Costa Rica and our day at sea

 

Between Guatemala and Costa Rica, we had a day at sea.  It allows us to get a breather between ports and relax a bit. 

This day at sea we got to tour the bridge.  This was a special event for Cruise Critic members and it doesn’t always happen, but this time they allowed it.  We had to show up at a certain time, get signed in and screened using the wand.  We got to see some of the equipment they use and were told how it gets used.  We were allowed to take pictures but not use the flash on the equipment.  It also has the best view from up there. 

After the bridge tour there was a Captains Club party and for 1 1/2 hours the booze was flowing (for free).  They also had a great food spread (as if we needed more).  We got a lot of personalized entertainment too.  Sure beats what Carnival gives their past passengers.

I went to bed early as I had a tour to organize the next day.  Doug got in late as he went to a movie at 10pm. 

We got up at 6:30 and I was off the ship by 7:15 to make sure I was outside to meet my group.  Some where out there already and the rest trickled out until about 8am.  The start of the tour was a little rocky, but once we were all settled, we had a great 7 hour tour. 

We started the tour with a stop to see the monkeys.  They gave us food to feed the monkeys and those monkeys enjoyed helping themselves to it.  They were very cute and we got some great pictures.  Doug also got a little video of them that we will post on facebook at some point.  Then the next stop was a sugar plantation where they showed us how they squeeze the liquid out of the sugar cane.  They let us drink some of it (mixed with ginger and lime) and boy was it good.  Doug and I only had a little bit as we figured it would spike our sugar levels a little too high.  We also got to taste a few other things like cashews and another fruit wine they made.

Our next stop was for our zipline.  There were 8 of us who did the zipline and 8 did the skywalk tour and Doug and my mom stayed at the hotel and enjoyed the surroundings.  I did the zipline along with Dad.  There were 6 zips all together and they were a blast.  It was a bit of a walk to get there and then we did 3 zips… then there was a bit more of a hike and we did the last 3 zips.  I managed to not make it to the end of 3 zips and had to pull myself to the end of them.  Good thing I had been getting upper body strength with all the pushing of Doug on the wheelchair.   I really enjoyed the zipline and would do it again.  I am not a huge fan of heights, but this was easy to deal with as you were not too high up.  By the way, Mickey Mouse did not join me on the zipline.  I figured that would be too hard for me to figure out.  I did manage to get a video of one of my zips… I will post that at some point too.

For anyone who says they can’t zipline, here is a pic of my dad doing it.  He is 70 years old… I think if he can do it, anyone can.  Doug was really sad to have missed it though as this was his idea in the first place.  I guess we will have to do something like this again so he can do the ziplining.

 

 

After this we were all pretty tired, but we managed to see about 10 parrots in some trees along the way to lunch.  The bus driver stopped and we got some really good pictures of Macaw’s in their natural habitat… how cool was that :) 

We had a great lunch (included in the tour) at a restaurant and it included some great authentic Costa Rican food.  We were all pretty full after that.  Then there was a stop at the beach to take a few pictures.  We also stopped at a supermarket for some coffee, but found the same coffee was sold on the ship for cheaper, so we didn’t buy anything.  By this time everyone was pretty tired and wanted to get back on board.  We could have stopped to see some crocodiles, but we wanted to get back.  Once we got back to the ship, Doug and I went straight to our cabin and slept for an hour before getting ready for dinner.  Mom, Dad, Conny & Eleanor went back out to the port and did a bit of shopping yet.  I just couldn’t manage doing that yet as I was so tired.

Tomorrow (Thursday) we are going through the Panama Canal.  I plan on getting up at 5:30 to find myself a good spot on the deck to watch it.   I guess it is early to bed tonight so I can stay awake for the whole Panama Canal experience.

2 days at Sea and Guatemala

 

We had 2 days at sea between Puerto Vallarta and Guatemala.  During that time we dodged a category 4 hurricane.  Hurricane Hillary was heading straight for Acapulco and our ship was heading right for it, so our captain decided he would go around it and he landed up going around it by 200 miles.  The seas were a little rough but not really too bad.  We did get some thunder and lightening, but who doesn’t love a good storm? 

Most of our time on days at sea is spent relaxing on the pool deck.  We try to find some shade and then just plant ourselves there for the day.  We found that the grill has some great salads and some even better fruit, so we land up eating there for lunch most of the time.  The AquaSpa Cafe has some great healthy alternatives for lunch too.   They have some great poached fruit and some low sugar items.  Breakfast still usually consists of eggs benedict and waffles… life is good and the food selection is awesome.

Our dinner is at 6, so we usually go to our cabin around 5ish and get ourselves ready.  Dinner is usually until 8 and then we go back to the cabin and get a few things and head up to the theatre to watch the entertainment which starts at 9pm.  We get there early so we can get a good wheel chair seat for Doug.  After the show we either go to bed and relax a bit, or stay up a little later for some late night entertainment.  For example right now I am typing this in the dance lounge waiting for the Newly Wed, Not so Newlywed show to start at 10:45pm.  Tomorrow is a sea day so I can sleep in until 8am. 

The picture is us all dressed for formal night.  I usually push him in the wheel chair to the dining room.  Thankfully Dad  helps me with that every so often because the carpet in the hallways makes it hard to push.

We have gone to most of the shows in the evening and during these shows have been 2 amazing interpreters.  There is a group of deaf people on board and they hire them to come with them to interpret for the show.  I did not know you could interpret musicals and comedians, but you can and they do it with finesse.  I figured Mickey needed to have a picture with them and I also told them how amazing they were.

 

Today was our port stop in Guatemala.  I decided to book a shore excursion with the cruiseship with Conny.  We went to see Lake Atitlan which was a 2 1/2 hour trip drive each way.  It was beautiful scenery though and we also had a great authentic lunch.  This port had the worst case of people wanting to sell you stuff.  They followed us around everywhere and even started touching me wanting to buy their stuff.  I had Mickey with me and they kept asking if the Mickey was for them… i said NO!!  I didn’t buy anything though.  Doug didn’t go on the tour though.  It was too expensive for both of us to go and i don’t think he could have managed such a long drive and all the bumps on the road.  Turns out the walk to the pier for the boat ride around the lake was steep.  We did a lookout point, a 45 minute boat ride on the lake, a lunch at a hotel and a bit of walking around the hotel area which had lots of flowers and other scenery.  Yes, I took some pictures of flowers for Doug as he loves that kind of things.  I preferred pictures of houses and cool buildings.

Doug stayed at the port along with Eleanor and my parents.  They went out into the port for awhile and bought a few souvenirs (including coffee).  They got to enjoy the very quiet ship while everyone else was out doing some type of tour.  Here is a port that it might be a good idea to stick with a tour through the ship. 

We have a sea day again and then off to Costco Rica on Tuesday… we can’t wait.  I am doing zipline and maybe my dad is going too. 

Cabo San Lucas & Puerto Vallarta

 

These two ports of call are ones we have been to before.  This will be our 5th time in Cabo and my 3rd time in Puerto Vallarta.  We actually we not supposed to go to PV but when we boarded the ship we got notified that we were not going to go to Acapulco because of all the violence.

Cabo San Lucas – this is a tender port and so that meant it was going to be a little difficult for Doug to get off the ship.  The swells were high and so you had to jump a bit to get onto the tender boat.  Doug managed though, so off we went for our adventure in Cabo.  We had decided to take a taxi to Costco.  We had learned from an earlier trip that they had the best view property of the bay.  They also had cheap churros and pina colada’s (non alcoholic).  I don’t think any of us planned to buy anything.  We were just doing this to say we did something in Cabo.  After our exciting trip to Costco, we went to a coffee shop and used their wireless internet so Doug could check his email.  We got back onboard and relaxed by the pool

Puerto Vallarta – here we walked to the main port and did a bit of shopping and found an internet cafe ($1/hour) and checked our email and updated our facebook.  After that we wandered over to Walmart and picked up some Tequila and some pop.  Doug didn’t manage to well on the sidewalks, so he want back to the ship while Dad and I finished up shopping.  We got back on board at a decent time and took a quick dip in the pool.

The weather got hot once we hit Cabo.  Walking outside for a bit and your clothes where soaked in sweat.  I was expecting this though as I have heard that the Panama Canal is hot this time of year, so I guess it will only get worse. 

I have been getting up around 7am and sitting outside and reading.  I pick up a couple croisonts and enjoy the quiet of the ship.  Then I phone Doug around 8 and wake him up.  By 9am Doug, Mom and Dad are out of the cabin and we are eating breakfast together.   So far this routine has worked out well.  Today we skipped lunch though as we were pretty full.  The dinner’s have been fantastic.  We all have been eating lots of fruit too.

I am currently sitting in our cabin typing this while eating a sugar free pastry and a glass of milk… all ordered from room service.  Yes, this is the life.

Now we have 2 days at sea.  Who know what we will do.  Probably lots of relaxing and hopefully a little learning. 

Mickey Mouse has been very well received on board.  Most everyone loves it that we are walking around with him.  The entertainment staff is getting a kick out of it and the Cruise Director calls me Disney.  Here is a picture of Hazel and Mickey Mouse.  Hazel is from San Diego and this is her first contract on Celebrity.  Every time she sees us she asks where Mickey is.  I figured she need to be in a picture with Mickey Mouse.  I also get lots of comments about my red hair.  I think Doug and myself are the two most unique looking people on board.  We are just about the youngest, that is for sure.

Embarkation Day & Sea Day

 

On our day to embark the ship, I got up at 6:15 again.  Not sure why I keep getting up so early, but that is what keeps happening.  I went online and did some facebook stuff and then went outside to the breakfast area and read a book on my tablet and had breakfast #1.  Eventually Eleanor and Conny showed up and joined me.  I told them it would be awhile before everyone else showed up, but they surprised me.  We were all sitting together for breakfast just a little after 8.  Who knew everyone could get up so early.  I think we were all ready to get onboard by 10:30 for our taxi’s to show up.  Between the 6 of us we got two cabs.

We couldn’t believe the day was finally here… boarding a ship for 15 days.  Turns out Doug and myself are not a well oiled machine when it comes to boarding a ship AND dealing with a wheelchair and walker.  We got rid of our luggage and went to board.  I had Doug’s walker and we found a wheelchair for Doug to use.  We took turns pushing Doug, but still we had issues with my carry on bag falling off the walker and pushing Doug into walls.  We did get to go through a special line for wheelchairs, and then they put us in a small corner to wait to board.  We were told we would have priority boarding, but put us on the other side of the building to where we board the ship.  So when the announcement came to board, we didn’t hear it and when we did, they told us to go to a different area and then changed there mind.  As if it isn’t hard enough to deal with a wheelchair, we had to deal with people not telling us where to go.  After a bit of fuss though, we got onboard around noon, found a spot to sit and started to enjoy our trip.

We (Doug & I) didn’t feel like dealing with the lunch buffet lines, so I got Doug a hotdog from the grill and they had at least 6 salads plus fresh fruit.  My favourite part of a cruise is all the fresh fruit.  Mom and Dad did the lunch buffet line though and enjoyed it too.  We were finally onboard the ship and we could relax and enjoy our Panama Cruise for the next 15 days.  Doug and Conny enjoyed sitting in the sun for awhile on the pool deck.  By about 1:30 our rooms where ready and we went down to check them out.  We got midship cabins and very close to everything.  Our luggage came soon after and I unpacked.

The afternoon was spent sitting on the pool deck and listening to the live band.  That is one thing Celebrity does well in… all the live music.  We were suppossed to leave the port at 4, but landed up leaving around 5:30 instead.  I think it had something to do with all the luggage and inspecting every bag.  Dinner was at 6, and we had a table for just the six of us.  We have a really nice wait staff and I think I am really going to enjoy them.  We haven’t had much luck in this department for the last few cruises (all have been nice, but usually slow) and so it will be nice to have an efficient wait staff.  After dinner we went back to the cabin so Doug could rest a bit and then we were off to the Welcome Aboard show at 9.  Our time changed an hour ahead that night, so we went to bed after the show.

It is now our first day at sea.  I was up at 7am to check out the ship.  Currently I am sitting in the adult only section of the ship (so far I have only seen 2 kids) and had a light breakfast at the AquaSpa with a yummy cup of coffee.  I have to wake Doug up at 8:30 and we are meeting for breakfast with everyone at 9.  Turns out Celebrity will make mom gluten free waffles… that is the first for us. 

My sleep wasn’t that good.  Not sure what to do, but if it isn’t that good tonight I will ask for a different mattress as mine is not very good.  Even Doug went on it and said he noticed the difference between mine and his.   Talking about Doug, so far he is managing ok.  He just has to take it easy and get lots of rest.  I am still getting used to the wheelchair, but I am hoping soon he can navigate with it on his own a little better.  He will use the walker if there won’t be lots of walking to do though.  Our cabin is fairly full though… a wheel chair and a walker takes up a lot of room. 

I am getting a lot of comments about my hair and then people see my tattoo.  I think I have the most colour in my hair from everyone here.  I don’t think we are the youngest adults on board, though, but there aren’t a lot of us.  Lots and lots of older people, which is expected on a longer cruise.  I am also wandering around with the Mouse, and I am getting a few comments about that too.

Well, time to close this up.  Gotta wake up the hubby soon.

Back from a day of fun and adventure on the ship.  The family finally showed up for breaky and we had a nice sit down breakfast.  Mom got her gluten free waffles and Doug & I had made to order eggs Benedict.  It was very tasty.  The rest of the day was doing some activities, eating lunch, getting all dressed up for formal night and eating a yummy dinner.  Now we are waiting for an acapella group to start singing.   They started… they are very good.

 

Doug tried to do a watercolour class .  He couldn’t concentrate well on the instructions, so he didn’t do well… but there will be more classes so maybe he will try again and take less drugs.

 

Then later we did a galley tour.  Wow is the kitchen ever big.

 

Tomorrow is Cabo San Lucas and we all plan to take a taxi to Costco… yup, we live the exciting life HA HA HA

San Diego – Day 3 - SeaWorld

Hey there! Mickey the Mouse here, from SeaWorld!

Today my peeps took me to the other theme park, down in San Diego. The weather was fantastic, bit of a breeze to keep you cool, and enough sun to work on your tan. We even met our friend Gail there ...she is always a lot of fun to be with, and she is one of my biggest fans. 

 

 

 

We saw my good friend Shamu, and the rest of the Shamu family. They have always been great hosts, entertaining all of their guests with great tricks, and the show they do is number one! 

 

 

 

We also saw the sea turtles, but Crush and Little Dude couldn't make it, as they were doing some shows at my Florida park. It is nice to see that SeaWorld is working so hard to keep the turtle population growing so that Crush and his family can get to the Great Barrier Reef every year for their vacation.

 

Oh, the dolphins were a lot of fun, but I thought they were the highlight of that show, not the birds or the people. I loved it when they sipping jumped and splashed the people. I love seeing them smile ...the dolphins, that is ;-)

The penguins were a lot of fun. Doug didn't get to see them this time, as he was laying down on the job (at 1st aid) ...again!
We went on an arctic expedition. That was exciting, and a little scary! We saw Beluga whales, and Doug thanked them for making good caviar (yuck!). Saw a Polar Bear playing in the water. Doug suddenly had craving for a Coke. Weird.

Stefani, Vic, Gail, and Connie went on a wild ride. Looked wet. I stayed dry with Doug and Chris, but it looked like the rest of them had fun. 

 

 

 

 

After that the day started coming to an end. We did some shopping, and grabbed a Dippin’ Dots ice cream . Those are my favourite. Stefani treated Doug to a Starbucks coffee … he really liked that! Gail had to say goodbye, until the next time we could see her, and we were all getting tired. It was almost time to meet our shuttle, and away we went, back to our hotel.

Dinner was sandwiches and Jack in the Box tacos (we got some free coupons from the baseball game yesterday!), and we spent a relaxed evening packing and getting ready for our cruise tomorrow! That’s gonna be a lot of fun! So excited!

Here is one more picture of everyone having lunch at Calypso Reef… we all ate well… actually the humans ate well… I was stuffed ;)

San Diego – Day 2

I started my day bright and early… nobody was up in our group.  I couldn’t sleep past 7am, so I checked email and then went to the lobby for breakfast #1.  I sat outside and just people watched for awhile.  My dad showed up a little after 8ish and Doug finally came out of his hole around 8:30 (complaining about how early it was).    All 6 of us landed up having breakfast together (my breakfast #2).  We came up with a game plan for the day and then we went our separate ways.  Connie and Eleanor went to Balboa Park and the 4 of us wandered over to Old Town via the Trolley. 

The trolley here works very well.  You buy a $5/day pass and can use it all day long.  We of course took pictures of Doug getting hauled up by the lift.  This is all new to us, so it has to be documented.

We got to Old Town around 10:30 and saw that they were doing some celebrations for Mexican Independence Day.  How lucky can one get (I planned it all of course).  Doug and my dad went to the cigar shop and me and my mom browsed a few Mexican shops.  I think it is kinda funny that we are browsing Mexican shops when we will be in Mexico on a few days.  I just bought a San Diego shot glass (made in mexico).   Then we went to our favourite Mexican Restaurant in San Diego called Casa de Reyes and watched some live music for the celebrations.  We had a lovely lunch and then walked back to the hotel to get a bit of rest before our next stop.  Now when I say we went for a rest, I am talking about Doug and my parents… I don’t rest on a vacation HA HA HA

The next part of our day was doing a harbor cruise on the Hornblower.  We did this the last time we were here, but figured it would be fun to go with my group.  We managed to see a very unique sighting on the water… the hovercraft from Camp Pendleton.  Turns out it is Fleet Week here in San Diego this week and there is a lot of military activity going on.

After the harbor cruise we came back to the hotel and rested (sigh… this seems to be a theme in my blogs).  We didn’t go out for dinner as we were still full from our lunch, but we did eat the things we bought at the deli from yesterday.  YUMMY!  Also Jack in the Box had $1 pop, so we had to buy some of that too. 

Our day pass for the Trolley came in handy as we were off to the game.   I bought tickets to the San Diego Padre’s game because I heard that MercyMe was going to be playing a concert after the game.  The tickets were $13 and we got some great seats.  This was our first ever baseball game and it was fun.  We didn’t go for the beginning of it though.  We got there around the 6th inning (I think that is what it is called).  We got to see the Padre’s win the game, which apparently was cheering worthy to the crowd HEE HEE HEE!!  MercyMe started around 8:45 and it was great.  Sure our seats for such a concert wasn’t very good, but it was fine by us.  We could have moved closer, but we were comfy.  They are a great band and I really enjoyed the concert.  I love listening to God music.  No matter how hard life is, listening to worship music makes things seem a little better. 

It is now 10pm (wow, everyone made it without falling asleep) and Doug and I are going to have a glass of homogenized milk and a bear claw.  

Mickey Mouse had a great day exploring with us and especially enjoyed his first ever baseball game too. 

Tomorrow is SeaWorld… exciting.

San Diego – Day 1

Our day started out at 4:00am.  The alarm was set for 4:15, but I was too excited to sleep, so that is when I landed up waking up.  We did pretty good with packing.  1 check-in bag and 2 carry on bags (plus back packs).  The border went quickly and we were in Seattle by 7:15am and having breakfast by around 7:30 at Denny’s .  We love to start our vacation at Denny’s for some reason.  We have started it as our tradition now. 

 

The airport went really well considering Doug was being carted around in a wheel chair.  We got to be first in the security line and then we were just about first on the airplane.  Granted along with these perks came the work of my parents and myself carting around an extra luggage that Doug couldn’t pull.  I landed up rolling two suitcases over my toe and hurt it quite bad.    The flight went well though and even though it was full, I still didn’t find it too stressful.  Once we got to San Diego we found someone to wheel Doug down to the baggage claim and away we went.  I think our taxi cab made it to our hotel in record time.  I gave him a $5 tip for that.  Once we got to the hotel, I remembered that I had ordered a scooter for Doug to use for the 3 days we were here.  He is really enjoying it.

We spent a few hours at the hotel just relaxing and getting our stuff in order.  I did some research and found some great reviews about a restaurant/deli called Mona Lisa .  They offered gluten free pasta for my mom, so that was a bonus.  When our food came, we couldn’t believe how good it looked.  So I took pictures of all the amazing food we ate.  Good thing we walked to the restaurant because we sure needed the exercise after that meal.  Afterwards we went to the deli and bought some sandwich fixins for meals tomorrow.  It was all good looking authentic Italian food.  Oh, did I mention that we went to Little Italy for this restaurant?  Very cute.

below is some food porn pictures of our meal. 

 

 

Well  , it is only 8pm and I refuse to go to sleep this early, but I think we are staying in now.  It has been a long day and it is time to relax.  Tomorrow is Old Town, Harbor Cruise, Padre’s game and a Mercy Me Concert. 

I hope to post a number of updates on this blog during our trip.  Keep watch and enjoy our travels.  We are going to have 20 days of fun, sun and relaxing.

Stefani (and my 2 sidekicks… Doug & Mickey)