The Ritz-Carlton San Juan Hotel Spa And Casino Carolina

... views of cascading falls framed with tropical foliage, beautiful sunsets, turquoise waters and beautiful beaches with white sand. But most of all, cruising the Caribbean Sea and enjoying the nice weather. Each day has been a new adventure onboard the Caribbean Princess as well as on land.

Each island visited had its own identity. Aruba, for it emerald green divi-divi trees, Bonaire, for it colourful rainbows, Grenada, for ...

... coastal properties- there was no view. Whoever is in the fence or iron business is having a good life. The last tourist stop was the gated city of Old San Juan. Neither of us even knew it existed so it was a real unexpected gem. It is on a tiny peninsula surrounded by the Caribbean's largest port and natural harbour. This small old centre has cobblestoned streets, buildings that have freshly painted pastel colours with wooden or iron terraces on the upper floors, some nice plazas, many ...

... an opportunity to get to know him as a Puerto Rican citizen. I enjoyed his charisma, energy and enthusiasm for his country and his self education. He never went to collage but was very educated just by reading books and talking to people. He spoke wonderful english making me think he had formal training but he didn't. I was also proud of myself for being brave enough to talk to him when I saw his tattoo.

... going to eat at on our first night in Old San Juan, Tio Danny's. It took us a little time, and a lot of sweat, but we finally found it on Calle Fortaleza. The restaurant has Mexican and Puerto Rican food. We ordered nachos and a mixed appetizer plate (surtido) with corn sticks, croquettes, plantain fritters, and cassava fritters. It was VERY good. The kids were still hungry, so they had refried beans and tortillas and ...

Wow, this is the first of hopefully many Trvellogues!! Puerto rico was a blast! Day one was simple enough. We traveled all day and then enjoyed some bread with  the groom's mom, (The food was eaten and that was the best dern bread ive ever had.) Day two we had great weather. The rest of the family finaly arrived, making the wedding party to be something around 70 peeps. I cooked a load of eggs with the Mom of the bride while the dad of the bride gave me a hard ...

... the cab. We had been so nervous about getting to the mainland on time, that we could do nothing but laugh. It was so absurd, and just our luck. After about 40 minutes, with the help of a large local who resembled Notorious B.I.G. and seemed to be an expert in unlocking car doors, the van was opened and we were on our way. Luckily Alex had thought to call the ship to warn them of our mishaps so that they might be easier on us. We got on ...

... We drove by the old fort and strolled up Calle Fontaleza, stopping in at a Spanish coffee shop for paella and Chilean wine. There is a great tourist taxi service for $19 to the Old San Juan from the airport, easily identified in orange shirts. For return services, the company has a stand at Plaza de Christophe Colombus at the end of ...

... to restart my gym visits, which I regrettably put on hold while at port and then headed to Global Studies, which was basically a mini lesson on Anthropology today, very reminiscent of my Cultural Anthropology class at Ithaca, but it was still interesting. Sam (the professor) was talking about being a geographer, and how they study people and how the people interact and affect their environment, which I found amusing because that is what my major is basically, so I guess in a ...

... Azalea brought Heidi, Cat, and I to El Yunque, and the biolumenecent bay, which was AMAZING! As we were floating in the bay, everyone looked up and saw a shooting star... perfect moment. The following day Titi dropped me off at the ship, and I ended going out to eat w/ a bunch of SASers to Spanglish in Old San Juan and then went bar hopping which was fun. The boat left around 1030 last night.

... trying to communicated with tres limited Spanish and all the Caribbean English that is confusing to even most non-Caribbean English speakers. Finally got a cabbie that understood our destination. $40USD later, we had driven through quaint towns and scattered high risers, a blend of Puerto Rico that I had not expected. What I did expect were all the beautiful churches en route and plenty silence from the cabbie who ...