Heaven on a boat

So here it finally is, friends. The long awaited for post all about our cruise on The Monarch of the Seas (big boat pictured below). I am willing to guarantee that this is by far the longest post with the most pictures I have ever done. So hang on to your hats and glasses, 'cause this here's going to be the wildest ride in the wilderness!

The boat. Seriously, I loved being on this big boat. It was just fun being part of a never-to-be-experienced-again sense of freedom and vacation and the big blue ocean. I loved walking around the deck, sticking my head out of our peek-hole window, and watching the world roll by from any window I could get myself in front of. Jeremy didn't enjoy the view as much--it sort of made him nauseous. I didn't notice any real movement until the last night when, as Jeremy puts it, the boat was about to fall over because the waves were so huge. Seriously, we were doing some tossing and turning that night, but otherwise, it was smoothing sailing :).

Our room. It was small, but just right for the two of us. They courteously pushed our two twin beds together for a comfortable queen. I loved (LOVED) having a window. It was the last thing I looked out of at night, and the first thing in the morning. Let me just say a word here for the room service. Wow. They were fantastic. Our cute little room attendant cleaned and tidied our room twice a day. When we came back from breakfast the bed looked as pictured below and the bathroom as tidied. When we came back from dinner, the sheets were turned down and there were chocolates on our pillows. Oh, and fun towel animals (that I put in way at the end, so you'll just have to read the whole post if you want to see my awesome hanging towel monkey. I promise it's worth it!)

Day 1: San Diego. So Monday we boarded the boat in LA... Tuesday we disembarked in San Diego. Here's the view from the deck. We had planned out our excursions way ahead of time, meaning we had something to do everyday. I highly recommend this. Seriously, we were always on the go. It was nice to be busy during the day because there was always some down time in the evening when we didn't want to be near the bars or casinos and could just walk around and enjoy the ocean. But if we had planned to do that all day everyday, it would have made for a boring cruise.

So Tuesday, our day in San Diego, we went to the Wild Animal Park. Despite growing up so close to San Diego, I had never been. It was way fun.

This here is the last of TWO living of it's kind (some sort of white rhino). Poor fellow.


By FAR the highlight of the zoo happened when we found a little bit of shade to rest in. What should we see on the other side of the pool? None other but a devil bird (technically a shoebill something or other). I wish I had the talent to upload videos, because this bird just about ate the little worker lady alive. As we're sitting there, she (the worker lady) opens the gate and begins to wade across the water with a bucket of fish and mice and other unpleasantries to feed this enormous dragon looking bird and his mate. But rather than a friendly afternoon lunch, the devil bird not only refused to eat, he snapped (his LOUD snapping bill) and fluttered (his BIG flapping wings) and cornered the poor little lunch lady. At one point he grabbed the lip of her bucket in his bill. I seriously wanted to start yelling for her to just get the heck out of there before SHE became the lunch. She kept her cool, however, and it all ended ok, I guess. Finally the mate showed up who did want lunch and the male devil bird went and simmered (literally he looked like he could have killed someone) under the trees. We have the whole thing on video. Alas, I just don't know how to upload it. Sorry.


Jeremy took TONS of artistic photos of the trees and flowers. These are two of my favorites. I love how you can she the sun rays in this first one.


Jeremy's favorite: the gorillas. Again, another long video I can't upload. But they were great fun. They really do look somewhat human.

At 6', Jeremy is the same hight as the average gorilla. And with his ultra long torso and short legs, he had almost the same build! He just needs longer arms and a bigger gut. Kind of crazy.

Can you see the baby getting lunch too?

Honey anyone?

Day 2: Catalina. The second day of our cruise took us to Catalina Island. I grew up squinting across the beach trying to see Catalina. I can't tell you how excited I was to finally get to go! This is the view from the top of the boat (deck 12) right outside from where we eat breakfast (mmm... the food... more on that in a minute). Catalina was bigger and prettier than I thought it would be. Our big plans for this day was snorkling. So fun! Neither of us had ever done it before, and let me tell you, I would gladly do it again. The only bummer was, we were leaving the boat in a hurry after breakfast, and I forgot to put in my contacts. So sad. Since I had to wear a snorkling mask, that meant I couldn't see many details in the water. Because of said blunder we bought an underwater camera and Jeremy took lots of pictures (that someday we will develop). Despite my lack of vision, I loved getting in the water, wearing a wet suit, and playing with the bright orange fish that were all around us.





Day 3: Ensenada Mexico. Hip Hip hooray for Mexico! This was my first time (ever) stepping foot in Mexico. Such fun. This is the view from our porthole (the morning was a bit overcast) and then a little later from deck 12 after breakfast. Our big adventure in Mexico included a tour to "La Bufadora" (or the blowhole). Neither of us had ever seen a blowhole before, and it was so rad. I loved even the bus trip out--driving past all the Mexican markets and fields. Ok, ok, so I slept most of the way, but I liked what I saw. There were little shops (totally touristy) on the walk out to la bufadora where we bought a mango with chile (mmmm...) and a big soft coconut. Dang. My mouth is watering right now just thinking about it. My one souvenir from the trip (besides pictures) was a small red pendant we bartered for in one of the shops. It was fun to be able to surprise people by busting out our Spanish. The BEST part about our day in Mexico, however happened when we got back from the tour. We let the bus drop us off a few blocks from the boat and went in search of the most authentic taco shop we could find. After considerable searching and repeatedly asking locals for advice and directions we found The Place. dang. Flies in the cilantro and everything... those were the best tacos I've ever had. Worth every peso.

There are only seven flags in all of Mexico this big (I don't remember the dimensions, but BIG). And one is in Ensenada. So fun.



Ok. Now something must be said about the food. Wow. The day excursions were fun, the room was nice. But dinner? It beat all. Seriously, I looked forward to dinner all night long (and lamented the fact that it was over every night). Dinner was in a big dinning hall with assigned seating (our fellow table mates are pictured below--there were six of us). No jeans or shorts were allowed, so every night I donned a skirt and Jeremy put on his khakis. We had two fantastic Indian waiters (everyone working on the boat was international--it totally added to the exotic ambiance). When we showed up (at 5pm sharp), they would put our napkins in our laps, pour us some water, and give us the nightly menu. On the menu were always starters and entrees. You could have as many of each as you wanted. Things like chilled watermelon soup or es cargo as starters, things like Rosemary Lamb Shank or King Crab Legs as entrees. There were at least 10 of each every night, always different. The first night we were a little penosa and only had one starter and one entree... not for long. It was only a matter of time before everyone at the table had at least two starters and we were sending back from someone else's entree of choice that looked too good to pass up. And then there was desert. Not going to lie, most of them had alcohol, but I was content with my nightly dish of sherbert, so I didn't mind! I just loved that dinner was such an event. It took at least an hour and half. Our table was fun, our waiters were fabulous, and the food was divine. Seriously. And I haven't even told you about the buffets upstairs all day long or the room service (we loved the cheese plate) at night. Dang. You honestly couldn't go out to such a nice restaurant so many nights in a row for the price of the cruise.

I don't remember their names (oops). But these two were fun. They were neighbors who came for some convention. I loved sitting with the "older crowd."
Harmony (not a good picture, sorry), and Gail, her mom. Harmony was a little chatterbox and made any initial awkwardness of sitting with people you don't know disappear.

Here they are! The long awaited for towel animals. Here is our monkey and puppy dog. I, sadly, didn't get a picture of the elephant. But you can just imagine it was very awesome.

And there you have it, folks. More than you ever wanted to know about our cruise. I left out at least a hundred pictures (which I'm betting your grateful about). All I have to say is that it was WORTH IT. Seriously, if you are trying to figure out what to do for your honeymoon... go with a cruise! If you are trying to figure out what to do for an anniversary get away... go with a cruise! I don't know that I would recommend kids--although people had them--it's just that your room is so small. And the big things to do the boat are gambling and drinking... not good family activities. We were content walking around the deck and watching movies on my laptop in our room as an alternative. Anyhow, I hope you've enjoyed the show... until next time :).