Cruisin'
Last month my Hun' and I went on a cruise to Mexico. It was my first time taking a cruise of any kind, and we did it up as big as we could!
We did the Pacific side, starting and ending in Los Angeles, hitting Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta.
We went with Royal Caribbean, aboard the Mariner of the Seas. Cabo has such a small harbor area that the big cruise ships have to anchor outside, using water taxis to ferry everyone back and forth.
We had a state room with a balcony on the 8th deck - our room marked with an 'X'!
I knew it would be cool to have, but the balcony was one of my favorite bits from the trip.
The view from our room was pretty nice, too! The weather also cooperated for almost the entire trip, staying mild and in the mid-70s (F) everyday. It was only on the final night that we had 60-knot winds.
My Hun' up on the 12th deck running course. In the central area of the 11th deck were 3 swimming pools, a rock climbing wall, and a stage where a band played during the afternoon.
I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about it, but we did do a Dolphin Encounter while in Cabo. That's the two of us with Manet. He was rescued from the wild with a broken lower jaw. The facility also has its own breeding program. The whole thind still smacks of exploitation, but I'm glad we did it. Meeting Manet like that was amazing...
With it being our first cruise, we kind of lucked out. There were 2300 guests aboard the ship, with about 70 of them being invited to the Captain's Table for dinner, and we were amongst the selected few - though, it maybe should have been called the Officer's Table, because the Captain only ate there on the first, forth, and seventh nights. We got to eat with Chief Engineer, Harri, from Iceland!
We also did a 'Mexican Food Adventure' while in Puerto Varllarte. A group of us were driven about 30-minutes outside of the city, to learn to cook at a working restaurant. It was pretty neat!
We had a great time doing the whole cruise experience, but I don't know that it's the sort of thing we'd be running back to do again anytime soon. I think we're more the sort who like to get to know a particular place a little better, having more than a handful of hours to wander around.
We did the Pacific side, starting and ending in Los Angeles, hitting Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta.
We went with Royal Caribbean, aboard the Mariner of the Seas. Cabo has such a small harbor area that the big cruise ships have to anchor outside, using water taxis to ferry everyone back and forth.
We had a state room with a balcony on the 8th deck - our room marked with an 'X'!
I knew it would be cool to have, but the balcony was one of my favorite bits from the trip.
The view from our room was pretty nice, too! The weather also cooperated for almost the entire trip, staying mild and in the mid-70s (F) everyday. It was only on the final night that we had 60-knot winds.
My Hun' up on the 12th deck running course. In the central area of the 11th deck were 3 swimming pools, a rock climbing wall, and a stage where a band played during the afternoon.
I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about it, but we did do a Dolphin Encounter while in Cabo. That's the two of us with Manet. He was rescued from the wild with a broken lower jaw. The facility also has its own breeding program. The whole thind still smacks of exploitation, but I'm glad we did it. Meeting Manet like that was amazing...
With it being our first cruise, we kind of lucked out. There were 2300 guests aboard the ship, with about 70 of them being invited to the Captain's Table for dinner, and we were amongst the selected few - though, it maybe should have been called the Officer's Table, because the Captain only ate there on the first, forth, and seventh nights. We got to eat with Chief Engineer, Harri, from Iceland!
We also did a 'Mexican Food Adventure' while in Puerto Varllarte. A group of us were driven about 30-minutes outside of the city, to learn to cook at a working restaurant. It was pretty neat!
We had a great time doing the whole cruise experience, but I don't know that it's the sort of thing we'd be running back to do again anytime soon. I think we're more the sort who like to get to know a particular place a little better, having more than a handful of hours to wander around.