January 3 - San Juan, Puerto Rico

Weather – 27º, sunny, no clouds

Steps – 10,877

senate building

Being back in the US, means a face-to-face immigration inspection. Everyone on the boat must get off and be inspected before anyone gets back on…EVERYONE. This is not so much for staff, but they need to be seen before any guests are seen. It is an ordeal. We went through this last year when arriving in San Juan, so we expected this. I’m not sure if we have to do this all over again in 2 days when we arrive in Miami after having been in the Bahamas, but probably.

We are in port today for a very short time. By the time our tour got underway we were about an hour behind. This doesn’t bother us at all. One of the reasons we take Regent included excursions is that we don’t worry if they are late. The ship will never leave if a Regent excursion is late…people late on their own…that's another story.

Cuban brown anoles

One thing being late does affect is the order we

Puerto Rican beer

are visiting each site on the tour’s itinerary. Having just been in San Juan last Christmas (Jan 4 actually), we saw a lot of what is offered on the tours. We picked a tour that included a visit to San Juan’s art museum, Fort Christobal and the old city. This was the original order of the visit. We planned to see the museum and then leave the tour (this is totally acceptable) because we visited the fort and the old city last year and just wander back to the port ourselves – it is super close, or so we thought. 

Puerto Rican history

Being late meant we had to change

Puerto Rican artist self portrait

the order of the visit and visit the museum last – this threw a wrench into our plans, but oh well.

Being late also meant our visit to the fort was cut short – too bad for people who hadn’t been there before, but for us it was just fine.

Next we had some free time in the old city – we found a local beer on a

domestic violence piece

charming patio under some trees that we shared with a couple Cuban brown anoles (a type of lizard).

Lastly was the highlight of the tour for us - The San Juan Art Museum. We followed the guide for about an hour as he explained the current exhibition – What it Means to be Puerto Rican. The were pieces of art from colonial times to the present. In addition to seeing the art, the guide gave information about Puerto Rican history.

We were back on board for our 1PM sail away. This is a very short time in

Puerto Rican portraits

port. There must be a reason the ship chooses to call on Puerto Rico, but I

Puerto Rican masks

have no idea. It is a real pain when arriving AFTER being out of the US, plus we were only here a short while. The old town is a charming place close to the port where you can walk around grab lunch, do some shopping, and wander back to the port – this is what we did last year.