Sunday, Jan. 15
After standing in many embarkation lines and the thrilling lifeboat drill, the Carnival Pride departed the Port of Long Beach for a two-day journey to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We suddenly found ourselves surrounded by waiters carrying festive glasses adorned with cherries, oranges and umbrellas. Of course we had to sample the goodness and thus started our passion for the “Drink of the Day.” Our first evening aboard we dined in the Normandie dining room and enjoyed the band The Bestsellers in Butterflies Lounge. They were a great band and they even played “Unchained Melody” – of course we had to dance to it.
Monday, Jan. 16
We hit the pool and bar bright and early. The “Drink of the Day” was the Yellow Bird and it was good! Too bad we can’t remember what was in it. After too many hours in the sun and probably too many Yellow Birds, we decided to participate in the game of Bingo taking place in the Taj Mahal. Good thing we did – Wendy won $300! Monday night was the Captain’s Gala, which was a formal event. We got all duded up and attended the party, and made sure to get our money out of the free appetizers and cocktails. Too many Fuzzy Navels and Crab Rangoons later, we were too full for dinner. Well, really we went to the dining room and noticed another couple was seated at our table and we didn’t feel like dining with others so we bailed. We never did meet them! It’s probably a good thing we skipped dinner, though, otherwise we would have never found “our bar” or the Perfect Game Sports Bar as it’s affectionately known. Once we saw the “buy four Bud Lights, get one free” sign on the bar, it was like the mother ship calling us home.
Tuesday, Jan. 17
See Monday, January 16th. Add whale/dolphin sightings near the coast of Cabo.
Wednesday, Jan 18
Hellllooooo stable ground! After 48-hours of being on a ship, standing on unmoving land feels nice. Upon arrival at Puerto Vallarta (PV), we were asked by 1,233 Mexicans if we wanted a necklace, 576 if we wanted sunglasses and only 57 if Wendy wanted her hair braided. Don’t worry – the offers for dreads increased while we were on the beach in Mazatlan. And don’t worry. What’s one of the first things we see when we venture from the marina? Wal-Mart. And we sure did go in and check it out.
We did one of the coolest things in PV – a canopy tour. Raise your hand if you’ve ever done a canopy tour. We highly recommend it, and if you do it in PV, do it with Vallarta Adventures. Granted the hour long back-of-the-truck ride was a near-death experience, but the guides responsible for our lives when we were dangling by wires 90-feet above the ground were top-notch. One’s name was even Geronimo. How could you not trust a canopy tour guide named Geronimo? For those of you who don’t know what a canopy tour is, basically you go from tree platform to tree platform via a zip lines. You’re hooked by big carabineers (you know, those things we used for key chains in college). There were also two hanging bridges built into treetops, a “Tarzan Swing,” and a 50-foot vertical rappel. It was the only way down! We wish we had pictures from the excursion but because you’re on 3x3 platforms high in the air with tons of gear and gloves on, cameras weren’t allowed and we didn’t feel like buying their video for 58,000 pesos.
That evening we downed two Strawberry Margarita yards and dined on not-very-authentic Mexican food at Carlos O’Brians in downtown PV. The location was actually wonderful. We had a table that overlooked the beach and we were there just in time for sunset.
Thursday, Jan 19
Hola Mazatlan! Not going to lie – we were scared of Mazatlan at first. Maybe it’s the guys with huge machine guns there to greet you. Maybe it’s the signs on the stores that say “Sale Today. Amoxicillin. No prescription needed.” We’re not sure. But Mazatlan did end up being wonderful. After another horrific ride (we’ve come to the conclusion there’s no driver’s ed in Mexico), we arrived at the El Cid resort to redeem a free beach/pool pass we received at the port. We started off at the beach, but were offered too many necklaces, henna tattoos and other illegal substances, so we wandered to the pool. It was a gorgeous day and we were able to get a lot of sun. After a disgusting $40 lunch at the resort (kind of took away the glamour of the FREE beach/pool pass) we walked along the beach for hours. Before retuning to the ship, we indulged in a few Coronas to the sound of a Mariachi band, sitting next to whom we believe to be the Mexican Mafia.
Friday, Jan. 20
We were a little disappointed because the booze cruise we signed up for was cancelled. Maybe the 9 a.m. start time didn’t appeal to others. Who knows? We tried to sign up for a Whale Watching excursion but it was sold out by the time we registered. Therefore, we decided to make our own adventure in Cabo. We arrived in the harbor via tender around 8:15 a.m. and walked around, looking at all of the yachts and dodging the natives holding enormous Iguanas. We started our day in Cabo shopping. Wendy was looking for cowboy boots. We never found then, but what we did find was Cabo Wabo. Cabo Wabo is a bar/restaurant/club owned by Sammy Hagar. They had good food (highly recommend the Lobster tacos) and even better Waboritas. One of those and you’re good to go! We relaxed at Cabo Wabo for a bit and then ventured to The Nowhere Bar. Wendy was VERY adamant about going to The Nowhere Bar. In the Us Weekly issue the week before we left for the cruise, Wendy read that Lance Armstrong was spotted at The Nowhere Bar in Cabo. “Every celebrity must go to The Nowhere Bar,” Wendy thought. Wendy thought wrong. We didn’t find a single celeb there (or anywhere else on our trip) but what we did find was our waiter, David. For some reason, he and Trevor really hit it off. After ordering a few rounds of Coronas and margs, David whispered in Trevor’s ear, “for you only…” (dramatic pause – we were a little nervous what was for Trevor only), “two-for-one happy hour.” No joke: next time we ordered a round he brought two Coronas and two margs. Wendy speculates David was attracted to Trevor’s Spanish. About round three, Trevor yells, “Senior, Senior. Uno Mas, Por Favor.” It was hilarious. The Nowhere Bar rocked and we bough t-shirts. The only souvenirs we bought. We left The Nowhere Bar around 2 – the last tender left at 3:30 p.m. and we wanted to allow plenty of time to stumble back. When we realized we had plenty of time, we stopped in one last Cabo-an bar – Captain Tony’s. What seemed like one Dos Equis later, it was 3:30 and we were headed back to the Carnival Pride. Needless to say, we took a nap when we got back on board, slept through our 8:15 p.m. dinner time, woke up to fight through a piece of pizza and went back to sleep. Cabo kicked our Wabo, but it was our favorite stop.
Wendy and Trevor in Cabo San Lucas
Saturday, Jan. 21
Too cold to lay out atop the ship, although we tried. We weren’t getting tans through the beach towels though, so we decided to attend the debarkation talk they highly recommended we sit-in on. An informative and “uplifting” hour later, we were wandering around wondering what to do. We did what seemed natural: we bought stogies. Yep, we bonded over a cigar. We had a really fun time (Note: we do not condone tobacco use but as you do not inhale cigars, partook in this activity just this once). Our last evening we bought a few buckets of beer and listened in on the horrible karaoke in the Starry Nights lounge.
Sunday, Jan. 22
We arrived in Home-aha late Sunday evening and thank Trevor’s parents for picking us up. When we finally made it to our home we were greeted by flowers and a stocked fridge, freezer and cupboards courtesy of Wendy’s mom and dad. Omaha might be colder than Mexico, but you all made the welcome home very warm.
Quote of the Trip:
"I’m never drinking a beer again.”
- Trevor Fitch while holding a frozen fruity drink
Hilariously Gross Story of the Trip:
In PV, Carlos & Charlie’s had a booth set-up right by the security point to get back on the boat. The booth had a donkey wearing a sombrero and serape and you could get your picture taken with it for a tip. When we first got off the boat we noticed the man working the booth was feeding the donkey something by mouth with a syringe/baby medicine dispenser thing. When we walked by again they were adamant about us getting our picture with the donkey. We sat down, they threw sombreros on our heads and as the guy started taking our picture, when we noticed a bottle of Kaopectate sitting by us. Then we noticed the donkey pooping and pooping and the other guy starting to wipe the poop up with a paper towel. It was all making sense. Trevor’s face in the picture is priceless!
We had so much fun and have so many fun pictures to share. Let us know if you are interested in seeing more photos – we tried to documents the highlights of the trip with either the digital camera or movie camera.
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