Next up in our port visits takes us to San Juan, Puerto Rico, but not until a bit later.
The schedule has is in San Juan later in the day, so the first half of the day is more akin to a sea day.
I started things off as usual, grabbing a cup of coffee from Starbucks and going up to the pool deck. The morning breeze and lower temperature makes sitting in the adirondack chairs my favorite spot on Mariner of the Seas.
The Crown and Anchor Society Top Tier event was held today in the Royal Theater.
The Top Tier event is where the ship's staff thanks the cruisers onboard with the most loyalty reward points. It's nice to be recognized for being a loyal customer.
Immediately after we went to Cafe Promenade for a "pizza brunch" event, where chit chatted with a slice of Sorrento's Pizza.
After the event, we headed to the main dining room for lunch.
Since we weren't due into San Juan until later in the afternoon, I decided a nap was a good idea.
Mariner of the Seas pulled into San Juan right around 3pm, and docked downtown.
We had no tour booked, so let everyone else disembark first, and then walked off the ship to start our explorations.
Read more: 7 ways to have a great time in port without a cruise ship shore excursion
It's very easy to walk around San Juan because the ship docks downtown and Old San Juan is fairly small.
We walked from the ship in the direction of the two Spanish forts, with a stop along the way anytime the kids spotted a stray cat.
Even at 4pm, it was very hot out still, so when we got to El Morro, it was great to have a very strong breeze to cool down.
We wanted to have dinner in San Juan, and tried one restaurant we had been to in the past, but they were at capacity. They recommended La Mallorquina, which happens to be the oldest restaurant in San Juan.
Their menu was primarily Puerto Rican food, but they had just enough variety for the pickier eaters to enjoy.
I went with mofongo, which is made with fried green plantains that are then mashed with garlic and topped with your favorite type of meat.
Once the sun set, it became far more comfortable outside. We took the kids to Himalaya Ice to enjoy ice cream before heading back to the ship.
Back onboard, we went to watch sailaway. Whether sailing in or out, San Juan is very pretty. Since it was night, we got to see the city lit up on our departure.
We wrapped up our night with music in the pub.
Tomorrow we will be in St. Kitts.
