Explorer of the Seas 4/11-20 Review

[ontheopenseas]

Thank you woof22 for your nice comment, I'm glad someone was reading this stuff! I hope you have a great time aboard the Explorer. Are you doing the 9 night too? We loved having the 2 sea days out and back with a ton of port fun squeezed in the middle!

[woof22]

Are you doing the 9 night too? We loved having the 2 sea days out and back with a ton of port fun squeezed in the middle!

 

Yes, we're on a 9 day but it is a different itinerary. We go sea day, Bermuda, sea day, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, Puerto Rico, sea day, sea day.

[ontheopenseas]

wwof22, that sounds like a great itinerary! Have fun! Now onto...

 

Trip Report Part V- Labadee: Zipline, Snorkeling, Swimming and a BBQ

 

Our first port day was scheduled in Labadee. The tenders were to run from 8-3:30. DD, DS, my SIL and myself had booked the zipline excursion well in advance of our trip. DH’s intention was to relax reading his Microsoft.NET Framework 2.0-Application Development Foundation book (sounds like a real page turner, doesn’t it?). Our excursion tickets stated that we should be on the tender by 9:00. Our plan was to arrive earlier.

 

We left our room by 8:10 and headed off to the Promenade to grab a Danish (except for sugarless DS of course, I don’t know how he does it!) and some fruit. We went down to wait to the tender (make sure you have your seapass card and cash for tips and souvenirs). It is a very organized process, just be certain you go down on the right part of the ship (for this, the gangways were located on Deck 1 midship and forward). Although it didn’t take too long to get on the tender, we did have to wait until it was filled to capacity before we could take off. Luckily we were on the lower covered level out of the hot sun waiting. It is hot here and the sun is intense- Don't forget to keep applying that sunscreen!!! Well, so much for our plan of heading over early, our tender departed at 8:58! Keep this in mind if you have an excursion scheduled! Getting from point A to point B can be a lenghty process!

 

Labadee was so beautiful! We had a brief but pretty ride over to the dock. There are lots of signs pointing to the different beaches. There was a gentleman on a tram that we asked directions to Dragon’s Breath Beach. He told us to hop aboard and he would take us. After a short ride, we hopped off and tipped him a couple of dollars. We had decided on Dragon’s Breath so that DH could relax here until we went down the zipline and then he could take our pictures (that was the plan anyway). This beach was basically deserted. Probably due to the fact that it was a little out of the way and although still lovely, there were many other beaches that were even more beautiful. And of course, this beach now has a view of a giant cable suspended through the sky, which naturally takes away from that Robinson Crusoe feeling. After reading a lot about tipping people who get chairs for you, we did not see anyone in sight. Fortunately, there were quite a few chairs set up under some nice shady trees. There is a restroom nearby as well as one of the BBQ locations and the Dragon’s Rock Café. SIL and I took a walk first to the restroom (which was very clean by the way), then over to Hideaway Beach. This was absolutely breathtaking. There are hammocks here and some shade umbrellas. Even though it wasn’t quite 9:30, all the shady areas were full and it was pretty crowded here. You get a wonderful view of the Explorer anchored off in the distance from here.

 

Around 9:30 we headed over to the Dragon’s Rock Café where, for the second time during the trip, I signed my life away and then did the same with my children’s. There is a nice cool stone building where you can wait inside and where the training takes place. We had a wonderful, energetic instructor. She clearly and humorously described the plight we were about to undertake. She also encouraged us to bring a camera so DS ran back to grab a camera Of course the boy who loves to run complained about having to run for me). Since DH was supposed to be taking our picture and I was a little leery of bringing our digital camera, I had him grab a water camera. She also told us that sunglasses were ok and no one had lost theirs yet. We were all suited up with our harnesses. There is a clip on the harness that you can attach you cap to. I had a sunhat, so I shoved it in my shirt which made me puffy but worked out fine. Now we were off to the practice zipline. make sure that you were comfortable walking shoes (it wasn't a far walk though but a little bit rocky). Once again the instructor gave us nice clear instructions. The practice run caused me some trouble, mostly of my own making. I had the water camera strapped around my wrist which I suspected would be a problem. Well, as I smacked into the end of the course, it smacked into my head. I didn’t end up with a bump, but it hurt for a while. Also, we went down three at a time. Well the other two participants were given little step ladders to walk down off of. The guy helping me told me I had to do a pull up. Huh? Did he take a look at my spindly, practically muscle free arms? I’ve already told you the trouble I had climbing the rock wall and that was with the use of my not so spindly legs, I wasn’t sure I had a pull up in me. I tried and thought I had succeeded but he told me I had to pull harder. Good grief, this was probably the least pleasant part of the whole excursion for me. The guy wasn’t terrible friendly to put it nicely (actually besides the guy who drove our bus back to the terminal at the end of our vacation, the guys here were the only unfriendly staff people we encountered the whole trip) and my arms hurt by the end of this short ordeal. From here we were loaded up into three jeeps. My kids filled the last seats in the first one and headed off without me, yikes! As we went to get into ours, I guess I wasn’t paying too much attention and whacked my head into the bar that I didn’t see at the top of the jeep (you've been warned, even though I suspect most people are a little less clutzy than I am). Things weren’t off to a great start but everything would improve from here on out.

 

Although the kids had taken off in front of us, once everyone finished the practice ride, all three jeeps formed a line to head up the mountain. This was a lot of fun. We raced through the chain linked fence with the many warnings telling us NOT to exit through the chain link fence and proceeded to bounce up the mountain. If you are prone to motion sickness, you might want to avoid doing this. I am, but the ride was pretty short and I made out ok (maybe banging my head twice helped somehow:o). It was great to get a close up view of the mountainside as we traveled up. At the top of the mountain were five or six armed guards (one not exactly guarding since he was fast asleep) at the base of the zipline platform. All of us ascended the platform, some with more trepidation than others. The view from the top was absolutely breathtaking and worth the $80 (or in our case, the $240). After the head clunking camera incident, I had already decided that I wouldn’t take any pictures on my ride down. However, I did take quite a few from the platform. Since it was only a disposable water camera, I hope they come out. It’s definitely worth lugging your camera to get these shots. Our guide provided a little more instruction and then divided us into groups by weight. She did try to keep parties together the best that she could. Our party was split into two groups. The wind conditions, the line you’re assigned to, and your weight determine the body position you are to travel down the line in. Some were instructed to change their position when they reached the halfway point. Since I had read ahead of time that the heavier you are, the faster you go, I was afraid that I wouldn’t go fast enough to make it fun. I weigh about 125 lbs. (a little less before the cruise, a little more after;)). Although the pull up was the most trying part of the excursion for me, walking out onto a tiny little plank and entrusting my life to another decidedly unfriendly gentleman was the scariest part for me. I figured if this man determined that he didn’t like me for some reason or if he had something else on his mind at the moment, my harness might not get secured properly and that would be the end. Honestly, this was the only time that I felt truly frightened and I’m pretty wimpy. Anyway, I hoisted my camera strap to the top of my shoulder and away I went. The ride was fun but actually it seemed to go by so quickly that I can hardly remember it. I do remember the impact at the end though. I was coming in pretty fast and of course after all that great instruction forgot that “doing the starfish” a little earlier to slow me down would have lessened my blow. I crashed into the end of the course and my legs flew up over my head. Although my DS was kind enough to tell me that I looked ridiculous, it didn’t hurt at all and luckily I didn’t spring back over the water far enough to have to get pulled back in! Also luckily, DH didn’t manage to get a picture of this! I guess I didn't have to worry about whether I would go fast enough. All four of us really enjoyed our ride. Over many months of anticipation, I must say that I had built the danger and excitement factor up in my head. Although I was glad that I didn’t experience the drop stomach feeling of a roller coaster, I was a bit let down by the fact that it wasn’t a bit more exhilarating (just a bit mind you;) ). Although were supposedly going 40 to 50 miles an hour for about 2600 feet, 500 feet above the ocean, it was a steady enjoyable ride (honest!).

 

Unfortunately, DH didn’t have as much fun as we did. He said he was so busy watching for us to come down, he said he couldn’t really relax. He even said that he wished he had joined us. I do too, even though I know he wouldn’t have liked the jeep ride. He hates the jeep part of the Animal Kingdom ride at WDW. After all of his watching and not reading, he still managed to miss getting a shot of his sister as she plunged down over the ocean. Oh well!

 

Since we hadn’t received the teen compass, the kids had no idea what was going on for them in Labadee. Luckily, one of their friends was on our excursion and she had the schedule. This of course meant that we would hardly see them for the rest of the day. The volleyball court was right near Dragon’s Breath Beach and they had a game scheduled there. Oddly, someone took my daughter’s flip flops while she was playing. I guess his or her feet must have been really hot.

 

While they went to play, we enjoyed the barbeque. It wasn’t the best food ever, but it was pretty decent. There were hamburgs, hot dogs, ribs, chicken (actually I’m not sure about this), salads, fruit and desserts (including the coveted coconut ranger cookies!). There was free ice tea and punch (it was pretty awful) but no lemonade available. I didn’t see it, but DH found out that you could also ask for water that they had in big jugs. It was nice and cold.

 

After this we walked around a little and swam and played a bit at the different beaches. Of all our stops, the water here was the warmest. After we located the kids again, we told them that we were going snorkeling. They spent the rest of the day with their friends and tendered back on their own (if you think this was irresponsible parenting, wait until you hear about St. Thomas:eek:. I think it’s possible to have a bit of brain freeze on vacation not only for teenagers but for adults too, and this from a parent whose children constantly assure me is the most overprotective parent on the face of this earth:rolleyes:).

 

Anyway, we went over to Barefoot Beach to snorkel. There was a nice couple there who watched our stuff for us while we were all in the water. We had fun snorkeling since the water was so nice but we didn’t see a lot of fish. There were some by the rocks and we were happy just to see anything. I read something about a submarine or something like that in the water where you can see a lot of fish, but we missed that.

 

After grabbing a Labadoozie, SIL and I headed off to the market. I really didn’t like the sales tactics at all. If I hadn’t been so harassed I probably would have found something to buy, but it was impossible to browse with people constantly pushing things in your face. SIL did buy a couple of things but it was an annoying ordeal which included them shoving a bracelet on her arm and then telling her to pay for it. For all their harassment, I had to feel a bit sorry for them because they had to deal with DD:p!!!! She had us in stitches as she was telling us how she kept bargaining until she got them to agree to the prices she wanted to pay. She thought it was great fun; and here I was worried about her when she asked for shopping money!

 

We lined up for the tender I think around 2:30 or so. It was a long line but there was a band playing (for tips, which I donated to) and lots of people to watch so the wait wasn’t too bad. Although I was apprehensive about leaving without knowing if the kids were still out and about in Haiti, my worries were without merit, they were already back in the stateroom when we arrived!

 

We all loved our day in Labadee!!!!!

[ontheopenseas]

I just reread my post, sorry about the many typos. I also noticed some things that I forgot.

 

One important thing that I didn't mention is that our zipline excursion was scheduled for 10:00, in case anyone is trying to figure out how to time their excursion. It lasted about an hour and a half I think. DH said it seemed like four hours while he was waiting for us!

 

Also, I want to make clear that unlike on NCL, you do not have to pick up a timed tender ticket of ahead of time. You just go down whenever you are ready to and get in line. I liked this system much better!

 

As far as snorkeling, we brought our own stuff. DH and I purchased our own gear a few years ago from Sam's Club. It's Body Glove and I love it. This is the first mask that I've had that fits my big round head properly! We bought the kids' gear from Sam's also for this trip. Also, when I heard that RCCL charges to rent vests (DCL and NCL didn't at least the last time we traveled with them) I decided it would be worth it to buy our own since we'd also be snorkeling in other ports. We bought these- http://www.snorkel-mart.com/detail.cfm?ProductID=34&AllocatedProductID=127 . It was a good deal for DH and I but not so much for DS and DD. The vests worked great and were easy to inflate and deflate. DD decided she didn't want to snorkel at all because she didn't want any fish near her:confused: and DS, who loves to snorkel, decided not to snorkel at all during vacation because... well who knows why:rolleyes:! It worked out for my SIL because she always had a vest to use this way and didn't have to rent one!

 

I see I'm the only one posting here so I hope these reports aren't putting everyone to sleep. Feel free to ask any questions that you might have!:)

[emdmistycc]

Thanks for posting about your cruise. I tend to be a lurker and not a poster..... I anxiously await your next posting . I am curious what you did in D.R.. Our family will be on the Explorer on 5/22. Thanks again for going into detail about your family vacation!!

[cathykb]

I don't usually get too involved reading the reviews, but yours is really great...thanks.

[stlrboo]

Tari, I'm sure most of us who cruised with you are enjoying the review, more than you'll ever know... :rolleyes:

I can just picture all of these things happening, and glad it was 'you' and not me..!;)

 

I have posted a 'review' of sorts on the Member Review board, but it probably won't show up for a day or two!

Naturally, it is far less entertaining than yours.. I tried, but just can't 'match up'! :)

 

Keep 'em coming.. We are waiting!!! :D

[ontheopenseas]

Thanks strlboo, hopefully I'll have this wrapped up by the end of the week. I'm looking forward to reading your review. I know you and your DW kept hitting a few bumps along the way. It was so impressive that you both were able to just keep smiling, laughing and enjoying (I imagine with perhaps a couple of grimaces here and there) your vacation! Thanks once again to you and all our Roll Call members for helping to make our vacation so wonderful!:)

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Tari - great review! It was fun meeting you and your family. I agree with your report. We also did not see most of the 'bad' stuff others have reported and thought, for the most part, that it was a great cruise. I look forward to reading the rest!:)

[EnzosMom]

great review..thank you!! when is the formal night on this cruise?

[ontheopenseas]

Tari - great review! It was fun meeting you and your family. I agree with your report. We also did not see most of the 'bad' stuff others have reported and thought, for the most part, that it was a great cruise. I look forward to reading the rest!:)

Thanks Ginny, it was great meeting you and your husband. Thanks for helping to make our cruise special with your company, activity planning and picture taking!!!!:)

 

great review..thank you!! when is the formal night on this cruise?

We had formal nights on the first sea day going out (the second night) and on the first sea day coming back (the second to last night).

[ontheopenseas]

Trip Report Part VI- Dominican Republic: Pink Flamingos, Wavy Snorkling, and Chocolate Covered Bananas

Casa de Campo Dominican Republic

After reviewing the excursion choices for Casa de Campo many times, we had pretty much decided that we would spend our day in the Dominican Republic on board the Explorer. My DD wasn’t old enough for some of the excursions we wanted to do and I knew that some of the other choices wouldn’t have been too appealing to my teenagers. It was very hard to get any information on this port. Fortunately crusingbooboo and DPurcell posted about the wonderful time that they had at the Iberostar resort.:) I had e-mailed Britta at the Iberostar prior to leaving and preregistered (it did take a couple of tries to get a response back from her but after the initial contact she was always quick in responding to my questions). We were instructed to bring our passports and a print out of her e-mail confirmation. Here is her contact information: Britta Feldmeier, Guest Services Manager Iberostar Hacienda Dominicus Tel.:1(809)688-3600 Fax: 1(809)686-8585 e-mail: rrpp.bayahibe@iberostar.com.do We had made plans with a group of people from our roll call to meet at the Café Promenade at 10:45 and then share a van over to the resort. Here is the review I posted in the Dominican Republic forum:

 

We were able to depart the ship at 11:00. When we exited the ship we walked out a bit and were directed off to the left to wait in a line for a taxi. The line moved quickly. There was a group of nine of us going to the Iberostar. At first we were told that it would be $15 per person. When we stated that we wanted to be picked up at 4:00 we were told that the cost would be $20 each including the tip. This was a little strange since our driver wasn't going to be waiting for us while we were at the resort but there was no room for negotiation. When cruisingbooboo posted, her group, who had gone not long before us, was charged $120 for a group of 10. We made sure that payment would be due when we were returned to the ship. Next they tried to fit us in a ten person van that already had four adults in it. We did not have any small children in our party. We refused to squeeze into the van with the other people in it who were going to a different destination. Finally they made the other people get out :eek: and put us in. Even with just the nine of us it was a tight squeeze so I don't know how they expected that they would have fit everyone in. I would NOT recommend renting a car here on your own. The driving is totally crazy. Our ride to the resort took about 20 minutes but I suspect it is really a forty minute drive. Cars, vans, and trucks use the third lane (a.k.a. the center divider line) to continuously and randomly pass each other. This was much scarier than the zipline! :eek: :eek: Our driver was courteous although not very talkative. I think that this was because he spoke limited English, although his English was much better than our Spanish! It was interesting to get a glimpse of some of the country on our way to the resort. There is a great deal of poverty but also some beauty along the way.

 

When we arrived at the resort, the guard did not ask to see any of our confirmation papers. The check in process was SLOW. There were only two parties in front of us but it took at least fifteen minutes to check in each party. When it was our turn, they couldn't find our registration so we had to fill it out again. The $45.00 (children up to age 12 are ½ price) did include all taxes and fees. We paid in cash since I've read that there has been a great deal of credit card fraud in the Dominican Republic lately (of course we had our card # lifted right here in the US last year). We also brought our beach towels from the ship. They did have a service where you could put down a $10. per towel deposit and check out one of their towels. After we checked in they finally had some other staff come out who seemed to do a much faster job of checking people in. I only had to show them one passport for our party.

 

The inside buffet didn't start until 1:00 so we decided to head down to the beach. It was absolutely beautiful. Along the way on the walk we saw many gorgeous trees, flowers and also a pool of bright flamingos. There were lots of chairs but most of the palapas (palm leaf umbrellas) were taken. We were able to find one though and this is where for some unknown reason my teenagers spent most of their day. :rolleyes: It was probably for the best since with all their late nights, I'm sure they needed some rest. While they lazed about, we went down into the refreshing water to enjoy the waves.

 

Around 1:00 we headed back to the inside buffet (it's a bit of a walk back to the check in building). The tables were elegantly set and a waiter took our drink orders. The buffet was quite extensive. There were carving stations, a made to order pasta station, paella, pizza, salad bar, fresh fish prep station, and a large variety of other foods available. There was also a fruit and desert bar with delicious chocolate covered bananas and tasty gelato with shaved coconut for a topping!

 

After filling our faces and our bellies, we headed back to the beach. We tried to snorkel here. It was pretty wavy so it wasn't so easy. After swallowing quite a bit of water while trying to get my snorkel gear on in the waves, I did manage to see a few fish by the man made wall. It was fun but exhausting. DH and I took a short rest on the lounge chairs while my SIL took the kids over to the little vendor area on the beach. DD harassed the hawkers once again and scored a couple of necklaces at a good price for her and DS. After this we headed over to the pool. The pool was beautiful too and very large. There is a walk in section that is great for young children. There were plenty of seats here too. We swam up to the pool bar and did order one drink with no alcohol and were promptly booed by everyone around the bar.:rolleyes: There was a group at the bar that had obviously spent maybe a bit too much time there! The drink was supposed to be a Strawberry Daiquiri but it was the worst thing I've ever tasted. After a couple of sips we left them there. After a short swim it was already approaching 3:30. The time went by so quickly, I could have stayed an extra couple of days! I wouldn't recommend a 3:00 pick up because it would seem you're leaving just after arriving! We never did have time to try out the free water craft or check out the rest of the resort. On the way back to our van, there were a few more vendors trying to sell things and although they were a bit pushy, compared to the ones in Haiti, they didn’t seem too bad. Our driver was waiting for us right in front where he told us he would be. He also had left us a couple of his business cards when he dropped us off in case we needed him. After another wild ride back, we were on the ship by 4:30.

 

Although the kids really didn’t do anything here, they said they enjoyed their day. It seems we could have left them on the ship or even taken one of the excursions that I didn’t pick in order to appease them. At least we all enjoyed a nice lunch together and I’m glad they came along. We were able to not only experience a beautiful resort but also had the chance to view a little bit of the Dominican Republic! Hopefully over time the Casa de Campo stop will earn a better reputation and there will be more information posted on the boards and more excursions offered.

Next up: A melt down in St. Thomas

[Batch5]

I enjoyed reading your positive review, thank you for taking the time to write in deal. I learned a few things and looking to part VII St Thomas and my cruise on the Explorer in October.

 

Thank Chris

[DPurcell58]

Glad you enjoyed the Iberostar, we basically did what you did, except we probably spent more time at the pool than in the ocean. Also, thanks for the review of the teen program, no one usually talks very much about it.

[dbancroft]

your review is nice and so complete esp. Labadee cannot wait for the rest of your review...thanks again:D :D

[ontheopenseas]

Glad you enjoyed the Iberostar, we basically did what you did, except we probably spent more time at the pool than in the ocean. Also, thanks for the review of the teen program, no one usually talks very much about it.

DPurcell, I'm guessing that not many people talk about the teen program because it's so hard to get the teens to talk about the teen program!:D We were at a party yesterday and my DD was telling someone about how cool the golf simulator was on the ship. I said, "you were able to use it?" and she said both she AND her brother used it for an hour as part of the teen program. Of course neither one of them had mentioned a thing.:rolleyes:

 

your review is nice and so complete esp. Labadee cannot wait for the rest of your review...thanks again:D :D

Hopefully the review will be complete by the end of the week. My goal is to have it done before the one month anniversary of the start of our cruise!:cool: It seems hard to believe that time is passing by so quickly!

[irismike]

Tari: Any news about time and date for CNN? Take care. Iris

[ontheopenseas]

Trip Report Part VII St. Thomas- Creeping Lizards, Sunny Liston, Teenage Meltdown and Flying Flippers

 

The first excursion that we scheduled while planning our vacation was a tour with Sunny Liston after reading mostly positive reviews here on CC. It was $25.00 each payable in advance with paypal. For $25.00 the tour is a great value, it would have cost us at least this much just to take a cab to the beach and back, but we also had a tour of the island, lively music while we rode along, and a chance to do a little shopping.

 

Sunny was wonderful about responding quickly, kindly and patiently to all of my e-mails. I even ordered his CD in advance so we could get excited for the tour ahead of time. Since we planned this tour a year in advance, I had plenty of time to build it all up in my head. Through no fault of Sunny it didn’t turn out exactly the way that I had hoped. :(

 

Upon arrival in St. Thomas, everyone was required to clear customs before departing the ship. There were suggested times for each floor but the compass stated the times were optional. Our tour was scheduled to begin at 10:00 so I was anxious to have the customs process completed. When my SIL and I went to walk early in the morning there was already a line forming but the ship hadn’t even docked yet so the process had not begun. After our walk we decided to get into the VERY long line. I think it was about 8:15. Anyway, the line still didn’t seem to be moving so we went upstairs to get showered and get ready. I’m glad that we had decided not to wait, when we went back down the line was moving at lightning speed. We were in and out the door within five minutes. This is a very organized process with lots of staff involved. Unfortunately DD was not so organized. During the cruise she ended up being issued a total of three seapass cards since she kept "loosing" hers (they kept turning up later). When she went through customs she had two cards in her possession since she didn't know which was the most recent. It turns out the one they marked wasn't the valid one. It was a good thing she had both since she had to show the one marked as going through customs and present the valid one for the machine in order to get off the ship.:rolleyes:

 

Once we exited the ship, Sunny and his wife both had their buses outside waiting for us. They were extremely pleasant and Sunny was kind enough to let me have a few pictures taken with him. He said we could wait on the bus until it was time to go, he was to be our guide for the day. He also had us store anything that we wouldn’t need until we reached the beach in trunk of the bus. When it was close to 10:00 he instructed us to get on his wife’s bus since she would be driving the first group to Charlotte Amalie for shopping. There were quite a few Cruise Critic members along on the tour, many of whom we enjoyed meeting with and talking to throughout our cruise. There were also a few who are probably generally wonderful too, but that transformed my basically cheerful son into a not so cheerful raging maniac! Once we arrived at the shopping area, Sunny’s wife told us when and where to meet for the tour (I believe the time was 11:45 but I could be mistaken). There was an open market, lots of shops (mostly jewelry shops) and a few restaurants in the area. There were about six other cruise ships docked in St. Thomas that day we were there so needless to say the area was a bit crowded!

 

When it was time to get back on Sunny’s bus, my starry-eyed vision of our day in St. Thomas was crushed. I had pictured my whole family riding along together singing the songs we had heard so many times before our trip, laughing and having fun! Unfortunately we were not able to sit together. Each row of the bus holds five people. There was a large group of eight who were seated in such a way that my SIL and DH had to sit by themselves at the end of each of the group’s rows of four. It would have been nice if they had moved so that my two family members could have at least sat together but this is not what happened. On the way up the hill, Sunny was blasting his wonderful tropical music and encouraging the group to sing along. I was trying to but I was surrounded by my two- at this stage slightly grouchy already- teenagers, they both just kept telling me to be quiet and that I was embarrassing. :rolleyes: The large group in the back was singing along and having fun, which of course was the objective, but they were pretty over the top with lots of ear piercing laughter (if you’re reading this, you know who you are!:D ). Sunny made about five stops during the tour and would share lots of information about the sights we were seeing. This was interesting but sometimes it was a little hard to hear him since there was such a large group. Sunny seemed very proud of his island and very well informed.

 

One of the stops was Mountain Top. The views were incredible up here! There were also some little shops inside and the famous Banana Daiquiris. If you like bananas, these will be a treat! I asked my family if we could switch seats around because I thought it would be better if I was not sandwiched between my two sullen teens. This was a huge mistake on my part. I’m guessing the Daiquiris helped make the rowdy group even rowdier. Once we changed seats DD, my SIL and I were seated together and DS and DH were each seated by themselves on the end of the large group. This was a recipe for disaster. The ladies of the group were grabbing my DH’s leg as we swirled around corners and his arm to try to get him to sing along. They were also poking the people in front of them, perhaps accidentally. But worst of all, they were also trying to prod DS along with them and he was not amused. I’m sure they were well intentioned, but it created big problems for us later on. As I said the tour is advertised as a “fun tour” so I can’t totally fault them, but maybe they could have been a little more considerate of those around them since I know my family members weren’t the only ones who were agitated. Anyway by the time we reached beautiful Sapphire Beach my son was beside himself. Now this is a boy who is fairly even tempered and laid back. When we exited the van he was so agitated he took the water bottle he was holding and smashed it to the ground :eek: (luckily it was made of plastic!). Sunny was asking if the group wanted a 3:30 or a 4:00 pick up. The large group kept shouting that they wanted a 4:30 pick up. It was decided that we would have a 4:00 pick up. Sunny also asked who would like to return to the ship instead of staying at the beach and those people were instructed to return to the van in 15 minutes.

 

The beach was pretty crowded but still breathtaking. If you wanted a chaise, it was an $8 rental fee. We walked along to find a spot. DS was in a VERY bad mood. After we walked most of the way down the beach he said that he wanted to go back to the ship and his sister stated that she wanted to join him. I could tell DS’s temperament wouldn’t change any time soon. In what was definitely not our finest parenting moment (easily surpassing our not so responsible decision to let them make their own way back from Labadee), we told them they could go back to the bus and return to the ship. It wouldn’t have been so bad if they had decided this in advance since we could have asked the very nice couple from our roll call, who were also returning to the ship, to keep an eye on them and make sure they ended up where they were supposed to. Sunny was an extremely nice man but still a virtual stranger to us and here we were casually entrusting the most precious things in our life to him! Not only that, but as they ran off we had no way of knowing if the bus had already left or if they had been successful in getting on it. Despite my nagging concerns, we went on to enjoy our day at the beach (pretty bad, I know).

 

Dragging five sets of snorkel gear, since we didn’t think to have the kids take theirs, we headed over to the full service restaurant that is right there on the beach. On the way over we passed a giant lizard creeping along the sand. He seemed to enjoy having his picture taken! We were promptly seated outside on a covered patio (I think there may have been seats inside too) and presented with a menu full of wonderful choices including a large selection of wraps and sandwiches. Our waitress was very pleasant and efficient. It was wonderful to have lunch while looking out over the spectacular beach and the overhead covering provided welcome relief from the sun. The food was very fresh and very good! There are clean public restrooms near this area which are available to the public.

 

After this we rented a chair for DH so he could relax and watch all of our stuff while SIL and I snorkeled. SIL and I made our way down to the beach. The sand was pretty uneven in the water so we had a hard time putting our flippers on. Once we got them on I realized I had forgotten the water camera but decided to just skip it. Then SIL and I looked at each other and we both realized that we had forgotten our life vests. We started laughing like idiots, turned ourselves around, backed out of the water and headed back up to get the life vests. At this point we caught DH on his cell phone with work- so much for relaxing! Of course once we both got all the way up to the chairs we also realized that it only would have taken one of us to go up to get the vests, not both. Oh well! We did remember to grab the camera too at least! Back to step one again- it wasn’t any easier trying to get the flippers on the second time. This time through my own lack of grace I even managed to get knocked over by a small wave and cut my knuckle. Anyway, all the effort was worth it. Of the three places that we snorkeled during our vacation, Sapphire Beach had the most fish and the greatest variety. We were out by the coral to the right of the beach. After I had taken a turn for a while, DH and I switched positions and he enjoyed the snorkeling while I watched our stuff. Before long, it was time to head back to meet up with Sunny. He was there waiting just as he said he would be. At this point there were a few different people on our bus. Sunny assured us that the two kids had made it back to the ship area safely. When we were finally ready to go there was one group missing. Can you guess which one?:rolleyes: They finally came sauntering over to the bus at about 4:20. They didn’t even make an attempt to apologize for holding everyone up but just made an announcement that they were eating and drinking. Of course there just happened to be two empty seats left next to DH! And of course the two giggly women ended up sitting next to him and harassing him all the way back to the ship. Again, I don’t hold a grudge against them because they paid for the tour too, it was just sad to me that things didn’t turn out quite how I had hoped. It just shows you should be careful what you wish for. I had really hoped that Sunny would be our driver, perhaps if we had ended up on his wife’s bus my whole family would have ended up having a great time at the beach. Who knows? Even so, I would consider this another wonderful day all in all! We enjoyed meeting Sunny and his wife, loved seeing and learning about different parts of the island, and had a relaxing and fun time at Sapphire Beach accompanied by a delicious lunch. We were back on the ship by five and DS and DD were in their room waiting for us (it seems that they were the responsible ones in the group). They said that they really enjoyed their peaceful ride back to the ship and that Sunny shared a lot of information with those that were on the bus.

 

Well, there’s only one port day left! Next up: San Juan- Segways, Feral Cats, Taxi Trouble and Majorcas!

[andnickali]

Thank you so much for your reviews- I was on the same cruise with my family (we weren't in the M&M) and it is nice to see how you spent your days in port. We haven't ever toured St. Thomas (although we have stopped there almost every cruise) so next time I'll give Sunny a try.

[ontheopenseas]

Thank you so much for your reviews- I was on the same cruise with my family (we weren't in the M&M) and it is nice to see how you spent your days in port. We haven't ever toured St. Thomas (although we have stopped there almost every cruise) so next time I'll give Sunny a try.

I think you'll really enjoy Sunny's tour, it gives you a little bit of everything. I hope you enjoyed your cruise as much as we did!:)

[ontheopenseas]

Part VIII- San Juan- Lots of Riding, Shopping, Eating and Running!

 

I had read about a Segway tour that was offered in San Juan here on Cruise Critic. When we contacted Jose about the tour initially he said that he was all booked up. He later e-mailed back that he could fit us in for a one hour tour at 8:30. Although I was disappointed that the two hour tour wasn’t available, we were happy just to get anything. I e-mailed him back that if it was better for him, we could even make an 8:00 a.m. tour since our ship docked at 7:00. This is what we settled on. Jose, just like Sunny and Brita, was very quick to respond to my e-mails and answer any questions that I had. I did confirm our reservation the day before leaving too since I had read that there had been some problems with people showing up and not having their reservations honored.

 

The day we docked in San Juan, we walked off the ship and headed to the Segway office which is on the pier next to where the ship docks. It is about a five minute walk at most. You do have to get through all of the people trying to get you to take a tour with them. When we entered the office we were greeted by Jose and his coworker Natalie. Fort the third time during my cruise, I had to sign my life away and then for the second time my children’s lives too. DH and SIL took care of signing away their own lives. We were told that Natilie would be our guide for the day and she instructed us to put on some sunscreen which they provided. We had already applied some before we left the ship, but the sun was fierce so we put on some more. They stored all of our belongings in a locked cabinet and we were ready to begin. It was so cool that we were going to be having our own private tour! Even better, we were told that we would now be able to have a two hour tour due to a cancellation!!!!! Although this was wonderful news for us, I can’t help but to wonder if this caused trouble for others. We had a couple of people from our cruise scheduled for an 11:00 tour and when they arrived, no one was at the office. I don’t know if the whole schedule got mixed up somehow, but I think it would be wise to reconfirm your reservation a few times if you’re booking this tour. Especially since, as I mentioned, they weren’t the only ones that I have heard of that had this problem and you don’t want to miss this WONDERFUL tour!!!! The one hour tour would have been $35.00 and the two hour tour was $70.00.

 

Now we were ready to begin! Natalie demonstrated the Segway and DD was chosen to be the first to try it out. It took her a little bit to get used to it and then she was rolling on her way. First you practice inside the little office and then they bring you to the courtyard area outside. Once you seem pretty confident, you go up and down a windy ramp. SIL and DS each quickly became comfortable on the Segways. DH and I had done a Segway tour in San Francisco. Since we were the “experts” of our group, we were given the two newer model Segways to use. The older models are steered by turning the end of the handle, the newer models are steered by shifting your body. It took a little bit of time to get used to the newer models but we actually liked these better. The training for all five of us took about twenty minutes. I liked this much better than the training in SF. That training took almost an hour (there was a much larger group) and we had to train, watch a training film, then train some more. We also had to wear safety vests and helmets in SF which we didn’t have to wear here. Since a car almost hit DD on our tour, these things might be a good idea! Luckily Natalie stopped the car in time (then reamed out the driver:D!).

 

Anyway, once Natalie determined that we were ready to go, she assigned us an order to ride in throughout the tour. DD was number one, I was number two, etc., etc. It was pretty funny because these numbers became out names throughout the tour! When DH didn’t bend his knees enough going over the speed bumps, Natalie would yell, “Number 5 bend those knees!” Natalie was an amazing tour guide. First of all, she had a wealth of knowledge about the history, architecture, current events, and people of Puerto Rico. Second of all, she was easily sharing this information in what is not her first language. Third of all, she had to make sure the five of us where not crashing into something or something was not crashing into us throughout the tour! I’m a tour guide myself and I was in awe of her! Not only did she share wonderful San Juan with us, she did it with humor, passion and the ability to hold the interest of two teenagers for two entire hours!:) This was our favorite excursion of the cruise.

 

During our two hour tour we covered all of the sites that you will see listed in the different guide book and on line walking tours. It was so cool to be doing it on a Segway instead of trying to walk all over in the blazing sun. Actually, even with all that sunscreen, SIL and I could feel the sun burning the back of our knees not long after we started, caution is needed. I would recommend bringing sunscreen with you if you do the tour; ours was back in the locked cabinet! Natalie collected our cameras before the tour began. I’m sure part of the reason for this is so that people don’t crash while trying to take pictures. This was great for us! She would have us line up at different sights and take group pictures with our camera and SIL’s camera. We got some of our best vacation photos this way! It was so nice to have everyone in the picture for a change! At a few of the sights Natalie would have us park our Segways and she would do a walking tour. We noticed many cats around the area. She told us that they were brought in for pest control and that it’s been working very well. I have a terrible phobia of mice so this freaked me out a bit but at least she said the program was successful. The cats were a little scary looking too and I love cats! As we watched many people struggling up the hill, we zipped past them to the entrance of El Morro. Natalie took some great pictures of us up here in this lovely location and then made a run for the ticket booth! There were about 100 students approaching to purchase tickets! The admission fee was included in our tour price. We had planned to tour the fort on our own when we thought we were going to be doing the one hour Segway tour. Instead, we had our amazing tour guide Natalie to lead us through the fort. Honestly, I can’t imagine how she can retain so much information. She led us down a dark stairway that we would have never found on our own and all around the immense fort. Even without a Segway, it would be worth the climb up the hill to visit this sight! The Seway website says that you visit El Morro and San Cristobal but we only visited the one fort. Since we were on the tour for the full two hours (and this did not include our training time), I don’t know how they could fit both forts in. If this is important to you, you might want to confirm what you’ll be visiting ahead of time. I would rather spend the extra time exploring one fort than rushing through two myself.

 

We all loved Natalie and loved this tour. At the end she quizzed Number One and Number Four (DD and DS) and I was impressed by how much information they had remembered! This really was the ultimate tour! It was so much fun riding around on the Segways while people took our picture and waved as we went by! We learned so much about beautiful San Juan and saw more things then my family ever would have had the patience to see if we were doing it on foot. We were able to have lots of great group pictures taken. And best of all, we had the most amazing tour guide who really was responsible for making it the perfect experience that it was!

 

Jose came to pick up Natalie’s Segway as we returning to the office so she walked the rest of the way back. By the time we arrived, he was already training the next group! Since there seemed to be only six Segways in total, I’m guessing that they only take groups of up to five. I can’t imagine they’d have a tour where the guide walks the whole time; I don’t think this would work out very well anyway.

 

At the end of the tour we thanked and tipped Natalie and then collected our things. While SIL went next door to get what she described as a delicious cup of coffee (they even made a little heart out of the cream on top of it for her), we asked for directions for the rest of our day. SIL, DD and I were headed off for some food and shopping. DS and DH were headed off to what my son had been looking most forward to the whole trip-running in San Juan (go figure.?.). My son’s coach gave him a pretty intensive training schedule to follow while we were on vacation. DS was very excited to find a track in San Juan close to where our ship was docked on Google Maps before we left. Finding it on Google Maps would prove easier than finding it in reality though. The boys set off on their quest and we set off on a less physically intensive quest of our own.

 

Our first stop was La Bombonera on Calle San Francisco since we were pretty hungry at this point. It was a short walk from the cruise ship terminal. Although the staff is Spanish speaking, we were able to communicate enough to get by with our limited Spanish and their more extensive English. I ordered a plain Majorca and SIL ordered one with ham and cheese. The pastries were covered with powdered sugar and therefore pretty messy but they were delicious! I tried some of SIL’s and I must say I preferred hers. I think the salty ham and sweet Majorca made for a delicious contrast. DD decided she just wanted a frozen fruit drink (???). She didn’t really like it but I thought it was pretty good. It seemed to have mango and other citrus fruits in it. It was fun to eat in a little restaurant with a lot of local flair! Our bill came to less than $10.00. It case you go and are confused like we were, you do pay up at the cash register after the waiter brings your bill. Now that two out of three of our bellies were full, we were ready for a little shopping.

 

There was a pretty good variety of shops and lots of them. DD and SIL bought some musical instruments in one shop. And DD bought a marionette puppet from a street vendor. My guess is she’ll never touch these things again but she had fun with them that day. We also bought DS a shirt at the Hard Rock Café. Even though none of us ate there it’s a nice souvenir since it had a great picture of El Morro, which we did actually go to, on the back. Our favorite shop of all was Puerto Rican Arts and Crafts located at 204 Fortaleza Street. As you can probably guess by the name, everything in the store is made by Puerto Rican craftsmen (and women!). All of us bought some unique jewelry here. Mine was made out of ripened and unripened coconut which I thought was really interesting. SIL also bought a wild looking thing which she now has hanging on her wall to remind her of our great vacation! After a wonderful time in Old San Juan, we decided to head back to the ship. I was hoping that DS and DH would be back in the stateroom but they were nowhere to be found. On board was at 1:30 and it was 12:30 so I tried not to let myself start panicking yet. DH had promised that they would be back by 1:00. As the time ticked closer and closer, the worrying grew more and more intense. Finally at 1:00 exactly DS came walking through the door. He came in and said, “Dad didn’t make it.” :eek: Considering that it was sweltering hot outside and DH is a lot older than DS and the two of them were out running around in this weather while we had a hard time just Segwaying and walking around in the heat, this would have been easy to believe if not for the fact that DS didn’t seem overly concerned that DH had expired! Shortly after DS’s announcement, DH came stooping through the door drenched in sweat. They then both shared their adventure with us.

 

After leaving the Segway office, DH and DS went to the taxi line in front of the cruise terminal. DH and DS told the taxi driver that approached them the name of the park that they wanted to go to. The taxi driver didn’t speak English at all but there was a person who helps translate at the taxi line at the end of the cruise pier who told the driver how to get to the track. Make sure that you get into the first cab in the line. DH and DS didn’t do this and entered in to a cable further back in the line since they didn’t know any better. I guess this caused an argument amongst the drivers. Once they were on their way, after driving and driving and driving, the cab driver made a phone call because he was lost and couldn’t figure out where the track was. When DH asked him how much further (using his limited high school Spanish), the driver told him it would be about TWENTY MINUTES. Since DS had Google Mapped the track ahead of time, he knew it only should have been a short drive from the cruise ship and Jose had also verified this. DH told the cab driver to just head back for the ship since they were so far away from the ship at that point and it seemed the taxi driver was not headed to their track anyway. On the way back, they saw a sign for Parque Central and told the cab driver to stop so that they could run there. The driver said he would wait there while they ran. DH asked what the fare would be; the driver told him it would be $60.00.:eek: DH told him he would pay $30.00 since the taxi driver had driven them around lost for such a long period of time. They finally settled on $40.00 if the driver waited ½ hour for them (this is all the $ DH had with him, Jose had told him it should cost $20 round trip before they left on their wild ride). After running for about two minutes, they spotted a track in the park. He returned to the driver and told him that he could leave because they were going to run on the track and then back to the ship. The driver still wanted to charge $40 but they settled on $30 and DH added in a $5.00 tip. They ran the track for about a ½ hour in the glaring hot sun and then decided to try to run back to the ship. They embarked on a steamy run back to the ship stopping along the way at a gas station for water and directions. They could see a very tiny ship off in the distance. After mapping the route when they returned to the ship, it turned out it was a 3 ½ mile run back to the ship. Most of the route did have sidewalks at least! DS was very happy to have gotten his running and training in and I was glad that they made it back to the ship on time!:)

 

Part IX- Final Thoughts (finally!)

 

As far as packing goes, even though we had tons of luggage, I didn’t feel we packed too much. We used most of the clothes and other things that we brought. Happily we never had to touch the rain gear but I’m still glad I had it. A couple of things that I wish I had brought were capris for changing into after dinner and binoculars. I only had shorts and dresses. The dining room and theater were FREEZING and it would have been nice to change out of my dinner clothes after we ate. Be sure to bring a sweater for your evening activities. Ours binoculars are broken and I didn’t bother to replace them, but it would have been nice to have them while sitting on the balcony, especially while we were pulling into the various ports.

 

I loved the fact that the Explorer had so many activities available on board. The only thing I really missed, that all of our other cruise ships had, was a laundry room. I’m sure some of you might think I’m crazy but with four of us, it would have meant bringing a lot less clothes. And we wouldn’t have had to bring home all those smelly running clothes! Sending them out was just too expensive for an entire family even though for a couple I think this would be a good option. I especially missed the iron that the other laundry rooms provided. I didn’t like the pressing service because since we had first seating, the clothes wouldn’t come back until right before you had to leave for dinner. Because there wasn’t an iron available, I was careful about what I packed and therefore didn’t bring too many button down cotton shirts, etc. I did bring Downy Wrinkle Release but I never have very good luck with this and I also brought a steamer which worked to an extent.

 

This was an amazing vacation!!!! Most of the staff were outstanding and would wave and smile whenever they saw you. There was a good variety of food that was generally very tasty. Each day brought a variety of new experiences and fun adventures. We all were able to meet so many wonderful people both on board and at the ports that we visited. It was great to have my sister in law along; I had someone to do things with that DH doesn’t really like to do and my children had a wonderful roommate! The best part about the whole vacation was being able to make so many special memories together as a family, especially in light of the fact that DS will be off to college in the fall!

 

Please feel free to ask any other questions even though I have a feeling that I gave too much information already! Happy travels to you all and thanks again for all the help we received while planning our trip!!!!:)

[heatherandfred]

I loved your review! I'm so glad you guys had fun on the Segways. My DBF and myself did them back in April. Jose is awesome and so informative. BF wants a Segway now. One of the best tours we did. We look forward to our Explorer cruise next year.

 

 

[Skip2MySue]

Part VIII- San Juan- Lots of Riding, Shopping, Eating and Running!

 

I had read about a Segway tour that was offered in San Juan here on Cruise Critic. When we contacted Jose about the tour initially he said that he was all booked up. He later e-mailed back that he could fit us in for a one hour tour at 8:30. Although I was disappointed that the two hour tour wasn’t available, we were happy just to get anything. I e-mailed him back that if it was better for him, we could even make an 8:00 a.m. tour since our ship docked at 7:00. This is what we settled on. Jose, just like Sunny and Brita, was very quick to respond to my e-mails and answer any questions that I had. I did confirm our reservation the day before leaving too since I had read that there had been some problems with people showing up and not having their reservations honored.

 

The day we docked in San Juan, we walked off the ship and headed to the Segway office which is on the pier next to where the ship docks. It is about a five minute walk at most. You do have to get through all of the people trying to get you to take a tour with them. When we entered the office we were greeted by Jose and his coworker Natalie. Fort the third time during my cruise, I had to sign my life away and then for the second time my children’s lives too. DH and SIL took care of signing away their own lives. We were told that Natilie would be our guide for the day and she instructed us to put on some sunscreen which they provided. We had already applied some before we left the ship, but the sun was fierce so we put on some more. They stored all of our belongings in a locked cabinet and we were ready to begin. It was so cool that we were going to be having our own private tour! Even better, we were told that we would now be able to have a two hour tour due to a cancellation!!!!! Although this was wonderful news for us, I can’t help but to wonder if this caused trouble for others. We had a couple of people from our cruise scheduled for an 11:00 tour and when they arrived, no one was at the office. I don’t know if the whole schedule got mixed up somehow, but I think it would be wise to reconfirm your reservation a few times if you’re booking this tour. Especially since, as I mentioned, they weren’t the only ones that I have heard of that had this problem and you don’t want to miss this WONDERFUL tour!!!! The one hour tour would have been $35.00 and the two hour tour was $70.00.

 

Now we were ready to begin! Natalie demonstrated the Segway and DD was chosen to be the first to try it out. It took her a little bit to get used to it and then she was rolling on her way. First you practice inside the little office and then they bring you to the courtyard area outside. Once you seem pretty confident, you go up and down a windy ramp. SIL and DS each quickly became comfortable on the Segways. DH and I had done a Segway tour in San Francisco. Since we were the “experts” of our group, we were given the two newer model Segways to use. The older models are steered by turning the end of the handle, the newer models are steered by shifting your body. It took a little bit of time to get used to the newer models but we actually liked these better. The training for all five of us took about twenty minutes. I liked this much better than the training in SF. That training took almost an hour (there was a much larger group) and we had to train, watch a training film, then train some more. We also had to wear safety vests and helmets in SF which we didn’t have to wear here. Since a car almost hit DD on our tour, these things might be a good idea! Luckily Natalie stopped the car in time (then reamed out the driver:D!).

 

Anyway, once Natalie determined that we were ready to go, she assigned us an order to ride in throughout the tour. DD was number one, I was number two, etc., etc. It was pretty funny because these numbers became out names throughout the tour! When DH didn’t bend his knees enough going over the speed bumps, Natalie would yell, “Number 5 bend those knees!” Natalie was an amazing tour guide. First of all, she had a wealth of knowledge about the history, architecture, current events, and people of Puerto Rico. Second of all, she was easily sharing this information in what is not her first language. Third of all, she had to make sure the five of us where not crashing into something or something was not crashing into us throughout the tour! I’m a tour guide myself and I was in awe of her! Not only did she share wonderful San Juan with us, she did it with humor, passion and the ability to hold the interest of two teenagers for two entire hours!:) This was our favorite excursion of the cruise.

 

During our two hour tour we covered all of the sites that you will see listed in the different guide book and on line walking tours. It was so cool to be doing it on a Segway instead of trying to walk all over in the blazing sun. Actually, even with all that sunscreen, SIL and I could feel the sun burning the back of our knees not long after we started, caution is needed. I would recommend bringing sunscreen with you if you do the tour; ours was back in the locked cabinet! Natalie collected our cameras before the tour began. I’m sure part of the reason for this is so that people don’t crash while trying to take pictures. This was great for us! She would have us line up at different sights and take group pictures with our camera and SIL’s camera. We got some of our best vacation photos this way! It was so nice to have everyone in the picture for a change! At a few of the sights Natalie would have us park our Segways and she would do a walking tour. We noticed many cats around the area. She told us that they were brought in for pest control and that it’s been working very well. I have a terrible phobia of mice so this freaked me out a bit but at least she said the program was successful. The cats were a little scary looking too and I love cats! As we watched many people struggling up the hill, we zipped past them to the entrance of El Morro. Natalie took some great pictures of us up here in this lovely location and then made a run for the ticket booth! There were about 100 students approaching to purchase tickets! The admission fee was included in our tour price. We had planned to tour the fort on our own when we thought we were going to be doing the one hour Segway tour. Instead, we had our amazing tour guide Natalie to lead us through the fort. Honestly, I can’t imagine how she can retain so much information. She led us down a dark stairway that we would have never found on our own and all around the immense fort. Even without a Segway, it would be worth the climb up the hill to visit this sight! The Seway website says that you visit El Morro and San Cristobal but we only visited the one fort. Since we were on the tour for the full two hours (and this did not include our training time), I don’t know how they could fit both forts in. If this is important to you, you might want to confirm what you’ll be visiting ahead of time. I would rather spend the extra time exploring one fort than rushing through two myself.

 

We all loved Natalie and loved this tour. At the end she quizzed Number One and Number Four (DD and DS) and I was impressed by how much information they had remembered! This really was the ultimate tour! It was so much fun riding around on the Segways while people took our picture and waved as we went by! We learned so much about beautiful San Juan and saw more things then my family ever would have had the patience to see if we were doing it on foot. We were able to have lots of great group pictures taken. And best of all, we had the most amazing tour guide who really was responsible for making it the perfect experience that it was!

 

Jose came to pick up Natalie’s Segway as we returning to the office so she walked the rest of the way back. By the time we arrived, he was already training the next group! Since there seemed to be only six Segways in total, I’m guessing that they only take groups of up to five. I can’t imagine they’d have a tour where the guide walks the whole time; I don’t think this would work out very well anyway.

 

At the end of the tour we thanked and tipped Natalie and then collected our things. While SIL went next door to get what she described as a delicious cup of coffee (they even made a little heart out of the cream on top of it for her), we asked for directions for the rest of our day. SIL, DD and I were headed off for some food and shopping. DS and DH were headed off to what my son had been looking most forward to the whole trip-running in San Juan (go figure.?.). My son’s coach gave him a pretty intensive training schedule to follow while we were on vacation. DS was very excited to find a track in San Juan close to where our ship was docked on Google Maps before we left. Finding it on Google Maps would prove easier than finding it in reality though. The boys set off on their quest and we set off on a less physically intensive quest of our own.

 

Our first stop was La Bombonera on Calle San Francisco since we were pretty hungry at this point. It was a short walk from the cruise ship terminal. Although the staff is Spanish speaking, we were able to communicate enough to get by with our limited Spanish and their more extensive English. I ordered a plain Majorca and SIL ordered one with ham and cheese. The pastries were covered with powdered sugar and therefore pretty messy but they were delicious! I tried some of SIL’s and I must say I preferred hers. I think the salty ham and sweet Majorca made for a delicious contrast. DD decided she just wanted a frozen fruit drink (???). She didn’t really like it but I thought it was pretty good. It seemed to have mango and other citrus fruits in it. It was fun to eat in a little restaurant with a lot of local flair! Our bill came to less than $10.00. It case you go and are confused like we were, you do pay up at the cash register after the waiter brings your bill. Now that two out of three of our bellies were full, we were ready for a little shopping.

 

There was a pretty good variety of shops and lots of them. DD and SIL bought some musical instruments in one shop. And DD bought a marionette puppet from a street vendor. My guess is she’ll never touch these things again but she had fun with them that day. We also bought DS a shirt at the Hard Rock Café. Even though none of us ate there it’s a nice souvenir since it had a great picture of El Morro, which we did actually go to, on the back. Our favorite shop of all was Puerto Rican Arts and Crafts located at 204 Fortaleza Street. As you can probably guess by the name, everything in the store is made by Puerto Rican craftsmen (and women!). All of us bought some unique jewelry here. Mine was made out of ripened and unripened coconut which I thought was really interesting. SIL also bought a wild looking thing which she now has hanging on her wall to remind her of our great vacation! After a wonderful time in Old San Juan, we decided to head back to the ship. I was hoping that DS and DH would be back in the stateroom but they were nowhere to be found. On board was at 1:30 and it was 12:30 so I tried not to let myself start panicking yet. DH had promised that they would be back by 1:00. As the time ticked closer and closer, the worrying grew more and more intense. Finally at 1:00 exactly DS came walking through the door. He came in and said, “Dad didn’t make it.” :eek: Considering that it was sweltering hot outside and DH is a lot older than DS and the two of them were out running around in this weather while we had a hard time just Segwaying and walking around in the heat, this would have been easy to believe if not for the fact that DS didn’t seem overly concerned that DH had expired! Shortly after DS’s announcement, DH came stooping through the door drenched in sweat. They then both shared their adventure with us.

 

After leaving the Segway office, DH and DS went to the taxi line in front of the cruise terminal. DH and DS told the taxi driver that approached them the name of the park that they wanted to go to. The taxi driver didn’t speak English at all but there was a person who helps translate at the taxi line at the end of the cruise pier who told the driver how to get to the track. Make sure that you get into the first cab in the line. DH and DS didn’t do this and entered in to a cable further back in the line since they didn’t know any better. I guess this caused an argument amongst the drivers. Once they were on their way, after driving and driving and driving, the cab driver made a phone call because he was lost and couldn’t figure out where the track was. When DH asked him how much further (using his limited high school Spanish), the driver told him it would be about TWENTY MINUTES. Since DS had Google Mapped the track ahead of time, he knew it only should have been a short drive from the cruise ship and Jose had also verified this. DH told the cab driver to just head back for the ship since they were so far away from the ship at that point and it seemed the taxi driver was not headed to their track anyway. On the way back, they saw a sign for Parque Central and told the cab driver to stop so that they could run there. The driver said he would wait there while they ran. DH asked what the fare would be; the driver told him it would be $60.00.:eek: DH told him he would pay $30.00 since the taxi driver had driven them around lost for such a long period of time. They finally settled on $40.00 if the driver waited ½ hour for them (this is all the $ DH had with him, Jose had told him it should cost $20 round trip before they left on their wild ride). After running for about two minutes, they spotted a track in the park. He returned to the driver and told him that he could leave because they were going to run on the track and then back to the ship. The driver still wanted to charge $40 but they settled on $30 and DH added in a $5.00 tip. They ran the track for about a ½ hour in the glaring hot sun and then decided to try to run back to the ship. They embarked on a steamy run back to the ship stopping along the way at a gas station for water and directions. They could see a very tiny ship off in the distance. After mapping the route when they returned to the ship, it turned out it was a 3 ½ mile run back to the ship. Most of the route did have sidewalks at least! DS was very happy to have gotten his running and training in and I was glad that they made it back to the ship on time!:)

 

Part IX- Final Thoughts (finally!)

 

As far as packing goes, even though we had tons of luggage, I didn’t feel we packed too much. We used most of the clothes and other things that we brought. Happily we never had to touch the rain gear but I’m still glad I had it. A couple of things that I wish I had brought were capris for changing into after dinner and binoculars. I only had shorts and dresses. The dining room and theater were FREEZING and it would have been nice to change out of my dinner clothes after we ate. Be sure to bring a sweater for your evening activities. Ours binoculars are broken and I didn’t bother to replace them, but it would have been nice to have them while sitting on the balcony, especially while we were pulling into the various ports.

 

I loved the fact that the Explorer had so many activities available on board. The only thing I really missed, that all of our other cruise ships had, was a laundry room. I’m sure some of you might think I’m crazy but with four of us, it would have meant bringing a lot less clothes. And we wouldn’t have had to bring home all those smelly running clothes! Sending them out was just too expensive for an entire family even though for a couple I think this would be a good option. I especially missed the iron that the other laundry rooms provided. I didn’t like the pressing service because since we had first seating, the clothes wouldn’t come back until right before you had to leave for dinner. Because there wasn’t an iron available, I was careful about what I packed and therefore didn’t bring too many button down cotton shirts, etc. I did bring Downy Wrinkle Release but I never have very good luck with this and I also brought a steamer which worked to an extent.

 

This was an amazing vacation!!!! Most of the staff were outstanding and would wave and smile whenever they saw you. There was a good variety of food that was generally very tasty. Each day brought a variety of new experiences and fun adventures. We all were able to meet so many wonderful people both on board and at the ports that we visited. It was great to have my sister in law along; I had someone to do things with that DH doesn’t really like to do and my children had a wonderful roommate! The best part about the whole vacation was being able to make so many special memories together as a family, especially in light of the fact that DS will be off to college in the fall!

 

Please feel free to ask any other questions even though I have a feeling that I gave too much information already! Happy travels to you all and thanks again for all the help we received while planning our trip!!!!:)

 

Well it's about time you finished your report.......I was getting exhausted waiting for you to finish it. Enjoyed the reading which helped bring back many great memories of "Our Best Cruise Yet". We are both in awe of you and your organizational skills and general bubbly demeanor. The world would be a much better place if it had more wonderful people like you. All our best to you and your family and hopefully one day we will be able to cruise together again.

Skip & Sue

[irismike]

Tari: Your review was great and WE KNEW your son and daughter got on the bus and back to the ship ok. They are very responsible children. Knowing your family made our vacation even more special. Hope we can meet again. Love, Iris

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Tari - Great review! I'm sure flad your DH & DS made it back to the ship ok.....I tend to be a worry wart and I would have been frantic.:eek:

 

I hope our paths meet again on a cruise. It was so much fun meeting with you and your nice family.

 

Toodles!:)