Mitsugirlys FASCINATION with San Juan-review & pictorial

[CAC104]

How hot was it when you were in Puerto Rico? My husband is a golf pro and we were there many times in Dec. and Jan. and it was hot then. I think most of the places you were at were pretty empty because it is really off season in Aug. It is pretty crowded from Jan - March., and the border months are Nov-2nd week of Dec. and April-May.

[mitsugirly]

There was an area off to the opposite side of the outside bar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It led out to this little courtyard looking place with this HUGE tree

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

 

 

This tree was massive. I just couldn't get over how big it was and all of the vines hanging from it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

Waterfalls...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

These little things were laying all over the place. They fell from the trees and they were really pretty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So that ends my tour of the hotel. Although it's under renovation, it was still very pretty and still had a lot of public areas open.

[fivemonkeysplus1]

Loving this! This is going to be our next cruise...after we do my graduation cruise on the Breeze next summer with the whole family!

[mitsugirly]

Up to our room we went. We were located on the 4th floor.

 

 

 

 

The room actually felt really huge. It was a little dated though, but for the most part nice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

When we checked in, they gave us a gift bag that had bottled water and cookie/chips in it. I thought that a nice little added touch. Even up until the last day they were doing nice things for the guests.

 

 

 

This safe is the exact same safe they use on NCL ships. LOL So, Sakari knew how to work it and she put some of our things in there and locked it and I took a big deep breath, after my initial gasp, and slowly ask her if she knew how to work it and if she remembered what code she put in. (While I'm completely freaking out at the time). She said "Sure I know how to work it. I locked it. I know the code to it because it's the same code I use for the cash register in daddy's shop." LOL Well, alrighty then little girl.

 

 

 

 

Do you notice anything about the refrigerator? Well I didn't, even at the time I took the picture. I would later notice though.

 

 

 

 

 

Our room didn't have a balcony. But it did have a door that did open...to a fence.

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Now let's talk bathroom talk. Normally most hotels have the bathroom right when you come in the door right? Not this one. It was all the way at the other end of the room across from the bed. It felt odd and took me a minute to get use to walking that way to the restroom.

 

 

 

 

 

Super nice shower with a 1/2 glass wall.

 

 

 

 

 

The toilet is as soon as you walk into the room. Notice the placement.

 

 

 

Notice how close to the toilet the door comes?

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Almost hitting the toilet paper holder

 

 

 

It was the weirdest thing ever. Think about it. You walk into the restroom and you can't shut the door. Why? Because there's no place to stand to be out of the way for the door. So, your options are to straddle the toilet and try to get the door shut. Or, walk all the way in, to the right over by the shower, pull the door away from the wall and push from behind to close, then back over to the toilet. It was just super weird. They should have put the door on the other side and had it swing the other way...therefore, walking into the bathroom and being able to shut the door. It was just odd.

 

 

This was my view from the room. Just the top of one of the buildings below and the parking garage lot.

 

 

 

Yes, my door opened...

 

 

 

The people one floor down from us actually got a balcony with furniture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once we turned the a/c up to make it comfortable in there, notice the windows? It was so hot outside that the windows were fogging.

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

When I had opened up the door to take pictures of outside, everything started to fog. This is the window above the computer desk in the bedroom area

 

 

 

Sakari and I headed to the shower to get cleaned up before heading out to explore a little. I turned the shower on and started undoing our tangled salt and sand watered messy hair. We waited, and waited, and waited, and the water was not getting warm...at all. Sigh. I thought I was going to have to call someone. I threw a towel around me and headed out to gripe at the hubby about it.

 

Meanwhile, the hubby was trying to get the t.v. to work...

 

 

 

I went back in and still not hot water. I told Sakari we were gonna have to rough it and pretend we were just at the beach getting into the water. She commented that the beach water is not this cold. She had a point, but I preparing her for Alaskan snorkeling (now that I know about it)...and I just didn't know that this was the test at that time.

 

As we were showering and washing our hair, the water started getting warmer...and warmer...then scalding hot. Ouch! It took at least a solid 10 minutes (this is not an exaggeration either) to get any hot water to come out of it, but we were glad it was no longer cold.

 

After our shower, the hubby took his shower, with my hot water already warmed up for him, and then we all headed out to walk around and see if we could find some place cheap to eat. I believed we had passed a McD's on the way in and that was where we were going to attempt to walk to.

 

We headed out and down the street on foot. It was maybe 2-3 blocks down the road. So, easy to get to. We ordered using hand signals and gestures and received our food. (Just kidding, there was someone there that spoke English).

 

After eating we walked back toward the hotel and decided to head down a dead end street that led to the beach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Usually we say she's our little Mexican girl. But now, she is our little Puerto Rican girl. That girl tans so easy and so fast.

 

 

 

It was still pretty hot outside, but tolerable now that the sun was going down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notice the waves are a little rougher here than at Luquillo.

 

 

Edited September 4, 2016 by mitsugirly

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The beach was really nice, but we had just taken our showers and I really didn't want to deal with salt and sand again so soon. As much as Sakari tried to talk me into it, I did not budge on my answer. I promised she could go to the pool instead.

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

We made it back to the hotel and took a look around at the different shops. There really wasn't anything there that I wanted and the only shop that had items I might be interested in, the lady there started following us around like a hawk. It was weird and it made me uncomfortable. She was standing right over us, staring at every move we made. She didn't even care that she was so obvious either. There's a few things about me that will ALWAYS make you lose a sale. Follow me around the store like I'm trying to steal something from you or try super hard to push an item on me...BOOM, you've lost a sale with me. I walked out and we headed back to the room.

 

Sakari was changing to get on her bathing suit and the hubby was trying to get the laptop connected to the internet. I called twice, getting instructions and verifying with no luck. It would not connect.

 

 

It worked on my phone, just not the computer.

 

I also told them about the t.v. not working the first time I called. They said they would send maintenance up. We waited for awhile and no one came. When I called the second time about verifying the way to get onto the internet, I once again mentioned that no one had come to the room yet to fix the t.v.

 

Immediately someone was at the door. They fixed the t.v. and I had discovered that the ceiling fan didn't work either. He messed with it for awhile, took the electrical outlet out of the wall and all. I told him I didn't need him to do all that if it didn't work. I just thought I was doing something wrong. We had tried flipping several switches on the wall, which also had a dimmer and this other small adjustment button, along with the switches, plus the pull string on the light/fan. I guess it wasn't me doing something wrong and it just didn't work. I told him not to worry about it. I just wanted him to show me how to work it, but it's actually broke.

 

By this time, I grabbed a can out of the refrigerator and noticed it was still very hot. I felt inside the refrigerator and it was not cold at all. So, he might as well fix that too? He plugged it in. (Geesh). In my defense, I did notice that the outlet where you plug it in had been pushed into the wall and was hanging there. So, I probably wouldn't have felt comfortable doing that anyhow. He did make the comment that sometimes the cleaning staff will unplug them after cleaning a room. Um....why? People are going to want it cold for when they check in. Why do this? (Although I do realize that they are closing the next day, so it's totally understandable if that was the reason they were doing it). They will start to mold and stink if you just unplug them for awhile. Not a smart move.

 

 

[mairinmaureen]

I thought these little baskets were neat. It had a handle and some wheels on it. I didn't have to carry anything. Why don't our Walgreens have this at home???

 

 

I text Kendra this picture and she did say she's been to a Walgreens that had that before, but don't recall where. They should ALL have them.

We have those here in Cleveland too. Tell the Walgreens in C-bus to get their butts in gear and get you some rolling baskets. :D

Edited September 4, 2016 by mairinmaureen

[mitsugirly]

We headed down to the pool area and the human/mermaid morph began instantly.

 

 

 

We hung out for a little while and the sun was going down. I snuck off to the beach area to see if I could get any good sunset pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

I spoke to the security guard for awhile and then headed back in.

 

The hubby had a drink waiting for me when I returned. (You get a free drink with your stay). I think there's a halo around my hand. These pictures are horrid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

OH OH OH...I almost forgot. When we were at El Conquistador, if you wasn't in the water, you felt like you were getting ate up. I was constantly swatting and rubbing my legs and arms. (I guess the sand fleas or no-see-ums). I seemed to be the only one that felt it.

 

Well, here around the pool, I also felt them and the security guard assured that's what they were. He did carry some deep woods off and sprayed it on me. He said that would help. I did ask him about the mosquito's here and the whole Zika virus. He said they normally don't have any issues in that area because of the water and beach. He said more inland you would find the mosquito's.

 

I had also spoke with our tour guide from the bio bay about this and he said he was reading reports in the newspapers and hearing it on the news that they were reporting 1 out of every 5 people were getting bit by these and half of the people in PR was infected with Zika and he said it's all being blown out of proportion. So, who knows.

 

After a few hours of Sakari swimming, I was totally ready to call it a night. We headed back up to the room, running into the same lady security guard inside and we joked about "remember me??" She was very nice and friendly.

 

We got the munchkin dressed and we headed back out to take another walk and find some "snacks".

 

On our way out, I stopped at Starbucks to see if there was anything good. I settled on something that was supposed to be a "favorite" there in PR (at least it said so), and it was some type of pastry with cream cheese inside. He warmed it up, but I don't think that it worked out too well. It was blocks of cheese inside and not all of it was warm or melted and yet I don't think you could have warmed it much longer without the outside of the bread getting hard. It was ok. Definitely not a favorite of mine for sure and not something I would probably get again.

 

 

 

We decided to stop at the Market Place. From the road, it looked like a small diner and people were watching the Olympics on t.v. and it was packed. In the back, it was like a grocery store.

 

 

 

We really didn't feel like having dinner and just wanted something to take back to the room and snack on tonight.

 

The hubby ended up with some chips and I decided that this meat, cracker and cheese tray would suit my fancy.

 

 

 

We headed back to the room and watched a little t.v. while we snacked before bed.

 

I spoke with Kendra a few times while I went over everything I could with her and double checking that she wasn't forgetting any important papers or documents. As much as she travels, you would think that she would have a passport already. But, she still uses her birth certificate...which she's always losing or misplacing. I made sure to calculate her time she needed to leave the house to get to the airport, check in and be on her plane. I repeated how the following day was going to go, her plane switch, and where we would meet her at. I feel like she's still my little girl and I need to be there, at the airport, to direct her, to keep her safe, to keep her from getting lost. Sigh, my little girl is growing up (she'll be 28 in 13 days :eek:). This will be her second flight without me there to help her. (Well maybe the third if you count her very first flight where she made us ALL miss the plane and we had to split up. Next was when she added herself to our Pride cruise, late, and couldn't come home until a day after us due to no flights by the time she booked...and now this time).

 

She informed me that her and her finance were at some boxing match and that she probably wouldn't get home from there until about 2am. :eek: Yep, she wasn't about to get any sleep tonight. Then the mystery still remained on WHO was taking her to the airport. Either her finance, who was out with her that night and having a "few" drinks...or his sister, who lives on the opposite side of town and has 6 kids of her own plus Kendra's little one that night.

 

I told her I would probably be asleep in the morning but to text me when she made it to the airport and I would get the message once I got up and not worry about her.

 

We said our good nights and off to bed I went.

[mitsugirly]

Gaga ball. When we went camping last month in Gatlinburg, the campsite had a gaga ball pit. It was always crowded. My seven year old granddaughter spent hours in the pit. Or just outside the pit, since she was usually one of the first eliminated. It's sorta like dodge ball. Only with a lot more rules. I couldn't understand all of them.

 

Oh neat. Do you throw the ball or kick it? There wasn't anyone playing it the day we were there. It was just too darn hot.

 

How hot was it when you were in Puerto Rico? My husband is a golf pro and we were there many times in Dec. and Jan. and it was hot then. I think most of the places you were at were pretty empty because it is really off season in Aug. It is pretty crowded from Jan - March., and the border months are Nov-2nd week of Dec. and April-May.

 

It was SUPER hot. I didn't think to look at the forecast, but I can tell you the day we stayed in OSJ it was 101 degrees!!!

[mitsugirly]

Loving this! This is going to be our next cruise...after we do my graduation cruise on the Breeze next summer with the whole family!

 

Oh nice. We loved the Breeze. One of my favorite ships to date!

 

 

We have those here in Cleveland too. Tell the Walgreens in C-bus to get their butts in gear and get you some rolling baskets. :D

 

 

Yea really. We sure could use them. They are nice.

[mitsugirly]

That would never work for Kim & family because there aren't any beaches! I have been on the Alaska cruises twice and it definitely is not a good cruise for someone who likes to swim and go to the beach:D

 

You know me all too well. :D I may surprise you though. We'll have to see.

 

I also want to add that on the two cruises I did on the inside passage I saw absolutely NO animals in the wild. We did see a few whales, but everything is really touristy in the ports. You would have to take the one way cruise with the land option that goes to Denali Park to see any of the wildlife and that is rather pricey.

 

 

Oh gosh. That doesn't sound good. I will have to see if I can find the review on here that I read several years back. It was full of animals and what they did. I was the first time I had really felt like "Hey, I wanna do that!"

 

On another note, I also want to go during the Northern Lights. With my luck, it would be a total bust like the bio bay was. :( :o

[Briitini]

*chants* More more more [emoji4] love it

 

 

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[mitsugirly]

*chants* More more more [emoji4] love it

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

Coming right up. :D

[mitsugirly]

DAY 4...IT'S SHIP DAY!!!

 

Kendra text me, as I had requested, around 5 something-too-early AM. I must have not been sleeping too well because I instantly woke up with the sound of the vibe of my phone.

 

She let me know that she was at the airport and was waiting to get on the plane for the first flight, which would be about 1 hour long.

 

This would be the picture I got with her message...they had 2 hours of sleep and were delirious at this point.

 

 

 

I would continue to toss and turn and not really get much sleep after this worrying about her catching the next flight. We all know nothing ever goes as planned with Kendra involved.

 

By the next hour, I would get another text that they had landed and were switching planes. I decided to just go ahead and get up.

 

We continued to text back and forth and I strolled around the hotel.

 

The pool guy was already out and cleaning the pool. It made me wonder why though if today was the day they were closing down the hotel.

 

 

 

I headed out to the beach and they were already setting out the beach chairs. They didn't have any out the day before. I'm not sure why.

 

 

 

 

 

Hmmm...

 

 

 

As I was looking down at my phone, not paying attention to my surroundings, I felt like someone was pulling a sheet over my head. I caught something out of the "top" of my eyes and it looked like this....

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

I gasp! What the heck!!!

 

I picked up the camera and started snapping pictures. I don't think I have ever seen anything like this.

 

 

 

It was evil looking

 

 

 

I was showing Kendra

 

 

 

It was just so weird looking and I really didn't know what to expect.