Jewel of the Seas Nov 1st Trip Report

Hi Everyone,

We are recently off the Jewel of the Seas Nov 1st sailing and thought it would be fun to write a semi detailed trip report as it was a truly excellent time. We also spent 4 nights pre-cruise at the new Ritz Carlton Reserve Dorado Beach which is about 15 miles west of San Juan so I’ll write about that too since I haven’t seen anyone report on that property yet and it may help others who are contemplating staying there.

This was definitely a long awaited trip and I almost had to cancel it a few times because my mother who I was caring for took a turn for the worse about six weeks prior to our leaving and ended up passing away the week before. Looking back it was a blessing as she really suffered badly the last few years of her life, but it was hard to look at it that way while it was all happening. We had the funeral on Monday and then a 6:00AM flight from NY to San Juan on Tuesday morning, so the first few days were a bit surreal for me but also a much needed escape.

I didn’t get too many photos because I kept forgetting to take them, but I’ll include what I have and also what my friend Elise sent me from her Iphone. This is only the second time I have written one of these so please take it easy on me if I don’t do a great job.

Neda

My sympathies go out to you and your family. My mother also got sick and passed away just before a long-planned cruise. I am glad that you continued with your plans. We are sailing on the Jewel this week so I may miss your review. Hope you had a wonderful time.

Day 1-Tuesday October 28th-Puerto Rico

This trip, I was traveling with my sister in law Mary and her sister Elaine both of whom I have traveled with many times before. Mary was right there with me in caring for my mother the last few weeks so she needed this as badly as I did. Elaine was originally going to also cruise with us, but had to cancel a few weeks before. My friend Elise would be joining us on Friday evening for the cruise and Elaine would fly back home Saturday afternoon so it all worked out in the end.

We had a 3:00AM pick up Tuesday morning for our 6:00AM flight out of JFK. Our driver was on time and we arrived in San Juan as scheduled a little before 10:00AM. I was going back and forth whether to rent a car or let the hotel send one over to pick us up, but decided to go ahead and rent. We ended up with a huge minivan that felt like driving a small bus, but I had been there many times before and knew the way so we managed ok.

Soon enough we were on our way to the new Ritz Carlton Reserve Dorado Beach which is one of two Ritz reserve properties in the world (they are in the process of building two more). I was so excited about staying at this hotel even more so than going on the cruise. Before it was a Ritz, it was a Hyatt and one of my favorite spots in the world. I used to visit several times a year with both friends and family and it always felt like home to me. There were actually two Hyatt hotels in Dorado at one time with distinctly different characteristics, but equally beautiful. We used to take the hotel shuttle back and forth between the two, but the Dorado Beach property was always our favorite place to stay so I was very curious to see the changes.

I was broken hearted when the second hotel closed back in 2006 and religiously scoured the travel news to see if someone would reopen it. I remember how happy I was when the Ritz purchased it and followed the construction blog through the whole process anxiously waiting for them to open back up. In summer of 2012 they started taking reservations for their December opening, but as soon as I saw the prices I knew that it would be a while before I could visit since it was a small fortune to stay in even the cheapest room. They finally started offering low season promotions and while it was a bit of a splurge, we were able to get a decent price for our four night stay.

We took the shortcut on highway 165 up the coast and within 45 minutes which included a quick stop at the supermarket to pick up some cheese and crackers were pulling into the main gate. After a bit of a drive through the lushly landscaped grounds we finally arrived at the arrival pavilion and were greeted by several staff members welcoming us with delicious ice pops and cold bottled water.

Below are some photos, we didn't get too many of the front of the hotel so I copied a few from the hotel website (I hope it is ok to that).

View of the front of the arrival pavilion (taken from the hotel website).

More arrival pavilion (Elises IPhone)

View to beach from check in desk (hotel photo)

Our ambassador Michael took us over to the check in counter while the others took care of the luggage. Since our room wasn’t ready yet, Michael took us for a quick tour of some of the grounds (we were too tired to get the full tour) and left us at the Positivo Sandbar restaurant located near one of the pools for lunch where we sat at tables with our feet in the sand until the rooms were ready. We all ordered the mahi sandwich with fresh fruit and pinacoladas, some of the fruit wasn’t ripe but the sandwiches were excellent and the fish very fresh.

Photo of Positivo Sandbar Restaurant taken from hotel website

Day 1 Continued..

Just as we were finishing up lunch, Michael showed up and told us our room was ready. He escorted us to our room which was called a ground floor plunge reserve located directly on the west beach. There are two main beaches on this resort, east and west. The west beach is the calm swimmable one and more centrally located and the east is on the rocky unswimmable beach, but offers more privacy.

When we got to the room we were floored. I had seen pictures, but they really didn’t do justice as to how beautiful everything was. Everything was quality and no expense was spared even down to the light switches. Our room had a king bed which Elaine and Mary shared and best of all a private plunge pool right on our patio. Below are some photos I took of the room, please excuse the mess as I didn’t take them until the 3rd or 4th day of our stay.

Below are photos of view from the beach looking to the room.

View from the room to the beach-Every morning they would come and put covers and towels on the chairs in front of our room. They would also set up chairs and umbrellas on the beach across from our room for us and bring buckets of ice with bottled water throughout the day.

Partial photo of bedroom-

Photo of bathroom, the shower through the glass is outdoor and there is also an indoor one to the left of the tub that can't be seen in this photo.

My sympathies go out to you and your family. My mother also got sick and passed away just before a long-planned cruise. I am glad that you continued with your plans. We are sailing on the Jewel this week so I may miss your review. Hope you had a wonderful time.

You will have a great time on this ship! The crew is excellent and the sea views everywhere are beautiful. Have a great trip!

Neda

Day 1 Continued....

Our luggage was already in the room waiting for us when we entered so once Michael left, we quickly changed into our swimsuits and hit the beach for a while. It was high tide and there was some weather out to sea that made the water a bit rougher than usual, but because of the stone breakwaters that Rockefeller had put in when he owned the property it was still very swimmable and calm enough.

View of the beach looking left from the area in front of our room-

Left view of the beach from further down on the right side-This was the roughest water day.

After going back and forth from the beach to the plunge pool for a while we got dressed and make a run to the Walgreens to pick up some last minute items which was about a 5 minute ride away. Valet parking was included for free with the crazy resort fee they charged, however we felt obligated (but definitely not pressured) to tip $3 each time we picked up and dropped off the car so it added up pretty quickly.

Our vacation tradition when traveling together is to have our wine and cheese hour together around 5:00pm before dinner each evening and tonight was no exception although it was a little late. It was really nice sitting out on the patio listening to the ocean and sipping some of the special wine I packed for the trip. Our intention was to have dinner at the hotel that evening, but between the fruit, wine, cheese and crackers we weren't too hungry and while that wouldn't normally stop us, our exhaustion did. We thought of ordering some snacks from room service, but not one of us felt like picking up the phone and ordering and besides that the menu was pretty limited, though I am sure they would of made us whatever we wanted had we asked.

After a quick evening stroll along the beach, I couldn't do much more and tried to fall asleep.

Your Hotel looks fantastic, but slightly out of my price range for my January Cruise on Jewel;)

Your Hotel looks fantastic, but slightly out of my price range for my January Cruise on Jewel;)

I feel you on that one!! I am the queen of getting a five or six star experience for a four star price, but I wouldn't even think about trying to book there from Nov 15 through May (although they might start offering something for May if they don't book up). I am in the middle of penning a letter to the general manager to let him know that if he has a lull during the season, we would be willing to come back in at the last minute for the same rate we paid in October. I doubt it will work, but I figure why not put it out there just in case.

They have a two week cancellation policy and when I thought I might have to cancel because of my mother, I called to see if they would let me rebook if it went past that as I didn't want to lose my three night deposit. I was told that they would allow it to be extended for six months which is great, but the problem is that my three night deposit wouldn't even cover one night in high season. They then agreed to let me extend for a year which was really nice of them.

I'm looking to get away in March and found a house for rent on-site that sleeps 10 for $355 night and includes a golf cart to ride around the resort (they have residences in the gated community around the hotel that have access to the facilities). It's not too posh unlike the houses right around it and not right on the beach, but the whole area is stunning and the price is right so I may try it out. It's either that or a spot I found in St Croix right on the beach which is really reasonable, but also a little more rustic than I am used to though nice enough.

If you have already done the forts and San Juan city stuff and want to get out the area, Dorado is a really nice town. The Embassy Suites is very reasonable and a great place to stay if you are just looking for beach time.

Have a great time on the Jewel in January!

Neda

Day 2-Wednesday October 29th –Puerto Rico

Well my plan to get a good night’s sleep didn’t look like it was going to happen at first. I had been fighting a bad case of bronchitis for over 5 weeks and for some reason trying to sleep in the room that night really aggravated it. I took pity on Mary and Elaine and went outside on the lounger with some pillows and bedding and oh my gosh, had the best night’s sleep ever! It was heaven, I put the outside ceiling fan on to control the mosquitoes, turned on the pool light and between the sounds of the ocean and the more humid air I fell right out.

Me sleeping on my bed outside

Morning came soon enough and we were pretty hungry. There is only one place to get breakfast here and that is at their flagship restaurant Mi Casa owned by chef Jose Andres. Thankfully I did my research before booking and while I don’t usually use a travel agent (I can usually do better by calling the manager directly), I found that if you use a virtuoso agent for this property there are some additional benefits included that normally wouldn’t be. The benefits include a free room upgrade (we ended up getting a double upgrade), welcome amenity which was just a plate of fruit so no big deal, a onetime $150 resort credit (which basically covered lunch for the three of us and two rounds of drinks) and a free full American breakfast for two daily.

The free breakfast saved us a lot of money because it was $42 per person not including tax or tip. Since there were 3 of us, I would just order something small (aka cheap) a la carte off the menu and Mary would grab some extra items off the cold buffet to share with me (the hot items like eggs/omelets etc were made to order and included in the package as well). The continental buffet was pretty expansive and excellent quality though it didn’t change much from day to day, however there was plenty to choose from. I fell in love with the mini waffles which were made to order, they were the best waffles I have ever had and I think I ordered them 3 out of the 4 days we stayed there. The wait staff was wonderful and by the second day, knew our names and preferences; it really was a great way to start each day!

Part of the continental buffet (there was a lot more on the other side that we didn't get a photo of)

Plate of cold buffet stuff-They had this iberico ham imported from Spain that was out of this world.

The best most lightest waffles ever (all I ever get at home is eggo so I'm not an expert, but these were good)

Where we sat and ate breakfast everyday (photo taken from hotel website)

Looking forward to your review. So sorry for your recent loss. Thank you for taking the time to write this review. All the best to you and your family.

Don

Looking forward to your review. So sorry for your recent loss. Thank you for taking the time to write this review. All the best to you and your family.

 

Don

Thanks for the well wishes Don! It truly was a blessing for her though as she was in a lot of pain for a long time. This trip definitely was needed after watching her go through it all though.

Neda

Day 2- Continued

I forgot to mention in my other post about my one small issue with this hotel. While the breakfast was truly world class, the fresh fruit with the exception of the berries was not ripe or sweet at all. I can’t believe that a resort on a tropical island loaded with beautiful local fruit doesn’t source locally. The bananas, pineapple and even mangos were all imported in. We had the same issue on the cruise, but the cruiseline has to source for over 2,000 people while there are only 100 rooms at this resort so they really have no excuse. I truly don’t understand it. It’s not too big of a deal and certainly did not negatively impact my vacation in any way, but by day 3, I felt compelled to go out to a local fruit vendor and pick some up.

Anyway after breakfast the weeks of being emotionally and physically drained finally hit me. I think for the six weeks prior to the trip I only averaged about 3 hours of sleep per night. Mary and Elaine went to the beach and I crashed on my awesome outdoor bed for at least three hours.

I finally woke up and joined them on the beach for a while and then decided to have a drink and a swim in the positivo pool.

The beach in front of our room was really nice and calm today

When we moved over to the beach in front of the pool to have our drinks the staff quickly set up new chairs for us.

Photos of the pool-It had an infinity edge looking out to sea, but I don't have any pics of that section. Water temp was perfect not too warm or cool.

After a few hours of this we decided to go back to the room, where I actually fell asleep for another two hours or so. I woke up to a knock on the door from a staff member delivering a really nice bottle of champagne to us covered in shaved ice from the hotel as a thank you for staying there (I was really starting to like this place more and more). At that point we decided to have dinner in town and hit the small casino that I heard opened up there about two years ago (there used to be one at the Hyatt, but it closed once the hotel was sold).

We decided to eat a small local place a few minutes down the road called La Terraza that we used to frequent quite often when we stayed up this way. They specialize in fresh fish and have nice tables outside on a terrace with lots of foliage that creates a very laid back atmosphere. That nights special was grouper and it was excellent and reasonably priced too!

I inquired about the casino during dinner and was told that it closed down about a month ago. I couldn't believe it because I remember them trying to get a license for years and it didn't make sense to just shut their doors so soon after going through all that trouble. It seems there is a real problem with illegal casinos that are actually storefronts with unlicensed slot machines in Puerto Rico. Due to the fact that they don't have the expense and regulations that the licensed casinos do, they can pay out at a much higher rate and have therefore basically taken most of the local business. I remember reading a recent article stating that this is the number one reason that long established casinos all over the island were shutting down as they just can't compete. Whatever the reason, this was a huge disappointment as I heard that some of the old dealers from the Hyatt were working there and I was truly looking forward to playing with them once again. I really didn't feel like driving to San Juan to gamble as it was getting late so we called it a night and drove back "home".

I'm sorry for your loss, Neda. You truly did deserve this vacation and wonderful resort experience. I'm sure your Mom would agree!!

My goodness..it's a beautiful resort...I'm so happy your are posting pictures. I would never have believed it. I've never stayed at a resort, and if I can sell my kidney, I might stay at this one...(just kidding of course...about the kidney :p)

Looking forward to more, pictures and description!! Keep up the great work.

Joyce :D

I'm really sorry for your loss Neda. Thanks for sharing your vacation with us, the Ritz Carlton Reserve Dorado Beach is a beautiful hotel. Looking forward to the rest of your review. :)

I'm really sorry for your loss also.

Sharing your pre cruise and cruise with us is so kind of you. I have to say, I am in love already with the hotel you stayed at.

Thank you for taking the time to do this. The photos you took are amazing.

I'm sorry for your loss, Neda. You truly did deserve this vacation and wonderful resort experience. I'm sure your Mom would agree!!

 

My goodness..it's a beautiful resort...I'm so happy your are posting pictures. I would never have believed it. I've never stayed at a resort, and if I can sell my kidney, I might stay at this one...(just kidding of course...about the kidney :p)

 

Looking forward to more, pictures and description!! Keep up the great work.

 

Joyce :D

Thanks Joyce-what any of us deserves is debatable but this trip was definitely needed for sure! The resort is truly beautiful and the service was even more amazing. If you get a chance to stay here, definitely do it. I'll be putting some tips in at the end of the review on how to get a stay here at a more reasonable price (and you'll get to keep your kidney too!).

Neda

I'm really sorry for your loss Neda. Thanks for sharing your vacation with us, the Ritz Carlton Reserve Dorado Beach is a beautiful hotel. Looking forward to the rest of your review. :)

Hi,

Thanks for the kind wishes! I've always loved this place even when it was the Hyatt (in fact I think I even like it better then). The whole area around it is just stunning, I wish I took more photos, but we were too busy enjoying everything to think about it.

Neda

Thank you for sharing your vacation with us.

Once we got back to the hotel, we sat out on our patio for a while debating whether or not to open up the champagne they kindly sent us, but decided against it. I was on mission to see if I could hear the chupacabra while sleeping outside, but all I could hear was the ocean and the little coqui frogs singing in the trees which lulled me right to sleep.

Day 3-Thursday October 30th-Puerto Rico

Upon waking up in the morning I noticed several bumps all up and down my arm and realized that I was definitely keeping the mosquito population at Dorado beach very well fed. When I ran into the general manager later, I joked with him that with the prices they charge here, they should at least have re-engineered the mosquitoes to be able to suck fat instead of blood. He said he would look into to it so maybe we'll have something to look forward to for next time!

After we got back from another amazing breakfast, I tried to get on-line and found that the built in mouse pad on my laptop stopped working and I didn't have a mouse with me to test if an external one would work or not. This was not good as I have to go online for business at least twice a day and if I didn't get it sorted out in Puerto Rico, it definitely wasn't going to happen on a cruise ship. I called the number to the ambassador line and asked if they could point me to a nearby computer repair shop, instead they offered to have someone from IT come around and look at it. They said they wouldn't be in until around 1PM, but that was OK, we wanted to hang at the hotel until 3 and then go into Old San Juan to walk around a bit and have dinner so the timing worked out OK.

We decided to try the other side of the beach near the encanto pool today. There are two main pools at the resort, the encanto and positivo. The positivo pool is only open to people staying at the hotel so it is considered the quieter of the two, though both were super quiet the week we were there. The encanto pool is open both hotel guests and also what they call residents who are people that have homes in the gated community around the hotel with membership privileges and also people that purchased or are renting the new residences they built right on site directly on the beach. The beach on that side is very shallow and calm, as the rocks go higher up offshore. I didn't get any photos of the beach on that side though you can see it in some of the pics I posted above, we did get some of the pool in that area.

Encanto Pool View from Beach

Today we had lunch at the club restaurant overlooking the beach and the pool. We ordered blackened fish tacos, chips with salsa & guacamole and a crab sandwich and shared everything between the three of us. Food was a little better on this side and for that day the drinks were a lot better, not that the others were bad though. Mary & Elaine ordered mudslides and I got a pinacolada with half rum (I still get buzzed after drinking half of that).

View of pool from the restaurant (taken from hotel site).

View of restaurant from the pool with Mary and Elaine being the only customers for the moment.

View of beach from the restaurant-they were setting up on the beach for a wedding that day, we looked inside the building near the pavilion and the tables were really set up beautifully. Who ever was getting married there was going to have an unbelievable wedding!

By now it was about 12:30, so we headed back to the room to relax a bit and get ready to go into San Juan. We wanted to be on the road by 3:00-3:30 or so to avoid rush hour traffic. I also had to get my laptop straightened out. I figured worst case, my brother could send another one down with Elise the next day as she was flying in to meet us for the cruise, but really wanted to avoid that as the last thing I needed was an extra five pounds added to my suitcases going home.

I called the desk back at about 1:15 and they informed me IT was on the way. Long story short, two hours and three phone calls later there was still no IT. I think there was some kind of confusion/miscommunication happening between them, myself and the ambassadors. At this point all I needed to do was quickly test a mouse for a minute or two to see if that would fix the problem or not so I grabbed my laptop and started walking towards the check in desk. On the way, I encountered a woman by the name of Rosalie who worked there and after explaining my issue she personally walked me to the desk, grabbed a mouse, tested it (it worked!) and escorted me back. I tried to give her $20 but she refused it as she was a manager and not able to accept tips (it turns out she was the director of HR). We had a really nice conversation together for a few minutes before we said our goodbyes, she really was very nice.

By now it was past 4:00 and we were definitely running late so we quickly went to the valet, grabbed the car (aka giant school bus) and started heading towards OSJ. Even though it was rush hour, traffic in Dorado wasn't too bad and the coastal road down 165 usually doesn't get much traffic (I heard the locals are afraid to drive on it for some reason) so we were making good time. That was until I made the wrong turn and got stuck in the traffic jam from hell! What normally is a 20-30 minute ride depending on traffic ended up taking us over an hour and a half.

Our plan for San Juan was to shop around a bit and find a place to have dinner and my other secret plan was to talk Mary and Elaine into going to the casino afterwards. I really wanted to buy my nieces some gold jewelry and based on past experience OSJ was the best place to do it (that and the fact that it would be smarter to do it now before the ship casino got all my money). Most stores were closed but some were still open, we ended up walking around for about an hour without a single purchase between us and decided at that point to find a spot for dinner. We had no particular place in mind to eat which is unusual for us, so we just started looking around for something that looked good. We ended up at a place called Raices that serves authentic Puerto Rican food. It was really a fun place with good food and atmosphere. The waitstaff had traditional costumes, drinks were served in metalic silver mugs and the food came out quickly and hot. I don't remember the prices, but I think it was less than $100 including tip for the three of us, so very reasonable. Below are some screenshots I took of the menu if anyone is interested (we didn't get any photos at all of OSJ).

Screenshots of menu from the restaurant website:

By now it was definitely getting late so we started heading towards the car and once there were greeting by two police officers kindly giving us a $15 parking ticket. We parked over by the cruise dock near a whole bunch of other cars parked there (a NCL ship was in port at the time), we didn't see any no parking signs so figured it was OK to park. Apparently you cant park anywhere where the curb is painted yellow, so anyone else driving into OSJ may want to keep this in mind.

On the way home it started to pour so hard, I couldn't see two inches in front of me. Cars were still speeding like crazy so we stopped in a Walgreens parking lot to see if it would calm down bit. After about a half hour we gave up and tried to continue on. Let me say, that was one of the most harrowing drives I have ever done. We went up the coastal road again and the lightening was crashing down around us everywhere while I was trying to figure out where the road ended and the ocean began. It had to be the longest drive of our lives. Once we arrived back at the hotel, I really had to resist the urge to kiss the ground as we were already feeling like the Clampetts of the Ritz Carlton and didn't want to add anymore fuel to the fire.

Upon returning to our room I was both surprised and touched to find a gift bag with a really nice note from Rosalie apologizing for the mix up with the mouse earlier that day. Inside the bag was a new wireless mouse and a beautiful mouse pad. I really couldn't believe it, as I wasn't even upset and truly wasn't looking for anything as it wasn't a big deal at all. I immediately sent an email to George Sotelo who is the general manager there to let him know how pleased we were with everything and to tell him what Rosalie did for us (hopefully she will get some recognition).

It was still pouring and my outdoor bed was too wet to sleep on so I had to rough it on the sofa bed that evening (I'm sure the mosquitoes were just as disappointed as I was).

I'm really sorry for your loss also.

 

Sharing your pre cruise and cruise with us is so kind of you. I have to say, I am in love already with the hotel you stayed at.

Thanks! I really loved this place too. I wasn't sure how much info to share since this is a cruise board, but figured it may help someone who is planning on staying here pre or post cruise.

Neda

Thank you for sharing your vacation with us.

Thanks! I'm really enjoying writing this.

Day 4-Friday October 31-Puerto Rico

I woke up very excited today as I had an awesome day planned out! I forgot to mention that the evening before we had received an invitation to a paella tasting reception given by Jose Andreas who would be hosting it on Friday evening. I called for info and found out it was free of charge! We were so looking forward to this as we knew he was coming in on Saturday to kick off the winter menu (we had an invitation to that as well) and had to pass because we would be on the cruise ship at that point, so this was a great surprise.

One of the cool things that the Ritz has on-site is an Ambassadors of the Environment program which is housed in its own building on the east beach. The programs were developed by Jacques Cousteau's son, Jean Michel Cousteau and features guided tours of the reefs and eco systems at the resort given by naturalists who usually have degrees in marine biology. I signed up for this the day before to go alone as Mary & Elaine had big plans lounging around going back and forth between the ocean and the pools and didn't feel like doing anything too strenuous.

My snorkel session was at 9:30AM so right after breakfast a golf cart was waiting to take me over the "center" where I met Chanel who was taking me out that day. Since no one else signed up, it was just her and I which was fine with me. We spent a lot of time talking and wow, what an interesting and pleasant young woman she was, I found out later from someone else that she was Miss Scuba USA. She will only be there until January and then will be finishing her teaching degree (she already has a marine biology degree). I'm sure she has a bright future ahead of her, as the contacts she made while working here will definitely come in handy one day.

After a brief slide show detailing the life on the local reef, we hopped in her golf cart and headed over to Brenas beach which is directly adjacent to the old Hyatt Cerromar beach resort. The resort was closed back in 2003 and still sits empty today. JW Marriot has purchased the property and is supposed to begin construction in 2015 for a 2016 opening, time will tell though if this actually happens or not (we have heard this all before for the last 10 years). In all my years coming to this part of the island, I had never been on this beach so I was pleasantly surprised to find somewhere new to go snorkeling so close by. According to Chanel, this area has the healthiest elk horn coral population in the area and I had no reason to doubt her.

I had brought my underwater camera with me intending to get some underwater shots, but was concerned about keeping up with her so I elected to leave it on the beach. In hindsight, it would of been fine and I regret not getting at least a few shots of what we saw. We spent about an hour and a half in the water and saw lots of life, Chanel was great at pointing out things I would of otherwise missed had I been alone. The most interest thing we saw was a very large lion fish over by what they have now dubbed "lion fish rock", I've seen them before, but never one even close to being this large. I later asked her if she would call someone to remove it as they are an invasive species and she said it wasn't necessary because the locals know where to look and they would find it on their own within a week or two. She also said that it was the first one she saw in the last few months so they must be doing their job.

After we got out we headed back to the hotel where we said our goodbyes. It was definitely a great morning.

Below are some of the shots I got of the beach we snorkeled off of:

We started off snorkeling by the rock wall and going out to the right where you can see the waves breaking in the distance.

Close up view of where we entered the water:

View of the other side of the beach-they have rental houses all along it:

Below is a link to a video that Chanel took while snorkeling off this beach if anyone is interested. It is a promo video, but shows really clearly some of what we saw.

The Ambassador center also takes non hotel guests out so if anyone is looking for something cool to do while in San Juan for the day, this is a great option. The link below is a really good article I found that describes the whole program in detail.

http://www.puertoricodaytrips.com/ritz-ambassador-environment/

Enjoying your report and awesome photo's.