Tag Archives: florida

Florida, Travel

Four Days in Universal Resort: Part II

Leave a comment

Day 3

On our third day we decided to go to the original Universal Studios park. We had been there once before in October of 2021, but there were several parts of the park that we had yet to visit.

Evan and I walked the mile long path from the Loew’s Portofino Resort while Shelley elected to ride the water shuttle. We arrived at nearly the same time. Riding the water shuttle means stopping for several minutes at the Hard Rock Hotel pier, so it isn’t necessarily faster.

Universal Studios

After entering we decided we should eat breakfast and stopped at the Today Cafe. I’m not a fan of the Today Show and while we were waiting in line the show was airing on televisions around the restaurant. I thought to myself “People actually watch this” as we slowly progressed through the line.

Well, despite the badness of the Today Show episode, the breakfast sandwich was pretty decent. We ordered cold brew coffees as well which was missing the vanilla flavor we requested. Not the best, but at least we ate something.

After breakfast we walked over to ride one of the few original rides from the park’s opening: E.T. Adventure. It was a ride we missed in 2021 and we decided to give it a try.

The ride opened in 1990 and it does show its age a bit. It broke down for about ten minutes near the end of our ride, but it was a little bit of nostalgia from back when I was young.

Next we decided to ride another rather old ride: Men in Black: Alien Attack. This ride opened in 2000. I have to admit, it wasn’t even as good a E.T. It was a lame shooting ride that is overdone, and better done elsewhere.

It was Mardi Gras time in the park and as we walked around we were collecting beads from the staff. Soon enough we were up to three bead necklaces and I was looking forward to enjoying some of the many food options that you can buy from food stands around the park during Mardi Gras season.

Diagon Alley

Entering Diagon Alley is like completely leaving Universal Studios and entering a totally different park. You are suddenly in a Harry Potter world.

If you buy a wand there are lots of spots in Diagon Alley where you can interact with hidden spell casting spots to reveal various secrets. Evan and Shelley found a number of these spots in the alley and in Nocturn Alley.

The coolest feature of Diagon Alley is the dragon perched at the top of Gringotts Bank. Every fifteen minutes or so it will breathe fire. And it is hot!

Escape from Gringotts

The biggest and best ride in the park is Escape from Gringotts. We got in line using our Express Lane passes and made our way about 2/3 of the way through before the ride broke down. We waited about 20 minutes (not wanting to have to return and wait in line again) before giving up. The ride ended up broken down for about two hours.

After giving up on Escape from Gringotts, we left Diagon Alley to go to the second most popular ride in the park: The Revenge of the Mummy.

Revenge of the Mummy

Fortunately, the Revenge of the Mummy was working just fine. And it really is a good ride that is debatably better than Escape from Gringotts. It’s a good roller coaster experience in an Egyptian Tomb with everything including pyrotechnic blaze on the ceiling.

Plus, I am a fan of Egyptology and I enjoyed talking about the various gods adorning the walls as we waited in line.

I’m also a fan of Harry Potter, so we were certainly going back there once Escape from Gringotts reopened.

Bourne Stuntacular

After the Mummy ride we went to the Bourne Stuntacular, which we missed in 2021 as well. I actually read the Bourne Identity but only partly watched the movie.

The stunt show is really good and intermingles live stunts on stage with action and scenes on screen. At times the interaction is so seemless it’s hard to tell what is live and what is film. There isn’t much dialogue other than the recorded narration by Julia Stiles (who was in the movie). I don’t see her often in movies.

Minion Cafe

Since the Escape from Gringotts was still closed we decided it was time for lunch. I really wanted to eat the Mardi Gras food from the booths, but Evan (being a huge fan of the Minions from Despicable Me) begged and pestered us to go to Minion Cafe. Fine.

This place has some of the most unspectacular food in the park. It’s a fast food restaurant with a minion theme.

Yeah, the trip was mostly for Evan. We could have just ordered him some food there and then Shelley and I could have gotten the Mardi Gras food I wanted.

After eating some bad Mac n’ Cheese with a few pieces of pork, we returned to Diagon Alley and were able to ride the Escape from Gringotts.

Escape from Gringotts

I rode this with Evan and his older brother in 2021 and for some reason it seemed more exciting back then.

I guess after the ride broke down and after riding many other theme park rides, it seems a little less impressive. Still good, especially with the animatronic goblins in the bank.

After the ride we spent more time using the wands to interact with various spell spots before deciding it was time to start our walk back to the exit. We were getting tired and hot.

We made one stop for beignets and some king cake from a Mardi Gras stand. That was it. We should have had much more.

Anyway, once we exited the park I again elected to walk back and Shelley and Evan decided to ride the boat. I think we tied again on our arrival back at the hotel.

Loew’s Portofino Bay Hotel

By the time we got back to the hotel we were pretty tired. Our room had been cleaned and our beds were made. I really wanted to take a nap. Really needed one too.

I think it’s wise to rest when you are tired. Otherwise you’ll get cranky and all the little aggravations of long lines and crowds and noise will start to get to you. The prior day we ended up taking a four hour nap and ended up waking up with only an hour to spare at Epic Universe.

We didn’t want that to happen again so we just stayed up and rested on the beds watching television, fighting the urge to sleep. Should have just set an alarm and dozed off. But we didn’t and we felt tired the rest of the night.

Epic Universe

Oak and Star Tavern

As on the prior days, each evening we went back to Epic Universe for the evening. We went to the Oak and Star Tavern for BBQ. The barbecue is decent, but not spectacular. I had the pulled pork sandwich.

We also had some beers. Note that using the Universal mobile app limits you to one alcoholic beverage per order, so if you want to order more you’ll need to either go to the bar or make separate orders on more than one phone.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Inside the Ministry of Magic

We were kind of tired and wanted some chill time. So we went into the WWOHP, which is a little like traveling to France for a while.

While our son Evan sought out spots to use his wand, Shelley and I bout some cocktails and found a table to relax. We went to Bar Moonshine and got Lobe Blasters. Really unique and interesting cocktails. And good too!

After Evan finished wizarding with his wand around the WWOHP, we got in line for La Cirque Arcanus. This was the first show we would see in the park.

La Cirque Arcanus

I thought La Cirque Arcanus was really cool. The tent was atmospheric and gave real vibes of a vintage Parisian circus. The show featured magical creatures and their human handlers. The show isn’t long, so don’t expect to spend hours, but rather thirty minutes.

Cafe La Sirene

After the show we stopped for dessert at Cafe La Sirene. We got the butterbeer crepe (called the bieraubeurre crepe in French). Really good! We decided to return the following morning for breakfast.

Isle of Berk

We made one more stop in the Isle of Berk before calling it a night. Shelley and Evan rode Dragon Racer’s Rally. They enjoyed it. I felt good just watching from below after a long day.

Day 4

On our fourth and last day we were going to spend the day in Epic Universe. We’d been there each of the prior days in the evening, but this was the first time e’d be in the park during the day.

Epic Universe

We entered the park after the bus ride and made our way back to the the Harry Potter portal, noticing that with our early access passes we could avoid being among the mass of humanity roped off from the park.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Cafe La Sirene

‘La Sirene’ means mermaid in French. And we noticed the decor in Cafe La Sirene does include mermaids, among other Parisian-themed artwork.

We order quiche lorraine for breakfast, which was a nice change of pace from our typical morning routine. The food was overall quite good but it isn’t terribly cheap either. Expect that when you are in Epic Universe.

The park is comprised of the four “worlds” (The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Dark Universe, Isle of Berk, and Super Nintendo World) you enter through portals (or tunnel-like entrances that separate the park from the themed attractions inside).

The fifth world is Celestial Park which is the central area of the park. The main ride attractions are Stardust Racers (which nearly killed me the first day), and the Constellation Carousel.

The carousel has multiple rotating sections that make it more than a typical carousel. This was also a nice chill ride after some of the more exciting features of the park.

Isle of Berk

Mead Hall

We had a couple of more stops to make in Isle of Berk before we were done for the trip. The first was to visit the Mead Hall. Evan wanted to re-ride Dragon Racer’s Ralley, so Shelley and I took the intervening half hour to enjoy some mead and beer. It’s also a restaurant, but we were just there to enjoy some cold, drinks.

We also took turns seated as the Viking chieftain.

When Evan was done racing we went over to see the second show of our trip.

The Untrainable Dragon

This was a good show as well with some good actors who sound just like the characters and dragon props. Make sure you get in line early because they do reach capacity and we were just barely able to make it in before they closed off the show.

If you are wondering, it is about an untrainable dragon that eats all the main characters like Hiccup and Astrid. Well, not exactly.

Pizza Moon

One restaurant we were pretty intent on visiting was Pizza Moon. Once we saw how the restaurant was themed we made it a priority stop on the trip for lunch. And we weren’t alone, this place gets a long line that runs out the door.

We already understood the meaning of the logo with the pizza in the eye of the moon, but just in case you don’t, here’s the explanation. In 1902 a French filmmaker (when filmmaking was in its infancy) named Georges Méliès made a short film called “A Trip to the Moon”.

In the movie a group board a rocket (without space suits) and they land on the moon. Of course the moon isn’t just a celestial body, but it is a living being with a face too. And the poor moon gets hit right in the eye.

Scene from “A Trip to the Moon”

The clever people at Universal decided to swap the rocket for a slice of pizza.

The interior is full of whimsical characters swinging back and forth as they make pizza sauce under a starlit night sky.

The pizza is also really good and not at all typical. We got the ‘Pizza Lunare’ (pictured above) and ‘a Trip to Vesuvio’.

This is one restaurant you’ll want to make sure to visit.

After lunch we decided to make our way back to the hotel. Evan was starting to feel ill and we were ready to get some rest after four days in the parks. Despite his condition he insisted on riding Stardust Racers one last time and came off looking like he he’d been through something traumatic.

Loew’s Portofino Bay

We returned to the hotel and Evan crawled into bed. He looked like he was feeling quite ill by now and he had a slight fever. Exhaustion coupled with crowds had gotten to him.

Shelley and I decided to let him rest and we went to one of the hotel pools, the one hardly anyone knows about. Tucked away on a hillside is the third pool in the resort.

When we got there only one other person was was there, but they left after a while leaving just Shelley and I at the pool. While in the pool Shelley noticed a small box turtle had fallen into the pool and was trapped.

We rescued it by taking it far away from the pool and human traffic and closer to the lakeshore where it is hopefully living contentedly right now.

After retrning to the room we saw that Evan was still feeling too sick for us to consider leaving the resort. We got takeout from a resort eatery called Sal’s. The chicken parmesan sandwiches were huge. Sal’s is a ittle pricey too though.

Final Thoughts

With that our trip was pretty much at an end, which was fine. Fortunately Evan felt better the next morning and our flight home was uneventful. He did seem to have chills though right as we landed back home in Denver.

This trip was close to two years in planning and despite some frustrations with traffic on arrival in Florida and crowds that were larger and a bit annoying at times, it went well. Evan got to ride everything he wanted, we visited all the parks and got to see pretty much all of Epic Universe.

We would have benefited from more down time though. When we went to Universal in Oct 2021 we took a whole week and it was nice to take a couple days to rest and decompress. It’s also nice to have some more pool time and to enjoy the resort as well.

Because we chose to go when Evan was not on spring or fall break, we were really time-limited. We didn’t want him to miss more than a couple days of school and thus we were never going beyond five days.

While it was fun to go to Universal, our next visit to Florida will almost certainly be to a new region along the Gulf Coast. We also have a future cruise in the planning stages that will probably depart from Florida. We do like Florida (especially the warm, humid weather) and it never seems too much time passes before we are back again.

Florida, Travel

Four Days At Universal Resort: Part I

Leave a comment

We made a trip back to Florida this February of 2026 to spend four days at the Universal Orlando Resort. The new Epic Universe park opened in May 2025 and we wanted to experience this newest theme park, as well as revisit Islands of Adventure and the original Universal Studios park, two theme parks we enjoyed on a visit in October of 2021.

We started planning this trip even before Epic Universe opened, with the time between our initial decision to go and our actual arrival being close to two years in total. We planned to wait until the year following the park opening before making the trip, when there would hopefully be a decrease in the crowds at the park’s inauguration, and to give the new rides and attractions some time to be seasoned enough to have the kinks worked out.

Since our youngest son is in middle school we had to figure out a time that would work with his school schedule. Obviously spring break in March was an option, as was the summer. But he also has a short break in February right before and including President’s Day weekend. And this seemed like a good time to travel to Florida when the tourist season wasn’t yet in full swing.

So we committed ourselves to this trip all the way back in 2024. And nine months after the opening of Epic Universe, we were there at last to see it for ourselves.

We initially booked a room in the new Helios Grand Hotel before the hotel was even open. Once the hotel was finished, and we saw the initial photos and videos of the hotel, we decided to cancel our reservation. We just weren’t wowed by what we saw, even if we had booked it at a rate that was significantly less than it wold be when the park finally opened. Instead we chose another Universal resort hotel: The Loews Portofino Bay.

We were able to book the Portofino at a discount as well, and it offered free Express Pass tickets, a perk not offered by the Helios Grand for some reason. Also, the Portofino Bay is in walking distance of two of the resorts (Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios), as well as the Universal City Walk. And finally, the Portofino actually seemed to have more amenities and it would be in a quieter location, giving us an evening respite from the parks.

We had five total days available for the trip, and decided to use the first day to visit Blue Spring State Park just north of Orlando (see the prior blog post). After enjoying the state park and manatees we drove back south to Orlando to the Universal resort.

Along the way we stopped at Ford’s Garage restaurant in Sanford. That was a pretty cool experience (it looks like they are located all over Florida).

Day 1

Loew’s Portofino Bay

We made our way to the hotel in our Avis rental car, knowing that the hotel has an Avis rental car location right in the hotel. The weird thing, however, is there is absolutely no signage to tell you where to go. After pulling up the valet parking, they told us to enter the self-parking garage and drive all the way to the bottom.

After doing so we found some marked Avis spots and parked the car, then lugged our luggage up to the hotel. If you are using valet parking they provide assistance, but if you self-park or arrive in a rental car, you are on your own.

Anyway, we got to the front desk and checked in, and finally got some help with our luggage to our room. Most places will let you borrow a luggage cart, but at this hotel they are very particular about only allowing their staff to use the carts.

After getting to our room we unpacked and got ready to take the bus over to Epic Universe. We had park hopper tickets for four days, so we could come and go between the parks as we pleased. We also had reservations at the Blue Dragon restaurant at 5:30, so with it being 3:00 PM we would have a couple hours in the park before dinner time.

Epic Universe

After a quick bus trip from the hotel to Epic Universe (which is disconnected from the other parks) we arrived and made our way through the security and into the park.

I’m honestly not a thrill seeker and I am prone to motion sickness. But my youngest son pestered and prodded me into riding the Stardust Racers roller coaster right after we entered the park.

I have been on roller coasters before but this one made me feel really awful. Like my insides were shaken loose from their normal positions. When the coaster rolled to a stop I waddled out, vowing to never ride it again.

Following this traumatizing experience, feeling motion sick and dizzy, we made our way over to the Dark Universe world.

Dark Universe

We got in line for Monsters Unchained. I really wanted to enjoy this ride more but I was paranoid about getting motion sick and puking following the Stardust Racers and my last experience on a ride that had a similar apparatus at Islands of Adventure (Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey). But this ride didn’t have screens which helped a lot.

It was pretty cool even though about 2/3 of the way through it momentarily stopped.

After the ride there wasn’t enough time for a ride line so we went to the Burning Blade Tavern to have some mead, ale and a stake-shaped breadstick. Pretty cool seeing the windmill ignite too.

Windmill of the Burning Blade Tavern

After eating it was time to mosey over to the Blue Dragon for dinner.

Blue Dragon Pan-Asian Restaurant

It felt good to sit down in the Blue Dragon to fully recover from Stardust Racers and because the interior is impressively decorated with dragons wrapping around the walls and Asian artwork throughout.

The restaurant is expensive ($30 per plate dishes) and they don’t hide that fact. The overall meals was good, but not as good as we were really hoping for. We had to send back the Orange Chicken because it came out lukewarm (clearly had been sitting before being brought out).

The dishes are served family style so you’ll want to order a variety of entrees and share them. The beef and broccoli and passion fruit moon cake were our favorites.

Super Nintendo World

After dinner we went to Super Nintendo World and entered Bowser’s Challenge. It is a virtual reality ride where you shoot guns to score points.

Next we rode Yoshi’s Adventure which was pretty slow and chill. My son Evan found Yoshi’s Adventure to be a terrifying experience. I could barely fit in the car but it’s all good.

Evan and I bought power up bands which allowed us to play an interactive game by hitting punch blocks and doing game challenges in Super Nintendo World.

There is a phone app that keeps score as you go through Super Ninendo World and Evan and I did our best to collect all the points that we could from the punch blocks.

After a long day that extended all the way to 10:00 PM at night, we were ready to go to bed and rode the bus back to the Portofino Hotel.

Day 2

On our second day at the Universal parks we left the hotel before eating breakfast and walked the mile path from the hotel to Islands of Adventure. Since we had Express Pass and were staying in a resort hotel we had early access to the park.

Islands of Adventure

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

We made our way over to Hagrid’s Motorbike Adventure since this is one of the most popular rides in any of the parks and we knew the line would be much longer later in the day. With Express Pass at the park opening we were able to get onto the ride in about 45 minutes.

Waiting in line at Hagrid’s Motorbike Adventure

Hagrid’s Motorbike is probably the most creative rollercoaster I’ve ever been on. You ride in motorcycle seats and the ride goes forward, backward, drops, and moves pretty fast without being ridiculous.

Since the line wasn’t too long, we went ahead and rode the Flight of the Hippogriff too. It was much more oriented toward the youngest visitors and I felt a bit cramped in my seat.

After the ride we made our way over to the Three Broomsticks for breakfast.

The Three Broomsticks

We were actually pretty cold despite being in Florida. The prior week Florida had experienced a severe cold snap that brought temperatures down to the 30s Fahrenheit. On our visit the temperature would eventually reach 70 F, but in the morning it was just above 5 and the interior of the restaurant was chilly.

So along with our breakfast platters (I got the English Breakfast) we all ordered hot butter beers and they hit the spot. Also, I really didn’t know what to expect from the English Breakfast (there was no blood pudding) but I quite liked it.

Jurassic Park

We are fans of Jurassic Park (well at least the first movie and the first Jurassic World). I read the book when I was a teenager before I saw the movie.

We first made our way to the Discovery Center which looks just like the central pavilion from the first movie. There’s a restaurant upstairs, but on the first level there’s some interactive features (such as one that shows what you would look like as a dinosaur). Evan tried it and it was frightening.

We stopped at the gift shop and since it was a bit chilly got some sweatshirts. We looked for some new ‘Mr. DNA’ shirts but couldn’t find any. The staff knew what we were talking about and said there weren’t any left.

After buying our sweatshirts we did the pictured raptor encounter. When we said we were from Colorado someone else in line cheered for us.

Mythos Restaurant

It may seem like it wasn’t very long from our breakfast to having lunch, but we had made reservations in advance for 12:30 and we did our best to not eat too much breakfast so as to be sufficiently ready to eat at lunchtime.

And Mythos was reputed to be the best theme park restaurant in the world. Who would skip that?

Mythos has a cool interior, but the food was really meh for the price. We had the ground lamb hummus and I ordered a lamb burger. Really meh. Even a couple cocktails weren’t enough to change my mind.

After eating Evan and I saw some turtles in the waterway outside the restaurant. These are Florida soft-shell turtles. We saw the same species of turtles at Merritt Island in 2023.

With our stomach’s full, Evan and Shelley decided it was time for the Velocicoaster. Because I was shaken up by Stardust Racers the prior day I elected to skip it. I really didn’t want to puke on this trip like I did in 2021.

I walked around the park in one full circuit while they waited in line to ride. By the time I returned to the Jurassic Park Discovery Center to chill out (it was now getting hot and I had to take off my sweatshirt), they were done.

We left the park to head back to the hotel. I walked the path while they rode the water taxi. I got back first.

We made a stop at the gelateria at the Portofino Hotel. Good stuff, gelato it.

After reentering the room we all dozed off for four hours. Not intentionally. It just happened that way. By the time we were all awake it was 7PM and Epic Universe would only be open until 9:00 PM. We also hadn’t eaten any dinner.

We went anyway.

Epic Universe

We got right into the park after the bus ride and went straight to the Isle of Berk for our dinner. We made a quick order at the Spit Fyre Grill. I got the salmon and Shelley and Evan got Mac n’ Cheese cones. Both were really good.

Shelley checked the ride times and the Battle of the Ministry in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter had a 15 minute wait. That ride is typically in the hours. We made a beeline over there.

The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter

Entering this ‘world’ is like traveling to France. It’s shocking how realistic it is. We flew through what would have been a considerable queue space to the Battle of the Ministry and onto the ride.

I have to be honest. The architectural theming here is the show. The ride itself isn’t that great. You should ride it just because you won’t otherwise see just how much work went into recreating the Ministry of Magic. But would I wait hours to ride this ride?

I’m glad we only needed 15 minutes.

After this brief foray into the Hotter Potter world we returned to the Isle of Berk.

Isle of Berk

The Isle of Berk is really impressive at night. We also really enjoy How to Train Your Dragon.

The park will allow all riders in line after closing time to finish riding and thus even though the park closes at 9PM, you can stay until 10PM. We got int the line for Dragon Racers Rally at 8:55 PM and were able to get on this pretty cool roller coast about an hour later.

Another aspect of the parks is the gift shops will stay open past closing time, so we were able to get some much needed loot before leaving the park.

At close to 10:00 we dashed off to the bus (some others were running toward the bus and Evan and I just had to show how much faster we were).

Returning to the hotel we were ready to call it a night with another big day planned for tomorrow.

Florida, Travel, Wildlife

Blue Spring State Park

Leave a comment

No animal is more beloved in Florida than the manatee. These gentle giants inhabit coastal inlets across the state, but actually seeing them can be challenging.

There are places in Florida, however, where manatees can be seen with relative frequency. Florida’s inland freshwater springs are a favorite winter refuge for manatees, who travel upriver from the coast to escape cold seawater. Once within the narrow confines of these springs, the manatees are easy to view, often totaling into the hundreds over a short stretch of water.

One of the best and most famous locations to see wintering manatees is Blue Spring State Park. Just a short drive from Orlando, this is a great side trip while in central Florida.

Our Visit

Since we were traveling to Orlando in February we decided it would be a good opportunity to visit the state park, and booked a cabin to have a place to spend the night.  Staying in one of the cabins would allow us to enjoy the park before the crowds of manatee enthusiasts would arrive shortly after opening.

Cabin 1 at Blue Spring State Park

While the cabin looks unassuming from the outside, these cabins are quite spacious and offer a lot of amenities as you can see in the video I made. 

Booking a cabin in the park is not easy due to their popularity, but since we knew we would be coming over a year in advance, I was able to book one as soon as it became available online.

We were very happy with our decision to sleep in the park.

We ended up arriving after dark and thus experiencing the park would have to wait until the next day. After getting our beds made we called it a night. We had a busy day in store for tomorrow.

Exploring the Park

Early the following morning I was excited to get out and explore the park and visit the spring before the crowds would arrive.

I got my camera and GoPro and walked the short path to the spring. Along the way I encountered a group of white-tailed deer, largely unconcerned by my presence.

Once at the boardwalk that runs alongside the spring, I found a crystal clear waterway teeming with manatees, as well as numerous fish like longnose gar and tarpon, and even an alligator.

Interestingly, alligators avoid manatees and the one that was in the spring seemed eager to swim away from the manatees. Manatees have no real natural predators in Florida.

Florida Manatee at Blue Spring State Park

We were planning on kayaking in the neighboring St. John’s River where manatees can also be seen (as well as the rest of the Florida wildlife). The park offers canoe and kayak rentals.

Unfortunately, in my haste to make reservations I selected the wrong date and we were out of luck. There was a silver lining, however.

Rescued Manatees

At the time we were supposed to be on the river, a couple rescued manatees were to be released into the spring. The manatees were trucked in by Sea World and we watched as they were carefully unloaded from the trucks, were given a quick health check, had radio tracking devices attached, and were carried down to the spring.

The manatee release was a big local event with news stations and local politicians in attendance. It was a cool opportunity to see how these animals were given a new chance to survive in the wild.

When the manatee release ended we walked one more time up the boardwalk to visit the canteen for coffee and to stop by the souvenir shop. It was a cool, misty February morning in Florida.

Final Thoughts

Blue Spring is a terrific respite from the busy world just outside the park and a great place to see the natural side of Florida. While we couldn’t enter the water, in the summer months Blue Spring is a great place to swim and paddle as well.

It was a good visit for us and I look forward to visiting more of Florida’s many natural springs.

Caribbean, Cruise, Dominican Republic, Florida, Puerto Rico, Saint Martin, St Maarten, Travel, US Virgin Islands

Eastern Caribbean Cruise, March 2023

1 Comment

In March of 2023 we flew to Florida to take a Caribbean cruise with stops in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Saint Martin, and Saint Thomas, USVI. Following the cruise we used an open day in Orlando to cash in a free day-pass at a Disney park as well.

This cruise had waited a few years before it came to fruition, actually. We had planned to visit Puerto Rico and St Thomas on a Royal Caribbean cruise back in 2017, but hurricanes Irma and Maria hit back to back and we postponed the trip. Then we also were about to take a Carnival cruise in 2021 that would have visited the DR but due to the ongoing Covid travel restrictions at the time we had to postpone yet again.

So finally, with a Carnival cruise credit to use or lose along with the free Disney pass, we made reservations a year in advance and finally traveled to the Eastern Caribbean.

Day 1: Orlando and Port Canaveral

We flew out the night before and arrived at our hotel at about 2AM due to the time change from MST to EST. We rented a car at Orlando airport to drive ourselves to the cruise port, while also giving us latitude to make a few stops to pick up supplies before boarding the boat. At $64 for a less than 24 rental this was actually much cheaper than using Lyft or Uber or a shuttle service for 4 people.

We woke up the next morning feeling expectedly groggy but wanted to get to Port Canaveral fairly early so that we could make a stop at Manatee Sanctuary Park just a few short miles from the port.

Manatee Sanctuary Park

Manatee Sanctuary Park is a small park on Merritt Island. There is a boardwalk right by the sheltered inland bay where manatees may be seen in the right season.

We did not see any manatees or even dolphins. But we did see quite a number of other animals of various kinds all within a half hour. Florida soft shell turtles, a skink, a brown anole, a white ibis, and a warbler among them. This was also a last moment of serenity before we would be boarding what we knew would be a very full Carnival Magic cruise ship for spring break.

We then drove down to the Avis at Port Canaveral to return the car and found that there were already a LOT of people waiting for shuttle rides to the port for a number of ships. After about an hour waiting in the hot, sunny waiting area (and debating calling a Lyft or Uber) we finally got on the shuttle and made it to the Carnival embarkation port.

I had bought Faster to the Fun in advance of the cruise to help us get aboard the ship in a priority line. The cost was $125 dollars for one cabin. Even with the priority line it was still about an hour of lines and processing steps before we were aboard the ship. Without FTTF this would have been at least twice as long, so it was still largely worth it. You also get priority debarkation and a special Guest Services line.

You are also supposed to get into your cabin early, which we ended up doing but it isn’t clear the cabin steward knew this was a benefit we had (our room was ready but our room cards had to be delivered to us).

Chilling out in the cabin while we wait for the ship to depart

We were able to get into our cabin earlier than the vast majority of the guests and that was nice as the rest of the ship was full of guests laden with their luggage. Eventually we left the room to get some food from the Lido deck which was crowded beyond reason. Just finding anywhere to sit was next to impossible. This was the worst we saw the Lido cafeteria, but the honest truth is the Carnival Magic at capacity is a bit of a crowded place.

At 4PM the ship left the port and we started the cruise. We had some fun on the 12th deck ropes course (circling it multiple times to try every path) and got in a few games of giant chess (we love playing chess).

Day 2: Sea Day

The second day of the cruise was a sea day traveling through the Bahamas toward the first stop at Amber, Cove in the Dominican Republic.

We were still feeling a bit tired even though we went to bed early the night before (around 8PM EST). I was glad to have a sea day with no itinerary that day to fully recover from the flight and sleeplessness of the prior day.

Groggily having breakfast on Day 2
Passing San Salvador Island in the Bahamas

We took it easy on Day 2 aboard the ship and had a formal night dinner in the ship’s steakhouse. It was the best dinner we had on the cruise, which made sense since it was the fine-dining restaurant and charged extra (although the wine was complimentary).

For free restaurants, Magic did have a Guy’s Burger Joint which was among our favorites throughout the cruise. Guy’s Pig and Anchor BBQ was also decent, but had odd hours (2PM open and 4pm close).

A brown booby (that’s what they call these birds) swoops nearby our cabin on Day 2

Day 3: Amber Cove, Dominican Republic

The Amber Cove stop was our favorite stop of the cruise. I had looked at possible excursions for this port for several months and kept reading that the 27 Waterfalls of Damajagua was the most exciting and worthwhile. I had also read a lot of reviews on TripAdvisor etc to the effect that it was physically demanding and potentially dangerous.

After weighing our options I decided that we should go ahead and do it. But I also had to decide whether to book it through the cruise line or through a tour in the Dominican Republic for less than half the cost (and also give us the chance to be ahead of the crowds that would arrive with the cruise tour).

Finally I decided to book the tour through Viator with Edwin Transfer Tours. I highly recommend doing this as we not only were taken to Damajagua, but got another stop at a plantation in the Dominican countryside on the way back. Although getting to the tour van was a bit of a walk (they park outside the gates on the highway), they treated us great and it was a relief to be away from the cruise hordes (at least for a brief moment).

A rhinoceros beetle at Amber Cove

We found our way through the gate to the highway and only at that point did I realize I didn’t bring our passports (just in case anything went wrong). It was fine though. You only need your ship card to reenter the port.

We found Edwin’s driver and climbed in to go on the tour. We were the only four in Edwin’s tour group that day. The drive up to the 27 Waterfalls was pretty short but gave us a chance to look at the Dominican countryside. When I travel I enjoy seeing ‘real’ places and not the built-up, touristy places that are usually right outside of cruise terminals. Even cows can look very different in a foreign country (and they did in the DR).

After arriving we were given our helmets and lifejackets and while I was hoping to be in our own group we ended up in a larger group which included many from other cruises. It still wan’t too bad though (there were some arrogant, rude New Yorkers that ended up in the excursion group with us but they shut up when they got winded on the hike and we were just fine – we’re Coloradans).

If you read the reviews the hike uphill sounds much more intense than it is. If you are in relatively good physical health and especially if you hike it’s really nothing. My eldest son and I could have run up and back and then back up again. So don’t let those reviews deter you. Just enjoy the forest scenery along the way.

Once you get to the falls the fun begins. You won’t descend 27 falls but instead about 7 (not sure who is counting). While I would never, ever take a child under 8 years old (and I think that is the age limit), older children will have no problem with the help of adults. There are places where you cannot touch the bottom and you can optionally jump at a couple spots. Some of the slides are as high as the jumps in reality.

After making our way through the falls we hiked back along the river to the visitor center. There we had a better buffet lunch than we ever got on the ship. We were really hungry so the food tasted even better.

After the Falls we started back and the driver asked if we were interested in stopping at a market. We weren’t sure what the market was but we wanted to do a little souvenir shopping so we said ‘yes’.

The market was actually more interesting than that. It was a farm of sorts where tobacco, cinnamon, cocoa, cilantro, mangoes, etc were grown and we got to watch cigars being rolled. That was something I was actually curious about as well but since we had chosen the Damajagua tour I didn’t expect to get to see.

When we arrived a tour group from a Norwegian cruise line was arriving at the same farm. I thought it was kind of funny that we got a free stop at a place those passengers paid for separately. While I wouldn’t have been that thrilled with it as an excursion if that was all we did, since it was a free stop off it was a pretty nice addition. It did not compare to what we saw in Costa Rica, however, at a cocoa farm there.

Day 4: San Juan, Puerto Rico

Old Town San Juan has been on my bucket list for years and it was right at the top of the list of places I was looking forward to seeing on the cruise. I had mentally put together a walking route to cover once we were off the ship and for the most part we covered it.

I’ve posted our walking route here as a guide for anyone that wants to use it for future reference. The only difference is that we walked around La Forteleza on the south outside the wall and up to Calle Fortaleza. Google Maps doesn’t seem to think you can do that.

There were four huge cruise ships in port in San Juan that day and that was immediately a big disappointment as almost every sidewalk and historic site was saturated with people for the first several hours. By the time we were finished eating lunch things were better but we also had less time before we had to start making our way back to the ship.

Columbus statue and Castillo San Cristobal

Our first stop was Castillo San Cristobal passing the Columbus statue in Plaza Colon along the way. Castillo San Cristobal is one of two national park sites in Old San Juan along with El Morro on the opposite side of the city.

The fortress is huge and it provided the land defense of the city while its twin El Morro provided the sea defense. The fortifications were built by the Spanish in the 1500s and were so well constructed the US army used both in World War II for coastal defense.

Unfortunately at that point Shelley was succumbing to a stomach illness that I also would acquire on the trip, and because of the high heat and humidity she decided she would have to let the rest of us continue the tour of OSJ in her absence. We were not going to stop until we’d seen the most important places (and had at least one piña colada).

We decided Castillo San Felipe El Morro was next and made the trek across the north part of the city to the second fortress.

El Morro seems even more impressive owing to its position at the edge of a peninsula. The kids enjoyed reading about the history of the fortress and viewing the defensive walls and entering the garitas (the guard towers that line the walls).

After spending time in El Morro it was lunchtime and the heat and humidity were wilting us so we decided to head off to find some lunch. Along the way we came to the Iglesia San Jose which was built in 1532 making it the oldest church in Old San Juan.

This was certainly a cool stop and a relief from the heat and the crowds. I knew that in one of the churches was the tomb of the explorer Juan Ponce de Leon. We asked at the church and they said it was originally there, but it was moved to the Cathedral Basilica San Juan down the street which was a decade younger.

All the restaurants in San Juan were filling with diners and most were pretty much overwhelmed by cruise traffic. We found El Patio del Sam and were just happy to get a seat out of the heat and a chance to enjoy some local food.

Enjoying piña coladas. The kids had non-alcoholic ones.

While our drinks came out quickly and the sole waitress was nice, the food took over an hour to arrive and we really weren’t sure it was even the right food (we ordered empanadas and were served breaded, flattened meat entrees, but we were not going to ask to have it changed). A few other tables of tourists were getting grouchy and complaining to the staff. We just decided to be chill and understanding. There were too many people and too few staff.

After eating, the streets were dramatically less populated, which was great. We made our way next to the cathedral which was also pleasantly quiet inside.

We did find the Tomb of Juan Ponce de Leon, the conquistador that once reputedly sought the Fountain of Youth (obviously he failed otherwise we wouldn’t have found his tomb).

We also found a rather interesting relic in the remains of Saint Pius that were brought to the cathedral in the 1800s. I realized that these were in fact the actual remains coated with wax but let out 10-year-old Evan believe on his own they were fake. I didn’t photograph the saint as I didn’t feel it was appropriate. I honestly had a dream a subsequent night about this experience.

After the cathedral we set off for La Fortaleza but only after passing through the gateway Puerta de San Juan in the wall. This gateway was one of the last that remained of what was once an encircling wall but which was partially removed. The gate led uphill to the cathedral.

We passed by La Fortaleza but because of time constraints we had to hasten this last part of our journey and moved directly on to Calle Fortaleza after passing through a park square.

Unfortunately Calle Fortaleza was undergoing roadwork so we proceeded on and just made a few quick souvenir shop stops in the Old town, enjoying the scenic architecture as we went.

With time running short and our energy depleted we made our way back to the ship.

Day 5: Saint Martin

I wanted to do some good snorkeling on this cruise as it’s been rather difficult to find good places to snorkel over the last few years. Key West was rather disappointing (dead coral and rough seas on an overcrowded catamaran) and we really didn’t try in Costa Rica (although we considered it).

The last relatively good snorkeling was on our last cruise in Roatan, and prior to that we had some good experiences in the Cayman Islands, Maui, and best of all (by far), Belize.

So I booked the one and only excursion of the trip through the cruise line: Ultimate Snorkel and Beach Break.

But the excursion wasn’t until 1PM and the ship arrived at 8AM. Which should have meant we had time to visit the historic town of Phillipsburg, Sant Maarten.

Instead upon exiting the ship at 9:30 (we took our time eating breakfast, etc) we found that the cruise port is a distance from the town and just finding a taxi to town was a pain. We eventually decided that we would be better off just spending a little time at the cruise port shops before returning to the ship to put on sunscreen, take Dramamine, get our cameras, and eat lunch.

The flag of Sant Maarten

When it was close to 1PM we made our way to the dock for our excursion and after a wait in the hot sun on the concrete pier, we were taken to the boat.

It was good to not be on a crowded catamaran, but when we were taken t o the snorkeling spot we saw not only the catamaran but several other boats. The excursion just went to the same snorkeling spot as every other tour.

We saw ballyhoo fish while snorkeling in St Martin

We were instantly disappointed on seeing hundreds of snorkelers in the same area, but we didn’t have another option. Little Bay seems to be the default snorkeling spot on Saint Martin and it does have some interesting things underwater (helicopter, submarine, cannon, etc) and some colorful fish, but it wasn’t quite what I was hoping for (a vibrant reef full of amazing sea life).

What made it worse was my attempt to move to the edge of the group led me to bump into a barnacle-encrusted boat nearby. I scraped my arm and was bleeding but didn’t even realize it until we exited the water.

The crew weren’t exactly the nicest either. They gave me peroxide but acted like I must have scraped on coral. The coral was far below as you can see in the video.

Once we were back on the boat we did get a pretty good tour that led to the French part of St Martin and around past Maho Beach where the airplanes land at the edge of the beach. I got a video of a plane landing right over our tour boat.

After that we went to Kim Sha Beach which was pretty nice with warm water and a sandy fenced-in shore. There was no real scenery there, however so I was kind of disappointed we weren’t at one of the other beaches we passed along the route.

Overall we kind of felt bummed out by the snorkeling tour experience. It was neat to travel around by sea and have the plane land overhead, but the snorkeling was our primary objective and that was less than we were hoping for.

We did see a resident iguana lounging on the pier as we made our way back to the ship after the tour.

As for my arm, I was worried about an infection after exposure to the uncertain sea water and barnacles, but after applying hydrogen peroxide, alcohol, and some Neosporin I brought with us, I decided it was likely ok. I had to get right back in ocean water the next day, and since it had not yet scabbed over, it bled a little more in the ocean there as well. As of today (over a week later), the scrape is healing fine.

Day 6: St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands

This was another stop I was looking forward to and had once made plans for on a cruise we never took. I had read about Virgin Islands National Park on St John and Trunk Bay and that was really where I wanted to go as a first priority.

Unfortunately the only excursions that went there were sold out (there is one called St John on Your Own, which I considered). And the ship was set to depart at 4 PM, requiring being back on the ship by 3PM (to be safe).

It is possible to take a cab to Red Hook on the east on of St Thomas to board a ferry to Cruz Bay on St John and then an open air taxi to Trunk Bay (or another beach on St John). But with only really about 5 hours to work with and four cruise ships in St Thomas that day, I wasn’t willing to risk it.

So I decided on what is considered one of the most beautiful beaches in the Caribbean and the second most famous in the USVI, Magens Bay. Getting to Magens Bay would just be a short taxi ride up and down to the north end of St. Thomas and would provide a nice day on the beach without any real rush. Afterward we would have time to do the Skyride at Adventure Point (right by the cruise terminal).

The taxi ride there was $12 per person (or $48 for four of us) each direction, plus $5 to enter the park for 12 and over. So we spent a little over a $100 to go the Magens Bay. Overall worth it. But make sure you have plenty of cash (we did).

Magens Bay was exactly what I expected: beautiful, crowded with cruise travelers and the water had little visibility so you really can’t snorkel. There are better places to snorkel in St Thomas so only go to this beach to enjoy completely calm, safe water and a beautiful beach.

After a couple hours we wanted to return to the port area to have lunch and ride the Skyride. That unfortunately wasn’t going to happen.

When we got back to the port the line for the Skyride was ridiculous. There were four huge ships in port that day and Adventure Point was overcrowded. I also wanted to do the Pirate Museum but the cost of admission for us seemed ridiculous at the time. We were hot and overwhelmed by the crowds and just wanted to get away.

We ended up re-boarding the ship knowing that the next stop on land would be in Port Canaveral. But we just didn’t have a lot of time to begin with and everything was overcrowded.

In the end I liked Magens Bay overall but felt disappointed with this stop. St. John would have been better. The itinerary just didn’t give us enough time in the port and there were too many other mega cruise ships in port as well.

Days 7 & 8: At Sea

Our last two days of the cruise were sea days. We made extra efforts to enjoy the activities on the ship these days, playing trivia several times, giant chess, and taking part in family games on deck five.

We ate in the Italian restaurant and had the Dr Seuss breakfast with Green Eggs and Ham. We took our portrait photos and went to the White Night party on the last night. Might as well get it all in.

We actually enjoyed these days the most of the cruise as we were starting to settle in more. We were also starting to feel ill (cold symptoms) which I don’t blame on the cruise but we were getting a tad worn down physically by the time the ship arrived in Port Canaveral.

We found the crew to be very nice aboard the ship and enjoyed many of the activities on the ship. But the spring break crowds were as expected. The pools were crowded and there were often some significant lines at the cafeteria on Lido Deck. And the Serenity deck loungers were rarely available. We’ll cruise again, but not on spring break. It’s more relaxing with a less busy ship.

Day 9: Back to Orlando and Disney Hollywood Studios

With the cruise over we had still another day before our flight back to Colorado, since the difference in flight prices were substantial between Sunday and Monday.

We took the shuttle to get our Avis rental at Port Canaveral (which turned out to be a smaller car than I intended and we had several suitcases) and after stuffing ourselves into the little Kia Rio, we drove off to find breakfast.

We found a nice waffle diner in Cocoa Beach called C’s Waffles. We had some good waffles there and lots of coffee (much needed because of the cool weather and my cold symptoms). After eating we drove onward to Orlando and the Disney resort.

Both Shelley and I were starting to have cold symptoms and felt congested. So we canceled plans to go to Hollywood Studios that day as we were just too sick. And the weather was an unseasonably cold 58 degrees Fahrenheit. We would still stay at the Caribbean Beach Resort at Walt Disney World.

Once we arrived at the hotel and checked in we realized the resort wasn’t crowded at all and presumed the park wouldn’t be either. Also we really didn’t have any other plans for the day and the kids really wanted to go to the park. So we uncanceled our plans and decided to go ahead and visit Hollywood Studios.

Since we had our free pass I decided to put on the warmest clothes I could (my son’s flannel shirt) and we got aboard the sky tram to the park. It was very much worth it. We had a really good day that made up for the bad day we had at the Magic kingdom a year and a half before.

The reason we had a free pass was we complained about a prior visit which was a shitstorm in the covid era with grouchy staff and ridiculous mask rules. Now we had low expectations based on that but Hollywood Studios turned out to have some good new Star Wars rides, a new Toy Story rollercoaster, and the staff was nice too.

Our kids enjoyed the day at Disney a lot and honestly I enjoyed the resort hotel we stayed at after the crowding of the ship. The Caribbean Beach Resort was quiet and relaxing. We also really liked the direct access to Hollywood Studios from the hotel by the gondolas.

We got a late checkout for our room and then made our way to the airport to hang out in the United Lounge before our flight home. My cold was worsening but at least the airport lounge had coffee and soup to eat.

By the time we got home I would say we were exhausted and my cold made the flight a tad miserable (thanks for the in-flight tea). But overall I’d say it was a good trip. Maybe not as relaxing as I hoped for, but never boring either.

Travel

Jeff’s Top Ten Beaches

Leave a comment

Jeff’s Top Ten Beaches

Not all beaches are made equal. Some are scenic wonders with warm surf, palm trees, and soft sand, while others are crowded, dirty and overbuilt. So where do I go to find the best of the beaches? Well, pretty much everywhere. Read on…

Florida, Travel

Central Florida Oct 2021

Leave a comment

Central Florida, Oct 2021

In October of 2021 we traveled to Orlando and the nearby Atlantic coast. Over 6 days we would visit the Universal Studios Resort, Disney Magic Kingdom, New Smyrna Beach, and Kennedy Space Center.

Florida, Travel

South Florida and the Keys, Dec 2020

Leave a comment

South Florida and the Keys, Dec 2020

The week before Christmas in 2020 we decided to travel to South Florida and the Keys. Florida was one of the few states that was largely spared from COVID restrictions and we were eager to use the opportunity to explore an area of the state to which we were all unfamiliar. To make the planning more fun for the family, we gave each of the four of us the opportunity to choose a specific activity to do on the trip. As you will see it worked out quite well.