Christmas in Puerto Rico

A scheduled 3:00p departure from San Juan, Puerto Rico gives the impression of a short day in port. But it’s not. Not when the ship arrives at 7:00a. After clocking 14,769 steps, however, the hot, humid, sunny, 83F day has worn us out, so we’re back on board Insignia now at 1:00p. Not bad for being out since 8:00a.

When we first set out, the streets were deserted … Christmas Day after all. It was a nice change from the usual hectic pace of this lively city. That changed by the time we made our way to Viejo San Juan three hours later. Here the streets were crowded with passengers from Insignia and NCL Dawn … the two ships calling on the city today.

We’ve been to San Juan a couple of times before. In fact, our very first Caribbean cruise (in 2002 on Celebrity Infinity) was a round-trip itinerary out of here. So, from where Insignia docked today at one of the piers near Viejo San Juan, we hung a right instead of going left, exploring new to us parts of the city before looping around to Viejo San Juan for gelato from La Mamma (yummy!) and a stroll back to Insignia.

I’ll let the photos tell the story.Read more