10 Day Mexican Riviera **now with pictures!!**

[Sacdance]

So... no one on this cruise has come forward with a report. I can do one but for some reason I cannot post attachments so no pictures unless someone can tell me how without it being an attachment.

(Also, there will be no quotes or apostrophes as that key is broken on my computer.)

It was only my husband and I and my Duffy Bear on this cruise. No children, no in-laws, no friends, just us two both of us pushing 50, pretty quickly. Anyway, this cruise was to relax and get away from kids since I teach first grade. (I know I didnt try hard enough to get away from kids did I?)

We left our home in No. CA on Saturday April16 and drove down the 5 to The DoubleTree, San Pedro. Not a bad drive actually. We checked in to a beautiful room and then took a walk admiring the many yachts tied up there. Along about 8:00 we met up with fellow DISers in the lobby for some good chats. We also met folk from our hometown whose daughter was in the shows on board. This was to be her last cruise so they went along to pick her up at the end. Very convenient. We enjoyed meeting everyone then went up to the room to be well rested for the next days boarding.

April 17 dawns a bit cloudy but typical weather along the coast. We caught a shuttle about 10:00am with some other excited cruisers and got to the port in no time. Checking in...no problem.

Duffy was admired by all who met him. (I wish I could do the pictures! He is so photogenic!) We waited in the terminal people watching, chatting to some of the DISbords folks and just generally getting more excited. We had boarding number 3. Finally about 12:45 we were able to board!!! Hurray! We walked the gangplank, they announced our name and we were IN! It was wonderful to be back again as we had sailed on the Wonder in Aug 2010 for our 25th anniversary on a 5 day Carribean cruise.

I will continue this report shortly but for now that is probably enough plain text for most readers.

 

[Sacdance]

So now we are onboard and go right to Parrot Cay for lunch where Marianne from Hungary immediatly sets Duffy up with his own booster seat and beverage with his name on it. We had a great lunch with lots of shrimp which my DH had been looking forward to forever. Our cabin wouldnt be ready until around 2:00 so we toured the fitness and spa area. We planned on getting rainforest passes for the cruise, but they of course tempted us with all kinds of other treatments. The private hot tub, champagne and massage for two sounded fantastic. I did sign up for a personal training session for the next day.

Next up was the assembly drill. (Our cabin was ready by now, so we could put our carry ons etc. down. Duffy was tired, he stayed in the room for a bit. We assembled in Tritons so we could eat as the ship went down I suppose. Not that it would happen!

Afterwards we went backed to the cabin, it was an inside room without the split bath but with only two of us it was no problem at all. We sat by the pool, had our first drinks of the day and made one of my greatest friends for the cruise...Victor the drink server for the Quiet Cove pool!

We went up to deck 10 for the Sail Away Party. Christiaan is our cruise director again. I like him because he started as a dancer and I was also a dancer. Still dance with my husband...more on that later I guess. During the Sail Away show we met up with a fellow DISer who also happened to be a newlywed. Congratulations! We went to the show in the Walt Disney Theater and it was very cute, very good and a great way to really kick things off. We had late seating for dinner in Tritons. Seafood risotto, salmon appetizers and soup, but now I dont know what kind of soup. No children dined with us. Our table was four childless (for the cruise at least) couples. Our servers were wonderful all cruise.We danced a little in Promanade lounge but I was not wearing my dance shoes just Crocs and they stuck to floor like mad. Couldnt wait to have the luggage delivered so I could get my Capezios on!

The weather had turned chilly as soon as the ship got underway so we went back to the cabin for warmer things. I changed shoes (yea!) and we danced in Wavebands and then watched everyone else play Wonderquest, a very crazy game. By this time it was 11:30 so it was off to bed!

 

[Mindyjoy]

Great start!

To post pics, you must first upload them to a photo sharing site like photobucket or Flickr. Then you copy and paste the photo's URL into your post by using the little icon above that looks like a mountain with a yellow sky.

Hope that helps!

 

[Sacdance]

(I am doing laundry in between posts!) First day at sea! Time to get the party started with breakfast at Beach Blanket. I am not a breakfast fan, but DH is and he filled up his plate. Finding a spot was tricky because it was cold and overcast, not alot of people wanted to eat outside. We took a second cup of coffee up to the Quiet Cove Cafe. I wrote up yesterday in our My Adventures Journal that we got free with our Up! DVD. Adventure is out there! Now to find it.

Weather not clearing up...so we played a half game of Scrabble.

We did not finish because of my personal training session. I met up with Danielle from South Africa for it. Usually I work out every day on my Pilates reformer but they dont have one on board so I had Danielle show me how to use the regular machines. She made me work for an hour and a half! DH came looking for me then because we had to try out the Rain Forest passes. I highly recommend going to the Rain Forest room. They have these great heated tile lounges that you just sort of melt onto. Very relaxing. Then a steam room, then a hot non-steam room just right for aching muscles or tension caused by assessing first graders! ( I know you know this...come on you can do it. Ok maybe next time! ) There is also an aromatherapy room. You can use the showers there (with a bathing suit on) and they have about 6 different spray heads all at once. Very cool!

After relaxing away, we went to change clothes and stopped at Goofys Galley for what became our favorite lunches. A variety of wrap sandwiches and the bacon and brie panini! Nom, nom, nom! (We tried to replicat the bacon and brie at home but couldnt get it quite right. There is a secret ingredient! Who knew!?

We went to play Disney Trivia in the Promanade Lounge. We were a little late so missed out on a possible six points but still got 30 out of 45 points. Not winners for that, but still respectable.

Adventure is out there...now it is in the Cadillac Lounge for mixology class with the DISboard folks! We got into about 5 groups and each group was to invent a cocktail. Our group came up with Myers rum, banana liquor and pinepple juice. Tropical and not too bad. A few of the group went up and added coconut rum as well. Try it the next time you are out! The bartender also put on a show tossing bottles, juggling glasses and impressing the heck out of us. Very fun stuff, especially after at least 7 cocktails. (I think...its fuzzy on how many.) Guess what? Its nap time!

Ack! napping too long! Golden Mickeys at 6:15. We rushed to make our selves pretty in our formal wear. (Again, the pics are great! I need some advice here folks!) DH wore his tux, I am in chic black with pearls.

Golden Mickeys were wonderful. We had the inside scoop that it was the whole performing casts last cruise so we were on the look-out for final show antics. Dindt notice any that night. We had to leave 1/2 way through since we had Palo reservations. So good!!!!

Heres our menu: (please exccuse any spelling errors here!) me; grilled shrimp appetizer, cioppino and Lobster with Rosemary pasta. DH; tuna carppaccio, cioppino, and Lamb rondolets. The cioppino was different than what we are used to in SF on the wharf, it was lighter in its broth and overall not as heavy. It was more sophisticated I guess. Eveything else was amazing and then of course, chocolate souffle for dessert! Nikolay was a great server for the evening. He also brought a bonus dessert. A vodka, orange liquer, float kind of thing. It tasted exactly like a Dreamsicle but with a kick!

Quite full of wonderful food, we headed off to Wavebands to dance. Christiaan saw us dancing and sent over free drinks for us. Score! (see mom dance lessons are not wasted!!!) We called it a night about 12:15. Whew! Relaxing is really tiring!

 

[Sacdance]

Great start!

To post pics, you must first upload them to a photo sharing site like photobucket or Flickr. Then you copy and paste the photo's URL into your post by using the little icon above that looks like a mountain with a yellow sky.

Hope that helps!

My husband has some pics on a Picasa site on Google does that work?
Perhaps I will try it!
Thanks

 

[Sacdance]

My husband has some pics on a Picasa site on Google does that work?
Perhaps I will try it!
Thanks

Pictures are not showing up but the links are at least. Thanks for your help.

 

[Sacdance]

I love sea days! It is why I like cruising. Just the relaxing, doing nothing, no agenda kind of thing going on. So...We grabbed some coffee and sat in the Quiet Cove since it is still chilly. Berinda, from the spa, assures us it will be nice later today. There is just a weird pocket of weather that we have to get through. OK. Guess what? She is right so we grab some lounges by the pool.

I had a bloody Mary and read. The Dreamers playe poolside and we danced. Barefoot, blisters ow, ow , ow I should really know better. But the music and the space were there. My DH went to get lunch at Goofys Galley again wrap sandwiches and Bacon and Brie. Loved! We were not relaxed enough so we went to the Rain Forest room. Oh still not relaxed?? How about a nap. OK.

Along about 5:30 (Gee the day went fast!) We got cleaned up and went to Once Upon a Song. Now, I have seen that this is one of the least favorite shows. But me I am a sucker for love songs and nostalgia and Lawrence Welk so I enjoyed it very much.

Parrot Cay was up next. I had a mixed grill, lots of food on that plate! DH had a rib-eye which he enjoyed very much. There was also a nutmeg seasoned twice baked potato that was wonderful.

We dropped by Wavebands and saw the magicians show. He did a needle in his mouth trick that was cringe-worthy. Then we played men vs. women Family Feud. Women ruled and we all won a calendar. (Which comes with a CD of computer calendars too. ) BTW, can not wait for Cars Land to open up! Last but not least, dancing to In effect. Shoes on this time.

Puerta Vallerta tomorrow!

 

[Sacdance]

Let me start with a little background. DH loves POC, he gets a new Pirate shirt every time we go to DL, which is a lot given that we live in No CA. So it should be no surprise that the excursion we went on was the Pirate Boat excursion.

We had a 7:30 meet up with other pirates in the theater . About 250 of us it looked like. The Pirate ship was docked close by the Wonder so we just waited on the dock. The crew of the ship were all looking delightfully pirate-y. We loaded up and then some folks went down to breakfast. Meanwhile those of us on deck were lead through pirate dances. This was not a large ship and the rockin and rollin was very noticable. Then it was our turn for breakfast, below decks for coffee, eggs and ham and what seemed like Tang. The bathrooms on board were decorated to the pirate hilt!!! Use your imagination and it probably won t be enough. We sailed about for a while and saw the pirate show, cannon fire! Walking the plank! Men overboard! It was all wonderfully cheesy with every typical pirate idea in it. They let the kids duel with Sabers like real fencers use.

After all this, we got to the island with a pretty nice beach area. You could snorkel, ride a kayak, a banana boat or loungein the chairs under umbrellas. There was also beach volleyball and a treasure hunt for the kids. Drinks were included in the price. One pirate brought me a rum and coke in less than a minute. I timed him!

We stayed about 2 1/2 hours then headed back.

Again a rockin and rollin wave ride. Lots of people got seasick, but it did not seem to affect us. Lunch of shrimp and steak kebobs or pasta or chicken was served on the way back. More pirate dances.

Arriving back at the Wonder, we lounged at Quiet Cove Pool. Then we cleaned up for the Ricky Kalmon show, the hypnotist. Now...my only thought during this show was really? REALLY? A touch of malarky was my opinion.

At dinner, I ordered every appetizer offered and soup and salad. More full than if I had ordered normal. But I coudnt choose! DH had a sea bass that he said was pretty tasty. We wandered down to Wavebands but nothing much seemed to be happening. So we called it a night and hit the sack.

Sea day tomorrow.

 

[Mindyjoy]

Pictures are not showing up but the links are at least. Thanks for your help.

Check and make sure the account is set to public, maybe that will help.

 

[thefist]

relaxation is nice...on a disney cruise it's bliss.

 

[Sacdance]

Isnt it funny that when you are on a cruise the name of the day doesnt really matter? I wrote in my journal that I had to look at the Navigator to see what the day was. The calendar and its hang-ups are just gone!

Sea Day! We took our time waking up. We had our character breakfast in Parrot Cay. No one else from our table showed up. Duffy came along wearing his fiesta outfit.

It was fun. DH had a yummy looking bagel and lox capers, I dont know for sure, he wouldnt share! By the time we got to Quiet Cove no lounges were available.

so we sat on the benches inside the pool. But no drink service there. No visits from Victor.

We did not bother with lunch just being lazy. This is one of the perks of no kids. Then we went to the character greet with the big Duffy and he signed my Duffys tag. For Toy Story tonight we bought Duffy a Woody outfit that is quite cute on him.

Before Toy Story the Musical we danced with the Dreamers. Now when I say dancing I mean East Coast Swing, West Coast Swing, rhumba, Night Club 2 step, hustle...that kind of thing. Just to clarify.

TStM was good. The last time we saw it in August, there was a different Sid who stole the show. This time Sid was good but not a showstopper. This show is supposed to take Aladdins place at CaAD. They could so much more with it at that theater.

Dinner at Animators Palate. We ordered the same exact thing without even a discussion. Tuna carpaccio, steak, is what i remember , I didnt write it all down. Oops! I was quite pleased by most of the food on the ship. When I ordered a steak medium-rare it definately was, Terry our server) always checked it out. He always had good recommendations for us and tried his best to make sure things were as we wanted it.

Country night at Wavebands. The band handled the music OK but you could tell it was not their specialty. Line dancing and of course West Coast Swing.

It seems we have a different kind of cruise than most of the TR folks. Some because we dont have kids with us. (Our sons are 24 and 20.) But I guess because we just want to be lazy and rlax as much as possible. I hope it still is interesting reading though!

Next up Manzanillo!

 

[Shell54]

I'm enjoying your Trip Report We're going on a cruise that's just DH and me in July so your cruise is very much like what ours will be like, in that we have no kids with us. Sounds like you guys had an amazing time.

 

[Sacdance]

April 22 Manzanillo

We didnt make any plans for this port stop. We had breakfast at BBB overlooking the town. It is set on a hillside with little houses like boxes stacked one atop of the other. Multicolored, very festive. There were several little boats anchored in the bay and some large freighters off shore. The Wonder was the only cruise ship docked.

We went ashore and walked through the town on the bay side. There were lots of little kiosks selling food, jewelry, etc. by the water.


Then we crossed the street and saw a motorcycle/appliance store. In that store and the fabric store and a few others were hand lettered signs offering senoras y senoritas 18-45 anos ... handy that you could get a woman along with a yard of fabric! Then we ran into a large procession portraying the Staions of the Cross. (It was Good Friday). There were people portraying, Roman soldiers, Pontius Pilate the disciples and Jesus was bloodied and being carried on a plank. All very interesting and colorful, however, no pictures. It seemed disrespectful somehow. We then went and looked through a lot of tent shops, maybe put up for the Holy Week celebration. I bought a skirt for 256 pesos =24.00$ The town was a bit downtrodden, a little desperate. We eventually went back to the ship and took advatage of port rates and I got a massage. Great!!! I just wish they wouldnt then try and up sell you all the products. It makes you tense right back up again.

African Cats premeired that night and it was wonderful I love kitties so I really fell in love with the mommy cheetah and lioness. Tears were shed!

Pirate Night! We went all out.

We rushed through our late seating dinner so we could get up on deck for the show and fireworks. During all the dancing on stage I noticed Christiaan doing all the dances in the stage left gazebo. I wonder if he misses it?

After a great show ARRR, we hit the sack.

 

[Sacdance]

April 23 a few dilemmas but a great end of the day!

Started the day with coffee at Quiet Cove. It was living up to its name this morning. We ran into a fellow DISer, Padalyn, and compared bears. While chatting, we discovered it was Saturday. Palo brunch day Yum! But wait, we had a message that we had to be at mandatory rehearsal for the Talent Show that night. Oh no! Change the day? Nope couldn’t do that. Miss the rehearsal? No good. What to do? DH managed to get the time moved up. So we had to rush to change but made it on time. Mimosas and champagne were complimentary. My favorite was salmon mousse and caviar, the selection of chilled seafood, there was some nice lemon custard. DH had a bunch of all that and eggs benedict which he declared was better than Steakhouse 55 in the DL hotel. I didn’t want to overeat before dancing, but DH had no such compunctions!

Changed for rehearsal and met the other performers in Wavebands. Oh no! We are the only adults participating. Weird. Should we do it? Tisa assured us it was a FAMILY talent show. We should dance. Okay. We gave DJ Atrain our salsa music and we ran through it once. A bit rough but OK, we practiced some more in the back. There were about 11 other acts. A tiny cutie singing a song from Mulan, 2 piano players, a couple more singers, a very fun brother sister act singing the Presidents song from Schoolhouse Rock, a hula hooper who could drink water at the same time and a brother duo who were very impressive. (I will post a link if anyone is curious of the show we did in town. No one to take pics on board.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8II7KYgE5FI&feature=email

Art of the Show was playing at 6:30. It was a nice show. (But apparently not too memorable) We got out just in time to get to the Talent show. I blanked on one part in the beginning but powered through. We all got little certificates for our magical memories.

Then to Tritons for dinner. Our server Terry was trying to convince everyone that there are 3 hidden Mickeys in the mosaic at the back. (Our table sat right in front of it.) Everybody was trying to find them but I think he was pulling our legs. Back to Wavebands and dancing to In Effect.

Match your Mate was that night and we got picked! We have been married for 25 years, dating 2 years before that. So bit of history between us. The other couples were a DIS newlywed and a couple who had been married 53 years! The men went out first and we had to answer three questions, worst habit, best part of our husbands and the first thing he touches in the morning after the alarm. Old couple 3 for 3, us 2 out of 3, newlyweds 1 out of 3. Then women left. We got free drink in Diversions while we waited. There was a lot of laughing from Wavebands. Then we went back to join our husbands. We had to answer where was our first date, which of the wife’s family member would our husbands leave on a desert island and oddest place we found the magic. (they didn’t mean Disney magic either.) Older couple 0 for 3 on that round, newlyweds 1 for 3 and us 3 for 3! We won a bottle of champagne and a free tasting for two later in the cruise. WooHoo! We opened the champagne and danced in Wave bands to the DJ until we were the only ones left. What a day!!

 

[Sacdance]

Happy Easter! April 24th Cabo San Lucas

Understandably after closing down Wavebands and a bottle of champagne we woke up late. We had made no plans for this port but Berinda (the one from the spa who knows about weather) told us, just go to Nikki Beach. OK. So we caught a tender about 10:30. I have to confess, I was nervous about tenders. For some reason I kept imagining having to climb down a rope ladder to get down to one! What a silly pants! (Oops can you tell I teach 6 year olds?) Sooo… on the tender.

Cabo is beautiful!!!! Sits on a very beautiful blue bay- very rocky hillsides with the resorts crowding down to the shoreline.

Off the tender, we walked around the dock area. Everyone spoke English, everyone wanted our business for water taxis. Ohhhh look there’s the lion/tiger photo place. I needed to touch those babies. And I know, some people say don’t do it its exploitation but when will I ever get the chance again to pet a baby tiger? (Remember I love kitties?) OK We signed up and paid our 25.00$. But the tiger was not in the best mood. Come back in 20 minutes. So we walk around a bit. Amazed that we can get drugs without a scrip. Hmmmm Ritalin? Would first grade be easier then? No, tempting but no. Back to the tiger photos. Wait some more please. What? No I said, either give me my money back or let me in now!!! We get let in. They want me to hold the tiger cub by the scruff to relax her, but I am not strong enough. She is a very heavy baby!

Finally DH comes in to save the day and we get our photo. But…we had to wait for the printer and computer to co-operate. So it comes down to, I got to pet and hold a baby tiger but it was a little scary and the people involved were not the greatest customer service folks. There is another kiosk further down from the first one that might be better as it was not so busy.

So now to Nikki Beach. We took a water taxi over. It was a beautiful location. They had a covered patio, lounges, and mattresses for two. None of the mattresses had umbrellas and we wanted to be smart about the sun, so we opted for the patio.

Ordered mojitos and margaritas. What could be better? Beautiful water, a great view, attentive servers and each other! We also ordered a sushi plate to share. (I don’t care for Mexican food) Why didn’t we take a picture???? The sushi came on a log carved like an alligator, with all of the sushi being scales, eyes, nose etc. It was beautiful, just imagine. We enjoyed it very much. Just the right amount of food. Throughout the afternoon, we ordered drinks, lounged in the sun, took a dip and admired the view.

We also said no a bunch of times to vendors wandering the beach. But my resistance wore down and I did buy a beach cover-up from a guy. He wanted 25$ talked him down to 15$. The party up towards the resort was VERY different from the one closer to the water. Aztec girls in headdresses with tequila samples on their tummies, loud music and barely there bikinis. We liked it down by the beach better.

Just about time to go and here comes IN Effect from the ship. They recognized us as those dancers and we chat for awhile. We asked for our bill and low and behold it was a 5 mojito afternoon for me. Wow! We caught a water taxi back to the dock area, got T-shirts for our sons left at home, (what mean parents!) and went back to the Wonder. Nap time for sure!

Woke up only about 20 minutes before the circus show. Circurious. We missed the first act. It was a good small company of performers. I did get the feeling that they had all met in circus school and just decided to do a show. There were two jugglers, a contortionist, 3 acrobats and a singer. Fun but…maybe Cirque de Soleil has me spoiled.

Dinner at Animators but no drinks for us! In fact nobody at our table had any drinks. It must have been a tequila soaked day for most! The show of course was fun. We had an early night of lying in bed and watching a movie. 27 dresses.

 

[WestCoastMama]

[We eventually went back to the ship and took advatage of port rates and I got a massage. Great!!! I just wish they wouldnt then try and up sell you all the products. It makes you tense right back up again.[/SIZE][/FONT]

When the ship is in port massages (and other services) are cheaper??

 

[WestCoastMama]

Enjoying your TR. We have kids but hopefully they will be in the club so we live kid-less during the day. Quiet Cove here I come...

 

[Sacdance]

When the ship is in port massages (and other services) are cheaper??

There are usually a couple of specials on port days. I had a 20/20/20 massage. It was three 20 minute massage types all at once. I did back, shoulders and neck and legs. It was very nice.

Thanks for reading, I was beginning to wonder if I was just talking to myself!

 

[TinkLoverSam]

I'm here too! I may also have to pet a tiger in Cabo... I tigers!!!

Really enjoying your trip report.

 

[ok_mousefan]

Hello, my daughter is the 'tiny cutie who sang Mulan' in the talent show. I am so glad you are doing a trip report. I enjoy reading it so much! Please keep it coming. I enjoyed watching your dance on youtube.