The Long-Awaited Cruise Post

OK, so I've been trying to think of ways to properly document such an awesome vacation, and I can't come up with anything. I started to write a post a couple days ago, and it ended up being pages and pages long! Then I thought I'd write one post on each port... I think you'd be bored by the end of it. So here is my next attempt at the long overdue review of our fun vacation!

First of all, this was Josh's and my first experience with a travel agency, and we both were very happy with it. It's nice to have someone else work out the bugs and such. It's pretty much peace of mind for sale. Our agent got us a great hotel in LA and described the necessary process for getting the transfer to the cruise ship, and for the most part it went off without a hitch. Oh, one thing: we checked three pieces of luggage in Scranton, PA, and only two made it through to LA. When we checked in with the service desk, they promised it would be on the next flight from Philly and that they would bring it to our hotel that night. It didn't come. It wasn't at the airport in the morning, either. They told us they would bring it to the port where our ship was docked, and if it didn't catch up with us there, they'd fly it along behind us until it caught up with us at one of our ports. I was just imagining our garment bag ending up somewhere in Mexico never to be seen again.... but it came in on the last flight from Philly (about 11 a.m.) before we left for the ship at 12:30. Thank goodness.

We got on the ship in LA without any trouble. Something funny is that they have hand sanitizer available EVERYWHERE on the ship. You are required to use it any time you get on or off the ship, and every time you enter a restaurant. It just struck me funny. We did the life boat drill first thing and then we just kind of got acclimated to the ship. I was amazed at all they had to offer: a pool with two waterslides, a meshed-in "driving range," a totally enclosed basketball court, two extra-large (like two-foot sized) chess boards, a jogging track, a helicopter pad, an ice cream bar, about 13 different restaurants, a library, a cinema, a casino, a lounge, a theater, two card rooms, a reading room, numerous conference/meeting rooms, a fully equipped spa, a fitness center, a gift shop, an atrium.... I could go on and on! It is amazing how big the ship is. We went to a show or some kind of comedy thing every night. We played Bingo, slots at the casino, and a lot of card games/checkers, etc. during the days at sea. Oh, and pub trivia. They had a chocolate buffet at midnight one night.... holy cow, that is some serious chocolate!! We ate in several different restaurants and got seated with others for a few meals. It's kind of fun to meet other travelers and see what they've been up to, because you often run into them again later on the trip.

Our first port was Manzanillo, a smallish port that wasn't too touristy. We went on a sea turtle excursion, learned a ton of trivia about coconut trees, and ate at a Mexican buffet-style outdoor restaurant. We bartered with the locals for some really neat handmade stuff. We got to speak a lot of Spanish here, so that was pretty fun. This was when the feeling of vacation really began to hit. Time just slowed right down, and as we ate lunch at that little restaurant overlooking the ocean, I felt our collective deep breath and ......sigh.

Our second port was Puerto Vallarta... probably my least favorite port, because it was very commercialized. We were dropped off for the day at an all-inclusive resort where we had access to boogie boards, towels, lounge chairs, etc. There was a pool with a swim-up bar and a restaurant where we also ordered in Spanish, though I don't think we had to. There were lots of tourists here from the States and Canada, and nearly everyone spoke English. Josh boogie boarded a bit but he said that the undertow was so strong that it wasn't really that fun. I stayed right on dry land.

Next we went to Mazatlan. We walked off the ship and bartered with a taxi driver to take us on a guided tour of historical Mazatlan. He was very friendly and showed us the cathedral where he was married. He stopped a lot of places and let us get out to take pictures. He dropped us off at Senor Frog's, an apparently well-known tourist spot, where they are very used to travelers. Our waiter stomped on an imaginary cockroach when we first got there and then tickled my leg a couple minutes later to make me think some disgusting bug was crawling all over me.... it worked! Gross! Then some crazy Mexican man with a holster of tequila came over to our table, blew his whistle, and poured two shots of tequila... then proceeded to try to force them down our throats. The people around us had evidently allowed this to occur at their own tables (meaning, they were quite drunk), but Josh and I weren't interested. It was kind of funny to hear them call us "Pollo!" though. (Chicken!)

Finally, we went to Cabo San Lucas. We had pre-booked an excursion here called the Snorkel and Sail Fiesta. This port is great for deep-sea fishing and is known for its variety of tropical fish. It is at the tip of the Baja peninsula, and the narrow body of water between that peninsula and the country of Mexico is the Sea of Cortes. We had to take tenders from our cruise ship to the port, which basically means we got to travel in our life boats to the shore instead of just walking off the ship into the port. We snorkeled in the Sea of Cortes and then sailed around the tip to the greater Pacific Ocean. The Pacific is extremely rough here. The tourists who take a water taxi to the beachy areas are prohibited from swimming on the Pacific side and are only allowed to swim on the Sea of Cortes side. So, it was sailing on the Pacific where I got sooooooo seasick. Now, to give you a little history, I had been afraid I'd get seasick on the cruise so I planned ahead and got a prescription for a scopolamine patch. It's a tiny patch that you wear behind your ear and it apparently makes the nerves which are responsible for your equilibrium a bit less sensitive. I had worn the patch for the first 5 days or so with great result, but I was having the annoying side effect of blurry vision. I took the patch off and was doing well on the cruise ship but boy was I sick on that sail. The guys who were running our shore excursion were serving lots of liquor from the bar, and there were a few college kids (and one very stupid 17-year old boy) who were partaking of quite a bit... all I could smell was that nasty liquor smell as I tried desperately to hold on to my breakfast. I must have turned an alarming shade of green, because another passenger took mercy on me and instructed me to get down on the floor, put my head between my knees, and had Josh rub ice on the back of my neck. She was my Florence Nightingale - I felt so much better, and actually survived the rest of the sail without vomiting. I recovered awhile in an air conditioned restaurant, and then we raced around Cabo for a bit before we had to be back on the boat - it was kind of sad that we spent the least amount of time in this port, because there was so much to do. We ran around looking for a fire opal for me (a gorgeous, dark, bright blue variety of opal that Mexico is famous for); Josh said I had been talking about them in my sleep, and wanted me to have one. We never found one. We ran into the Hard Rock Cafe and picked up a couple t-shirts, and then tried to make it to the Harley-Davidson store to pick up a pin for my pop. We were almost all the way there but had to turn back in order to make it in time to catch the last tender onto the ship. We both said that we wouldn't mind spending a whole vacation in this port. Maybe someday.

So anyway, that is the condensed version of what could go on for pages and pages. Needless to say, we had a great time and really enjoyed the opportunity to go on such a special trip. We'd recommend it to anyone! Pictures to follow.