The wife and I are headed on a cruise next month and I was hoping some of you have been to some of these ports-of-call. Perhaps you can shed some light on what I should (or shouldn't) see in some of these. Anything I definitely shouldn't miss?
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas
Philipsburg, St. Maarten
St. John's, Antigua
Castries, St. Lucia
Bridgetown, Barbados
At Sea
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Due to flight schedules, we're staying one night in San Juan at a pretty sweet beach-side resort, so we're going to skip the SJ tours as we hit Old San Juan a few years ago and could do without the Bacardi tour. I need to get my money's worth from this resort (read: overpriced, but with a Ruth's Chris).
Old San Juan is gorgeous just to walk about the old streets..and take in the old buildings. Of course the fort itself is pretty cool. Nice views 'n pics. Much of it is typical "tourist stuff"...as it's one of the main tourist spots of Puerto Rico. My favorite places on that island are on the other end of the island...Arecibo,
Isabela, and one of the best places to dive around there...La Parguera.
There's not much beach around San Juan...so cannot appreciate the beachs of Puerto Rico based on your site there. The landscape is high and hilly in this corner of the island.
If you have a full day....I forget how long it took to drive from San Juan to the place...there's a tropical rain forest that makes for some nice hiking...called El Yunque. I forget the travel time from San down to it...maybe about 1 hour each way. This time of year...it won't be in full color yet, but still..if you're into hiking on small trails throughout a tropical rainforst...it's neat.
Or...drive west along the north edge towards Isabel..that's where the shoreline starts to drop lower..and the gorgeous beaches begin. Will be a bit cool still, due to season and it's the north shore.
"Must try" local foods recommended by the Cat Man
*Pollo Carbon (rotisserie chicken)
*Mufungo (A thick stew like meal, plantains/garlic/seafood or pork/pork rind)
*Pastelez (sorta like a starchy burrito cooked in a banana leaf)
*Carrucho (spell?) a cold appetizer salad made with octopus *(edit..or maybe it's conch based)
*Arroz con pollo (classic chicken/rice/beans dish)
MORNING WOOD Lumber Company
Guinness for Strength!!!
Thanks, Cat! Still not sure if we're going to be exploring San Juan for the fact that we won't be off the the boat until 9a or so and then we have to be ON a jet the next morning at 6a and have a nice room at a beach-side resort. We'll probably use the sand (and bar) as much as possible.
As for the foods, I'll certainly be trying some of that out. It sounds awesome!
mountainman wrote:
As for the foods, I'll certainly be trying some of that out. It sounds awesome!
Downtown has quite a bit to choose from. It is, since it's a heavy tourist spot...heavily populated with all sorts of restaurants. You have your Italian restaurants, American style..and a few crossing over. What I prefer to do is go to the authentic local style ones...I love to eat the common foods of the region that I'm in.
As for foods of the other island you'll be hitting..oh boy, it's just morning here...and my mouth is salivating at the thoughts!
MORNING WOOD Lumber Company
Guinness for Strength!!!
Yeah, we spent a solid day in Old San Juan a few years ago. It was after another cruise and it was great. We stopped and ate at a little hole in the wall. They made a GREAT drink. (Maybe that's why the food was so good?)
The hotel we used on that trip wasn't close to anything touristy so we were walking around looking for a spot. We found a spot serving Arroz Con Pollo to a bunch of PR construction workers. I was sold and we ate there. It was fantastic...and cheap.
I'd like to do SCUBA again, buy my wife just had tubes put in her ears, so I don't think we're going to be doing much underwater stuff. Not that I mind relaxing and drinking on the (nude) beach much!
I'll keep that lobster in mind, Cat. Yeah, it certainly doesn't sound as good as a NE lobster.
BTW - Just found out that a lady here in the office has a daughter that works as a chef on a private yacht in St Thomas. I'm trying to hook up an island/yacht tour with her.
(I've met her many times before. She's pretty good lookin'. I'd guess 25.)
Can always do some snorkling/free diving. I can't scuba much anymore...ruptured my eardrum while diving a reef down in Eleuthera (my favorite Bahamian isle)
But some snorkling should be fun.
MORNING WOOD Lumber Company
Guinness for Strength!!!
mountainman wrote:The wife and I are headed on a cruise next month and I was hoping some of you have been to some of these ports-of-call. Perhaps you can shed some light on what I should (or shouldn't) see in some of these. Anything I definitely shouldn't miss?
Due to flight schedules, we're staying one night in San Juan at a pretty sweet beach-side resort, so we're going to skip the SJ tours as we hit Old San Juan a few years ago and could do without the Bacardi tour. I need to get my money's worth from this resort (read: overpriced, but with a Ruth's Chris).
Thanks!
I've been to San Juan, Charlotte Amalie and St. Johns and each has something interesting to offer. Just go and soak it all in, relax, look around, eat, etc. You won't spend a whole lot of time in any of them and if you're like me, you don't want to feel as if you're on a tight schedule to "do this" and "see that." By the time the day's done, yeah sure, maybe you've done those things, but you missed out on the town and culture of the area. Does that make sense?
Congratulations on what plans to be an exciting trip for you both! I've always wanted to go to Barbados...
