Destiny 5/21  5/28 Arrived in San Juan on Sat. night and stayed at Radisson Ambassador. The taxi ride from the airport to the hotel was $27 plus tip. Note that the people who write the tickets for the taxis are outside the doors from the baggage claim and were wearing Orange shirts. The Radisson was fairly nice. It is an upgrade from Holiday Inn but is not a Marriott. We paid $147 for 3 people on Hotwire. We originally booked the Comfort Inn, but got scared when reading reviews. The Walgreens is 3 to 4 long blocks from the hotel but we were able to purchase water and soda to carry onboard with us. There is a Burger King and a Subway right across the street and numerous restaurants and cafes in the area.

We took a taxi to the pier, I think around $10. We arrived at about 11:30 and the lines were not long. I highly recommend getting a porter, he does take you to the front of the line and it is quite a distance from the street back to the area where you turn over your luggage. Once the luggage was taken, we went up the escalator where the lines start for check in. As members of CVC (Carnival Vacation Club) we got VIP check in which was an awesome perk. No line and they do everything for you right there, then you have a nice lounge to sit in while waiting for boarding. As VIP you are the first to board and in fact we were the first ones on. After you check in, but before you go through screening to check in, there is the famous liquor store. They will tell you right up front, it is no secret that you can carry on anything that fits in your carry on bag. And yes they do have Kahlua which is wonderful when mixed with the soft serve ice cream. Our room was ready so we dumped our bags and headed out to Old San Juan. We did return for dinner which is open seating the first night. Most of our luggage had been delivered by then. The lifeboat drill is a nightmare. We purposely waited late to get to our muster station because those are the people that are up front closest to the fresh air. It took twice as long because we had to do everything in English and then again in Spanish. This was par for the course throughout the entire cruise.

The first port is St. Thomas, been there many times so we did the St. John snorkeling tour thru Carnival. It was nice to do that early because by the time we got downtown that afternoon the crowds had really thinned out. Read more