This was our first adventure going on a cruise. We both love warm weather so we decided what better time to leave the dreary, rainy days of Seattle in February and take a cruise along the Mexican Riviera. We flew to Long Beach and boarded our ship, the Jubilee. We boarded on Sunday and our ports were Wednesday in Puerto Vallarta, Thursday in Mazatlan and Friday in Los Cabos. I was excited to see Puerto Vallarta again as my sisters and I had visited there in February of 1994 before Doug and I were married. I was looking forward to showing Doug the beautiful hotel where we had stayed in Mismaloya Bay.
Our first 2 days were “at sea”. This gave us plenty of time to explore the ship. I had no idea cruise ships were so big! Each day we received a newsletter with all the things happening during the day and into the evening. There was something for everyone. We went to the shows, played the trivia games and even gambled a little in the casino. And we ate! We went to the formal dining room each night and met 3 other couples that we were matched up to dine with. For the other meals we ate different places on the ship, and there was always plenty of places to get a snack or drinks in between.One of the funniest (and embarrassing) things that happened was the first night on the ship. Remember as you read this that this was our first cruise. Not used to these tight quarters! As we went to bed the first night Doug turned off the light and got into bed. Our bed was against the wall and I was already in bed. As we lay in the dark for a few minutes talking, all of a sudden the light went back on. Doug got up again and turned it off again. Got back into bed and laid down and sure enough, the light popped on again! What’s the deal here?? So, Doug gets up once again, turns off the light and gets into bed. By now he is just daring it to come back on again. Well, of course, in a couple minutes it comes back on. So by now he was really frustrated. So, he gets up and calls the attendant who calls the maintenance person. Did I mention it was about 1:30am? So, shortly after we hear a rap on the door. I have by now turned toward the wall and pretended to be asleep. Doug explains the problem to the maintenance person who was foreign and only spoke (and understood) broken English. By the way, 90% of the ship staff is foreign. After a few minutes of explaining and trying to get his point across the maintenance person walks over to the bed, pulls back Doug’s pillow and points to the light switch. Dah! I started laughing to myself and I’m sure my whole body was shaking with laughter! The next morning early, as we were walking down the hall to breakfast we passed one of the ship staff. As soon as we did Doug leaned to me and said “that was the maintenance person from last night!” I think I heard him calling us “idiots” as we passed him. Not really, well if he did I wouldn’t have understood it anyway since I don’t speak French.
The further south we got the warmer the temperature was. Our captain pointed out Los Cabos when we passed it. This was the first land we had seen in 2 days. We continued south to our first port which was Puerto Vallarta.
When we reached Puerto Vallarta we ventured out with our dining mates and checked out the local establishments. Here we are at Carlos O'Briens having lunch. Later I got Doug to ride a bus with me down to La Jolla de Mismaloya Hotel, where we walked right past the guard gate like we knew what we were doing, and made it out to the pool area where we ordered quesadillas and drinks, and enjoyed the scenery. After that Doug made his way over to a hammock and almost fell asleep in the warm, afternoon sun.
When we left the hotel grounds we walked along the beach to the restaurants just south of the hotel and spent some time exploring the area before we headed back to the ship.Next we stopped at Mazatlan and Doug wanted to visit a real Mexican market. We took a pulmonia to old downtown to the market and ate lunch and walked through the market. Doug was impressed with the pigs head – oh, and let’s not forget the menudo.
After awhile we headed back toward the ship and met up with our friends at Senor Frogs where jello shots were making the rounds. I honestly think that Doug did not understand that there was about an ounce of tequila in each one! He went for the jello, again and again! At one point the other wives and I went out to enjoy the beach across the street while the guys were enjoying their jello. Ok, somehow we made it back to the ship!Our third day at port was the morning only at Los Cabos. We were able to get off the ship about 6am, and had to be back on by 10:30 or so. Not many things were open at that time of day, but of course that doesn’t stop the locals from coming down to the dock and selling their wares. For what we saw in our short time in Los Cabos we decided that it was just too commercialized. It was beautiful, clean and more modern than both Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta. We both decided that next time we do a trip to Mexico (and there will be a next time!) we will visit somewhere where we can get into the culture of the area, talk to the locals, etc.
Two more days “at sea” on the ship which meant more time to relax, play the ship games, and avoid the guys with the cameras, taking pictures to post for everyone to see later. Oh, and eat. Did I mention that? All you can eat and any time of the day or night. Wow! I’m sure we both gained tons of weight during our one week adventure.
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