#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.

 

# 5 We took a Christmas cruise to Mexico.

We thought we would share our trip with you

Friday, 12/12  

 

Woke up to a lovely sunrise over the ocean. The weather was warm and moist, with a marine layer coming in. 

The city is lovely on the coast with the mountains behind it.

            So, after breakfast we headed to the Fitness Room, lifting weights and did the treadmill, the pool was sparce. Went for a swim.

The pool’s water was very warm, close to 90F and small, very small. Swimming was a challenge just to do more than 2 strokes without hitting your head on the other end of the pool. We got comfortable on one of the lounge chairs with our towels and both of us fell asleep, we went out like a light!

            We came back to the cabin and showered and headed to lunch at the buffet. It was nice with no crowds. We went to the origami class and made small turkeys with Michelle from Rhodesia. She had a lovely accent. When we finished went to the promenade to take pictures of the shore.  The weather was 70F with 63% humidity.

Dinner was eggplant hummus, Peruvian chicken, and blueberry pie with whipped cream.

We have an early departure tomorrow for an excursion to Manzanillo.

 

 

# 4 We took a Christmas cruise to Mexico.

We thought we would share our trip with you

Thursday 12/11  

Still at Sea

The ship had us set our clocks ahead for another hour last night because now we are in the Central Time Zone. I think we are suffering from “jet lag”, we’ve gone two hours earlier in two days. We woke up to a sun shiny morning at sea. We sat on our veranda and enjoyed the sound of the waves and the rising sun. We passed an area where pods of dolphins leapt out of the water, putting on quite a show.

The ship offered a Mexican Brunch. We sat with two other couples. One from Victoria BC and the other from Palm Desert CA. They were fun to talk with.

Afterward we went up top to the Crow’s Nest, observation deck, and enjoyed the warm sun on us.

At 1:30, after a buffet lunch, we headed for the Explorers Lounge to hear the 2 pm Vivace duo on piano and cello. The wonderful classical music that ranged from Dvorak to Mendelssohn while sitting next to the window as the waves passed by was a heavenly experience.  

The swimming pool and whirlpools were crowded, so we didn’t get to swim or soak.

We found the dining room a great place to have dinner!

We were served by waiters and white linen tablecloths for every meal. The food selections were what we would call gourmet. We decided we could get used to this!

Such a relaxing day!!

 

#3 We took a Christmas cruise to Mexico. 

We thought we would share our trip with you

Wednesday 12/10  

Day at sea

            After a nice breakfast in the Dining Room, we worked out at the Fitness Center, on the treadmill, lifting weights and bench press. We stood in the middle of a rainbow caused by the mist of the rutters and a huge fog bank which we sailed into. How cool is that?

            Stopped at the Crow’s Nest in the bow of the ship, it’s like an observation deck with places to sit and foot cushions and plus a beautiful view of the ocean. We had herb tea and relaxed, both of us almost dozed off. Then off to lunch in the Lido Buffet.

We went to our stateroom, sat on our veranda, and watched the sea gulls fly by, we were above them looking down. The water was calm and the sailing smooth. The sun shined on us finally making us warm and comfortable.

            We checked the excursions for tomorrow, Puerto Vallarta. We had been there a few years ago, it is pretty and much like Hawaii but didn’t see a need to see it again.

We realized we were late getting to our 5:30 dinner seating and jumped into nice clothes (dress code-dressy). Made it just in time. Sat next to a couple from Pensacola, Florida. Very nice couple. In fact, everyone at the table was nice.
After dinner we stopped for a solo concert Michael Kontos, Celloist he was Italian and excellent. We enjoyed it very much.

When we were done, we went to a show with a vocalist, Mary-Jess who had a lovely voice. She sang popular classics and spoke Mandarin Chinese. She went through her life story which was amazing.

 

#1 Christmas Cruise to Mexico

San Diego

                We left Huntington Beach after lunch and headed to San Diego. Traffic was good, no tie-ups on the way.

Made it to our hotel, Homewood Suites by Hilton at 2:30, registration was easy. The hotel was nicer than we expected. Our room came with a small kitchen, equipped with dishwasher and microwave, full-size refrigerator, glass top range stove, and a dishwasher too! We thought of getting something to cook here for dinner but talked ourselves out of it.

We toured the hotel, spa, pool and workout room with dumb bells, bikes, and treadmills. We debated what we wanted to do and agreed to relax. The patio is very nice. It had a full chess set 3 feet tall!

 

They had a manager’s reception dinner special of soup, salad and hot beverages. The chicken noodle soup smelled good. The salad bar was full of goodies!

We learned the Hotel Del Coronado was all lit up for the holiday. We planned to drive by to see it. But we checked with the front desk, they confirmed that there would be heavy traffic going and coming. Talked ourselves out of it. Very disappointed.

We explored the hotel lobby after dark; it was beautifully lit with lights.

 

We made hot chocolate and brought it to our room. It is 66F outside (6:00pm), quite chilly. The cold weather and hot chocolate reminded us of our stay in Stockholm, cold windy and rainy. Though it is not raining and windy here.

We are looking forward to cruising to a warmer climate. Boarding tomorrow is at 12:30pm. So, breakfast will be at 6:00. They have a hot breakfast buffet in the hotel.