This cruise was supposed to be a type of reunion for me. I used to be a police officer and my old precinct was sponsoring a cruise, so I decided to go. One by one people started to drop out. Before you knew it, there were only three people going, myself, my wife, and my friend Kurt who like me, was retired.

We flew into San Juan the day before. When I travel any distance I like to have a buffer in case of a delay. We stayed at the Comfort Inn. The room was clean, the bed was comfortable, but the hotel is showing signs of wear. It needs to be refurbished. The included continental breakfast was okay. Nothing to write home about. The best thing about this hotel is that it's about a 10 minute ride to the pier.

We arrived at the pier at 10:45 am and were on the ship at 11:15! We were literally the third party of passengers aboard! This gave us time to explore the ship. We had been on Brilliance of the Seas, the sister ship of Jewel, so we basically knew our way around. After a quick stroll around, and a bite to eat, the rooms were ready so we dropped off our bags. Our luggage arrived soon after that so, we unpacked. Read more