(Source: madamemarsupial)
It is now officially ASTRID WEEK on Tumblr.
say no to unnecessary energy drinks
I should first explain why our anniversary cruise (scheduled on December 5th) was delayed 3 months. We were booked on the Carnival Splendor, which had an engine room fire and left the ship dead in the water for 2 days while it was towed back to San Diego. (Read more here from a news post from the incident.) The ship was out of service for 3 months for repairs and resumed sailing on February 20th.
Day 2: Monday morning Patrick woke up right on time! For him, that’s 6am… The sun was peaking through the curtains in our room so we were up headed across the Lido deck (our room was also on deck 9, the Lido deck, but we were in front and the food was in back) for a snack. Kevin went up to the gym (directly 2 decks above us) to work out then we all went to a nice sit-down breakfast in the dining room.
The ship felt VERY crowded. It was full and, because the weather was still cool as we headed south, everyone was clustered in a few areas: The promenade (deck 5) and the Lido deck (9). No one new quite were to go yet.
We tried the “Camp Carnival” room for 2-5 year olds drop-off… Patrick lasted about 1/2 hour when we got a phone call (worked only on ship-to-ship calls) that he was crying. He avoided the Camp like the plague for the rest of the week! Oh well, maybe next year when he’s 3!
Lunch at noon at the Lido restaurant… we discovered a seating area and a rotisserie chicken/baked potato station on deck 10, above the rest of the restaurant. Excellent place to eat as it was never crowded up there!
Patrick fell asleep at 2pm after walking the boring halls of deck 6 & 7 (cabins only) in the stroller… the stroller nap worked almost all week… excellent to have a well-rested boy in the afternoon! Kevin also dozed wile I went shopping. While packing, I remembered everything for both Kevin & Patrick, but forgot my short!!!! yikes, we’re going to 80 deg beaches! Found 2 pairs at the Carnival gear shop. :)
It was formal night so we dressed for dinner early and headed down to the lobby (deck 3, forward) for a drink with our friends Chelsea and Aaron. We had a very good photographer and got a great shot!
After another nice dinner with dessert, we met our friends for a dip in one of the many hot tubs on the ship… it was empty so we were able to swim Patrick around. He had a great time and Patrick was ready for bed. He fell asleep at 10pm again.
I did discover the only downside to our cabin location: it was near the lobby area. The Splendor (in fact, most ships) have a bank of clear elevators and an open area from the lobby level up to the upper decks.
There was a very loud 3-piece jazz band playing and the sound traveled up floors from 3 up to 9 and pounded on our door! ugh! good thing I brought earplugs. Kevin and Patrick didn’t notice! :)
Our vacation actually started on Saturday Feb 26th on our drive down to Long Beach… Patrick was still a bit under the weather from a cold so he slept for 2/3 of the 7 hour drive! We arrived in Long Beach and stopped to visit my friend Shirley and her son William (also 2). Great weather and a nice visit. Patrick enjoyed playing with William’s toys!
Uploaded with ImageShack.us We headed to the hotel at 5pm to check in and get some dinner… We ate at a nearby Mexican Restaurant - very popular and crowded!
Patrick fell asleep in our bed so we all slept a little lightly in the hotel Saturday night. Up for breakfast at the hotel - pretty good! We were VERY excited to get to the ship but our shuttle didn’t leave until noon so we packed up at our leisure, checked out at 11 & waited in the lobby. Patrick played in the car - we wouldn’t see it again for a week! The shuttle was running late due to traffic down by the dock so we played in the parking lot… we met a nice young couple from Canada who became our buddies for the cruise.
Finally arrived at the dock at 1:15pm but they ship was not yet boarding due to some customs trouble during the debarkation! Apparently the crew has to pass thru customs every 90 days and, because it had been in dry dock, this was overlooked (?). It was CHAOS at the terminal. The line to check in stretched for an hour. After check-in, people were placed into zones… we were in zone 28. Everyone was cranky, hungry (lunch on the Lido deck, anyone?) and getting cold. I took Patrick for a stroller walk and he fell asleep! I found a very interesting Russian submarine and a nice view of the Queen Mary:
and a beautiful park with a lovely view on the walk. :) Waiting in the endless line was much easier with a sleeping boy.
We finally boarded at 4pm and were were hungry! We checked out our room (our bags were on-board well before we were!) and went to the Lido restaurant for a bite before our scheduled dinner at 6pm. At 5:15pm we were all called to our mandatory muster station safety drill. Some passengers were still cranky and did not take the drill seriously… uh, did you people miss the memo that the Splendor was on fire 3 months ago? You’re not in a hotel, you’re on a ship. This is important, know what to do in case of emergency… We set sail about 5:30pm, an hour late, and had a beautiful sunset view of Long Beach harbor.
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We made it to dinner at 6pm. We had a booth to ourselves on the second floor of the Gold Pearl Restaurant, the bigger of the two on board. I missed the conversation at a larger table but Patrick was a handful at a sit-down dinner, so it was for the best. No room for dessert tonight! :)
Back to our room to unpack and get settled. Patrick finally fell asleep at 10pm (late for him) and Kevin and I sat on the balcony and had tea for a bit. The seas were rocky but we didn’t feel ill and it was very nice to be rocked to sleep!
(Source: halfway-through-the-dark, via ultrafastx)
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from the wedding…
Yikes! I finally found the paper with my notes from days 3 & 4 of our honeymoon!
DAY 3: Ensenada, Mexico!
Arrived early in port. We had an early breakfast at the Lido deck buffet to make sure we were off the ship in time four our 9am wine tasting tour!
Only 16 guests on the early tour so the bus felt empty! We sat up front behind the driver and had plenty of room for our bags and jackets & Patrick’s hiking backpack. The bus went thru town for a few minutes
then we stopped by the side of the road… we waited there for 10 minutes or so… was something wrong with the bus? a lost passenger? NO, waiting for the FRESH BREAD to arrive to go with the wine & cheese! YES!
The bus went up the coastal road (Carretera Federal 1) and then turned to go East (inland). It was a one hour drive up to the wine country. Beautiful to get out of the city of Ensenada and up into the countryside and the small towns.
Patrick slept on the bus ride up so he was in a great mood for the trip! After the storm we had at the beginning of the week, we could not have been luckier to have beautiful, warm sun on Wednesday.
We arrived at the first winery, L.A. Cetto , around 10:15am (time for some wine!). We took a short tour of the winery… crushing grapes, barrels, bottling…
then into the tasting room.
Great wines, bread and cheese. Also included, a free bottle of wine. We enjoyed this at Christmas when we got home since you can’t drink it on the ship. We explored the grounds & vineyards for a few minutes…
and found a cage of roosters!
On to the second winery just up the very bumpy dirt road… We probably could have walked there faster since the bus had to navigate very slowly on the mud left from the recent rains.
The second winery was much smaller… The wines were mostly too sweet (honey wine? ugh) but the homemade bread and pizzas were amazing! They also made jams, olive oil and the hottest salsas I’ve ever tasted. I should have bought a jar of everything we tasted! The location was very peaceful with its beautiful views of the vineyards on the rolling hills. We could have stayed there all day!
second half of the day to follow… :)