Puerto Rico and Southern Caribbean Cruise Jan 2020 - Day 2 - San Juan, PR

Castillo San Felipe del Morro and Embarkation

I woke up before the alarm went off and sort of relaxed in bed for awhile before getting everyone up and ready for the day. We went downstairs for our free “breakfast” which was really minimal. Perhaps one of the most minimal hotel breakfasts I’ve yet encountered. They had bread and bagels for toast, blueberry muffins, yogurt, two kinds of cereal, cold ham and sliced cheese. As far as liquids water, orange juice, milk and coffee were available. We ate a little bit before requesting an Uber to take us to Castillo San Felipe del Morro, aka “El Morro.”



We arrived at the fort just as they were opening. We had a good time exploring the fort which has a great overview of both the history of Puerto Rico and San Juan as well as the fort. We stayed for a little over an hour before we made our way to a little coffee shop nearby where we had more of a substantial breakfast and some good coffee.











After this, we took an Uber back to our hotel where we relaxed for a few minutes before gathering up our belongings, checking out and getting (yet another) Uber to the port. It’s worth noting that last year we did rent a car because we were staying an extra day and wanted to explore further afield. But car rentals here are expensive (plus auto insurance from mainland USA generally doesn’t cover Puerto Rico so that’s an added expense) and it’s expensive and difficult to park in Old San Juan so we decided Uber would be cheaper. In the end, we made the right call spending around $30 total for all the aforementioned Uber trips (including the trip from the airport the first day).

We arrived at the port a little after noon, dropped off our bags and went through security, all of which took about 10 minutes. Much better than last year where it took a very long time. There was a longer check-in line than we were expecting, however so that took a little while. However, by the time we got into the main boarding area, we didn’t have to wait as they were boarding everyone regardless of boarding group and we boarded at around 12:40.

We headed directly to Cabana’s to enjoy some lunch. After lunch, we split up and Roger went to the room since it was 1:30 and it should have been ready, while I took Emmaline over to Edge to get checked in to the tween club for her first time. She was a little uncertain since it was to be her very first time in this club.

We went down to the room and I unpacked our carry on. Emmaline wanted to swim and slide so Roger went with her up to the pool deck while I got some things organized from our carry-on. At 2:30 it was time for the meet and greet with the members of our Facebook group so Emmaline quickly showered and we went to the new French Quarter Lounge (formerly the Promenade Lounge) to meet up with the friends we had made on Facebook.

At 3:30 we left there and went back to the room and did some unpacking as the suitcases had been delivered. We organized and unpacked ahead of the muster drill at 4:15. After the muster drill, Emmaline went to the deck 9 to watch the sail away party, while Roger and I went to deck 10, however, once there, we discovered the sail away party had been moved to the atrium due to the possibility of rain. Roger and I had zero interest in joining the mob in the atrium so we stayed up on deck 10 in the not at all rainy weather and had some snacks.


(It takes a lot of shoes to take a Disney cruise, apparently.)

At 5:30 we returned to the room to regroup and get ready to head the show. The show for the evening was the first of several variety entertainers and we had not seen this one before. He was a juggler by the name of Charles Peachock. He had a very entertaining show and we enjoyed it quite a lot. After his show, we went to do Disney Tunes Trivia. We did Disney Tunes Trivia last year and it was fun so we decided to do it again. We came to discover it was the same tunes. You’d think that this would mean we would ace it, but alas we did not. (Note to self: Minnie Driver is the voice of Jane in “Tarzan.”) We came in fourth place, however, missing 4 questions out of 45. (Second note to self: Bruno is the name of the dog in Peter Pan.) Not too bad, really. (Third note to self: The name of the song from “Tarzan” is “Strangers Like Me.”) I just wish they would maybe switch it up so it wasn’t the same thing. (Fourth note to self: Donnie Osmond provided the male singing voice in “Mulan.”)

Anywho, after that, we went off to dinner, starting this cruise in Animator’s Palate, which is always a favorite of Emmaline’s. It’s actually one of my least favorite menus, with the exception of the truffle pasta pursettes, which were tasty as always. It’s just the entree I have a hard time with. Our table mates seem nice and not crazy, which is good since that can be a crapshoot. They’re also a family of three and their daughter and Emmaline became fast friends. Seated across from one another over a round table, they ended up texting each other through the meal, which was sort of hilarious if a bit on the nose for a couple of tweens. After dinner they ran off to Edge to do some activities there together.

Roger and I went back to the room for a few minutes to relax before making our way to Azure (club that becomes adults-only after 9 PM). When we walked in, they were in the middle of finishing up a game, but we noticed that one of our favorite cruise staff, Darrell, was the club host and he was killing it. After that game wrapped up (basically family feud, but with the room divided into two teams) we watched Lynn Trefzger’s show. We saw her when we were on the Magic a few years back and she is a hilarious ventriloquist. Her show was very similar to the adult one we saw previously but it was still quite funny.  After the show we were able to catch up with Darrell a little bit, which was nice. We originally met him on the Magic where we connected over our love of Zelda (and all things geeky) and each cruise we’ve been on where he’s been on board, he’s always made our cruise a little brighter.

Roger and I came back to the room and got ready for bed and Emmaline was still at Edge and not ready to come back to the room so we went to bed. She eventually came back at a little after midnight, having closed the place down.

Click here for Day 3.