Mexico Riviera Cruise 2018

2018 Mexico Riviera Cruise

Thursday, December 20:

            We got an early start this morning and did the whole drive down to Sacramento in a little over 13.5 hours.  It rained from The Dalles, Oregon all the way to Redding, California.

Friday, December 21:

            Having a day to kill in Sacramento, we took a short trip over to the Folsom State Prison Museum, which is on the grounds of Folsom State Prison.  Though it is a small museum, it has lots of interesting artifacts and articles about prison life.  One wall was covered with knives, shanks, shives, etc. that were made by former inmates and were confiscated.

Saturday, December 22:

            We got an early 4:15am start out of Sacramento to start the drive down to Los Angeles and Long Beach.  After seven hours we stopped for chili burgers at Tommy Burgers (instant heartburn).  We then made our way through LA traffic and got to the pier at Long Beach.  We arrived just a bit earlier than our assigned check in time, so we had to wait a bit.  Once we started the check-in process, everything went pretty fast and soon enough we were able to board our ship, the Carnival Splendor.  

Boarding the Carnival Splendor in Long Beach.

After we found our rooms, the first thing everyone wanted to do was to go up to the buffet and eat.  It seemed like everyone else on the boat had the same idea, so the buffet was packed.  

We then took the kids on a tour of the ship so they could slowly figure out where everything was.

     The kids did a little swimming and then everyone met up in the main dining room for dinner.  Our head waiter was Barack Obama’s twin (or at least he looked like he could be).  After gorging ourselves, we walked around the ship a bit and then took it easy the rest of the night.

Hot tubs

Aft pool

Basketball court

Splash park

Water Slide

Mini Golf

Adults only deck

Buffet

Sunday, December 23:

            Today was our first day at sea.  For the most part, we took it easy today and hung out with family, ate, and relaxed.  In the evening we went to a comedy show that was kid friendly.  The comedian was pretty funny, but you could tell he was having a hard time keeping it kid friendly.  He walked around the audience and asked random kids questions.  Most of their answers were funny, but you got the feeling he didn’t have too much material that night.  

Morocco Lounge/Comedy Club

Afterward we went to our first formal dinner in the main dining room.  We decided to put all of the kids at one table and all of the adults at the other, which worked out well for both groups.

Gold Pearl Dining Room

Our dining area at the back of the ship.

The kid table

The adult table

Our wait staff

  After dinner we took a family picture on the main staircase and then went to one of the live shows on the main stage.  The showed was titled, “80’s Pop to the Max” and featured a group singing and dancing songs from the 80’s.  It was decent, but by the end we were all tired and ready for bed.

Main lobby and glass elevators

Family picture

Waiting for the show

Monday, December 24:

            After breakfast, our ship slowly pulled into Cabo San Lucas.  There are no piers big enough for cruise ships in Cabo, so the ships moor out in the harbor and have tenders (small boats) take you to shore. 

Coming into Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

      Once ashore we walked a bit to try and find someone that would take our whole group to a beach just outside of town.  All of the van drivers wanted way too much money.  Eventually Becky’s dad was able to make a deal with someone by walking around holding a $100 bill.  We then drove over to Chileno Beach.  

Terry offering a $100 for two vans

Chileno Beach

Fortunately, the beach wasn’t too crowded. It was somewhat warm outside, but the water wasn’t real warm.  Still, everyone got in and played around.  A few of us went snorkeling over by some rocks.  The visibility was surprisingly good and there were quite a bit of fish hanging around.  After a few hours we went back to Cabo to get some food.  Once everyone had their tacos, we made our way over to the marina to catch a tender back to the ship.  Most everyone was pretty tired and we ended up just relaxing once we were back on board.

Taco time

Taking the tender back to the ship

Waiting for Santa to arrive on the ship

Tuesday, December 25 (Christmas):

            Before we went to breakfast we opened our Christmas stockings in our room.  We then made our way to the buffet for a big Christmas breakfast. 

Christmas morning

Christmas breakfast buffet

      Since the ship was still in Cabo San Lucas, we hopped on the earliest tender we could catch to shore.  Being Christmas morning, many shops were closed or hadn’t opened yet.  We walked around town and bought a few small souvenirs, then made our way over to the beach.  The beach was really packed and there was no shade (unless you rented a palapa).  None of us felt like getting in the water, so we ended up walking along the beach until we got back to the marina.  

Nativity scene

Cabo San Lucas

By now everyone was hungry, so we went to a taco restaurant called Tacos Gus.  The food was excellent and cheap!  It was a great way to eat Christmas lunch.  We walked around a bit more and then caught a tender back to our ship. 

Christmas tacos at Tacos Gus

Luxury Yacht with helicopter on the back

            Before we went to dinner, we did our family white elephant gift exchange.  Becky’s mom ended up with the prized pickled pigs feet. Tonight was our second formal dinner.  Becky decided to wear her grandma’s gold pant suit that she found at her parent’s house before we left.  After a big meal, we went to a show called “88 Keys the Rock n’ Roll Piano Show” in the main theater.  The main singing group sang and danced to popular piano songs from the 70’s and 80’s. 

Towel animal left by our cabin steward

White elephant gift exchange

Grandma getting the pickled pigs feet

Becky in her Grandma's gold pant suit

Main theater

Wednesday, December 26:

            Our ship arrived in Puerto Vallarta early in the morning.  Once off, we decided to try and go to some hot springs in the mountains with Becky’s parents and her brother Matt.  We finally found a driver who would take us there.  Unfortunately, the drive out there was longer and rougher than the driver thought it would be and we’re pretty sure he didn’t take us to the hot springs we were trying to go to.  We ended up at a pretty run-down place that was full of locals.  The water was hot and worked for us, it just wasn’t exactly what we were picturing (or saw online).  

Docking with two other cruise ships in Puerto Vallarta

Not the hot springs we were looking for, but it worked

Fresh fruit from the road

       After we soaked for a couple of hours, we made the bumpy ride back into Puerto Vallarta.  Elise ended up throwing up from all of the bumpiness, though some of us were close to puking as well.  Since the drive took longer than he thought it would, the driver started asking for more money. We finally settled on a slightly higher price.  Becky’s brother Matt then took us over to a restaurant where we ate some great fish tacos.  Afterward, we went down and walked along the beach area.  We then caught a local bus back out to the cruise ship.  Every time the bus stopped, more and more people packed on.  Once on board, we took it easy for the night.

Puerto Vallarta

Fish tacos

Mega Yacht docked in Puerto Vallarta (notice helicopter and jet boat on the back decks).

Thursday, December 27:

            Today was an at-sea day as we made our way back north.  As expected, the weather got cooler, the ocean swells got bigger and the wind kicked up.  This made for a pretty rocky day on board.   After lunch, the kids hit the pinata that grandpa and grandma brought on board.  The rest of the day consisted of swimming, eating, watching movies on the Lido deck, and eating some more.

 

Pinata time

Movie time on the Lido Deck.  They closed the roof due to the weather.

Friday, December 28:

The weather was a bit rougher today.  The main lido deck pool had turned into a serious wave pool (they ended up closing it after a while). In the morning the crew had created tons of towel animals and placed them on all of the chairs around the main pool area on the lido deck.  Some of them were huge.  

The "wave" pool

After breakfast we took the girls to a towel folding demonstration.  Some of the crew showed you how to create a few of the towel animals.  After lunch they had a chocolate buffet with tons of chocolate desserts.  In the afternoon Matt competed in a Beatles trivia contest and tied for first place, correctly naming 20 out of 20 Beatles' songs.  He won a “ship on a stick” Carnival Splendor trophy. 

Towel Folding demonstration

Towel creatures

Chocolate buffet

Matt tying for 1st in the Beatles song contest

 The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent watching more movies, swimming, and going in the hot tubs.  We had our final evening dinner in the Gold Pearl dining room.  The ship was really rocking during dinner.  The main dessert was Baked Alaska, which came with the traditional fire.  We had a great wait staff.  After dinner we walked around the ship a bit and then finally made our way to our room to start packing up.

Movie time on the Lido deck

Baked Alaska for dessert

Saturday, December 29:

            After we organized all of our bags, we went up to the buffet for one last gorging of food.  The kids all had to get one last soft-serve ice cream cone.  Our debarkation time was earlier than expected, so we ended up getting off the ship pretty fast.  We made our way to our car and hit the road through L.A. traffic and back up toward Sacramento. 

The last ice cream cone!