The Carnival Pride then set sail for Puerto Vallarta, with Calypso music playing by the poolside on the Lido deck, we said farewell to Long Beach Harbor...

        

The food was excellent; well prepared and plentiful. The quality and variety was staggering and staff were always helpful, courteous, and friendly. We enjoyed asking staff members about their homelands and all were forthcoming and chatty. Our staterooms (suites) were comfortable and well maintained by two cabin attendants. Dining staff anticipated our needs and were quick to comply. The dancing and singing by the staff at the end of the evening meal was refreshing as they got to relax and let their hair down a little.

        

We were booked for an early seating at the Normandie Restaurant for dinner each evening. We found the Restaurant's dining rooms very beautiful; decorated with many ocean-view tables, Smith was our head server, and Wilailak, was his assistant server. Both were originally from Thailand and gave us excellent service. In general, we were pleased with the Restaurant's Menu offerings.

        

Around 8:45pm some of us went to watch the "Welcome Aboard Show" at the Taj Mahal Lounge. It featured great entertainment with the Carnival Pride Dancers and Singers, music with Sean Leahy and the Pride Showband, and featured top comedian, Stanley Ullman. The show was hosted by our cruise director, Mr. Ralph "Wee Jimmy" Valente. The Taj Mahal's seats are arranged in a semi-circular, amphitheater style and very comfortable. Acoustics were very good.

Next was a Fun Day at sea. Some of us got up bright and early and head to the upper decks or to the gym to walk around or do tread mill exercises. It was pleasant just breathing the fresh ocean air and later - we took a soak in the whirlpool.

Our breakfast, lunch and dinner times each day were pretty much a daily routine - we either headed to the Normandie Restaurant or to the Mermaid's Grill at the Lido deck.

Tonight is a special night as it's the Captain's Welcome Aboard Cocktail and Formal Party; so everyone is to follow the ship's dress code. There we met the Captain and his crew and we also sampled some cocktails and appetizers.

There's a live Morning show with Wee Jimmy and Jenny at 9am on TV15. Other on board activities include Carnival Vacation Club Preview, Jackpot Bingo, Travel and Adventure Talk, Blackjack Tournament, Park West Art Preview and Auction, Family Karaoke, Big Screen Movie Trivia, and music and dancing at various places.

Tony had prior arrangement with the Carnival Pride people before we got on board, he asked them to provide a room for us today to sing karaoke from 1:45 pm to 4:30pm.  We gathered in the Raphael Room for our happy Karaoke hours.

After dinner we watched the Main Show at the Taj Mahal Lounge which is called the "Wonderful World", this show features music, song and dance from all around the world including the USA, the Far East, Russia, Europe, Africa and more! Starring the dynamic vocals of Bree Shannon and Eric Burt. The Carnival dancers Claire, Cat, Ashley C, Victoria, Tina, Hayley. Susan, Michelle, Ashley R, Brittany, Libby, Drew, Marc, Paulo, Ned and Zadrian.

Second Fun Day at sea, "Weakest Link Gameshow" , "Battle of the Sexes" and the "Newlywed Game" were the fun shows at the Taj Mahal.

A few of us took the Galley Tour at 3:30pm. We were amazed at how large and clean the Cruise ship's kitchen is, and it was interesting to see cooks demonstrating their culinary skills by preparing fruit carvings and icing cakes. Two chefs were even autographing their cookbooks near the exit doors.

At the Butterflies Lounge, there was a Royal City Youth Ballet show taking place, this group was from Vancouver, British Columbia.

Tonight's Show is a fun, crazy, upbeat show for the entire family to enjoy, with lots of surprises along the way. Carnival Pride proudly presents Kyle Wayne, a funny comedian doing "As Vegas as Vegas gets".

At last, we arrived on our first port of call, Puerto Vallarta, where majestic mountains appear before us on the horizon, tiled roofs that characterize the Mexican pueblito. Puerto Vallarta face the Bay of Banderas, officially named one of the "Most Beautiful bays of the World".

For centuries, Puerto Vallarta was a sleepy fishing village. Then director John Huston chose the village as the location for his film "Night of the Iguana," starring Richard Burton and Ava Garner. Puerto Vallarta was sleepy no more; its transformation into an international resort had begun. Today, the city has its own "Gringo Gulch," a haunt of the rich and famous. Travelers are also drawn by its climate, its excellent shopping — great values on leather goods, jewelry and handicrafts — and mile after mile of palm-lined beaches.

        

We got up in the early morning, did our daily exercises, breakfast etc., we were very excited as we were preparing to disembark.  The Cruise ship's photo crew was already lined up at the dock level, taking pictures of everyone disembarking, we walked around the harbor market place first and then we enquired about some city tours. 

         

We all went back to the ship to have our lunch next, awaiting our girls to return from their shore excursion "Encounter with the Dolphins".

The cruise director advised us yesterday to book tours only through the ship, and not to do other activities such as parasailing because there are no safeguards or they are dangerous otherwise.

We have decided to book our own tours at port as they were significantly cheaper through negotiating.

Thirteen of us rode on an air conditioned Van for a Puerto Vallarta City scenic tour for a reasonable price, the driver drove us through cobble stone streets, narrow and hilly roads.

       

First we went to the top of a hill and got a very scenic view of the area.

       

Followed by the touring the Mama Lucia Tequila Distillery, where we were able to learn the process used to manufacture the powerful and legendary tequila of the blue agaves cactus. We were able to indulge in free samples of various grades and four flavors of Tequila Ole.

          

We also visited the Mismaloya beach area, where once the locale for the filming of "Night of the Iguana" in 1963. Light rain started to drizzle down upon us, we climbed onto our van and headed to another movie locale where Arnold Schwarzenegger shot his jungle scene for the "Predator" movie in 1987.

       

Our tour driver then drove us to see the infamous "love bridge" at Casa Kimberley.

Casa Kimberley was former Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burtons mansions. It is now the finest Bed and Breakfast in Puerto Vallarta. Located in Gringo Gulch overlooking Banderas Bay, Old Town and the River Cuale, Casa Kimberley offers the ambiance of the golden era of Elizabeth's and Richard's careers.

      

The ladies decided to go to downtown next, they went inside one of Carnival Pride's recommended Diamonds International location, to have a closer look at the Carnival Pride much talked about jewelry and other selections. The rest of us just walk around the general area, taking pictures or doing window shopping.
       

       

We all enjoyed this first port of call outing, our driver drove us back to our Cruise ship as our dinner time drew near. 

"The Mexican Folkloric Show" was one of the featuring main show this evening right after our dinner. It's a local show featuring Puerto Vallarta's top International Dance Troupe. at 7:15 pm.

The juggling and comedy talents of "Fred Anderson" was the other.

Our ship arrived in Mazatlán around 9:00am this morning, after getting the clearance announcements, we took our "Sail and Sign Card" and our photo IDs and went ashore.
 

Lying just below the Tropic of Cancer, Mazatlán boasts a superb year-round climate. Sitting on a peninsula at the feet of the rugged Sierra Madre and the Cerro de Neveria, Mazatlán has two distinct types of coastlines — the rocky Pacific beaches and the broad white-sand beaches beloved by visitors. Its beaches and world-class sport fishing quickly turned this once commercial fishing port into one of the world's top resort destinations today.

We found a private tours service that would accommodate the 14 of us this time. Due to the hot weather, Benita and Wayne decided not to join this tour while Helen, Leslie and Priscilla had already booked to go on their ATV excursions.

Our driver's name was Omar Orenday, he also acted as our tour guide, he spoke very fluent English, he told us that he would take us to any place we would like to see. First he drove us to some interesting landmarks, along the way we found the Mazatlán streets are much better paved than those in Puerto Vallarta.

       

We walked around the historical center,  we passed by the Angela Peralta Theater.  We also saw the Fisherman Monument, the Cathedral, the Deer Monument.

       

       

As we strolled further down the Streets, Priscilla and her two friends drove by us in a taxi. They had a tour of their own before joining their ATV excursion group.  Our driver then drove us to see the Mazatlán Cliff divers. Finally he drove us to the "Golden Zone" for lunch, we heard that their jumbo prawns and seafood are very delicious. We also sampled their Mexican beer.

       

Our ship sets sail around 6pm today, so we had to be back on board by 5:30pm.

       

The tonight show was the hilarious comedy of "JeRome" and the vocal talents of Jerome Dabney. A few of us watched this show while others played card games or slots in the casino. Mary entered the Blackjack tournament, she almost won the top prize money of $500 US.
      

Today is the "day" for us to visit the port of Cabo San Lucas.  Cabo San Lucas is located at the tip of Mexico’s 1,000-mile long Baja California peninsula, Los Cabos is one of the destinations with a perfect combination of great weather, exotic and spectacular scenery. A diverse area with two main towns and lots to do for anyone looking for a relaxing vacation experience in a setting of extraordinary natural beauty. We heard that Cabo San Lucas's main attractions include an underwater nature preserve only a few minutes' boat ride from the harbor and the striking Land's End rock formations at one end of the bay, with a pristine beach right around the corner.

We also found out that the ship does not actually dock in the harbor but rather anchors offshore, and tenders (small boats) will carry passengers to-and-from the ship.

However, due to the rough seas at Cabo San Lucas today, our Captain Pierluigi Lanaro announced through the ship's intercom that for safety reasons we will not be going ashore.  It would be too dangerous for us to ride on those tenders, therefore we will bypass this port and spend an extra day at sea instead. He also said that we will get reimbursed for missing this port. 

We were very disappointed at first, but we have no control of mother nature, as safety come first!

So we spent the rest of the day by tanning, sleeping, swimming, eating or relaxing instead.

       

Our Cruise Director proudly present "Vroom" for tonight's show after dinner,  it featured high energy music, song and dance from some of our favorite decades. Including 60's, 70's, 80's and a special tribute to the British Invasion. Starring the dynamic vocals of Bree Shannon and Eric Burt, plus the energetic performances of the Carnival Pride Dancers.

       

A Grand Gala Buffet "Festivale" was held at our Normandie Dining Room at 11:30pm, where the Pride chefs have prepared an incomparable array of food sculptures, ice carvings and treats for our enjoyment. And between 12:30am and 1:30am, we had the opportunity to sample "The Delights".

                   

                   

"Fun final day at sea" today, the main topic for today presented by our Cruise Director was the very important "Debarkation Information Talk", especially the Custom Rules and Regulations, luggage handling, debarkation procedures, how to and when to disembark, important paper work for Customs & Immigration at the Taj Mahal Lounge around 11:00am.

More sun tanning for the girls today, our wives were shopping the Last Day Specials at the Pride's Shops on Board.

           

Tony made an arrangement with the Pride's desk to have another afternoon Karaoke fun session for us, some of us took turns in singing until 4:30pm.

After dinner, we started to pack our luggage to get ready for the debarkation next day.

I was slightly disappointed that I missed the Main Show tonight as I was a bit tired and I have completely forgotten about it, the Ships Caper says this show is the one we all been waiting for, it's called "Carnival Legends".

We were all eager and looking forward to get back home tomorrow.

Our Pride arrived at Long Beach on time, after breakfast, we waited for the announcement from the Pride people to disembark.

       

When we got off the ship, we took a pre-arranged shuttle van to the Los Angeles International Airport. Our Alaska Air Lines flight was scheduled for the 4:12pm departure. When we checked in at our counters, we asked our friendly ticketing agents if they could arranged an earlier flight for us, they told us that they only have 5 available spare seats so far for the 1:00pm flight. We needed 6 seats so they put us on "standbys" and told us to sit and wait at the Departure Gate area for announcements should these seats become available.  As the boarding time for this flight was approaching, we enquired once more and found out that they got seven seats available now, we were very delighted and we felt very "lucky" to be able to board this flight.

Meanwhile, Priscilla and her friends have a later Air Canada flight,which departs around 7pm, after they checked in their luggage, they rode in Leslie's LA friend's car and visited Disneyland and other attractions.

Since we were on standbys, we were assigned seats all over the plane.

During our flight to Vancouver, a lady sat next to me introduced herself and told me that she was an author and her name was Lynne Cox. She told me that she was on her Grayson Book Tour across North America and Vancouver was one of her destinations. She will be getting interviewed by both local radio station and TV station talk show hosts.  She will be autographing her new book "Grayson" at the Vancouver Aquarium on Monday. 

I am glad that I had the pleasure to meet and chat with her during our flight, I told her that I will do some "Googling" in the internet to find out more about her book "Grayson".

From the internet search, I was very amazed to learn that Ms. Cox was among the best ocean swimmers of our time.  She was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2000. To read more about her and her feats, please visit her web site.

When we arrived in Vancouver, Kitty's friend Chrissie came to the airport and picked us up.

What a  pleasant and enjoyable 2 weeks holiday we had!  We all love it!

Looking at our crystal ball, itinerary to either Edmonton, Calgary, Malaysia or New York likely will be on our next travel agenda.

On behalf of my family, Mary's family and other members in our cruise, I would like to thank our Seattle friends for arranging this wonderful trip and taking us to Palm Springs for a great desert adventure! Thanks!  Fred, Clara, Tony and Lan.

Today's date:
Last updated on 2006-09-27.
©2006 Martin Yee
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