On September 11, Justin and I did what I'm sure many people were afraid to do - we flew on a jet! We haven't taken a vacation since August 2005, so I think we were due one. For years, Justin and I have talked about taking a cruise of the Southern Caribbean. One of the main things keeping us from booking the cruise was the fact that most cruises that hit the islands we wanted to visit originated in San Juan, Puerto Rico. In addition to the cruise fees, we would have to get flights to and from Puerto Rico. Previously, our budget wouldn't allow this. Earlier this spring, we finally bit the bullet and booked our vacation. I think we booked about five or six months before the cruise left. Needless to say, we've been incredibly excited for half a year.
It goes without saying that the tenth anniversary of one of the worst days in US history was on my mind. How could it not be with all TV news channels in the airport broadcasting memorial services? On a side note, I couldn't figure out why people were glued to the airport TVs, watching broadcasts that relived the day when four jets were high jacked and crashed into buildings and a field. Honestly, I really wasn't concerned about flying on September 11, 2011. I felt confident that security would be pretty tight that day and a flight from Jacksonville, FL to San Juan, Puerto Rico is probably not at the top of terrorists' target lists.
We chose to fly out of Jacksonville because we dropped off Pete and Annabelle in South Georgia. It also cost less to fly from Jacksonville instead of Atlanta. This was my first time flying out of Jacksonville and I was pleased. We paid $32 total to park in Jacksonville. We would have paid over $100 at the Atlanta airport. I was also happy to be flying JetBlue. I've never flown JetBlue and I've heard good things about them. They did not disappoint. We got there, safely, on-time, and with our luggage. You can't really ask for more than that! The comfortable seats were an added bonus.
Our jet being prepared for our flight from JAX to SJU.
It goes without saying that the tenth anniversary of one of the worst days in US history was on my mind. How could it not be with all TV news channels in the airport broadcasting memorial services? On a side note, I couldn't figure out why people were glued to the airport TVs, watching broadcasts that relived the day when four jets were high jacked and crashed into buildings and a field. Honestly, I really wasn't concerned about flying on September 11, 2011. I felt confident that security would be pretty tight that day and a flight from Jacksonville, FL to San Juan, Puerto Rico is probably not at the top of terrorists' target lists.
We chose to fly out of Jacksonville because we dropped off Pete and Annabelle in South Georgia. It also cost less to fly from Jacksonville instead of Atlanta. This was my first time flying out of Jacksonville and I was pleased. We paid $32 total to park in Jacksonville. We would have paid over $100 at the Atlanta airport. I was also happy to be flying JetBlue. I've never flown JetBlue and I've heard good things about them. They did not disappoint. We got there, safely, on-time, and with our luggage. You can't really ask for more than that! The comfortable seats were an added bonus.
Our jet being prepared for our flight from JAX to SJU.
Chilling before the flight.
Waiting for take-off.
I love flights that provide flight in-flight maps of your journey. Based on our altitude, we had been descending for a while as we approached Puerto Rico.
The airport in San Juan is slightly different than what I'm used to seeing at the Atlanta airport.
This sight convinced me that the airport in San Juan was actually a normal commercial airport.
Once we claimed our bags, we stepped outside to grab a taxi. It seems that tourism is a big part of the Puerto Rican economy because they have tourism groups who help people get cabs to their destinations around the island. It was around 4:00 p.m. and we wanted to get some food in San Juan. Since our ship didn't leave port until 10:00 p.m., we had plenty of time to hit a restaurant before heading to the port. Naturally, Justin and I ended up with a cab driver who didn't speak any English. Many of the people in San Juan seemed to know English and Spanish, but this lady did not. I would like to thank my high school Spanish teacher, Senora Jones, for being such a good profesora. I communicated to the cab driver that we wanted comidas bueno. She drove to a local restaurant and said, "Comidas bueno aqui" which means "Good food here."
I cannot remember the name of the restaurant, but Club Gallistico de Puerto Rico was next door.
Based on the signage below, I don't think much dancing goes on at Club Gallistico de Puerto Rico.
The food was muy deliciosa (very delicious)! Justin had a crab stew and I had an appetizer sampler which consisted of some kind of fried corn sticks, fried cheese, and mozzarella sticks. Don't judge me for eating so much fried food. It was our vacation. The service was also wonderful. After we ate, we got another cab and headed to the port. We stopped at a grocery store to grab a couple of bottles of wine for the cruise. San Juan seems like a typical US city.
There's the Carnival Victory, our home for the next seven nights!
Our room's decor appeared to be straight out of the late eighties or early nineties. What was so surprising to us was that the ship was built in 2000. I do not remember this being the style in 2000. You might not can tell this from the photos, but the walls are a peachy-pink color. They coordinated with the pink tiled bathrooms. This loveliness did not interfere with our enjoyment of the cruise, but it was puzzling to Justin and me.
We left the San Juan port right at 10:00 p.m. After exploring the ship for a little while, we found ourselves in the South China Sea Club, which is the ship's name of the casino. I played the $0.01 and $0.02 slots while Justin mastered roulette. After a little gambling, we called it a night and headed to our room so we could be rested for the next day in Saint Thomas, US Virgin Islands.
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