Liberty's Memorial Day Review (photo heavy) - Including Extra Days in San Juan!!

[russelldavison]

We have enjoyed your review. I have ne question what time can we drop off our bags? Thanks

[trippingpara]

When we returned back from our awesome SNUBA experience, we checked back with the front desk and our room was now ready. We were on the 8th floor of the Hilton Tower with an oceanview room. As I had mentioned earlier, the property of the Caribe is gorgeous! Lady Trip and Trippette were so impressed with my hotel booking skills, I was being revered as a mighty deity. At least, until we walked into our room.

 

 

 

 

 

Our view from the balcony

 

The famous old Normandie hotel

 

At first glance, the room appeared to be like any other room. It looked comfortable and had all of the amenities that you would expect at a Hilton. However, as you took a closer look, that is when you started to notice a lot. For instance, the carpet. It was so stretched out, there were rolls and snags in the carpet that you had to watch out for or you would trip over them. Every desk had chunks missing out of the veneer. The safe under the TV cabinet was too big and the doors wouldn’t fully close. Of course none of this really affects our stay or our ability to enjoy the room. It was just a bit disappointing after spending several hours enjoying their beautiful outdoor property. The grounds sort of leave you (or at least left us) with the expectation that the beauty would continue into the rooms. The beds were very comfortable and the bathroom was fairly spacious with a very large shower.

 

Now the rest of the hotel was very nice and beautiful. We loved the open air lobby although I wonder what they do when a hurricane or tropical storm hits. There is a ton to do right on sight and it is very close to the main strip in Condado for restaurants and night clubs. Would I stay here again? Probably although I think I would look around for a better price than what we paid for.

 

If you recall from our first day in San Juan, I mentioned that there were two places that claim to be the birthplace of the piña colada? Barrachina's is one. Well, the lobby bar here at the Caribe Hilton, the Beachcomber Bar, now called the Caribar is the other one. Although we didn’t try the piña colada at this actual bar, we did try it at the swim up bar outside. Mistake. Don’t do it. The piña colada at Barrachina’s was absolute heaven on Earth! The swim up bar’s colada tasted like something my local Irish pub would make. Now we love that pub and they can pour you one wicked pissa of a brew but don’t expect a fabulous Caribbean cocktail from them! I have heard that the colada’s at the Caribar are just as good (or close to) the ones made at Barrachina’s. Unfortunately, we cannot verify nor refute this rumor. However, I can definitively crush any rumor that the swim up bar serves them as good as Barrachina’s. I really wish we made time to go back to the Caribar to try it there so we could end this war between these two bars.

 

 

Next up...the jazz festival and a very unfortunately incident.

 

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Edited June 28, 2015 by trippingpara

[trippingpara]

We have enjoyed your review. I have ne question what time can we drop off our bags? Thanks

 

Are you referring to dropping the bags off at the hotel? The porter will accept bags at any time. They operate 24/7.

[trippingpara]

As I was researching what to do in San Juan, I noticed that there is a monthly jazz festival sponsored by Heineken at a park just down the street from the Caribe. Awesome! Once we got into our room, we showered and cleaned up and changed into some comfortable street clothes (we’ve pretty much been living in swim gear for the past week plus!). We strolled out the lobby and headed towards the bridge on Avenida Ashford which is the main strip in Condado. Along the way, we came across the San Gerónimo de Boquerón. It is a small fort like structure on the grounds of the Caribe Hilton. Very cool!

 

 

 

 

Any ways, the jazz festival is held at Parque La Ventana al Mar which is about 6 blocks from the Caribe. It was easy to find. Just look for the hundreds of locals walking with folding chairs and coolers. Follow them.

 

 

 

 

It didn’t take us very long to get there on foot. Which was actually probably the faster way to go. Traffic is very heavy and slow moving through Avenida Ashford due to all of the hotels, restaurants and nightclubs in the area.

 

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[trippingpara]

We followed the crowds and there it was. These jazz festivals are held on the last Sunday of each month. There is a main jazz festival that is held once a year (also sponsored by Heineken) which draws some of the top names in jazz from all over the world. These monthly ones are a bit lower key than their famous annual jazz fest but are just as popular with the locals! Being a drummer, jazz has always intrigued me. Although I primary listen to and play a variety of heavier styles of music, I was heavily influenced by some of the great jazz drummers like Buddy Rich, Elvin Jones and Gene Krupa to name a few. So I always enjoy a nice summer day listening to jazz on the beach.

 

 

 

 

 

This was a perfect setting to listen to some great jazz. A nice urban park right on the beach. The slight scent of salt water filled the air with the gentle onshore breeze as the soft melodic sounds of a clarinet reverberated among the rustling palms. Tranquil, pleasant, relaxing…

 

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[trippingpara]

…until we heard a horn squawking away. We turned to see a police golf cart with its lights going trying to get through the crowd. We didn’t think much of it. A police officer was trying to make his way through the crowd and using his lights and horn to get people’s attention. If he was in a real hurry, it would probably have been easier to just get out and run through the crowd. So it couldn’t have been anything too urgent we thought so we continued walking. We tried to ignore the high-pitched beeping horn and concentrate on the music. Since we didn’t have any chairs and didn’t want to block anybody’s views we kept to the sidewalk that ringed the park. We continued walking around the park enjoying the music when we noticed a commotion on the beach. There seemed to be a large crowd and people were shoving and pushing. A fight I thought. As we got closer it appeared that the pushing and shoving were some guys trying to control a hysterical lady or at least a very upset lady.

 

It was then that the police officer in the honking golf cart finally made it through the crowd. He jumped off the cart and raced up the rocks to climb the sea wall that ringed out into the ocean. I was still thinking a fight as more police officers raced by us. Then a couple of Search and Rescue guys ran by us. Okay, so this isn't a fight. The group that I originally thought was fighting on the beach below the sea wall had dispersed along with the upset lady. A crowd was starting to grow around us now as something was clearly taking place here. Trippette speaks a little bit of Spanish and she caught somebody walking back from the sea wall talking about “it’s only a little boy”. As the police pushed back the growing crowd on the sea wall we could then see a pair of young men feverously conducting CPR on a person. The injured person appeared to be a young man not a little boy but it was hard to see clearly. It was not looking good for the young man. More emergency crews arrived and raced up the rocks to assist. The men continued taking turns trying to revive him. The rumor mill was in full effect among the crowd with the general consensus being a drowning. Apparently this beach has very rough undertows and rip tides and no swimming signs were prominently posted.

 

As time went on it was looking grimmer and grimmer. Trippette was starting to feel very uncomfortable and wanted to leave. It’s amazing how you get stuck in this sick kind of voyeurism and can’t get yourself to break away. Here a young man is fighting for his life and hundreds of us are gawking away. It’s the ugly side of humanity and I’m sad to say that we fell victim to it as well. We finally were able to pull ourselves away and said a quick prayer for the young man. To this day, we don’t know what finally took place that day. We left the jazz festival as watching that event had put a bit of a damper on our collective moods. Shortly after we exited the park we heard the ambulance screaming away with its sirens blaring. We took that as a positive sign that he was still fighting the fight (and hopefully winning). We continued to stroll around trying to get that out of our heads and get back into our vacation mode. We could only keep praying for that young man.

 

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Edited June 28, 2015 by trippingpara

[sachmo9085]

Thank you for writing this review! We will be on the Liberty in October and I love reading reviews as our cruise gets closer and closer. I can never have too much information for my trip binder. Yep. To my husband's dismay, I'm one of those trip-planner-full-of-excel-spreadsheets kind of people =)

[trippingpara]

Thankfully there was plenty of gift shops around that allowed us to slowly start shifting our focus on other things. We were also starting to get very hungry as it was now a little after 6 pm and the last thing we had eaten was breakfast. We finally stopped at a restaurant called the Latin Star. It was okay. The servers were very friendly and pleasant. The menu was huge which can sometimes make it tricky to find just one thing to order. I really don’t even remember what we ordered. It was good but obviously not very memorable!

 

We then headed back to the Caribe Hilton. Of course, we had to stroll around and check out some of the hotel’s beautiful grounds.

 

 

Yep, that's a turkey!

 

A pair of black swans

 

The open air lobby

 

 

 

 

After we strolled around for a while, we headed back up to our room. The lobby was starting to fill up very quickly with guests for a couple of various convention dinners that they were hosting. We chilled in our room for a while and just enjoyed each others company before we called it a night. And that puts an end to a day of highs and lows and everything in-between!

 

Next up...Culebra Island!

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Edited June 28, 2015 by trippingpara

[trippingpara]

Thank you for writing this review! We will be on the Liberty in October and I love reading reviews as our cruise gets closer and closer. I can never have too much information for my trip binder. Yep. To my husband's dismay, I'm one of those trip-planner-full-of-excel-spreadsheets kind of people =)

 

You're very welcome and thank you for reading along. I'm so glad to see that there are others like me out there! I'm not alone!

[trippingpara]

Monday, June 1st – Culebra Island, Puerto Rico

Unfortunately, once again Volbeat’s Sad Man’s Tongue roused us out of bed. It was a very early hour as we had to get over to Isla Grande Airport to catch the first flight over to Culebra Island. Now I kept going back and forth on whether to fly or catch the ferry. Obviously, the ferry was substantially cheaper but also came with its own set of headaches. I chatted with a few people that live in San Juan who take the ferry and they explained some of the difficulty with using the ferry to Culebra. Long lines, sold out tickets, cancelled ferries plus an hour plus long boat ride that is not known for its comfort. Plus we would have had to rent a car which I would have had to take a taxi to the international airport the night before, rent the car, drive back to the hotel, pay for parking there and then get up at zero dark thirty and drive the hour to Fajardo to get the ferry. To do this, we would have had to leave our hotel around 4:30 in the morning. I only needed to mention this little fact once to the ladies and the look on their face told me all I needed to know. I was booking a flight to Culebra!

 

Even with a flight out of the smaller airport right by us in Condado still meant that we needed to get up early. We took our showers and got dressed and headed downstairs to catch a taxi. If you ever do this, just be sure that you say which airport you want to go to. The standard airport that taxis are expecting to go to is the international airport. For this flight, you want to go to the Isla Grande airport. If you’re going on this cruise, it’s the airport that you can clearly see the runways from the ship.

 

It was about 6:30 am when we climbed into the taxi for our drive over to the small regional airport. And a small airport it is! It only serves 2 airlines, Air Flamenco (which we flew) and Air Vieques. Cape Air also flies to Culebra but it only flies out of Luis Munoz Marin International Airport. If you’re afraid of small planes then this little excursion is not for you!

 

Our airplane. A small twin prop that seats 8 – which includes the pilot!

 

 

You know it’s a small plane when this is the view from your seat!

 

Trippette doesn't look too sure of this!

 

Flying over San Juan

 

Luis Munoz Marin International Airport

 

 

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[trippingpara]

 

See that lake in the picture? That's Lagunda Grande - otherwise known as Bio Bay. If you strain hard enough and blow out your eyes, you can see where the river through the mangrove forest enters the lake.

 

 

 

 

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Edited June 28, 2015 by trippingpara

[cinsu]

We were originally planning on renting a car in St Martin but after reading your review I have booked the same excursion from Bernards! Looks like they went everywhere we want to go plus some, its going to cost about the same and I don't have to worry about parking and finding my way around

 

Thank you!

 

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[trippingpara]

Once we landed on Culebra and unfolded ourselves from the airplane we all kissed the ground. Now I’ve flown a lot in small planes, names in Cessna 172s since one of my good friends is a flight instructor. It wasn’t the small plane that bothered us, it was the approach into the airport on Culebra Island. You fly in low between 2 peaks and then kill the power and turn hard to port as the runway starts at the base of one of those peaks. I would have taken plenty of photos to post on here but I was too busy crossing myself and saying a few thousand Hail Marys!! It probably wouldn’t have bothered me at all if I wasn’t watching it from the same view of the pilot. From the side window, everything looked just fine. From the pilots point of view things looked a bit more harrowing! I'm a bit of a control junky. To see things from his point of view but not to have control of the aircraft sent my brain cells into panic mode. Luckily, we hadn't eaten yet. Otherwise I might have pooped in my pants.

 

Any ways, we did land safe and sound and ready to get the day started! We immediately entered the small terminal building and headed straight to the far corner of the building (which was about 20 feet away from the front door!) where the reservation counter for Charlie’s Jeeps was. I had rented a 4x4 since some of the roads are less than smooth and some of the beaches are only accessible from a dirt trail. We did a lot of this on the Big Island of Hawaii and it was an absolute blast so we were hoping to replicate it for Trippette.

 

The lady at the counter was very pleasant and took us outside and told us to pick a jeep, any jeep. Oh no…don’t give these ladies choices!! Especially with colors!! We’ll be here all day! I quickly narrowed the field down by saying we wanted a 4 door version not the 2 door. Lady Trip shot me a dirty look. She was eyeballing the blue one. 2 door. Sorry! That left us a choice between a white one and a yellow one. Trippette immediately shouted out “White!” I looked over at Lady Trip. She just shrugged “ok.” White it is! I did the cursory look around to make sure there was no damage (it was brand new). Finding none, we were ready to go. We piled in and headed out. Leaving the airport, I took a right to go down the road that heads towards Flamenco Beach, our first stop. I only drove about 50 feet before I pulled off to the side of the road.

 

“What’s the matter?” the ladies asked.

 

I pointed towards the ceiling. “Time to take the top off,” was my reply.

 

 

Lady Trip clearly approves of that decision.

 

The ride to Flamenco Beach was fairly uneventful and easy to find. Just drive on the main road until it stops. Get out. Swim. Pretty easy! Let me tell you. If you haven’t seen photos of Flamenco Beach before you arrive here prepare to be stunned! If you have seen photos before you arrive here, prepare to be stunned! This beach is flipping gorgeous!! I see why it is constantly ranked as one of the best beaches in the world.

 

We arrived here early before the ferry even arrived (another reason to fly here) so the beach was practically deserted. Here’s a couple photos just to whet your appetite.

 

 

A beach smiley face...see it? Yes I'm easily amused!

 

 

 

 

The water is just an insane color of blue, the sand is softer than a baby’s bum and the rustling palm trees complete the idyllic postcard views. When you dream of sitting on a Caribbean beach, this is where you’re dreaming about!

 

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[trippingpara]

We were originally planning on renting a car in St Martin but after reading your review I have booked the same excursion from Bernards! Looks like they went everywhere we want to go plus some, its going to cost about the same and I don't have to worry about parking and finding my way around

 

Thank you!

 

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

Cinsu, you are very welcome my friend! We were going to rent a car too but I was afraid of parking as well and I've heard a few horror stories about the French police playing games with tourists in rental cars as well as some of the rental car agencies ripping people off. I know that thousands of people rent cars each year on St. Maarten with no problem but with my luck, that would happen to me so we opted for Bernards. Happy we did! I'm sure you'll be too! Happy cruising!:D

[trippingpara]

One of the things that I was really looking forward to on Flamenco Beach was the old World War II tanks. I’m a complete military history geek. It’s really hard to avoid when you’re a Marine. They pound history into your head during boot camp and you just end up as a military history junkie. Yes, the History Channel competes head to head with the NFL Channel and Lady Trip’s Cooking Channel on a regular basis at home. Any ways, getting back to the tanks. Yes, there are two old WWII era tanks that are still sitting on the beach. One is actually half in the water and the other is sitting nearby up on a small knoll behind a bunch of bushes.

 

Culebra Island and mainly Flamenco Beach was used by the U.S. military during WWII as a training base. The U.S. Navy later used it as a bombing site. The Navy finally left in the 1970s leaving behind a ton of equipment (as only the U.S. military will do!). All of the equipment was cleaned up except for some of the tanks that were just too heavy to be removed. They were left to rot away in the salty sea air. Now of course, the local residents weren’t having it. There was no way that a bunch of rusty metal was going to be sitting around without getting spray painted! There are now two tanks that are brightly painted awaiting your discovery on this tranquil beach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, the tanks were demilitarized so there is nothing in there that can hurt anyone. No working cannons or machine guns, no engines or gas or oil to leak. Just a couple dozen tons of steel. You can climb all over them but be very careful if you are barefoot. There is a lot of sharp rusting metal that can wreak havoc on your vacation if you go and cut yourself on it.

 

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[trippingpara]

Needless to say I was completely geeked out over these. I was running around taking photos of sprockets, turrets, driver compartments, etc. Luckily Trippette had stayed back as she just wanted to lie out and Lady Trip knows what’s going to happen when I get around military equipment, especially from WWII and she handles it like a champ! That woman is far too good to me!

 

We could easily have spent all day here but we rented a Jeep for a reason so after a couple hours of lazy strolls along the beach (yes, hand in hand! She let me play around with tanks, the least I could do was to hold her hand and go for a walk on a gorgeous beach!), it was time to pack it up. The water was actually fairly cold too. Which was very surprising as all of the other beaches were the perfect temperature. It was also pretty choppy which is not the norm here at Flamenco. Hey, you can’t have everything!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So we finally gave in and headed back to our Jeep. Trippette stopped at one of the vendors by the parking lot and grabbed us some waters for the road. We loaded our gear up and headed out. Next stop… Zoni Beach!

 

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[Dirkgun]

Trippingpara; We are Still lovin the review.... a couple of questions though. How much was the Snuba excursion? It looks like a great time. I agree the Caribe Hilton is a great property but as good as the grounds are the rooms are not as nice. Also how much were the flights to Culebra? Looks like a great time over there as well. Looking forward to more.

[trippingpara]

Trippingpara; We are Still lovin the review.... a couple of questions though. How much was the Snuba excursion? It looks like a great time. I agree the Caribe Hilton is a great property but as good as the grounds are the rooms are not as nice. Also how much were the flights to Culebra? Looks like a great time over there as well. Looking forward to more.

 

Dirkgun, thank you for the kind words. The SNUBA with Aqua Adventures was $84.53 total including tax per person payable at the end of dive. The flights to Culebra were $144 round trip per person. A bit pricey but so worth it in the long run. No hassle, depart right from Condado, get to Culebra about 2 hours before the ferry does (if you take the early flight) and you have multiple flight times to choose from. Will definitely do this one again!!

[cessnabmw]

Really nice review!! Thank you for sharing!

[cessnabmw]

We have 3 days in San Juan before we leave for our cruise (returns to Port Canaveral).

 

Would you advise on using the ferry to Culebra? I see that the return tickets are only $4.50.. The flights for 4 would be too much for us. Is it worth a day drip? Or are they any other better options for a day trip?

 

We have been to San Juan last year as a port of call. We did both the forts and Old San Juan.

 

So, were thinking that maybe this time we do the Bio Bay, some beaches and something else.

 

How much was the car rental in Culebra?

 

Thanks!

[MazziB]

Wonderful review. Planning another cruise after the Splindor in September but was not sure where or what ship. I now think I have my answer. Thanks

You have a lovely family. God bless.

[trippingpara]

We have 3 days in San Juan before we leave for our cruise (returns to Port Canaveral).

 

Would you advise on using the ferry to Culebra? I see that the return tickets are only $4.50.. The flights for 4 would be too much for us. Is it worth a day drip? Or are they any other better options for a day trip?

 

We have been to San Juan last year as a port of call. We did both the forts and Old San Juan.

 

So, were thinking that maybe this time we do the Bio Bay, some beaches and something else.

 

How much was the car rental in Culebra?

 

Thanks!

 

Culebra Island is a must hit if you have the time. Its a bit trickier to get to than the other options in Puerto Rico but it is worth it. The beaches are to die for and the entire vibe of the island is just different. If you think Puerto Rico has a laid back Caribbean attitude, wait to you get to Culebra. They make mainland Puerto Rican islanders look like New Yorkers!

 

If you can get to Fajardo to pick up the ferry, then by all means do so! Culebra is an awesome place to go to and is certainly worth a day trip (there's a reason this place is one of the top weekend destinations for locals!). We opted for the flight to Culebra solely because we couldn't get the logistics for the ferry to work out for us. If we could have, we would have taken the ferry instead and saved ourselves a lot of money.

 

Some other great options are the beaches of Isla Verde, Bio Bay (Fajardo), El Yunque Rainforest, Cumay Caves and the Arecibo Observatory. Those are all within easy driving distance from San Juan. Many can be reached without a rental car by doing excursions that include transportation - most can provide this. Don't forget the Bacardi Rum tour in San Juan as well plus some of the fabulous restaurants in Old San Juan. Whatever you elect to do, I'm sure you'll have a great time. You're in Puerto Rico, how can you possibly not have a great time?!

 

The Jeep rental in Culebra was $48 for the day. We were quoted $60 but they only charged us $48 so I'm not arguing with them. It was basically a day rental. Just return the Jeep with the same amount of gas that you left with. You can also rent golf carts too which will work for the majority of the island. If you want to explore, get the Jeep. If you're going to stick with the main roads, get the golf cart. Happy cruising!:D

[gominnesotawild]

Awesome trip review!! I've scoping out cruises for this winter and the one I am looking at goes to some of the same parts (St. Kitts, St. Maarten, and San Juan). It was great to see your pictures! I'm super excited to get something booked and have a countdown. :)

[glentally]

I was expecting to go down a couple flights of stairs with plenty of time to put my “purchase” into my backpack. Plus the security guys put an orange zip tie on my wife’s backpack because they thought her bottle of port wine was hard liquor (I joked about how the bottle looked more like a whiskey bottle than a wine bottle – guess the security guys agreed with me!). Just as we were about to turn and cross the last few feet onto the ship itself, I hurriedly shoved my “purchase” into my backpack and grabbed the handle of my wife’s backpack and carried it onboard covering the zip tie. There was no way that the Carnival security guard did not see me (I was about 12 feet away standing next to a floor to ceiling glass wall in direct view of him). I thought for sure he was going to point me to the desk next to him to turn in my “purchase” and my wine that looks like a whiskey bottle. Nope, he just smiled and welcomed me aboard.

 

 

so in San Juan, you go through security and metal detectors, then walk thru the shopping and then board the ship?

[trippingpara]

Wonderful review. Planning another cruise after the Splindor in September but was not sure where or what ship. I now think I have my answer. Thanks

You have a lovely family. God bless.

 

Thank you so much for the very kind words. I hope you do decide to take this cruise. You will not be disappointed!!