Mexico Cruise: Day 5 and 6 -- At Sea

After all of the fun we had at the various ports, we settled in for our two days at sea. We slept in late (like 8:00 am, but when you are used to waking up with the kids, that is pretty amazing!), had all of our meals taken care of, played games to our hearts content, and ate dinner every night in the formal dining room. It was pretty heavenly!

The evening dining was one of my favorite things about the cruise. Every night, we went to the fancy dining room together and ate A*MAZING food. The three-course meals were so delicious that we left every night happy and full! It was fun to be in a nice "restaurant" with gourmet food. We don't have that chance in real life, so we took every opportunity aboard the ship. I was so enthralled with it all that I took pictures of all my food because it was so beautifully presented. It was fun to be with so many other family members because we got to sample each other's food. We all made a point to order something different so that we could taste all of the amazing options. (Maybe not the most sophisticated manners, but worth it. Haha!)

On several nights, the menu included "rare finds." These were dishes that I have always heard about, but had never had the opportunity to try. Escargot tasted like butter and garlic, ox tongue was a bit mushy for my tastes, the lobster tail was perfectly tender, I skipped the oysters entirely, and frog legs were only so-so. My favorite bite of anything that I ate was a pork medallion tart that was divine. I also loved the quinoa stuffed tomato with spinach and cheese corn fritter. Almost everything was delicious. Joe was funny and ordered a steak and potato followed by vanilla ice cream pretty much every night. I admit that the flat iron steak was tasty, but we teased him about his lack of diversity. To top off every yummy meal was a huge selection of heavenly desserts: soufflé, creme brûlée, cake, etc. The "carnival melting cake" was always a winner, and the cheesecake was delish! If it sounds like we all gained weight on the cruise, it's true!

Our main waiter for every dinner was Glen. He was very kind and treated us well. Over the course of the week, we got to know him a little bit. He was Philipino with a wife that was Ukrainian. He spoke Tagalog, Russian, Ukrainian, and English. Pretty impressive! The staff on the cruise ship was from all over the world, and it was fun to see so many different cultures. Our main room host was named Neoman. I'm not sure where he was from, but he looked South East Asian. He memorized our names from the first time he met us and would always call us by name and wish us a great day. It was fun to return back to our rooms to everything tidied up, fresh towels, the bed made, and a little towel animal on the beds. Talk about spoiled. I loved it. Claire was especially excited by the towel animals, and was super cute when she found the first one. Here are a few from the week.

During the afternoons, we continued playing "Super Duper Trivia" as Team Mort. After the first day, we were somewhere in the middle of the pack because there weren't very many points possible. Some of the categories included: geography, science, wacky, sports, the 1960's, and The United States. We did surprisingly well against groups that were much older than us. For day 2, we also earned bonus points if we all made hats out of our ship schedules. It was easier said than done. We had no tape, staples, or anything else to use, so we had to get creative in our folding. With all of our correct answers and our bonus points, we finished day 2 in 2nd place.

Day 3 gave us more bonus points if we all came in our pajamas. Most of us wore pajamas and robes, but Joe decided to go au natural to be funny. He wore some shorts under a towel, but he still got plenty of surprised looks as he walked through the ship. There were a few people that showed up the last day and wanted to play, but didn't have a team. We adopted some of them onto our team. They must have thought we were crazy, but they played along. Every time it was our turn, we chanted "Mort!, Mort!, Mort!, Mort!" I like to think that we added some enthusiasm to the event.

Near the end of the game, I knew we were either winning or near the top. We got double points if we could answer the last question right. "Who did Cherilyn LaPiere marry in 1969?" For about 20 seconds, we were completely taken aback and had NO idea. Finally we asked the host to spell "Cherilyn" for us. That helped so much and we figured out that it must be Cher. We guessed Sonny Bono and got it correct. We ended up winning the Trivia Championship. We were awarded statues of a cruise ship, leis, and two bottles of wine. We gave the wine to our new adopted team members who were thrilled (and also just happened to be from Kuna, ID). We cheered and took pictures with our prizes. It was surprisingly exhilarating and will always be a good memory. Go Team Mort!

In the evenings, before our late dinner (8:15 pm), we attended music/dancing shows or comedy shows. The ones that we attended were all family friendly, so that was nice. There were shows later at night that were rated 18+, but we just avoided those. There was also plenty of drinking and gambling aboard the ship, but we never spent time in those areas, so it was easy to avoid.

On the last night of the cruise, they had another formal night. We took the opportunity to take some more pictures around the ship before our last fancy meal. We also went to a comedy show and Jonathon ordered me a virgin pina colada. I have previously told him how yummy the fancy drinks looked, and he totally spoiled me.

On Saturday morning, we arrived back in Long Beach, CA. We disembarked and were picked up by Claire's sister. We then drove all the way home that night. We needed to be home for our callings on Sunday, and we needed to relieve Mom and Dad H. of the kids. It was wonderful to get home and see the boys. I missed them and was happy to see them. I felt like I had been running on high stress for several weeks, which meant that it was a lot harder to be patient and kind with them. After a completely relaxing and fun week on the cruise, I felt like my stress level was way down, and my patience was so much improved. It reminded me of how important it is to take care of yourself in order to take care of others. I know I can't go on cruises all the time, but even small moments just the two of us can help solidify our marriage and bring down our stress levels.

We had a glorious time, and I can not think of anything that could have made it better. Now that I have been, I don't think I would take kids on a cruise because they wouldn't appreciate it enough to justify the costs. Maybe when they are older, but I was glad that it was just Jonathon and me. I also would highly recommend going with other couples. We loved hanging out with my family. Joe and Kym were super on top of the planning and helped us learn all the secrets to having a great cruise, and Dan and Claire added so much fun and energy to the party. The combination of the six of us really made it enjoyable and there was never a dull moment. Everything was just perfect, and it was a wonderful celebration of our 12 year anniversary!