Sunday and Puerto Vallarta

We are up and down to the Amafi dining room for breakfast, had a lovely dish today a Frittata.  It is busy in the dining room this morning, lots of people are up and ready to hit the port running, well not literally cause it could kill a few people on board if they did. 

We dock at 10 am and it is so GREAT to be back in Mexico.  We have been coming to Mexico for almost 20 years now and both of us feel like it is a second home and have even considered retiring down here.  But that is another story.

this is the cruise terminal

We head ashore around 10:30, note the agents on shore may go thru your bags ensuring you are not bringing any fruit of any kind ashore.  Oh and they will check your bag when you come back on too to ensure you are not taking anything out of the country that you shouldn’t so be warned.

I will be writing a port report on Puerto Vallarta when I get home so stay tuned for more details on what to do here and how to do it.

 

We walk out to the main drag, just outside the port area and stay on the same side of the road and catch a local bus.  The destinations are written on the dash of the buses to identify where they are going.  Today the price was 13 pesos for the two of us.  To go downtown catch a bus that says Centro meaning the Center of Town.  It will be about a 15 minute ride, look for the open square, large cathedral and the water this is a good spot to get off and walk around.
 

see bus will show on windshield where it goes

romantic zone

We are off and I find a lovely clothing store where I buy two Mexican blouses.  Then we cross the Gringo Gulch and head towards the Romantic Zone and find a store that is selling Oaxacan rugs.  Bernie loves these rugs and he wants another one for his newly renovated bathroom so we decide to talk about it and come back if necessary.

 

We walk along the beach and there are lots of options for places to eat and drink but we head back to a place we passed earlier.  The view is to die for, the Margaritas are cold and the beer even  colder.  I order chili rellenos, and Bernie gets the shrimp tacos and we are happy – doesn’t take much.

 

While walking back to the rug store I come across a store that sells lovely leather shoes and buy two pairs.  Then we go around the corner and Bernie buys two rugs!  They are lovely.

 

It is freakin hot and while sitting on a bench we pick up two popsicles pineapple for Bernie coconut for me from a street vendor, then we get a lovely cold beverage from another vendor… yup we belong!

With all our packages to weigh us down we flag a taxi (60 pesos) and we are dropped right near the port at Sorianos which is a large grocery/general store that sells pretty much everything.  It is on the same side as the port just to the south of the port, you really can’t miss it.  We pick up more Maja soap for me, some grapefruit juice for Bernie for mix with his vodka in the room, and ear plugs so Bernie can sleep during the shows below our cabin. 

We head back to the ship around 4 pm and head back to the cabin to peel off these sweaty clothes and I swear I heard the bed calling my name, yup I am pretty sure it was calling Vickie.  So I am down for the count and miss sailaway, but Bernie did go out and get pictures.  But afterwards he is back in the cabin and we sleep for like two hours!

Not really into going to the dining room tonight, I don’t want to dress for it; however the dress code seems to be very lax this voyage but most people do follow the dress code and it is the Ultimate Deck Party tonight so a lot of people are in appropriate dress for that I guess.

I am glad we went up to Horizon Court for dinner it was very good and I really enjoy the salad bar and enjoy a large spinach salad bar.

Bernie, Matias, Me, Jasper and Peter

Look at Zara an her moves, Bernie keeps up very well

Jasper enjoys a drink

 

Up for the deck party!  Love Opus and they get the dance floor up and moving, including us!  We dance for like 40 minutes, we are hot and sweaty, time for a drink.  We enjoy a lovely evening and love watching others enjoying themselves too.  We catch up with some of the crew we know and by 11:30 we are back in the cabin.  Clocks go back tonight, they went forward last night and then go back tonight…. Argh.

 

Tomorrow we arrive in Cabo at noon and we are there overnight.  Good night.

Wednesday Evening to Thursday Catalina

Jasper checks out some souvenirs

After a quick dinner in the Horizon Court we checked out the Beattles’ trivia in Explorer with Matias – we sucked at that.  Then came back for the Princess Pyramid Game, we joined a couple Rudy and Mabel from San Francisco area and we had a good time, both Bernie and I attempted to guess the answers, but once again we sucked.

Matais - Deputy Cruise Director

There is a Welcome Aboard Show, one time only 9:45 and I say we never go to the Welcome Aboard Show so lets go, we arrive right at 9:45 and it is quite full but still able to find a few seats.  Martyn Moss is our Cruise Director and I really enjoyed the show.  I loved how they showed a video of the amenities on board and Martyn described what the passengers could expect.  Love it!

We are in bed early and we need it! 

We awake and feel refreshed and ready to enjoy the day.  We head to Amafi dining room for breakfast and have a lovely meal with a lady - Audrey.  We get to meet Rui the new Maitre d’Hotel and of course Douw is there. 

Rui - Maitre d'hotel

The sad news is that they don’t have the wine card on board this voyage.  Apprently it is because there is no sommelier on board.  Really I think, now all the times we have ever sailed we have never purchased wine from the sommelier, we have always purchased our wine directly from the very knowledgeable bar staff, waiters and head waiters.  Oh well we were going to get it but we will pick up some wine in Catalina instead, Princess you are loosing sales here.

Our meet and greet is today and we are about 30 people it is nice to put names to a face.  We have a bit of time to kill before arriving in Catalina at 1 pm so we wander around the stores (even buy a lovely Fossil watch) grab a latte and read a bit and chat up with a few passengers.

We choose not to get lunch before getting off because we really want to grab a meal ashore. 

Catalina is a tender port and we head to the tender around 1:30 (one of the perks of elite is you get priority tendering).  A short trip to shore and we are off like bandits.  We stop at the information booth and find out where we can get information for a hike, they direct us to the Catalina Conservatory where we find out better info on where to go. 

We walk past the golf course up the hill side thru the campground (follow signs to the botanical garden).  At the end of the campground is a sign directing us to the trail with a warning of rattle snakes!

What I say!  And I make Bernie lead the way.  The hike took about 45 minutes to the lookout and what a view! 

We feel great and so glad we decided to head out on this hike.  We hike back down and stop for a meal at a great Mexican restaurant.

love this -- a golf cart tow truck

After the meal we wander down the street to find a grocery store to get some wine.  We get six bottles (they even offer a 10% discount when you buy six). 

Not sure what we are up to this evening, we aren’t hungry but do want to do the trivia at 7 which is the tv theme song trivia, then we would like to see the comedian Jim MacDonald.  We have seen him before and really enjoy his show.