Mexican Riviera Cruise

This year my Grandpa Smith turned 77 on 11.11.11 so for his big birthday he took the whole family on a 7 day Mexican Riviera Cruise! Pretty amazing if you ask me! We decided to leave the girls with Trent's parents for the week and enjoy it like a second honeymoon! Friday after work we drove down to Long Beach. We got to the hotel about 3am and we were exhausted! Saturday morning we got up and everyone that was already there went to breakfast at McDonald's while we counted down the minutes until we could get on board the boat!

 Here we are in the car ride to the Pier!! Around noon we headed over to the Long Beach Pier and started unloading all our luggage. I am pretty sure I packed enough clothes for like 10 cruises! We waited in a couple long lines to get all checked in and checked out to make sure we were healthy for the trip. Once on board we ran to our rooms to check out our new digs for the next week!

 The room was tiny but there was lots of storage for all of our clothes and accessories! Plus we only needed it to crash in for a couple hours so we loved it!



I forgot to take pictures of our room at the beginning of the trip so these are from the last day when everything is all messy!

Once we got all our luggage unpacked and put away we quickly ran up to the buffet and grabbed a bite to eat and walked around the boat. We went to the mandatory drill with our life jackets in tow and then it was party time!

After the drill we headed up to the top deck to watch as we pulled out of port. We sailed the seas on the Sapphire Princess. It was a nice boat and took me the whole 7 days to get situated on it and find my way around!

That night for dinner we pigged out...like seriously. Nice picture of us eating dinner...and I have half a roll in my mouth!

Everything tasted so good that night! We each ordered about 5-6 things off the menu and it was heavenly!

Here was my apricot pork entree!

The desserts were TOO.DIE.FOR we each ordered a different one and then spent the night passing our plates around so we could taste them all. 

Some people ordered more than one...as you can see by the stack of desserts...this stack was for our table of 8...you do the math!

I have to admit that my Chocolate Cake was the best!

Originally we were suppose to stop in Puerto Vallarta, Matzatlan, and Cabo San Lucas. Due to problems with tourists being shot, kidnapped, robbed etc Princess Cruise Lines pulled out of the first two stops and added Ensenada and then stayed an extra day in Cabo. On the morning of Sunday we made our first trip to Ensenada. We ate an early breakfast and then headed out to town. We took a bus from the port into town where we hired another tour bus to take us out around the coast to La Bufadora (a famous blowhole and outdoor market.)

The bus drive was so cool. The tour guide told us all sorts of facts about the town and cost of living, things to do, etc.

Once we got to the market we hurried and walked through it without stopping to check out the blowhole.

 Apparently we got their at low tide though so we saw zero action! We all sat there for a while and then finally gave up and decided to do some shopping. We had fun going in all the little booths and checking out what they had.

My Mom and I scored these cute sunglasses for like $2!

While we were waiting for everyone to get done shopping and get back on the bus we all gathered at this little taco stand. Most of us tried a carne asada taco with homemade guacamole on it...it was DELICIOUS!

Here are most of us snapping a group picture before we got on the bus. The ones that are missing paid a quarter to use the taco shops bathroom!

After we got on the back on the boat we rushed to our rooms to clean up and shower and get ready for dinner. After dinner we went to a comedian and then hit up another show. The comedian was HILARIOUS. We were laughing so hard!

After the shows some of us met at a big table right next to the buffet and ate food and played games for a couple hours!

That night we laid in bed and checked out the movies on tv. They showed a bunch of new movies all week that hadn't been released yet like the new Planet of the Apes, Super 8, Pirates of the Carribean, Captian America, etc. We would always catch bits and pieces of these movies while getting ready and then at night we would try and find one that started at the beginning to watch! I also tired out the 24/7 room service and had an amazing grilled turkey and bacon sandwich and slice of chocolate cake at like 1 in the morning...and not because I was actually hungry...just wanted to see what it was like!

On Monday we were out to sea so we got up and ate some breakfast and then marked out lounge chairs on the upper deck so we could lay out and eat all day! And that we did! I loaded my kindle with books and we laid out and ate, had fruity drinks delivered to us, and read all day. It was amazing! It felt so good to feel the warm sun on my body!

That afternoon they showed The Help in their big theater so Trent and I went and watched that. I had to hurry and run out of there as soon as it was over because that night was our first formal night so I wanted to look nice!

Here we are taking more pictures!! Don't mind Clay in the background being a creepster!

After dinner we all split up and went to different shows. The older kids went to a comedy magician...who was RETARDED and after that we all just hung out and walked around the boat and stocked up on more drinks!

On Tuesday we spent our first day in Cabo San Lucas.We got up early so that we could go out on the first tender boat to Cabo.

The pier was full of all sorts of HUGE sailboats, yachts and this really cool pirate boat

We decided that for our first day there we would all take a water taxi over to Lover's Beach and hang out and snorkel. It was funny there were people lined up all down the walkway trying to get you to take their water taxi and the further you walked the better deal you would get! Here we all are standing around while my Dad barters with them to give us a better deal since we were a group of 30 people

Trent and I waiting on the walkway while they all figured out the details!

Lovers Beach was just on the other side of these rocks

Here is one boat full of people. We got special glass boat taxis...what a joke...he kept telling us to look at the fish underneath the boat and all we could see was dirty dark water!

Our boats raced each other to shore.

Once we got off the boats we set up camp and headed to the water. I have ZERO pictures of us scuba diving! Oh well! Here is the suntan lotion train!

Trent and I took a walk around the corner of the beach out to the tip of lovers beach. It was fun to see all the cool caves and people with iguanas! I had got to the buffet and taken a bunch of rolls and peanut butter and jam and made sandwiches and so we ate those while we were on the beach. The scuba diving was so cool. There were so many colorful fish and you could just swim right through huge schools of them. We could have spent a lot longer there but had to head back to the boat to get ready for dinner! We had to eat again!

At dinner we had the same waiters and after a couple of nights they started to learn our favorites and would have our table stocked with stuff for right when we got there! Trent loved these sunflower seed rolls and he would have a basket of them at our table! They would also have our table loaded down with strawberry daiquiris, pina coladas, shirley temples and sprites!

We also kept adding more and more chairs at our table each night for dinner! I am sure they hated us always rearranging stuff but we had to make room for more people at our table who we didn't want to miss out on all the fun!

That night they had an Ultimate Deck party that some of us went to. It was a huge dance party and then we did streamers and a countdown for some random countries new year celebration!

And of course after the dance party we met in our usual spot for hot rolls with butter, shirley temples, and GAMES!!

The next day we spent at cabo again. This time everyone just did their own thing. We hung out with my family and hit all the little markets.

 While we were shopping in one market this guy came in from a fishing trip and he had this huge swordfish hanging up that he had caught. So we had Trent get a picture with it!

I spent a lot of time doing this...

Hanging out in corners with a towel draped over me while I pumped! The one downfall of going on a cruise and leaving your 3 month old at home! That night for dinner all of the older grandkids took over the adult table so that we could sit with our Grandparents. It was fun to sit and talk with them one of the nights!

Everyone thought it would be funny if they put their empty drink glasses by me...real funny guys...only like 4 of them are mine!

On Thursday we spent another day at sea. Since it was Thanksgiving they had all sorts of cool displays out. We spent the day roaming around the boat and eating, and laying out! It was heavenly!

That night was our second formal night . We got ready early so that we could get some pictures taken before dinner. Here we are before dinner waiting for the rest of the family to get out of their rooms so we can all walk up together.

They had photographers taking pictures on these stairs but we hurried and snuck in and took our own picture so we wouldn't have to pay $25 to get a picture of the two of us!

Here is our table from dinner. Don't ask me what Brad is doing!

Trent thoroughly enjoyed having a daiquiri (or 5) with dinner every night!

After dinner that night we went to another comedian show and he was hilarious as well. He just worked off people in the crowd and we seriously couldn't stop laughing! After the shows some of us headed up to the Skywalker Lounge to do some dancing!

On Friday we spent our last day at sea. They had a cool ice carving competition and then had ice sculptures up everywhere.

One night (I seriously have no idea what night we did this!) We did a tribute to our grandparents and all the grandkids took turns tell them their favorite memory of them. Here Trent and I are waiting our turns to share our memories!

Here is our table the last night we could stuff our faces with food. I think by this time we were so stuffed and tired of eating that we all barely ordered any food!

Here are some of the grandkids posing for a picture! There was a nasty flu bug that went around and a couple people spent some of their days locked in their cabins throwing up. Glad Trent and I didn't get it!

Saturday morning we got up early to eat our last meal and then headed off the boat. It was sad that it was over after we had been looking forward to this trip all year long! It was fun being with family and getting a second honeymoon though! By Saturday though we were ready to get home and see our girls!