TransAtlantic Cruise begins 3/28-29, 2019

Our cruise takes us from San Juan, Puerto Rico to Barcelona, Spain. Today and tomorrow we spend getting to San Juan and then familiarizing ourselves with ship.

Our flights go smoothly. We change planes in Dallas and are lucky enough to catch a ride between gates with a friendly driver whose job it seems is to pick up bedraggled seniors. The flight from Dallas to San Juan has a dinner that is not horrible and includes a vanilla/ice cream cone crumble dessert. I sleep a bit and we arrive in San Juan around 10:15.

Short ribs with macaroni and cheese with sad green beans-not terrible airplane food!

John’s luggage arrives well before mine and that causes a moment of panic on my part. We are anxious to get to the hotel because it is warm in the terminal. But it is much warmer and humid when we step outside! Wow, we are not prepared for the humidity. It is 11 PM and still 81 degree and very damp.

The luggage carousel in San Juan. John calls it luggage roulette.

Our hotel, Embassy Suites is still recovering from the hurricane but it is pretty basic regardless. We have a large-ish room that has very little furniture – a bed and dresser and a small low table with two plastic chairs. It is very minimalist to say the least.  We turn the air conditioning on full blast and try to get to sleep but are bodies are still on Pacific time and it is hard to sleep.

View from our window. We can see the ocean!
Embassy Suites minimalism

In the morning we go downstairs for breakfast which is not great and later catch a taxi to the ship. The taxi driver talks about the troubles that Puerto Rico is still suffering from the hurricane, the mean things that President Trump has said about the island and its inhabitants, and how the Governor of Puerto Rico would like to punch Trump in the mouth. So, no love here.

Yay, we are on the ship and in our nice suite!

Living room
Bedroom
Closet/dressing area
Bathroom

We go down to lunch and introduce ourselves to the receptionists, wait staff, and bartender. Everyone is super nice.

John having a beer at lunch
My lunch of salmon and salads – Very good!

After lunch we go to the Explorer’s Lounge where one of the staff recognizes John. Unfortunately most of the staff who were on the ship the last time we took a cruise have moved on to other ships or are on vacation. But we will make new friends.

Mary tries one of John’s favs, negroni sbagliato

After a much needed short nap it is time for the safety drill. We follow the safety drill with a visit to the Explorer Lounge where we have a celebratory sail away negroni sbagliato.

Sailing away from San Juan (in the upper left)

Dinner is at the Chef’s Table where we have the Xiang menu. All of our friends have moved on to other ships here too. But we are busy buttering up the new staff. I hope it pays off.

Amuse bouche – hot and sour soup paired with a Marrenon Blanc
First course – fried prawns and Quinta da Aveleda, an Albariño from Portugal
Main course – wok fried beef and Donnafugata Sherazade from Sicily

There is also a yummy mango tapioca pudding for dessert.

Finally we end up in the Living Room where there is a pianist and we enjoy an Irish coffee. We meet some Canadian folks who are nice and want to draft us on to their team for trivia. We say sure.

After a long day we are happy to go to sleep in our bed which has been provided with some smaller pillows and a top sheet. Yay!

 

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