2/20/11 President's Week Mexican Riviera Report w/ Lots of Pics UPDATED 3/8

[Raeryan50]

Great report so far........waiting patiently for more.

 

[mmmears]

Great TR so far! Can't wait to read more about your cruise!

One question -- do we have to ask for the lanyards at checkin? They don't come in the little bag in the room? We're taking our 2nd cruise this summer, so I don't know what we'll get and what we need to ask for and when.

 

[melsherard]

Hi Samily!! We were on a cruise with you in January 2009. We are going on this same cruise next week! Thanks for the detailed report!!!

 

[minie_meese]

Hi Beth -
Enjoying your trip report. I haven't had time to do one but it brings back memories of a great trip. I took some good pictures which I'll try to post with a very abbreviated trip report. It was great meeting you and your family.

I thought our trip from NY was long -but your 9 hrs - yikes. I did like flying into Long Beach - it was such a small airport and the rental car access was so easy. The only other airport we've seen where you pick up bags outside is in Hawaii.

Which Residence Inn did you stay in? We were in the one in Manhattan Beach and I felt the same about the cleaning - it was ok, but not totally up to par. It was pretty cold at the beach but we visited a number of them anyway - we had them all to ourselves.

We went to the Griffith Observatory too and loved it. Loved the inside of the building and the views of the city were great. We went in the evening and they had 2 large telescopes outside. We got to see the detail of craters on the moon and a red dwarf.

We were sitting near the no photography sign in the terminal and overheard someone from Disney asking the security guy to put the sign away. They went back and forth and the sign stayed but nobody I saw was challenged when they took photos.

Looking forward to reading the rest of your report.

Elaine

 

[XMom]

Great report. How did you like In N Out??? It's the first place we hit when my family visits from back east. They love it~~~

 

[Diamondback01]

Great report. How did you like In N Out??? It's the first place we hit when my family visits from back east. They love it~~~

That was exactly my thoughts when reading the TR! We're fortunate enought to live 3 miles from In-n-OUt. Just had one Sunday. DS9 had his first Double-Double.

 

[samily]

When we boarded we were directed to Beach Blanket for lunch. I prefer Parrot Cay, but DS9 was anxious to get to Pluto’s for his chicken tenders, so we headed up to deck 9.

We were told that the staterooms wouldn’t be ready until 2pm, so we headed to check out The Edge for the girls and to The Lab to get wristbands for the boys.

We bumped into Cinderella on the way:

The Edge:

I thought the girls would love it in The Edge but I don’t think they ended up spending that much time here.

While we were waiting in line at The Lab for wristbands (it was much quicker here than that awful line in the terminal), DH went to check on the staterooms and they were open (this was around 1:45).

Here are The Lab hours:

Ariel watching boarding:

After getting the wristbands, we headed to the staterooms. We had 2 cabins on deck 6 – a balcony and an inside.

Balcony stateroom:

Here is a pic with the bunk down and sofa bed set up (we actually asked our stateroom attendant to just make the beds in the morning and keep them set up rather than put them away as we always end up taking afternoon naps:

The H20 + Spa toiletries: we received shampoo, conditioner, lotion and bar soap. The containers are 2oz – a little smaller than they used be (2.7oz), but they were replenished without asking during the week.

I liked this balcony because it was a solid wall on one side so it seemed more private than the regular ones:

 

[samily]

The view of the port from our balcony:

We also had a sideways inside a little further up the hall:

Some yummy treats we received:

The Castaway Club gift (this contained 2 aluminum water bottles – much better quality than the old plastic ones – rice krispy treats and a key chain. We also received a travel wallet and luggage strap later on, along with a 25.00 OBC if we spent 100.00 in the gift shop (which we easily did!):

The wave phones (I really wasn’t looking forward to using these as we like to stay unplugged on vacation, but they did come in handy a few times. I did worry about losing them constantly though!):

The clock (you cannot see this in the middle of the night, so if that’s important to you, bring a light up watch or travel clock):

The steamer trunk:

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The “beverage cooler” which I think was a regular refrigerator:

Here the bed when it was later split into twins:

The luggage arrived throughout the afternoon – it did all arrive before our dinner at 5:45 but I wasn’t able to get both cabins unpacked until later after the show.

After checking out the cabins and roaming the ship a bit, I realized it was after 3pm – the time for our Dis meet in the Promenade Lounge. I got there a little late but was still able to meet a few other Dis’ers. Thank you to Elaine for organizing this and the FE exchange!

Soon after, it was time for the muster drill. We are no longer required to wear life jackets so it made it a little easier; however, we didn’t get the goofy photos we usually get of the family!

Right after the drill we headed up for the sailaway party!

 

[hopelea]

Thank you!! We are leaving Friday and heading to CA to board the Wonder on Sunday!! Can't wait, your pictures make me really excited!!!

 

[samily]

Great start! I can't wait to read more. We should definitely take a cruise one day as we live about 6 hours from the port.

Wow, that would be way too tempting for me! I'd have to get a 2nd job!

Loving your TR so far; looking forward to more!

Thank you!

Look forward to reading more...our cruise is fast approaching on 04/03.....

Thank you! I'm sure you'll have a great time!

I'm enjoying your TR! I showed my kids your kids' photo but they didn't look familiar to them. We had the late dinner seating, so we missed you in the dining rooms. We thought about doing LA the day before the cruise too, but ended up at Disneyland/California Adventure - no complaints there Glad you enjoyed your cruise! I also had been getting worried reading all the negative comments before ours, but we had a perfectly lovely cruise.

It was a tough choice for us as we have never been to DL but we had fun in LA! Who did you have for servers? We had Made & Art & loved them!

Thank you for posting pictures of the port! We cruise in April and are so excited!

You're welcome! Thanks for reading!

Great trip report. Looking forward to more...

Thanks! Did you guys have fun?

Lovin' your report. Can't wait for the next update!

Thanks! We passed your cabin often as you wre located between our 2 cabins!

Great report so far........waiting patiently for more.

Thank you! Just posted more for you!

 

[samily]

She said something about the redhead having a stuffed animal monkey. Is that correct?

Yes that was DD BFF's sock monkey, Harold. We have quite a few pics of him enjoying his cruise!

Great TR so far! Can't wait to read more about your cruise!

One question -- do we have to ask for the lanyards at checkin? They don't come in the little bag in the room? We're taking our 2nd cruise this summer, so I don't know what we'll get and what we need to ask for and when.

We've never had to ask in the past, and frankly I would have forgotten about them, but the I saw the family that was checking in next to us getting them which reminded me. I waited until we were done and when it was clear she wasn't going to give them to us, I asked her for them.

Hi Samily!! We were on a cruise with you in January 2009. We are going on this same cruise next week! Thanks for the detailed report!!!

Hi Melissa! i remember that cruise well - it was the last time we made it to CC! I thought we would miss not going to CC on this trip, but we still had a great time. You must be getting very excited!!

Hi Beth -
Enjoying your trip report. I haven't had time to do one but it brings back memories of a great trip. I took some good pictures which I'll try to post with a very abbreviated trip report. It was great meeting you and your family.

I thought our trip from NY was long -but your 9 hrs - yikes. I did like flying into Long Beach - it was such a small airport and the rental car access was so easy. The only other airport we've seen where you pick up bags outside is in Hawaii.

Which Residence Inn did you stay in? We were in the one in Manhattan Beach and I felt the same about the cleaning - it was ok, but not totally up to par. It was pretty cold at the beach but we visited a number of them anyway - we had them all to ourselves.

We went to the Griffith Observatory too and loved it. Loved the inside of the building and the views of the city were great. We went in the evening and they had 2 large telescopes outside. We got to see the detail of craters on the moon and a red dwarf.

We were sitting near the no photography sign in the terminal and overheard someone from Disney asking the security guy to put the sign away. They went back and forth and the sign stayed but nobody I saw was challenged when they took photos.

Looking forward to reading the rest of your report.

Elaine

Hi Elaine, It was great meeting you too. Thanks again for organizing! Our Residence Inn was about a mile from LGB on East Willow. I loved the airport too, but it looks like they are expanding it which is too bad. Unfortunately it started to rain when we were at the observatory so the roof & big telescopes were closed. I have to find the photos of the city from up there - they were great views!

Great report. How did you like In N Out??? It's the first place we hit when my family visits from back east. They love it~~~

Thanks for reading! Yes, it was yummy!! I am trying to add a photo of my burger to the original post but am having trouble with it.

That was exactly my thoughts when reading the TR! We're fortunate enought to live 3 miles from In-n-OUt. Just had one Sunday. DS9 had his first Double-Double.

It was very good! I am glad we were told about it ahead of time! I don't know what mine was called - it was just a single though.

 

[OurDogCisco]

Hope to hear from you soon!

 

[mbb]

Oh yay!! Great TR! I love TRs with pictures interspersed...we're booking for April 2012, and don't know how we're going to last the whole year!! LOL!