Cruise to the Mexican Riviera: January 2023

My parents told me about the deal on this cruise last fall while Dan was still on his last away rotation. Because I had enough of my fitness funds saved up I decided I was going to go whether or not Daniel could join me ha. This was the first time in my life that I felt like I truly DESERVED a vacation after going through solo parenting for months. Thankfully, things ended up working out for Dan to come. No interviews got scheduled during the week we cruised.
I'm beyond grateful we were able to make this work! We hadn't been on a vacation together for years and I have no idea when we'll be able to do something like this again. We're celebrating ten years of marriage together this summer, Dan will graduate from med school, and I survived him going through it all so it was one big celebration vacation!
My parents went, Matt (my brother) and Andrea, my Aunt Janet, My Aunt Deanne and Uncle Dow, (their daughter) my cousin Bonnie, and some of Mike's (my BIL) family was on there too that we saw occasionally. We were on the Carnival Panorama and went to Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta.

January 21
We woke up around 3:45 AM and hit the road about 4:15 (central time) to drive to Albuquerque to catch our flight out of there. Dan's parents were nice enough to gift us our flights for Christmas. We thought that doing a direct flight would save us from getting delayed and such. Our flight left around noon (mountain time) and we got to LAX a little after 1:00 PM (pacific time).

Once we arrived in LA we found out that our bags had been "expedited" to SLC and would not arrive in LA before we needed to leave to catch the cruise ship. That put a damper on things but stinking Delta assured us that they could get them to Cabo (our first port) and Carnival would pick them up there. So we caught an Uber to our ship and got on without all our luggage. We took what we had to our room, reported to our muster station, and then found my family and got some lunch. Detla said they'd give us each $300 to spend on toiletries and clothes since they messed up getting our luggage to the right location on time, so we went shopping. Dan found some decent stuff but there wasn't much for me that I'd normally wear. Oh the joys! We sailed away before the sun went down and then got ready for dinner. Thankfully it was a casual night so I could wear what I had on that day. After dinner we were pretty tired from the long day of travel so hung out in our room and went to bed fairly early.

January 22
It was a sea day today. Dan wore one of his new cruise outfits and I wore the same pants with a cruise shirt I found. After breakfast we went wandering a little and decided to play some corn hole. Then it was lunch time and we had some BBQ since the place is free on sea days. It definitely wasn't Texas BBQ but it was still decent. 

Day one of Carnival attire.

Dan and I went and took a nap after lunch and enjoyed some relaxing. It's kind of weird not having kids need you constantly ha. We went to the spa to get what we thought was a free facial but it was only a little seminar describing how the facial is done. We got suckered. It was a formal night tonight but since I didn't have my clothes I didn't get to wear either one of my fancy dresses. My cousin Bonnie was nice enough to let me borrow some of her clothes. We went to the comedy club after dinner. It was decent, not the funniest but had some laughs. We changed our clothes and then headed up to the tables to play some card games. I finally put on my attractive new mermaid/water leggings. We played for a couple hours and then went to bed.

January 23

Andrea and I went and checked out the whales that the captain had mentioned we would be passing the day before. A ship mate told us that it was birthing season and the babies can't hold their breath as long so they have to come up for air and that's why we could see them altogether. It was cool to pass several little families and see their tales and such. It was an extra happy day today because once we got back from breakfast this morning because our luggage was in our room! I've never been so happy to see those black suitcases ha. Not having all my stuff definitely made me realize I shouldn't take it for granted now that I do have it. First word problems right? We got ready for our day in Cabo San Lucas. We had to tender to it since there wasn't a pier with deep enough water for the cruise ship.

Whales!

Once we made it to Cabo we walked around 'til we found Cabo Wabo Cantina. Then we headed to a Gus' Tacos for some lunch. My Dad did his homework before we left and found this place that had good reviews. It was delicious. I love my authentic Mexican food. We walked around a little more before deciding to head back to the ship. 

Cabo Wabo.

Saw this sign and thought of our little hooligans!

It was another casual night for dinner. Dan and I decided to hit up the hot tub after dinner. It was nice even though it was a little chilly from the wind. Once a bigger group was getting in we decided to get out and head to our room for the night.

January 24
After a yummy breakfast we got ready for our day in Mazatlan. We spent the first part of the day at Stone Island Beach Getaway and then did a quick little tour of Mazatlan after. The resort wasn't anything super fancy but we had fun and the sand was delightfully soft. We had the choice of two activities from riding a banana, boogie boards, a horse ride, or a carriage ride. If we didn't want to do two activities we could use one of our activity vouchers to get a coco loco. I rode the banana and got a coco loco. The banana ride wasn't super long but I can now say that I rode a one in the ocean. Dan made a turtle in the sand and then boogie boarded with Matt. We had access to an open bar and got all the virgin drinks we wanted. They were delicious and so was the coco loco (a coconut with some added flavor). They also fed us lunch, which I enjoyed since it was authentic Mexican again.

We had to take a catamaran to get to the resort.

My Coco Loco.

Dan's sea turtle.

The tour of old Mazatlan was cool. We saw some cool statues, divers who earn their living from diving for the tourists, an old cathedral, and other things we happened to pass. We got back on the ship after our tour so that Kristi and Travis could play in the pickleball tournament Carnival did.

After watching them play, we showered and got ready for another casual dinner. We loved our service team so we made sure to get that same table every night the rest of the cruise. Dan ordered a dessert that had what I thought was a roasted marshmallow and I joked about wanting a plateful of them so he asked our waiter about it and he made it happen. It was the best! My hubby is so good to me.

We went to the Piano Bar after dinner because Matt and Andrea went the night before and said it was great. And it was great, with the exception of some real obnoxious people (green dress girl, as we dubbed her, and her tool boyfriend/spouse) in the crowd who can't not be the center of attention. We left when the pianist, Mat, had his first break because we were fed up with annoying couple and ready to hit the sheets besides.

January 25
Today was definitely my favorite day! Dan and I went on the best adventure and I would do it again tomorrow if I could. We woke up a little earlier today to eat breakfast and be off the ship by 9:15 AM. We met up with the group we were doing our excursion with and headed out around 9:30. We hopped on some "speed" boats and made it to Puerto Vallarta where we then got on some trucks and made our way up the mountain.

Once we got to the base of the excursion/tour we got our zip line harnesses on and then hopped on some mules to go even farther up the mountain. That was probably the most nerve racking part for me since I am not a fan of horses, but this was better. They told us they would choose our mules according to our personality and height so Dan got a big one that had a mind of its own and was speedy. I got the last one that was pretty tiny and kind of lolly gagged at the back but would speed up when I told it to and did a good job following my lead with the reins.

It was time to zip line after the mule ride. We got some water, instruction, and off we went! We did a couple zip lines before we rappelled next to a waterfall. It was a little nerve racking to step over the ledge but after that it was super fun. I felt like my rope would not keep up with my feet ha. We zip lined into a little pool of water after that and boy was it refreshing (aka cold!).

Then we did our first slide. We rode down on a mat together, Dan was in the front, which was nice for me cause he blocked a lot of the water ha. We did a couple more zip lines and little ropes courses before my favorite part, the roller coaster zip line.

We had to put on another harness over our normal one for the roller coaster zip line, it had a seat on the bottom of it. We went up and down through over this little creek and it was a blast! There were some moments on the down parts that I felt like I was never gonna hit my seat, it was a little free fall that flipped my stomach. We ended that little ride in a pool of water too.

We took off our special harness and did another normal zip line before getting to our last one. We stood back to back on a board and zip lined a short distance standing up. It was a little sketchy but cool. The last thing we did was another water slide. But they had us put on elbow covers/pads and hockey helmets, yes hockey helmets, for this one. We sat on mats again and the first part of the slide was a steep drop and then we went through two tunnel loops and out to the end. We dried off after and took off all our gear before having lunch.

Our lunch was a Mexican BBQ of chicken, steak, and sausage with a quesadilla and toppings like salsa, guac, and beans. Again, it was amazing. Mexican food is one of my love languages ha. We got to see our pictures and videos after, bought them, and then waited for our group to finish up before we got in the trucks and went back down the mountain to catch our boats back to the ship. 
This was truly the best excursion! Our guides were amazing and added to the fun of it all. I got to use my Spanish a little bit with them and that was nice to remember words I'd forgotten and practice a little. Our truck driver on the way back down did a donut on the dirt road ha. It was overall a great experience that I will cherish forever!

We found some dresses for the girls on our way back to the ship. Once back on board we were tired so we showered and took a nap. My parents and Matt and Andrea were doing their own excursion that had a dinner so Dan and I went by ourselves so that the Barkers and Janet didn't have to wait for us and we could nap without setting an alarm. It's a vacation after all ha.

Once the others made it back we played some Phase Ten until we were tired and went to bed.

January 26

The last two days of the cruise were sea days, making our way back to Cali. We watched some Deal or No Deal that was played in the big lounge since there wasn't much else to do. We ended up taking a nap in the afternoon too.

It was the second formal night tonight and I finally got to wear my gold sequin dress! It has been in my closet for years. I got it on a going out of business sale for a great price and have been waiting for somewhere to wear it. We took some photos after dinner and then changed quick to go watch Maverick Top Gun out on the deck.

It was a little chilly watching the show but fun. Such a good movie. No free popcorn this time but my Mom had treats she shared with everyone. We went to bed after the movie was over.

January 27

We spent a lot of the day doing trivia because we were trying to win a ship on a stick for Bonnie. We ended up getting one from some guys who won one and heard she wanted it real bad. So nice of them haha. There was a chocolate bar this afternoon but it wasn't anything too special. The food has been kind of a let down on this trip honestly. It's just not what it was so it's hard not to compare to what it used to be.

I got some more charms for the girls' bracelets we got on the first day and a free charm for mine. Our last dinner was real good, probably one of the best of the entire cruise. And for showtime tonight we did the YMCA so that was a plus ha. We played Phase 10 again afterwards. I left a little early because I was getting tired and wanted to pack our stuff up before going to bed.

Free virgin drink since I'm now gold status on Carnival.

January 28

We woke up at 7:45 AM to get ready, eat breakfast, finish packing, and get off the ship. My parents and Matt and Andrea had the earliest flight and we decided to just get off with them and take an Uber to the airport together. We crammed, truly, into a Toyota Highlander to make it to the airport. Dan and I were in the back, he couldn't put his head up straight and his knees were touching the row in front of us. And then everyone else had luggage on their laps. Ha not the most comfortable ride but we made it.

Family photo with our new sibling (sorry Nikkole, you've been replaced).

Dan and I had to take an airport bus to our terminal since Harris' were on Jet Blue and we were on Delta. We made it through security and got some Jamba to eat since we had plenty of time. I saw Barkers and Janet two more times and chatted with them since they were also in the Delta terminal waiting for their flight. We boarded ours a little before 2:00 PM (pacific time) and landed in Albuquerque around 4:40 PM (mountain time). Our luggage made it with us, thankfully. We caught a shuttle back to the long-term parking, got some dinner at Blake's Lotaburger, and made the five hour drive back home arriving around 11:30 PM (central time).

It was a long day of travel so we only chatted with Paul and Becky for a few minutes before going to bed. We are so grateful they were willing to come be with the girls so we could do this trip! I am bummed it's over but glad to be back home with our little ladies!

This was definitely a vacation I will treasure forever. Grateful Dan and I could make it work and everyone that helped us make it a possibility too. This trip also reminded me how lucky we are to live in the situation we are in. It's not all rainbows and sunshine but we definitely have it better off than a lot of people in the world. Feeling all sorts of blessed over here!