Our Honeymoon

Well, to tell you about the honeymoon. We got to our hotel really late that night and had a really hard time getting up the next morning. Our flight to LAX was at 9 am I think and we woke up at 7 am. I have never flown in my life and so was terrified of getting on the plane. We had breakfast at 7: 15 and missed the 7:30 shuttle. So we had to wait for the 8 o'clock shuttle. We got to the airport at about 8:15 and realized that the shuttle had dropped us off at the wrong terminal. We had to run with our luggage to our terminal and then wait in line for forever to check our bags. When we finally got to check our bags, they informed us that because we checked them a half-hour before take-off, that there was a strong possibility that we wouldn't get our luggage on this flight but the 3 o'clock flight. Me and Patrick were so bummed.
So we got on the plane, and because it was open seating and we were so late (We were the last two people on the plane, and they knew us by name!) we didn't get to sit by each other. Which would have been nice considering my fear of flying and this being my first flight. I did however sit next to a lovely couple who were also married the day before and were so nice and personable. Well, it turned out that the flight wasn't too bad and I slept through most of it anyway. We arrived at LAX and then the eternal wait for the baggage began. Me and Patrick waited forever and feared the worst. That our baggage hadn't made it. Then, low and behold, we saw our bags come down the conveyor and gave a huge cry of relief.
We needed to get some things from Patrick's mom's house and since everyone was in Utah still, we ended up getting a ride from Pat's brother's friend, Miguel. He's pretty awesome. And a lifesaver. So we drove to Pomona and got Pat's birth certificate and had some In-N-Out burger along the way. We also had to get directions to our ship. Then we were on our way to Long Beach to embark on our cruise to the Mexican Riviera. Little did we know that Patrick had forgotten to write down one of the KEY points in the directions and ended up on a 3 hour tour of all the beaches along the Pacific Coastal Highway. Yeah. That was a joy. At least I can say I toured them.
So we were freaking out because our ship debarked at 4:00 p.m. and we had less than a half hour to get on board. Yeah. Talk about cutting it tight. We ended up making it to Long Beach Harbor only to take a wrong turn and drive the opposite way of our ship. At this point I was telling Miguel that I wanted to see what kind of "high performance" machine his Scion tc was. I think we were going about 80 along the pier. We went back the other way and asked some cops where we were at and where we needed to go. They showed us and then we were off again. We went through the wrong terminal (The signs totally suck!) and got stuck in a crowd of people moving SO slow. So I told Pat that we had to get out and run if we were gonna make it. We pulled to the curb, unloaded our stuff, and then bolted for the Big dome next to our ship. At least we could see it and it hadn't left yet. We got to the doors and had less than 5 minutes to board the ship, but they were locked. We were both almost in tears when I spotted some female security guards and told them that we were supposed to be on the ship, but we got lost and didn't know where to go. They were so wonderfully understanding and radioed for someone to open the doors because there were two passengers who needed to get in.
They unlocked the doors and then ushered us quickly through security and check-in. Again, they knew exactly who we were and were all smiles as they told us that "It happens all the time." I was a little misty and we were both red faced from running with our luggage. They informed us as we were boarding, that the captain hadn't boarded yet. We actually ended up boarding the ship next to him. It was kinda cool. The we got on the ship and finally were able to breathe. Everyone on the ship was going throught the emergency procedures and we just stood there smiling at each other. We felt so blessed.
After the ship debarked, me and Pat went immediately to our room and laid down. OMG! The whole day had been so stresful and had one adventure after another.
The ship we were on, The Carnival Pride was ENORMOUS. I think it was about 14 stories tall. Maybe more. The whole ship was done with a romantic/venetian theme. there were statues everywhere, everything was done in shades of deep mahogany and burgundy. And there was a huge mural of angels and Venus in the Atrium. The first 3 days out were beautiful. Nothing but sea to look at. And sunsets out at sea are breathtaking. We toured the ship and participated in some of the activities. Patrick competed in the Guitar Hero Contest but unfortunately didn't make it.
On our second night on the ship, we decided to attend the formal dining event that was happening in the Normandy Restaurant. It also happened to be the Captain's dinner, so we got to be entertained by our hosts, hostesses, waiters, and waitresses. They were hilarious and the couple we we seated with were very nice. We had been eating at the buffet the ship had and were interested to see how good the food in the Normandy was. It was okay, but, Patrick being so basic as he is, preferred the pizza bar and hot dogs and hamburgers. I wasn't too impressed with the Normandy either, and ended up eating in the Mermaid Lounge with Pat. They had 4 different food stations and offered a wide variety of dishes. I think I ate so healthy the whole time I was at sea. Patrick loved breakfast time, of course. He got to have as much bacon as he desired. I think one of the best parts of the trips was being served breakfast in our suites. It was nice to be able to sleep in and not have to worry about missing breakfast. On our 4th day, we arrived at Puerto Vallarta. Apparently, they had gotten their rain season early and had just had 4 days, straight, of rain before we arrived. It was SO humid and hot. you could literally taste the sea on the air. We exchanged some of our money and then toured the shops along the coast. Everyone was so enthusiastic about giving us free beer, margaritas, and tequila. However, no free water. Hmmm.
We were at this one silver shop and I had asked if i could split some money. The lady gave me 2 torn Paper bills. Now, in Mexico, their not so lenient about accepting torn money as we are in the U.S. No one would take the pesos. So we had to trudge up a huge hill and ask anyone we could find for directions to the nearest bank. We finally got to a bank and had to wait forever in line to exchange the torn bills. I think the only funny thing about the bank were the aremed guards. There were, like, 6 and they all carried AK47s. I definately would have thought twice before robbing a bank with them there.
On the ship itinerary, we had been told that we could get a free charm breacelet and charms at all of our ports. We were excited to see what that was all about and decided to participate in the hunt. I think that we saw more of the cities we went to more because of that charm bracelet than of our own volition. The places you had to go to collect the charms were spread out all over the cities and we got to see so much on our way to each charm. There were really cool sand sculptures and art along the coast. We actually went to a jade shop and Patrick had an interesting conversation with the shop owner about geology and other stuff. She was really cool and I bought a really pretty jade necklace with my Mayan zodiac sign.

We also got to take part in a Tropical Jungle Excursion. Our tour guide was hillarious. We traveled up to the Sierra Madres mountains and hiked back into the jungle to a restaurant. It was beautiful and lush. Then we took an educational hike through the jungle and got rained on in the process. It was kinda nice though, because it made the air less thick and sticky. After the tour, we went back to our ship and had dinner and then were off to the next port.

Next on our cruise was Mazatlan. It was a lot less humid than Puerto Vallarta but a lot bigger too. We were debating on things to do that morning and had decided to just walk around the city. Once off the ship, we were approached by a tour guide who offered to take us all around Mazatlan and also to the places we wished to go. For only $50. For the both of us. It was a fantastic deal and he had an airconditioned van that we could ride in. We were joined by a family of 6 from somewhere back east. They were a blast and were so excited to know that we were newly weds. We got to see the cliff divers and bought some souveniers from the peddlers along the coast. Our guide was very knowledgeable and kinda reminded me of my dad. He knew a lot about everything and had his own theories and gossip on current events. It was a blast. We got to go see a Cathedral, and me and Pat bought some galleta flavored ice cream. Galletas are cookies and the ice cream tasted like vanilla wafers. It was so yummy. We also went to the market and I bought some little candies and such. It was a lot cheaper than the shops along the coast and the people were so lovely and helpful, unlike the peddlers along the coast.
The next day we went arrived in Cabo San Lucas. It was so tiny and everything was basically right on the shore. It's actually so small, that we had to take a boat into the pier because the ship couldn't fit. It was very fun. We walked around a bit and decided to get the last charm for our charm bracelets. As we were walking into Cabo, we got hounded by all kinds of peddlers that were so obnoxious. We must have talked to this one guy for like, 15 minutes. When we finally told him no, for the um-teenth time, he was so rude and called us names as we walked away. We got to take pics with the iguanas, which was cool. We made our way over to Cabo's mall. Yeah. It has a mall. A HUGE mall. Anyway, we got a bite to eat, took some pics, and went back to the ship. Our debarkation time was 3:00 PM. So little time to do anything. On the way back, there were all these little kids selling chicle, or gum. I figured I could buy some since we were trying to get rid of all our pesos. They were extremely insistant and once you bought from one, all the other came running to you to get you to buy something from them. It kinda reminded me of ducks. You feed one and they all come running to you. Me and Pat were a little shocked by it, to be honest.
So after Cabo we were on our way back to Cali. It was a very nice trip back. We wish we could have had more time to do things, but the ships activities were so expensive and they gave you very little time to do anything. That's why we didn't do a lot of activities. Anyway, we got back to Cali, but they debark you by last name. It took forever to get off the ship, so while we were waiting, the comedian on board gave a free stand up show during the entire debarkation. He was so funny. We had gotten up at around 7-ish because they told us that we would be off by about 10. NOPE. We didn't get off until about noon, I think. Maybe even later. Me and Pat both felt so bad for Pat's mom, who was picking us up, because she had to wait for so long. We eventually did make it off the ship, and of course, Pat forgets his identity info in his luggage. So that gave us a little delay going through customs. I would have to say, all in all, the trip was fun (I SO would do another cruise!), it was a good vacation, and I'm very glad to be married to such a great man....even if he irritates the hell out of me sometimes.