EVERYONE HAS TO GO ON A CRUISE!!

CRUISE 101: "What people told us before we went"...

1. take some dramamine or get a patch for sea sickness

2. after a few days all the food starts to taste like fish

3. you will get used to the boat rocking after a few days

4. take a case of water with you onto the ship

5. the rooms and bathroom are tiny

"What we know now"...

1. dramamine makes you very drowsy even if you get the one that says less drowsy...the patch worked ok for my sister-in-law but made her vision blurry

2. the food was amazing! so much variety 24-7 and it never tasted like fish!

3. we got used to the rocking, but felt it everywhere we went on land... I still feel like my house is moving three days later!!

4. we forgot our case of water! the ice water on the boat is not the yummiest...

5. our rooms were just right! the bathroom was tiny, but if 6'5 Tyler can fit, then anyone can!

We had so much fun on our Family Cruise!! There were always a million things to do on the ship! Activities, food, shows, food, dancing...of course food! We were constantly doing some kind of exploring... the ship was huge! The theme for our ship was "All things Beautiful" so there were old paintings and sculptures of, yes, nude ladies and of course, "The David" statue in his full glory! It seriously felt like we were in the most fancy hotel we've ever stayed in. Every night our steward would leave a towel animal on our bed! It was so fun to see what we'd get every night... elephant, rabbit, monkey, crab-frog (we couldn't figure out which it was)...we also had hot cocoa every night out on the deck! It was a slice of heaven!

Our first land adventure was in Puerto Vallarta. We took a bus up the steep, crazy hills of the Sierra Madre's. When we got to our destination, we strapped on zip-line gear and went off 10 different platforms, hundreds of feet off the ground! It was the most crazy and fun thing ever! We definitely recommend it! The rest of the day we spent exploring and walking through all the different shops. It rained for most of the afternoon, which was actually nice because it was so hot and humid all morning. We went to this fun restaurant called Oscar's and ordered Pina Colada's and Strawberry Daiquiris...no alcohol of course...they were so yummy! Right before we were going back to the ship that night, we stopped at the Puerto Vallarta Wal-Mart! (to get bottled water of course.) It was awesome!

The second stop was the next day in Mazatlan. We took a water taxi to famous "Stone Island" where a tractor pulling a long trolley-looking train loaded us all up. It took us to the small resort and beach, where we got all geared up with goggles and helmets and 4-wheelers! We drove and toured the whole island! We went through a small, old town there where kids were standing on the sides of the roads waving at us and yelling, "money! money!" It was so cute! Our guide stopped at a small almond farm where there were mango trees! He climed the tree and threw us all down fresh mangos! We peeled them and ate them and they were the best things I've ever had! After that we went back to the beach and raced down it! We for sure had a blast! The rest of the day we spent body surfing in the 85* water! It was like a bath!

Our final stop was in Cabo San Lucas. The ship can't doc in close to land so we were all water-taxied to the shore. We went through a small check-point before we could walk into the shops and they checked our backpacks for anything that could not be taken into the city...yes Tyler's apple and our beef jerky was taken from us... why beef jerky?? Oh, because "U.S. had mad-cow!"...is what the lady kept saying to us... MAD COW?? Do they know that beef jerky is processed and has so many chemicals in it that there is no possible way to get MAD COW from it? Yes, my first impression of Cabo was not good. Our beef jerky was not even open for crying out loud! Thanks lady for welcoming us so warmly! I bet they just wanted a snack!! Anyway, Cabo was so pretty! We took another water taxi to "Lovers Beach" where there is clear blue water and white sand... don't be fooled, the white sand was actually bigger pebbles that were not so comfortable to walk in! But it looked so inviting! It was neat because on one side of the beach was the Sea of Cortez, on the other side was the Pacific Ocean! What views we had! We snorkeled there and played in the water for a few hours before we went back to land. We shopped and ate and shopped... the sad thing is we didn't come home with much! I think we had the mind-set that we saw the same things over and over and when someone told us a price, we always thought we could find it cheaper somewhere else...so in the end we never ended up getting much...which I guess in a way was a good thing.

In the end, we would recommend everyone go on a Cruise at least once in their lifetime! It was so nice not to have to worry about where to stay, where or what to eat...it was like 2 vacations in one being on the ship and then going to visit the 3 Mexican cities. It was the best family vactation ever!!