Bub hitching a ride on the Vision of the Seas
My mom and Don (who were the kids’ babysitters) arrived Friday night before our cruise departed on Sunday, so we spent the weekend enjoying their company. Sunday morning, we picked up cousins Jenna and Krista Stastny at Gma’s house, and then headed down to Long Beach for a fun pre-cruise activity. Uncle Ted, Pop’s brother, works out at the Firehouse that is in the harbor. He is an engineer on the fireboat – which all 29 of us got to tour. Amazing! And then several hours later, while we were on our cruise boat before it left the port, Uncle Ted’s fireboat was doing a PR tour. He went right by our cruise ship, and many of us got to yell and wave at him like he was a rockstar in a fireman’s jumpsuit.
The ship – the Vision of the Seas – was about 20 years old – but still lovely and was always kept spotless. The décor wasn’t totally up-to-date, but it wasn’t grungy – and since this was my first cruise, I think I was fairly easy to please.
Our stateroom with a window was clean, comfy and just fine for 2 people. It was almost like a dollhouse – all these tiny little compartments for storage. I was able to put almost everything in drawers or closet, and totally put the suitcases away – a very nice feature. I LOVED having a window – just watching the ocean go by was very relaxing. I couldn’t imagine for my life having our 2 kids with us in that room – that would have been tough.
I almost immediately felt the movement of the ocean when we got on the ship, even though we didn’t leave for several hours. It actually made me quite ill – and though I could eat – I felt like I might be sick. Matt said, “You’re not a good cruiser.” (so supportive!) During the muster drill – when everyone has to go outside and line up in their lifejackets – I felt realllllllyyyyy bad. I was very claustrophobic for that 10 minutes, stuffed behind 30 other people, and the 2 big guys in front of me smelled bad. Fortunately, I took some Dramamine and was fine the next day. In fact, I even enjoyed the big swells we would feel, when we were on upper decks.
Toby pretending not to feel sick during the Muster Drill.
Our nightly event together was dinner, in the formal dining room. We had 2 nights of fancy dress, but most were casual. Our waiter, Revelino from India – was totally charming and an amazing server. He would bring us extra appetizers, extra main dishes and of course, extra desserts. We always left totally stuffed and with the feeling that we got to try almost everything we wanted to. Revelino would always make a speech at the end of the meal where he would tell us the events coming up of the next day. He would say, “Let me tell you…” about 16 times during the speech – very funny.
Jan and I with Revelino the generous waiter.
Our stateroom attendant – Samson – a 4’11” super sweet Phillipino guy – was fantastic. He tidied our room and made our bed twice a day – so awesome! He also made adorable towel animals every night and put them on the bed for display. They got more and more elaborate, including a monkey hanging from the ceiling.
Wild animals in our stateroom.
Samson the mighty, the brave, the best tidier and towel-transformer.
That night, many of us played a round-robin version of Scrabble, invented by Jan. That was very fun- since I am not a big fan of standard Scrabble. Then off to bed, for another day of fun.
Hey! How am I supposed to make a word out of four E’s?
Day 2- at sea
This was a day at sea – and it was my attempt at finding out what there was for me to do on the ship. I have heard so many people say – ‘there’s just limitless options of what to do on a cruise ship!’ Matt was super happy to just read, and eat, and then maybe take a nap. Many of the activities, I found, were about spending money! Since I didn’t bring another $500 to spend on ship activities – I thought this was a bit annoying. You could go to a diamond seminar, and then buy their diamonds, go to an art show, and then buy their art, go gamble in the casino (which Matt did play some Blackjack – that was fun to watch and we only lost a bit), go to the spa, and spend more than twice of what a service would cost on land. I thought it would be fun to play Bingo – but that cost $30 a ticket, so that the pot went to the winner. Blech! I know I could always lay out in the sun (which would be important to someone who doesn’t live where I do), exercise, eat, etc. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful! I guess I just didn’t fit exactly into what most cruisers like to do. I did enjoy reading, napping, and running into someone from our family and starting a game of cards. My favorite part must have been that I didn’t have to shop, prepare or clean up any meals for anyone or me. I didn’t even have to think about anything food related, except what would I like today? That was super relaxing for that part of my brain.
Matt and I took a (amazingly – free) Rhumba class and learned the box-step. I’m proud of my sweetie for slogging through that for me. J I also did a yoga class – good but not included (again!) – $15.00.
Do we remember any of the Rhumba? Not really. 🙂
Can you tell that Syl has octopi in her salad?
Lovely Stastny sisters Krista and Jenna
Jan and Jeff – so relaxed (hmmm – sans kids I presume?)
Cousins Anna and Mandy – roomies
Syl and Mike – 40th wedding annivesary later this year
Gma and Gpa Seal – both turning 80 this year, married for 60 years!
Day 3 – Cabo San Lucas
This was a tender-boat situation. The port is too small to dock there, so you have to get on these smaller boats and go for a 15-minute ride to the marina. It was a gorgeous day – with a breeze so not unbearable. Cousins Mandy, Kyle, Lorissa and I went to the Club Cascadas (a time-share resort about a 5 minute taxi drive away) for massages (and Kyle a chocolate body-wrap). I booked it all online beforehand – love that internet! After our fun treatments, we ate lunch at a very relaxed restaurant right on the beach – great food, beautiful beach – totally lovely.
Katie and me on the tender boat
My spa day buddies
Matt and Wes went diving that day – and it wasn’t terribly memorable for them, unfortunately. The dive operators were very bored to just take the 2 of them out (since July is off-season), and the visibility was mediocre. After their dive, as they sat eating chips and drinking a beer at a marina restaurant – the 2 of them were repeatedly approached by local vendors. Most of us were, all day – approached by vendors carrying jewelry, clothing, toys, hats, wool blankets (yikes!), etc. But lucky Wes and Matt – after they said no to the usual items, the guy would lean in and say, “You guys want some drugzzzzzzzzz?” or “want some blow?” Most of the solicitations were directed to Wes, so somehow his goatee must make him look like a hooligan, though he is a responsible daddy-to-be. Funny!
At our Italian themed-dinner that night, all the hundreds of waiters marched, napkins circling in the air, then sung ‘O Solo Mio’ – with 47 different accents. After these big meals, I’m sure glad a lot of my clothes had spandex.
Day 4 – Mazatlan
Not a pretty port – very industrial but no worries. We had a neat excursion planned – horseback riding on Stone Island with Randi’s Happy Horses. We took a truck taxi (benches in the back of a truck) to a water taxi to another truck taxi to get to this island. The rides were a hoot! And some of the only times we were cool, because the humidity was SO terrible. The head rancher/cowboy/horse guy picked a horse for us in his humorous Spanglish, and then we were off. There were 12 Seal Family brave men and women on this trip. All of our horses really liked to trot! So you would be bumping along, laughing and trying to hold on for dear life. All except for Matt and Jan, who were running ahead of us all. Ask Matt about his poor raw, chafed leg and buttocks, from sitting way back in the saddle. (It wasn’t pretty – shhhhh). We were right on the beach – super lovely day, overcast but fine. After our beach ‘trot’ – we ate a leisurely lunch at a beach restaurant – with amazing shrimp. Matt took a hammock nap, and then proceeded to buy 2 seated hammocks from a vendor, to hang up on the top balcony of the new construction. We bought the kids each a parachute doll – Max a black Spiderman and Lucy a really ugly Barbie-type creature. Ugh. But they had a parachute coming out of their back and could fly like a kite! When we were about to get back on the ship, we couldn’t believe how sticky we felt – it was an overwhelming stickiness from the humidity. But a very fun time.
Back on the ship – we had another awesome dinner, followed by the best evening show yet. Kyle Knight and his lovely lady Mistie – a truly awesome magic show. We figured out one illusion – but the rest were just totally mind-blowing. Matt quickly developed a magical crush on Mistie, and literally watched her sign autographs and talk to people after the show. I’m not worried – this doesn’t happen very often.
Anna and Jan – ready to rodeo
Me and Matt – just like on our honeymoon 10 1/2 years ago
Chain of luv (the horses stayed posed very well)
Happy nap (till some chick on an ATV ran into him)
Day 5 – Puerta Vallerta
Probably our most fun day to boot – Zip lining, baby! The only tough thing was that only 12 of our 21 members had brought their printed receipt. Mmmmm – I got to use my wedding coordinator skills here, as I graciously tried to work with the office staff. Who knows why they couldn’t bring up their Paypal records, but anyway – we all got on the bus, and headed to our jungley tour. We got suited up in our safety gear and helmets and had our safety briefing. The 15 guys who work this tour are hysterical – total adrenaline junkies, but you always felt safe. And then – we were off! I thought it would be like a feeling of falling, but it was not – like sliding/gliding, but very fast. SO FUN. There were 14 ziplines total – for a very satisfying time. The longest one was 450 meters across a river that was 400 feet in the air. Can’t say enough – if you get the chance to do this – you have to do it. Even Gpa Seal at 80 years old was with us – and probably climbed the stairs with less wheezing than me! Matt and Jan got very brave and went down some runs hanging upside down.
We finished the tour and then waited for our bus to leave. They had lots of terrariums w/ spiders and snakes, and even a monkey house that you could go in and take your picture with a monkey on your shoulder. One of the older men – very trustworthy – took out a tarantula and asked cousin Tawnee (14) if he could put it on her shirt for a picture. She said sure – not scared at all. Then “on your face?” “Sure!” Then, he said he’d buy her a soda if he could put the spider in her mouth. He assured her that it was not poisonous and had never bit anyone. She agreed – very excitedly – such a cheap date. Her father was standing by – and we took pictures – completely freaked out and knowing her mother (Aunt Monya) would be too!
That night our group played a board game called “Who-nu?” – very fun and interesting. Then Bub, Mandy, Uncle Larry and I went to a cruise activity – at 10:30 pm – SO late for us, called ‘the Quest.’ There’s just no way I can describe this, so ask me in person. I have never laughed so hard in 30 minutes time, probably in my whole life. It was craziness and hysterics, rolled into a treasure-hunt style game.
Nope – that Syl ain’t a bit nervous!
Excited, and shiny with sunscreen and sweat from the humidity
My hubby, the occasional daredevil
Kids! Do not try this at home.
Day 6 – at sea
Today it was nice to relax and not have to hurry up and get off the boat. We read, we ate, we played cards, we napped, etc. I think I would have liked for there to be a separate movie theatre with movies going all day, since I don’t get to go very often. I’ll look for that on my next cruise. Hahaha.
This was our 2nd formal dinner night – and we all took a group picture on the grand staircase beforehand. We had lobster tails for dinner – and our waiter just kept bringing more and more food out. Pop ate 5 tails – and said that was definitely 1 too many. This was Jeff’s 35 birthday – very special to have it with such a neat group. We played a ‘Battle of the Sexes’ type game (where I was selected to play on behalf of about 100 females – and I won our round!), but the guys won the game overall – blech.
Cousin Kyle and sweet Maeve.
3 sisters – Syl, Monya and Lindy
Matt, Katie and Jan sure clean-up nice
Gee I really don’t want to go home yet
Mmmmmm – lobster
Day 7 – at sea
So, our final day of eating, sleeping, napping, playing cards, etc. I did buck up and do some yoga stretching, and then a fast walk around the top deck – pretty invigorating. Pop played like 5 hours of ping-pong on that day – and took 2nd place in a contest! Matt and I took a ‘country cha-cha’ class – just okay – good exercise, though. We went to a comedy show (at 11 pm I think – man that is late for us!) and we laughed are pants off.
The next day, the pretty funny part about our disembarkation is that Matt and I were literally the LAST people to get off the ship! We didn’t get lost or sick or do anything wrong. We were just in the last group to leave, which is fine – we played cards and read, but then when we saw a big line, we just sat down and kept reading. So then, all of a sudden there was no line – so we got off, and then in the luggage warehouse – our bags were the only ones left. Very funny – I’m always glad not to stand in line if I can help it.
So overall it was totally super – really wonderful. Such a fun time with family – a precious moment in time!
The Vision’s Atrium – very cool!