Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Hello from Cabo!

After yesterday’s alcohol-fueled day I woke up this morning refreshed and feeling like a new person. Not excited enough to take a tender to go on shore, though. Really, who wants to go get a tender ticket, wait for the ticket to be called, try and get an elevator down to Deck 4 on the scooter, be crammed onto a tender in the hot sticky weather with 100+ other hot and sticky people, to go an Americanized port where I’ve been there enough and don’t have anything else new to do? Not this gal.

Instead I was at the spa pool before 8:30 AM and camped out there for the day. I should start calling it the Cocoon pool. If you’ve watched the movie, you know a lot of old folks swim in that pool. Same here. Not that I’m complaining because it definitely makes for a quieter environment.

After I did as much swimming and sunning as I possibly could do, I stopped by Movies Under the Stars to see how the football games were going. I’ve been on a lot of Princess cruises on football Sundays and I’ve never seen it so empty. It was just too darn hot to be watching a football game out on deck. 

I spent the late afternoon on my balcony, watching the jet skis running around in the water. Usually I’ve spotted lots of whales from the ship but it’s just a little bit too early in the season right now.

I had my last comped dinner at Crown Grill tonight. Had to go back for the sea bass! Here’s my before and after. It’s so delicious but just too much for me. 

While dinner made me miss the sunset I was in time to see some colors left in the sky. Late nights in port when the weather is warm ranks up there with the best days on a cruise ship. 

In the evening temperatures felt more comfortable and lots of folks were outside on deck. It also made for more comfortable football viewing as well. 

Packers v. Steelers

We’ve got three sea days coming up as we make our way back to San Francisco. I’ll probably be back in a couple days to wrap up this cruise before our next voyage - to Hawaii! 

See you in a few days.

Mazatlan, Mexico

 Hello from Mazatlan!

Looking at today’s 9 AM feels like temperature it looked like it was going to be another hot one.

But there’s no heat that would keep me away from today’s plans. We’ve been coming here for years and Mazatlan day ranks up there with the best days ever. I wrote about some of the things to do back in 2018, but since the pandemic when Mazatlan was our last cruise port before the shutdown we’ve been spending our time in just one place. The Green Bar.

The Mazatlan cruise port is a working port so you have to take the free trolley to get to the terminal. 

The noisy, loud, and rambunctious Green Bar is inside the port compound.

Screen capture from my video that won’t upload

$5 Tequila shots? Get a crown, lei, or light up ring. $1 Jell-O shots? Get a balloon hat. Let’s just say I walked away with multiple accessories adorning my body, thanks to Marco. 

Halloween themed rings today

Drinks are cheap and good. Gabriel knows I like rum and Diet Coke with a lot of rum and a little Diet Coke. A Miami Vice was refreshing on today’s hot day, but I knocked it over when I got excited talking to a crew member. Oh well. 

I love that we all know each other by name from all our frequent visits here. They even had our winter table saved for me for when I showed up.

Food is cheap, too. Only when I had all my drinking done did I partake. Just nachos for me today, though.

I also got my hair cut. Beatrice cut it back in February when I was here and she cut it again today. I told her I’ll be back in December for my next haircut!

I also saw Alma, my outdoor massage lady from last winter. I tell ya it was like we never left. Everyone asked about my husband not being with me and I assured them he’ll be back together with me in December.

Somehow despite tequila shots, Jell-O shots, rum and Diet Cokes, and a Miami Vice I made it back to my cabin. I fell asleep for a few hours and of course woke up with a headache. Now I know why I don’t drink very much!

Tomorrow, we’re in Cabo and I may or may not leave the ship. Heck, with the way I’m feeling I may not even leave my cabin! See you then.

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Hello from Puerto Vallarta where shockingly I was awake before sunrise.

6:51 AM

I would love to say I got up, got dressed, and got on with my day. Instead I have to say I got up, took the picture, went back to bed, and went back to sleep. I woke up again at about 9:00 and checked the temperature for the day. Pretty much a repeat of yesterday’s Manzanillo feels like morning temperature.

These temperatures aren’t something
we see here in the winter months. 

Since Ed and I will again be here this winter I wasn’t in too much of a hurry to get out and about. Or really do anything too exciting. My only real task was a trip to Walmart with the scooter to double check the curb cutouts. (We’ve been to the Puerto Vallarta Walmart many times in the past, jaywalking and dodging the sketchy traffic as we crossed the street. Can’t do that with a scooter.) Thankfully, I remembered there’s a supermarket near the ship not requiring the crazy crossing of the road. I know I can get to Chedraui if I have to so there’s no need to check for curb cut outs today!

Chedraui is right there

So what to do on a hot and humid day like this? Back to the Terrace Pool, complete with a view of Puerto Vallarta, all day long.

After another dinner at Crown Grill I made it just in time to watch what Ed was watching at home, Game 1 of the World Series. My outside viewing at Movies Under the Stars was better than his in the living room, I think. 

Up tomorrow is Mazatlan where I have definitive plans that will not change. And don’t include a pool. 

See you there!

Manzanillo, Mexico

Hello from Manzanillo!

Ed and I have been here several times before (you can read about my 2023 visit here) so I decided to stay onboard, especially when I saw the 9:00AM temperature and the feels like temperature. 

And it’s only 9 o’clock in the morning!

So I was more than happy to take a couple photos before heading to the pool. 

The Canadian Royal Navy was docked alongside.
They’re on their way to Halifax.

I even took a picture of all the people waiting to have their bags searched. Just like in so many other Mexican ports they are not sniffing for drugs, but for fresh fruits and vegetables.

The dog is under the white tent.

We’ve seen it plenty of times on other cruises, too.

Bags of confiscated food in Cozumel, Mexico in 2018.

So instead of going off the ship I spent my entire day in the spa pool. Yesterday’s damn cold pool felt more like a darn cold pool today. And with the hot and humid weather it felt amazing. (Don’t worry Ed, I kept hydrated.)

By mid afternoon I felt like I’d had enough and went to find something for a late lunch/early dinner. Luckily the pizza place on Lido deck had the Mexican pizza again. It is so good and probably the best one I’ve had on a Princess cruise in years. Sure glad you can order it without the sour cream. 

I went down to International Cafe to grab dessert. Any guesses which overripe item I did NOT choose?

Someone needs to start making banana bread.

I hung out on the Promenade Deck for sail away.

Here comes the pilot boat.

Looks like the pelicans want to race us.

Hard to see, but the sunset is out there.

Tomorrow we’re in Puerto Vallarta and my tentative plans can go one of two ways. 

Until then…

Sea Days

Hello from the third consecutive day at sea. I debated whether to do a blog post for each sea day but my need to relax won over my need to do any work. 

So let’s see, what did I do?

*I slept. A lot. If you had your balcony looking like this every day for three days in a row would you want to do anything else but sit in the sun and listen to the waves and doze off?

*I ate. I had another Most Traveled Guest Luncheon where I had the tastiest sea bass I’ve probably ever had. And another good table of conversation.

I also had another trip to the Crown Grill where (surprise!) I had another piece of sea bass. 

*I watched sunsets from my balcony. 

*I went to Movies Under the Stars. With temperatures in the 70s and 80s there was no need for blankets at the late showing. 

*I swam. The adult spa pool is back open and is very refreshing damn cold. 

It may not be an exciting cruise ship life but it’s my life and the cruise ship life I choose to live. 

Up tomorrow, Manzanillo, Mexico.