2022 Thanksgiving Cruise - Mexican Riviera

 Drake and I decided upon a Thanksgiving cruise of the Mexican Riviera (the Pacific coast of Mexico) mainly because I did not want to be depressed over the holiday.  I knew not spending the holiday in New York would be depressing to me.  Best of all, we didn't have to get on an airplane.  Getting on an airplane at Thanksgiving is a "just shoot me now" experience.  Our week long cruise left out of San Diego which is a six hour drive from Sun City.  

We arrived at the exact time of our ship boarding.  All went very smoothly.  I trotted off to the Spa even before the ship left the dock for a pre-booked massage.  It was just what I needed to work out the kinks of the drive.  Now, spa time on a cruise ship is great.  Unfortunately, it's very expensive.  I also learned, via my Sun City therapist, people who provide spa services on a cruise ship are expected to 'push product'.  The ship sells its own line of creams and potions, and after a session, you are encouraged (but not browbeaten) to buy some.  Plus, booking ANOTHER session gives points to the person providing the service. They have a quota they must meet.  Fail a pre-determined number of times to meet your quota, and you are fired.  All of these expectations are carefully explained to the person being hired, but none of this is ever explained to a cruise guest.

Normally, I wouldn't go on the cruise we booked simply because there were too many days at sea.  (3 out of 7).  However, the price was more than right, and we hadn't been to two out of the three ports.  The three ports we visited were Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlán, and Puerto Vallarta.  There are always surprises on every cruise I've ever taken.   On this cruise it was was the time changes.  San Diego:  Pacific time (one hour change from AZ).  Mazatlán:  Mountain Time (one hour time change).  Puerto Vallarta:  Central Time (one hour time change).  Then, the time changes reversed as we sailed north from Puerto Vallarta.  I have a strongly fixed circadian cycle, and I always struggle with time change.  [One of the best things about Arizona is the clock NEVER changes.]

Another somewhat unpleasant surprise was the brevity of the breakfast and lunch time windows.  I hate getting up early, and breakfast was a bit too early for me most days especially considering the time changes, but I struggled up each day.  Because of the time changes, my stomach wasn't really sure when it was supposed to eat.  The dining room was supposed to be 'open dining', but it really wasn't.  You needed a reservation for dinner each night. 

Mostly, we wound up eating about 8pm.  The reason why?  The multitude of families from infants to doddering grannies all cruising on Thanksgiving week.  It wasn't uncommon to see several tables seating 10 to 20 people even at 8pm.  The kitchen still presented food piping hot of the highest quality to every table no matter the size.  Drake and I both marveled how toddlers were managing to hold it together to eat at that hour.  My expectation was a chorus of unhappy babies and toddlers.  Instead of crying children (of which there were none), we heard Mr. Lobster Fork.

My expectation was guests on a cruise ship would at least have some semblance of manners.  That was before we got a load of Mr. Lobster Fork.  One evening we sat down and were having a lovely dinner when a man seated about 15 feet away from us started harassing the wait staff in a loud angry voice.  His first volley at the top of his lungs was:  "I WANT MY DINNER, AND I WANT IT NOW!!!"   I guess he thought he was eating at Denny's.  The family with two elementary school aged children sitting at the next table were mortified.  Of the many cruises I've taken, I've never seen anyone behave so badly in the dining room.  

Oh, but he wasn't finished.  When he and his partner got served, he immediately began yelling for a LOBSTER FORK.  His tirade demanding a lobster fork (more yelling on his part) went on for about 10 minutes as he was presented a variety of forks, none of which was to his liking.  Here's the irony:  You don't use a lobster fork when you are only having the tail of the lobster - the only kind of lobster served in the dining room.  The purpose of a lobster fork is to be able to pull lobster meat out of small places on a whole lobster.  This rude and brutish man didn't know what a lobster fork is used for, but he certainly wanted one anyway and at the top of his lungs.  

As is often so true of the rude, they choose to vent their ire on the lowest level of service people.  In this case, it was the waiters and their assistants.  He never asked to see the dining room supervisor.  He just wanted to throw his weight around.  I guess he thought SOMEONE would be impressed with his temper tantrum.  From that night on, we were on the lookout for "Mr. Lobster Fork".  We didn't want to be seated away from him; we just wanted to greet him with his nickname.  😁  

We were careful to pick a cabin that faced the 'land' initially, so we could stand on our balcony and watch the ports come into view.  The Cabo port entry was the most dramatic.

Yes, that's a giant hole in the rocks in the Cabo harbor

  It always seems to be the case on the day the cruise ship uses a 'tender', the sea doesn't cooperate.  In the Cabo port, a tender port, there were three foot swells.  Doesn't sound like much, but it was a bit nerve wracking to move from the ship to the tender when it was going up and down three feet.  You had to time your move to the tender.  Old people and young children slowed down the process considerably.  By sheer chance we booked a shore excursion through the ship, so we got priority to use the tenders.  

The only reason I booked the shore excursion was to see the cathedral at the small town of San Jose del Cabo about 20 miles north of Cabo San Lucas, and to see a glass blowing exhibition.  Ever since I saw glass blowing at the Tacoma Glass Museum, I've been hooked.  The Cabo glass blowing operation was small compared to the Tacoma Glass furnace, but it was still fascinating.  The Mexican artist deftly took a glob of glass from the furnace and quickly blew a small souvenir turtle as we watched.  We were also interested to learn they collect all kinds of glass from all the bars and restaurants - think beer bottles and whiskey bottles and glass food containers.  There were piles and piles of this type of glass outside the building.  The glass blowers recycle all of it into new drinking glasses, bowls, vases, as well as souvenirs. 

Glass blowers furnace

  

First blow with turtle still attached to pipe 

Finished product

The attached store where you can buy everything glass is full of every variety glass.  More importantly, it was filled with artistic glass embedded into tiles on the floor as well as a complete wall of decorative glass.  

I love taking pictures, and one of the highlights of the shore excursion was the stop for picture taking of the Cabo coast.  I think I got some good ones.

We took the bus to San Jose de Cabo, a small town about 20 miles from Cabo San Lucas.  Unfortunately, instead of taking the highway to the town, we wound our way through all the hotels and condos.  The guide acted like this was what we had come to see.  Basically, it was a big time waster, so we really didn't get to spend as much time in the town as we could have.  The cathedral was very basic like most of the Mexican cathedrals.  My total purchase here was a magnet.

San Jose del Cabo cathedral

One of the things we like about the Holland America cruise line is they hire classical musicians to entertain on the 'Lincoln Center Stage'.  This time it was a quartet consisting of a piano, a violin, a viola, and a cello.  They played various classical pieces for an hour just at cocktail time.  I really like being dressed for dinner, having a drink in a comfy chair, and listening to classical music.  

Speaking of being dressed for dinner....  Usually there are two dress up days on a seven day cruise.  I always fret about what to wear.  My all velvet full length dress and jacket for winter evening ballets in New York was unsuitable.  Most of my other dress up stuff is really casual wear adapted to wear in the summer to NYC matinee ballets.  To solve the problem, I went to one of my favorite thrift stores to check out what they had.  I was delighted to find a full length sea blue sheath covered by a full length 'duster' in a jungle print.  Perfect for a cruise.  For the second night, I wore the blue sheath and covered it with a black swimsuit coverup I converted to an evening jacket.  Here's a picture on deck with the wind blowing the duster behind me.  The irony is I got a lot of unsolicited compliments on the $12 outfit.  Sorry about the shoes (totally wrong), but we all know my damn feet.

Jan, age 72, Thanksgiving Cruise, 2022

Our second port, Mazatlán, was my favorite.  It is a town famous for its sports fishing.  We didn't sports fish.  We saw this town on foot wandering from plaza to plaza.  In the closest plaza to the ship, we found Mayan dancers entertaining the tourists.

Next, we went on a campaign to find Mexican fire opals.  One jewelry store owner sent me to another store when I described what I was looking for.  We found the perfect pendant.  From there, we went to see the Mazatlán cathedral plaza.  This beauty of this cathedral was completely unexpected.

  

 Standing in front of the cathedral, we were offered another selection of jewelry from a street vendor.  Personally, I like street vendors.  There's no telling in Mexico what you may be offered.  This was the jewelry vendor's lucky day.  I found another modest piece which Drake promptly bought.  My favorite vendor of the trip was this guy.  I also found a few art deco buildings.  On our way to the market, I found a fabric store!  Drake went on to buy t-shirts while I used my rusty, rudimentary Spanish to buy six yards of material at $2 a yard.  

Then, it was on to Puerto Vallarta.  Puerto Vallarta sits on a horse shoe shaped ocean harbor that is very deep.  The mountainous jungle comes right down to the beach. This sleepy town was discovered in 1964 when the "Night of the Iguana" was made at this location.  Several of the Americans involved in the production loved the town and bought homes.  Forty years ago, six of us rented a villa to celebrate the recovery from cancer by one friend.  We had a wonderful time.  That weekend, we went to the plaza and were entertained by the battle of the Mariachi bands.  We spent time on the beach watching five foot waves roll in.  It was a great week.  

I was really anticipating the return to this town.  Well, it is a town no more.  It's a bustling city looking pretty much like a medium sized American city.  I sent this picture to one of the friends from the villa trip 40 years ago, and he commented, "That looks like Corpus Christi."  There are numerous high rise condominiums being built, and the town I loved is no longer in evidence.  Here's what we saw as we pulled into port.

There's a supersized Sam's Club next to the Walmart.  Between the cruise dock and the Walmart is a four lane highway moving at 50 mph every time I checked.  Additionally, PV was the only place with noticeable air pollution.  I was so depressed by the sight, I didn't even get off the boat except to see the tent vendors on the dock.  

Finally, photographers are a big part of every cruise, so Drake and I had a portrait made on one of the dress up nights.  The black bands on my wrists are pressure point sea sick remedies, and this is the swimsuit coverup I remade.  You can tell we really had a good time.

As usual, if you haven't seen enough pictures, click on the link.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/DnMHEs6ZoUY6vsvD7