The cruise report: The good, the bad and the unforgettable.

Dear family:

The day finally came and went!  Our cruise! The prep resembled a little bit the scene from "Home Alone" when everyone is rushing and running around like crazy. Lots of suitcases, lots of travel items, lots of packing lists. Check it over and over again. 

Here are some of the adventures we experienced: 

• We almost missed our plane! Too close for comfort. My time conscious husband was stressed out  while the rest of us were blissfully unaware. He walked very fast on the long hike to Southwest gate at the  airport. We could not keep up with him! He broke the speed limit, I'm sure. 
• The airport shuttle took forever to come! We waited about an hour and watched so many shuttles come and go. We were starting to give up!  It was so crowded when it finally came! It was a very cozy ride to the hotel. 
• We got to our hotel 2 hours before we could check in. We found a Subway, ate lunch,  and chilled while we waited. 
  
  
  
• The swimming pool was not that great at our hotel. It was outdoors, unheated, and a bit under maintained. I was disappointed because that was plan for an activity for the day. The kids seemed ok to just relax.
•  None of the public bathrooms happened to be  unlocked by the pool and the gym at the hotel. I had a traumtic experience trying to find a bathroom in a hurry, and having to wait for Hannah to arrive in the elevator. I think Hannah pushed all of the buttons. How long does it take to travel one floor?
  
• We had a great nap at the hotel! We ordered pizza for dinner at the hotel using "Uber Eats." That was a new experience. I was proud of myself for figuring it out. 
• Our shuttle driver talked with his hands and drove.  He was quite the character! We arrived at the boat safely nonetheless! The shuttle company was so great and it went super smooth. 
• We all made it through security, and we got the paperwork and passports to the right person. 
• We had to switch the rooms around a bit. The boys had this plan for a sleeping arrangement. I should have let them try it! 

The ship was super fun. We got to do laser tag, ice skate, rock climb, do water slides, do an escape room, and soak by the pool. We had fun singing to the movie "Mama Mia" as we sat in the hot tub! The boys also had a late night adventure and missionary opportunity in the hot tub! I was super excited about the ballroom dance show and the ice skating show. Amazing performances! I love ballroom dance so much  and I was so very giddy about the show! It was just for me, I am sure of it.

This was the escape room! Very technical and had some really neat effects. You had to solve puzzles, stop the clocks at the right time by pushing the lights on this center console, and then the wall behind us opened for the final puzzle. We finished with three minutes to spare! We had to schedule a turn in the room three times because of glitches in the app. They finally gave us a turn for free because of all of the scheduling mistakes. I was glad we persevered! It was definitely a highlight. 

The weather was fairly nice to us most of the time. It was a bit breezy and cold to do the water slides and the rock climbing while we were traveling. The hot tub was our friend! We did have one really sunny day when we were approaching Cabo. OH, THE SUN!!! How I have missed the SUN.  It was such needed therapy. I wish I could have brought more home with me!

Yes, I totally have ice cream on my lips. Caught! 

 Love these two beach babes! 

                                                 Our first view of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico! 

                            The boat was unable to dock so they brought us in on shuttle boats. There was some fun singing on the shuttle boat on the way back! I think they were singing, "One hundred bottles of beer on the wall and a few other classics." 😏

         Here is the pier at Cabo. We waited here and soaked in some sun while waiting for our ride. 

                                                 Beautiful view on the way to the beach. 

This is my cousin's son, Keiffer. He was so gracious and spent the whole day with us in Cabo! We were so grateful for the ride he arranged and for the time he spent with us. He took us to this nice beach that had a lot less tourists. We also got see where they live and meet my cousin Shawn's beautiful wife, Lily. They even insisted on paying for our van and driver. We felt so spoiled and grateful for our family. 

            Why does Drew always end up getting buried in the sand every time we find a beach? Talent!

Unfortunately, Dennis got a yucky cold and was feeling pretty miserable on Cabo Day. He was burning up with a fever the night before. He took a few naps and tried to sleep it off. I felt so bad for him! 

After a super fun time at the beach, Keiffer took us to San Juan where we were surprised to find a really fun festival with live music, street vendors and an impressive firework display in front of the church. We learned it was the "Festival of Saint Joseph. The kids really enjoyed the churros and had fun doing some shopping. We wanted to stay for the fireworks but we only had the driver until 9 pm. Dennis was also feeling rough. My brother Ben his wife Anne happened to fly in to Cabo for vacation. My parents got to hang with them at Shawn's house while we headed back to the ship. Ben dropped my parents off a bit later. 

Here is the view of the ship from the shore before we loaded up on the shuttle to return. 

 

The staff of the ship was so kind and amazing and left us little surprises. Our room attendant, Marion, was especially creative.  He was from the Philippines.

                                                   This was my favorite surprise from Marion.

This picture is in the Grand Dining Hall. The staff came out and danced and sang on our final night of the cruise. 

The waiters were so fun and we enjoyed getting to know them! Our dinner waiters names were Putu Edy and Meckinson. They treated us so good: bringing extra desserts for us to try, doing cool magic tricks, and making us laugh with their quick wit! They were very funny.  We really enjoyed them! The dinners were my favorite part of the cruise. We got to try some really fancy dishes and appetizers that we would have never tried any other way. We tried Escargo, Calamari, Lamb, Baked French Onion Soup, Prime Rib, and lots of really fancy desserts! Everything was SO good! For breakfast and lunch, we typically ate at the "Windjammer Cafe" which was an elaborate buffet. It was good, but got a bit repetitive! We found out later that we could have eaten at the Main Dining Room for lunch as well. We were disappointed that we did not try that out! Have you read Elder Uchtdorf's talk about "living below your privileges?"  In the talk, he shares a story about a man who packed soda crackers and canned beans  on a cruise because he did not know the food and entertainment were free. Our experience was not as dramatic, but we were disappointed nonetheless!

Yes, Joe does have the whole glass in his mouth! He tried to drink from it, too! That was entertaining. Meckinson also had fun teasing Joe. He told him that he had a hole in his glass because he had to refill him his drink so often. It was just a under the breath comment, "This glass must have a crack in it..." It made us smile.  

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Sitting there watching my family laugh and joke together was one of the moments on the cruise where I felt so grateful and happy. It was ALL WORTH IT for these connecting special moments! 

Thanks for reading about our adventures! 

Love, Emilie