toilet paper and the shower had not been fixed. They said they would send someone up...which they never did. I pretty much had to use the restroom in the lobby at that point.

 

The rain had stopped for a minute and this appeared...

 

 

 

Sakari got up and was working on a drawing about Loki and him wondering what happened to his "mini-human" (which is what we call her when we are talking to him about her). She had been coming up with all the "bad thoughts" Loki must be having about her and wondering what happened to her.

 

 

I checked my email and was happy to see that I had a reply from my professor saying "everything looks good on my end"...meaning that my test went through. Whew! Relief.

 

I checked my personal mail to plan for our trip home tomorrow. Anyone ever get those emails from them saying that you must be at the airport in SJU 3 HOURS PRIOR TO YOUR SCHEDULED DEPARTURE? I honestly don't remember if we did this last time we were here, but 3 hours??? Yikes!

 

So our flight was at 10:15am, which means we would need to be there around 7:15am, which means we needed to be on the way at least by 6:45am and probably up by 5:30am if not sooner to finish last minute packing and breakfast....I wonder what's going to be open at that time in the morning?

 

Sakari was asking what we were doing today and saying she was hungry.

 

 

 

 

THEN I NOTICE IT!!!!

 

 

You see the date? IT'S TODAY!!!! Oh my gosh!!!! Our flight is TODAY! We are about to miss our flight!

 

At that point I'm in complete panic mode. Telling Sakari to get dressed, yelling for the hubby to get up. Throwing things in suitcases...it was a mad house! I can't believe this is happening! To me of all people. I'm a planner. I have all this figured out way in advance. I had been telling everyone that our flight was on Wednesday. I told all my kids this every time I talked to them. I told Kia this on the ship. We told the guys at the skateshop this. I even told Sakari's teacher this and that she would be back to school on Thursday.

 

It was already 8:15am and our flight left in 2 hours and we weren't even to the airport or checked in! Not to mention they board the plane 30 minutes prior to take off so we now officially had 1 hour and 30 minutes to get our stuff together, check out, call a cab, cab ride there, check our luggage in, customs, security, run to the gate!

 

I was so nervous I could barely function. I was kicking myself for what was happening and not even double checking this entire time. We packed everything within maybe 10 minutes and headed to the lobby to check out. I told the lady at the front desk we needed a cab ASAP, explained the situation and then of course threw in the "no one ever came with toilet paper or to look at the shower so you might want to get that fixed for the next person that has that room".

 

She called a cab and let us know they said 10 minutes. We pulled our luggage outside and waited and waited for what seemed like eternity! I know they didn't come within the 10 minutes and I was checking my watch constantly.

 

We finally seen a cab pull up on the side and we ran. Piled everything in the cab and told him we were about to miss our flight. It was now 8:40am and he informed us that it was a 25 minute ride to the airport. YIKES!

 

I could tell that he was trying to hurry. He was speeding on the way there and weaving in and out of traffic. He even passed a few cops on the way and all I could think about was if we get pulled over for him speeding like this, we're never making it to the airport.

 

Finally I seen a glimpse of hope.

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

We managed to get there in 15 minutes and arrived at 8:55am.

 

We ran inside the building and there was barely a line. Up to the counter at SW with our luggage and they inform us that we needed to go back and have our luggage checked by customs. UGH! We headed over to customs, threw our luggage on the belt (thank goodness no line), they slapped a sticker on it, then we ran back to check in. They hurried and took our luggage and we ran for security.

 

We got lucky...security was next to empty as well. I guess we just came at the right time today.

 

We made it and so far so good. We were at the gate by 9:15am...and still starving! We had a half hour before boarding the plane and decided to grab some food to take with us on the plane.

 

Then it was time to board.

 

 

It felt so good to see this happen...

 

 

We were going to make it home after all.

 

The clouds were rolling in and it looked like it might just be a bad day after all. I'm glad we were leaving on this day and not spending another day in OSJ with really nothing left to do. I was ready for home!

 

 

 

My breakfast/lunch

 

 

Sakari's

 

 

And daddys.

 

 

Hey, at least we weren't going to starve.

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Could this be hurricane damage?

 

 

We were rolling down the runway and away we went. We had made it!

 

 

 

 

HOME SWEET HOME HERE WE COME!

 

 

~The End~

[SenatorsFan]

Wow! What a way to end your trip. I'm glad you made your flight, but you had to have been freaking out big time. :eek::)

Heather

[LuCruise]

Oh my gosh...good thing you happened to check on your flight when you did! What a stress! So glad it all worked out. What an amazing report...and trip. Thanks for sharing.

 

Would love to hear final thoughts on how you enjoyed Royal's Jewel, compared with NCL and Carnival ships you've been on.

[MeganGC1983]

So, is the Decanter worth it for one night? It's obviously better than Da House, but maybe something like Casa Blanca would be better?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[BillOh]

 

 

 

 

THEN I NOTICE IT!!!!

 

I just got back! Enjoyed your review, it helped us get ready for ours. I would have taken this flight. Our flight left at 630pm and we got home to Columbus about 1am and home in Northland about 2 Monday morning.