Splendor March 3-10 novel and review

Day Three - Cabo here we come

Backing up on one point and really the only issue I had on the ship was returning to the cabin after seven pm on day two to see my room had not been touched. No ice. No extra coat hangers. No room service menu. On the evening of day one I met my steward (wife and princess had a different one). I introduced myself, gave him a twenty and asked for twice a day attendance and ice. The morning of day one I asked for extra coat hangers, ice and a room service menu. I left another note on Day two. So when I returned from dinner to see the room in the early evening on day two to see it untouched I called the room steward line to express my displeasure and to not bother that night as I was going to bed. As soon as I hung up I felt bad.... again the looney toons angle on my shoulder said to chill out and not to sweat the little things and be nice.

Before bed I thought I would try the room service door order form again and orders a pot of coffee, but this time I asked for the earliest window which I think was 6:30 ish ( can’t recall if it was 6:00-6:30 or 6:30-7:00. In any event, 15min past the window I called to cancel as we were simply going to head down to the coffee shop. They said it was on the way so I said fine I would wait. The insulated caraf keeps it hot for a good while so I could have some later. I hung up and the girl immediately called back to say it had not gone out and so I said great just cancel. So, because we the are up and get going types we never ordered it again as we are loath to wait around for something that we can get a short walk away.

Ok... I was off to the specialty coffee shop on deck 5. I heard there would be a line and there was. The Lovely young Asian woman who worked like 12 hour days there starts settling up around sic and while not technically open until seven she invariable opened early. One thing Carnival should really do is have 2-3 folks on hand first thing for the first few hours as there are lots of demand. I noticed that the majority of the folks lining up were not Cheers people so it is not like there is not revenue to be had but I degree. She is lovely and always had a smile for even the most grumpy person barking orders at 6:45 am, and yes, literally barking orders. I Ordered my lovely wife a Latte and would go back for my Irish coffee later. It was while waiting that I learned, I just needed to bring my wife’s sns card and I could Cheers both. The lady was so nice to the man in front who was ordering two... he only had his card with cheers and just said I will give you two, just bring her card around later. So nice. The coffee shop also has complimentary pasteries in the am (I think) and them other treats like giant cookies for a modest charge like a buck and half or so. At night they have huge slices of chocolate and carrot cakes for $2.25 to go. Not to be missed. Enough for two.

I looked forward to the coffee shop each morning and from then on I was first in line and she will remember your name and what you like. Tip or no tip. Lovely lady. I am horrible with staff names, carnival... you know who I am talking about! If ready... she’s a keeper. Promote her.

Ok breakfast was the buffet again. The Lad had already put an hour in on the basketball court. And now it was time for a Bloody Caesar (or two) from the aft bar on 9. Yes my fellow Canadians there is no need to pack Canadian Tire Caesar Pleasure mix as Carnival has Clamato. The sun was shining and we were a little over two hours from Cabo... the mountains and vast sand dune looked amazing off the port side. Life is good. The lad thought this was heaven having a coke at 8 am (awesome parenting)! If I was having grey goose at 7:45 I felt that he should join in the vices! Caesars in hand another quick nine holes was in order, during which our party had no fewer than 4 holes in one! Yes... good Karma was in the salt air and the day was looking very very good.

By the time I got back from golf, there was a clipboard guy outside my room with my steward looking a little sheepish off to the side.... he explained that he heard there was a problem... I frankly said it was not a big deal but I had asked for blah blah and no love at all until after seven was something I had never seen on land or see before and frankly I apologized for making a mountain out of a mole hill. My wife heard clipboard guy mention to the Steward, “you have to watch for notes. Guests often leave notes”.

Anyway, within 30 min the room was tip top, ice present and accounted for, extra coat hangers and room service menu...check!

Coming in to Cabo was very pretty. I was surprised how fast everything happened. We were positioned off Medano beach, anchored and the tenders were there in no time. A well oiled machine!

I threw some drinks and beer in the cooler... my steward happily grabbed me a big bag of ice with another tip signalling we are all good. We packed some towels, beach blankets, buckets and shovels and were off to the Black Perl where we assembled along with the Plat/Diamonds and othe FTTF guest to await our priority tender. They slapped a C group sticker on each of us and we had a seat for a few minutes to await our call. We spent the time chatting about silly state and provincial liquor laws for ten minutes (recounting my gas station FAIL in LA to buy a beer after ten pm). To my fellow Canadians I have learned that our liquor laws are actually pretty dam liberals compared to some States. One lady next to us heard our topic and chimed in about Utah.... I have never been to the fair state of Utah, but apparently it is a pretty tight ship in that department.

Anyhow, we get our names called and down we got to catch the second tender. We were the last four on. Smoking day and this perk with the FTTF was very much a thumbs up; which reminds me of another perk on our first day. We wanted to get room keys for both rooms for all four of us and we were also not sure which credit card we had used for the sns account so we went to guest services around noon the first day and there was a good line.... but not for us!!! They have a priority like for FTTF and others. Yes you must endure lots-o-stink eye but no line for you. We used this on many occasions. The wife who hates lines more than me if that is neurochemicalky possible was very impressed with this perk.

Ok.... back to Cabo.

The tender takes less than ten minutes. You pull into a covered dock past the giant Yacht with the helicopter named something or other “V” and you wonder out loud what toys 1-4 are or if there are four others that the previous spouses got in the divorce (How’s that for gender neutral Justin Trudeau!). But again I depress.

There is a short line and customs asks if you have any fresh fruit. I had an orange from “The Crappy Hotel” that I planned to attack later with my trust SA knife, but I tossed it into the bin along with all the others who had the same idea.

We bypassed all the photo shoots... don’t ask me why we hate these posed photos. Clearly the majority of people love them! They wouldn’t do it otherwise. More on the pictures thing and how it differs from NCL later.... so we get past the camera and then WOOOOSH you a bombarded with all manner of poster board toting tour operates. We got through the initial throng and it was my plan to find a water taxi to take us to Medano Beach. I was told it would be about $5 per person plus the usual buck to walk down whatever dock they used. Brilliant. The gas company “delivery changes”. Phone Company, “blah blah charges” back home have served as their model...lol. Capitalism at it’s best! My strategy prof from MBA school many years back would be proud.

An guy in is later years comes up to me and says it will be $10 a head to go by taxi. I say that is x2. He says he will pick me up. I say I will never see you again. (Yes it went on like this like an episode of Seinfeld). He says pay me half now and then is says, throw in a few more bucks and my guy will take you on a tour first and then take you to the beach and pick you up whenever you like. We agree on $200 pesos pp and we are off down the dock and onto a 18 foot glass bottom board with a canopy cover. We put on our life jackets, I pay the guy the whole $800 (he looks surprised with a smile and I say it is trust test...), he shakes my hand and assured me his guy will be back to pick us up. And we are off.

One thing I notices was that no matter what crappy skiff or board we were on in Mexico, ALL of the life jackets were like brand new. Not sure why but a nice change from neck sweat stained cast offs from the set of Jaws that you usually see (I am sure that drew out a few Eeeeeews but you know what I mean)

Oh... my train is pulling into Union. More later.

Mark

In response to a few questions and comments... first off, yes. In case you could not tell, we really enjoyed our trip on the Splendor. It was mentioned that there were a lot of negative comments posted elsewhere... I can say it gets eight thumbs up from us. Don’t get me wrong, when I booked in early December I would have booked a newer ship if I could have found an itinerary and port that had direct flights from Toronto at a reasonable price so when I saw West Jet fares under $400 direct and an opportunity to go to these ports I took it. We usually go to Cancun, the DR, Cuba, Barbados,etc so this was different. The west coast Mexican resorts require less than ideal travel times from Toronto so despite previous attempts to go to Cabo have been thwarted in favour of shorter, cheaper and more convenient flights to the Caribbean.

The Splendor is starting to look it’s age. There is certainly lots of rust here and there. The theatre seats are wearing and the cabins and decor and tones of fabric cannot compete with the new ships. There is only one water slide (a fast and good one). The splash pad paint has faded and it is very basic. There is little high tech. There is no ropes course or climbing wall or the like. But if you don’t use those things then you are not missing anything because the rest of the venues IMO are in many cases better than what I saw on the Breakaway. The theatre and comedy club were awesome. Love the love seats in the theatre and the multi deck entry. The comedy club was open and very cheery.

As for dive in movies my kids were not all that interested for some reason. Up at our Hunt Camp I use the projector outside outside all the time for movies by the campfire. I don’t have a list but they would show 2-3 movies per night. The last night was a superhero one at 5. Wonder Woman at 7 and Blade Runner at 10. Someone has posted Fun Times for this ship since coming to LA if you do a search.

More later.

Mark

Ok... so we are on Day three and we had just boarded the “Pabliton” glass bottom boat. The guy gave me their card. Cell 624 165 2336. It was called Glass Bottom Boat Tours (I guess the name says it all). It was to the left off one of those docks after you get through the throngs and you have a Choice of the mall, left turn or right turn. He had three other boars, the Kiki, the El Viejon (first name of owner) and the White Shark. I cracked a fosters from the cooler and we were off to the Arces.... lots of bird, sea lions (holy crap the smell BAAAAAD!) and fish to see. He dropped some bread in the water and it was fish city with pelicans circling. We saw the Scooby Doo rock (I kid u not... can anyone tell me how to download/link Pics?). We saw honeymoon beach and the MUCH BIGGER Divorce beach. Younger kid in his twenties with some English... he gave a nice 1/2 hour tour and then he took us to Tobasco’s Restaurant on the far end of the Medano beach. We hopped off and grabbed a table with umbrella up front. As long as we were eating and or drinking we could stay as long as we liked. It is about 40 yards between the table and the water so the wife rented an umbrella which they planted closer to the water with the kids swimming and making sandcastles. Beer was cold. We orders guacamole, tacos and calamari and a dozen drinks between us and the bill was a little over $1000 pesos including tip. I had read some reviews before hand and a few had mentioned over charging but when the bill came it was basically what I had tallied it to be. Maybe he saw my scrawling on a scrap and took note.

The bathrooms were very modern and clean. I was in bare feet and it was just great.

True to his world, our young skipper arrived back exactly three hours later as requested to take us back. I think my $20 tip on the way over provided some motivation. We hopped on... got our LJ’s, cracked my last beer in my cooler and we were off to the dock around 3pm. It was hot and the kids were not into souvenir shopping so a quick bathroom break. $1 each for three of us but the princess was free. Told the lad he obviously wasn’t young and pretty enough, which garnered a swat from the doc and a frown-smile from the lad. Tendered back to the ship with the first order of business to relieve the kids of the four cups of sand they can collected on their person.

Standing on the aft balcony with a cold drink in the shade looking directly across to where we had been was quite literally the most stress free feelings of satisfaction I had in a long time. Total cost for our adventure: $2100 pesos (roughly $120 USD). Bargain!

My husband is a watch collector! Did you feel like there were really good deals on the ship or are we better off resisting the urge?

I would love to see some of your photos to go along with your great story! These are the instructions for uploading photos.

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Awesome writing and very entertaining review! Looking forward to reading more especially with a fellow Canadian going out of California as that is on my bucket list! Would love to see some pics!

Cheers! :cool::cool:

Day Three Continued

So we get cleaned up after our day on Medano beach in Cabo. The princess wanted some down time with the IPad. The lad went to shoots some hoops. I grabbed a book and a couple of cocktails before getting ready for dinner.

With respect to the internet, I basically wanted to unplug during the cruise, but the wife bought an internet package for the week. It work ok. One device at a time. Need to use the Carnival Hub App. There were some sites it could not support. I only used it to follow my niece who was curling for team Canada at the World Juniors in Canada and there is a site you can follow the matches that are not streamed call Curlinggeek. It was not supported, the streaming was ok but there are lots of dead spots on the ship.

With respect to the Invicta watches at 70% off question. You have to remember that 90% of these are quartz watches, but they do have some automatics which are hard to come by in retail in Canada and certainly not for $200. These are NOT Omega, Breitling, Rolex movements but the brand has some nice styles and the ones I have bought over the years have held up well. I hope that helps.

So the kids had no interest in the main dining room that night so we got them pizza and we headed off to our table in the golden pearl which opens at 5:45. I honestly cannot remember what we had other than my first chocolate melting cake. It was all good and the cake was .

I am not sure we did much of anything that night. I think the wife and Princess took in a show and I my book. Once again the lad abandoned me in favour of the room with a balcony instead of the tomb.

On the issue of an inside room, it was ok. For the hunters out there and what we sleep in at times for a week, that is the ritz, but I can say that it won’t be for me again. In another year or two I look forward to seeing the Princess’s face when she gets an inside cabin and I get to resume my proper place in the scheme of things. I will sum up my room thoughts at the end.

Thx Banditoo for the picture instructions. I will try and download some pics here or in a companion thread.

BTW... I am doing these in shorter blurbs as I lost a longer one when I hit a wrong button only to find my chapter had been lots.

Day Four was an adventure with some questioning looks from the family as we headed off in Mazatlán on another self guided excursion.

More later...

Mark

Hey Mark, I too have lost many a 'written masterpiece' when either the connection times out, laptop fizzled out, hit the wrong button etc. Now I usually compose my 'masterpieces' in word and then copy/paste. Rewriting a second, or third time is never as fun or magnificent! ;p

You are back!! Have enjoyed your review immensely! We will be on the Splendor on the 24th, thank you for taking your time to write about your adventure,

How was it boarding the ship using the new method of keys at your state room ?

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Why are so many coffee machines out of order all the time and why don't they fix them??

Regarding the boarding, I don’t think it was affected at all by having the sns cards at your door. As long as you had your boarding pass printed out you will sail through. The sns cards will be in a sealed envelope in the mail box/thing outside your cabin.

Regarding the coffee machines, I encountered two coffee machines that were not working right on two occasions. i.e. you would have to press the dispense button several times as it only spat out a small portion of coffee. Both times were outside of breakfast times and were fixed the next time I was back.

Day Four Mazatlán

Day Four was a beautiful sunny day. After breakfast I grabbed a Caesar and watched us coming into the port. Mazatlán is really interesting with the giant rocky outcropping guarding the harbour approach. There are also some small rocky islands at the mouth that are literally white (the whole rock) from bird droppings.

I was interested to find out if the ship would pull into the pear bow first with the piers on the port or if they would manoeuvre in the channel and spin the ship to put the starboard side on the pier. There was a tanker and a freighter already docked and the captain just put us in between without turning (I am not sure there was enough room to spin it anyway.) I was amazed with the ability of the ships’ and their computers to maneuver and spin and back into berths when we were in Nassa with four giant ships.

Anyway we watched them throw the lines and secure the ship. The on shore people were there waiting to do all the usual stuff on our arrival. I was told that Mazatlán is either the busiest or second busiest ports. There are certainly lots of oil storage tanks, new cars lined up with shipping wrapping (coming or going I am not sure). Several train cars were being loaded with cars while they were there. You disembark right into a working port so you need to take the little shaded trollies over to the port entrance where there are all kinds of shops and bars and people offering all manner or tours and taxis. I honestly don’t recall going through or meeting any immigration or customers people, but they may have been there and I did not notice.

I had read about Stone Isand beach in the forums and a beach bar/restaurant called Lety’s. Our plan was to got there. Now we were aware of both the Canadian and US government travel advisories for Mazatlán but I felt confident that we were sticking pretty much to a tourist area near the ship, so we went ahead. And it really was a good time. It is about as cheap an excursion as you can have.

This was going to be another beach day for the kids. They live the beach. As we were going to a bar directly, I did not bother with a cooler.

So I had read instructions on roughly where to go to catch the water taxi and based on the description and using google earth and google images I figures out where I thought it was but I was only about 80-90% sure and it is that uncertainty along with the normal “Risk” of what if I am not back in time.... that gets people to stick to the cruise tours.

We got off the trolley and walked purposefully through the throngs of barkers and salespeople to the entrance/exit to the port and then turn left past the long line of electric due buggy taxis. You will walk about two blocks on the sidewalk with the port walls and fence on your left. This street is a boulevard with houses and small business on the other side of the road with a boulevard in the middle. It is called Avenida Emilio Barragán. You will eventually come to and intersection there the wall for the port on you left makes a right turn. It is a large intersection. The paved boulevard makes a right turn and continues north as Avenida Hilario Rodríguez Malpica north. You want to walk straight across this intersection looking to go down an unplaved road straight ahead. There will be a chain link fence on your right. There is a faded sign saying this is where the water taxi is. To your left there is a paved road that continues to skirt the port wall. Both while coming and going there was a uniformed security guard there. Anyway, yes I was getting the stink eye look from the good doctor (where the f#kc are you taking us?). Yes it looks sketchy but it is fine... keep going. There were chickens and roosters running around and the princess was chased by one back home so she was a little Leary but we soon saw the little booth up ahead which was the water taxi booth. I ask what I owed him... he says 30 pesos a piece. I do the quick math and deduce that this can’t be correct as that is like $2 so I say I need it both ways. He smiles and says that is return... so I hand over my 120 pesos and he gives me four tickets (nobody ever asked to see them coming back). Down the dock we went... into the 18 foot skiff, but on the (new) life jackets and five minutes later we were at the small jetty on the south side of the harbour.

We plan go to Letys at Stone island too....thanks for the details info...I will probably get a bit worried too lol...

Great and funny review!... I Googled "Scooby doo rock" it really looks like him...

You walk up a short hill and there is path that leads you to the crest of the small hill and you can see the beach ahead 50 meters. There are huts, trailers, houses and business? on your left and right in various states of disrepair. Again... more stink eye from the wife. I am smiling to myself as the kids think this is great... this coming from the princess who took issue with the lodging o the light before the cruise. Anyway all was well when we got to the beach and the usual beach combing began. It was still before 9am at this point, maybe closer to 8:30 and few of the beach bars were even set up yet. There are larger one with more substantive “structures” at the north end of the beach. About ten minutes further down I could see the Lety’s sign. They were just setting up but got him to give us a table for four with and umbrella right up front with two loungers on our right and that is where we stayed for the next 3-4 hours. He brought us a galvanized bucket with big chunks of ice instead of cubes that melt too quick... they know what they are doing. Ice cold Pacifico’s Or whatever you want with the toes in the sand. The kids played in the surf and rescued a few puffer fish that got washed up (they found some unlukey ones on the beach on our way there). They berried each other and combed for shells and all the usual stuff.

My niece was curling for team Canada at the World Jr Curling Championship on Scotland this same week so I was taking advantage of my cell plan to follow it on curlingeek.com while having my toes in the sand, We ordered guacamole, calamari. and some fries. Coconut shrimp are their thing. You can see the kitchen and charcoal grill when you walk back to use the washrooms, which were clean. The place was a construction zone while we were there. They are doing some significant buikding. I will be curious to see what it looks like when done. Tommy the owner (he is a character... you will know him when you see him),Few of his staff speak much English but you muddle through with pointing and basic words. The food was good. The staff were friendly. I think the bill was 500-600 pesos including 8-10 beer and two big bottles of water. We left betwen noon and one and by then lots of gringos had filled the place and were eyeing our table. We took a family selfie by the sign, packed up our buckets and shovels and headed back the way we came. There was a taxi at the dock when we arrived and we walked right on without a word or showing anything and we were back at the port within 20 minutes. We did a little souvenir shopping and then back on the ship for some late lunch.

There is a review I read somewhere of a cruise based excursion to stone Island where the person was unhappy as they basically went to the same beach we did but they were and hour and a half delayed on the pier and then once on the island, waiting on the tractor towed trailers used to ferry people to and from the dock and the large restaurant I mentions. The tractor is kind of silly as it is just a short walk and really would only before for some with decreased mobility, but it you are able to negotiate the piers, water taxis and climb up into those trailers, then you are likely fine to walk. Anyone with mobility issues is going to have trouble. Anyway, you can google stone island excursions and you can see the price and decide for yourself. They doing the excursion review was pissed to see his shipmates (ie Us) sitting at a table 90 min before his sweaty tractor ride. The total cost with food, drink and tip was about $750 pesos or about $44 USD.

Two thumbs up for Stone Island. Even the good doctor admitted that she was glad we prevailed despite the sketchy infrastructure/route.

I forgot to mention when I was recounting out Medano beach day that I chose Tabasco’s restaurant on the more southern part of the beach as it was pitched as more family friendly, ie no wet Tshirt contests and other adult fun that I read could be found at the cluster of bars that are a few hundred meters north of Tabasco. It is also less crowded.

I should also mention that there are water sports, atv, horses, hair braiding, massages, and all manner of services and vendors on both Medano and Stone Island beaches. If the staff have time or the restaurant has empty tables, they will trot down the beach and invariably they are back shortly with some customers to fill a table and then back out they go. No different than summertime outside the King Street eateries in Toronto.

I also left a tip and a note for my steward before leaving for stone island to say all was good to avoid any uncomfortable moments moving forward.

The afternoon was spent lounging, golfing, and a cocktail or four after Stone Island. At 4:30 the lad and I went down to deck three to watch for pier runners (but given the tolley’s it would be a short run). I will pick up on that later and then move along into our VERY fun excursion we had booked for PV then next day.

Awesome Awesome Awesome. Gotta run for now.

Did you find that the time you Letys left it was very crowded? Hard to get a table at that time?

I generally always book early morning excursions but promised hubby a day to sleep in, take our time getting off ship and just go exploring...now he doesn't know that his non descript exploring is going to specifically be to Stone Island and Letys lol...but I doubt we'll get there till later in the afternoon...

Did you find that the time you Letys left it was very crowded? Hard to get a table at that time?

 

I generally always book early morning excursions but promised hubby a day to sleep in, take our time getting off ship and just go exploring...now he doesn't know that his non descript exploring is going to specifically be to Stone Island and Letys lol...but I doubt we'll get there till later in the afternoon...

We were just there last week. Got there around 10:30 or 11 and were one of the first. By the time we left a few hours later, it was more crowded but they always seem to magically come up with tables and loungers and umbrellas for people.

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We were just there last week. Got there around 10:30 or 11 and were one of the first. By the time we left a few hours later, it was more crowded but they always seem to magically come up with tables and loungers and umbrellas for people.

 

 

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THANKS...or hey I'll start practicing GRACIAS lol....that's exactly what I wanted to know...

Bulldogsoc,

When your family got to the Terminal at Long Beach. Were did you have to wait

before you got on the ship. Did they let you wait in the new Priorty Lounge ?

Thanks for your help and time.:)

We plan go to Letys at Stone island too....thanks for the details info...I will probably get a bit worried too lol...

Stone Island for us as well. We have a 930am excursion with Maria’s horses, then hang out at Victors (next door to Letys) for a bit before we head back over, jump in a taxi and drive out to Tony’s on the Beach for a nice lunch and some drinks with plenty of time to spare getting back to the ship.

Morning

In response to the questions... I saw people going into the glassed walled lounge just off the FTTF roped off area. I was told you needed your boarding paper to get into it. It was just different lounge chairs and sofas spread out with some lemon water dispensers. In looking back, I made a typo in saying it was about 11:50 am when they started letting the Wedding Parties, etc onto the ship. It was about 10:50 am.

They will always find a table for you at Lety's but you may be further back under the palapa roof with an obstructed view of the Beach.

Regarding Victor's...which is the next restaurant south of Lety's, there was no activity there when we were there. There are some threads saying he was not well (death in the family/drinking), as least that was posted some time ago. Again, there was no activity at the Victor's while we were there between 8:30 and one or so.

So it was fun watching the "pier" runners for a half hour. The time to be back at the ship was 4:30. They ended up pulling up the gangway half way about 4:50 and then all the way and casted off at 5pm when the last couple came. Before that it was another teaching moment for the lad, as he noticed a good portion of the late arrivals were CLEARLY in a very good and carefree mood with cocktails in hand. A few needed to be steadied. Carnival had the DJ set up on the port deck three overlooking the embarkation point and animation staff were out there keeping it a lively pier party. There were a few young ladies who clearly watched some of the same youtube videos of pier runners like I had and obviously enjoyed the ones where the people were heckled, as they appeared to be purposely late, and then took their sweat a%$ time, walking slowly, posing for pictures, going to the ramp, only to go back... the funny party was, nobody really gave a rat's a%$, as there was only a few of us watching. There were a few announcements, likely inquiring of the missing people's fellow travellers if they had any knowledge or insight if they would be along.

Anyway, with everyone on board they dropped the lines and manoeuvred out of the berth and proceeded up the channel to a slightly larger area where the captain executed a 180 and we were off.

One note... in all the pictures of Mazatlan I noticed a smoggy haze. From the turn around point on the upper decks of the ship you will notice some type of refinery or something about two miles to the south along the coast spewing a massive amount of discharge... you could just see the smog in a long low level trail for miles. YUK! But then again the Splendor was just as bad as you will see how much smog it produces and the trail it leaves aft all the way to the horizon. We had an aft deck and it was constantly coated in soot and the night after I spent the day on the very aft section of the lido lounge area, I had a very bad sore throat. So did my wife. I get them when i am doing construction and there is a lot of particulate, etc. Anyway, just an FYI.

So, the kids did not want to do the dining room again, so it was a buffet night. There was clam chowder, veil shoulder, some chicken and a bunch of other stuff. It was fine. Certainly a bigger selection that Taco Tuesday back home on Maltman. I think it was that night that we took in the Studio 54 disco show, which was fun. We went to the early one and there was no problem getting a seat. Really the only seats that go quick are the ones on the first level of the theatre.

Now is as good a time as any to comment on the various food venues we went to:

Room Service- only had it twice for coffee, juice, fruit and pastries. Just fine, just not delivered in the allotted time slots. Not a big deal if you are a lazy riser. We never ordered anything else.

Pizza Pirate - Amazing. Rarely a line except at noon. They are about 10 inch pies. There is a menu but they will make them however you want them. They are always making and rising dough and it takes less than ten minutes for it to be made and run through the oven. I had about six of them and everyone loved them. Two thumbs up!! Some mornings I had it for breakfast when I was up really really early.

Buffett - It is a basic buffet. Not as much variety as that on the Breakaway. It was fine for breakfast. I never age lunch at it and dinner only once. It was ok. The family liked the NCL one better. The only thing that was awkward was that the "sneeze guards" make it very difficult to reach the items in the back and I was always wondering if they did this on purpose so the staff would have to serve your certain items such as the eggs benny, etc. A short person would simply not be able to reach them.

Main Dining room- The food was very good. Fried Alligator Fritters, fried oysters, french onion soup... it was all good but for the two undercooked lobster tails and the prime rib on the first formal night. The moulting cake and baked Alaska on the last night were good. The steaks ordered at an up charge as the same as in the steak house.

Steak House - Already reviewed. Good Value.

Deli - Very good. I would not get them to put the smoke meat in the grill press, but other than that it was good. Pickles I did not try.

Tandoor - Awesome in my opinion. Lots of variety and all fresh.

Mongolian Wok - Never tried it.

BBQ - Two thumbs up

Ice Cream - Fun. It is industrial soft serve but it is pretty much 24 hours, unlike most other cruises. Cone and Sunday dishes. Choc, Van, and swirl

Coffee Shop - A+. Try the milkshakes with whipped cream. Oder an double shot. Try the $2.25 cake slices, enough for two. If you have cheers, grab a water or mineral water, or ice tea or power aide for the fridge on the way by. The lady at the Coffee place would give me a water or power aide with my irish coffee without the 5 min rule, she said it only applied to alcohol?? Not sure if that was true or how the one drink at a time worked. BTW, you sign for all drinks if you are an adult. The kids never seemed to have to sign for their BB sodas.

Burger Place - I only every had the fries, but they had burgers and dogs. Wife said the burger were good. I don't like big or dry buns and they looked like it would be both so I skipped the burgers. Wife said buns were kind of dry. They give you cheese and a lettuce tomato combo if you ask for it and then you put the other toppings on. Princess said the fries were like Rotten Ronny's which is how she likes them and I agreed. They were very good. There is nacho sauce there as well. Happy princess, happy cruise.

Chef's Table - Did not partake.

On Day five we tried to make a reservation for a second steak house visit but they said they were all booked up for the last two nights but could put us on a wait list for Friday night. We did but we never called and never heard back from them. So, if you want to do the steak house once or more, you are advised to book well in advance.

DAY 4 - Vallarta

So back in the Spring of 1992 was the last time we were in Vallarta... The good doctor and I had just graduated from our under grad in Occupation Therapy and we went on two week holiday there. Boy have things change!!! But is still bustling, exotic, and pretty reasonably priced.

We wanted to do at least one day long excursion, but we didn't know what. We didn't want to do ATV or Side by Sides, as we have them at home and do that all the time, and the thought of getting in a total piece of crap 40 or 50cc bike to ride single file would result in the boy wondering how people could find this fun... but then again not everyone lives in norther Ontario, so I don't want to be an off road snob but those in the know will understand. Again, I digress. Dolphins are out... the thought of kids peeing in the pool next to you is one thing but a few hundred pound mammal that could be smarter than you.... creepy! It doesn't appeal to any of us. Resort beach... thought about it but been there. So I read about Los Veranos Canopy tours... It was $89 per adult and and about 15-20 less for the kids, but if you booked it on line you got about another $12-15 off. That is what we did. I booked it from Canada before we left on their web site, but as soon as it went through and I got my confirmation number I realized I had not reset the date and so I had booked it for the next day!!! March 3 and we would be in LA.. so I called them. They spoke english and she fixed it but I never got an email from them. And I should also point out that I used both their email address and their web sight auto fill inquiry option to ask questions and I never heard a thing back from them. You see our itinerary from Carnival said that we would get into the port at 8am, which I assumed what ship time but I had no idea if that was PV time or not. They had three time opinions, the firs two of which were 9:15 and 11:15. We wanted to do the 9:15 and I wanted to know if we were late if we could do the 11:15. I never confirmed that and just winged it. Well... it turned out that there was a time change on ship and we were at the same time as the PV and therefore we were pulling in at PV time. The ship was literally going along side at 8:45am and we had about a 1km walk from our end of the port to the main port area with the shops and meeting points. We were frantically trying to use our cells phones to call but they would not work. We did not think we would even be able to get off the ship until after 9:15 but I looked over rail about 8:55 and told the family that they were letting people off so we rushed down to deck 0 or 1 and off we went. I ran ahead to where I thought we had to meet (map on web site). Family followed at a distance. I got there and there were lots of tour operators with signs waiting but none for Los Veranos. The Family caught up and i asked one of the other operators, and he assured me we were in the right place and she was coming. I guess I should have known that they would of course have people from the cruise ship coming and they would wait. She arrived around 9:20. There were one or two other couples from our ship and/or the Holland America ship there. We were joined by a corporate group that does ground logistics for executives going on retreats to the area and they take care of the bookings and transport and fun. I read on the web site that there were multiple pick up sites throughout PV that would take people by ground transport to the venue way back in the mountains on the far south end of the bay. But there was also a note that said water transport. I did not know. It turned out we were taking the water transport. It was a 25 foot inflatable with a rigid hull and two 250 hp Mercs on the back. We zipped down the bay for about a half hour. Very fun, and then pulled into a little cove that is the scene of the closing of the book, Life of Pie (I never read it). There is a concrete jetty and a beach and beach restaurant and houses built into the cliffs. Off we went and walked through the Village and into a fenced compound and then into a converted safari painted truck with benches for the 20 km ride up the snaking steep road around the cliffs to the small village of Veranos and then to the facility. FUN FUN FUN. Restaurant built into a hill overlooking a rocky stream with a deep swimming hole with water slides and a 20 foot drop. Sand beach. Bar. Small zoo with monkeys, cotes (sp?), etc.

They get you geared up ASAP and then you go into one of two outdoor theatre demo areas for some instructions. Staff are very fun and full of energy. Really really family focused. Now, if you are really out of shape or you have mobility issues, then you will not but able to do the walking up the hills to and between the first 7 - 8 zip line platforms. It is steep. There is ice water along the way. But it is a butt workout for sure. They start you out on short 30-40 foot zip lines and they go up to 2000 or so, with some several hundred feet above the canyon. It takes about an hour to do all 14 or so. They go with you at time to film. They don't lit you have a self stick but chest mounted go pros are fine. They will go with you if you want to go upside-down. They let my kids go together with a guy. It was really fun. Then when you get back they get you unguarded and you have about 90 minutes to eat, drink, and swim and check out the animals. There is a tequila tasking about a half hour before you leave. The food was good. LOL the beer was 40 pesos on the first round then suddenly it was 45... LOL, I noted it with a smile but said nothing.

I am going to give them a great review when I am done this as it was a really good value. One issue was that when I booked it it was about $316 for the four of us but no discount. I thought that was odd but then I read that the discount required 24 hour notice and I had goofed and booked it for the next day and the functionality on the web site likely said... sorry. So I asked about this... at the dock with the first lay... at the check in with second lady... both said they would check... when we got back I asked again...

O my... power about to fail... will have to finish this later before I lose it.

Mark

Bulldogsoc, I am sorry, I mean to ask is.Do they let the people with FTTF

wait in the Lounge?:halo: