Aaron and I went on a Mexican Riviera cruise last week with our friends Shaye and Emily. We had a great time! What a fun couple to spend a week with.
Sunday we left for my parents' house at 5:40 a.m. so my dad could take us to the airport. Chelsey spent Saturday night here with the girls so we didn't have to get them up that early too. My dad dropped us off at the airport at about 6:45. We met up with Shaye and Emily at the gate and flew on the smallest plane I have ever been on to Long Beach, CA. We took a shuttle to San Pedro cruise terminal and had to wait for a while before anything happened. I think they allowed us to board around 11:30 a.m. The cruise ship was amazing! It was incredible to realize that so much was on a ship. We had lunch at the Windjammer Cafe and then gave ourselves a tour. We were allowed access to our room at 1:00, but there was a malfunction on our floor and none of the key cards worked for the rooms. We found this out sooner than most and only had to wait for a few minutes at guest services to get our cards fixed. We spent the afternoon exploring the ship and unpacking our bags. We had the early dining time at 6:00 and met our dinner "mates" Paul, Barbara, Mark and Jayne. They were very nice and had all been on several cruises. They were hapy to share their tips and experiences with us. After dinner we went to the Welcome Aboard show in the Savoy Theater, the comedian was funny! We also played a trivia game in the Schooner Bar and ended up on a team with an older couple who was on their 64th cruise.
Monday started with breakfast and a planning session for the day. This was something that made me laugh every time it happened. The guys took charge of our activity schedule. We started with bingo in the Lotus Lounge. We didn't win anything, and we learned that if you're going to spend money on bingo on a cruise ship, wait until the game where they are giving away a free cruise or the big pot of money on the last day. After lunch we went up to the pool deck and relaxed in the sun. We cleaned up around 3 so we could play in the Digital Photo Scavenger Hunt. We took 2nd place and got silver RC medals. It was fun! We got ready for formal night and went out to the deck in time to catch the sunset. It was really pretty. After dinner we went to a variety show in the Savoy Theater that wasn't very good. We skipped out early to get good seats in the Lotus Lounge for Finish That Lyric and Karaoke Night. Shaye was one of the contestants in Finish That Lyric and his participation in that landed us a spot as the judges for karaoke. That was really fun! It went until 1:00 a.m. - which was rough because the clocks changed ahead one hour that night and we had to be off the ship and ready for our shore excursion in Cabo the next morning.
Tuesday we tendered in Cabo San Lucas. As we were coming into Cabo we saw several dolphins right next to the ship. That was fun to see! We had booked a snorkeling excursion through www.shoretrips.com and had a couple hours before we had to get on the boat for that. Of course the guys needed to have some fish tacos in every port, and they found a little hole-in-the-wall joint that had great fish tacos. The snorkeling excursion started at 11 and it was so much fun! It took about an hour by catamaran to get to the area where we snorkeled. We couldn't use the beach next to the snorkeling area so we had to jump off the back of the catamaran. That was interesting. It took a minute to figure out how to use the mask and breath through our mouths but we got the hang of it. What an experience! We had about 50 minutes to spend in the water. I loved it! Lunch was provided on the catamaran and once we got back to Cabo we shopped for a bit and then headed back to the ship. We went to dinner in the dining room and then we all decided we had done enough for the day and went back to our cabins. I had a small allergic reaction to something at dinner and took a benadryl, I was asleep by 8:45. Aaron ended up going to see the Nelson Brothers show in the Savoy Theater and then he went to Ellingtons to listen to some jazz music.
Wednesday we docked in Mazatlan. We didn't have any excursions planned for that day and found a resort to go to for beach access. We took an open air taxi there and that guy was in a hurry! The resort had a beautiful pool area that we didn't end up using but the beach was nice. Aaron and Shaye rented boogie boards and attempted to use them. That was funny. I noticed some people parasailing nearby and found out it was only $35 - just a fraction of what the cruise ship had quoted on their website. I decided to do it. Probably not the smartest thing I've ever done, but it was fun and I survived! :) After I was back on land (phew!) we went to a restaurant on the beach. Shaye and Aaron ordered a monster seafood platter and enjoyed every bit of it. The guys talked us out of ordering nachos and trying a combo platter and both of us ended up liking the food. Surprise, surprise! We were back on the ship by about 4:00 and had dinner in the dining room at 6. We spend the evening in the Lotus Lounge listening to music and then went to the Love and Marriage Game in the Savoy Theater. There was a buffet at 11:30 by the pool that we went to, but the food was not very good so we didn't stick around too long.
Thursday we docked in Puerto Vallarta. We had signed up for the Mexican Fiesta excursion through the cruise ship. We had a bus tour through parts of Puerto Vallarta and drove closer to the Sierra Madres to a nice property that had a small strip of shops, a tequila factory and a few other buildings. Part of the excursion was a tour of the tequila factory, that was interesting. After the tour we had lunch and then there was entertainment - authentic dancing, a tortilla making contest (Emily won) and a pinata. After the fiesta we got back on the bus and slowly made the trip back to Puerto Vallarta - the bus was having issues with the A/C and the driver kept stopping. It was a miserable trip back. We went to do some shopping and toured a church in the main area of Puerto Vallarta. We were expecting to find good deals on the shopping, but nothing was priced very well and that was disappointing. The guys had fish tacos one more time before we got back on the ship at a restaurant that was right next to the cruise terminal. After dinner that night we went to see Tony Tillman in the Savoy Theater - he was excellent! That night at 10:30 was The Quest - a gameshow for adults only that was hillarious! Shaye was one of the contestants, of course, and we laughed really hard.
Friday we spent the morning by the pool. Aaron joined the belly flop contest and took second place - I think he deserved 1st! ;) We played bingo to try to win a cruise - no such luck. We played Name that TV Show Tune before dinner and also Country Name that Tune. After dinner we went to an 80's variety show in the Savoy Theater that was terrible. We left early to go up to the Lotus Lounge for Battle of the Sexes. Shaye and Aaron were original contestants and I joined in after a couple rounds. We stayed for karaoke for a bit but left around midnight to go to bed.
Saturday was a much slower day. It was too cool and windy to spend much time outside. We went to the Captain's Corner which was basically a Q&A for the captain. That was interesting. We packed up to get ready to go home. After lunch we found a sitting area to hang out in and then went up to take naps. We went to the karaoke finale and then relaxed until dinner. We went up to Ellingtons afterwards and were surprised at how strong the winds were and how big the waves were. Aaron heard later that we were riding tsunami waves from the earthquake in Chile. It was definitely the roughest night at sea that we had. We called it a night around 10 but Aaron went back up to Ellingtons to listen to the jazz music one more time.
Sunday morning we met for breakfast at 7 and ate quickly. We had originally planned on disembarking at 9:15 (we chose the express option which meant we took all of our luggage off the ship ourselves). We were done eating in time to try to catch the 8:15 disembarkment. It worked out well! We were checked out and through customs by 8:40. We waited for the Enterprise shuttle for about 25 minutes and went to get our rental car. We didn't have to be to the airport until about 4:30 and had decided to spend the day at Downtown Disney. We took the scenic route there and got there just before 11:00 a.m. We had lunch at the Jazz Kitchen - it was great! We spent the afternoon shopping. When we got to the airport and checked in, a message popped up that the flight was overbooked and they may ask for volunteers to take a different flight for compensation. Aaron talked to the ticket agent and let her know he was interested. Shaye and Aaron ended up staying in California one more day for $400 in airfare vouchers from Delta. They were also comped a hotel room and a taxi from the airport to the hotel. Emily and I had a nice flight home and our parents picked us up about 9:00 from the airport.
Aaron sent me a text Monday morning asking me how they could get into Disneyland for cheap. I wasn't sure there was a way but I checked ebay and ksl.com. I found a great deal and the guys made arrangements to meet up with the seller near the park. Brats! The crowds were small and they were able to get on everything they had wanted to before leaving at 4:00 p.m. for the airport. We picked Aaron up at about 8:45 Monday night.
Aaron, Shaye and Emily have all had a hard time back on land. I haven't noticed much of anything - but I have had a headache since Monday morning. I don't know if that's related or not.
We had an amazing trip and loved sharing it with our friends. Thanks for the suggestion, Shaye! We're already looking forward to the next one!
