Browns vs. the Mexican Riviera, March 4-11, 2012 (completed 3/20; added Navigators)

[marciemouse]

We must have walked out of lunch right before you, as Adelise caught Snow White coming out from the crew area. And we ran into Belle right after that, too. Great pics of the nearly empty lab and club!

 

[spiiffy]

For only getting back yesterday you have done a great job of posting! I can't wait to read more. We leave in just over two weeks for our MR cruise and I also have two rowdy little boys!

 

[cnj]

Enjoy reading your story. I hope you had a good stress free time.

 

[Wshop]

Thank you for the photos! I now understand why the Fish Extender can only be 8 inches wide!

 

[DCW]

great start. looking forward to reading more
we sail in 3 weeks

 

[trish.]

Great pictures!

 

[GooniesAndy]

Day 2 Navigator:

I slept very well in my comfy bed, and woke up feeling well-rested. The kids were excited to get moving, so we got up and out pretty promptly, meeting up with Meghan, Jason, and Lucas for breakfast at Triton's. I ordered an omelette:

I really liked the omelettes onboard. The cheese was always perfectly melted and there was enough of it, which is important to me! I was disappointed in the bacon, which was very thin and seemed on par with what you'd get at McDonalds. I'm a bacon fiend, and this just didn't cut it. I didn't even bother to eat it when it showed up on my plate at most meals. Though I didn't order any with this meal, there were fabulous, big fat sausages that I really liked. The hash brown was dry and I didn't eat it.

Jason ordered the eggs benedict, which I didn't get a picture of. The yolk in the egg was pretty solid.

Meghan ordered the waffle sandwich, which sounded really tasty: two waffles stuffed with dulce de leche and rolled in sugar cinnamon. It didn't really look like it was rolled in sugar cinnamon to me, but it still looked good and Meghan said she liked it.

Oliver ordered the Peanut Butter and Jelly Typhoon.

And Elliott ordered Mickey's Special Combo Platter: three pancakes, a scrambled egg, and a Mickey waffle.

After breakfast, we went to the Oceaneer Club for open house, so that the two three-year-olds could learn the lay of the land while still under adult supervision. We wanted to be sure they could quickly locate the restrooms from any point in the club before we allowed them to go by themselves. We got there right after the Little Einsteins (one of Oliver's favorites) activity started. I wish we'd gotten there a few minutes earlier, because Ollie was reluctant to join in. At one point one of the counselors noticed him watching and invited him over, which made him feel more comfortable.

After we left the Club, Elliott decided he wanted to hang out at the Lab for a while, so we dropped him off over there. The rest of us went up to Deck 4 (where the jogging track is) where Jason wore the tots out running them back and forth while Meghan and I hung out in a couple of lounge chairs for a while.

The water was so flat, there was hardly any movement, and it stayed that way through about Wednesday evening. Even then, it was minimal until the last night. We got so lucky with the weather and sea conditions!

Mike, Oliver, and I decided to head up to Deck 9 to check things out and ran into Stitch, one of my favorite characters.

By the time we finished, it was time for lunch, so we picked Elliott up and met the gang at Triton's. I ordered the Apple Walnut Salad and the Angus Chuck Burger. These were both quite tasty, though the burger was massive and I could barely eat half of it.

Mike ordered the Assorted Seafood Sampler and the Fusilli Pasta. He thought they were both pretty good.

Meghan had the Vegetable Quesadillas and the Glazed Meatloaf (which I have to admit looked really tasty). She said they were good.

The kids pretty much ordered the same rotation of dishes the whole week. Today included the Mickey pasta and pepperoni pizza.

 

[GooniesAndy]

After lunch we went to see the 2:00 matinee of the Golden Mickeys, which we thought was a lot of fun. We got there at 1:30, thinking it would be really crowded, but the theater was MAYBE 2/3 full. Still, we had great seats close to the front, in the center section, so it was worth it.

After the show, I ran to the Promenade Lounge for Disney Tunes Trivia, which started right as the Golden Mickeys ended. I got there right when they were about to start and had to slink off to my own little table to play alone, since the rest of my group hadn't been up to trivia right then. Sadly, I didn't win this time, but I don't think having the others would have helped. The few song titles I didn't know were pretty obscure. Still, I had fun. I just love playing trivia!

We headed back to the Oceaneer Club for another open house session in time for story time with Belle, and then Oliver had an absolute blast playing the parachute games.

We stopped by our room to get into our fancy duds for formal night, and then took the kids to the Promenade Lounge where there were some live performers and a bunch of kids dancing, while we waited for dinner time.

Dinner was the Golden Mickeys (formal night) menu at Triton's. Our awesome servers already had the kids' preferred drinks waiting for them, which was great. As he sat down, Oliver started announcing his desire for chocolate milk, and we were able to put it right into his eager little hands. Phapakorn: 1, Oliver: 0.

I ordered the Prosciutto with Chilled Honeydew (and then I ate Lucas' that he decided he didn't want... yay!) and the Yachtsman Steakhouse Grilled NY Strip. I also made the kids, who didn't want anything for a first course, order the corn soup off the kids menu, because I wanted to try it. And it was delicious!

Mike ordered the Caramelized Bay Scallops, the Broccoli and Maytag Blue Cheese Soup, and the Sweet-and-Sour Tofu.

Elliott ordered chicken strips and Oliver had the pork chop.

Just as I was about to let my food get cold while I prepped for Oliver, magic happened:

Phapakorn: 2. Oliver: 0. And Mommy wins! Seriously, though, this was one of the nice little touches. One night Phapakorn even cut up Meghan's meat when Lucas fell asleep on her lap. Then, Oliver's nightly ritual:

Meghan and Jason took Lucas back to their room after he, too, fell asleep, but Oliver ended up rallying and we hit the post-dinner family dance party in Studio Sea. The kid-friendly dance sessions were one of my very favorite things. The boys were just so happy out there dancing, regardless of whether it was standard dance club fare or preschool music. Watching them have such a wonderful time made my heart feel happy and light.

After the boys wore themselves out a bit we headed up to deck 9 for a little stroll and some self-serve ice cream. Then we headed back to the room to have some downtime watching classic Disney shorts on TV. I ordered some Buffalo wings and cookies and milk from room service. The wings didn't really taste like they were proper Buffalo-style, more like spicy barbecue, but I really liked them and ended up ordering them several more times. The blue cheese dressing it was served with was REALLY good, with big tasty chunks of cheese in it. I didn't eat it with the wings, but with the carrots and celery that were also served on the plate.

We ended the night with our second towel animal, what appeared to be a lobster:

 

[Sereina]

Nice trip report! We were on the MR cruise the week before you and had a great time as well!

 

[GooniesAndy]

Day 3 Navigator:

Today the adults had our brunch at Palo at 11:30, so we took the kids to Beach Blanket Buffet for a light breakfast. The boys were totally thrilled to see Krispy Kreme doughnuts on the buffet. A few weeks ago I brought a box of them home, and so Elliott recognized the box.

After breakfast, I stopped and got a chai latte at the Cove Cafe, which was very tasty. Then we took the kids down for the Playhouse Disney Dance Party in the Promenade Lounge. Lucas was a bit overwhelmed by the loud music and boisterous kids, so he hung back by the adults, but Elliott and Oliver ran into the middle of things and had a great time dancing and playing games with Stephen, who was one of our favorite crew members. He was great with the kids.

We dropped the boys off at the Club in time for Toy Story Boot Camp (Elliott loved this; he said it was his favorite Club/Lab organized activity) and went to get dressed for Palo. Mike and I were ready a bit early, so we wandered around on deck 10, which I hadn't checked out yet. It was nice up there! I wish we'd have had time to take the boys up to the soccer court during a slow time, because they would have loved that.

Then, it was finally time for Palo!

We were told there is one woman whose entire job is to make sure the shipment of roses is kept perfect for distribution throughout the week.

Our server was Toni, and he was absolutely wonderful. He took such good care of us. First, he showed us all of the different self-serve stations. There was a seafood table, a bread and cheese table, one full of pastries, antipasti, and desserts.

He also showed us the selection of entrees that are prepared to order.

Jason and I ordered mimosas, the others water, and our entrees. I ordered the gorgonzola and grape pizza, Meghan got the tomato soup, Jason the eggs Benedict, and Mike the eggs Julia. After our orders were placed, it was time to start filling our plates! I can't even begin to list everything we ate, but pretty much everything was wonderful.

Both men decided that their eggs were the best thing they had the entire cruise. Later we had a second round. I ordered strawberry soup, Meg got the chicken Parmesan, and Mike and Jason had their own bowls of tomato soup. We all ate some of the chicken, and it was as good as I've seen everyone say. Yum! Apparently we were too busy leaping into everything Toni put on our table to take pictures, because I don't have a single one!

 

[GooniesAndy]

Then... dessert. Ooooh, this was good. I ate my favorite thing on the cruise, here, the chocolate pot de cream. It was rich and not too sweet, and the perfect creamy texture. The others thought it was too rich, but to me it was ideal.

When I wouldn't let Toni take away the remnants of my pizza, because I was determined to eat it all, he offered to have the chef make me another one to take out with me. I asked if it was possible to get one without the grapes, because, really, I just love gorgonzola cheese and that is what I wanted. While the rest of the table imagined a disgruntled French chef, I rubbed my greedy hands together, imagining my perfect pizza. Toni also brought us two bowls of chocolate-dipped strawberries to bring back to the kids. I love that man.

After we finally rolled our stuffed selves out of Palo, Meghan and Jason went to pick up Lucas, but Mike and I decided the quiet was too nice to give up so soon. We headed to the Cove Cafe, where we reclined, belly up, on a sofa. I ordered a pot of masala chai, which was lovely, just enough for two milky cups.

After I was done with my tea, Mike and I went down to Studio Sea for "Cruisin' for Trivia," led by Stephen from the Playhouse Disney dance party. Some of the questions were really hard, but we ended up tied for first place. After a series of tie-breakers, Mike remembered that Whoopie Goldberg's character in Sister Act was named "Sister Mary Clarence" and we won. I'll never let him forget that he came up with that answer.

When that was over, we picked up the kids and relaxed for a while. Then we headed out to play "Wonder Quest", which I thought was some sort of a scavenger hunt. If you go to this, load your bag up with all sorts of random things, because it's about finding things in the lounge. We had so much fun playing this game, with Elliott as our team captain. Luckily, he's an incredibly friendly child, so he had no problem going up to complete strangers to ask if he could borrow, for example, some cash. It was hilarious. We didn't win, but this one was definitely about playing the game.

After a quick change, we hit up another family dance party for a little while, and then it was off to Triton's for dinner. I had "Chef Louis'" French Onion Soup and the Aged Angus Grilled Beef Tenderloin. The beef was really tender and tasty. For dessert I ordered the Grand Marnier Souffle, which I liked.

Mike ordered "Prince Eric's" Escargot Gratinee, the French onion soup, and the Porcini Mushroom-Stuffed Pasta in a Vegetable Broth. He said the pasta was a bit dry, but that it was really good.

Jason had the escargot and the Crispy Roasted Duck.

Meghan had the Tomato and Basil Soup, hoping that it would be the same as what she'd had in Palo (it wasn't) and the duck confit. I can't remember what her entree was. She ordered the super tasty sounding sundae, but I was taking Oliver to the bathroom for the millionth time, so I didn't see it, or Mike's birthday chocolate mousse. I was told they were both good, though!

After dinner the boys wanted to go back to the Club, so we dropped them off and then headed up to deck 9 for some ice cream, and then I sat and watched Mulan by the pool for a while. Then it was time to go pick up the boys and get ready for bed.

 

[cnj]

So many updates! I love all of your pictures. I just read your screen name! I LOVE the Goonies. I was in third grade and Sean Austin was really big. I remember writing him love letters and sending him my school picture. Now my husband kinda looks like him. Just thought I would share.

Enjoying your updates.

Jenni

 

[GooniesAndy]

Day 4 Navigator:

Today we woke up as we pulled into Puerto Vallarta:

We had booked the shore excursion to Las Caletas, which met up in Studio Sea at 7:30AM. While Mike got the kids dressed, I ran up to Beach Blanket Buffet and grabbed a few little boxes of cereal and a couple of tubs of milk, so that we'd have a little something to snack on.

Port adventure ticket stub (they retain a piece of it):

We got to Studio Sea a few minutes early, got Goofy stickers to identify us, and went to eat our cereal at one of the tables. We were told that you need to be extremely careful about what you take into Mexico... someone had been fined for the dairy in the glaze on a doughnut, for example. Pre-packaged shelf-type food (like the little cereal boxes) or bottled water are OK, as long as they remain sealed. A short time later, they called our group and we were off. It was a short walk down the edge of the port to the little boat that would take us to Las Caletas, which was moored right behind the Wonder. This is a great opportunity to get some close-up pictures of the boat, and to see some of the little details you don't get to enjoy when you're onboard!

Brochure with info about the day (sorry, my scanner wasn't big enough to get it all, but I tried for the most important stuff... the prices for the optional activities (the lighter blue section) got cut off, but I'll post them below:

Massages: $25-50
Certified diving (pre-book): $15
Clay modeling: $6
Power snorkel: $35

We were toward the end of the line, so we went up top and crammed ourselves in. They gave everyone, including the children, adult-size life jackets, telling us that they would give us kid-size ones at some point. That never seemed to happen, though. The boat ride out took maybe 45 minutes and I mostly spent it in line downstairs signing Elliott up for the "kid adventure" activity, which he was really excited about. The crew walked around with pastries and coffee, though I didn't get any; by the time I was through the line, the pastries were gone. We could hear entertainment, but it was downstairs so we didn't see it. However, as the boat pulled up to the dock at Las Caletas, a parrot was released and circled the boat for quite some time. The people downstairs might not even have realized this was happening, but we had a great view.

Las Caletas was absolutely beautiful, lush green rain forest as the backdrop for small white crescents of beach. Once off the boat, everyone stops to have their picture taken with a costumed man and woman before moving down paths lined by alcoves filled with tables and chairs, where we were told we'd be eating later. We went down to the largest beach area and claimed some chairs for ourselves.

We paid our first visit to the bathrooms. The signs threw me off, because I could see bathrooms at the top of a second set of stairs, but the sign indicated that they were to the left. I went upstairs, but later found that there was another set down there. I believe the first level restrooms had one for men and one for women. The upstairs set had two for each. They were nicer than I'd expected them to be!

The only bummer about the whole day was that when we were on the boat they told us there would be street-style tacos (one of my very favorite foods) available for us once we got onshore, but we never saw them. We also never saw anyone eating one, so who knows!

The kids wanted to play in the water, so we all headed down to splash in the surf. Jason got a set of snorkel gear (which just required an ID or room key as collateral), and I wish I could have done it! I just never ended up with time. He said he saw a lot of fish, particularly by the raft that is anchored in the middle of the roped-off swimming area. Other options that were available were kayaks, stand-up paddle boards, and inner tubes. For a fee you could SCUBA.

The water was pretty chilly, but it was what we expected in winter, and the weather was gorgeous (low 80s) so you adjusted to it quickly. They did mention that wetsuits were available if you found the water too cold.

It was quickly time for Elliott's kid adventure, so he and Mike headed off for that, while I stayed with Oliver by the water. He had an amazing time and Mike told me just that was worth the cost of the excursion. Each child was given safety gear, including a sturdy helmet:

They were then seated for a talk about what they were going to be doing and information on the rules and safety.

The first stop was the monkey cage. The kids were taken inside and had to keep their hands knit together, against their chests. The monkeys got to climb on the kids (which Elliott thought was totally cool).

Next, the kids rode donkeys (led by their parents) to the next station.

Where they walked across a swaying bridge:

The staging area for the zip-line portion of the activity. These kids had SUCH A GOOD TIME!

After that they met back up with us at the beach. Mike and Jason took the boys back down to the water to play, while Meghan and I relaxed for a while in our beach chairs. A few minutes later, the guys were calling and wildly gesticulating, so I ran down to see what they wanted. It turned out there was a whale a short distance out who was putting on quite a show! I've seen whales in the wild before, but never anything like this. For ten or fifteen minutes he just pulled out all the stops, doing every whale trick you can think of, over and over. It was incredible, and I wouldn't have been surprised to learn that there was a trainer out there or something. Of course, I didn't have the camera in my hands. I tried to get it on video, but every time I thought my recording was getting too long without any action and stopped it, wham, he'd leap from the water in a spectacular breach, before I was able to hit record again. I haven't watched my video yet, but I'm pretty sure there's not much to see.

 

[GooniesAndy]

Mike agreed to watch the boys so that I could go with Meghan and Jason on the scheduled nature walk. Oliver decided to come along (probably since Lucas was there), and boy, that was tough. The walk takes you all the way up to the top of the mountain, up steep stairs carved into the rocks. I was exhausted. Around the time we got to the top I thought I was going to pass out if another surprise staircase showed up around the corner. However, it was a really cool walk. Our guide taught us about the flora and fauna, and we got to see some beautiful views from up top.

We came back down around the back by the monkey cage and zip-line trail, which looked pretty neat up close. By then it was time for lunch, so we gathered up our things and headed out to find a table. We were a bit late, so the closest tables were all taken. This actually worked out well, because we ended up in a mostly empty section with beautiful views, rather than the cave-like indoor area we'd seen pretty far back. There were only one or two other families, so we practically had a whole buffet to ourselves.

We had a scare here, when Mike realized he had set the camera down while he was helping Oliver at the bathroom. Therefore, I didn't get any pictures of our lunch, but Mike did get to the camera just as someone was picking it up. I was so worried! I still enjoyed the tasty buffet, however! Fresh guacamole, salsa fresca, homemade corn chips, beans, paella, melt-off-the-bone barbecue ribs, and more. Everything was very tasty.

We were just finishing up when we started to see a steady stream of people heading back to the boat, so we grabbed our things and got back on board. Again we were upstairs, which was nice. We relaxed in the sunshine, listening to the downstairs entertainment (I think the crew dressed up and were doing a lip sync to pop music) over the PA system, and enjoyed the scenery. All of the kids fell asleep.

I would highly recommend the excursion to Las Caletas, and I'd book it again in a heartbeat. It was well-organized, the food was tasty and plentiful, it never felt over-crowded, everything was clean and well-maintained, and we felt very safe and secure. The kid adventure, in particular, had a major focus on safety. Everyone in our group thought it was a highlight of the vacation.

We thought about taking a walk outside the port area or heading over to the Walmart, but it wasn't as close as I'd pictured it in my head and it was across a busy road, so we decided to just get back onboard and chill out for the afternoon.

When we got back to our room, we found the black 9" Vinylmation we'd dropped off at guest services the first day waiting for us.

Mike took the boys up to the pool for a little while and I wandered around. Elliott and I went to play some Disney trivia before dinner. We won, and Elliott was terribly proud.

Dinner tonight was in Animator's Palate, show dinner. Everyone was pretty much exhausted after the day in Las Caletas, so dinner was a bit of a challenge! We had a dozen potty trips (during which I did get to enjoy seeing the boat pull out of port and the sun drop behind the sea) and Meghan ended up just going back to her room halfway through.

Things were hectic during dinner, so I'm not sure what everyone else ate. I do know that there were multiple plates of Ahi Tuna Tartare. Mike had the Black Bean Chipotle Cakes. My photos tell me that someone had the Phyllo-Wrapped Salmon Fillet.

I had the Baked Potato and Cheddar Cheese Soup and the Asian Marinated Beef Tenderloin. Again, the beef was really good and very tender.

The kids barely made it through the show, which was a lot of fun. We all had a good time watching the pictures and lights change. And, of course, Mickey was a hit as usual.

After dinner the kids ordered their Mickey ice cream sandwiches, but instead, a surprise arrived!

That made for some happy kids! I ordered the Chilled Lemon Souffle from the
"no sugar added" section of the dessert menu. It was tasty! I was pleasantly surprised by the desserts I ordered from that section. They were some of the best I had on the trip (other than my beloved pot de creme!)

After dinner Mike went back to the room (and ordered room service, crazy man), and I took the boys to see Toy Story: The Musical, which we all loved. And then it was time for bed, because we were all about to turn into pumpkins!

 

[GoCruiseDaddy]

How do I request PTTAPTA dinner rotation? I would really help resolve some of my conflicts with PALO reservations... Sailing April 22.

 

[Goldiepie1]

Loving your TR!!!! Especially the food pix. We go in 2 weeks can't waiT!

We are doing Las Caletas adventure too. My daughter 6yo wants to go in the Monkey cage and across the bridge.. but she does not want to zipline.

Do you know if she will be able to do that? It looked like your son was wearing the zip line helmet while going through the monkey cage and bridge so I dont know if they would let her in without going to the zipline.

 

[GooniesAndy]

How do I request PTTAPTA dinner rotation? I would really help resolve some of my conflicts with PALO reservations... Sailing April 22.

I just called the 800 number on the website and asked them to put it on our reservation, and to be sure that my sister's family, which was already linked to ours, would still be attached. There was nothing that I could see on our reservation to indicate the request, but it obviously was noted and we got the right rotation!

I was really happy I'd requested the reservation, particularly as we loved the servers we got! FYI, our character breakfast was Saturday morning.

Loving your TR!!!! Especially the food pix. We go in 2 weeks can't waiT!

We are doing Las Caletas adventure too. My daughter 6yo wants to go in the Monkey cage and across the bridge.. but she does not want to zipline.

Do you know if she will be able to do that? It looked like your son was wearing the zip line helmet while going through the monkey cage and bridge so I dont know if they would let her in without going to the zipline.

I asked my husband about this and he said that there were kids that didn't do the zipline. He also said that once she sees it, she may change her mind, which he also saw happen! She will have to wear the safety gear, but they will not force her to do it, and I doubt they will even try to coerce her.

Mike also told me that he was seriously impressed with how seriously all of the staff took the safety stuff. When they were explaining the rules to the kids, he said that they would stop if a kid was talking and make sure they were paying attention before they'd continue. The "counselors" were good with the kids and paid very real attention to them and were there every step of the way. The parents weren't allowed to enter the monkey cage or go up to the zipline area, but were told where the best spots for taking photographs were, and were always kept informed about what was going on. He felt really good about it the whole time.

Oh yeah, this reminds me, I forgot to mention that on the boat on the way back they will have pictures and CDs for sale. I can't remember the exact cost, because we hadn't had enough taken to make it worthwhile, but it was probably $10-20 for a copy of the photo they took upon arrival, or something like $75 for a CD with all of the pictures along with a print or two. I saw a couple of the pictures they took of my kids and they were really good. I wish I could have just bought one of those!

 

[GooniesAndy]

Ok, I was a scanning fool today, so I updated each day with copies of the Navigator and things like pictures of our port excursion tickets. I also updated an earlier post about scanning things and put in all of the random stuff that is in your room.

 

[DebbieA]

Thanks so much for this fabulous trip report!! Your pictures are fantastic! We will be on the MR cruise next week and I have a couple questions I am hoping you can help with... How was the boat/catamaran ride on your Las Caletas Hideaway excursion? Was the water fairly calm? We have a friend traveling with us that has trouble with motion... Just looking for a little reassurance Again, thanks for the great report!

 

[prince of thieves]

I'm curious to know if you used the lockers at Las Caletas or at least saw where they were located and how big they were? My wife and I are going during our April 15 sailing and I will be bringing some of my camera equipment with me. I don't want to take pics the whole time but just don't want to leave it hanging around either while I'm off in the water.