Monday, January 02, 2012

Caribbean Cruise Part 1: Puerto Rico

Our first cruise destination was Puerto Rico (I'll recap our days at sea at the end).

This was view from our stateroom as we sailed into Puerto Rico. Pretty!


Old San Juan and The Fort from the ship as we waited to disembark.


We got off our ship and took a ferry over to the part of Puerto Rico where the Bacardi Factory is. This was the view of our ship, The Celebrity Eclipse, from the ferry area.


Then from the ferry it's a short cab ride to the Bacardi Factory. It was really easy to get there so if you ever take a cruise to Puerto Rico, don't pay for an excursion to Bacardi, just go on your own.


The first stop on the tour is a pavilion where you get taste several Bacardi rums. I tasted Bacardi 8 straight and Bacardi Apple with Pineapple juice. Yum!


My parent enjoyed their samples too.


Then you take a little tram for the main tour.


The first stop is a room with the original Bacardi bat. There they told us all about the history of Bacardi, Cuba, rum, etc.


Look, a Bacardi Christmas tree!


Then the tour goes on to some barrel rooms and rooms with artifacts where you can't take pictures, but here's a picture right before that part.


The tour ends with a mixologist who tells you how to make the perfect Bacardi Mojito and other libations.


Then you can go the gift shop and buy rum and anything you can imagine with that Bacardi bat on it. We bought some of the limited reserve rum that (for now) is only available at the Bacardi factory. Sweet!

After the Bacardi tour we explored old San Juan.


The Christmas decoration were fantastic!



Then we had food/drinks at Barrachina in San Juan where apparently the Pina Colada was in invented!

Super cute pace and yummy drinks!

Overall I liked San Juan a lot. It was fun, clean and had some really cute streets (the architecture reminded me of Pirates of the Caribbean). The Bacardi tour was something cool to do if you're there but it's not "must see" unless you really like rum. All and all, San Juan was probably my least favorite destination of the three islands we went to. I guess I was hoping it would be more tropical and less of an urban city. But it was fun place to spend time in and see nevertheless.

Tomorrow, St. Maarten!

8 comments:

Dee Stephens said...

I didn't realize your parents went with you guys! My rents were with us last year.
So fun!

Ally said...

Fun post! Looks like you had a nice time. You always do such nice re-cap posts and look so pretty and put together in all your pics. xo and Happy New Year!

LWLH said...

We're going to Puerto Rico in the summer, might be something we'll check out.

My Beloved Life said...

Great pictures! Looks like a great time was had by all. Best wishes for a lovely 2012!

xoxo
Ellie

belovedlifeofmine.blogspot.com

My Beloved Life said...

Great pictures! Looks like a great time was had by all. Best wishes for a lovely 2012!

xoxo
Ellie

belovedlifeofmine.blogspot.com

The Mrs. said...

Great pictures. I agree..We decided it was our least favorite places we went to this summer...but it was still so much fun! Can't wait to see tomorrow's post!

Crazy Shenanigans-JMO said...

How fun! That tour seems like it was worth spending time there and fun!

Rachel @ Little Kitchen, Big Bites said...

lol bacardi xmas tree...may need to save my bottles and make one of those next year!

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