Day 8 - last day!

For those that are wondering, we did make it to the midnight comedy show. Good thing we got that extra hour last night as we were up by 6:15 am ready to repeat yesterday. Karin started the morning with 3 miles around the upper ship deck. Early in the morning, before they set out the lounge chairs, passengers use it for a jogging/walking track and they have marked it off in terms of distance - 10 laps equal 5 kilometers and it’s lovely to look out at the sea while you walk.
It’s easy to tell that we’re moving north. While it’s sunny and clear, the temperature is significantly cooler today. Combined with a 50 Kn wind, it was downright chilly up on the open decks this morning – however people are stubbornly laying out on deck chairs in sweatshirts and long pants. Fortunately for us, our balcony is at the aft of the ship, so is protected from the wind and toasty warm with the morning sun. We were able to spend the better part of the morning out there reading and soaking up the last hours of sun before we return to Minnesota in time for snow and cold. The picture here shows the view from our balcony.

Just before lunch we headed down to the pursers desk to find out about self-debarkation. Due to our propensity to over-pack, we typically try to avoid this and prefer to pick up our bags in the cruise terminal just before customs. This time, however, the only flight to MSP from San Diego was at 11 am, leaving self-debarkation as the only option if we want to make the airport in time.

Tonight at dinner we said goodbye and thank you (both verbally and with tips) to the staff in the dining room, all of whom have contributed so much to the enjoyment of our trip. Included in this group is Assadee (our head waitress from Thailand) who always took the time to stop and greet us by name whenever she saw anywhere on the ship; and who knew that Andrew would always order shrimp and that Karin would never want sour cream on her baked potato. Also thank you to Benjamin (our assistant waiter from the Philippines) who was always smiling and never neglected to ask how our day was. We also said thank you to Rolando, our cabin steward. Rolando kept our room spotless, and catered to our every whim including bringing us 3 extra pillows on the first day! Rolando also left us a virtual zoo of towel animals over the week – including monkeys, dogs and elephants. The staff on the ship really do go above and beyond to make sure that all the passengers have a wonderful time, and that they never want for a single thing while on the ship. They work long hours at not-so-glamorous jobs and are away from their families for up to a year at a time so we always try to remember to be appreciative of all their efforts and forgiving of any mistakes (although those are pretty darn infrequent).

After dinner it’s time to pack up. Karin likes to do laundry first, so that we take home clean clothes. Since the laundry room is just across the hall, it’s easy and convenient for us to do. Even better, as we’re cruising again in April, we can basically leave our bags packed for then! Tomorrow morning the ship will dock in San Diego around 7 am, and we’ll start getting off about 8:30 after the ship clears customs. We’ve had a great trip and it’s been fun for us to do these posts. We hope you’ve enjoyed following along – if so, we’ll do it again in April when we sail on a 12-day trip to Hawaii!

Day 7

Today is our second to last day and another sea day. While the ports are fun because you get to see different cities and sights, the sea days are nice because they are so relaxing. Today was especially welcome after 3 ports in a row. Andrew has developed a cold, so he slept in while Karin went to the gym. Not as crowded today as it has been other mornings – people are getting lazy as the week wears on!
After the gym and showers, we had our breakfast in the dining room for the first time on this cruise. We always forget how nice it is to eat breakfast there, away from the noise and chaos of the breakfast buffet upstairs. We need to remember that sooner in the future! After a lovely breakfast, Karin headed up to the deck to read and get some sun, while Andrew went to his spot in “The Jungle” to catch up on his Cruise Critic review. If you're hungry for more of what we did, you can check that out at this link:
http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=22221325#post22221325

Today was very windy and the water was a little rough, but the sun was warm. We could see Cabo san Lucas as we went by about 1 pm today - one of the ports we visited last year and enjoyed very much. We spent the rest of the afternoon lazing around and reading.

Tonight was our 2nd formal night. We opted to dress to the “4 and ½’s” instead of the 9’s tonight, and it turned out just fine. Dinner was delicious, as usual. Karin had grouper and Andrew had shrimp. Yes, Shelby, Andrew does have shrimp for every meal. Even our waitress (whom we’ve had every night we’ve eaten in the main dining room and really love) knows Andrew will always order shrimp.
Tonight is another adults-only comedian at midnight. Buoyed by our successful attempt to stay up past 9 pm earlier in the week, we’re going to try for an encore. We also get to turn the clocks back an hour tonight, so it seems likely we’ll live to tell!

Day 6

Today we are in Manzillo and Colima. We were greeted at the Manzillo dock by our guide Paco and set off by car for our tour of the area. The first stop was La Tortugario (turtle sanctuary) where we watched a video (subtitled, thank goodness!) about the sanctuary’s efforts to revitalize the 3 turtle species that are native to Colima. We also learned that Mexico is home to 7 of the 8 turtle species in the world. The sanctuary gathers the eggs that are laid by wild turtles on the beaches and puts them in to an area that is protected from birds and other predators. It is also guarded overnight so that eggs (which are a delicacy and thought to cure illnesses) are not stolen. When the eggs hatch the baby turtles are moved to a nursery area until they are better able to defend themselves, and then they are released in to the ocean – which they let the tourists do. We each released a 1-week old baby turtle in to the sea – which was very neat.

After the sanctuary we got back in the car and hit the highway to Colima. Again, speed limits are not enforced, nor are the lines which outline the lanes. The speed limit was 60 km/hr most of the way (90 in a few spots); we did not, however, observe the speedometer go much below 120 km/hr. Despite that we arrived in Colima in one piece (and quickly!). Colima is an old city, with a traditional town square and vendors selling various goods and crafts. We spent about an hour browsing and then it was back in to the torpedo (aka the car) to see the Colima volcano, which is still active and creates beautiful black sand beaches in the area.

From the volcano we went to the small town of Comala (which means “coffee town”) for lunch. Lunch was traditional Mexican fare, delicious and lots of it. We finally had to ask the waiter to stop bringing us more courses when an end was not becoming apparent. We sadly opted out of touring the coffee plantation because of time and got back in to the car for the 75 minute drive back to Manzillo. Once back in the city, Paco toured us around the sights which included Las Hadas Hotel (where “10” was filmed), the “old city”, and the view from the top of the mountain. Our last stop was downtown where there are trees full of dozens of wild iguanas. Paco told us that he had counted almost 100 the week before – they really were everywhere, it was amazing to see! There is a market and restaurants nearby that feed them fruits and veggies, so they are fat and happy sunning in the trees. Many of them were 7 feet long!

Now we’re back on the ship and will sail away shortly. Two more sea days and our holiday will be over.

Day 5

Today we are in Zihuatanejo and Ixtapa for a day at the beach. Zihuatanejo is the original side where the locals live; Ixtapa is the newer area where all the tourists go. We took a cab to Playa Linda where there are pangas (water taxis) waiting to take the tourists to Isla Ixtapa. On the taxi ride, we noticed right away that speed limits and stop signs are merely “suggestions”, and we made it to the other side of the island in record time.

It was pouring rain for the first 2 hours we were at the beach, but that didn’t stop Andrew from heading straight out to snorkel the coral reefs. Karin had a luxurious 1-hour massage right on the beach with the rain falling on the palaypos roof. Around noon the rain stopped and the sun came out, making for a perfect day on the beach. Lunch was delicious fresh seafood, which is also sold on the beach by local fishermen – shrimp for Andrew, snapper for Karin.

After about 5 hours on the beach we headed back to town for a quick run through the shops. We are learning that most shops all over Mexico sell almost the exact same items, so we don’t purchase very much. Andrew collects a magnet from each place we visit and Karin likes to try and find local cooking ingredients.

Now it’s back on to the ship in time to shower and head off to dinner. Tonight we’ll relax and get ready for our final port (Manzillo) tomorrow.