San Juan to Miami Adventure

*You will find all of my photos from this trip if you scroll down!

What do you do on your 25th Anniversary? Probably not what we do. We proved this at our 20 year Anniversary. We had a Mediterranean Cruise planned out. Romantic. Time in Rome. Exploring Santorini. Possibly Croatia. It was going to be A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. We ended up in Ethiopia, 2 times that year, adopting 2 amazing boys. Even though they are amazing boys, those 2 trips were incredibly romantic stressful.

When you are in your mid 40’s, with a 5 year old, you might not find a huge list of friends who are jumping to babysit for a week. So we booked a Disney Cruise out of San Juan, left the 3 bigs at home, and took our 5 year old with us. You might think that is CRAZY. It actually was wonderful. We had time as a couple and we also had one on one time with a child who fights for our attention (he is the youngest of 4 and 8 years younger than our 3rd). Our ItineraryLat was to die for, we just LOVE the Southern Caribbean. We would do this trip 10 times over!

*Also…if you like Broadway shows, you will love Disney. We have found that most shows on cruise ships are not that great. Yes, there are exceptions. Those exceptions are for sure hit or miss. Disney will never disappoint. The shows are Great!

Enjoy our photo Album of this adventure.

We arrived in San Juan and went straight to the Caribe Hilton Hotel. We used our Hilton points for our night in town.

We set out the next morning for the Choco Cortes ChocoBar. http://www.casacortespr.com/

If you are in San Juan, Puerto Rico this place is a MUST. You will have the best breakfast of your lifetime. I was skeptical of a chocolate breakfast (they also serve sandwiches for lunch and dinner with chocolate), they know how to do it right!

I had chocolate Waffles, Darren had Chocolate French Toast, and Dagim had plain old pancakes.

When they brought out the waffles I was concerned. Fruit on it? Kiwi? Watermelon? What is this? Let me tell you what it is…freaking amazing. I was so surprised. They served it with a side of chocolate drizzle. I drizzled and it was delicious. Who knew.

 

 

We also had Americanos and Hot Chocolate. I don’t know if I will ever have a breakfast this good again. I can’t wait to go back to San Juan!

After that we made our way to the Forts. The Forts were amazing. You might ask how a little one handled all of the walking and “touring”. He LOVED it! He was totally engaged.

After the Forts we decided to make our way through the rest of Old San Juan and head to Gringos. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g147320-d6962715-Reviews-Greengos_Caribbean_Cantina-San_Juan_Puerto_Rico.html It was so good! We had pork tacos and we devoured them. GO TO GRINGOS!

The streets are not all marked. We pulled out our phones and used google maps, it helped a little. Just make it an adventure and you will get to your destination eventually. Along the way do a little shopping!

We made it to Gringos.

More of Old San Juan

Later in the afternoon we went back to the Caribe Hilton to retrieve our bags out of the baggage storage, then we headed on to our boat.

Check in was easy and we were ready to set sail on the Disney Wonder. Here we go…

Our first stop was St Kitts. We actually left our little on the boat for part of the day while we made our way to the Marriott St. Kitts. Why would we leave him? We would not leave him for more than 4 hours or so, but we have did this and the staff is AMAZING on every boat we have been on. If we felt uncomfortable we would not. Dagim goes on most excursions with us, but sometimes we know that he would be bored or not do well. Trust me, when he stays, he does not complain…he truly has a great time! This time? It was our Anniversary and we wanted some time at the beach just to be alone and relax! Truth. Lol.

After the Marriott we picked up Dagim and took him off the boat to see the monkeys. That was for sure his highlight!

Our next destination was Tortola. We think Tortola is just maybe the most beautiful island in the Caribbean. This was our 2nd time in Tortola. On this trip we let Dagim play in the kids program and we went on a 3 hour snorkeling trip. He was not old enough to go, so it was a win win. He LOVES the kids programs and we were able to snorkel in one of the most amazing places in the Caribbean.

Then we were at sea on our way to Castaway Cay. We can’t say enough about Castaway Cay. It was my 3rd time there and Darren’s 2nd. Even if the weather is cool you can find plenty of things to do on this private island.

We opted for Bike Riding. Have you ever road down an airstrip? Here you can! Then you can take a right turn and go through the jungle. While out in the lush greenery you can climb a tower and see the vast beauty of Castaway Cay. Enjoy lunch while on the Island and if it is warm for sure take part in all of the amazing water activities.

It’s more than beautiful. It is breathtaking.

 

After Castaway Cay we had a day at sea as we were on our way to Miami. We enjoyed every second!

This trip was truly amazing and much needed. We had a great time for our 25th and we got much needed time with the youngest of 4. GO to San Juan if you get a chance. Those air miles you have? Use them like we did. You will be glad you did.