Symphony Dec 2018, Suite Cruise Review - Lots of Photos

[GottaRequalify]

San Juan

 

For me, this meant leaving the family so I could go to the Bacardi factory. First time in port, so booked the ships tour. The rest of the family did the old and new San Juan.

 

After a short bus journey around the harbour we were here!

 

 

Everyone is given a buzzer, a drink cup and a drink ticket at the welcome centre, and told to look around. After the buzzer goes off, you hop on a small tram and taken to the start of the tour. At the end of the tour you walk back to the welcome centre after exiting through the gift shop. Back at the Welcome Centre, you exchange your drink ticket for the cocktail of your choice in the cup which is yours to keep.

 

This photo shows the tram and you can see the old fort in the background.

 

The ships aren’t that far away either

 

The tour takes you past some of the older buildings, and then gives a story of the family and some of the different items that they make.

 

 

One of the things I found interesting, was that similar to Champagne must come from a certain region in France, the Bacardi family sued in the United States and the NY Supreme Court in 1936 got copyright / trademark protection so that if you asked for a Bacardi, you have to be given a Bacardi rum and not another white rum, it is not a generic term like cola.

 

If you wanted to go to the factory by yourself, these are some of the tours you can do. Including the Historical Tour which is what we did as part of the ship based tour, that included the bus to and from the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 22, 2019 by GottaRequalify

[GottaRequalify]

Leaving port, we were invited (with a lot of other people) to go to the front of the ship and watch departure from the helideck, but the weather wasn’t the greatest so the sail away got cancelled. They had sparkling wine and canapes ready to serve us, so they tried to get us to take them just standing around. Instead, we went back to our room to watch sailaway.

 

 

And on the other side of the mouth of the harbour is the Bacardi factory.

 

 

An enjoyable port stop, but very short. You really only had time to do one thing and that was all. The Bacardi tour was very interesting if you like the product. Hearing that it is still privately owned and some of the brands they own as part of the company made this a good tour.

 

Edited July 22, 2019 by GottaRequalify

[Glide_Path]

Thank you again for your feedback.  Fingers crossed we get a genie with a bit more magical power this time on Symphony.