Day 5 - Day of the Iguana?

Wednesday November 3, 2021

We were fortunate to see the picturesque sunrise over Puerto Vallarta as we came into port this morning.

Puerto Vallarta is well known for the movie Night of the Iguana starring Richard Burton and Ava Gardner. Richard brought Elizabeth Taylor to Puerto Vallarta with him and later purchased her a villa there.  Both were married, just not to each other - scandalous! Puerto Vallarta is also know for their tequila.  

We took a bus tour of the city, Central Plaza and of Hacienda Doña Engracia, a manufacturer of Mexican tequila.  City Plaza was still decorated with elaborate decorations for Day of the Dead.  So many tourists were walking around enjoying the sea air and taking pictures of the displays.  

Dancers and musicians performed for us along the way.

At Hacienda Doña Engracia we enjoyed a quick lunch, dancers, a tequila presentation and tastings of their liquors and tequila.  This hacienda is in the heart of a local farming part of town.  The people may be poor, but the hospitality is abundant.

Back on board, we had a relaxing dinner at Alegro (with Rea and Mary as servers).  Once again, the meal and service did not disappoint.  We also met a lovely couple from Albuquerque, New Mexico.  We aren’t ones to typically interact much with other travelers, but Matt and Kathy were the type of people I would love to have as neighbors.  

The Princess Theater’s show was showtime singer Colleen Williamson. Her voice was beautiful as she sang tunes from Meet me in St. Louis, Carousel, A Star is Born, Chicago and many more.  We saw Colleen outside the International Cafe after the show and stopped to chat for a few minutes.   She is as delightful, as her voice is beautiful.  Colleen, mid-west US born, has been performing on cruise ships for 30 years and loving every year of it.

My dessert from the 24-hour International Café.

Day 4 - it’s where the blue waters run down the mountain side to the sea - Mazatlan

Tuesday, November 2, 2021

After a nice breakfast in the buffet, we disembarked the Majestic Princess in Mazatlan. Today we chose the hop-on hop-off bus tour in order to cover more of the city. Our double decker open-air bus conveniently picked us up and returned us ship side. Our stops included watching cliff divers, walking the Historic District, visiting the City Aquarium and lunch in the Golden Zone.  The weather was warm and humid but the breezes were lovely.

The stop for the cliff diver show consisted of pulling off the side of the road to view one diver.  Impressive that he dove into shallow rocky water, but I expected to see multiple divers.  Luckily we were on the upper deck of the bus and my camera was ready.

The Cathedral was beautiful with golden and grey arches, tiled ceilings, gorgeous crystal chandeliers, reliefs and statues.

The City Aquarium was meh.  Nice to walk around but just an aquarium.  Not worth the extra $9 USD per person.

Fourth stop was the Golden Zone filled with plenty of shopping and restaurants.  We ate at Restaurant Margaritas.  This was just a small Mexican restaurant nestled between 2 retail shops.  A gentleman walked around singing typical Mexican folkloric tunes (for a tip of course).  We enjoyed a taco plate and a cool beverage before heading back to the Majestic.

Back on the ship, it was Italian night at the Alegro.  My seafood antipasto was filled with lucious shrimp, black mussels, squid, pickled vegetables and kalamata olives.  I followed with minestrone soup and sautéed shrimp and sea scallops.  I had the chocolate Love Boat as well as an assortment of cookies - butterscotch, chocolate, almond and lemon.  Our wait staff tonight was Rea & Mary from the Philippines.  They made our dinner so enjoyable, so we decided to make reservations to dine in the Alegro again tomorrow night at a table in their section.

I’m typing this in the fresh sea air on the balcony of our stateroom.  As I glanced out, I saw a dolphin racing along with us.  What a wonderful site.

Day 3 - There’s a sleepy town as south of the border - Cabo San Lucas

November 1, 2021 - Day of the Dead

Our first port of call was Cabo San Lucas.  The closer we got to Cabo, we were greeted with large beautiful bright yellow butterflies and dark black butterflies. A very strange sight to see so many butterflies when a ship is still at sea. This is Day of the Dead though. 

The signature landmark of Cabo San Lucas is the El de Cabo San Lucas or “the arch”.

The waters of Cabo are too shallow to support a cruise ship, so water tenders are used to taxi to the port.   Within the first minute of stepping on land, we were inundated with people offering water taxis to the beach or offers to buy souvenirs. 

Navigating the streets of Cabo San Lucas can be quite difficult, as few roads run parallel to each other and no street signs were populated with the street names. Our destination was Sammy Hagar‘s Cabo Wabo Cantina. At the cantina we enjoyed local live music, pollo fajitas and cool drinks. 

The streets of Cabo are quite clean and people are very friendly, but the shop vendors are constantly encouraging you to come in the shops for good deals, “almost free!“.  “Señor, just step in.  Deals are so good, they are almost free!”.

The Day of the Dead displays in front of the shops were beautiful.  These girls are putting the finishing touches on a vibrant border made of dyed grains of rice.

Once back on the Majestic, we showered, changed info formal attire and headed to the Crowne Grille for an amazing dinner.  We had black tiger prawns and papaya salpicon, black and blue onion soup, New Zealand double lamb chops, red skinned mashed potatoes, creamed spinach, followed by warm chocolate mousse trifle.

Day 2 - I ain’t afraid of no ghost

October 31, 2021 - Halloween

What an absolutely gorgeous day today aboard the Majestic Princess. It was a sea-day, so that meant a day to relax and to explore the ship.  We walked every public deck of the ship, inside and out.  Much of our afternoon was spent on the Lido deck soaking in the fresh air and sunshine.

Check out this amazing chocolate dessert from Bistro Sur La Mer.  It was not only beautiful, but so creamy and delicious!

Today is Halloween, and that was an obvious site. From Cruella de Ville to Freddie Mercury, the venues on Princess were filled with Halloween fun, music and dancing.  Tonight was also formal night, and guests were given the option of wearing their favorite Halloween costume or going formal.  We chose costumes.

Day 1 - Smell the sea and feel the sky

October 30, 2021

Every blog post should not be about food, but I have to give a thumbs up to Happy Diner in downtown San Pedro.  This hole-in-the-wall diner serves delicious homestyle breakfasts without any of the fancy restaurant flair or prices.  The service was wonderful.

Today was Day One of our Mexican Rivera coastal cruise on Princess Cruise Lines.  With all the COVID19 regulations, we were not sure what to expect for lines and delays at the check-in.  For starters, we had pre-selected 12 o’clock as our arrival time.  Our hotel shuttle driver delivered our larger bags to the drop-off location and we headed to the check-in lines.  We were immediately ushered in by Princess staff.  This is a MedallionClass ship, so most our boarding info is stored in a quarter-sized device we wore on our wrists.  We scanned the medallion, and proceeded to the metal detectors and baggage scanners.  From there we continued to the passport check point.  Within 10 minutes of arrival, we were on the ramps to board the ship.  Very impressive Princess!  Another bonus was that our luggage made it to our room safely this time (long story from 2019).

Los Angeles weather started out overcast and chilly, but by noon the sun was peaking out and warming the skies.  The Majestic can hold 3560 guests.  Today we were sailing with less than 50% guest capacity and 1400 crew members from over 50 counties.  The Sail Away celebration on the Lido deck was festive and fun, but not overcrowded due to the reduced guest numbers.  The captain sounded the ship’s horn to the familiar Love Boat theme song and we proceeded to back out of the Port of Los Angeles.  We both felt such relief and joy to be cruising once again.

We enjoyed a poolside lunch from the Lido deck food court and soaked in the fresh air and sunshine.  The staff provided entertainment and music as we journeyed out to sea.  Tonight we followed our tradition of Alfredo’s for our first night’s dinner and we were not disappointed.  Tonight’s entertainment in the Princess Theater was Comedian AJ Jamal.  He was good but after a long day and all the fresh air, we were ready to call it a night.

The ship is decorated with fun and spooky Halloween decorations in every public area.  We are looking forward to celebrating Halloween tomorrow with a sea day as we sail to Cabo San Lucas.  Spooky dreams!

  

Come sail away

Come sail away, come sail away. Come sail away with me.

After three canceled cruises in 18 months, we are finally sailing off on a weeklong cruise to the Mexican Riviera.  We are looking forward to a relaxing cruise to Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta. We will be at sea on Halloween day and in Cabo San Lucas on Day of the Dead. Should be fun and relaxing.

A negative Covid test result is required in order to board the ship on Saturday. We spent our Thursday getting redundant Covid tests and packing our luggage. Friday was a full day of travel. Both flights were 100% booked and the airports were brimming with travelers. It was kind of creepy on how much quieter the flights and the waiting areas in the airports were because of everyone wearing a face mask.

Tonight we are staying at the Crown Royal Hotel in downtown San Pedro. The hotel Porter told us that it was only two weeks ago that the hotel started bringing back their staff.

Dinner tonight was at a fabulous local Mexican restaurant in San Pedro named Green Onion. I’m not sure what was better, the food or the service.

Day 7 - Final full day on the New England Fall Colors Cruise

This has for the most part this has been a beautiful cruise.  Forget about the luggage in the Brooklyn Harbor.  The weather has been wonderful.  A couple dreary days but at least no rain while on shore.  The service on the ship has been exceptional.  Our favorites have been our steward Thanyaphat “Tan”  from Thailand and last night’s waiter Bojo from Serbia.

This ship is literally a floating city.  There is everything from outdoor movies and live stage entertainment, to bars, music, dancing to hot dogs and hamburgers by the pool all the way to fine dining prepared by award-wining master chefs.  Even the presentation of the food in the buffets is beautiful.  Attention to detail is everywhere.

There are so many people here just to serve you during a cruise.  Most everyone is so friendly and anxious to make your experience one to remember.

You can enjoy the seas from your balcony, sit in a bustling common area or sneak off to a quite area outside a bar.  Views of the sea can be found on all decks.

Now, where will our next cruise take us?

What is a blog my me without a cupcake pic?