Cruising from San Juan - Jan 2023

[GottaKnowWhen]

We have a two-week cruise, Star Pride, starting this Saturday Jan 7. Arrived in San Juan late last night, today we spent a leisurely day wandering Old San Juan. A favorite location for us!

 

Stan

[Host Jazzbeau]

Great start!  Will this be a 'live from' thread?  I am eager to follow your experience.

[GottaKnowWhen]

51 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Great start!  Will this be a 'live from' thread?  I am eager to follow your experience.

Thanks Bo. I have seen a few “live from” threads, they all have been quite different in tone, length, etc. and so I am not sure what exactly people expect from that designation. I used to blog on trips for friends via a standard blog site but that stopped primarily because my focus is more on photography than on hour-to-hour details, and the upload of photos to the blog site was way way too slow. 

Internet speeds have risen, uploads aren’t quite so painful, and so my intent was to revisit my blogging approach but using Cruise Critic as the host. Many of my friends are not cruisers and so will not see this site, but I’ll post some elsewhere as well.

 

A long reply to a short question! But nothing else to do right now while waiting to see if/when our delayed luggage is reunited with us.

Stan

[Host Jazzbeau]

I used to use Wordpress, but they dropped the size limit so low that you would have to use an iPhone 1 to qualify!  So now I put my blogs on Cruise Critic, and copy/paste the url in an email so my non-CC friends can find them.  [They might even come to love CC in the bargain, who knows?  win-win!]

[GottaKnowWhen]

8 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

I used to use Wordpress, but they dropped the size limit so low that you would have to use an iPhone 1 to qualify!  So now I put my blogs on Cruise Critic, and copy/paste the url in an email so my non-CC friends can find them.  [They might even come to love CC in the bargain, who knows?  win-win!]

I would have thought they would run into the “you must be logged in” warnings. I’ll try it, thanks for the suggestion!

Stan

[Host Jazzbeau]

7 hours ago, GottaKnowWhen said:

I would have thought they would run into the “you must be logged in” warnings. I’ll try it, thanks for the suggestion!

Stan

They can't post if they're not signed in, but they can read anything except roll calls.

[GottaKnowWhen]

Our 2nd day in Old San Juan (this trip. Have been fortunate to visit several times before.)

First, back story.

We flew Wednesday from our local airport to DTW, then on to ATL, then to SJU. Actually, we didn't. In DTW, we were delayed 2 hours because the heavy snow in Minneapolis prevented the pilots getting to DTW for our flight. Once in ATL, we missed our midday flight to SJU. We could rebook on the evening flight leaving 6ish, or something else. The 6pm ATL-SJU was already overbooked, they put us on a flight to JFK, and onward to SJU. Eventually got to San Juan around midnight Wednesday. But, of course, without luggage.

 

Thursday my bag was flown ATL-SJU on the early morning flight. It sat at the airport here from early afternoon until around 7:00pm, then was driven around the San Juan environs, and eventually back to the airport about midnight.

 

[I know all of this through a combination of information from my Delta Find My Luggage app and my Apple air tags.]

 

So today, Friday, Meg's bag was flown ATL-SJU, and both bags were delivered to our hotel a bit after noon.

Moral(s) of the story: 1) do NOT fly into your embarkation point day-of. Or even the day before. Stuff happens. Allow extra days, go early, enjoy your embarkation port. 2) Put Apple air tags or similar in your luggage to help track what is going on. 

 

So, today in San Juan. NCL and Viking in port, and today is Three Kings Day so the start of a three-day weekend for much of Latin America. Busy city! We walked, watched the kite flyers on the National Park grounds outside the fort, had lunch, enjoyed the scene. A wonderful light dinner tonight at Cosa Nostra on Fortelleza, very near our Casa Blanca hotel. A good day. Tomorrow we board Str Pride around 1:00pm.

 

Stan

 

Edited January 7, 2023 by GottaKnowWhen

[GottaKnowWhen]

Arancini, part of our dinner at Cosa Nostra...

[M.Travels]

We are getting off the Star Pride this morning and we loved it! Looking forward to following your pics!

[RMS Olympic]

Thank you sooooo much for this thread. I’m getting on the Pride on Jan 28th, so all your posts just wet my appetite and excitement even more.

Thank you !

[ciaoYacht]

Traveling on Pride and Windstar for the first time in February, very much looking forward to your post!

[GottaKnowWhen]

We did another walk this morning around Old San Juan. The street in front our hotel, Fortaleza, is under repair and closed to traffic. We walked toward the cruise port, verified  that the nearest point where we could get a cab was about halfway to the pier. Which confirmed our decision to just walk it later. 
We passed through the collection of arts/crafts vendors, followed the old city wall for a ways, back up into the city for a snack and drink at the El Convento Hotel restaurant, back to the hotel. 
We had a check-in time of 1:00pm. We got to the pier about 1:10pm. Oops! Big line up. Gonzalo explained that a surprise USPH inspection had put the embarkation behind schedule. 
We filled out the Health information forms, sat for awhile until our group was called, went through security, then onto the ship, up to the lounge on Deck 5, passport check (and surrender for the voyage), credit card run for the record, key cards issued, and off to our suite on deck 4, escorted by one of the stewards who showed us how to turn on lights, the tv, etc. 

We had lunch at the veranda cafe. And I stood in line for 10-15 minutes to make reservations for dinners at Candles and Quadro44, the zero-charge Speciality Restaurants onboard. 
Our luggage was delivered about the time we got back from our lunch. Unpacked, worked on photos. Up to Deck 7 for the muster drill, a stop by the Star Bar to get a to-go glass of wine, and back to the cabin to relax before the Officer Introduction party at 6:15pm.

 

it is nice that many of the crew recognize us from our 7 days aboard in August and 8-9 days in October. Should I worry that the bar staff in particular are giving me the big smiles, fist bumps, welcome backs…?

Stan

[RMS Olympic]

Great info!

can you tell me how full the ship is for your sailing🤓

thank you.

[GottaKnowWhen]

12 minutes ago, RMS Olympic said:

Great info!

can you tell me how full the ship is for your sailing🤓

thank you.

184 - I just asked for that!

[GottaKnowWhen]

It seems that many of those aboard are first-time on Windstar. As an old experienced Windstar cruiser on his 3rd cruise, the questions I most often hear from others has to do with eating/dining opportunities. 
My summary:

Main dining room, Amphora, on Deck 3, aft. (Aft = rear. The fat end of the ship, not the pointy end.) Amphora is open only for dinner, usually 7:00-9:00pm. No reservations, no first/second seating, just go and enjoy. 

Breakfast and lunch buffets are in Veranda, Deck 7, aft.

 

The Star grill on deck 8 mid-ship outside deck is also open for lunch and dinner, sometimes, depending on weather and other factors I haven’t figured out.

 

In the evening, Veranda is transformed into Candles, a sit-down reservations only restaurant. Better food? Different menu anyway. No extra charge.

 

Also in the evening, reservations-only Quadro44 has a tapas themed menu.

 

And then we have the Yacht Club Cafe and Library on deck 8, aft. Open 6:00am 6:00pm with continental breakfast transitioning to sandwiches transitioning to cookies and sweets through the day.

 

No matter when/where, the food is good.

 

Stan

[GottaKnowWhen]

Today is a sea day, the only full day at sea over the next two weeks. This morning we heard Gonzalo give brief descriptions of our port-of-call and excursion options. We then picked up our loaner snorkeling gear (ours to hold for the duration of our cruise). Found that there are 50 of us continuing for the back-to-back next week.

And now the Bloody Mary bar…

[RMS Olympic]

Thank you for the passenger count.

I sailed on the Breeze in 2021.....less than 50 passengers onboard plus company reps.

Seeing how things operate with more people will be interesting. I’m hoping this trip will entice me to book the Pride for this coming December. I’ve fallen out of love with the big ships and need lines like Windstar and Star Clippers to keep me cruising.

Enjoy your cruise....eat, drink, swim, sleep....repeat.

 

 

[GottaKnowWhen]

En route to Grenada. Beautiful day, breezy, some nice rolling waves... A good day for bird watching!

 

[Misty Morning]

Beware of their droppings.  On our cruise in November, by the end of the day on our way to Grenada, the Star Bar windows and deck had their droppings all over.  A good cleanup was required 

[SVBing]

How many passengers traveling this cruise?

[ryndam]

11 hours ago, SVBing said:

How many passengers traveling this cruise?

Scroll up to post #14. The OP stated 184 pax.

[GottaKnowWhen]

19 hours ago, ryndam said:

Scroll up to post #14. The OP stated 184 pax.

Today I asked a different officer, I was told 188. 

Of the 188, 102 are passengers who have sailed Windstar at least once; one couple has 87 nights prior to this cruise.

Next week, the Jan 14 sailing, they are expecting 244 total, 50 of whom will be continuing from this week.

 

Edited January 10, 2023 by GottaKnowWhen

[GottaKnowWhen]

When I talk to friends who have little or no cruising experience, and when I make a comment like "this time we are on Windstar which has small ships..." they have no idea what I am talking about.

Here is a large ship vs.small ship visual comparison, yesterday in Grenada.

(The other ship is the AIDA Perla.)

Edited January 10, 2023 by GottaKnowWhen

[RMS Olympic]

Gotta know when....love the updates!

Have the water sports equipment been used on your cruise? If so is the sea water cool or cold as it’s January🤪

Thanks for your posts!

[GottaKnowWhen]

7 hours ago, RMS Olympic said:

Gotta know when....love the updates!

Have the water sports equipment been used on your cruise? If so is the sea water cool or cold as it’s January🤪

Thanks for your posts!

On our brief swim/snorkel off the beach yesterday, neither of us noticed the water temperature! Mostly attending to rapidly sloping bottom, remembering how to swim…  But I would say the water is fine! The platform on back was out yesterday, today not as it was beach bbq day, tomorrow we’ll check it out. Many have been off snorkeling etc and I have heard no complaints.