July 9th 2005 - West Coast Cruise.

[jel0511]

Now mexican ..... El Agave in Old Town is good but $$$. So is Casa De Bandini from what I remember (Old Town, too). It's totally different than the pristine Hotel Del, that's for sure. Check out sandiegorestaurants.com for reviews. We have a great place (over 50 different tequilas and an entire margarita menu ) but it's a 40 minute drive.

A restaurant with an entire margarita menu.... Now, that does sound intriging, but 40 minutes does sound a little long of a drive... bummer... Is El Agave kid friendly? I'm definately looking for the best Mexican experience, since here in NJ, the best Mexican is found at Chevy's ( a chain). DH and I had some AWESOME Mexican in Las Vegas at Mark Miller's restaurant at the MGM. It was MUCH more authentic than we'd EVER find here in NJ, so we're looking for a similiar experience in San Diego.

 

[Amous]

Randy (Cruzin'gain) -- got you're PM and responded. Thanks!! By the way, love that cow. If you could only see my 'cowy' kitchen!!!

Lori -- Have you considered Jim Croce's Restaurant. Website is http://www.croces.com/rest.shtml

Did someone mention bringing wine on-board? Or was it my imagination? We can, can't we?

 

[Sarangel]

You should be able to bring wine onboard. I seem to recall that the baggage handlers won't handle anything that they know contains liquid. That being said, the last time we cruised, we brought a bottle of Fairy Tale Cuvee in our luggage & it survived just fine.

Sara

 

[renknt]

Well, I must agree that things have livened up around here. Excursion info has been flowing (thanks to several people, cruise director Lori especially), group brunches have been arranged, DDs and DSs are beginning to be paired up, and people are doing very well on their thread history quizes.

The thread for the last cruise we took got to 87 pages by the time it was done, though that's a pretty active one, I would say. We've added almost 6 pages in the last week alone, so we're on a pretty good pace. Let's see if we can get to 90 pages by the time we sail!!!

If we do, I'll buy a round of sail-away party drinks for anyone that wants one!!

Chris

Sounds good to me,

 

[renknt]

I am going....

 

[renknt]

To give it my best shot.

 

[soccerdad-Chris]

Did someone mention bringing wine on-board? Or was it my imagination? We can, can't we?

Finally, a subject I know something about: wine. You can absolutely bring wine on board, and should in my opinion, though I wouldn't put it in my checked luggage where the baggage handlers will do who-knows-what with it. Carry it on. This is hard-won knowledge, since I put a bottle of wine in checked luggage on a cruise in 2003, and it broke. As a result, two other things were broken: my heart, since it was a bottle that I was particularly looking forward to tasting (drinking, actually), and my bank account, as the on-board dry cleaning bill was off the charts.

In fact, regarding the little on-board party I mentioned in an earlier post, one of the things you all can count on is an informal wine-tasting being part of that, for those of you that enjoy trying wines. We will choose the wines in advance and bring them on the ship in carry-on luggage. If you like wine, I can personally guarantee that we'll be hitting high numbers on the yummy-meter

If Lori is our cruise director, then I get to be the group sommelier!!.
Chris

 

[Soccermom-Cheri]

Lori -- Have you considered Jim Croce's Restaurant. Website is http://www.croces.com/rest.shtml

Did someone mention bringing wine on-board? Or was it my imagination? We can, can't we?

Croce's is good, but I don't find the Gaslamp, where it is located, to be particularly kid-friendly at night. (IMO)

Chris's story about the wine in his suitcase was ..... hilarious! I did wait until I was on deck to laugh. C'mon! A bottle of wine in a soft-sided suitcase? (I think the baggage handlers throw those extra hard.)

glad to see this board expanding. We're rockin' now!

 

[mommykeg]

Lori--That is too funny...we like the sound of Rancho Cucamonga too! :earboy2

Kim

 

[mommykeg]

Lori...my DD just e-mailed your DD.

Kim

 

[cruzin'gain]

We carry-on our wine. I believe I had six bottles in my rolling carry on luggage last cruise.

One of the daily highlights of our cruise is our 4pm "wine and cheese party" up by the goofy pool while the kids were in the pool. Last two cruises we traveled with friends. Ordered a couple "All Hands on Decks" and met by the pools watching the kids.

Lori- ever try Jose Tejas in Woodbridge (on Rt 1 by Woodbridge Center)? Best Tex-Mex outside of Texas! It is the only place my wife and kids ever want to go when we go out for dinner!

Wish I was cruising today, 20 inches of snow expected with blizzard conditions.

 

[jel0511]

No Randy we haven't, even though everytime we're at Woodbridge or Menlo Park we always bring it up. We always seem to get sucked into Cheesecake Factory, I can't resist a good cheesecake!!! We also don't live that far from you, we're in South Brunswick. Maybe a mini- July 9th cruise meet at Jose Tejas might give me the incentive to try it out!!! I completely agree about the snow... YIKES!!! Darren just went out to get gas for the snowblower... This is going to be a FUN weekend!

 

[soccerdad-Chris]

Lori and Randy,
Normally I'd read your bad-weather posts and be counting my blessings that I live in CA. Unfortunately, I'm flying to NY on Moday, so it looks like I'll be sharing in your "winter bliss".

Chris

 

[Soccermom-Cheri]

I just found one of our "for sure" excursions: Los Veranos Canopy Tours. Over 10 zip lines! (think George of the Jungle). I read about it at cruise critic. Everyone raved about how much fun it was for ages 6-86. Even those scared to death of heights had a blast. Woo-hoo, one excursion down, ?? to go.

crusin gazin: what is an "all hands on deck"? Sounds like something you can't drink more than one or two of

 

[hayesktrm]

What do you all plan on doing in the evenings? I know we'll catch the shows. We're not much into dancing, so what other things do you suggest. I hope they have more activities on the 7-day then they did on the 3-day.

Mommykeg--thanks for the email to DD. She was very excited. We'll have to email pictures to each other so we can recognize each other.

Do they always serve the same drink at the sailaway party? I had a Bahama Mama (I think--after I had it I forgot everything) on our last cruise. Unfortunately my seasickness caught up with me and it was my last (or fortunately, I guess) for the cruise.

That George of the Jungle thing sounds fun. I wonder if my kids would do it? Do you know the cost of that excursion and did you do it on your own?

 

[mommykeg]

That canopy tour sounds really cool--DH would LOVE it, but I know DS4 is too little. I wonder if they have an observation area...

hayesktrm...e-mailing pics would be a great idea! I got a digital camera for christmas this year, so I'm sure with a lot of help, I could figure out how to e-mail a pic!!

We're not into dancing either, but it sounds like they have family shows and then other shows in the bars/clubs that might keep us busy in the evening. Then there's always strolling the deck and relaxing...something we don't get to do much of at home!!

 

[jel0511]

Greetings from the Blizzard of 2005!!! I just measured outside and at 6PM we're already at almost 9 inches!!! It's going to continue snowing until at least noon tomorrow, so we're easily looking at 18 inches here!!

Chris, I'm sure we'll save some for you!!!

Kim, Julianna e-mailed Alexis this afternoon, I hope you got it! If you didn't let me know, I'll re-send it! We're not dancers here either, so they'll be a lot of us hanging together on deck.

Cheri - the Hands on deck is a cheese and cracker platter available from roomservice. It has a great selection and is GREAT!

For Puerta Vallerta, we're planning on going to Las Caletas. If it's not offered by DCL, I'll book it privately. It sounds and looks like paradise, so it will be a fun day for us!!! In Cabo, I'm torn what to do. We'll probably be excursioned out, so we might just hang around the town for awhile and then get back on board, or we might do another excursion. The pool excursion to that resort looked nice, we'll have to see on that one!!! Well, I'm off to continue to bunker down and enjoy the blizzard. We have a nice fire going in the fireplace, and just finished dinner. Tomorrow we'll start digging out, but DH has said if we're not done by the start of the Eagles game (he's a HUGE fan) it has to wait until it's over!! Oh well.....

 

[mommykeg]

Lori--I got the e-mail from your DD--but my DD is out selling girl scout cookies, so she hasn't seen it yet. She'll be so excited when she gets home--she has 2 e-mails from cruise friends waiting for her!!

Las Caletas does look awesome in Puerto Vallarta. But I also think my kids would LOVE a dolphin encounter or swim. Still thinking...

That cheese platter and wine by the pool sounds absolutely divine! ISee you all there! Is it July yet?

Kim

 

[jel0511]

That cheese platter and wine by the pool sounds absolutely divine! ISee you all there! Is it July yet?

Kim - I think you just thought of a WONDERFUL nighttime activity while the kids are in the clubs........

 

[soccerdad-Chris]

One of our favorite evening events in the past was the dueling pianos down on Deck 3. Totally cool and big fun!!! It reminded me of some really fun Irish audience-sing-along pubs in New Orleans.

Unfortunately, they ended that show before our last cruise (Oct 2004), but I've heard that a lot of people have been asking for it to be brought back, so maybe DCL will listen and re-instate it before July.

It's sounds like we have complete consensus on the "we don't really dance" thing. We do love comedy, however, and they usually have a couple of comedians that do shows before the dance band comes on.

Chris