Alas, the time for our family holiday came! We were all leaving via Jet Blue from Logan Airport in the early afternoon to San Juan, PR. Kasen was such a good boy - he loves to travel just like his mom and dad! Seriously, no complaints here. He watched some shows on JetBlue's direcTV and also played his dino puzzles. Since the flight was mid afternoon I knew he would ultimately nap - and nap he did. He ultimately dozed off while watching an episode of Doc McStuffins using my iPhone headphones;) I nabbed some extra snacks for him for the road, Terra Blue Chips and Popcorn chips for the win!
On the plane! Viva Jet Blue, we love you!
When we landed in San Juan we didn't realize that the Marriott Courtyard Isla Verde (where we were staying) was so close to the airport. We were all tired and hungry for the flight and while we were on a search for these giant sandwiches that my Uncle kept raving about per his coworker we decided just to stay put and look for them in Old San Juan on the trip back after the cruise. The recommendation from the concierge was a restaurant down the street, which was maybe a 10 minute walk from the hotel. Service was a bit slow, and plates were pricey, but the food was pretty good. We loved the pollo chicarones (I think fried chicken skin?) and the churrasco mofongo (skirt steak with the famous mashed plantains) which was incredibly soft and bursting with flavor. For 9 of us, it cost over $200 for the group bill just for dinner (we didn't order any drinks or dessert). After having learned our lesson that night, in the morning we head to Las Canarias Bakery, which is what we should have done the night before! It's more cafeteria style and much more affordable, not to mention they are open 24 hours and everything is delicious, particularly the plates and baked goods. We picked up fresh squeezed orange juice, delicious Puerto Rican cafe con leche, some local guava pastries and to my surprise an incredibly delicious sandwich called the Sandwich de Churrasco that consists of grilled skirt steak, potato stix, tomato and ketchup in a crunchy on the outside soft on the inside pan de sobao (massaged bread). Heaven. Kasen doesn't usually like sandwiches, but he ate about half of this one. I was thrilled and sad at the same time because that meant there was less for me to finish off (I don't eat until he finishes eating - in other words, I eat all of his leftovers, after all - isn't that what moms do?)
Day 2- Cruising!
We made it onto Royal Caribbean's Adventure of the Seas. Four generations of us, wow! Admittedly it's smaller than the one that I went on several years ago with Ken and friends (we were aboard the Serenade of the Seas) but honestly the ship is still gargantuan. The room was tight but honestly we spent very little time there. It is ridiculous how much food we ate on the ship, and how often we all uh, went #2.
Day 3 - Bridgetown, Barbados
We literally were on a tour bus the entire time with no cool pictures to speak of! D'oh!
Day 4 - Castries, St. Lucia
Beautiful St. Lucia. Lawrence was our driver from Real St. Lucia Tours and drove our van around where we saw the island in its entirety. It is mountainous and incredibly treacherous to drive around as the roads wound around mountains. It is a bio-diverse island with rainforests, and we also had a chance to pass through several towns including Soufriere where we had an amazing local lunch that was incredibly delicious (we all finished our plates clean). We enjoyed local bananas (best banana I've ever had!) at a local banana plantation - it takes a banana plant 9 months to grow to its adult size! We saw Le Pitones, and also drove through St. Lucia's volcano. But we almost didn't make it back to the ship - we barely made it, with just 10 minutes to spare before the ship departed!
Day 5 - St. Johns, Antigua
Day 6 - Philipsburg, St. Maarten
Day 7 - Back in San Juan, Puerto Rico
This time we were staying at the Marriott Stellaris. Gorgeous resort. I would be back in a heartbeat to vacation with family. It's an easy flight for a quick getaway. This particular Marriott is well situated, is super family oriented, and is ultra modern. We loved the rooms, the lobby, the free wifi, the amenities. Condado Beach is right outside and they give you a whole binful of sand toys to choose from for the kids to play with. Kasen had a blast! We spent some time exploring and eating in Old San Juan and searching for that elusive "giant sandwich" restaurant. We ate at Fefo's where I got my favorite sandwich de churrasco - the fried fish tacos were amazing as well! In all, while delicious, it wasn't the place we were looking for. It was happy hour so I ordered a mojito, making my mom and uncle try some. Finally we gave up and had to ask my uncle's co-worker. We found out it was a FOOD TRUCK called Tico Tripleta. If we hadn't checked with him, we would never have found it as we were looking for a brick and mortar resto! In all, we'll definitely be back.
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