2014 Caribbean Cruise Day One: Puerto Rico

I’m not a fan of travelogues, but I don’t write this blog for the benefit of the world. MightyJohnsons.com is a small, intimate, family-centered blog, mainly to record and journal our own memories. I love that family and close friends also read it, but the next several posts are mainly for me to look back upon and remember fondly rather than to brag about all the cool places we’ve been. You’ve been warned. If you read my previous post, you know that our vacation ended on a bad note. So, let me explain how it all began.

We’ve been looking forward to this vacation for more than a year. We planned it with some of our closest friends and neighbors, and were excited that most of them came along. We did, however, miss out on several others who just couldn’t make it work.

For months leading up to this we would have “Cruise Planning Meetings” and discuss details of the trip. We practiced Eating Clean with our neighbors in hopes of being more comfortable in our swimming suits. Manina started a cruise planning custom Voxer group, and the girls even had another private group to discuss good deals on new outfits, coordinate hair and nail appointments, plan dresses for each night of the cruise, and heaven knows what else. Preparing for the cruise dominated this winter season. To say that we were super-crazy-excited for this trip is a huge understatement.

Friday, January 31

We left home at about 8:00pm. Grandma Jan came down to hang out with our kids for a week. What a brave soul. Even though we were excited to be on our way, it was hard leaving the kids. There were a few tears, but we knew they were in good hands.

We met all of our friends at the airport. Brett and Kristy Denney were going on their first “real” vacation and were almost giddy. Mike and Penny Bergeron had done lots of cruises before, but seemed excited about our itinerary. Both Tony and Emily Francis and Ben and Marianne Forstner knew what they were in for, having joined us on our 2012 cruise along with the Rowberrys. An intrepid group of ten, we set out on our vacation.

The first leg of our flight took us to Charlotte, North Carolina. I don’t sleep well on flights, so I was pretty tired when we landed in Charlotte and waited a few hours for our next flight to San Juan. I tried to get some sleep, but airport floors aren’t very comfortable.

Saturday, February 1

When our flight landed in San Juan, Puerto Rico we got our bags, the girls went and changed out of their pajamas and into their first cute outfits of the trip. When we walked out of the airport doors to get a taxi to the cruise port, I could immediately feel the heat and humidity. It felt great.

The check-in process was extremely easy. We didn’t have to wait in line much at all, and Royal Caribbean made the whole process easy. It went so fast that we had plenty of time to board our home for the next week, the Jewel of the Seas, eat a quick meal, and then have a few hours to go explore San Juan.

We took a taxi to Castillo de San Cristóbal, part of the San Juan National Historic site and started looking around. We goofed around, took a lot of pictures, and started walking the streets of Old San Juan.

When we got to the giant park at Castillo San Felipe del Morro we found a great place to chill. Manina and I sat on the steps overlooking the park, just watching the people and kites while some of the other couples went out to explore El Morro or some old graveyards they had seen.

When we all regrouped, we walked the cobbled streets of Old San Juan. We walked by an old cathedral where a wedding was finishing up, and fun music was playing. We tucked into souvenir shops, purchased street food, and bummed around the city for a few hours. We found a guy harvesting mangoes from a tree and had a few bites. Then, it was time to head back to the ship.

Back aboard the Jewel of the Seas, we unpacked a little bit, rested for a few minutes, and then headed up to our first of many dinners together. We met our wait staff, Lilibeth and Alexis, and enjoyed our first meal together.

After dinner, the group wanted to attend the All-Aboard Show. Our cruise director was over-the-top cheesy (even for a cruise director). I’m not usually a fan of cruise-ship entertainment anyway, and this guy made me cringe at the thought of suffering through future events.

We escaped the All-Aboard show and decided to explore the ship and find some hot tubs. We joined a really nice couple from Charlotte in the hot tubs and started chatting all together. We found out they were fellow Mormons, but were struggling with their faith a little bit. But, when they started talking about their son who recently returned from a mission, they couldn’t stop talking.

After our full day traveling and then exploring San Juan we were very tired, so we retired to our rooms and planned to meet in the morning.