My last Carnival Triumph trip update left Sister T and I leaving the airport. Taxi rates from the airport are a flat rate. From Zone 1 (airport) to Zone 4 (Old San Juan) the fee is $19 but there’s a $1 fee for each additional piece of luggage. We had four bags between us which brought the fee to $25 plus tip.
Arriving at the Sheraton Old San Juan was like coming home. We were welcomed, our bags whisked away and escorted to the check in line. At this time of the day, there wasn’t a line and before we knew it our room keys were in hand and we went to our room.
We had a standard double bed room on a Starwood Preferred Members floor. The perk of being there was the fridge of water bottles by the elevator for refreshing ourselves after forays into the Puerto Rico heat.
After changing and freshening up, we went out exploring Old San Juan. We walked to the water first to find the cruise terminal and look around.
The Norwegian Dawn and Holland America Westerdam were in port that day. We then went off in quest of lunch and buying some wine and soda to carry on board.
We ended up walking a lot finding the Walgreen’s and then a restaurant. Along the way, we admired the architecture and quaint streets of Old San Juan.
By the time we found a place to eat that looked appealing for lunch it was late enough to be an early dinner. The restaurant we ended up, Raices, at turned out to be an popular San Juan eatery.
The humidity left us hot and sweaty so of course we had to start with delicious, cold mojitos!
While were waiting for our food and enjoying our beverages I had the chance to take in the restaurant. It had a rustic, yet modern interior and the staff were wearing historical Puerto Rican dress. There’s also seating outside but we wanted to escape the humidity!
The meal started with a standard green salad with choice of dressing. It got much better after that.
I had ordered the tornado which is steak stuffed with mofongo and topped with grilled shrimp and a mushroom onion sauce. For those that didn’t know (like me) about mofongo it is a mash of green plantains and broth, garlic, olive oil, and various meats or seafood ingredients.
Sister T had another Raices specialty which is the Kan Kan pork chop (which also came with mofongo). The fried pork chop includes crispy pork rind left on the chop. She let me try it and I must say it was delicious.
We split a side of red beans and rice which also had crispy chunks of pork.
After our feast, we walked to our hotel and was shocked to see we were just a block up from the Sheraton. We dropped off our purchases and joined the Cruise Critic meet-up at the Sheraton restaurant/bar.
Originally we were going to meet at the Chicago Burger Company in the hotel but it was closed so plans were changed to the hotel bar. Because the hotel had recently changed owners, I’m not sure if it was a temporary closure or long term.
Nevertheless, it was happy hour so Sister T and I got two mojitos for $12 and enjoyed meeting others on our sailing. We sat on the patio and enjoyed the evening lights and cooler temperature.
Some of the group ended up going to dinner together while we heading to our room for a good sleep after spending the previous night on planes. Tomorrow, we board the Carnival Triumph!
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