Thanksgiving Cruise

For the first time in years, I didn't have to cook Thanksgiving dinner. The family went on a Mexican Riviera Cruise, and by family I mean Joel, Jill, Nathan, Bill, Darla, Pat & me. This time, we were back on a Princess ship and boy were we glad. The food, service, rooms .... everything was better than Royal Caribbean. Of course, having family along made it even better.

We sailed out of Long Beach on the 21st, spent two days at sea lolling about the deck with our books and beverages, then stopped in Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas, and finished up with a final day at sea.

As usual, I enjoyed the sea days most. The weather was beautiful and I had a pile of books to choose from. The men were a little more active and roamed about the ship partaking in activities. In fact, Bill was rarely seen except at meals.

High points...food, food, food, weather, balcony cabin, Sky walker lounge, hot tubs, walking around the promenade deck, food, being with family. Low points...poor waiter and Jill lost her camera. That's it.

Puerto Vallarta was great. Nathan and Bill went fishing, the rest of us went to the beach and had tacos, chips and guac and beverages. I love Puerto Vallarta, would like to stay there again sometime.

Mazatlan had us worried. Last cruise we were unimpressed, but this time headed to the beach where we hung out at Joe's Oyster bar, watched people, the guys did a fair bit of water activity, and of course ate Mexican food and had a little something to wet our whistle.

Finally, Cabo. It was a short day, but Pat and Bill negotiated a great price on a glass bottom boat trip. What fun. After the boat, headed to a restarant for refreshments. Had to be back on board by 2:00. The afternoon was spent in a hot tub and getting ready for Thanksgiving dinner.

Sadly the cruise was just about over. One last day at sea, hanging out in a lounge that had a great view of the ocean. Spotted some whales and dolphins, read, talked, played poker, sigh. So fun.

Saturday we arrived back in Long Beach early in the morning. After dropping Darla and Bill at the airport, we headed to downtown Disney to catch the movie New Moon. Nice way to return to the real world.

Pat, Joel and I stayed in California until Tuesday. It was fun being home with Jill & Nathan. We cooked, golfed, ran errands and finally, went to the Riverside Auto Auction to buy cars for our new business, Lifestyle Motor Company.

All in all, a fun and productive trip. Now, on to planning Christmas in Sunriver.