Barcelona and Transatlantic Cruise 2008 – Day 19 – San Juan, Puerto Rico
December 15, 2008
Well, it had to happen and today it did. Our wonderful cruise of 2008, the transatlantic voyage, came to an end when we docked in San Juan, Puerto Rico and were forced to disembark from the ship. Unfortunately, it was not a pleasant experience.
The Celebrity Summit docked in San Juan a little before 5 AM in the morning. Expecting some immigration difficulties, the disembarkation proceedings were not scheduled to begin until 7:30 am. We arose about 7 so that we could clear out of the room and get some breakfast at about 8. We were not scheduled for disembarkation until 9:15 since we were staying in San Juan for a night.
We managed to hook up with our new found British friends Roy and Jennifer in the Waterfall Cafe for breakfast. We reminisced a bit about the cruise and the great times that we had on it. It was nice to see them again from breakfast and make sure we said our goodbyes. We exchanged some contact info and hopefully will run into them again some day.
After breakfast we took one last trip around the cruise ship snapping a few pictures of San Juan and getting once last good look at the Celebrity Summit. We gathered our carry on luggage and reported to our disembarkation station. They were running well over 30 minutes late in the process due to Customs issues.
It was finally about 10:00 or so when we got the word to disembark. We did not get far off the ship when we ran into a huge line at the Customs check point. Disembarking in San Juan is a complete mess. They had a whopping 4 lines open for Customs. That’s 4 lines for a cruise ship of almost 2000 folks. Simple math tells you that means and extremely long wait – in a non-air conditioned warehouse/hanger. The facilities were amongst the worst I have seen in cruising and the utter lack of stuff was incomprehensible.
It took us about 75 minutes to reach the actual Customs window. And only about 30 seconds to be waved on through. This was the case with most US Citizens. It took much longer for the foreign nationals who had to be fingerprinted and photographed. Why they didn’t have different US Citizens and non US Citizens lanes like every other Airport or Cruise Terminal I have been in around the World (or citizen vs visitor) is beyond me. The embarkation process for the next set of passengers looked to be just as fouled with the lack of normal pre-thought planning. It’s a safe bet that the disembarkation process in San Juan left a bad enough taste in our mouths that it is unlikely we will every start or end a cruise in San Juan again.
On the good side though, once through Customs we were able to fly out of there. Finding the bags was pretty easy and they were all there. We gathered them up, went outside and hailed a van tax right away. Suzanne had booked the Sheraton Old San Juan hotel for the night using points from my business travels. Plus, she thought it was right across from the pier. Well, actually it is right across the street from the Continental Pier which is used by Cruise Ships for day visits. But, since we were disembarking, we docked at the Pan American Pier on the other side of the harbor. Not a big deal as it was a simple $20 cab ride to the hotel with our 10 pieces of luggage.
We had thought about doing some touring of Old San Juan but everyone was pretty exhausted. The kids just wanted to swim in the rooftop pool and Suzanne and I really didn’t feel like walking around another town. The one place we did want to go was Fort Cristobal but we could see it from the hotel window, so we called it good enough. Yeah, cheesy, but we had been on the go for almost three weeks now.
We even grabbed lunch at the hotel restaurant, A Chicago Burger Company establishment. For dinner, Suzanne walked two blocks down the road and got Subway sandwiches for everyone. The kids swam for hours and we got a bit of hot tub time in. Basically, it was about the right ending to a wonderful, but long trip.
The Celebrity Summit was supposed to set sail from San Juan at 10:00 that night and we wanted to see her sail (unfortunately, without us). The girls were unable to stay awake though and crashed early. Sean and I were on the roof to watch the departure. We say the Royal Caribbean Adventure of the Seas leave at about 9:50 but the Summit remained docked. Finally, at about 10:20 we gave up and went to bed.
I suspect Celebrity was waiting for some additional passengers to arrive. They did the same thing in Barcelona when a plane from Denver with almost 30 passengers was delayed. There was as many passengers on the same plane for the Royal Caribbean ship that was leaving Barcelona at the same time as us too, but Royal Caribbean didn’t wait. It was odd to perhaps see a similar replay of waiting vs not waiting in San Juan. I don’t know if the Celebrity passengers booked their air through Celebrity and the Royal Caribbean passengers didn’t or what but strange how one waited and one did not.
Anyways, tomorrow we fly back home and the vacation will be over. It will be hard to go back to work on Monday.
Barcelona and Transatlantic Cruise 2008 – Day 13 – Atlantic Crossing
December 8, 2008
Today was our first full sea day as part of the Atlantic Crossing having begun the journey yesterday upon leaving Las Palmas and the Canary Islands behind us. The weather immediately improved and the seas were cooperating.
Today was our first real chance to enjoy the pool and the outdoors for any length of time. The weather permitted shorts and a t-shirt as it warmed to near 80 degrees with minimal wind and sun. The seas were also quite calm with a mere 2 foot swells. The bridge crew also informed us that, while there were no guarantees, it was looking like we might could count on the same weather and sea state for the entire crossing – quite remarkable for a December crossing. The ocean floor sits about 18,000 feet below us.
The activities staff had a bunch of stuff planned for the passengers to keep them occupied during the day. Suzanne and the kids spend each night highlighting the activities they want to do on “the dailyâ€. Both kids planned much time in the Fun Factory while Suzanne attended a bunch of trivia game contests.
At 11:30 AM we attended the Senior Officers Cocktail Party which is for Select and Elite Captains Club members. It was a very well attended party and it was very pleasurable to actually see the Captain their greeting you at the door and shaking your hand. On most of our recent cruises, the Captain wouldn’t even shake your hand for fear of Norovirus. We enjoyed a couple glasses of champagne on Celebrity and mingled with some of the guests we had met on the cruise.
As the first day of the crossing, the ship was also having a huge brunch service in the main dining room vs a standard lunch service. They had an incredible amount of food from, of course, breakfast and lunch, including carving stations. Suzanne had arranged ahead of time to dine with about 10 other folks from the Cruise Critic group that was on the ship. It was enjoyable and some folks I hadn’t yet really spent any time with.
Normally, the Cruise Critic group gets a special reception thrown by the ship early in the cruise. As mentioned in an earlier post, that party was attended by 100 folks. The unofficial “leader†of the group has been hard at work though trying to arrange other activities for the group. This week she has now put together an additional party, a tour of the gallery and a special tour of the helipad on the bow of the ship. I am looking forward to getting on the helipad.
We also attended a wine tasting in the afternoon. It was a introductory type level wine tasting but still enjoyable to sample some wines. We sat with some folks from Wisconsin who weren’t really wine drinkers, so it was fun to help translate some of the stuff the sommelier was saying. We still have a special invitation Chardonnay blending seminar coming up later in the cruise that we are looking forward to.
After the wine tasting, we enjoyed some time poolside. I hung out at the mast bar with our British friends Roy and Jennifer while Suzanne and Sean spent some time in the hot tub and pool. Roy and Jennifer are Elite Captains Club members (we are Select though I think we make Elite after this cruise or the next) and they have been invited to a tour of the bridge. Jennifer has done this before and doesn’t want to go, so Roy is working to get permission to take Sean on the tour instead. He asked the Cruise Director who said sure, but he wants to check with the Captains Club folks first. Sean is pretty excited about the opportunity to see the bridge – heck, even I haven’t seen the bridge on a cruise ship yet. Call me a bit jealous.
Last night was also our second formal night of the cruise. After getting all dolled up in our tuxes and formal gowns, we enjoyed a pre-dinner glass of champagne in the Champagne Bar. For dinner, Savannah enjoyed a nicely prepared Rigatoni alla Amatriciana which is a wonderful Italian pasta dish. When in Rome on business, it’s my second favorite pasta dish only to Carbonarra. Sean, Suzanne and I all enjoyed a perfectly cooked Filet Mignon. Hats off to Celebrity for another fine meal.
Being a formal night, that meant another production show by the Celebrity Singers and Dancers after dinner. This show was entitled a Night of Stars. I have to say, once again, that I came away a bit disappointed in the show. It was still a pretty good show, just not as good as I have come accustomed to on Celebrity cruises. The singing was good but not memorable. The dancing was just ordinary. The choreography was actually a bit on the cheesy side with simple single or double turns and arm waving. I don’t know if the choreography was just not that good or if it was that way because the dancers aren’t really capable of more intricate dance moves. Even the kids and Suzanne agreed with me on this show. At the end of the production shows on Celebrity, the crowd usually gives them a standing ovation. At the end of this show, only one or two persons were standing, so I think most folks were in agreement too. It’s too bad too since we usually find the production numbers the highlight of the entertainment shows. The costumes, however, were still quite stunning. Suzanne had the camera and snapped some pictures, so hopefully that will come out when we get our photo album up after the cruise.
After the show, we moved to the Martini Bar to enjoy a nightcap with Roy and Jennifer. It was a nice peaceful way to close out a very fun first sea day on our Atlantic Crossing.
Tomorrow is sure to be fun once again, but sadly, the days have flown by too fast and there are not too many more days left.
-
Subscribe via Email
Sign up to receive the latest Mr Papa's World site updates! -
Subscribe via RSS
