San Juan Pre Cruise -- We arrived on Friday - glad we did, it was nice to not be on a time schedule the first couple of days of vacation. We stayed at the Marriott - Condado. Nice hotel, clean, friendly staff (the only bad parts - the noisy neighbors and the minor losses in the casino). We were able to walk to near by restaurants for breakfast and dinner. There was also an Internet cafe a half block away - 20 minutes for $3. Also - there was a Walgreen's across the street - we bought a case of bottled water and stuffed a bottle here and there (wherever it would fit) to take on board.

Saturday we went to El Morro and Old San Juan. Both nice to see.

Sunday -- Embarkation We left the hotel via cab ($10 plus $1. per bag) at 12 p.m. and we're on the ship and in our room by 1 p.m. They did give us a note that we were not able to go to our room until 1:30 p.m. but we saw the steward finishing up the room so we dropped our luggage and went to eat and tour the ship. We were on the Verandah Deck; Cabin 8164, overall a decent cabin -- we had booked a balcony gte. The only downfall was the room was closest room to the elevator and if you aren't a sound sleeper (like me) you get the pleasure of hearing the elevator chimes. We asked to be moved the first day, but the ship was sold out. I got used to it after a couple of days. Read more