The Cat in the Hat Trumps Mickey Mouse Mexican Riviera Cruise - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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The Cat in the Hat Trumps Mickey Mouse Mexican Riviera Cruise
The Cat in the Hat Trumps Mickey Mouse Pre-Trip Report, Part 1: A Change in Plans
Who: Rich and Kathy
What: Mexican Riviera Cruise
Where: Carnival Miracle
When: May, 2015
Why: Need a Cruise More Than Disneyland
We haven't posted a trip report here in years - probably since we moved to Florida the first time around and started our two4disney blog. Anyway, I've been getting into reading trip reports on Tapatak, and thought how fun it would be to share our adventures here. I am so rusty posting reports, I ended up hitting post before I was ready - ooops!
Anyway, to catch you up, we'd planned on taking an April Disneyland trip before our AP expired while we're still living in Las Vegas, but we ended up booking a cruise, thanks to MouseSteps.
After watching this video and that video about the "Cat in the Hat" breakfast at sea, we did some research and realized the Miracle will be undergoing a refurb (currently going on now) and will be offering both the "Cat in the Hat" breakfast and brunch at sea.
Not only is the Cat in the Hat a very important part of our childhoods (we have a copy), but we have a special relationship with the Miracle. We first saw the Miracle when we were living in Tampa Bay and hanging out at Channelside. We were sitting there sipping Margaritas when the Miracle appeared. One guy yelled, "Thar she blows" and we all got up to watch her sail into the Channel.
Then, just last fall, we were having lunch on the Queen Mary in Long Beach with Rich's aunt and noticed the Miracle was in port. Yes, she's sailing the Mexican Riviera out of Long Beach. We knew then we had to sail her. (Pretty funny for a guy who had refused to sail Carnival for years).
It's also rather ironic that we sailed the Paradise out of Long Beach and then Tampa. But then, we really are CaliFloridians. So with Rich's discount as an airline employee, we were able to get a great deal. Originally, we were going to stay in Huntington Beach for our Disneyland trip because we had two free nights there. We can always take advantage of our free stay at Huntington Beach some other time. We are in such need of a real vacation and not just a Disneyland weekend.
Besides, how could we top that fabulous Valentine's dinner at Carthay Circle anyway? We hope to return to Disneyland or Disney World sometime this fall.
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The Cat in the Hat Trumps Mickey Mouse Pre-Trip Report, Part 2: Bookings
We’ve been discussing shore excursions for our itinerary. Carnival has at least 3 Mexican Riviera itineraries. We booked the itinerary with an overnight in Puerto Vallarta and a day in Cabo with no Mazatlan so we could take advantage of the evening in PV. My first trip to PV was in the early '80s and I’m curious to see how it’s changed. Rich hasn’t been to PV yet.
We’ve read really good reviews about the Rhythms of the Night dinner show, so Rich booked that. Of course, we need to have a day time beach activity so we're thinking we'll hang out at one of the resorts within walking distance of the port the next morning. Perhaps we’ll go into town first so Rich can see downtown PV.
I've read that they paved over the cobblestone streets - is that true? That was my favorite part about PV. This was my first trip to the tropics and I'd remembered it as a town carved out of the jungle. What will it be like today? Especially since that trip was before I'd been to Florida, the Caribbean, Hawaii, or Southeast Asia. Funny how you feel about a place depending on which order you first see it.
In Cabo, we’re thinking we’ll probably stay onboard – we love to hang out by the pool when the other passengers are in port and enjoy a nice quiet day aboard ship. And there's nothing we really want to see there. We already live in the desert and the desert on the ocean doesn't appeal much to us. We're spontaneous so we could change our minds once we see it.
We booked Nick & Nora’s Steakhouse for dinner on the first formal night. We've read some great reviews of it. We’re also hoping to book the “Green Eggs & Ham” breakfast, which was the inspiration for the title of this cruise report, although we've read that they're rolling out the 2.0 features from last month's dry dock slowly - one per week and it's questionable whether the Dr. Seuss elements will be onboard by then. It could be close.
I haven't cruised a week on Carnival since my first cruise in 1982 - since then we've done 2 Carnival cruises but one was a 3-night from Long Beach and the other was a 4-night from Tampa. They were both a lot of fun and they wowed us with their service, surprising Rich like crazy. So, we'll see how we do for a whole week on Carnival. But it was such a deal with Rich's discount so we couldn't pass it up.
We did Acapulco, PV and Cabo. I stayed on the ship at Acapulco, did a Tequila-factory tour at PV (the bus driver got seriously lost, no air conditioning, not good!). Cabo was the only port I really toured and I had a great time. Just roamed and shopped and had lunch with friends. This was my last trip before needing my scooter full-time and I'm glad I did Cabo because you have to take the tender in and I can no longer do that. Cabo was the only port that looked scenic as we pulled in. Acapulco and PV are so built-up around where the ships dock that they look pretty bad. My friend went on her own into PV to shop, though, and she loved the town itself.
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We did Acapulco, PV and Cabo. I stayed on the ship at Acapulco, did a Tequila-factory tour at PV (the bus driver got seriously lost, no air conditioning, not good!). Cabo was the only port I really toured and I had a great time. Just roamed and shopped and had lunch with friends. This was my last trip before needing my scooter full-time and I'm glad I did Cabo because you have to take the tender in and I can no longer do that. Cabo was the only port that looked scenic as we pulled in. Acapulco and PV are so built-up around where the ships dock that they look pretty bad. My friend went on her own into PV to shop, though, and she loved the town itself.
I always wanted to go to Acapulco but sounds like I'm not missing anything. I'm sure PV has changed tremendously since I saw it last. Walking around in Cabo sounds like a good idea!
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The Cat in the Hat Trumps Mickey Mouse Pre-Trip Report, Part 3: Pre-Cruise Shopping
Thanks, all, for your encouragement to continue. I realized I didn't say much in the way of an introduction. So, here's the short story:
Rich and I met at work in Silicon Valley, got married, and honeymooned on Maui (20 years next year). Seven months after our honeymoon, we took our first cruise together - I'd cruised before but Rich hadn't. It was an Eastern Caribbean cruise on Celebrity's Century.
Thankfully, Rich fell in love with cruising and that was the beginning of several more cruises for us, although we don't cruise nearly as often as we'd like. For us, it's all about being at sea. The ports don't really matter, although they do add some interest to the cruise and we do enjoy experiencing different ports. But it's all about being at sea and not about the destination or the amenities.
Rich and I then went to WDW for the first time together (I'd been before but Rich hadn't.) Sitting on the balcony of our Yacht Club room, we vowed to move to Florida. And we did - twice. And then moved back west because that's my home. But Florida is our second home - we love the indoor/outdoor flip flops and shorts lifestyle with Disney, beaches, and cruising at our fingertips.
Having been back west almost 3 years now, my Florida/vacation wardrobe has been dwindling so it was time to do a bit of shopping. I'm not a big fan of shopping and prefer to do as much online as I can. This is also the first week-long cruise we've taken since the Grand Princess Western Caribbean Cruise in December of '02. No, we can't believe it either. Since then we took a couple of short cruises - also hard to believe. But with a couple of moves to Florida and back in-between, we've been a bit busy - oh yeah!
In recent years, we haven't really gone all out for formal night and on Carnival, it isn't necessary. But I did decide I wanted to wear a dress. I haven't worn a dress since our '01 New Year's cruise - not anywhere. Gasp! Not a fan of dresses, I was starting to miss wearing one so I found one online that I like.
Besides my new dress, I also found three pairs of knee-length shorts and three tops. I should be able to fill in with the rest of my wardrobe. I still have that fabulous Esther Williams swimsuit I got for the birthday trip to Encore in Vegas and it'll be nice to have a reason to wear it. I also have a second suit as a back-up.
Rich says he's good to go in the wardrobe department so we're all set there.
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So with Rich's discount as an airline employee, we were able to get a great deal. Originally, we were going to stay in Huntington Beach for our Disneyland trip because we had two free nights there. We can always take advantage of our free stay at Huntington Beach some other time. We are in such need of a real vacation and not just a Disneyland weekend.
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