Cruising down Mexico way

So we spent the last week on & off a cruise liner, sailing down the west coast to Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta, then 2 days at sea as we sailed north back to sunny...er...dreary and overcast Los Angeles.

It was an interesting cruise, to say the least, with a 2-year old and a 6-year old in tow. JE was able to attend the Kids' Club, which meant after breakfast if we had no plans we'd drop him off at the Kids' Club clubroom then pick him up for lunch, then later drop him back there again, then pick him up for dinner, then drop him off again, then pick him up in time for bed. Our little cherub of a daughter, falling into the "less-than-three" age bracket, stayed with us for almost the entire cruise until Liz mentioned she'd seen something about a baby sitting service. We made some inquiries and discovered that for the incredibly low price of $8 per hour we could have a sitter watch our treasure while Liz and I had some quality time, without the kids. I ask you, why did we only find out about that at the end of the week-long cruise?

JE and I took part in several activities, including frequent trips to the pool. We also took part in a bean bag tossing competition (which I won, scoring a Gold Medal shaped like the Royal Caribbean logo, which I gave to JE). We also played a few games of Shuffleboard, or at least pushed the pucks from one end to the other. Oddly enough the cruise ship also had a 30' rock climbing wall, which JE climbed to a height of 6' before wanting down...NOW!



Later on I took part in a speed climbing competition against 3 other men, and I'm happy to say that with a combined time of 25sec for two climbs I took home the silver medal.


The winner's time was 22sec (give or take a few 1/10s of a second). The record for the single fastest climb to the top is 5 seconds, but that record is held by the Head Climbing Instructor. The guest record is 6 seconds :P

Oddly enough the Head Climbing Instructor is from Perth, in Western Australia. He told me to track down one of the dealers in the casino who he said was from Victoria, my home state. At the casino when I asked the female Pitboss if Dave was working I discovered I was talking to yet another Aussie, a Queenslander, and found that Dave is not from Victoria but from New South Wales, from a tiny town called Tathra, to be specific. The significance of this is two-fold. The population of Tathra is approximately 10% of that of my own hometown of Traralgon; we're talking real "small town" here. And two, Tathra just happens to be where my family used to holiday many, many years ago. In fact Dave said of all the Aussies he's met on the cruise ship, more Victorians know of Tathra than do his fellow New South Welshmen. Dave was manning the Craps table when I met him, and it was a happening place. I was so caught up in what was going on that I wanted to play, even though I had no clue what was going on. I resisted the urge though, but I think I'd like to play Craps one day. It seems a lot more fun than feeding quarters into a slot machine.

Also interesting to note was that of the staff on board the ship and the many nationalities that were represented, while North Americans (Canadians excluded) made up a majority of the passengers, I do not recall seeing a single North American working. There were Canadians, and Central and South Americans, there were Europeans and Asians, people from all over the globe...but nobody from North America. Apparently most people sign on for a 6-month contract, and that means six months of non-stop dedication to the ship and company. Not to speak ill of my fellow (adopted) countrymen, but it does seem as though Americans can't hack life on board a cruise ship.

Now our waiters were some of the most attentive staff I've ever had the pleasure of being served by, if not THE best. When we turned up for dinner on the second night we had a high chair in Amber's seat, and it was there waiting for us every night after that. Dixon and Johnee also memorized the kids' likes and dislikes, as well as our own bread and dessert preferences, too ;)

While expensive to get away for a week, when you work out that accommodation, food and most on-board activities are included (bar gambling, of course), the price of a cruise is actually reasonably cheap compared to staying in a 5-star hotel for the same period of time. After all, at the hotel you still need to pay for your meals, then you need to get out and about and have a good time. On a cruise ship there's a couple of shows each night and activities during the day, and the service! One night I even rocked up to the Main Dining room at 10pm just as they were shutting down and within minutes (literallly) I was leaving with two plates of food; one with a hotdog & fries, and one with a cheeseburger & fries. Midnight snacks! Yeah, baby!

So we had a great time, but we're glad to be back, too :)

More photos can be seen at Liz's Flicker Site.