Cruisin' To Mexico

We decided to fill one of our 6 weeks in the states on a cruise to....
the Mexican Riviera formerly known as The Love Boat Cruise.

CABIN ANTICS
We had SERIOUSLY been in our cabin for 15 minutes when I heard.......
Beep beep beep boop
"Mom do you know how to open the safe?"
Why...... I ask....
"Because Jack's inside."

I had just hung up with our cabin boy as he called to let us know not to hesitate to ask for anything. So I immediately called him back asking if anyone knows how to crack open a safe.

The first thing the supervisor asks when coming in was, "So, do you remember the combination?" I guess he misunderstood thinking we couldn't read the clearly printed instructions on the front of the safe. I said there is not combo just 20 randomly pushed numbers. I left him to it and miraculously we got Jack back. We then quickly set our own code on an empty safe just in case.

Adjoining rooms means adjoining balconies...

We enjoyed a bit of time out there. Especially as the coast was on our side most of the way down.

The boys had places to be and things to do.
Graham had to do a bit of self entertaining.

OUT AND ABOUT
As first time cruisers we really didn't know what to expect.

Would the boys enjoy it?
Would we overeat?
Would Zach & I be sick the entire time?

The answers
YES
A few times
and thankfully No!

We really really REALLY enjoyed our Saphire Princess Experience.

One downside was we did not pack for the formal nights.
I didn't want to pack formal dresses around on a 6 week vacation. Also we weren't sure if we would even be able to go with the three boys. Come to find out the kids club was AMAZING and we hardly saw the boys. They were so booked with activities that changed hourly they just had enough time to eat and have a quick dip in the pool before they were off on their next adventure....sometimes as late as 10pm. We often found Ethan passed out when we went to pick them up. He doesn't last much past 7:30pm....the staff was nice enough not to interrupt our evening.

You can't be sailing the seas without a Pirate Party Arrrghhhh!

Or a Trazadone Patch for some of us. It worked! I had a painfully dry mouth and completely blurred vision just like the warnings said.....but I didn't get seasick. Just a little icky the last day as the seas were especially rough. My vision was so bad I couldn't read anything or see what I had put on my plate at mealtime.

While Thing 1 and Thing 2 were busy
these guys and I.....

enjoyed art auctions, pina coladas, comedians, working out, the spa, and walking on deck.

In PortChris and I had a plan to trade off days doing shore excursions alone but.....his got canceled.
Porta VillartaWe hailed a cab for the Ghetto Park, I mean Water Park. It was off season so we pretty much had the park to ourselves and a bazillion bees. By the time we got back to the ship we didn't really have time to go anywhere else so we opted to check out the stalls of Mexican Junk at the port entrance. One of the vendors put a Luchador mask on Ethan and he was off. Chris was holding Graham so it was my job to sprint after him. It was like a scene from a bad movie. He was weaving in and out of people, through stalls, between leg, with Zach in hot pursuit saying, "Stop that Kid he's stealing!" Spectators of all nationalities yelled various remarks about him and the crazy women after him as he leap down the stairs and finally fell.....into an empty fountain. For a split second we had contemplated buying him a mask but when we saw the result of the "Mask Powers" we instead returned the mask and left as fast as we could.

Mazatlan
Was a better day. We set out on a highlights tour of the city which included a view of the light house not a view from the light house, a cathedral,....
a cliff diver (pretty cool), ate hot quesadillas and tortilla soup while a caballero played the guitar and serenaded us......

and then these guys...

The Papatlayn Flyers
They were by far the best thing we did. You can only see this show through private guides or ship tours. They demonstrated amazing feats their people have done for centuries. As well as regional dancers and el vaquero (Mexican Cowboy) who was amazing with a lasso.
Cabo San Lucas

There was not enough time in this port. If we ever vacation in Mexico again we would love to spend several days here. I spent the day zip lining, rappelling, river crossing, and rock climbing.....all by my lonesome and a small group of about 15 strangers in the Sierra Mountains. It is something I have ALWAYS wanted to do and Chris made it happen. I pushed myself to try new things, enjoyed my non mommy time, and had a STELLAR day but you can't take cameras on the tour:(

Chris left Zach on the boat (Z's choice) and took Ethan and Graham on a glass bottom boat tour. The bay is so shallow we had to take a tender into port unfortunately that took extra time out of our already too short of a day.

Then we were Los Angeles bound again ready to start the Slocombe Family Christmas Festivities.