Day 1 (Nov 16th) New York in West Indies Travel Log

When my in-laws arrived on the Sunday before, I was already half-packed, partly because I wanted to clear out some closet space for them. By Monday night, I had already packed my checked luggage, and Tuesday night, my carry-on. The nice thing about crossing to a different climate is that you don’t need the clothes you packed.

The car service picked up at 8:15am and got us to JFK around 9, so I didn’t have to wake up too early. After a long time checking in our luggage - the in-laws have 3 - we were led by a TSA agent to an out-of-the-way security checkpoint on the arrivals floor. But it went by pretty fast since it was practically empty when we arrived there. By 10 we were through security.

I got a shake shack burger for lunch after being disappointed that McDonalds at Terminal 4 only serves breakfast menu before 11am. Then we boarded the flight at 11:30. It took off ½ hour late but arrived on time. I only had time to watch 2 And Just Like That episodes and listened to some The Rest Ist Football podcast. Puerto Rico is pretty close.

The flight landed at 4:30 and Viking agents was there to meet us at the baggage claim; that made the transfer very easy. We immediately realized it would be different from river cruising, just based on the number of luggages waiting to be loaded. There will be up to 5 times more people on the ship.

The airport is close to the intercontinental hotel New Hip Company had put us up in during our offsites, and the cruise ship terminal is by the San Cristobal fort, and I remember being stuck in rush hour traffic when we returned to the hotel from Old San Juan. This time we went the opposite direction and the ride to the ship was smooth.

We got to the ship, went to the muster station demo, found our cabin, and went immediately to dinner. I had a beef tartare there that did not agree with me; by dessert my stomach was complaining. I slept the rest of the evening. Our excursion tomorrow got cancelled, so La Professeure had to figure out something else for us to do.