From Port to Pool at El San Juan

Four weeks ago today Hubby and I were getting our feet back on solid ground after two amazing weeks aboard the beautiful Caribbean Princess ship.  Embarkation that sunny Sunday morning was not as smooth as one would've hoped, but we were in no rush as we weren't flying out that day like many of our fellow cruisers.

We met in the Explorer's Lounge at our appointed time of 8:30 am and were finally able to get off board after 9am.  Usually at disembarkation you're able to take your cruise card home as a souvenir, but this time they asked for them back. We could only assume this was so they could easily have a way to reimburse everyone on board of their fare and give us the 25% credit on that fare in light of the propulsion issues that brought us back to San Juan early.

Once off board and through customs, Hubby and I grabbed a cab and headed to the Isle Verde beach area of San Juan (not too far from the airport).  Our cab pulled up in front of the El San Juan Resort and Casino around 10am and we head to the lobby to check-in, realizing that a room was more than likely not available just yet.  We were right on that (no room yet) but they were very kind and directed us to where we could store our luggage and then we changed into our swimsuits we'd packed into our carryon bag and ventured out to the pool area.

This resort was a perfect way to end our vacation as it was so peaceful and restful.  Because we had a few bags with us still (not wanting to leave our valuables in storage), we took turns wandering about the grounds, checking out the place.  The beach here, although not as glorious as some we'd seen the previous week, was wonderful and to dig our toes in the sand one last time was a true gift!

Around 3:30 I head into the lobby to do early check-in for our flights home and checked again with the front desk about our room.  FINALLY, we weren't homeless bag people by the pool and we were given the keys to our Jr. Suite (thank you HHonors points yet again!).  We were quite impressed with our room, minus the view of the casino roof (and wee hours of the morning casino patrons' voices as they grabbed cabs to wherever they were heading).

After quickly settling into the room we changed and went to walk the beach, grab some dinner and then  take another quick jaunt to the beach before heading back to the room to organize our bags for the trip home the next morning.

Tomorrow I'll fill you in on the hideous trip home to conclude our travel adventures ... for now!