The Embassey Suite Hotel, reminded us all of the Red Deer lodge, except it was warm, had an Outbacks restaurant, which we thoroughly enjoyed and a Casino. Now you would think that after a full day of travelling, and an exceptional meal at Outbacks we would be ready for bed?? But NO... we had to go to the Casino. Only for an hour or so! Then when I was up $75, I should have cashed in and gone to bed. But no.... I had to wait until I was only up $10 before I had enough sense to quite. Having over an hour of fun, that the Casino paid me $10 for is not so bad.
Sunday morning up at the crack of dawn. OK maybe at 10 am and ready for the free breakfast. Realizing nothing is free it was included in the price of the hotel, but we figure that is close enough to free. With full stomachs we dropped our bags off at the Princess Cruise line dock and headed to Old San Juan for an afternoon of exploring. Surrounded by the fort, Old San Juan has lots of character. Different from other countries the church is not at the center of town but off to the side. You would almost miss it if it wasn't for the hoards of people walking around carrying palms, since it is Palm Sunday.
Small quaint boutiques and souvenirs shops lined the streets, beckoning tourists to spend their money. Nicole wanted to purchase a watch so that she would be on time for all events. We found the cutest little $15 waterproof watch that would be perfect for the cruise. With my weakness for watches of course I had to buy one too. A funny thing about that watch, after bout 10 minutes in the water mine was ready to be buried at sea. Nicole spent at least an hour swimming up and down Magen's beach and hers keeps on ticking.
It was now time to explore the the fort. Long, dark , dingy hallways with walls at least 4 feet thick, made you feel like you were in prison or at least in a dungeon. The people of the time must have been extremely short as the hallways and doorways were never more than 6 feet high. It must have taken forever to build. We wandered the halls, watch the canon demonstration and climbed the towers. Keeping IN shape would have been accomplished just by moving around the fort. We were exhausted and ready to board the ship.
Immediately we were impressed and thought we had definitely arrived in heaven. All those stories about 5'x 7' cabins with a washroom so small you can't turn around in, was not to be for us. A suite with two full size twin beds, a sitting room, balcony and full size washroom, tub and all, was to be our home for the next week. We truly are spoiled.
The bigger challenge was finding your way around the ship. Eventually we did!
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