Cruise to the Mexican Riviera

This year for our Christmas present to each other we decided to go on another cruise to Mexico. For those of you that have never been, its a must see!! We decided on The Royal Caribbean, Mariner of the Seas cruise ship for our holiday adventure. We also decided we wanted to go back to the Mexican Riviera because we love Puerto Vallarta. We spent a week there on our honeymoon and so it holds a special place in our hearts.

Our ship left our of a town called San Pedro that is located down by LA. So we had about a 3 hour trip from here. We stayed at the Double Tree Hotel on Via Cabrillo Marina that offers a stay and park option so that you can leave your car there while you are on your cruise. It was also very reasonably priced. The morning breakfast was lacking, but we didn't care too much...we were ready for our cruise. They also shuttled us to the dock and helped us with all our luggage.

So Sunday morning Dec 13th, we head out to the docks about noon to get checked in and we are ready for our amazing trip. Tip for anyone cruising...definitely take advantage of the online check-in because it took us maybe 10 mins to get our bags checked in, get our passports verified, and our room keys and then up on the ship. We left port about 5pm Sunday evening, and enjoyed the Bon Voyage party from the front of the ship while watching the sun set.

Sunday night we participated in the Mystery Dinner Theater. It started in the Ellington's bar where we had appetizers and champagne then moved into the Portofino Restaurant for dinner and the rest of the dinner show. The theater was great and the food was amazing!!!! The Filet Mignon was the best I have ever had! The cost was $49.50 a person and was worth the cost! After dinner it was hot tub time. They have a place called the Solarium pool area which is an adults only pool and spa area. It was great end to the evening.

Monday was a day at sea. We spent most of the day checking out the ship and trying to find our way around. We attended the port and shopping show at noon and purchased a shopping coupon book which also gave us two for one "drinks of the day: on the ship. (Everyday on the ship they have a new tropical drink of the day) This is well worth it. Each drink is $7 a piece. So we proceeded to the bar and got our drinks and headed off to the Learn to Salsa class. Which was a blast. I think we did a pretty good job making fools of ourselves but have a great time!

Anyone taking a cruise make sure to take advantage of all the different games and classes and shows they have to offer. They are worth it and really add to your vacation experience. We ate dinner in the main dinning room which we rated about a 6 on a scale of 1-10. After dinner and drinks we headed back to the hot tub. Which is also a great place to meet new people on the ship and enjoy your drinks of the day.

Tuesday was Cabo San Lucas day. We arrived at 9:30am and departed at 5:30pm. When booking a cruise we suggest a cruise ship that stays in port the longest so that you can really enjoy what each town has to offer. We ate dinner at the Windjammer Cafe, which we rated about a 4 on a scale of 1-10. This is the buffet, but the food was lacking every time we ate there. After dinner we got our BOGO drinks and headed back to the hot tub....do you see a pattern here?

Wednesday was Maztalan. We arrived at 8:00 and departed at 5:00pm. Which we find to be plenty of time to see the area. We didn't find that there was a whole lot to do here. Mainly shopping and water sports. On the ship we attended the Ice Under The Big Top Ice Show, which was amazing!!! You have to see it! The ice rink on the ship is pretty small and it was astonishing the stunts they did in that little space. We also went to The Love and Marriage game show which was hilarious!! I laughed so hard my face hurt at the end of the show!! Another highly recommended show!

Thursday was Puerto Vallarta day. The best port of the trip!! We arrived at 8:00am and departed at 6:30. There are so many things to do here that it is impossible to see everything here in a few hours. We suggest spending a week at some point, but for a cruise we suggest you do a tour that takes you into the jungle and also takes you downtown for some shopping. They have great shopping here! On the ship we attended the Pure Energy Production Show which was pretty good. Not highly recommended though. It was kinda boring. Later we participated in a game show they call The Quest Game Show. It's hard to explain, but its like a scavenger hunt but you cant leave the room. It has to be stuff that you have with. Things like; dentures, a guy dressed up in women's clothing, women's things, etc.... it was one of the most hilarious things we have ever seen!!! A definite must see!!

Friday and Saturday are both days at sea. So to keep from going ship crazy, we took advantage of the fun things the ship has to offer. We ate at the specialty restaurant Johnny Rockets (great food), played mini golf, laid in the sun, swam in the pool, watched the belly flop contests, gambled in the casino, took a nap, vegged on our balcony. It was great!! We spent a lot of time in the hot tub these 2 days and drank too many "drinks of the day". It was the perfect end to our Mexico cruise!

We arrived back in San Pedro at 7am on Sunday the 20th. We got up ate some breakfast and finished packing up our stuff. We had a late departure off the ship so we wandered the ship again and watched some TV in the room waiting to be called. One thing to remember if you used a hotel park and cruise is to call the hotel and let them know you need to be picked up. Other wise you might have to wait for a bit. Departure was pretty easy. We located our bags, hired a porter to help with our bags, went through customs and all this took about 15 mins. The process was fast and harmless.

We highly suggest taking a cruise with Royal Caribbean. It was a great experience. We hope we offered some handy tips and we hope you enjoy your next trip. Wherever you might be going. Just remember to have fun! and try things you normally wouldn't do.

So now we have to decide where to go for our next trip? Cancun maybe? We will see :)