Posted by Seth on May 15, 2012 under Flying, News | 
The wait is over. A couple months after carriers applied to provide service for four new slot pairs at Washington’s Reagan National Airport the DoT has announced the winners of the coveted operating permissions. And the winners are exactly what I predicted back when the applications were revealed:
JetBlue won their first choice of routes, adding service to their quickly growing operation in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Alaska Airlines won their first choice as well, with service to Portland, Oregon being approved. Austin, Texas had two different applications for service; both Southwest and JetBlue indicated that they wanted to add the destination. Southwest was awarded that authority. Virgin America won their only application, adding service to their hub in San Francisco. The route to SFO will be the only of the new operations with direct competition on it; United Airlines is also going to be operating on that route. Southwest will face competition on the proposed through-service aspect of their Austin service to San Diego from US Airways which will operate that route with a non-stop flight.
So no real surprises in the route authorities awarded. Probably for the best; the routes picked were the favorites because they made the most sense based on the economics of the markets. Still, every now and then I do wonder if the DoT has a sense of humor and would award something like the Colorado Springs application Frontier put out there.
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Tags: Alaska Air, Alaska Airlines, Congress, DoT, FAA, Frontier, JetBlue, Portland, Puerto Rico, San Diego, San Francisco, San Juan, Southwest Airline, United, United Airlines, US Air, Virgin America, Washington DC
Posted by Seth on May 12, 2012 under Dining, Review, Trip Reports |
Odds are that if you’ve made it to Fajardo, Puerto Rico you’re there for one of the mega-resorts in the area. The El Conquistador (where I was staying) is the most popular but there are a few others in the area. There are also a few smaller hotels and B&Bs around. Either way, getting away from the hotel is nearly always a better option for dining and that certainly held true in Fajardo. We had several meals on the resort and, with the exception of one, they really weren’t very good. The meals we had off property, on the other hand, were nearly all delicious. Moral of the story: Go out to eat.
As for where to go, there are a number of options. Some are easily walkable from the resorts and some are a bit further afield. Fortunately we had a car to make those also feasible.
The best meal all week (at least to me) was at La Estacion. The restaurant is run by a New York City couple who moved to Puerto Rico, set up shop and haven’t looked back. Along the way they’ve churned out some of the best food in the region, day in and day out. Everything is fresh, with the menu changing depending on what’s available from the market that day. The two options for preparation are pretty much grilled and smoked, with a variety of meats and fish to choose from. I had the grilled lobster while Matt had the grilled red snapper. Both were spectacular, though I have to admit that the snapper was better.
Both mains were served with tostones and a mango salad, making for quite a full meal. Of course, even though we didn’t actually save room for dessert that didn’t stop us from eating some. When glazed bananas are deep-fried in dough and served with ice cream I’m never going to be able to say no.
I didn’t get to try the New Yorican Hot Dog (wrapped in bacon and garnished with a sliced avocado. I’m going to have to go back for that some day.
La Estacion is located about a half mile from the main gate of the El Conquistador. That’s not very far but the main gate is far enough from the hotel itself that walking it would be quite a schlep, particularly with the hills. We drove.
The following night saw us at, Pasion por el Fogon, a tapas restaurant about a mile and a half the other direction from the resort. The sangria was too sweet, but that was the only real negative I remember from the evening (possibly because we still finished the pitcher). We had six different small plates, from mushrooms sautéed in garlic sauce to the less traditional fried plantain and bacon balls. Squid stuffed with crab meat was particularly delicious, while the smoked salmon was just OK.
For the main course we had a mofongo stuffed with mahi mahi. The folks at the next table over raved about the chorizo (I’m still not sure why I didn’t order it) and there were a few other options on the menu that looked delicious. Definitely a solid set of choices covering both the traditional and local varietals of tapas to make for a good meal.
The other two meals we had off-property were walkable from the resort, so long as you don’t mind heading out down an unmarked and unlit street with no clear indication as to where it leads. We did it at lunch time but there were plenty of folks doing it at dinner time, too. It is plenty safe; the road is actually one of the employee parking lots for the resort. From the marina area of the resort head out past the ferry dock and the dive shop and through the gate that leads off the property. Walk along the water for 10 minutes or so and you’ll find yourself in the park and town where there are a bunch of dining options to choose from. Some of the smaller stalls weren’t open while we were there – it was decidedly shoulder season at best – but most of the larger shops were open, leaving a few choices to try.
Lunch number one was at Blue Bahia. It was just OK. The beer was cold and the food was reasonable, but it wasn’t particularly great so it is a bit lower on my recommendation list. The other meal we had was at Racar Sea Food, just past Blue Bahia.
Racar’s is all outdoor and very simple fare, mostly seafood with a few meat options, too. A plate lunch, including rice and beans, was about $6 and it was pretty darn good. The shrimp arepas I ordered was even better, though not quite as filling.
There were a few other restaurants in the area, both out on the main road and along the walkable water front, but we didn’t get to them. Something about being lazy with a pina colada on the beach seemed to get in the way.
All of the meals off-property were, for me, better than the meals on-property. Dinner at Strip House was on par with the better of the other dinners if you really don’t want to leave the resort. But if you can muster the energy I highly recommend getting out and exploring the little town. Your taste buds will thank you for it.
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Posted by Seth on May 8, 2012 under Hotel, Review, Trip Reports |
It is hard to know for certain that the room we had at the El Conquistador Resort near Fajardo, Puerto Rico is typical. I say that because the property is huge. It has nearly 1000 rooms scattered across several buildings and a number of different configurations to choose from on the website. We booked a "normal" ocean view room with two beds and that’s exactly what we got.
The front desk agent mentioned an upgrade due to HHonors Gold status; I believe that got us the balcony as not all the rooms I saw had those. Having the balcony was actually incredibly nice. We spent a decent amount of room time out there, listening to the ocean (and the incredibly loud funicular) and watching the days roll by.
We also received two free "welcome drinks" for the Gold status which ended up being just whatever we wanted at a few of the bars on property rather than some specific schlock. That was a nice touch. And two free bottles of water in the room. Not daily, but for the entire stay.
The bathroom portion of the room was surprisingly large. There was a separate make-up table in addition to the wide sink-top counter. Plenty of room to spread out all of our scuba gear to dry after a week of diving.
And the closet is also part of the bathroom; a large, walk-in closet which could probably pass as second bedroom in a Manhattan apartment. Impressive for someone (like me) not used to closets that large.
One strange part of the room is that the bathtub is recessed into the floor. You step down into it rather than over the lip into it. A bit weird, though I suppose having the very high ceiling in the bathroom was vaguely interesting.
No mini-fridge in the room was a bit of a disappointment. We got by, keeping the beer we brought in from the grocery in the ice bucket. Still, it would have been nice to have that option available to keep snacks and such stocked, particularly given the low quality and high prices of stuff out in the resort.
Not the most modern of facilities nor the most amazing room. Quite reasonable and very much in line with what I was expecting, but nothing amazing. I’m generally not a resort person and I cannot say that either the room or the other facilities at the El Conquistador have swayed me from that bias. But it was a very reasonably room overall; definitely didn’t detract from the stay and actually offset some of the other negatives.
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Posted by Seth on May 8, 2012 under Hotel, Review, Trip Reports |
There are many, many reasons the El Conquistador Resort, located on the north-eastern side of Puerto Rico near Fajardo, is a great place to spend a few days. The hotel has been around a long time, moving between brands over the years. It is currently operating as part of the Waldorf=Astoria Collection under the Hilton HHonors flag and in just about every way the service provided spoke to the expectations of such a resort. And, despite its age, the facilities seemed to be quite well maintained as well.
The resort property is a sprawling complex atop a cliff overlooking the water. There are rooms in several buildings and the views from just about every angle were top-notch.
We were also fortunate that for most of our stay the resort was quite empty. We pretty much had run of the facilities, with no lines or difficulty accessing the various services. This did come back to bite us on occasion – the spa closed early due to lack of demand one day, for example – but it generally worked out in our favor.
The location of the resort presents a few challenges for guests. First, the multiple buildings can mean long walks between parts of the resort. To get from the spa to the marina, for example, could easily take 30 minutes, with multiple elevators and long walks in between. Getting to the Marina also means a ride in a funicular, which was fun but also got to be a bit of a pain to wait for several times a day. It also meant the non-stop sound of it running audible from our room, day and night. Eventually I managed to tune it out, but it was not at all quiet.
Getting to the beach was an even greater adventure. There isn’t actually a beach at the resort. Instead they have a private island just a couple miles off-shore with a beach as well as hiking and various other activities. The 20 minute ferry ride is only slightly annoying but the limited service – only hourly most of the week due to low occupancy rates – was much more unfortunate. Even the regular half-hourly schedule isn’t all that great. On the plus side, once you get out to the beach, the water was lovely and the facilities both broad and reasonably priced for a resort facility.
The biggest disappointment of the stay, by far, was the food served on the resort. We had one good meal out of five. That’s not the sort of rate you’re looking for when access to alternative dining is so limited. We ate at two of the "fancy" restaurants for dinners, the Italian place and Strip House, the steak restaurant. The steak was great and that whole experience was pretty much awesome. The other meals, not so much. Breakfast in the café was cold, both the first time if was served and the second time after we asked them to try again. Lunch on the island with the beach was limited to three sandwich options because the main restaurant was closed for repairs during the low season. And the one I ended up eating was just mediocre. At least the pina coladas served on the beach were reasonably tasty. Truly disappointing just how bad the dining was. Especially given the ridiculous mark-ups charged.
We got off-property to eat a couple times, too, and that was much better. A few posts about those options will be forthcoming.
Oh, and apparently their version of the business center is stuck in 2002.
There are a couple "bodega" type shops on the property if you want sundries, snacks or self-serve booze and the prices aren’t completely horrible. That said, if you have a rental car it is highly recommended to stock up at a grocery on the way in from the airport. That was definitely useful for us.
Overall the property really is very nice. We were treated wonderfully from the moment we arrived until our departure. And the facilities were lovely. I sortof wish the bad meals didn’t leave me so bummed about the overall experience. Alas, it seems they have. Maybe because the worst of the meals was our last on the morning of departure.
Posted by Seth on May 7, 2012 under Trip Reports |
Given the opportunity to spend time underwater, I find it hard to resist. Facing five days on the beach in Puerto Rico – hardly a burden to begin with – I was quick to schedule about as much time as I could diving with the operator at the hotel. That meant three days of spending the morning below the surface. The plan seemed sound.
The good news is that I was underwater, breathing canned air and generally at peace. The bad news is that the diving, particularly the first couple days, was not particularly great. I wasn’t expecting the best conditions or most amazing dives of my life, but the 20-30 foot visibility and minimal life of the reefs was below even those limited expectations.
There were some moments of awesome, scattered through the monotony of silty fan corals, that ultimately made the dives worthwhile. Day one included a spotted ray, swimming along not too far from us.
On day two we caught glimpse of a turtle at one point, and the conditions started to improve a bit. The parrot fish, plentiful throughout the week, were a bit less skittish and willing to pose for photos.
Day three was the best in terms of animal sightings, with a few different turtles spotted on the dive, including one that was not particularly skittish as I swam nearby, snapping a few photos.
Mostly for convenience we dove with the operator based at the El Conquistador Resort where we were staying. One of the crew, Nick, was awesome and diving with him for two of the three days was great. He was willing to respect the different skill levels of the divers on the boat and made sure that everyone was able to maximize their experience. The other guys were less than stellar, arbitrarily cutting dives short, stirring up silt as they guided and otherwise making things less pleasant during the dives.
That all said, I would still recommend them as an operator, in part because the overall level of care and comfort for customers was high. They took care of our gear between dives and overnight. They had great snacks on the boat for between dives. And, in a first for me, they had beer in the cooler for post-dive refreshments. Only for consumption after the second dive, of course, but it was a nice way to lead in to lunch time on the ride back to the dock.
That was quite nice.
I ended up with a few more photos, shared in the album here, that I’m reasonably happy with. Still, the overall quality and quantity of marine life left much to be desired. If I’m in the region again I’ll probably go diving again, mostly because sitting on the beach for a week would drive me bonkers otherwise. But I definitely wouldn’t go out of my way to dive the north eastern coast of Puerto Rico. There just isn’t much there to recommend it.
Posted by Seth on December 14, 2011 under News |
Already the largest carrier by ASMs in San Juan, Puerto Rico, JetBlue indicated today that it intends to further grow operations at the airport. The carrier will be adding daily service to Newark and Palm Beach starting in 2012. This announcement comes only a couple days after service was launched between San Juan and both St. Thomas and St. Croix.
Ever since American Airlines chose to cede the market in San Juan JetBlue has been steadily building up its presence on the island. These latest routes further the company’s hold on that market.
Route launch sale prices are available for both routes for purchase by 22 December 2011. Travel dates for the sale are April 25 – May 22, 2012 for the Newark route and May 15 – June 21, 2012 for the Palm Beach route.
Posted by Seth on March 8, 2011 under Flying, frequent flyer, points |
In part one of this report I recounted a great award booking – even though it was all in economy and on small planes – to the Canadian Maritime provinces. Part two will cover my exploitation of the bmi Diamond Club program and their quite flexible routing and award zone rules.
It all started with plans to visit Bangkok in July for a friend’s wedding. With Thai Air still operating their incredibly long LAX-BKK flight I figured it would be nice to get a change to fly that route. Plus I have never been on the Airbus A340-500 so that’s an added bonus. It turns out that Thai has had a TON of award inventory available for westbound travel but nothing available coming back east. Turns out that isn’t much of a problem for me as I’ve turned a long weekend in Thailand into a RTW ticket adventure.
By sheer coincidence a friend of mine is going to be in Capetown, South Africa the week after the wedding. And I have the points available so why not? Even better is that the award cost from Thailand to South Africa is pretty cheap with Diamond Club. Oh, and I am flying via Mumbai, flying in on Thai and out on South African Airways. South African operates the A340-200 on the route which is also new to me.
And then I needed to get home from South Africa. This is where the Diamond Club rules become VERY favorable if you’re willing (or wanting!) a bit of an adventure. Most carriers only permit North Atlantic crossings for that award. Diamond Club permits South Atlantic crossings, too. So I’m taking one. Award seats form Johannesburg to Buenos Aires and Sao Paolo are pretty readily available.
Seats from there back north are a bit harder but I found some availability with Air Canada from Santiago to Toronto. Getting from Toronto to New York City is pretty easy with a ton of frequencies and a couple airports to choose from. To get from Buenos Aires to Santiago there is really only Star Alliance routing. It just so happens to leave 40 minutes before the flight from Johannesburg arrives. So I have a 23 hour 20 minute connection in Argentina. That’ll be fun.
So I’ve made it back to New York City and I’m home. That’s the end, right? Not for me. Diamond Club considers Puerto Rico part of their South America/Caribbean zone. And award flights from South Africa to South America are less expensive than those to North America. Based on straight geography that sortof makes sense – it should be fewer total miles flown – but getting to Puerto Rico can only be done via North America with the existing partners and routes. So I have a stopover in New York (one stopover is free on the bmi award) and then, two months later, a flight in first class from Newark to San Juan. It was actually many fewer miles to take the extra flight. Plus, I’ve been looking for a good excuse to get back to Puerto Rico, possibly in daylight this time. Given that the flight down there is better than free, I see no reason to skip that bit.
Put it all together and I’ve got this 31,586 mile masterpiece:
And all the flights save two short ones are in business class. All but one of the lines are new and a few of the aircraft are, too. All for under 200,000 Diamond Club points. I could’ve done it as cash & points for even fewer but I’m trying to use up my stash and this is a great way to do it.
The booking process was bit more frustrating than I generally enjoy, partly because my Skype connection was flaking out but mostly because the agents at the Diamond Club call center don’t have the best grasp of geography nor of the rules of their program. They initially tried to charge me 5 separate awards rather than the three I booked and all at higher rates than I should have paid. Fortunately I was able to eventually get a supervisor to understand and put it in correctly, but that was two extra hours of annoyance on the phone that I didn’t really need. Still, at the end of the day, completely worth it for this trip. Retail value on the ticket is somewhere north of $10,000; getting it on points for the routes and dates I wanted is just phenomenal.
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Tags: Africa, Air Canada, Airbus, Argentina, award, Bangkok, bmi, Canada, frequent flyer, New York City, points, Puerto Rico, RTW2011, San Juan, South Africa, Star Alliance, Thai Air, Thailand, Toronto
Posted by Seth on June 24, 2010 under Trip Reports |
I travel a decent amount, but apparently not particularly broadly. I thought my list of 40+ countries visited so far was pretty decent but with my most recent booking I’m also realizing that perhaps I’ve visited as many as I have because they have been relatively easy. And then along came a deal that I couldn’t say no to.
I needed to be in San Juan, Puerto Rico in mid-August. Airfare was running around $300ish round-trip. Not great but reasonable for the route. I was pretty close to booking that trip until I noticed that there was, perhaps, a similarly priced deal that would get me a ton more frequent flyer points. Instead of just flying to San Juan and back I’ll be flying in via San Francisco, Chicago, Brussels, Accra and Philadelphia.
Yeah, I’m going from New York City to Puerto Rico via Ghana.
This won’t be my first trip to Africa – I visited Egypt over Christmas last year – but it certainly will be the first trip into what I consider a “hard” country to visit. Among other things, the list of vaccinations required is pretty significant. Typhoid, Tetanus, Hepatitis A & B, Meningococcal Meningitis and – the big one – Yellow Fever. So on Tuesday I found myself hopping between clinics, getting vaccinated and giving blood to test antibody levels for some vaccines. I’m guessing that I’ll need a few more shots in a couple weeks when I get home, but the big one has been taken care of. I got my Yellow Fever vaccination and the certification card that will serve me for the next 10 years.
I’m not a huge fan of needles, but if this is what it takes for me to explore Ghana, Benin and Togo in August and other more adventurous destinations in the coming years, so be it. My obsession with travel is much, much stronger than my aversion to needles.
Tags: Accra, Belgium, Chicago, Egypt, Flying, frequent flyer, Ghana, New York, New York City, Philadelphia, points, Puerto Rico, San Francisco
Posted by Seth on October 7, 2009 under Trip Reports |
My last weekend of travel on jetBlue’s All You Can Jet pass was a great one. Over 11,500 miles and 11 flights scattered across ~58 hours of travel time. This itinerary was a bit more slack, however, as it included a stop. An honest-to-goodness real stop in a city (two really) where I’d have social interactions and everything. That was great and it was nice to catch up with some old friends and make some new ones. Then it was back to the airport and on with the second half of the itinerary. Mostly just flying, but there was a pause built in. Not long enough to really be a stop, but too long for just a connection.
Spending three and a half hours in San Juan was vexing me. I had no idea what to do. I didn’t want to just sit in the airport. I’d run a decent chance of sleeping through my flight and that is never a good thing. Getting a hotel room wouldn’t be worth it as I’d run the same missed flight risk. But with needing to be back at the airport to clear security and board the flight I’d really only have about two hours to spend out and about. Would that be enough time to actually see any of San Juan? And would there actually be anything to see at 3am?
The answer to both of those questions is a resounding “yes.”
Upon arrival I was first out the door and into the taxi line. I was actually briefly seated in that first taxi. Right up until the driver heard I wanted a 2 hour tour. Apparently that is rather uncommon for the 2:30am arriving flights and the driver was hoping for a quick fare and then to go home and sleep. Actually, it seems that most of the drivers were searching for a similar fare. Indeed, it took until the fifth driver until the dispatcher was able to find someone willing to stay up late with me and show me around. But I did get a driver eventually and we set off on a grand, middle of the night adventure to see Old San Juan under the light of the full moon.
The moon was bright on Monday morning. It was a beautiful full moon. And even if it wasn’t, there was no need to worry; the old city is actually quite well lighted. The forts are rather magnificent to see in the quiet of the night. They loom large over the coast line of Old San Juan, as intimidating today as they were over 400 years ago when the first one was built.
First stop on the tour was Fort San Cristobal. It was completed in 1797 and was actually still in use in World War II. Among other features, it has a huge ramp leading up to some massive entry doors. Quite impressive. As it was 3am the doors were locked, but that didn’t stop me from wandering around on the ramparts and snapping a few photos.
Next up was the Fort San Felipe del Morro. The El Morro fort sits out on the very tip of Old San Juan Island, jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean. The site has been a defensive stronghold for almost 500 years, though the current structure mostly dates from the 18th and 19th centuries. El Morro is even more impressive than the San Cristobal structure. In addition to the enormous walls (18 feet thick in some places) the fort also features a lighthouse (though not the original one; that was replaced in 1908 by the US military). The fort covers six levels and rises hundreds of feet from the surf below. It is rather amazing.
And while I’m very much looking forward to getting back to San Juan to see the sights during the day when we can actually go inside, I’m also very happy I got to see them at night. They are very well lighted and I was completely comfortable wandering around in the field in front of El Morro, even at 3:30 in the morning. There were a few other folks out and about but not too many. It was actually quite nice to meander through the quiet, cobblestone streets of the old city with minimal interruption from the few drunk revelers out in the wee hours of the morning.
And then I crawled back up into the taxi and we headed off for the airport. It wasn’t quite time for the tour to have to end but I was exhausted and the driver was, too. He dropped me off back at the terminal and, at ~4:30am, headed home himself to get some sleep.
As for me, I settled into a chair in the corner by the jetBlue gates and simply relaxed. No sleep, really, but I was able to rest quite nicely. Finally, shortly before 6am I was happily ensconced in seat 3F for the return flight to JFK. The sun was coming up outside and I was quite happy to put on my eye-mask and fall right asleep. I actually slept through the safety demo and takeoff. A short 3:25 later we were back in NYC and my jetting adventures were over. But not without a great last stop and tour.
