cruiseletters
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2005
- Messages
- 291
Monday another sea day
I love sea days, it means relaxation for me, even if I'm doing different activities it's still a luxury to just do whatever you want to do.[ I guess that comes with having older kids] If I was home I'd still be cooking breakfast for someone but on dcl the kids wake up and decide where, when and what they want to eat that's fabulous! My dh and I went to topsiders that morning and you could feel the weather change it was getting far more warm and humid. We had a delicious breakfast of fresh fruit, rolls and coffee and just enjoyed the fact that we were back on the ship. We went to shutters and checked out the formal pictures from the night before, wow all of us actually managed to look at the camera at the same time. The pictures turned out great which of course meant that we had to buy them. I went to a movie while my dh went to one of the navigational talks, we had agreed to meet afterwards on deck 9 for ice cream at scoops I guess it was a good idea because gradually our entire group ended up assembling there for a snack. We visited with adults and kids alike and it struck me looking at this group how fortunate we were to all be together having this experience.
We all went to the show Twice Charmed that night before dinner and it was terrific, so well done and the back drops were beautiful. My parents are not disney fanatics and so I wasn't to sure how they would like the shows but they enjoyed them very much. [ enough so that they were still talking about some the next morning] Dinner that night was very good and we of course felt like we had eaten to much so aftrwards we hauled ourselves to deck 10 and took several turns around the ship then off to bed tomorrow was a port day.
Tuesday, Puerto Vallarta
My dh is a morning person I am not! He always gets up in time to see us come into port and dock I never miss it either because I always see his digital photos of it later in the day. Today our group met at topsiders and it was warmmmm and humiddd, we were breaking up into three different groups my disney parents had decided to go off the ship later in the day, all the teenage boys and our disney friends were going to the paradise beach adventure. That left my dh and our three dd and myself to catch a cab and explore the town. My main goal for today was to buy a very large bottle of pure vanilla extract, I know that may sound silly but Mexico has some amazing prices for things like that and the states are so expensive.We got off the ship had to take the usual photo in front of the welcome to Puerto Vallarta sign and then were approached by the white van taxis drivers that are parked at the port, we negotiated a price to drive us into town 2 dollars a person and we were off. I thought I had read at one point in my research that you could walk into the town from the dock I don't advise this at all. First it is about 5 miles and secondly the roads are very small congested and the traffic moves very fast there were few streets that had designated lanes painted on them and we watched as cars would make three lanes of traffic and then in a half a block the road got narrow and suddenly the cars are all squeezing down to 2 lanes [ oh and they never reduced their speed while doing this] I was glad we weren't driving. Our taxi dropped us off in the middle of their shopping district. On one side of the road were shops on the other side was a lovely walk that ran along side the beach with some wonderful statues placed every 3 or 4 hundred yards apart they were made out of bronze and very unique we took photos of them with that lovely ocean as a backdrop. We went into a very old church that looked a little run down from the outside but was beautiful inside. We tramped down little narrow streets made entirely of cobblestones that I kept tripping over. Many stores had the usual souvenirs, but we also saw some talented painters and we met one man who was painting these beautiful landscapes in brown hues, when we stopped to talk to him about them we found out his paints were made entirely of coffee beans. One of my dd bought one of his paintings since she works for starbucks. We wondered along until we got to a small river with a swinging bridge across it. we stood and watched 6 or 7 people cross this and they moved across without hardly swaying the silly thing. When we got on it to go across we were helplessly staggering from one side to another [ the bridge was about 5 feet wide] we must have looked hysterical to the locals, we thought we'd never get off. Once on the other side we found ourselves in an open air market. I found my large bottle of pure vanilla for 12 dollars and was thrilled. At home I buy a bottle at costco for 17 dollars that is about 1/4 the size. My dh had gotten off the ship that day wearing a San Fransico Giants ball cap, we had know idea how popular this would be but as we walked around there were so many men that stopped him to ask if they could buy his cap, several men got into a bidding war and offered him 50 dollars for it. My ddaughters kept telling him to sell it but he wouldn't. After walking around in the heat for awhile it was time for some refreshments so we found an upstairs cafe that had outside verandas that hung out over the shopping area overlooking the bay. The breeze was so refreshing, we ordered drinks and chips along with fresh salsa and gaucamole, yummm. We sat enjoying our million dollar view for awhile.The staff was very nice the cafe clean and their restrooms spotless. After we left the cafe we picked up a few souvenirs for friends and caught a cab back to the ship.
On board for the evening show was the movie Herbie Fully Loaded, I choose to skip it and have a nice shower instead.Tonight was pirate night and our entire group had brought along costumes arghhh. I think the staff likes it when people participate it just makes it more fun. The pirate party on deck 9 was alot of fun the fireworks were beautiful and the buffet yummy, what more could you ask for as we sailed away from Puerto Vallarta.
I love sea days, it means relaxation for me, even if I'm doing different activities it's still a luxury to just do whatever you want to do.[ I guess that comes with having older kids] If I was home I'd still be cooking breakfast for someone but on dcl the kids wake up and decide where, when and what they want to eat that's fabulous! My dh and I went to topsiders that morning and you could feel the weather change it was getting far more warm and humid. We had a delicious breakfast of fresh fruit, rolls and coffee and just enjoyed the fact that we were back on the ship. We went to shutters and checked out the formal pictures from the night before, wow all of us actually managed to look at the camera at the same time. The pictures turned out great which of course meant that we had to buy them. I went to a movie while my dh went to one of the navigational talks, we had agreed to meet afterwards on deck 9 for ice cream at scoops I guess it was a good idea because gradually our entire group ended up assembling there for a snack. We visited with adults and kids alike and it struck me looking at this group how fortunate we were to all be together having this experience.
We all went to the show Twice Charmed that night before dinner and it was terrific, so well done and the back drops were beautiful. My parents are not disney fanatics and so I wasn't to sure how they would like the shows but they enjoyed them very much. [ enough so that they were still talking about some the next morning] Dinner that night was very good and we of course felt like we had eaten to much so aftrwards we hauled ourselves to deck 10 and took several turns around the ship then off to bed tomorrow was a port day.
Tuesday, Puerto Vallarta
My dh is a morning person I am not! He always gets up in time to see us come into port and dock I never miss it either because I always see his digital photos of it later in the day. Today our group met at topsiders and it was warmmmm and humiddd, we were breaking up into three different groups my disney parents had decided to go off the ship later in the day, all the teenage boys and our disney friends were going to the paradise beach adventure. That left my dh and our three dd and myself to catch a cab and explore the town. My main goal for today was to buy a very large bottle of pure vanilla extract, I know that may sound silly but Mexico has some amazing prices for things like that and the states are so expensive.We got off the ship had to take the usual photo in front of the welcome to Puerto Vallarta sign and then were approached by the white van taxis drivers that are parked at the port, we negotiated a price to drive us into town 2 dollars a person and we were off. I thought I had read at one point in my research that you could walk into the town from the dock I don't advise this at all. First it is about 5 miles and secondly the roads are very small congested and the traffic moves very fast there were few streets that had designated lanes painted on them and we watched as cars would make three lanes of traffic and then in a half a block the road got narrow and suddenly the cars are all squeezing down to 2 lanes [ oh and they never reduced their speed while doing this] I was glad we weren't driving. Our taxi dropped us off in the middle of their shopping district. On one side of the road were shops on the other side was a lovely walk that ran along side the beach with some wonderful statues placed every 3 or 4 hundred yards apart they were made out of bronze and very unique we took photos of them with that lovely ocean as a backdrop. We went into a very old church that looked a little run down from the outside but was beautiful inside. We tramped down little narrow streets made entirely of cobblestones that I kept tripping over. Many stores had the usual souvenirs, but we also saw some talented painters and we met one man who was painting these beautiful landscapes in brown hues, when we stopped to talk to him about them we found out his paints were made entirely of coffee beans. One of my dd bought one of his paintings since she works for starbucks. We wondered along until we got to a small river with a swinging bridge across it. we stood and watched 6 or 7 people cross this and they moved across without hardly swaying the silly thing. When we got on it to go across we were helplessly staggering from one side to another [ the bridge was about 5 feet wide] we must have looked hysterical to the locals, we thought we'd never get off. Once on the other side we found ourselves in an open air market. I found my large bottle of pure vanilla for 12 dollars and was thrilled. At home I buy a bottle at costco for 17 dollars that is about 1/4 the size. My dh had gotten off the ship that day wearing a San Fransico Giants ball cap, we had know idea how popular this would be but as we walked around there were so many men that stopped him to ask if they could buy his cap, several men got into a bidding war and offered him 50 dollars for it. My ddaughters kept telling him to sell it but he wouldn't. After walking around in the heat for awhile it was time for some refreshments so we found an upstairs cafe that had outside verandas that hung out over the shopping area overlooking the bay. The breeze was so refreshing, we ordered drinks and chips along with fresh salsa and gaucamole, yummm. We sat enjoying our million dollar view for awhile.The staff was very nice the cafe clean and their restrooms spotless. After we left the cafe we picked up a few souvenirs for friends and caught a cab back to the ship.
On board for the evening show was the movie Herbie Fully Loaded, I choose to skip it and have a nice shower instead.Tonight was pirate night and our entire group had brought along costumes arghhh. I think the staff likes it when people participate it just makes it more fun. The pirate party on deck 9 was alot of fun the fireworks were beautiful and the buffet yummy, what more could you ask for as we sailed away from Puerto Vallarta.
