Mariner of the Seas Repositioning - Leg 3

Day 1 - Departure Day from JFK

Well sitting at home waiting for my brother John to drop by to meet
the airport limo to JFK in New York. Will be meeting up with Cruise
Critic friends George and his wife Sue for the flight to Santiago
Chile. All my bags are packed and ready to go. Flight leaves at 8:00
pm Saturday night and is expected to be a 10 hour 50 min flight. Hope
I am up for that but do not have a choice. LOL

Will be meeting my significant other Cindy on Monday evening before
embarking on the 16 night cruise up to Los Angeles. Cindy's blog is
canadiancruisediva.blogspot.com and you can catch up on her wonderful
trip for the 30 days prior to me joining her. It is certainly a cruise
of a lifetime for her and the many new and very close friends she is
sharing the entire 46 night voyage with. Cindy will certainly be
keeping her blog going cannot say the same for me but will try. Maybe
she will let me just copy and paste.

Plans for tomorrow are to arrive in Santiago Chile and check in to a
hotel and then do a winery tour. Then back to the hotel and watch the
superbowl with another cruise critic friend Rick. Then we are off on
a transfer from Santiago to Vina del Mar and a stop at another winery
and then touring of Valparaiso and Vina del mar before spending the
night on the coast over looking the pacific ocean.

Tomorrow is Santiago Chile and Day 3 is Vina del Mar a coastal resort
city in Chile next door to the port of Valparaiso, Chile where I will
meet the ship.

Back from a Wonderful Cruise

Hi Everyone,  The Mexican Riveria cruise started out very smoothly with Joe, Donna, Jenn, Cindy and I all arriving on time or a few minutes early from Denver, Fredericton and Hartford all within 20 minutes of each other.  Talk about a plan coming together.  We took Super Shuttle over to our hotel across the street from Disneyland and enjoyed a quick visit and some wonderful fireworks to end our long first day.

Met the shuttle to the port and after a brief wait arrived on the ship with a very smooth embarkation process.  Have cruised on the Vision class before and like the size of the ship and found the service to be top notch.  Luggage was delivered in a timely manner and was unpacked by 3:00 pm.  The floral arrangement waiting was one of the best that Cindy and I have received from our previous cruises.  Basket was full and flowers were very fresh.  Shared a bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries with our friends Joe, Donna and Jenn.

Started off with a sea day for our trip down to Cabo San Lucas and the weather got warmer as we cruised further south.  Seas were a bit rough the first night as we encountered 10 foot swells.  Arrived in Cabo San Lucas and Joe and I went off dune buggying in the dry river bed and along the beach.  A good/dirty time was had by all and being that the buggies were a bit beat up we had fun adding a little more abuse.  All I have to say is air time in a VW powered dune buggy was awesome.  

Next port of call was Mazatlan and a very nice tour throught the ship to the Sierra Madre mountains with Irma.  Cindy previously had her on the same tour and it was enjoyable again.  We visited many local artisans and made some silver purchases as well as some wonderful wood carving of an old man with a hat made of two different animal hides.

Our last port of call was Puerto Vallarta and we decided to book a tour with La Vista and it was a decision that could not have been better.  Our tour guides were excellent and we had a small group of nine doing the rotation among 15 ziplines.  The experience hit all the adjectives like AWESOME, INCREDIBLE, WOW.  I got kind of winded walking between the stations and the guides were excellent and made sure I took my time.  

We ended with two sea days and lot's of sun and balcony time.  Enjoyed a few sunsets with Cindy on the balcony and watching a few whales and many dolphins following along side the ship.  We had the best couple's massage on this cruise and it will now be the one we compare all the other's too.  

Working on the laundry from the cruise and looking forward to my next cruise.  

Packing For The Vision of the Seas

Hi Everyone, Today I am continuing to pack for the upcoming cruise on the Vision of the Seas departing from Los Angeles on November 9th. Will be spending the afternoon and evening in Disneyland, a first for me, and then heading off to the cruise port on Sunday morning. Will be meeting all of the gang at LAX in the morning. Fortunately all of us arrive within 20 minutes of each other so will be able to maximize our time at Disneyland. Enough for now as I need to get packing because I know Cindy will ask about my progress later this evening.

First Post

Well I have begun the packing ritual for my next trip.  Will be travelling with Cindy and being joined by fellow pirates Joe, Donna and daughter Jenny.  Will be departing in less than two weeks for the Mexican Riviera.  woohoo