Jan 18 - Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

One of the joys of having a balcony room is being greeted by the view of the ocean or a new port when you wake up. When we arrived in Puerto Vallarta, we got a view of...Walmart.

We were about to embark on our second ever DCL excursion, called “Historic towns and tequila making”. I was disappointed to see 6 big buses lined up by the ship, all marked to do the same excursion. Perhaps I have been spoilt by a more independent style of travelling or perhaps I was used to exploring in small groups, but I could not see how anyone could enjoy or learn anything in big swarms. To make things worse, the places we visited were small with narrow streets which necessitated travelling in a long line. It was impossible to hear anything from the back. We visited three small towns which was nice but to be honest one town would have been enough to capture the essence as they were very similar. We decided then and there never to do another DCL excursion.

We tried to not to let the poor organisation and people management take away from our Mexican experience for it was so full of interesting things to see and the people were incredibly warm. It was so nice to be able to drive through the countryside for the scenery was beautiful. We drove to Valle de Las Banderas or Valley of Flags, named after the flags and banners held by the native Indians when the Spanish first arrived. It is a typical town which is based around the church and a main square. When we were able to hear Jesus, our guide, he was actually full of interesting information! He walked us around the small town and we also stopped to see a tortilla factory which was fascinating. Jesus bought some for us to try along with some cheese. It was unlike any tortilla I have ever tried.

After visiting two more similar towns, we stopped by a very small craft shop before being taken to a Tequila factory. This was probably the most interesting part of the tour! We were taken through the whole process of tequila making from the beginning to the end. This included tasting a variety of tequilas which I refrained from participating. The number of tequilas brought out seemed never ending!

We bought a souvenir sample pack for our family and boarded the bus to our lunch destination. As usual, because of the number of children we had, we were the last to get off and hence the last to be served. The food was alright but the margarita was magnificent! As a person who doesn’t usually drink alcohol, I should have known to take it slow...I was drunk after one drink! It didn’t take me long to feel ill after. I couldn’t breathe and felt nauseated. I felt so ill that I couldn't face the prospect of shopping when we arrived back at the port!

I crawled into my bed and slept. When I woke up, the ship was leaving and we got to sail past and wave to the Sapphire Princess. I survived dinner at Parrot Cay but decided to give the show a miss. I felt much better after the gang returned from the show and joined in their room service late night snack. I will not be touching another margarita for a while...

Are we in Mexico?

Amazing scenes driving through the countryside

The gorgeous Mexican country towns

Tortilla factory!

Lara showing off her new dress

An artisan at work

Pottery

Colourful weavings

Jonah relaxing whilst waiting

The beautiful roof line of the Tequila factory

10 year old blue agave plant is needed

The leaves are cut off

What's left is cooked in a special stone pit

Then chopped and pounded

Fermented and distilled

Tequila!

Some were so busy laughing and taking photos that they forgot to drink...

Lunch where mummy got drunk on a single margarita

Sailing past the Sapphire Princess

Saying goodbye to Puerto Vallarta

Late night snack courtesy of room service (free)

Lara, being spoilt by Luan, who bought her a Tangled wig...

Panama Canal & Beyond on The Wonder

This cruise from Port Canaveral bound for Los Angeles a much anticipated cruise .

The whole tribe will be congregating at Port Canaveral on January 4. A pre-cruise bonding session to remind ourselves of why we really want to be around each other for 15 days on end has been arranged for the 5th. We are heading for the Kennedy Space Centre for the day. The bus has been booked and discount coupons acquired. We are devising a strategy for boarding the Disney Wonder on Jan 6. The same bus company from the previous day's excursion has been re-deployed for morning transfer duties. We have a target time to be at the port. We have decided to maximise the power of numbers after embarkation. We shall divide and conquer. One has been allocated the duty of acquiring PALO reservations, another has been set the task of registering the children for kids club. The rest will have to battle with the feeding the children. A rendezvous point has been set by the pool. The research to finetune our approach continues.

Shore excursions have taken up a big portion of our meeting schedule. The ports of call include Castaway Cay, Aruba, Puntarenas, Manzanillo, Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas. We seem to be bucking the general trend by choosing to do excursions either ourselves or with our own private guide. That is, we are only doing 2 excursions with DCL. Many other cruisers who are not doing DCL run excursions appear to not be doing excursions at all and staying on the ship.

Our first stop will be at Disney's private island hideaway, Castaway Cay. I can't wait! I have heard so much it and it has all been good. Next up is Aruba in the West Indies. We have arranged our own MarioKarting adventure for the boys and the girls will be touring the island in our air-conditioned private van with our friendly private guide, Sunny. The plan is to meet up for lunch and then explore the town before heading back onto the ship.

We will then travel through the historic Panama Canal emerging at the Pacific Ocean. Malcolm and I watched a documentary about the building of the Panama Canal and have been fascinated ever since. We jumped at the chance to sail through it. I am in the process of acquiring a book about the Panama Canal. I have been told to try to be less obsessive...

Puntarenas in Costa Rica is one of the ports where we have elected to do a shore excursions with Disney, one of the reasons being is that it is one of the few ports which:
1) offer excursions suitable for all ages
2) offer excursions suitable for all ages of interest
We will be heading into the rainforest for a ride on an aerial tram.

Our first port in sunny Mexico will be Manzanillo where we have lined up another private tour, this time with Paco. For a bargain price of US$300 total, he will drive us around and be our private guide, as well as providing cold water and refreshments.

Puerto Vallarta is slated for our other Disney run excursion. We are embarking on a Tequila making journey! Still not quite sure why I am doing this as I don't drink alcohol...

Last but not least, we have Cabo San Lucas. Our plan is to DIY. We will bargain for our own boats to the famous rock formation at Land's End and then explore the town at leisure.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to and end. That, for us, will happen at Los Angeles, where 14 of us have to figure out how to spend the day and transport ourselves around before boarding a 14 hour flight at 1045pm, with 6 children and our luggage in tow. Plans at the end of the cruise still undetermined! Wish us luck.

P.S. We have been allocated stateroom 7088, the same stateroom number as on the Disney Magic back in April! How cool is that?