By Land or By Sea: Mexico Riviera Cruise

So how did I end up on a cruise to Mexico a mere 4 months after the Alaska cruise?
I am still not sure I have an answer for that. When I returned from the Alaskan cruise I was totally and completely bitten by the cruise bug. I was ready to go work on a cruise ship and even send in a resume to Princess within a few weeks of returning. As the weeks went by the more I began to question whither my desires were based just on the emotional response from the Alaskan cruise or something I really wanted to pursue.

I also spent a lot of time looking at different cruises on Princess’ site and daydreaming about going on another one. Then I found a 7 day, Mexican Riviera cruise from January 31 – February 7, 2009 for ridiculously cheap, like $400. I kept an eye on that cruise as well as airfare out to Los Angeles. Tickets from Detroit and Chicago kept going down in price to around $200, so I decided I could totally afford it and began looking for someone to go. Shannon was, of course, the first person I asked. She could not go since she had to be in a wedding in CA in March and could not swing two trips out there with in a few months of each other. So then I pretty much asked everyone I knew if they wanted to go. After thinking about it for a few weeks, my friend Karen, who I had meet through the bike tour I worked on in 2007-2008, decided she wanted to go. After we got through the holidays I asked for the time off from work and five weeks before the cruise we booked the cruise and got great airfare from Detroit to LAX.

I am not why, but in the weeks between the time we booked and when we sailed away, I became increasingly more nervous about this trip. I was concerned about setting expectations for this trip based on the amazing time I had in Alaska. I knew there was no comparison between the two; they were two completely different types of trips, but with Alaska so fresh I did not want to set myself up to be disappointed. I had been on one other cruise, back in 2001 Shannon and I went on a 3 day Carnival cruise, and I hated it. In all fairness, I was sick, not sea sick, but just hours into the 24 drive down to Florida I started to crash and by the time we boarded the ship I was full fledge sick (when I got home I went to the Dr and had bronchitis, a sinus infection and a secondary infection in my lungs.) So while a part of me knows that tainted my impression of that trip, I still was batting .500 – hated one cruise, totally loved the other. I was nervous about not having enough time to fully plan for this trip, about traveling with someone I had not traveled before, not knowing where some crew members were, and nervous that this would show that I was so wrong about my desire to work on a cruise ship. In the few days before we left I was a complete wreak. I even resorted to mass email updates to friends which is something I have not had to do for years and years. It was all quite distressing.

The ship set sail on Saturday, January 31st, out of San Pedro pier in the Los Angeles area. I was excited about this since I had not been to California before and could add another state to my list – number 37. We decided to fly out Friday afternoon to play it safe instead of going the morning the ship sailed. Karen, who lives in the Toronto area, decided to drive to my house first and then we would drive down to Detroit together. Since it was winter and weather can be a factor, Karen wanted to give herself plenty of time, so she drove over on Wednesday. That also gave her time to run some errands in the states and take advantage of the cheaper prices/exchange rate. Thankfully the weather was nice (for January) and Karen had no issues on the drive over. She arrived Wednesday afternoon, while I was at work and made herself at home. I had to work on Thursday as well. While I was working Karen decided to start documenting the trip by taking pictures of the cold snowy weather we were leaving.

Outside my front window

My deck and backyard

Karen's car - look at the snow!!

After work on Thursday I ran a few errands and then came home to pack. Due to my lack of planning and state of totally and complete basketcase, packing was more of an issue then it normally is, and I ended up throwing a bunch of extra stuff in. Sometime late that night I went to bed.

We left Grand Rapids mid-morning for our flight that left at 5:40 pm. Detroit is only about 2 – 2 ½ hours away, but we wanted to give ourselves extra time so that we could stop at the outlet mall on the way down. Again the weather turned out to be fine and we were soon at the outlet mall. I did not get anything, but made Karen try on a bunch of stuff and she bought several tops.

One thing we were not able to find at the outlet mall was a wrap for Karen. So we had to make a second side trip in Brighton to find a store. We found a Marshall’s ran in and got a wrap and continued on our way. But by this time we were behind schedule. I was beginning to get a little nervous because I did not want to miss our plan. It is one thing to cut it close in Grand Rapids, but Detroit is a whole other matter.

In my planning for this trip I found an off site location to park for the time we were gone. This lot was significantly cheaper then the airport’s lots. The lot, Park N Go was located a short drive from the airport and offered a shuttle. Thankfully we found a spot close to the entrance and quickly began gathering all our things. The shuttle was there with a couple minutes and we striped off our winter clothes to keep in the car while we were gone, grabbed our luggage and were on our way.

Thankfully once when we got to the airport the lines at the ticket counter was short and we checked in before the cut off time. We then proceeded through security and to our gate, just as they began boarding the plane. I was very relieved when we were finally on the plane. I really did not like cutting it that close.

Once we left the gate and began taxiing towards the run way the pilot announced the plane needed to be deiced and we had to wait our turn. I have been on countless flights, and this was the first time I had ever experienced a deicing. So I took some pictures.

Here are some small planes being deiced