August 6, 2005 Mexican Riviera..Who's In?

[justmestace]

I have to back track...I forgot something.
They were filming a commercial on the sea days. I went to the shops one day, and they had a little blonde gal (20-30 yrs) in front of the photo of Walt outside the theater....I couldn't hear what she was saying.
I went in and did my shopping, and as I was coming out, they were filming her walking past the shops. If they had used that first "take" I would have been in the commercial....but they said she was walking too fast (she was) so they did a 2nd take. I kept on going. I thought about going back in and out of the store again, but I didn't.
Later, they were filming her standing on the little balcony on Deck 4 between the elevators, looking down into the Atrium. Jordan was with me then, and I made her walk past some of the camera guys a few times, just to see if they wanted an outrageously pretty girl for their commercial....but I guess they didn't.
Late that afternoon, I was in the room, had just gotten out of the shower and was getting dressed for dinner when I heard a commotion outside...from the verandah....I flung open the door, stepped out, and was eye-to-eye with a helicopter that was taping the ship from overhead!! It would have been pretty cool, except that I was only in my undies! I bet they had to do a second "take" of THAT shot! LOL I ran back in the room, grabbed my camera, and hid behind the curtains so that I could take a picture of it.

 

[justmestace]

Day Four.....Tuesday....Puerto Vallarta

The Navigator said that we would dock at 7:20 a.m.....darn close....Jay & I were up at 6:30 and watched as we sailed slowly into port and docked at 7:30.
Our room was on the starboard side of the port, and the view from there wasn't much to write home about. What I could see made me laugh....just across the street was a Wal-Mart and a Sam's Club.
PV doesn't have a true port terminal to go through. We had an excursion for Las Caletas Hideaway (meet at 8:30 am) and when we got off the ship, we turned to the left, walked alongside the ship, and then around in front of it, to an area where they had several excursion boats parked, including a very cool pirate ship.
After we came back from Las Caletas, Jay & Jared went back to the ship, my parents, Jordan and I walked through a set of gates where they checked our passports, through another gate, to the street, where we grabbed a cab to take us shopping. It was different to not go through a terminal building.
Anyway...back on track.....we took the approx one hour catamaran trip to Las Caletas. They had coffee, juice, sodas, and rolls, doughnuts, fruit, etc to offer for breakfast. I didn't know they were going to have that, we had already eaten in our room.
They had music and dancing. It was a fun, easy ride over. There was a fellow going around asking if anyone wanted to try to scuba once there....we had planned to snorkel. We thought about it, and decided to give it a try. We filled out a medical form and a release. The cost for this (credit cards accepted) was $35 per person U.S., which we thought was a real bargain. I hadn't been too impressed with what I had seen of PV from the ship or the catamaran....until Las Caletas came into view. What a really beautiful place John Huston had! It's built into a hilly area, with a lot of trees and beautiful plants and flowers, a lot of stone work....really, really nice. A perfect "island feel" to it! There's a path that leads to several places where you can either lounge, sunbathe, swim, or just sit at the bar. Plenty of chairs and hammocks and picnic tables...and shade. That had been a huge concern for us, since my dad has had skin cancer. They had no trouble finding a cool shady spot. Jordan went with my parents, she didn't want to try divng (she thinks a fish will eat her) and she had seen the floating platforms in the water that she wanted to sunbathe on.
Jay & Jared and I went to the open-air building they had told us to meet at for our scuba instruction. I walked around a little while we waited for the instructor and found a gal making tortillas. I took a few pictures and was instantly regretting not having brought the digital camera. I only had the underwater camera with me. I am often afraid to take the digital when we go out to snorkel, for fear that it would get wet, or stolen while we're in the water. Well, DUH...my parents could have held it for me! This was the second of the "kicking myself" episodes over the camera! The third one came after we got home and I had the underwater (disposable) film developed and half didn't turn out. I have a nice SeaLife 35mm with a strobe. I didn't even bring it on the cruise as I had read (wrongly) that there really weren't any cool fish to take pics of in the Mexican Riviera.

 

[justmestace]

So, we had our orientation to scuba diving, and went over to the dock where I discovered, to my absolute HORROR, that we will have to wear wet-suits. About now I'm glad that Jay & Jared don't have a camera!
On my first try going down, I couldn't get my ears to equalize, had to surface and try again. Our fairly cute and really nice instructor led me back down....I made it! I was petrified and astounded at the same time. Couldn't believe I was kneeling at the bottom of the ocean. Okay, it was only 30' down, but still.....
There was another family that signed up, they went with one instructor, and we went with Mr. Fairly cute & knowlegeable. We were under for 46 minutes. We saw tons of rays, sea snakes, puffer fish, angel fish, eels.....and NO JELLYFISH.
By the time we finished, I realized that I was starving! We walked the path back to the beach, took a quick shower and found my parents in what had been John Huston's dining room. Many other people were eating at picnic tables here and there, but it somehow seemed very cool to sit and eat where celebs like Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor had once eaten. There were pictures on the walls of different stars....and some original furnishings. I found the area where they were letting the kids make pottery, they had an open-air spa for massages and facials, a cooking class that made the seafood paella. The food was varied and good! We were served on real plates and silver. Fresh tortillas on every table. Much more than I had expected.
Jordan told us that there had been a sea lion playing in the water earlier. He wasn't out there when we were....we learned later that he is a trained animal that they bring out to entertain the kids. They also had parrots and spider monkeys. There were two shops, but most of the items were logos of the only company allowed to bring people to Las Caletas, Vallarta Adventures...and a few trinkets. Just as I was having a chance to explore, the bell rang. Time for us to leave. And I had been worried that the 7 1/2 hours was going to be too long for us to be over there! I could have stayed all night.
They really pumped up the party and the speed on the way back to the dock. We danced and laughed, and waved to the people on the ship that were on their verandahs.
Like I had said, my parents and Jordan and I grabbed a cab as Jay & Jared took all of our gear and went back to the ship.
We just told the driver to take us to the shopping area that had "Diamonds International"...and he knew exactly where to go. It was only a 5 minute drive, and cost $3 total.
What surprised me was that the street where the shops were was on the beach. There are some cool sculptures there, and someone had made a beautiful sand sculpture. I picked up the obligatory t-shirts and we wandered a little. I found a store that sold silver goods...and they had special-made some Disney characters! We found Disney items in every port. I thought it was kind of funny....at least the natives knew how to work their market!
I bought a silver and copper, one of a kind, Mickey at the ship's wheel statue. He is just darling. And since it isn't a typical "Disney" item, I think it's pretty unique.
When we were ready to go back to the ship, there were a lot of cab drivers asking if we needed a ride, but we had been told on the ship to take the yellow Nissan taxi's that are down by Diamonds International....we did, and were back at the ship safe and sound.
There is a round terminal building as you approach the ship from the "city" ....it has public restrooms in it, but we didn't need to walk through it to get back to the ship. We had to walk around it, to the left, and through a gate where they glanced (only glanced) at our passports.
Just across from the round building is a nice area with approx four buildings with shops in them. Dad bought Mom some more Pepsi to take back to the ship. We were back onboard at about 6:30 pm. There weren't any special shows on this night. Instead, they showed the movie, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and...it was Pirate Night!
We were back in Parrot Cay, which is a great place to be for Pirate/Tropical night. For this cruise, they combined the two. We had very few people on the cruise that dressed in Pirate garb...we all wore tropical clothing. But the servers were decked out!
Directly after dinner, we dashed upstairs to find a spot to watch the Pirate "show".....too late. I had seen people out there marking their spots, just before our dinner...at 8 pm! We managed to squeeze into a spot on Deck 10 and got to see most of the fun. And we were on the "correct" side for the fireworks....starboard. It appears as though they shoot them off from Palo. Which explains why you can't get out on the upper decks from the aft doors....it's all roped off....so remember to go up on Deck 9 or 10 at MID SHIP or Forward.
We were really beat, so we went to bed after that. We had pulled out of port at 9:45....right on time....could still see the lights of PV when I went to bed. It's slow sailing, heading back up the coast. We were instructed to move our clocks BACK one hour tonight......a delight to us and the crew, to get an "extra" hour of sleep for a change!

 

[justmestace]

Tid Bits:

Yes, we did get asked to buy things from street vendors at every stop. It doesn't bother us, as we go to Mexico a lot and are used to it. I told the kids to simply say "No, thank you" and keep walking. Or sometimes, if they were really persistant, we just kept walking and pretended not to hear or understand them.
I embarrassed Jordan in Cabo, because one man was asking for donations "for the children". Yeah, right.....I don't think the "children" drink Pacifica!
Anyway, I told him that I had already given him money and asked him if he didn't remember me......he was so confused he didn't know what to say!

We didn't have anyone who followed us, or bothered us at all. If we said no, they just moved to the next person walking along.

From what I could tell, there didn't seem to be any real "bargains" on the jewelry. Most of what they had, I could get here on sale, for a better price. The stores along major streets were more expensive on their goods than the ones a block or so up the street...and that was at all the ports, most especially in the market at Mazatlan. A t-shirt in a main street store in Mazatlan would be $15 and just inside the marketplace, or from a street vendor, it would be $5. The prices at the shops near the terminals were also higher.
There were drug stores and "regular" clothing stores readily available at each port, if you need something and they don't have it on the ship.

We only ate on the ship, or the food provided while we were on an excursion, so I can't comment on the food. We didn't have any problem with the water from melting ice cubes...I'd been warned to ask for no ice in my drinks, but I forgot. Didn't get sick, though, so it must have been okay.

We didn't buy any liquor, so I can't tell about those prices, either.

Guess that's all for tonight. Tomorrow....hopefully the rest of the story!

 

[SchultzFamily]

Thanks Stacey for the reports so far. I've been considering the Las Caletas excursion but I had wondered about the 7 1/2 hours being too long. Maybe I will try to sell it to the family. Basically we've each looked at the excursions, figured we would each pick what we wanted to do and choose from there.
Hope everyone has a nice Father's Day weekend planned. It's raining here fairly light though.
Vickie

 

[jilljill]

Stacey too funny you were on the side of the ship facing the WalMart and Sam's Club in PV. I have heard that is the cheapest place to buy alcohol.

Thanks for the great reports so far. We spent a week in PV but it has been so long ago and I'm sure it has changed a lot. We stayed at a Marriott near a large marina. I do remember the town is built into the hillside and we went past Elizabeth Taylor's old house in town, I think it's near the main church.

A big reminder to everyone, when we were in PV my dad was sitting under an unbrella that was under a tree and he still managed to get sun poisoning on his head. It is very important to wear lots of sunblock and protective clothing when possible. I've never seen my dad turn down a free dinner until that night, he was very sick.

 

[justmestace]

Day Five......Mazatlan.....Wednesday

We docked in Mazatlan a little earlier than announced....time given was 7:30...we were in port by 7:00. There were some men with a golf excursion that were off the ship by 8 am.
We still had not 100% decided what we wanted to do. Our original plan was to take a water taxi to Stone Island, and maybe snorkel. After the diving day yesterday, we were still a little tired, and I was worried about my Mom and Dad being in the heat while we swam. Dad had a lounge chair collapse under him at Las Caletas, and his tailbone was sore...so we were thinking of just "winging it" in town.
I wanted to at least try to get a look at Stone Island, so that I could scope it out for you guys, so I went up to Deck 10 to have a look. From the ship, Stone Island looks pretty bleak. I couldn't get a good idea of where the water taxi's docked over there....so I went back down and told the family that we would just go out of the terminal and grab a van for touring.
I'm going to skip forward for a second....once we went to a point in Mazatlan where I could get a really good look at Stone Island, I saw the beach area....it looked really nice! I was sort of (okay, really!) wishing I was at that beach! We also saw, later, that unless you had the excursion where you got on the "cart" that takes you to the beach (where Randi's horses are, etc) there was no way we could have walked to it. It is further than it looks.
From our balcony in port, we saw a truck unload a group of army guys (I guess it was army-type) with rifles. Not an encouraging sight. To us, living here in Arizona, where we have "undocumented" Mexicans crossing the border all the time, it seemed funny that they were worried about US! Or, in all fairness, maybe they were there to stop any of the natives from trying to get on the ship...I don't know.
They had trams to take us across the parking lot, to their port terminal. The terminal had a few shops in it, but mostly there were van and taxi drivers asking if we wanted a tour. I found one guy with a sign that said "Air conditioned van....minimum 6 people...$20 per person"....so I told him that we wanted to tour the city, the "older" portion, not the Gold Zone, and that we had to be back at the ship at 2 pm, because we had a bridge tour scheduled. In other words, it was important that we be by ourselves, just the 6 of us. We didn't want to share with anyone who didn't want to return to the ship as early as we did, and then disappoint them. He said "No problem"....but then he said he had another group of 3 that would join us! I told him to forget it.
We began to walk out of the terminal when a fella with a name tag "Jesus" came after us. He had heard what went on, and offered to take just the 6 of us. $20 per person, and he already had a cooler with soda and beer in it for us. He also said we didn't have to pay until our tour was over....he said if we weren't happy, we didn't have to pay at all. Needless to say, he went everywhere we wanted, stopped when we wanted, gave us great info about Mazatlan and the places we saw, showed us some spots that we probably otherwise would not have seen.....he was wonderful!

 

[justmestace]

So we start off with Jesus, after he made a few jokes about his name and how safe we would be with him.....heading west, and then south, from the port. Our first stop was at Vigia Hill, where the original colonists kept vigil with a British cannon (still there) dating in the 1800's ...and used it on pirates. There are some tables with vendors there, and a small bar with bathrooms. Great view of the bay, and the surrounding ocean. There are two white islands, covered in guano (bird doo-doo) called the Two Sisters...and a tour was out that way. From there, we could see El Faro...the tallest operating lighthouse in the world.
We went past the bronze monument to Women of Mazatlan. Jesus told us that Mother's Day is a very important holiday here, Mothers are to be greatly honored. Mazatlan, he told us, means "Place of the Deer", and he pointed out that they have white-tail deer, not like the mule deer that we see here.
Next stop was the Continuation of Life statue, Continuidad de la Vida. A beautiful statue of diving and plunging dolphin. Again, more street vendors. Adjacent to this was where the cliff divers perform. There is no fee for this, although boys on the street will try to get donations "for the divers". My suggestion was to take a donation down to the area where the divers actually are, and hand it to them directly. The cliff area is called El Mirador Lookout Point, or Glorieta del Calvadista. We watched a couple of the divers. It is amazing to see the small area that they land in. And the rocks they could possibly land on! Whoa!
We continued on through a very old section of Mazatlan, the original "Main Street" and past the Deer Monument.
We turned and headed back north, to the center of Ol Mazatlan where the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception is, and also the marketplace. Jesus parked, and told us where he would be waiting....and told us to take as long as we wanted. We headed for the marketplace, and did most of our shopping inside the building, as the stores that line the street outside turned out to be more expensive on things like t-shirts than those on the inside.
Jordan and I wandered further, into the meat, fruit and vegetable market where the locals do their shopping. When we came upon the open case with an entire skinned pig head, we stopped. The smell was awful. But I did take a picture of the pig head and the pig's feet in the case. Just a true tourist at heart, I guess.
We then walked up the street and across....beware...traffic will NOT stop for you!
The old cathedral was under rennovation, but still open to the public. So beautiful. And Jay was interested in the ornamental iron gates. The stained glass work was astounding. Just west of the church, across the street, was a beautiful little park. All of the trees and flowers were so pretty.
We had been told that this area of Mexico...PV, Maz, Cabo....was just entering its rainy season. A lot of the trees and greenery were very brown. But we were told that it would all come back to life once the rain starts.
We found Jesus, right where he said he would be. He asked if we had changed our minds about going to see the Gold Zone, but no, we hadn't. We still had at least an hour or more before we needed to be back, so he told us he would show us where he used to work. Turns out, he had been a welder for the shrimp boats. Said driving the van was MUCH easier!
We got to drive right down into the otherwise "off-limits" fish and shrimp docks. There were rows and rows of boats lined up. Starting with the first one, closest to the dock, and then spreading out toward the bay, they were lined in there at least 8 - 10 boats deep. If boat #1 wanted out, all of them would have to move! We went along a street where the fishermen were selling the days' catch out of buckets, right on the street! Lobster, shrimp and fish of various kind.
We had noticed that quite honestly, the only time we saw grafiti on the block walls, it was near a school. Jesus told us that they keep painting and the kids keep making the grafiti. And he said, yes, it tends to be just near the schools. Each different school has their own required uniforms. Their children were still in school and we saw them walking home for their lunch breaks. He said you can tell instantly which school a child (or teen) goes to, just by seeing their uniform color.
By this time it was almost time for us to head back....so Jesus took us back to the port terminal...and I noticed for the first time (duh) that there were more shops outside the terminal area...but we had to get moving, so I didn't get to check them out.
We had to show our Key to the World card to exit the terminal and get on the tram. There was a Carnival ship docked in front of the Magic, and the tram stopped and let them off, and then went on down to the Magic.

And yes....we enjoyed our tour with Jesus, a LOT....so he got his asking price of $20 per person...and then some!

 

[justmestace]

Did I say mini-trip report?? I am sooo sorry! I just can't do a mini, I guess.


We got back to our rooms with barely enough time to shower and meet for the bridge tour. Renee did a great job of leading the tour. This gal runs several of the game shows on the ship, and is a dancer in some of the major productions. I asked her at one point if she ever slept, and how she stayed so "up" and happy all the time. She told me that she just somehow manages on only a few hours' sleep, and she said she couldn't be "up" all the time if she were in Guest Services! LOL She said she really felt bad for those CM's...as they get all the complaints!

At 5 pm, we went on the verandah to watch the process of sailing out. 5 pm came and went...and we hadn't left yet. There were some Mexican officials down there with a radio (walkie-talkie) we could hear that they (ship) were calling for a family of 3, and a couple. About this time, we saw a young man running toward the ship with a couple of suitcases. He hopped on. The gangway had already been removed, but there was still a plank out there. Turned out, he was part of the evening's entertainment, a ventriloquist named Michael Harrison.
The family of three showed up.....but no sign of the couple still missing. The plank was pulled in, and the ship started to pull away. I had the video going all this time. Just as the authorities were getting into their car, the female with the radio jumped out and was yelling "They're coming!" We could see the tram coming across the parking lot....3 people riding. One guy was going to Carnival, but rather than stop there first, they came straight to the Magic. The Magic stopped its engines, and we could see someone ON the ship speaking to the husband and wife standing on the pier.....shopping bags in hand. By this time, there was probably a 3 to 4 foot gap between the ship and the pier. The husband was pointing at his watch. Apparently, he didn't pay attention and set his watch like we'd been told....100 times! DCL threw out the plank...no handrails...just a plank....and the couple boarded. While they were standing out there, a lot of people were on their verandahs "boo-ing" these two. After they got on, and we began again to sail, everyone cheered.
What we didn't know was that the people on the Carnival line had been watching too. They booed and then cheered also. As we sailed past the Carnival ship, there were a ton of people on their top deck....singing to us! M I C K E Y .........so we all sang. We would say "MICKEY MOUSE" and they would holler back "DONALD DUCK!". It was great fun. I have since found out that the couple who were late getting back to the ship thought that we were leaving at 8 pm. Our original itinerary DOES say 8 pm....but after the 1st cruise down, they have now changed the time that the ship leaves ....it is now 5 pm.
Tonight was a casual night, but we were in Lumiere's, so we dressed a "nice" casual.
The show was one that I didn't want to miss....the new "Twice Charmed". Jordan was the only one who wanted to go with me, so we went alone.
The show is great. They had some trouble with the sound, and the show stopped for about 15 minutes...but they had crew come out for a Q & A session, and then suddenly, they shoved the character "Terk" through a side door. Well, poor Terk didn't quite know what they expected him to do, since he (or is it a she?) doesn't talk. They did the Hokey Pokey...and finally fixed the problem and the show went on. We enjoyed it. It was kind of a "what if" things had gone differently for Cinderella....from the evil Stepmother and Stepsister's side. A cute little twist.
We had an early reservation for a chartered catamaran in Cabo, so we went to bed. Can you tell we are a bunch of partiers???

 

[justmestace]

Tid Bits:

Both of my kids went to the Stack from Day 1. Even though Jared isn't quite 12 yet (next Thursday), he's tall...and they haven't questioned him in two cruises. They had dances at night, scavenger hunts during the day, a sailing party in PV, and although they didn't have nearly as many "friends" onboard as they did at Christmas, they still met some that became favorites, and had a good time.

Concierge brought Jared arcade cards every day, so he made good use of those. I almost (a very slim almost) wish I had younger kids...they get plush from concierge. I am a plush collector! LOL

They have had charging privileges on every cruise we've taken. We started when Jared was 8 and Jordan was 11. Jordan has never (ever) bought anything w/o asking me first, and neither has Jared. He bought a few $10 game cards at Christmas...3, I think. They have always been told ahead of time, that if they just ask first, they are more than likely going to be allowed to have whatever they want. So they ask. Jordan asked for the unlimited package for e-mail, and I let her do that. She and Jared then shared the same account.

 

[jilljill]

Keep the reports coming. I don't mind details, I don't think the others will either.

 

[justmestace]

All my yakking, and Barb still gets the T.O.P.!! How do ya like that?


I almost forgot the coolest thing that happened on Mazatlan day....for us, anyway.
We didn't have plans, so we took our time getting off the ship. I don't know what time it was, maybe around 9:30 ??.....but we heard an announcement that all ship activities would be suspended for 10 minutes. The crew was having a mandatory drill. They sounded some special horns/whistles, lowered the life boats....and then...the coolest part of all....they called for an "Abandon Ship"!!
I wish I had been up on Deck 9 or ten...or maybe four...so that I could have had a better view of what they were doing. But I didn't want to be in the way, so we stayed on our balcony.

 

[newfamilyman]

I'd be up to see a secret porthole room! If anyone wants to see a Cat. 5 verandah room we are on Deck 7 (sleeps 3).

Cathy

We're on Deck 7, too, in a room that (hopefully!) sleeps 4.

 

[justmestace]

DAY SIX....Cabo San Lucas.....Thursday

I did not want to wake up this morning. The ship was already anchored when I got up. 6:30 am.
There were a few tender boats already waiting, and I thought that if that was all the tenders they were going to use, we were going to be in big trouble. Turned out, there were more.
What I didn't know when I reserved our catamaran to Playa Santa Maria, was that if you wanted to get off the ship early and didn't have a DCL excursion, your whole family had to go to the Buena Vista Theater to get tickets to get on the tender. They called for certain ticket numbers to come down, just enough to fill one tender, and after it moved out, they would call for the next group to come down. This way, there was no one waiting in the hallways.
We were supposed to meet our captain across the bay at 9:45. They had "open" (no ticket needed) tendering after 11 am.
Luckily, concierge had told me that we could just call them and they would walk us down to the tender whenever we were ready. So, at 9 am, I called....no answer. Guest Services answered and the CM said "NO...you have to go to the theater and get a ticket...and right now they are at about a 9:45 tender time". I about panicked. I knew the Cat would leave w/o us. I tried to ask the CM about concierge, and she said "The same rules apply for everyone". So I hung up. Jay and I decided for us all to just go down to the tender area. When we got down there, they had a curtain drawn across the entry to disembark. A fellow saw us and asked if we had tickets. I said "No, but Caroline from concierge said...." and he instantly opened the curtain and asked how many in our party. They checked to see if they could put 6 on the tender that was loading, and we got on...the last 6 seats. Whew.
We felt very safe in the tenders. I know that the prior cruise had a 4 yr old girl fall off the deck upon boarding the tender to return to the Magic, but in my opinion, if her parents had held her hand, that wouldn't have happened. My mom did just fine with her cane and limited mobility. No one can fall out of a tender, the sides are too high, you are seated down basically below deck level.
One thing that is obvious from the moment you look at the port area....Cabo is much more beautiful than the other ports. There was a yacht in the harbor from Phoenix, and we tried to get our water taxi driver to tell us who owned it, but he wouldn't.
We walked maybe, at the most, ten steps from the tender pier when we were asked if we needed a water taxi. Within moments, we were on the other side of the bay, meeting our catamaran crew.
We had a similar boat rented for St Marten last Christmas, the boat had engine trouble and never came...so we were a little apprehensive about doing it again. But from the tender, we could see our Cat...so I wasn't worried. One thing that did disappoint me, I thought we had been told the water taxi's in Cabo were $1 per person. The guy charged us $3 pp. Jay didnt mind, but I wasn't happy and I quietly told the guy so. Jay tends to feel sorrier for these guys more than I do. I guess I'm a big meanie.
Our Cat wasn't quite ready for us, so I walked up to get a look at Medano Beach. It is a very long, clean beach. Already, there were booths set up with chairs for rent, and snorkel gear and drinks, etc. It would be very easy to just water taxi over there and spend the day. You would just ask the taxi (either water or land) to take you to the Hacienda Hotel, and there you would be!
Anyway...we got on our catamaran, and were totally blown away. I have never, ever seen such a gorgeous boat. Spotless. Full bar set up (free)....bathrooms, lounging area.....unbelievable. The owner had something that he had to do that day, so he came and met us, but then let his Captain and his daughter and "Slim" take care of us. I had found the Cat online, just by searching around, e-mailed with questions and price request. I had to mail 1/2 deposit to Eduardo ahead of time, which can be kind of a risk...but I have never been so pleased about anything as I was that boat. We honestly felt like millionnaires! They served us and everything! Amazing. The cat was named the Rissalena. We were joined by a young couple that was staying at a hotel in Cabo, and another couple and their 10 yr old son. That was it. Eleven people. Our "tour" was from 10 am to 2 pm. The cost was $45 per person and included all the drinks we wanted and a homemade lunch. A better bargain than most ship excursions. We sailed over to Lover's Beach, and Los Arcos, stopped to take pictures and see the sea lions...and then we were on our way to Playa Santa Maria. There is a nice beach area there, and even though we didn't think the snorkeling would be that great, it was very good. Very good. Jay had a bunch of fish come up and nibble on his hand. These were part of my pictures that sadly, did not turn out. The water was, as our driver had warned us, not chilly....freezing! But after a few minutes, we got used to it. We snorkeled until we felt like getting back onboard, where lunch was ready and waiting. Freshly roasted, marinated chicken, tortillas, pasta and fruit salad, chips and salsa.....marvelous. As we sailed back to the bay, we had margaritas that were the best I have ever tasted. I fell asleep for a little while...till they cranked up some good old 70's music, and we got up and danced. We have a picture of me, Jordan and the other mom dancing, just as we are passing the Magic. If I weren't so fat, I'd post it.
My boys again decided to forego shopping, and took a water taxi back to the ship, along with all of our snorkel gear. My parents and Jordan & I walked up to the Hacienda in search of a taxi to take us to the shopping district. I found a van with a driver right at the entrance drive to the hotel...asked him how much to go to town....and had to repeat it.....$3....for all of us! I gave him more...I guess some of Jay is rubbing off on me.
He dropped us at the main shopping street in town, not far from Cabo Wabo, right in front of Diamonds International. We walked in and out of some of the shops....and crossed the street to a small plaza where Jordan found some very unique beaded skirts and tops, and I found some really nice embroidered polo shirts for Jay and Jared on sale. The prices in the whole area in Cabo seemed a little higher....okay...a lot higher. But Cabo is the one place that I really wanted to have a few nice shirts and souvenirs. Dad didn't get a hat he wanted, because Mom said $15 was too much compared to the $5 he paid for one in Mazatlan. I offered, but got a dirty look from mom.....
We had to pretty much hurry, as the last tender back to the ship was at 3:30....and we were getting darn close. There were a lot of taxi's available right there on the street....$3 back to the pier. We hit it just right, a tender had just pulled away and they were loading another. I did notice that there were some shops within walking distance, adjacent to the pier...even a jewelry store...but we didn't get over there. I would guess that it is possible to walk to the main shopping area, it really is only about one street up from port, and then one street over....but it's a much longer walk than it appears on a map. Same for walking to Medano Beach....way further than it looks. You could swim the bay faster. Get arrested for it, too!

 

[justmestace]

We had no trouble at all with the tendering back to the ship....other than the fact that I didn't want to go.....I could probably spend some time in Cabo. And I never thought I had any desire to visit the Mexican Riviera.

The first tender out that day was the 7:35 Beachside Horseback Riding excursion. The next one out was Chileno Bay Snorkeling.

Apparently, no one wanted to chance missing the last tender to the ship, as we managed to sail out on time at 4 pm.

There was a concierge sail-away party at Topsider's from 4 to 5.....they served about the same appetizers as they did at the Castaway Club party. But it was nice to have a chance to sit and talk to Caroline and Karina. Capt Tom didn't come up. My parents really enjoyed going to this with us, even though they didn't have concierge service. Caroline and Karina sent the daily "goodie tray" to their room, too....which was a total surprise and delight to mom and dad.

Tonight's show was Disney Dreams...which I slept through the last time I went, so Jordan and I went again. I have no idea what my guys did all this time. They are soooo boring! This, too is a really cute show.

It was semi-formal, Captain's Gala....Jared chose to wear his tux again, we had long dresses and Jay just wore a nice shirt and tie.

We had wondered since we got onboard why they had netting in the atrium lobby with gold balloons....we found out today. I won't tell right now...don't want to ruin any surprises...but if you want to know, tell me....and I will explain. It was a fun night, and by the time all was said and done, we were beat.
But....it was the Dessert Buffet night!! I had to at least go take pictures of the ice sculptures and the fancy desserts. I told myself I wasn't going to eat anything. But I did. It was all soooooo goood. Especially the freshly made crepes with your choice of topping. Yummmmm.
I rolled myself and my pictures up to bed. The only thought I had was "Oh my goodness, tomorrow is our Character Breakfast...and I don't need to eat again for 2 days!"

Also, this was a Turn Your Clock Back night again......

 

[jilljill]

All my yakking, and Barb still gets the T.O.P.!! How do ya like that?

There's only one thing I can say..... , that's me.

 

[justmestace]

FINAL FULL DAY....Day at Sea....


It went way too fast. I happen to love having the last day be a sea day. It makes it much easier to pack. Hard to enjoy Castaway Cay, knowing you need to go back and pack.
And, for the most part...that's what I did today. Packed and packed. Where did all this stuff come from???

We had our character breakfast, I had forgotten to remind mom and dad...they surprised me and were already seated when Jay and I walked in. The kids?? They were still sleeping!

The Debarkation talk was doubly-stressed for us to attend, as it's different than Port Canaveral...it was at 11:30.....they didn't advertise it anywhere, but it did show on the television later in the day.

After breakfast, I went upstairs and began packing. The only thing that I had been really looking forward to was at 2:00 pm.....Who Wants To Be A Mouseketeer. I had been a contestant on our very first cruise and caved under the pressure....this time, I wanted to be on the panel.
Jordan had rehearsal for the talent show at 1:15, so I told her when she was done to head for the theater for Mouseketeer.
I had gone to the shops for some last minute checking, to see if I had missed anything ...LOL....and the Captain was doing his signing....what a crowd!
So, I left and wandered to take pics before the show.
I went back down to the shops after I knew the Capt was gone, and happened to see that, even at 1:30...the theater was filling up....so I went to a phone to call Jay....and DJPike was on one of the phones. I picked up the other phone, thinking it was a different line...but it wasn't! It was just an extension of the line he was on. My first thought was "Why put two phones in the hall with the same line" and then I was embarrassed. He just laughed at me. We have talked before, so he knew me, kind of. He asked who I was calling and I told him, so he offered to dial the room. He then asked if he could play a trick on Jay...and he did. It was the funniest thing I have ever seen and poor Jay believed it! OMgoodness it was too funny. I can't tell what he did...I can PM it to anyone who wants to know...but I really don't want to say on here, as I don't want to get DJPike in trouble. He came into the theater and sat and talked to Jay and I for a while....such a funny guy.

 

[justmestace]

So I sat in the second row, just off center a little and jumped up and down, made a complete fool of myself (not the first time, won't be the last) and DID get picked for the panel. We panelists thought we were following along and doing quite well until we made some poor lady lose over the color of Eeyore's tail. We were certain it was purple. WRONG.
We all got the pin for playing Mouseketeer, but I was bummed that it doesn't have the special "dangler" on it that said "Panelist" or "Contestant" anymore.

Then, back to packing.

The show was Remember the Magic...A Final Farewell....which I didn't have a choice but to skip.....still packing.

The talent show was at 7:45...and ran a little late, so we were late to dinner, but not by much. Jordan danced to Beyonce and JayZ...a song called Crazy In Love, part ballet, jazz and hip hop. She did great. She was #2 in the line-up, and we could have left after that, but all the kids (and adults) were so good, and I didn't think it would be nice to leave, either.

Dinner was the "Till We Meet Again" menu, and it was fantastic. I had arranged to celebrate Jay's birthday at dinner....and had to beg, borrow, steal, sell my soul and my firstborn to get them to bring us Chocolate Souffles from Palo instead of cake.....but they did. Heaven...that's all I can say....heaven.
They wanted all the bags out by 10:00 pm, instead of the 11:00 we are used to...so I ran back and finally had all the bags out at about 10:20. Not too bad.
I had promised DJPike that I would go to English Pub night....he was going to bring some pics from the canal cruise for me to see....but I just couldn't. I had already put my nightgown on while packing and just couldn't make myself get dressed again.
I think, by the way, that this was the day that Jared made me go up on Deck 10 with him....and we almost got blown overboard! Windy!
And the waves were really kicking into gear....but still only about 12-15 ft waves. We had much worse when we followed Hurricane Frances up the coast one year. Jay & I love it when the ship is really rocking....we are weird people who like laying in bed and feeling the ship go from side to side and up & down.

 

[jilljill]

And the waves were really kicking into gear....but still only about 12-15 ft waves. We had much worse when we followed Hurricane Frances up the coast one year. Jay & I love it when the ship is really rocking....we are weird people who like laying in bed and feeling the ship go from side to side and up & down.

I don't want to feel any rocking of the boat. Nope, none at all. I will turn as green as this guy . I really can't even stand to look out the windows when we are moving, I get queasy doing that.

Stacey, I guess you and I are the only ones without lives this weekend since we are on here so much today

 

[SchultzFamily]

I'm here too! Just finished reading Stacey's last day. Can't wait till our turn!
Vickie