Make sure to keep track of your pants – a trip report

[Kevy Baby]

(Note: I started this report the we got back from our cruise, but finished it at a later date.)

Well, we just got back from our cruise (well, earlier today – I just got the energy to get up and type.) A big thank you to €uromeinke for once again braving the traffic and picking us up! Thank you to € and NA for dropping us off and to Frodo Potter for watching the Dragons in our absence. (And also a thank-you to our friend Jan for feeding the cats, but she doesn’t post here, so I don’t know why I am mentioning it.)

So, I’ll begin with the end. On the ship, you are supposed to put your checked baggage out in the hallway the night before to facilitate debarkation. So, basically, you just leave your carry-off bags and clothes for the next day. So, after cleaning up the room, we dutifully put out bags out last night where they were promptly picked up by the capable staff.

This morning, the wake-up call comes in at 7:00 so that we can shower, get dressed, have breakfast and then wait for our turn to get off the boat. I get out of the shower to Susan telling me she can’t find her pants. After some discussion and some jogging of my memory, it is established that I have packed her pants in our luggage. Which is now buried deep in a pile with 2,400 other persons’ luggage in the bowels of the ship. Uh oh…

So, in a panic, I check the gift shop. Damn… they aren’t open today. So I next go to the Purser’s office (a ship’s equivalent of the Front Desk) to explain my plight and to see what I can do (besides having Susan walk around in her panties, which probably wouldn’t go over too well with either the ship’s personnel or Susan). After laughing at me (which was deserved), she consults and it is determined that the only course of action is wait until everybody else is off the ship to recover our bags (and the pants). Not a good plan.

On a total lark (I still can’t explain why I chose to go up one level to walk back to the elevators), I ran into one of the other couples from our table (everybody has an assigned table for dinner and you share all your dinners with the same people). Luckily, they had chosen to carry their own luggage off the ship and they were able to donate a pair of shorts to the cause (after the people behind them in line laughed at the situation). So Susan walked off the ship wearing a pair of work-out shorts and pink fuzzy sweater – not exactly high fashion, but it got the job done. Thankfully, my lovely wife has a good sense of humor and took the whole situation in stride.

So, back to the beginning.

The trip got off to a somewhat auspicious start. We later found out that the boat was a little late getting into port because of weather plus there were some troubles with Customs, so we were delayed getting on board. But, we finally did around 2:30 and set sail sometime later.

On Sunday (departure day) and Monday we experienced some very heavy seas due to a Pacific storm (the same one that caused the boat to be delayed coming in). Even the staff was commenting on how rough things were – they had never experienced anything like this. I quickly decided the best course of action was to get drunk. I figured that the swaying from my own inebriation would counteract any swaying from the ship (when the ship was swaying left, I would be swaying right). In addition to the rocky seas, the engines were working extra hard to compensate for the rough seas. Since we were in the back of the ship, we experienced a LOT of vibration and shaking. It was like having a continuous 3.1 earthquake. However, we quickly adjusted to the fun and settled in.

We had a very nice room with a balcony. I spent a lot of time out on the balcony the first couple of days at sea reading and enjoying the sea, the weather, etc. Read a couple of chapters, doze, read a couple more chapters, doze some more – it was a good way to kick-start the relaxing.

You hear about it all of the time, but one thing really stands out on a cruise: the food. You simply cannot go hungry on a cruise! The meal times are almost continuous and when either the formal dining room or the informal cafeteria isn’t open, there is a 24-hour pizzeria. Also, room service is always available and it is complimentary. The food is actually pretty good. I expected that when they are serving 1,000 people at once, that the food would be iffy. But I was pleasantly surprised at the quality and selection of foods. The steak I had on the first night was wonderfully juicy and tasty. The service was amazing and after the first night, they did not have to ask me for my preference on many things as they remember it all through the cruise (as well as our names).

Our first port of call was Puerto Vallarta. We did not have any shore excursions planned for this port and I kind of wished we had as this was the longest stay of the three ports we visited. We spent the day just walking around PV, taking in the local sites and shopping. We ate at a local restaurant called The Blue Shrimp (guess what we had). There was a street performed who would take very large boulders (larger than a human torso) and carefully balance them on other rocks. Oddly compelling to watch. And his muscles were very nicely defined. Also in PV, we picked up a Dia de los Muertos shadow box for € and NA.

Our second port was Mazatlan. Here, we had a seven-hour tour of the Inland Sierras. We visited a guy making bricks by hand (not a fun job). At Malpica (one of the small towns on our tour), we visited with a man who makes gorgeous tiles (we bought two) and visited the local bakery (yummy bread!). Next, we visited a small furniture making cooperative and I was appalled by the poor quality of the machinery – the table saw scared the heck out of me (between the blade in very poor condition and the complete lack of normal safety features). But our guide gave Susan and I a small gift (a clay cat) since she had found out it was our anniversary (that day was the actual day of our 10th anniversary). After that stop, we visited Concordia, and then on to Cobala, where we visited the local artist (Susan loved his masks and bought several) and then had lunch at the local restaurant. This town is deep in the hills and is very small (something like 300 people). There is one phone for the whole town and when a call comes in, the person is paged using a large loudspeaker that covers the whole town – everyone knows when you get a call! After that, we loaded back onto the bus for a long ride back into Mazatlan – a good time for a siesta before a brief shopping stop and then back on the ship. I’m glad we did the long tour in Mazatlan as many people we spoke with said that there wasn’t much to do in Mazatlan. As we departed Mazatlan, about a hundred locals came out to wave goodbye.

Our next (and final) port was Cabo San Lucas. This was my favorite port of the three and definitely one I would like to stay at again for an extended stay. It was also the day that I drank the most (at Cabo Wabo), but I am not sure if there is a correlation.

We started the day by tendering to shore (the other two stops had docks). We immediately hopped on the boat that took us to Land’s End – the most Southernly spot on the Baja Peninsula. There we took a lot of pictures of the famous natural arch and spent time just soaking up the beauty of the spot. The water was beautiful and we swore you could see where the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez came together

After going back ashore, we wandered around Cabo. The local Zoo had a display where you could your picture taken holding a Lion cub (which Susan did); I got my finger gnawed on by same (it was cute!).

I think at Cabo, we experienced the most aggressive and numerous street vendors. But we ignored them (and all of there whistles) and just enjoyed walking around. After a bit of window shopping, we ended up at Cabo Wabo – Sammy Hagar’s place. We munched on some nachos and I enjoyed multiple margaritas (I lost count). The energy of Cabo Wabo was really electric – and this was in the afternoon when nothing was going on. I really want to look into visiting for one of Sammy’s Birthday Bashes.

After staggering out of there (Susan had to hold me a up quite a bit), we did some more shopping and I ended up buying Susan an anniversary ring (hmm… maybe it was her plan to liquor me up and then get me to buy her jewelry). After sticking around to get the ring sized (too big as it turns out), we barely made it back on the boat in time as we left our last port of call.

After that, the last full day of our cruise was spent at sea. One of the highlights of that day was the midnight buffet. This is wisely done in two parts: first is the display and then they clear the room to prepare it for people to come back in and eat the display – truly amazing works of art with food.

I had wanted to take a cruise for a long time, and I am glad I did. For me (who NEVER relaxes), it was the perfect vacation. I didn’t have to worry about a thing (though I should have worried about Susan’s pants), and I didn’t have to drive anywhere. I look forward to cruising again some day.

[lashbear]

Woo Hoo !!! Sounds like fun. Did they slug you much for drinks on board ?

[DreadPirateRoberts]

That sounds like a great trip.

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by lashbear

Woo Hoo !!! Sounds like fun. Did they slug you much for drinks on board ?

The wine I was drinking with dinner (a Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon) was $11.00 per glass. Granted, that is one of the more expensive wines, but it gives you an idea.

[Morrigoon]

Great TR! Gives me some ideas of what to do when we take the canal cruise next year, thanks!

[Disneyphile]

Uh-oh. It sounds like you may have the "cruise bug", KB.

I'm sure you'll be back.

[wendybeth]

I'm glad you had fun and were able to relax, KB! The pants story is an instant classic. Between that and your sigline, I have a bit of coffee to clean off the monitor.

[alphabassettgrrl]

Wow that sounds like a lot of fun! Except for the no-pants part. Now I'm really looking forward to next year's canal cruise!

[JWBear]

Did the Steward make you towel animals every night? I love the towel animals.

And, where are the pictures.... We're waiting.

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by JWBear

Did the Steward make you towel animals every night? I love the towel animals.

And, where are the pictures.... We're waiting.

Yes on the animals. Those and other pictures here. Some of the pictures need to be turned. I had fixed those before I uploaded, but somehow they reverted.