The Cruise - 2010
We were lucky to be able to go on our third cruise with our friends Tim and Cindy from Houston, and we were joined by another friend John from Cheyenne. Our cruise was scheduled with Royal Caribbean, and we decided to try the Mexican Riviera instead of the western Caribbean as we'd done previously. We all decided to start the vacation with a couple of days in Los Angeles before we were to board the Mariner of the Seas cruise ship on Sunday.
This was a great choice. Tim rented a Ford Expedition and John set us up at the Hilton at Universal City, and we spent the next day and a half or so enjoying some really great food and driving around L.A., visiting areas such as Venice Beach, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive and so on, plus Universal's City Walk. We all took quite a few pictures almost everywhere we went so if you watch the slide shows to the right, you may see several similar photos.
We especially took a lot of pictures at Madame Toussard's Hollywood Wax Museum, and quite a number of the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Mann's Chinese Theater with the many foot and hand prints and famous autographs in the sidewalk. Across the street was the premier of the movie "Oceans" from Disney Nature.
We were overlooking it up high, trying to spy some Hollywood celebrities, but it was a long way to look and capture some photos. Still we saw a few and they are in some of the pictures if you look real close. I was also surprised to note that the place where the Jimmy Kimmel Show is done is actually a Masonic Temple.
We finally took off on the cruise on Sunday with a few drinks in hand and a great spot by the pool. Little did we know that it would be about the nicest day on the ship weather-wise. It was, after all, April and probably a little soon to expect much warmer weather. Still, the ship had plenty of room and the pool area was well protected from the wind and cold, and heading to our first stop at Cabo San Lucas was just fantastic anyway!
On Tuesday we arrived in port at Cabo San Lucas. The scenery coming in was great! We were tendered into shore from the ship where we then walked into town. We hadn't scheduled any excursions so the time was ours to spend freely, so we visited a few shops and stores, then stopped at a small outdoor bar and enjoyed a couple of beers and tequila shooters.
We ended up at the Hard Rock Café for some lunch, and then enjoyed a walk around a few of the back streets where Susan and I found an old Catholic Church. Eventually we wound our way back to the center square and started our way back to the ship. Before reaching the tenders however, we stopped at Senor Frogs for a few drinks and a bit of fun, but they closed down soon after, presumably to get all the cruise passengers back to the ship.
There are a couple of photos of what appears to be two statues in front of Senor Frogs. One is a gold colored pirate and the other a soldier completely in black. These are, in fact, real people in costume and they will stand there completely motionless for long periods of time. It's pretty remarkable, considering the amount of heat there is on the cement. There is also a frog in several shots and this is not real, although all of the people seen in various degrees and amounts of clothing are quite real.
That evening after dinner, we were treated to a special trick done by our waiter. He generally had a few jokes and a trick or two every evening, but this was most notable. He was able to balance four forks from two toothpicks that were in turn balanced on the very tip of a single toothpick stuck into the cork of a wine bottle. The pictures aren't great, but you can see the feat.
The next morning we arrived in Mazatlan and the ship was able to dock. We were transported to the customs area and again, unleashed ourselves on the citizens and town with no prearranged excursions. Of course, we did the requisite walking around and checking out some shopping, then stopped briefly for a drink. We let our instincts take over and sure enough, they led us through a passageway to the beach. Paradise? Well, I don't know but it was a great place to get some pictures and hang out for a bit.
Drinks and vendors were plentiful and probably working together by design. Oddly enough, I also found that as we sat there enjoying our refreshments and relaxing, more and more of the young women in the area kept getting into my camera lens and obstructing the view. Some with children and even a few of the older ones started creeping into the shots as well. I finally gave up and we headed back to the ship before it was due to leave.
A couple of things to note. When we arrived, the parking lot was virtually empty next to where the ship was docked. When we returned, it was almost completely full of brand new cars that were offloaded from another ship. We're talking about thousands of cars all neatly parked. Funny thing was that as we were watching them park, one of the drivers came in too fast and rear ended another new car. I'd hate to be the guy that bought either of those!
I also got a couple of photos of the pilot boat that retrieved the harbor pilot from our ship, and we also saw a small boat named the Titanik. We found it amusing. Perhaps it was the Coronas behind that. And don't ask what John was doing with the little umbrellas. I don't know, at least for certain anyway.
Our third port of call was Puerto Vallarta. We booked an excursion for the Barcelo Resort this time, so there are two slide shows for the photos from here. In Puerto Vallarta, we took note of the electrical wiring strung around town, mostly of the large amount of it all clustered together on some poles. We also saw a lot of Iguanas on the way to the resort but after all, this is the area where the movie Night of the Iguana was filmed.
The Barcelo Resort was very nice and excellent for a day of relaxing on the beach or up by the pool area, partaking in great food and drinks, soaking in some sun and enjoying all the beauty around us. Of course, as the day wore on more of the pesky women types were working themselves into my photos so please be patient during the slideshow.
On the way back from the resort, we walked through town. Very beautiful. Cindy's not very fond of birds so I was surprised that we got a few photos of her standing amid a bunch of pigeons. Later, as we walked along the beachfront area, we saw a number of interesting statues as well as some very impressive sand sculptures that we photographed.
When we later returned to the ship, we took some time to take some photos of Puerto Vallarta as the sun was setting. What we got isn't even close to the real beauty that we saw from the upper deck. And can you believe there actually was a Super Wal-Mart directly across the street from where the ship was docked? It really is becoming a smaller world.
As with all really great and fun things, this vacation was wrapping up and it was time to start heading back to the States by Friday. The next two days we spent on board and unfortunately, it was very windy and quite cool. It was just warm enough for people to venture on deck and enjoy some sunshine, however the seas were a little rough and the water in the swimming pools was splashing around rather spectacularly. I was able to get a number of pictures of this from my vantage point, despite some more women getting in the way, and before the staff closed down the area and wouldn't let anyone in the pool.
We had a very good dinner at the Chops Grille on Friday evening and indeed, life was very, very good by that point. I took a lot of pictures around the ship over the next two days to give a little idea of what it was like. And yes, we were in cabin 8605 and John was in a connecting room right next door. Tim and Cindy were down the hall in a gorgeous balcony room.
As they say, all good things come to an end and our vacation was coming to its end. We arrived in L.A. early Sunday morning and Tim again rented a vehicle for us. We headed to Marina Del Ray for a great lunch, did some more site seeing and ended up at Disney Town later that day. We did some shopping and had a wonderful Mexican dinner, followed by going to the top of the parking garage and watching a most excellent fireworks show.
The next morning, we headed out to the airport where we parted company with Tim and Cindy, and the three of us flew back to Denver. I hope you enjoyed our story and the slide shows of our vacation this year, and you can look for another one in the future, I'm sure.
