Victory Review 12/16/2012 w/lots of pics

[Dirkgun]

The cell where they held a captain, waiting for his execution and he had drawn what they assume is a picture of his ship on the wall. Then a pic of the cell area.... imagine tight spaces and hot and humid with no air really... not a nice place to be (prison I mean).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A fresh water well out in the middle of the court yard of the fort....^

 

 

 

Cannon balls............^..v

 

 

 

 

DW and DS in a sentry turret.......^

[Dirkgun]

Here are just some more pics of the forts......

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the look outs they used in WWII......^

 

 

 

Looking up one of the entrances to San Cristobal.....^

[Dirkgun]

[ibcnusoon]

 

The waves were really pounding this day.... washing the sand up and over the road so this tractor had to keep cleaning it of the road.

 

 

When we stopped in St. Maarten on the Victory, we spent the day at Maho Beach. My teen iDD said that St. Maarten was her favorite island just because of the beach. When we were there the waves were not nearly as large as what you experienced, it's amazing how the water came up that far to the road and deposited all that sand!

 

So, when I was planning an upcoming land vacation for her Spring Break in March, I asked where she want to go. Her response, St. Maarten! Unfortunately the airfare is very high so I told her she'll have to wait until we cruise there again someday.

 

Love St. Maarten, would have like to have walked around Marigot and the French side, but I'll do that when and if we ever do go back, but we definately want to plan on land vacation there someday, too.

[gapearl]

At Maho I had my DSLR camera out and had watched a few smaller planes come in. They are cool but the Big Show is the big boys the bigger jets. When one came in for a landing I got over close to the path of the Runway to get some multi frame shots (action photos) Today I had my Bahamas hat on to keep the sun off my bald dome. When this plane came in I was taking shots but when it got past me it blew my hat off my head and down into the waves about 35 yards away. You can see in my pictures.... click, click, click... then I move the camera to find my hat, see that it is too late and go back to shooting. A nice guy that was down in the water brought it back to me. It was funny though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hat blows off.....

 

Oh well what ya gonna do......back to shooting.

 

 

 

All the same sequence of shots....

 

The bigger the plane, the closer they land by the end of the runway (they need as much room as possible) so the little inter island planes are a lot higher when they come over the beach to land than the big jets. Same goes for take offs...next up some shots of a big plane taking off.

 

I hope to get those same pictures when I get to St. Maarten in a few weeks.

 

Great review!

[Dirkgun]

I hope to get those same pictures when I get to St. Maarten in a few weeks.

 

Great review!

 

 

I am sure you will get some good ones..... I am jealous. I wish I was going back there soon.:cool:

[Dirkgun]

When we stopped in St. Maarten on the Victory, we spent the day at Maho Beach. My teen iDD said that St. Maarten was her favorite island just because of the beach. When we were there the waves were not nearly as large as what you experienced, it's amazing how the water came up that far to the road and deposited all that sand!

 

So, when I was planning an upcoming land vacation for her Spring Break in March, I asked where she want to go. Her response, St. Maarten! Unfortunately the airfare is very high so I told her she'll have to wait until we cruise there again someday.

 

Love St. Maarten, would have like to have walked around Marigot and the French side, but I'll do that when and if we ever do go back, but we definately want to plan on land vacation there someday, too.

 

 

Yeah I have seen pictures of the beach at Maho when the water was just smooth and people were just hangin' with their drinks and watching planes from the water.... this day there were some people having fun in the water but it wa not even close to tranquil. Still a great time though. Good luck on going back there someday. :D

[Windinmahair]

Hello Dirkgun, You take beautiful photos! Your review has increased my excitement to see the islands you and your family enjoyed. My husband and I cruise on the Valor this December. You've inspired me to use Priceline for our hotel post cruise. I went to betterbidding.com as you suggested. I even stumbled across your posts. Nice winning bid, I hope I do as well. :)

[Dirkgun]

Hello Dirkgun, You take beautiful photos! Your review has increased my excitement to see the islands you and your family enjoyed. My husband and I cruise on the Valor this December. You've inspired me to use Priceline for our hotel post cruise. I went to betterbidding.com as you suggested. I even stumbled across your posts. Nice winning bid, I hope I do as well. :)

 

 

You will love that cruise.:D Thank you for the nice comments. Yeah I used priceline the last two times for Puerto Rico and they both turned out really well. It really help if you understand the zones and rebidding so make sure you read the rebidding FAQ's it makes it less random where you end up. Good luck.

[Dirkgun]

After walking around the forts we took a cab back to the hotel around 5:30 pm and relaxed in the rooms until about 7:30 then we went and rode the public bus ($0.50 a person) into Old Town again (partly for the trip and partly to hang with the locals) We walked around and since our DD and SIL had not been here when we had the Tripleta sandwiches we had to share them. We had a fun night walking around watching the locals… they are such a fun group of people. There are those that think they are loud (they are) but it is a happy loud not an angry one Lol. They are always in for a party. We were there pretty late so we decided to just take a cab back to the hotel ($16). Long day… we really slept well tonight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The signs that tells you what street you are on....^

 

 

 

 

 

 

The birthplace of the Pina Colada. Unfortunately they had closed when we got there......^

 

 

 

More Old San Juan lit up with decorations and lights....very pretty

 

 

The Victory getting ready to sail away without us

[Dirkgun]

Mon Dec 24th; Christmas Eve: Today we slept in for a bit then I got up and went to get our rental car. I called Enterprise and they came and picked me up (very convenient) and we received the exact same van as we had before our cruise which is great because it was pretty nice. Once I got back, my party animal (full of surprises) wife gave all of our rooms (4) a little Christmas Tree (she had packed them along with mini decorations and lights all the way from our home in Ogden Utah) She wanted us to have Christmas Trees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the tree ceremony….we loaded up and went into Old town again to hit a few stores and to get some breakfast. We found the Caféteria Mallorcas and got some rolls with powdered sugar on them…. They were good but not like the real thing. They were from the right place but when I went inside and asked if they had Mallorcas the lady just said yes and pointed to the front window where they had some rolls with sugar on them… they were busy and I got a little rushed and did not verify the ingredients. Lol.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now just a little back story, the day we got on the Ship My awesome wife gave everyone an envelope with some money in it and then had everyone draw a name out of an envelope. The rules she gave us were that we had to spend this amount of money on the person they drew out. It could be one big thing or things on each island. So we all were kind of being attentive to the people we were with and seeing what they liked. So since it was Christmas eve some of us had some ideas to fill and wanted to make sure the stores were open that is why we needed to go into Old San Juan to shop.

 

Headed to El Yunque next....

[Dirkgun]

After we were done shopping we wanted to get some lunch, so we stopped at the Sizzler on the way out of town. It is actually one of the best sizzlers I have eaten at. When we were done eating we headed to El Yunque, the only actual Rain Forest under the US National Forest system. We got there in the early afternoon. I had asked the guy at the gate and he told us they left the park open until 6:00 pm so we went in the visitor’s center and walked around for a while. Then we got back in the van and drove up to Yokahu Tower. Unfortunately they had closed the tower’s staircase at 4:30 so we could hike up to the top. It is a great view up there (we did it the last time there). We walked around a few features, a pond and then drove down to a waterfall. One of the things in Puerto Rico that is really distinct and cool is the Coqui Frogs. They have a very distinctive call they make (where the name comes from) and at night you can really hear all the nature noises in the Rain Forest (Read Jungle) We stopped the car and turned everything off to just listen to the noise… very cool. Our drive back to the hotel was only broken up by a stop at a Wal-Mart on the way. We were planning a picnic the next day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the plants there are amazing it almost looks like a firework.....^

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dirkgun]

More pics of plants and things in El Yunque.......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

El Yunque is a beautiful place.... one of our national treasures for sure.

[Dirkgun]

Tues Dec 25th; Christmas Day: Ho Ho Ho Today , being Christmas Day we planned on just taking it easy…. We slept in and when we woke up had a surprise from Santa’s helper in the form of a stocking for everyone, so we called and had a rendezvous in our room and let everyone open their socks. When we got ready for the day we drove into the parking lot under the great lawn at El Morro to have a picnic and do our gift exchange. It was a beautiful day and we were enjoying being there together. It was fun to watch all the little Puerto Rican kids and families come and fly kites, ride new bikes or just play around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were having the picnic here and also doing our gift exchange, which turned out great....everyone put some thought into their gifts and it really made it special.

 

 

 

My cute DD got me some of the oranges I like so much from the guy in San Juan (yum). Everyone got some fun stuff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 7, 2013 by Dirkgun

[Dirkgun]

We then just walked around the walls and cemetery a bit taking pictures and enjoying the scene. On the way out of the park we stopped at a little ice cream/fruit sorbet vendor, they were like $3 each and very good.

 

More pics from Christmas Day.......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our attempt at a human kite.....^

 

 

 

 

The guy selling the frozen fruit juices.....^ and us eating them. They are delicious....v

 

 

Edited February 7, 2013 by Dirkgun

[Dirkgun]

Once we got back to Caribe Hilton we just relaxed the rest of the day, utilizing the pool and the facilities on their property. It was a very nice day. Now… having never really travelled over Christmas before, I am going to say it was very fun but I think I would rather stay home for Christmas Day (it is a be home kind of a holiday to me). Some of us watched the games on TV some just played in the pools and took it easy. It was a very relaxing day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shenanigans in the pool.... everyone having fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

These birds are in a big cage in the open air lobby of the Caribe Hilton.

[Dirkgun]

Wed Dec 26th: Today we were going to go to Camuy Caves in west central Puerto Rico. First we have to change hotels….. When we booked our hotels we were planning on coming home on the 26th (today) but when it came to booking airline tickets it was almost $75 cheaper PP to fly out on Thursday instead, so we had to reserve one more night. The Caribe Hilton was full so we ended up just across the lagoon to the east at the Conrad Condado Plaza Hotel (also a Hilton property) for $95 per room. Let me say that we were a little concerned because we did not know what it would be like but it was a great place. We actually got to peak at it before our cruise since the Enterprise car rental location we were using is in the same building (pretty convenient). Anyways my son and I took our luggage over to the Conrad in the morning and they were able to give us 2 of our rooms. We put all of our luggage in the rooms and went back to the Caribe to pick everyone else up for our trip to Camuy. It was about an hour drive to get there, but very pretty countryside to see. Once we got there it was a little confusing…. There was a line of people waiting or really just milling around. It seems when some of them came they told them they did not need to wait in line, just wait until their number (you get a number for all the people in your car when you come in the gate) gets called then just buy a ticket and get on the tram. When it got busy they changed it to need to stand in line to buy your tickets first then still wait for your number to be called…. Long story short…. It is better to get there as early as possible to buy your tickets. Also as a side note… we had read that there was a nice gift shop and you could walk around the grounds while waiting and there was a lot to see. The gift shop and cafeteria were closed and the word was they had just changed management/ownership so there might have been some confusion that way. I hope they got that fixed by now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Price list of the tour of the cave.....^

 

 

 

 

DW had to kiss the Coqui Frog statue there.... Lol

 

 

 

The line up of people after we were in side the building already.... hint: they only sell a certain number of tickets each day so if they give you ticket numbers at the front gate as you drive in they will let you buy tickets and tour the cave.

 

 

 

Us waiting to get on the next tram......^ then riding the tram....v

 

 

[Dirkgun]

Once you get your ticket and get called for the tram, you wait for the next tram to come and while waiting you get a player and headphones (English, Spanish and not sure of other languages) to hear the guided tour portion of the ride. You ride the tram/train down to the entrance to the cave and then walk through it. It is a cool ride on the tram with lots of vegetation to see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pictures of the actual cave to come......

[Dirkgun]

The upside down tree.....

 

 

Stalactites in the opening....v

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 8, 2013 by Dirkgun

[Dirkgun]

 

Listening to our headphones and looking at the features of the cave.......^

 

 

 

 

 

Where there had been a cave in to help locate the cave lots of years ago.....^

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dirkgun]

After we got done in the cave and turned our audio equipment in, we headed back to the car and went to find something to eat because we were all starving….. One of the bad things about not being on a cruise ship anymore Lol. We found a little pizza place up the road a bit. They were very good and quite fast. We ate and then got on the road for the drive back to San Juan. It was a very pleasant drive. Actually the more I drive there the more it seems like driving any other place in the world…. You have some crazy drivers in and around the big cities and then in the less congested areas things are much more subdued.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After we got back to San Juan around 8:00 pm.... some of us chose to just hang out in the rooms and pack for leaving the next day. The rest of us figured we could rest later and we wanted to go in to Old San Juan again. We went and walked to the western end of the city and they were using one of the old buildings as a back drop for a musical and light show display (think Disney light shows) where they showed kind of like a movie of sorts... really mostly just a bunch colors and designs. It was very cool though. I think they did the show every hour after dark.

 

 

 

Out on the balcony of the rooms at the Conrad Condado, overlooking the Lagoon.....^

 

 

 

 

[Dirkgun]

When we got done in town we came back to the hotel and went and looked around the grounds. It really is a very nice place. I think it would have been almost as enjoyable as the Caribe Hilton, but since we only had one night there.... kind of hard to tell. They do have a Denny's in the lower level of the tower we were staying in, also that is the same tower as the casino etc.

 

 

 

Chandelier in the lobby hanging down over the escalators.....^

 

 

 

A night time picture of the swimming pool area.....^

 

 

Enjoying the night air out by the pounding waving on the coast....^

 

 

 

I have my toe nails painted also but you cant see them through my flourescent shoes.....^ Lol

 

 

 

Room with two queens....^

 

They were nice rooms our only complaint here is the floors are tile so they can be slick and you feel all the sand or dirt you track in. Other than that very nice.

 

 

 

Room with 1 king .....^

 

Tomorrow is back to reality................bummer.

[doxie2cruise]

How far out did you book flights and hotels? You said something about price---- and know how to understand where hotels were located to get good rooms. Please help we understand as we will be doing this for Christmas this year. I'm doing the booking instead of TA this time. Thanks

[Dirkgun]

How far out did you book flights and hotels? You said something about price---- and know how to understand where hotels were located to get good rooms. Please help we understand as we will be doing this for Christmas this year. I'm doing the booking instead of TA this time. Thanks

 

We booked hotels about 4 months out. Flights we booked about 5 weeks out.... we were watching prices all along and the lowest they went for our itinerary was in the 4-6 week window before departure. Different airports have different patterns. As far as hotels go... it is kind of a longer story with knowing how to bid and which zones.... if you can go to a site called better bidding dot com you can kind of read on how to do it. Or send me an email to league30refs@hotmail.com and remind me what you are asking. It is not real complicated but takes a while to explain. Good luck and enjoy your cruise.:D

[BedBugs]

Thank you for the review, I really love your pictures. Thanks for sharing. :)