Some background on us: DH & I are both 34 and run a very busy B&B in Gettysburg, PA which keeps us hopping 7 days a week about 10 months out of the year. We were first time cruisers and were looking for some quality "together time" while still getting a lot of adventure and excitement out of our vacation. We are beach lovers and new snorkelers so we chose the South Caribbean itinerary for this, and chose RCCL Serenade because we wanted to try a "smaller" ship for our first cruise. We are price conscious but never mind paying more for great service/amenities, especially service as we spend so much of our time taking care of others.

We flew into San Juan one day pre-cruise. Upon arrival we took a cab to Old San Juan where we had a one night reservation at the El Convento Hotel. This was probably our biggest "splurge" of the trip, we are history buffs and so wanted to stay right in the old city where we could walk to the forts, etc and as we run a B&B I couldn't resist the idea of a small luxury hotel. We feel it was worth every penny! The hotel is GORGEOUS...the architecture, the colors, the marble everywhere...the open courtyard in the middle of the building is jaw dropping, with the warm breeze blowing through...we were thrilled. We were too early for check-in (arrived about 12:30 PM) but we were given a key to use the pool/hot tub and the bellhop station stored our bags for us. We grabbed a bite in the hotel's courtyard cafe...typically overpriced for hotel food but the quality was excellent and the service very friendly. I should interject here that all of the service at the El Convento was exceptionally friendly.

After lunch we took off with our Frommer's Guide on the walking tour of Old San Juan. Everything was still decorated for Christmas which was beautiful. The old wall and gate of the city were incredible, as were the beautiful and brightly colored shops and restaurants. Very vibrant and felt very welcoming. El Morro was our favorite stop, we took about 1.5 hours to go through this fascinating fort. We are history fanatics, so "regular" people probably wouldn't need as much time to spend here but we loved it! Read more