The Cruise

Well, we went on our cruise. It was great. We really enjoyed our time together. And surprisingly, the 7 days didn't go by too fast, it was JUST right. The food on the cruise was absolutely amazing, and we were able to try some new foods that we wouldn't normally try, because we didn't have to pay for it, and if we don't like something, we just send it back and get something else. Mussels, caviar, rabbit, duck, squid, frog legs, escargot (both had it before, and both LOVE it!). It was great. The ports we visited were fun, and it was cool to use some Spanish again. I was suprised how the Spanish came back so quickly when I needed it. Here's some highlights from the cruise:

Here we are in San Diego waiting to board the ship. We were very excited! When we got into our cabin, our travel agent surprised with chocolate covered strawberries for a GREAT Welcome! We loved it, and since we were starving, it was a nice treat! This is also a great picture of our cabing (with a great sized window!!! Free Upgrade baby :)

Make sure those life vests fit!

Since we were celebrating Logan's graduation on the cruise, Monday morning we woke up and there were these balloons hanging outside our room. The best part was, we left the balloons up all week, and so it was really easy to find our room instead of looking for room numbers.

We really enjoyed playing shuffleboard, and never missed a day. The best part, I was really good at it, and actually beat Logan at most of the games!

Port #1: Cabo San Lucas. Our first on land excursion was quite interesting. We didn't book through the cruise line of course, because they're expensive, so we decided to find our own excursion when we got on land. Well, through some very intresting negotiating, we found a snorkelling excursion. We got on a boat, and they took us on a boat cruise to see some cool rock formations (Los Arcos), some fish (bottom glass boat), and a bunch of seals (Pancho!). Then, we were to go snorkelling at the reef or from the beach. Unfortunately, we were in such a rush negotiating and getting on the boat, that we forgot to get into our swimsuits. So, we had them "DROP" us off at the beach. So, at this "Lover's Beach", there was no dock. Basically the boat pulls in and out of shore, using the waves to get in farther, and you have to find the right moment and JUMP. Yeah, a lot scary... Once we arrived, we went behind some rocks, and changed into our swimsuits, put our snorkelling gear on, and tried heading into the water. UNFORTUNATELY, with all the boats coming in and out, the waves were really rough, and I ended up going through a few wash spins before giving up and heading back to shore. Logan finally made it in, and ended up only seeing ONE fish. Then, we waited on the beach for the boat to return, only to realize, we didn't catch the name of OUR boat before getting "shoved" off, so we had to keep a careful eye out for the other passengers. We finally found our boat, and THEN had to get back ON the boat without a dock!!! Another interesting moment. I ended up doing a flip/somersault into the boat, and we headed out. It was an interesting adventure, and we'll never forget it. BUT, I don't want to do THAT again!

The best part of Cabo San Lucas... A local zoo had a baby jaguar that you could take a picture with for a donation for the zoo. Logan was very excited, so he held the big cat, and I was able to pet it and help feed it for a second. Port #2: Mazatlan. We LOVE Mazatlan. We decided to do our own thing in Mazatlan, and ended up having a great time. We were handed this walking tour map when we got off the ship, and decided to follow that. We shared a cab with another couple into Old Town, and then found some great museums, and beautiful Old Town sites. In addition, we had the BEST shopping experience in Mazatlan. The best prices, and negotiating!!

Port #3: Puerto Vallarta. In Puerto, we found a van tour that seemed like a good deal. $25/person, and it ended up being about 5 hours long. They took us all over over Puerto, the rich areas, and the poor areas. They took us to a tequila factory, and showed us how they make tequila, and then they took us into the jungle to have lunch at this restaurant in the middle of the jungle. It was beautiful. Then, we hit a couple last shopping areas, where Logan got his very cool Tarantula belt buckle and other buckles as well (see pic below)

Beautiful sunsets on the cruise:

Parties on the boat!

Salsa dance lessons!

One of the best parts of our cruise, was our dinner group. When we booked the cruise, we requested the early dinner seating, but when we arrived they had assigned us to the the Anytime dining. But, we wanted to sit with the same people every night, and so requested for the 8pm seating. We met with the Maitre'D and he assigned us to a table with a bunch of other young couples, one that was married 12 years, then us married 1 1/2 years, a newlywed couple on their honeymoon, a dating couple who got engaged ON the cruise, and a couple that's been dating for a couple of years. We were all about the same age, but all had different circumstances with our relationships, which was great! We had so many great laughs, and usually ended up closing down the restaurant, as we hung out later and continued to talk. Dinnertime was always enjoyable with the company and ALL the food. Our favorite nights: all you can eat Alaskan King Crab (Logan had 3 huge servings), and our LobsterFest!!! Our table found out that the next night would be lobster, so a few of the guys (including Logan), agreed to a Lobster eating contest. The Lobster also came with 2 HUGE prawns... Logan ate 5 plates!!! The winner ate 7. It was a blast! In addition, our waiter was amazing, and quite a bit of fun. One of the guys at our table asked for grated cheese one night, and we found our waiter cutting slices of cheddar cheese into grated pieces of cheese for his "grated" cheese. He was awesome!!!

At first, we were a little disappointed in the lack of activities that they had on the ship. Actually, they had tons of activitaies, but not much that we were interested in. HOWEVER, that gave us a lot of together time, and relaxing time. I've never been inside my cabin so much on a cruise!!! :) It was great!!! I came home SO relaxed and stress free. I would definitely do this again!!!