Our Winter Escape Continues with a Caribbean Cruise and Christmas in San Juan

Really nice cabin

Cubas's mountains in background

Beautiful sunset

Magnificent sunrise

San Juan building

The next segment of our “Winter Escape” would be a cruise to the eastern Caribbean islands leaving out of Miami just before Christmas. We have cruised the western Caribbean islands several times, and the southern islands once when we went to the Panama Canal, but the eastern islands have never presented themselves as viable destinations, mostly because of their distance from southern Florida ports. Such distances require extended cruise lengths with multiple sea days that are more costly for the cruise lines than port days when the ship is idle, passengers are ashore, and shore excursions can be sold. We considered cruising to these islands from San Juan, PR, but after further research, decided that was not an option for us. We happened upon a 12-day Oceania cruise out of Miami that would visit Puerto Rico, St. Barts, Martinique, Barbados, Grenada, St. Lucia, and Antigua, and cover the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. We had never cruised with Oceania before, but our travel agent assured they were a great line and we found great reviews by other passengers.

The three wise men

Cathedral de San Juan Bautista

Christmas on the balcony

Returning from South Padre Island, we had one evening and one day to do laundry, repack for the cruise, have short visits with family and neighbors, and restock for our post-cruise condo stay in the Florida Keys before heading for Miami. Even though it was crunch time, we made it to the Port Miami Cruise Terminal about an hour before we were allowed to board the ship. We checked in and proceeded with our boarding, only to find the ship amazing. We knew that Oceania was more upscale line, but our ship, the Riveria, far exceeded our expectations. Built in 2010 and christened in Barcelona in 2012 the 1,250 passenger plus 800 crew ship is one of 5 ocean-going vessels Oceania sails to more remote, less visited ports of call. We were able to get settled in just as the ship got under way.

Galleon in the harbor

Inside the cathedral

We had two sea days before arriving at our first port, San Juan, PR, on Christmas. To avoid passing the time eating, we decided to participate in photography and painting classes that were offered. Oceania prides itself on its art and cooking classes that it offers, and we, who already know how to cook, opted for the photo and art classes. Jane attempted water colors before reverting to her comfort-zone acrylics and Capt. Larry decided he would learn to paint with water colors come hell or high water. We came away from the first classes with some great ideas for projects that would be presented to passengers at the end of the cruise. We are on our way to becoming budding artists!

Cathedral nativity

Puppet nativity

Lovin' San Juan

The blue brick pavers

Mimicking the statue

We're joined by other ships

We arrived and docked at San Juan early Christmas morning. As we were waiting to go ashore, we had a coffee and croissants on our balcony and opened our Christmas present from Oceania. Jane also presented Capt. Larry with a gift of cologne. Capt. Larry said he would look for a Dollar Tree to get her something,. After breakfast we disembarked. We had visited San Juan on another cruise several years ago, but it was at night to take on fuel that we had spent dodging a late Atlantic hurricane and we didn’t really get to see much of the city. Today would be different. We began walking the route we had planned to see most of the highlights. Being Christmas day and fairly early in the morning, the city was fairly dead. Walking through San Juan we were struck by the blue bricks that paved the streets. According to the guide book, these blue bricks were used as ballast by Spanish galleons and unloaded before their return to Europe. And there were a LOT of bricks! We made our way to Cathedral de San Juan Bautista. Built in 1540, it is one of San Juan’s oldest buildings and the oldest cathedral. The cathedral is noted for holding the remains of Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon, who accompanied Christopher Columbus when he discovered Puerto Rico. Our timing coincided with Christmas Mass and we sat and enjoyed the service and surroundings. Leaving the cathedral, we wandered into an art gallery that was open and considered a painting for our newly remodeled Florida home. Not being able to decide, we got information for ordering something from the states and having it shipped. We found some more governmental buildings before arriving at the San Juan National Historic Site (Fort El Morro). Although run by the U.S. National Park Service, being a holiday we were unable collect the stamp for this site. We took some photos and started to head back to the cruise terminal. We figured that we had worked up a thirst, so we stopped at a bar for a couple of beers before re-boarding the ship. We sailed away to our next port of call- the island playground of St. Barts.