Caribbean Cruise 2020 (page 10 of 10)

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Greta's blog:

Day 10 - Port Day - San Juan, Puerto Rico - March 1, 2020

We all were up pretty early. Mike didn't run but he walked the ship and got some coffee. Then Greta got up, got the last few things together, Greta got cold brew coffee and then we headed to breakfast at the Blue Iguana Cantina for one last breakfast burrito. After meeting up with Jim and Trina, who were finishing breakfast, we were able to sit and visit a bit before heading back to the room to get the last few things out of the room. It had to be emptied by 8:30 but our disembarkation time was later. So we waited up on the back Lido deck for our numbers to be called.

Once our numbers were called, we gathered our stuff and headed for the front of the boat to disembark. We waited in line a bit to go through Customs - it wasn't much - we just had to show our proof of residency and since we had nothing to declare, that was all. There were massive lines of people to get taxis and transportation back to the airport. You could book transportation through Carnival as well. We luckily had transportation already arranged through Costco and that was GREAT. We found the man holding a Costco sign, he found us on his list, and we walked about 2 blocks to a parking lot NOT filled with people and taxis. We were the only people at the time, so we loaded into his van and away we went to the airport.

We got to the airport and had our bags checked by 10:30. We all had a flight at 3:45 to Detroit so we thought about getting a ride to do a little more sightseeing but decided no one wanted to miss their plane. It didn't take long to get through security but we still have 4+ hours to kill. At least the San Juan airport is larger and modern, so it was a comfortable wait. We strolled through the shops a bit and as the guys were waiting in line at Jimmy Buffet's restaurant, the girls ran into our friends Stephanie and Kraig, sitting at an outside table at the same restaurant. We asked if we could be seated with them, but the waiter said it wouldn't be fair to budge us in line. But as soon as he noticed that the guys were at the front of the line, he brought over 4 chairs and we all got to sit and visit for almost two hours while we had some snacks, drinks and key lime pie.

We stayed for a while longer after Kraig and Stephanie had left (but we got their contact info), then wandered the airport a bit more before the flight started boarding.

The flight was full but Mike and Greta were lucky to get emergency row exit seats (we'd booked them at the time we bought the tickets without needing to pay extra). Jim and Trina were 6 rows behind us. Plus, Greta was able to gate-check the dive bag again, so she didn't have to carry that any longer. The 4+ hour flight was a little bumpy but not too bad and we landed in Detroit on time. We walked quickly with Jim and Trina and said goodbye at their gate as they had a quick turnaround time.

Mike and Greta got some food at PF Changs, and then realized that as they were finishing, their flight had already started boarding to MSP, so they hurried over to their gate, and were nearly the last people to board. But once again, we had the free exit row seats and Mike found a place for his camera bag, so it all worked out well. The flight landed on time and all our bags appeared quickly.

We only had to wait about 10 minutes for a Quick Ride bus (one had left just as we arrived at the parking area) and then got to the truck. The weather was nice (high 20s) for that time of night in March in Minnesota. The only problem came when we tried to check out - our Qcode would scan but the gate wouldn't open. It took nearly 10 minutes of Mike having to call the "help line" on the scanner, and repeating the problem multiple times, before they finally got the gate open for us. Not the best way the end the trip, but at least the drive home was uneventful and we were home sweet home.

We met up with Marlin and JoAnn the next morning in Hutchinson to pick up Remi, and our family was back together again!

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