Last days at Sea

We had two sea days before our cruise ended in Miami. While at sea during the day, we exercised, updated the blog, and relaxed in our stateroom. I was worn out from back to back days with the Panama Canal and Cartagena.

We had dinner both nights with our friends (Dan, Kandice, Spencer, and Courtney). It was nice to eat with people our own age and interests. We had so much fun with all of them. On the evening of the first day at sea, we had several shows to see after our dinner. We have been eating dinner at 5:30pm so we could be at the first show at 7:15pm.



After the usual production show, we went to another show called “The Perfect Couple”. Courtney and Spencer volunteered as contestants on this cruise game show. Well they needed another couple and somehow Brian and I ended up on stage too. Crazy I know! During the game show, the first task was dancing. Oh my goodness! We can NOT dance! Oh it was bad. Luckily it was not videotaped. The next task had me transfer a lemon inside Brian’s pants from one side to another. I did pretty well at that. Then the women had to hold a long pole between their legs and place it in a roll of toilet paper that the man was holding between his legs. In case that didn’t sound dangerous enough, I was blindfolded. I also did okay with that and nobody got hurt. The final task was for the women to pop balloons on their husbands with their bodies. Since I am pregnant we thought that I should not be doing that. We asked Dan and Kandice to stand in for us. It was so funny because for the first balloon they had to pop Kandice ran down Dan and actually pushed him off the chair. It was really funny. In the end the show didn’t declare a winner but instead gave all four couples who participated a prize pack. It was a really fun night.

Our the last night on the cruise we all hung out again. We had our now routine 5:30 dinner followed by the 7:15 production show. Later at 10:15 there was a game called “The Quest” that we decided we should all do. We have seen it many times on cruise ships but never participated in it. Since we had a fun group of people, we decided we were going to get involved. There were about 8 teams. The host would make ask for a man or woman on the team to bring some item to her on stage. Teams that brought it to her within the time limits were given points. Dan and Kandice were our group leaders. Kandice really got into it and we had so much fun. The first couple of things were easy like business cards, cruise newspapers, fruit (because they are in most alcoholic drinks), etc. Then it got crazier. Eventually we needed dentures, men wearing women’s shoes, multiple people on stage pretending to play twister or be rowing a canoe, etc. Later we needed Courtney to show her tattoo and belly button piercing. They even asked teams to race on stage with a certain number of men’s pants and women’s bras that people took off. Near the end we needed a man to bring a women’s bra, high heels, lip stick, and a purse. Guess who ended up having to represent our team? Brian! It was insane. Our group laughed so hard all night. We all did some crazy things that night.

Around midnight, we decided we all needed to get some sleep. It was sad to say good bye. It was nice that we made friends on the cruise. We had so much fun together. It really worked out how we met, went touring on land, and hung out on board. Our only compliant is that we didn’t meet sooner!

This morning we got up early to get off the cruise ship. We are in Miami waiting for our flight home. We are really sad to go home. A lot of things are going to be changing for us soon (work, family, travel scope). I really enjoyed living in non-reality for the past 2 weeks. Reality starts in a few hours now. This was our last major vacation for a really long time. We are really excited for baby, but our life is definitely going to be different. While on our balcony this morning we sang the song, “It’s the end of the world as we know it”. It is really true for us right now. Despite sadness from closing one chapter in our lives, we also both “feel fine” (as the song goes) and are excited about the future.

The vacation was much better than we expected. We had a lot of fun at the different ports and while on the ship. Going though the Panama Canal was amazing. We really enjoyed spending time together. We have many great memories to take away from this trip.

Stay tuned for our future travels. With the baby due in late January, it probably won’t be until Spring or Summer. Although it will be less exotic, bringing a baby along will certainly make for some interesting stories.

Cartegena, Columbia

Today we were in Cartagena, Colombia. Everyone should be happy to know we did not get kidnapped. That was our biggest concern about Colombia since there was an active U.S. travel advisory. We knew about the advisory and the slight risks that come with it. From everything we read, problems were unlikely to occur in the tourist city of Cartegena though. Still, you never know. This is our first visit to the South American continent, so this stop in Columbia was an important part of our trip.

This morning we went to breakfast. I was really hungry. I had two bowls of cereal and yogurt. The bowls of cereal were very small (in my defense). While we were still waiting to dock in Cartagena, I realized I was still hungry. So I went back up to the buffet and had another bowl of cereal with a banana. Brian thinks I have completely lost it. He could not believe how much I ate this morning! (Also on a side note, he thinks my stomach has gotten much bigger these past two weeks and I am starting to look more obviously pregnant at times. Even so, many people still don’t realize I am pregnant and especially that I am almost 6 months pregnant).

We met friends Dan and Kandice in Guatemala. While there, we made plans to tour Cartagena together. We figured it is always better to travel in groups and sharing taxis makes a lot of sense. We met them this morning. They made friends with Spencer and Courtney and asked if they could join us too. We happily agreed. The more the better!

Once we all got off the ship, we went to get a taxi. It was more difficult than one would think. This was because the English speaking taxi drivers wanted a ridiculous amount of money to take us to the Old Town (around $15 per person). We knew that it should cost $5 per person and saw several Spanish speaking taxis offer this rate. Brian spoke Spanish to the Spanish speaking taxi drivers and we got a ride into the Old Town. The issue was there were 6 of us and only 4 could fit into a cab. Brian arranged two taxi’s so we would all meet up together once we got there. Our group teamed up with two other people so we filled both cabs.

At the Old Town, we walked around a recommended walking tour path. Dan read the map and navigated us around which was nice. It was hot and humid with scattered rain showers. Eventually we needed a bathroom break and a shop told us to go into a nearby hotel. That worked out well. We even saw a bird flying around a little café area and got some good pictures.

It would sprinkle rain a little bit but nothing too severe until around lunch time. Luckily right when the downpour started we found ourselves in a covered shopping area so we did not get too wet. We shopped around for a while. It was still raining hard so we all decided to go into a local bar and get a beer. Don’t worry I did not have a beer!

After about an hour or so, the rain had slowed down and we left the bar and headed back towards the main area of the Old Town. While walking, we saw a grocery store so we decided to take a look. Our friends told us how they have brought drinks on board. For the past 12 days I have only had water after breakfast since NCL only offers water and ice tea (which has caffeine so I can’t drink it). Bringing drinks on board sounded wonderful. While at the grocery store, we bought Sprite and orange Crush soda. Both are “sin cafeina” (without caffeine). We have two sea days left so it will be nice to have a something other than water.

We continued to walk around the Old Town until about 3:30pm. We walked a total of 6 miles today! Then it was Brian’s job to find us taxi’s to get our group back to port. I don’t care what Brian says he can really speak Spanish well. On the way to the Old Town, he had an entire conversation with the Spanish speaking taxi driver. It was really helpful how well Brian could speak Spanish. He also helped our friends out throughout the day talking with store clerks in Spanish too. Brian liked it since it was the longest stretch where he was really forced to use Spanish. He could see how language immersion would help someone really learn a language beyond the classroom.

We are back onboard the ship. Brian has been very social and is out talking with our neighbor on the balcony now. Baby and I are hungry so now I am writing this blog while I wait for him to shower. He said he could shower later and we could just go eat now, but it was really humid today so I thought he would feel better after a shower. I am such a nice wife! Next up are two days at sea as we head back to the United States.

Panama Canal Transit

Today was the big day. We went though the Panama Canal. What an amazing experience! We saw so many cargo ships waiting in the ocean to get through the canal. We also got to see Panama City as we passed it by.

We woke up at 5am to ensure that we saw everything possible. We were entering on the Pacific side therefore the Bridge of the Americans was going to be early however we did not know how early. Baby and I did not like getting up so early but we did it. We got ready and were on the top deck by 5:30am before sunrise. Many other people also got up early too, although we certainly beat the crowds. We weren’t scheduled to reach the first lock until 8am.

Last night we scoped things out and knew exactly where we wanted to get our picture taken with the bridge in the background. However that plan was ruined because they had that part of the deck closed due to ropes needing to be there to help get us through the canal. We had to find another spot. We decided on the upper deck near the food station where there were tables and chairs. I actually really liked this spot because I had food and a place to sit down. Brian ran around the ship all morning taking pictures and making sure our spot was good enough. I just continued to sit at my table and enjoy the scenery.

We finally reached the Bridge of the Americas at 7:30am. Again it was another spectacular sight. Just thinking about the construction of the canal in the early 1900’s and going through it really makes you realize how impressive this really is. They made an announcement describing the canal transit including what Norweign had to pay. Our ship cost $375,000 to go through the canal today. Yes, I really did type that number right! Wow! They said that this passage was a record. Info we printed from wikipedia before the trip confirms this reporting that the previous record toll was $331,200 in May 2008 to the Disney Magic cruise ship.

We read a lot on the canal from Wikipedia. I don’t remember learning much on the Panama Canal in school but after reading up on it I have a new appreciation for it. Around 27,500 people died during the construction. We had 3 Panama Canal pilots on board our ship to help us get through the canal. We reached the first set of locks at 8am (Miraflores and Pedro Miguel locks). We were finished with them around 11am. These locks had raised our ship 85 feet above sea level. Around 3pm we dropped back down to sea level into the Atlantic at the 3 stage Gatun locks. Interestingly, the Pacific side sea level is 8 inches higher than the Atlantic due to weather and water differences. The locks are 110 feet wide and our ship barely fit with minimal room on either side as the photo above shows.

We went everywhere on the ship while we went through the locks. We were on our balcony, upper deck, lower deck... you name it we were there. We forgot to wear our pedometer but we really walked a lot (probably at least 4-5 miles)! Brian’s legs were even tired too.

During our panama canal transit, we also saw construction. They are building a third set of locks that can accommodate even larger ships. We saw this construction as well as continuous dredging done to maintain the canal. It was funny because the backhoe operators paused for a few seconds to wave to the ship as we passed. They scooped and threw water and then used then waved the claw like a hand as if to say hello. We saw it a couple of times. It was very cute.

We were really lucky again with the weather since rain was forecast (this is their wet season). It was nice this morning. Then it started to rain for a while however we were able to get shelter. It did not rain too long. Just as we finished the last lock of the day it started to rain again. We could not believe how lucky we were.

At 2:30pm, we went to a Cruise Critics member’s stateroom for a watch the canal party. We met them online before we came aboard. They had a suite with a room in the front of the ship directly below the captain’s bridge. There were about 30 people there. It was kind of funny because we were suppose to bring a dish. How do you bring a dish while on a cruise ship? You go to the buffet and get a plate full of food while everyone looks at you like you are a crazy pig. We got a plate full of banana bread.

It was nice of this couple to invite us over to watch going through the canals. We got a different perspective of the canals since for most of the day we were either on the side of the ship or in the back (the front was simply too crowded on the top deck and only accessible to crew on the lower front deck). We were there for about 2 hours. After we had passed the final canal from our perspective at the front of the ship, we left and went back to our stateroom to be surprised that we still had some more to go back there (our room is in the back of the ship). So we got to do some of the canal twice. Sometimes we forget how big our ship is.

After we were completely though the canal, we came back to our room. We decided to take a nap before dinner. It was really a busy day. It was a lot of fun watching us go through the canal. It really is cool to experience it.

While in Panama, the ship had photographers get off the ship to take pictures. We bought a few shots. They also took pictures of people on the decks and their balconies. They told us they were going to do this. We briefly looked at those. In one photo, there was a man in his underwear on his balcony. It was unbelievable that they really took, printed, and posted the picture. It was later taken down.



Tomorrow we are in Cartagena. I asked Brian if we could have a sea day tomorrow so I could rest. He said no. The captain is sticking to the original schedule. We will go to Cartagena then we will have two days at sea before our vacation is over. This trip has gone by really fast.

Puntarenas, Costa Rica

Yesterday we were docked in Costa Rica. What did we do in Costa Rica? We went white water rafting… in crocodile infested waters! Plus they decided that a 5 month pregnant women needed to be seated in the front because I was the second strongest person on the raft (Brian was the strongest).

Now before everyone freaks out, everything is fine. It really was not that bad. We booked an NCL shore excursion called Corobici River Float. The only restriction was that participants needed to be in good health. So I thought we were going to be in a boat paddling a little bit but nothing too crazy. Well once we got there we realized we were going white water rafting. There were rapids within sight of where we started in the raft.

The rapids were only class 1 and 2 so again it was not too insane. Luckily we have white water rafted before with Melissa and Jonathan so we were very comfortable with rafting. When we did it with them (before I was pregnant of coarse) we did class 5 rapids. Now that was intense! This trip was down a fairly calm river that only required occasional paddling and you’d really have to screw up to actually fall out of the boat. Given that there were American crocadiles and caymen in the river, falling out was not recommended. Hopefully a confirmation of low risk and not incompetence, we were not even given helmets.

We got into our rafting boat with two other couples. The couple behind us were probably in there late 60’s and the other couple was around 50. At the very beginning, we went down a class 2 rapid. It was actually a lot of fun. I got soaked since it I in the front.

It was a nice partly cloudy day with temperatures around 80. It is their raining season so we were lucky that it was not raining. While on the river, Brian and I were busy trying to see wildlife. It was possible to see many different types of birds, monkeys, crocadiles, and iguanas.

Some people in our raft saw monkeys however I did not. Brian did see one Howler monkey. They hang out on the trees near the river. We did see a crocodile on the shore though. We knew in advance that the rafting could not be too intense because crocadiles live in this river. We also saw a few iguanas. There were several different birds and trees too, but birds do not impress me much.

We rafted for about 2 hours. We travel 12 km which is almost 8 miles. My body got sore from sitting on the edge of the raft. My leg even cramped up during the trip but I was able to make it go away. My butt is still a little sore today from it all.

When we were about finished with the rafting tour, we heard loud thunder in the distance. The clouds were getting dark and I could tell that it was going to rain soon. Our tour included lunch at a local restaurant. Once we got to the restaurant, it started pouring rain extremely hard. It rained like that for about 45 minutes before it slowed down some. It was really amazing to see it rain that hard for so long.

For lunch, Brian had chicken and I had steak and we split them. The steak was really good. Both came with rice and beans. The food was excellent. Brian bought me a Sprite since we did not want to drink their fresh lemonade. It was probably okay but we did not want to take any chances since it had ice. The Sprite tasted good since we have only had water to drink for the past 10 days.

It was a long bus ride back to the ship. It took about an hour and half each way. On the way to the tour, I felt a little sick from the smell of bug spray. We had to put on bug spray since we really did not want any mosquito bites. The last thing I need is to get is yellow fever or west nile virus. On the way back, I did not feel so good because it was hot on the bus. I do not do well if the temperature is not to my liking. Chewing gum really helped me while traveling on the bus. We saw lots of flooding along the way from all of the rain.

Costa Rica did not seem as poor as Guatemala. The houses seemed nicely built usually. The land was a beautiful green color. It seemed like a great country from the little bit we saw. We wished our friend Jenn was with us to help point out all the plant and animal life in Coast Rica.

Once we got back on the ship, we went to dinner. The dinner options on NCL are pretty terrible. We ended up at a comfort food restaurant because the main dinning room did not have anything I liked for the second night in a row (only 3 items on the menu vary from day to day – NCL tries to force you to go to specialty restaurants which have cover charges from $10 to $25 per person). We ate chicken fingers which were actually pretty good. We have joked that Freestyle Cruising is actually Feestyle Cruising.

The ship was supposed to leave at 5pm. One of the NCL tour buses got stuck behind an accident on one of the roads and they were delayed getting back. The ship waited for them however they did not get back until almost 8pm. We stood outside on deck waiting for the bus to arrive. It was fun. Once the bus arrived and people started getting off, everyone on the ship cheered for them. It was cool.

Today is a day at sea. The weather has been rainy so there is not too much to do. We got up for breakfast, went to a hypnosis show, then I took a two hour nap while Brian worked on the computer. I was tired from all my fun yesterday. Baby and I are doing fine. Baby was pretty active yesterday after we got back on the ship. He/she is realizing that his/her parents are crazy!

We are supposed to meet our new friends Dan and Candice again for dinner today. It is great to have people our own age on the ship. Then we are going to bed early. Tomorrow we sail through the Panama Canal. We get there at 5:30 a.m. with noteworthy transits through the canal’s lochs at 8am, 10am, and 3pm.

Antigua, Guatemala

Yesterday the ship docked in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala. When we woke up, it was raining pretty hard. We later found out, it has been raining here for days. We booked a shore excursion through NCL. It was “Antigua on your own”. Basically this is just a transportation package into the city. The cruise ship arranges a bus to take us to Antigua and then we have our own time to see the city before they bring us back. Since it is about a 90 minute drive into Antigua, it wasn’t cost effective for us to arrange private transportation.

Because of all the rain, the buses had a hard time getting to the port due to flooding. We were about 45 minutes late leaving for Antigua. It was still raining in Puerto Quetzal. While standing in line to get on the bus, we met a young couple from Atlanta. We talked with them throughout the trip. It was great to finally meet people around our age. They have a 3 year old daughter and they gave us some traveling tips with children. Their daughter is not on this trip with them though.

It was an hour and half drive from Puerto Quetzal to Antigua. Guatemala is an underdeveloped country. It was eye opening to see many of the people’s homes. Unfortunately many people in Guatemala are poor and they don’t have a lot for housing. With all the recent rain, there was mud everywhere around their homes. It was sad to see.

While on the drive to Antigua, we read articles that we printed out from WikiTravel. It basically told us we could not eat anything in Guatemala because of poor sanitation system. With being pregnant, we are being extra cautious so we only ate our snacks that we brought from home (granola bars and crackers).

Once we arrived to Antigua, we were dropped off at the Jade factory. The tour group basically wanted to sell us Jade. We did not stick around for the “free” presentation. There was no way we were buying any Jade so there was no point wasting any time there. We had 2 and 1/2 hours on our own to explore the city. Despite all the rain at the port, the weather in Antigua was perfect. It was partly sunny with no rain! I was so grateful. They said it had rained there for 5 straight days prior. The city had cobblestone streets that were neat to walk around.

We first went to the famous arch in Antigua. After getting a picture for our travel wall collage, we walked to La Merced Church. We paid to go into the church. Brian spoke Spanish to the women at the entrance of the church. They took US dollars. We walked around this old church for a while. It was neat because they had a giant rosary hanging at the front of it.

Next we went to the local market. The market reminded me of the markets in Asia. The people were not pushy to buy things at the market because it was local. They had everything at this market. There were clothes, toys, diapers, fruits, meats, etc. Some of the smells I did not like. The pregnancy has me more sensitive to smells. At times I could have vomited but I did not. I felt very out of place since it was obvious we were tourists. However no one bothered us in anyway.

After the market, we went to central park. We walked around there too. There were many street venders trying to sell us things. We went into a few shops on the streets to look around. Brian also spoke Spanish to the people in the stores. I was impressed how well he spoke with them. He says they were being nice to him but at least they were able to communicate. Since they didn’t speak English, it really forced him to see what Spanish he could remember.

Unfortunately our time in Antigua was short and soon we had to head back to the Jade factory where the bus was waiting. Then it was another long drive back to the port. During the drive, we read some of our bringing home baby book. We learned all about breastfeeding. Also on the drive back, we saw many flooded streets. About half way back to Puerto Quetzal, it started raining again. I guess it never stopped raining at the port. We were lucky that it was not raining in Antigua.

After we got back on the ship, we quickly got ready for dinner. I was hungry since I did not really have lunch. We had an early dinner then went to a hypnosis show. Once we came back to our stateroom, I was exhausted and went to bed.

Today we are at sea. We are relaxing and watching some movies. We are going to meet our new friends for dinner tonight. It will be nice to eat with someone other than ourselves. Last several nights, we have eaten dinner alone. We are running out of things to talk about. Tomorrow we will be in Costa Rica.

Huatulco, Mexico

Today we docked in Huatulco, Mexico. This is our last stop in Mexico. When our alarm went off, we both did not want to get up. It was cloudy outside so our room was still dark. We have been sleeping with the curtains open so usually the sunlight wakes me up. Finally I got up and made Brian get up too.

Once we went out to our balcony, we realized it was raining. No wonder it was so dark in our room. We took our time getting ready and then decided to go out to the see the city around 9am. It was still raining pretty hard. The rain did not bother Brian however I was not too thrilled to be soaking wet. I used my umbrella when it was raining hard. Brian just got wet but he said it was warm and he didn’t care.

We decided to do some shopping since it was raining. There were several shops at the dock. We walked around the shops seeing if there was anything we wanted to buy. I saw a cute kid’s shirt that I really liked. I got it for baby. I got it big so baby will have it for a while even though he/she will not be able to wear it until he/she is about year or two old.

The rain stopped around 10 and we went to the beach which is right next to the cruise ship dock. We walked the beach for a while. Then we got in for a swim. The water was clear which I love. There were some shells in the sand so I had to wear sandals in the water. I don’t like hard things touching my feet. We had fun.

Huatulco was a small port. There was not much to do except a little shopping and the beach. Everything is right within walking distance from where you dock. I liked this port. It was much better than a sea day. Western Mexico is definitely nicer than Eastern Mexico. All of our stops here have been wonderful.

Once we got back on board, we went up to the pool deck for a sail way barbeque. We had some steaks with dirty rice. It was yummy. Now we are back in our stateroom. Our TV selection is terrible. We do not even get CNN. If some major news event occurs, we would not even know about it. We have always gotten CNN on all of our other cruises. Also NCL does not tell us what time movies start on our TV. That makes watching a movie difficult too. The only thing we have watched on our TV is Keeping up with the Kardashians on E. It is pretty bad.

We are going to relax the rest of the day. Tomorrow we are in Guatemala all day. I am looking forward to it.

Acapulco, Mexico

Today we arrived to Acapulco at 8am. We got up early (6:30am) so we could be ready to get off the ship right at 8am. The ship was not docked and cleared by local authorities until about 8:20am. Once we could get off, we did.

I had already booked a private tour before we left home. The tour was through www.tourbyvan.com. I had been communicating with Rudy (I think he is the owner of the company). He was great to work with. He always responded to my emails and no payment was due until after our tour today. He had a full day tour all planned out for us. Rudy, Jose (our tour guide), and Romero (our driver) all met us at the port right after security. They had a large sign with our names on it. It was nice to meet Rudy.

The weather was perfect. It was warm and cloudy. The last thing we needed was more of a sunburn. We got a little burned kayaking a couple of days ago (mainly the back of my one leg and Brian’s feet). I was a little nervous it was going to rain so I packed an umbrella with us. However it did not rain all day. Because it was cloudy, it was not as hot.

Our first stop in our tour was a local market. We got out of the van and walked around with Jose for a little bit. It reminded me of the markets in Asia. Because it was a local market, people were not hounding the tourists and trying to sell us stuff. There were just local people buying and selling things. While driving around the city we saw all social classes of people and houses. It is amazing because a poor person’s house is sometimes right next to rich persons home. Our guide told us that 60% of the population is middle class, 30% is rich, and 10% is poor.



Next we drove across the bay to Chapel of Peace church and Cross of Trouyet. This church was on top a hill so it had a great view of the bay. The church was built by a rich family of Acapulco. Two of the sons were tragically killed in a plane crash. The cross was built in their honor. Then two years later the mother passed away and the chapel was built by the father. Two years after that the father passed away too. The only people left in the family now are the two daughters. It was sad to hear the story behind the church.

We drove back down the hill into downtown Acapulco. There are two sections of Acapulco. One is the original part that has been there since the beginning. This old part of town is called Acapulco Traditional. Then there is Acapulco Golden which is the newer section where all the large hotels are located. There is a large Mexican flag on the beach that separates the two different sections.

Our next stop was to the famous cliff diving show. It was unbelievable to see these guys first climb up the cliff. They start in the water and climb all the way to the top. They did not have any shoes on and you could tell it was hard to do. Once to the top, they said a prayer (a necessary step you would agree if you saw how narrow and rocky the canal was they were diving into). I originally thought that they would be diving into the Pacific Ocean, but that was not the case. They dive into a rocky canal where the waves are channeled and crash up against the rocks on the shore. Each of the divers took their time and you could tell they were a little nervous about it too. I was scared for them! Brian said they took so long because they were timing their jump with the waves so there would be more water in the canal. The show lasted about 20 minutes. It was really something to see.



It was then time for lunch. We went to La Cabana for an authentic Mexican lunch. Brian had tacos. They were not the tacos you would think of in America. They were small fried hard shells with chicken in the middle. Lettuce and tomatoes were on top of them. I had chicken enchiladas. It was really good and spicy. I could not eat too much of them because I cannot handle spicy food like I could before I was pregnant. So we ended up switching our meals. The food was good. We both had a Coke in glass bottles which gave lunch a bit of a retro feel.

After lunch, we went to Los Flamingos hotel. This hotel was once owned by John Wayne. While we were there we saw many pictures from the Tarzan movie which was filmed in Acapulco. We also enjoyed great views of the coastline. Acapulco is really beautiful.

Around 3:30 we wrapped up our tour and they took us back to the cruise ship. I had a busy day touring and it is now really sunny out so I was ready to get back on board. We had another hour here at port before we had to be on board. I wanted to write this blog post because the plan tonight is early dinner, early show, and early to bed. We have another day at port tomorrow and the next and baby and I need our rest.

I really enjoyed our day in Acapulco (baby did too). We had a private all day tour for the same price as the cruise ship’s tour. Our tour was almost twice as long and obviously much more personal since we controlled the agenda. The cruise ship tours have 20 or more people per group. It’s better to be on our own and do what we wanted. We could go as fast or slow as we wanted. I highly recommend Tour By Van in Acapulco. We enjoyed it. Next up tomorrow we have a day at the beach planned in Huatulco, Mexico.