Mexico Cruise

I don't even know where to start. This was the happiest week of my life.

Just warning you-this post is long. I’ll try to give the pictures captions so if you just want the short version.

We stayed in Vegas on the way down

This is Casey on the first day already enjoying the food.

Safety drill before we set sail. Casey thought the the whistle and light on the life jacket were awesome.

We watched the sunset as we sailed ouf of LA from the back of the boat.

Sidenote: So right when we got on the ship Casey and I both took motion sickness pills. We each took two. That night at dinner we were SO tired that we hardly said a word to each other….our waiter probably thought we hated each other. It was only 7 pm and our eyes were going up and down as much as the ocean right outside our window. Then the next morning we got up and sat in the hot tub. Then we were too tired to do anything else but lay on a lawn chair… even though at that point it was still cold outside. We layed there wrapped in our towels for FOUR HOURS! We were both just so confused why we were SO tired… it is definitely not like us. Then I finally read the motion sickness bottle… first side effect it lists in caps: DROWSINESS. Needless to say, neither of us took any more pills for the rest of the week and we were both fineJ.

We dressed up for the formal dinner. At this dinner we were seated at a table with a couple on both sides of us. Andy and Carol to the left, Lacie and Erik to the right. After we finished ordering Andy said to us “this is your first cruise, isn’t it?” We were like yeah… and he told us a few things about ordering on the ship. Then we found out they are an LDS couple from Oregon. When we were talking about that Erik on our right goes we are LDS too! Then someone mentioned that none of us were drinking alchohol … just as our waiter was walking up and in a funny way he said “YEAH, I know”. (Waiters make money and tips of people who order alchohol). We ate dinner the rest of the week mostly with Andy and Carol, one night in Cabo with Lacie and Erik. One of the nights was Andy’s birthday and there was a table of about 10 Chinese people sitting next to us. When the waiters came over to sing to Andy, all 10 drunk Chinese people chipped in and sang too. It was HALARIOUS. They even gave us a sac of origami bear heads and a paper topper at the end.

We had to make an emergency stop in Cabo on the way downcause someone was having heart problems.

Two of Casey's friends from highschool were on the boat... Melissa and Devin. This is at one of the deck parites.

All the sculptures on this table are food!

Our first stop on the cruise was Puerta Vallarta where we did a zip-line exursion. The second we got off the ship we took a taxi to catch a bus that took up into the jungle to Los Verranos. It was about an hour long ride – and when I say ride… I mean like an amusement park kinda ride. The bus was like an open army truck… we felt like we were on the Indiana Jones ride in Disney… only this was real. We had to keep our arms and hands inside the bus at all times- or risk oncoming traffic ripping your arm off. Everything was so close and the roads were so small. I literally thought that we were going to run quite a few people over. We went through town along the beach and got to see a lot of cool sand sculptures and churches, stores and so on. Then we went into the hills and jungle. There was a road block on the way where a bunch of guys in army outfits were carrying HUGE guns. There some really pretty resorts. Then we got into the poorer areas… most of the houses we saw were huts… most of their home was basically a porch… all open. As we were going though these areas my first instinct was to feel sad for these people who seemingly had nothing. But then I started noticing that every person we passed… and we passed a lot all had smiles on their faces. The kids who were all just playing with rocks and sticks were laughting and having fun. I could be wrong but I really think they are happy people. Then I started feeling so sorry for so many Americans who have so much and still aren’t happy. Also all the Mexicans that we met at the zip-line place were so funny and upbeat. That was half the experience… it was basically a comedy show as they were teaching us how to do everything and explaning where to go. At first I was SO SO scared. My heart was racing and I was super scared. The guides were so funny and awesome tho… that it totally distracted me from being so scared and turned it into having fun. At one point, one of the guides that was filming jumped on my zipline with me and started to spin me around…. Like 600 feet in the air! Then he got on with Casey and had him let go of the handle and go completely upside down!!! UPSIDE DOWN! Don’t worry- we have that on film J. But seriously- if ANY of you guys are thinking about going to Puerta Vallarta… ask me for info about this zipline… you won’t regret it. Also a funny thing about this excursion… out of like 20 people who were on our bus with us- some from princess cruises, some from holland america and then some people not on a cruise at all… like 8 of us were mormon! Can you believe the odds? The last zip line is a double so two people can race… they try to get you excited to be at the end where the zip line lands your at their bar….they had us scream TAQUILLA. Casey goes “not as many people as they think will be getting from the bar” haha.

Some sort of Monkeys. They gave us yogurt to feed them and they licked it right off our hands. Can you see the resemblance?

The next day we went straight to Cabo San Lucas. We were supposed to stop in Mazatlan but because of drugs/violence we spent two days in Cabo instead. On the first day we went to lovers and divorce beach. You have to take a boat in order to get there. We went with Lacie and Erik and I’m pretty sure I laughed for a good 6 hours straight (great ab workout!). Our glass bottom water taxi stopped at a place where there is tons of snorkeling and gave us some bread to feed the fish. They were really cool. We actually brought snorkling gear all the way to Mexico with us… but didn’t end up having time to snorkel. Not gonna lie… after feeding and seeing plenty of them through the bottom of the boat, I was fine with not snorkeling. I would have totally been freaked out – I have a hard time going to Lake Powell because I’m scared of fish. The beach was awesome. The divorce side was the Atlantic Ocean and SUPER rough. Couldn’t even swim in it. The lovers side was the sea of cortez and was perfect. The water was warm and waves were perfect. Lacie and I kept getting sand in our suits tho. We saw TONS of seals and a couple whale sprouts in the distance. We could have ask our taxi to take us out to the whales, but we decided to swim on the beach instead.

The second day in Cabo was my favorite. The first thing we did was parasail. That could not have been a more pleasant experience. I was kinda scared cause my dad had told me when he parasailed just a year before, he almost landed in some rocks and almost got hurt pretty bad. He must of parasailed from the beach… we parasailed from a boat which couldn’t not have been easier. All we did was sit on the back of the boat with our legs straight and it slowly lifted us up and down. It was so peaceful in the air. Just me and Casey, feeling like we were on top of the world. We also got some pictures of us up there with my water camera… I’ll have to post them when I get them developed. So they try to take as many people out at a time as they can… we happened to be on the boat with a man that LIVES on our cruise ship. Well 5 months of the year anyways. He said his wife’s health is bad and it’s hard for her to move very far. Instead of living at an assisted living place, they decided to live on the ship. DUH! GENIOUS! They have all the food at their disposal all the time so his wife never needs to worry about cooking and he said because he cruises so often he gets hooked up pretty sweet by Princess… and they practically pay him to live on the ship. After we both parasailed he took us to this massage place where he knows the ladies (he gets a massage everytime the ship stops in cabo) and Casey and I got a couples massage for 50 bucks! They even used those AMAZING rocks… I have no idea what they are called… didn’t even know they were rocks… I thought it was warm sacs or something, casey had to tell me it was rocks afterwards. But whatever they are called – they are wonderful.

This picture was taken from our glass bottom boat. Can you see why I was okay with not snorkeling?

We ate at two restaurants in Cabo. Both times not only was the food delicious... its presentation was SO COOL.


These ladies were the canadian version of the "Red Hat Ladies". They wore crazy clothes like this everyday. Can you tell that this was St. Patricks day?
Parasailing was AEWSOME!
In the street market in Cabo. You had people asking you to buy stuff left and rightt. They were say "amiga, amiga" The last night on the cruise.The last day at sea was also wonderful. During the cruise we went to some HALARIOUS comedy shows – also one that was NOT halarious… at all, some decent dance performances, dance lessons, a funny magic show, a ship game show, pool party, deck dance party and so much more. I’d have to say tho that the best part of the trip was meeting people from all over the world. I wasn’t exactly expecting this to by my favorite part… but everyone on the ship was just SO HAPPY and pleasant, that getting to know everyone just a little bit was just so much fun. We met people from London, Russia, TONS of Canadians from all over Canada, Australia, Indonesia, the Phillipines, Ireland, and so much more. Andy and Carol from Oregon.

To top off such a wonderful trip, we spent the last day at two different beaches in California. We stayed at a hotel in long beach where we also parked our car for the cruise and got a really good deal. We went to Redondo Beach and Venice Beach. Redondo Beach was fun- we got to walk on the board walk and see a bunch of fisherman catch some fish. Casey got fresh king crab legs and couldn’t have been happier. The restaurant we ate at was right on top of where the wave broke… it was so fun to watch the sea life as we ate (tons of birds and sea lions). Then Venice beach made my list of coolest places on earth. The beach was way long… and for the length of it there were tons of really cool shops. Some of the stuff was cheap, some of it nice… but all really cool and mostly unique. I got a few really cool rings for super cheap and casey got some mango shea butter that smells good enough to eat. There were tons of artists painting, a group of tumblers putting on a performance jumping over people, this old guy jumping on glass, fruit stands (casey and I a big bag of mangoes that the lady cut right in front of us – SO GOOD) and SO much more. We could have spent the whole day there.

Casey's dad really likes churros. This pictures was just for him. Casey said this was the best crab he has ever had.