#12 Friday 12/19

At Sea - Voyage to San Diego

 

Our last day at sea was foggy, cold and breezy. The seas were calm when we woke, but the breeze picked up and the sea swells increased.  After breakfast at the buffet, we went down to Deck 1 to get our colored baggage tags for disembarking.  After a communications snafu with the staff, we got our lime green tags. 

Afterward we took brisk lap around the ship (a bit unsteady with the ship pitching and swaying a bit in the swells.) Back up to our stateroom to get our library books and returned them to the ship’s library. Back outside, we completed the remaining two laps around the ship (for a total of 1 mile) and headed up to the Crow’s Nest on Deck 11 for relaxation.

While relaxing on our veranda we entered fog bank. It was interesting since the sun was shining.

We then heading down to the World Stage and a presentation on the history of Mexican arts and handicrafts. The presentation was slick and professional, though the host’s droning voice put us both to sleep about halfway through. However, we learned that many cultures contributed to the art of Mexico and found that the design of Mexican tile was influenced by Spanish ceramic tiles which, in turn, were influenced by the tiles of the Islamic invaders of Spain. Who knew? The presentation finished around lunchtime.  After lunch we went back to our stateroom and started packing since we were docking in San Diego early tomorrow.

At Dinner, the Staff of chefs, waiters and hostesses came through the main dining room singing a farewell song in Indonesian. 

Following dinner, we walked to the other end of the ship (the bow) for the farewell performance of the ship’s performers “Feel the Beat,” a musical dancing and singing farewell show! 

They did everything from showtunes to Taylor Swift. The dance numbers were very well done.

What a last day!  Back to our stateroom for final packing before we put our luggage out in the passageway for pickup.  All in all, a great cruise. 

 

#11 Thursday 12/18

Cabo San Lucas, BC Mexico

            Cabo San Lucas was our final port before sailing back to San Diego.

We slept late! Finally, we made it to breakfast in the dining room at 8:30. Had fun talking to three people about everything and everyone. Left the dining room at 10:30 headed for our walk/job around the ship. 

Cabo San Lucas is not the way we remember it. It has grown in the last 10 years. It looked very commercial and industrialized since last time. We decided not to get off the ship.

         Instead, we went to the Crow’s Nest and had interesting conversations with the two people sitting on either side. It was nice to sit, enjoy the view and just talk to other guests. Lunch was at the buffet where a couple from Oregon sat with us. He was an ex-boxer and retired army veteran. She was quiet and reserved.

          It was time to dress for an elegant evening of dinner and show.

Dinner in the main dining room was great, always sharing a table with strangers that become friends. 

Following dinner, we went to the World Stage for a show with comedian, Warren B. Hall. We heard mixed reviews from a few people, but we thought he was funny and rather clever. We liked him, we laughed a lot and applauded.

            Tonight was the Chocolate Event, but we decided not to go. We don’t need any more chocolate today or any time soon.     

            By 8:30 continued reading the books we checked out from the library on board.  Janet picked a C.J. Box book DARK SKY a Joe Pickett Novel. Bill picked a Clive Cussler book THE DEVIL’S SEA. 

  

Tomorrow will be our last day on the cruise. We will miss it; it has been a great cruise and very comfortable. We learned to pace ourselves which worked out well. 

  

          

 #10 Wednesday 12/17

La Paz, BC Mexico

  

We docked La Paz, Baja California del Sur this morning. The desert landscape is fascinating, but the actual city of La Paz is 12 miles away. We opted to stay on board as the bus ride to town would have taken 45 minutes one way at $10 round trip. The morning sun heated up the desert area quickly.

Following breakfast, we walked the promenade until we ran into the maintenance crew painting, swabbing the decks causing us to dodge water dripping from ship’s tenders over our heads, getting everything and everyone wet that walked under them.

We cut our walk short by 1/3 mile and headed up to the fitness center.. We got a good 40-minute workout.

A High Tea was served in the main dining room. We were served by waiters with WHITE GLOVES! We never experienced that onboard a cruise before! Not only was Tea lovely, it was delicious with many choices for a tasty time.

Afterward we changed and went to the pool for a swim, a soak in the whirlpool tub and relaxation on the Lido Deck. We read the novels we’d checked out. Because we were docked, several flies found their way to the poolside and were real pests.

Bill got a table for lunch at the buffet. Afterward, we went back to our stateroom to enjoy an afternoon of watching the ocean from our veranda.

 

 

 

 

 

 #9 Tuesday 12/16

Loreto

We woke early to catch an 8:30 tender (launch) to the city for our walking tour. The weather was 82F, Humidity 40% with a soft breeze. The tender was interesting, enclosed with plenty of seating.

            We took a long walk down Ave Juan Maria de Salvatierra from the pier to the main drag in the city. Our guide picked us up and started the tour. The town reminded us of Santa Catalina Island, which is very quaint, small and beautifully situated on the coast. Loreto’s old church and the mission were originally built in the 1600s. The old town is made of cobble stone streets. The two-and-a-half-hour tour was nice, but a bit much for a short period of time. We bailed about 20 minutes before our guide ended the tour because we were hungry, thirsty and downright bored! 

            Our walk back to the pier was through a flea market. We bought our Christmas tree ornament, a purse for Jenny, key chain for Jo and a lovely copper sculpture of a tree with pearls on it. On our way back to the ship, we were stopped by many people commenting on our copper/pearl tree!

There were many Pelicans in the bay fighting over fish. I was interesting that if one pelican was sitting, waiting to catch a fish, another would swoop down and sit on the first pelican’s head causing the first pelican to fly away.
We noticed also that the trees were unusually trimmed, tiered from the top in 2 tiers below. Amazing!
We got back to the ship via tender at 11:30. Went to lunch in buffet. We ate a lot, both of us!

The class on Calligraphy was very nice, relaxing and enlightening for Janet.

Bill really enjoyed it and was excited to take the class. Both of us did rather well!

It was 6:30 by time we finished with the dining room and headed for poolside to relax and wait for the show at 8:00. It was very nice they moved the lounge chairs and had white clothed tables with small light on them. It was dark of course and very relaxing. The sky was full of stars, warm and soft breeze. Janet wanted a snack and came back with sauteed asparagus, and an order of fries delivered to our table. The show Gaby Plays was very nice. We saw her yesterday and enjoyed her very much. She had a lovely voice and played the guitar very well.

We had a full day!

           

 

 

 

 

#8 Monday 12/15

At Sea
(on the way to Loreto)

 

This morning, we slept in and awoke to a fantastic sunrise. We stepped onto our veranda and watched it before going to breakfast in the main dining room. For the first time we were seated in the center section of the circular room. It was much quieter than near the windows. We like to sit at a shared table with others.

Following our meal, we took a one mile walk around the ship (3 laps of the Promenade Deck) and then went up to Deck 9 and forward to the fitness center where we did upper body exercises only, since we walked a mile.

                               

Afterwards we went back to our stateroom for rest on our balcony where we read the two novels we borrowed from the Ship’s library. Janet is reading Dark Sky by C.J. Box, while Bill is reading The Devil’s Sea by Clive Cussler (Dirk Cussler.)

We relaxed to the sound of the waves and, tired from the workout, both dozed off while reading. Later we went to the buffet for lunch. We ate inside, since the pool area was too crowded. Following lunch, we went down to the Promenade Deck where we walked earlier and found two deck chairs and lounged for a while listening to the waves.

That afternoon we listened to Gaby, a guitarist/singer in the Ocean Bar. She was good!

We planned dinner at the main dining room for 5 pm so as not to miss the show called “Crossroads” A mix of 70s pop and country music. A lot of fun.

We will be on an excursion to Loreto tomorrow. That’s all tonight.

 

 

 

#7 Sunday 12/14

Mazatlán, Mexico

Since we have now turned north and are heading back to San Diego, our stateroom verandah is facing east. Last night we had a golden crescent moonrise that marked a lovely pathway through the ocean to the shore. It was followed by an amazing sunrise this morning filling the sky with golden rays and purple clouds. A perfect way to start the day. After breakfast we headed down to security for our four-hour tour of the city/shopping and Mexican Dance show.

Mazatlán is as beautiful as we remembered from 16 years ago. The beaches are pristine, calm water and dancing current in the bay. The tall islands that jet up from the water remind us of Hawaii. The city is at the same latitude as Hawaii so the weather and the foliage is similar.

The weather was 81F, 50% humidity and breezy, very comfortable. Bill bought another “going to town hat.” He now has two dress hats. The Basilica of the Immaculate Conception church in the main plaza was lovely. Mass was in progress. But we were still able to admire the beautifully painted and the ceilings were adorned with amazing chandeliers.

We stopped at another shopping area near several hotels. Bill bought another hat at Janet’s prompting. Janet looked at some bracelets but couldn’t afford the $182.00 for the one she wanted, and that is with a 30% discount! We walked down the street to Hotel Flores and Beach Resort. The hotel sat on the beach with a beautiful view of the bay. We sat on the hotel wall and just looked out at the water and people playing and boating in the water. It took all our energy not to jump in the water with our cloth on! We started to think about flying to Mazatlán, staying in a hotel for a weekend and enjoy the beach.

After pining over the beach, we got back in the bus and were taken to a fabulous Mexican Dance Show. It was great, with authentic dances from the different cities and provinces of Mexico. The costumes were amazingly colorful, the music and the dances lovely.

It is now 2:30, past the time of our arrival on the ship.  We made it back at 3:00 hungry for lunch. Luckly the buffet was still serving lunch. We scarfed down salads and sandwiches and went back to your cabin for a shower and nap before dinner.

Our dinner in the dining room was delicious. The sunset was beautiful. Moonrise was very nice. It was so very peaceful watching the waves go by and the skies change from sunset to moonrise from our veranda!

 

 

#6 We took a Christmas cruise to Mexico.

We thought we would share our trip with you.

Saturday 12/13

Manzanillo, Mexico

 

                      We woke up to a beautiful sunrise over the ocean.

Following breakfast, we trotted over to the Rolling Stone Lounge to meet up with the excursion group for the Manzanillo City and Shopping tour.

They soon called our group and off we went to meet on our air-conditioned tour bus.  The driver’s name was Jaime (Jimmy in English) and our guide, Rolando.

First stop was the Historic District plaza. A lot of building repairs were underway. The plaza was beautifully decorated for Christmas with a large Christmas tree, garlands, lights and a sleigh. It was funny to see all the winter related items in a tropical setting.

 

There was a film crew shooting a Colombian TV series in the plaza. We saw a large statue of Snoopy holding a sailfish. Apparently, Manzanillo is the Sailfish capital of the world, and the statue was donated by some Americans.

 

We strolled through the plaza and turned down a side street where we found a shop that had a banner above the door that read “Buenvenidos Turistas” or “Welcome Tourists.”  Bill found a great tan, Panama hat for only $10. What a deal!

The tour took us about nine miles to the hotel district and up a steep hill by Hotel Las Hadas by Brisas. It looked like the Greek islands with all the whitewashed buildings perched on rugged hills. The view from up there was fantastic. The most harrowing part of our tour was the trip back down from the hills. The road was very narrow, and we passed within inches of a dump truck that we thought was going to crash through the window on our side. Our driver was very good.

As we emerged back onto the main road we were amazed at the presence of American businesses, like Burger King, Lil Caesar’s Pizza, KFC, WalMart, Sam’s Club, Carl’s Jr, Chevrolet dealers, and some Chinese and French car dealers we don’t see in the US anymore like Renault and Peugeot. This part of the city was much more developed and well-maintained. There was a proliferation of what they call tuk-tuks. (Three-wheeled motor scooter taxis) Speaking of taxi’s we saw an overturned taxicab next to a building with all the emergency crews on scene. We couldn’t figure out how the car got upside down. A pickup truck of fully armed Mexican Marines passed by our bus window. After we drove through the city we came to the coast and drove along the beaches. The beaches were beautiful.

 

                                                      

Last stop was at a restaurant for drinks it was called “Corona y Tridente” the Crown and the Trident. We had free cold, bottled water next to the beach. Again the views were fantastic. We met so many people on this tour from Canada and all over the US.

Finally made it back to the ship where we were greeted with cold towels, cold lemonade and ice water! How nice!  We passed through security and onto the ship. When we got to our stateroom, Bill couldn’t find his cellphone! He zoomed back down to the entry door and found he’d left it in the tray at the Xray station. They’d held it for him! How nice!

Bill met Janet up at the buffet, it was amazing that we found each other in the crowd at noon.

At dinner in the main dining room, we were seated at a table for ten people. We had among others, a retired Tupperware lady, journalist, speech therapist and others. Th table was so large it was difficult to converse with everyone.

We saw it was already 7:30 when we finished dessert and missed the beginning of the singer Mary-Jess again. We listened to some Christmas tunes and a song from Frozen “Let it go” in English and Mandarin.