I’m off tomorrow with the girls, A.K.A. wife and kids. We are Cruising to Acapulco and will be gone for eight sunny days. I will post pics to this thread when I return. Happy Thanksgiving, SDMB’ers! You’ll have to fight ignorance without me for a while (some of you may be thinking “It’ll sure be alot easier while he’s gone!”). Ahem.
P.S. keep an eye on the goats. The Nubian ones have a way of…well, multiplying. :eek:
Well, have fun. I thought this was going to be a thread about different cruising techniques. Like car cruising. You get the point. 
I went to Acapulco in 1979. I would like to go back some day.
Have fun Rufus and don’t worry about the goats, we’ll take good care of them.
Can’t wait for the photos so make 'em fun.
Take care. 
Miss me? I certainly missed all of you. I had a fantastic time on my trip, though, so that eased the sting of being away from the boards for almost nine days straight. We left the ship for the last time this morning at around 9 a.m., but when I sit still I can feel a gentle swaying sensation. I already miss being on the ocean. If you want to see some pix from the trip, they are here , but I will be adding posts to this thread with direct links to each picture with some backstory a little later.
Mmmmmm…food resembling roadkill…
Cool photos!
(When I went on a cruise last year, I took pictures of the little towel animals that the room steward left, too. )
Looks like you had an excellent time. If I could go see half the things in those photos I’d die a happy man.
Hey! Welcome back!
I missed saying bye 'cause I was already gone.
Those are some great pics.
Ok, that’s just disturbing…and *what the hell * are you doing to that dolphin? :eek:
We boarded the good ship Carnival Spirit on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday the 25th of November, at around 2 p.m. We spent about 2 hours getting ourselves oriented and settled in. The ship is gigantic, about 900 feet long and the height of a 10-story building above the water. Although we requested the early (5:45) seating for dinner, we were given the late (8:15) seating. This is not good. We normally eat dinner between 6 and 6:30 and the kids go to bed between 8 and 8:30. By 9 or so, if the 4-girl is still awake, she tends to melt down at the drop of a hat. When we went to discuss this with the Maitre 'D, we were among a large number of people travelling with small children who were also trying to get switched to the early seating. Since there was nothing that could be done that day, we had to wait until 8:15 or so to sit down to our eagerly anticipated Thanksgiving meal.
Not that we would have starved, of course, because there is food of some sort or another available on the ship 24 hours a day. This is just in reference to the formal seated dinner with the gourmet-style meals that are part of the paid package. It would be a bit of a waste to miss out.
Other things were afoot aboard, and as we slowly pulled away from San Diego and night fell, people started heading for the Casino, which was scheduled to be open at around 6. I walked through at 6 p.m. and there they were: the dedicated gamers. They had already planted themselves in front of the slot machines they wanted, and they were going nowhere until the Casino opened, which it finally did, at 6:45.
The only other thing of note that day was that when dinner finally did happen, the kids were too tired and cranky to eat, so they left early with my wife. Dinner itself was disappointing. It was a turkey dinner, but nouvelle cuisine style. A couple of circular slices of roast turkey atop a small cylindrical bed of mashed potatoes, yams and stuffing and drizzled with a cranberry ‘sauce’. Bleh.
Things would improve, however, in the days to come.
As Friday the 26th dawned, we were gliding smoothly over the open ocean. When I awoke at 7 a.m., it had been nearly 8 hours since I had eaten something. Clearly, it was time to restock my belly. I went upstairs and ate two bowls of cereal, 3 eggs, 2 little hash brown patties, 2 sausages, 4 slices of bacon, 2 danish and 2 cups of coffee. I felt like Diamond Jim Brady. I didn’t feel like eating again for at least another 3 hours.
I love the open ocean, and the feeling of traveling upon it on a huge ship is very satisfying. I never thought about the possibility that our ship might sink, though I was given a nasty turn in the Atrium when one the many ubuquitous musical performers on board started belting out “My Heart Will Go On”. I mean, shouldn’t that song, at least, be banned from Ocean Liners?
The only other thing of note from this date is that it was “Formal Night”, which meant a lot of people dressed up for dinner, though not necessarily in tuxes and evening gowns. I wore a shirt and tie, no jacket, and didn’t feel underdressed. For the first time, I noticed there were many beautiful women aboard.
Saturday the 27th was my oldest daughter’s 9th birthday. She took her breakfast on the balcony of our stateroom, looking out over the open ocean. The weather, which had been on the cool side(60’s and low 70’s), was now starting to feel tropical: warm and slightly humid. As I spent the day trying to figure out how 9 years has slipped by while I wasn’t looking, I ate two breakfasts, lunch and afternoon tea.
That night, after we ate dinner, they played “Hot Hot Hot” in the dining room and my daughters excitedly joined an enourmous conga line that snaked through the enourmous restaurant, with waiters balancing trays on their heads every few feet. The 4-girl is convinced to this day that the dance was in her sister’s honor.
When we got back to the room, one of our towels had been fashioned into a duck or something, and it was wearing my wife’s sunglasses.
After spending the morning at sea, we arrived at sunny Acapulco in early afternoon. My wife and kids went into town to see the famous cliff divers while I went on a snorkel excursion with my brother-in-law. The boat ride out to the dive spot was gorgeous, and a flotilla of huge and brightly colored sailboats passed behing us as we travelled along. The snorkel site itself was a bit of an anticlimax, as the water was murky and visibility poor. There were some pretty cool fish in there somewhere, though, and the water was warm and calm. On the way back, the crew handed out free beer. Yay! By the night of the 28th, I had already consumed more alcohol in the previous three days than I had in the previous 5 months combined. There’s something about a cruise…
Of course, the “friends of Bill W.”, as they are described in the Carnival Newsletter, meet on a daily basis. I can’t imagine how difficult it would be to abstain from drink on a cruise, though I understand why some people have to. My wife and I thought it would be funny to stumble into a meeting, sick-drunk, and proceed to vomit all over the chapel. As a helpful gesture, you understand. We didn’t actually get around to doing it, though.
The morning we were scheduled to arrive in Zihuatanejo, the 4-girl and I went out on the balcony to just sit in the warmth and breathe the sea air. Also, we had seen a sea lion in the open ocean just a couple of days before, and I was hoping to see some sealife again. I got my wish. I saw two distant splashes. I looked closer. They splashed again. It was dolphins. In a minute, several dolphins were leaping from the water and splashing down again along our side of the boat. Some were doing backflips. This went on for about 15 minutes. It was so exciting, I forgot to go get my camera. When I did, they were gone, but this is what the water looked like. I swear, dolphins had been splashing in this water not ten minutes before this picture was taken.
When we dropped anchor in the mouth of Zihuatenejo harbor , I was ready to take the 9-girl to fulfill our dreams: swimming with dolphins. When we arrived at the dock, there was a sport fisherman returning with his catch: 2 sailfish and 3 mahi-mahi. He was taking a picture with them, all strung up. My daughter was outraged. She hates that kind of thing, she’s very sensitive. It was very hot in town. We took a bus over the hills and into Ixtapa, where the dolphinarium is. Ixtapa is very touristy in contrast to Zihuatenejo, which is very local-flavored. However, I noticed major street work being done in Zihuatenejo, which may indicate that they are trying to capture more tourist business.
Suffice it to say that swimming with the dolphins exceeded my expectations. Here I am, hugging a dolphin. Beautiful animal. Soft, velvety skin. Strong smell of fish breath. Hey, even a dolphin has to have one flaw. The 9-girl loved it. We swam with them for about 45 minutes, petting them, hugging them, riding them, and, of course, posing for pictures.
That evening, back on the boat, I raved about the experience to anyone who asked how I was doing. I highly recommended it to them, and I highly recommend it to you. It was magical.
Zihuatanejo, huh? Sounds very nice…like the kind of place where I’d like to finish out my life. A warm place with no memory. Open a little hotel right on the beach. Buy some worthless old boat and fix it up like new. Take my guests out charter fishing…
Oo…sorry…never mind. Anyway…
So, which on of you is the sunset and which one is Zihuatenejo?
That was a great travelogue, Rufus! I’m now inspired to do something similar after our trip to New York City in May.
We took a short cruise from L.A. to Ensenada years ago and really enjoyed it. We, too, saw dolphins sporting about in the water, and have seen them several times from the beaches around L.A., as well as diving pelicans and other interesting fauna. Considering how much storm drain effluvia must come into the water in this region, I can only marvel at how resilient the ocean is to still be able to support these animals, so close to the city.
OOPS! Corrected Sunset Linky . Thanks, Hal.
One more thing re:Zihuatanejo. The guide on our bus ride to the dolphinarium told us that the ‘real guy’ that the Shawshank story was based on got extradited. Huh? I didn’t know there was a real guy. As far as I know, the story originated entirely in Stephen King’s brain. Nothing on Snopes about it. I decided to dismiss it as ignorant blather.
On Tuesday the 30th, we docked at Manzanillo very early. Just about the entire Mexican Navy is based here. I’m kidding. I know nothing about the Mexican Navy, other than that most of their ships appear to be former U. S. Navy ships from around the Vietnam era.
My brother-in-law and I went on another snorkelling expedition, this one far more satisfying than our Acapulco excursion. The water was clear and warm, and gorgeous tropical fish were everywhere. I saw a porcupine fish, which is a puffer that has spines all over it, and a small school of pipefish, among literally dozens of different colorful fish, most of which I was unable to identify, not being an icthyologist by nature or trade.
When we got back on the boat, the bar was open. I had a couple of straight tequila shots to celebrate the good snorkeling, then we were under way for the 50 minute ride back to the cruise ship. On the way back, the tour leader announced a contest. 5 men and 5 women were asked to participate in what was essentially and excuse to participate in some good old-fashioned binge drinking. Well, apparently, binge drinking is no longer as popular as it used to be, because it took the guy 15 minutes to round up the group he wanted out of the 60 or so people aboard. I, of course, was a willing participant, and ended up downing some 4 or 5 tequila slammers during the course of the “competition”. As a result, I got the best buzz of the entire trip. despite my inebriated state, I was able to take this
picture of the Carnival Spirit as our small boat returned to dock.
That night was the night of the guest talent show. My brother-in-law and I had worked out an arrangement of “The Sinister Minister” by Bela Fleck as a duet for bass(him) and piano(me), and we put our names in the hat (there were some 25 applicants for just 7 slots in the show). We were drawn first, thus robbing the process of any real tension, especially since there was no “winner”, per se. It was not a contest, just a show. Nonetheless, we performed to the best of our abilities, and many people came up to us later that night to tell us they had liked us the best. As our performance ended, I took this picture of our semi-standing ovation. We were minor celebrities for about 24 hours. Even people who hadn’t been to the show eventually saw us, because they broadcast the whole talent show over one channel of the ship’s TV for the next 24 hours in a continuous loop.
For our participation in the show, we received a bottle of champagne. Later that evening, we went down to the casino, and issued the following instruction to our waitress. Pop the champagne, pour us a glass each, then empty the bottle into some more glasses, and offer them around to random strangers. The waitress was perplexed. Were we sure we didn’t want to drink it ourselves? Yes. Were we sure we didn’t have any particular people in mind to share it with? Yes. We insisted that the remaining champagne be offered at random to people we did not know. I gave her 5 dollars, and she seemed happy with the assignment.
The remaining 2 1/2 days of the trip were exceedingly uneventful, except for the beautiful sunset we saw on Wednesday evening, and the gala buffet that midnight.
Now, the gala buffet is supposed to be one of the crowning glories of the cruise. They go all out, preparing a variety of gourmet treats, all lovingly displayed amidst elaborate ice sculptures, butter sculptures, and carved watermelons. It is supposed to be so splendid that they open the dining room half an hour early just so people can take pictures of it. Well, I stood in line for 20 minutes, waiting my turn to view and photograph the display. I was fairly impressed until I saw The Meat Eagle. I don’t know if this was someone’s idea of a joke, but someone arranged a platter of roast beef in the shape of an eagle, and then added talons, a face and beak fashioned out of carrots. The result can only be described as nauseating, as it apparently depicts a noble raptor, with its feathers and skin flayed away, in horrible pain, as it shrieks its dying breaths at you. Mmmmm. Nummy. I had to take a picture of this, of course. And suddenly, I wasn’t so hungry anymore. In fact, if it wasn’t for The Meat Eagle, I might had packed another 5 or 6 pounds onto my frame before we returned home. As it is, I ate not a single bite of the gala buffet. I’m sure it was delicious, though.
Heading reluctantly back home, a couple of other highlights were:
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finding a great jazz trio playing nightly in one of the lounges. These guys were so good, I would have had to pay at least $30 to see them play in Los Angeles. As it was, they were so friendly we even got to talk to them between sets, and they mentioned our talent show performance and invited me to sit in with them. I thanked them and politely explained that that would be like a 14-year-old kid trying to play ball with the New York Yankees. In short, embarassing. I was more than happy to just listen. They were awesome.
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My wife and 9-girl, playing bingo, won $250. I was also playing, a few rows back in the lounge, and I needed one more number to get my own bingo. It was an N number. The caller called N - (I held my breath, hoping it was my number) - notmy number. I cursed. Someone shouted “BINGO!” I cursed louder. I looked up to see what despicable person had robbed me of my shot at $250 and - it was my adored spouse and my own flesh and blood. Humph. Well, I guess that’s OK then.
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trying to play foosball and air hockey as the ship rocked and creaked through heavy swells. Challenging.
Other fun things happened, I’m sure, that I just can’t recall right now. Anyway, we had a great time, I recommend cruising if you ever can do it, and definitely, absolutely, positively, if you ever get a chance to do it, swim with the dolphins!!! You don’t even have to be able to swim because they make you wear these life vests and you couldn’t drown even if you wanted to!
Whatever you do in life, if you haven’t already, make sure you put aside some time and money to swim with dolphins. I promise you won’t regret it.
