The Mexican Riviera via Holland America Line - Day 1
With very sleepy eyes, my Sims on the FreePlay version were
all occupied for well after I left for the airport at 4 AM, I was all up to
date on social media, made my posts for my several social media accounts (ex: Facebook) and my
email has been checked. This is why I typically do not go to the gym in the
evening. My body is being told to get the day started. So, I didn’t sleep at
all.
We were on time on hitting the road at 4 AM. It was a short
drive to the 98th Street exit near the Oakland Airport and was able
to self-park and keep my key at the AirPark parking lot. I normally park at
Park N’ Travel on Doolittle but they were fully booked unfortunately. The shuttle
bus that was there when we arrived took off and left us in the cold which felt
like ages. There is no inside or covered waiting area near the exit. Perhaps we
should have waited in the car, but would they have come to get us? Our driver showed
up, was friendly and greeted us. There was a small flat screen TV facing us and
it had the stickers on it as if it was for sale. A mobile-Best Buy! We stopped at
the shuttle drop off and the driver failed to take the second piece of luggage.
We said our good-byes and walked to Terminal 2. There was a terrible smell in
the air. Good thing we were leavings.
Check-in was done the day before, luggage tags were printed at
the kiosk and they were taken to a counter. Then we had to go thru security. It
was much quicker at 4:30 am. Also, this time I didn’t encourage Catherine to do
something silly in the scanner. When Mercedes and I were at JFK in September, I
jokingly told her to ‘do that thing I taught you.’ She moved too much while
getting scanned and she received a nice, personal pat down. I don’t think
Catherine was awake enough for my silliness.
One thing we forgot to do was get cash to spend at ports. I
normally get change beforehand thru my bank. I was without pesos. We both took
out cash at the ATMs conveniently located at the top of the escalator. If you’re
a Wells Fargo or Bank of America customer, no fees for you. Or, if you’re like
Catherine and banks with Mechanic’s Bank. ATM fees are refunded. We can
exchange the cash in Mexico. I’m not worried about the exchange rate. But after all that, we didn't need pesos. Vendors took card and US dollars.
I was hungry, Catherine needed caffeine. Nothing was open
except for Jamba Juice and I went with a bottled water, an Apple Cinnamon
Pretzel which was unfortunately stale and a packet of fruit snacks in case I
need something to eat on the plane. Catherine waited in the yet to be open
Starbucks line, along with many other folks. They took too long for her and she
opted in for a bottled water and a snack bar. The pizza spot also opened at
4:45 AM.
In travels past, I usually wait til the very end to board. I
prefer to not stand in line, just to wait more while boarding the plane.
Travelers take a minute to get settled in, put their carry-ons in their desired
places, etc. I am not that kind of traveler. I’m small enough to not be too
much of an inconvenience going thru the plane to my seat or climbing over folks
to get to the desired window seat. However, I have recently had my name called
a couple of times by the airport saying that the plane is boarding. Thankfully,
I have never missed a flight but I have had a few close calls. It may or may
not have been due to whiskey. OK, a lot of whiskey.
Exhausted, I got situated in my seat and passed out before
the safety presentation began. I even dreamt! That deep sleep was much needed.
I didn’t wake until the plane landed in San Diego. I looked to my left and it
was grey. Was it grey from the smoke from the fires in Los Angeles County or
was it just foggy? According to the taxi driver we met later that morning, it
was just foggy.
With hours to spare, Catherine and I contemplated going
downtown or to the Hilton nearby and sit at a restaurant with a view of a
marina. To avoid some extra costs, we just camped out at the Pacific BreezeCafé and had breakfast, read our magazines and chit chatted in between. I love
me a croissant breakfast sandwich but this was mediocre. Though I also love the
croissants by Pillsbury, the croissant here was flaky but way too dense. I
didn’t eat it. Who needs the extra carbs anyway? The egg was under cooked and
the potatoes were covered in ketchup and Tobasco. Catherine had the just two
eggs, bacon and potatoes and toast. I learned that she doesn’t like her eggs
any other was except scrambled, she doesn’t like tomatoes or mushrooms, or
olives. Olives, I agree with. While in Santorini, olives were served with
everything. My travel partner there, Papichulo, and I always left them uneaten.
This is my first time traveling with Catherine. We will be learning a lot about
each other over the next seven days.
Catherine read her People magazine, I picked up the
Exquisite Weddings magazine focusing on San Diego. A Bride of mine considered
San Diego as her wedding destination. I would be happy to travel down to this
part of Southern California to add
another beach wedding to my list of experience. I browsed through the magazine,
found the vendors mentioned on Instagram and followed their accounts. It helps
to follow these vendors and see what they have to offer and photos of past
events they have held. Of the images in the magazines, I loved everything about
this Bride pictured below. The hair, the gorgeous bouquet and dress. Stunning.
Hours have passed and we caught a taxi to the nearby Port
Terminal #2 to board the Oosterdam cruise ship by Holland America Line. It was
a large ship from afar and it was to be our home for the next seven days. I
have always been fascinated with hotels and how they function. This ‘hotel’ had
the capabilities of floating on water and has everything you could ask for. I
was excited to be on my second cruise. It has been five years since I sailed on
the Reflection with Celebrity Cruises.
The $10 cab ride took us to the terminal, unloaded our
luggage and we met with a porter immediately. He handed us a luggage tag to
write our information on including our room number. I had to log into the
account in order to reconfirm the room number. The tags were attached and we
left them behind as we went thru security, filled out a health form stating
whether or not you’ve been vomiting, had diarrhea or a headache due to those
symptoms. NOPE! We made our way to the check in counter. The nice lady
eventually found our room. Odd that in their system, we had two extra people in
our room. We did not have room for that and no, we are not sharing staterooms.
They found the error and confirmed our room, took our photo and handed our keys
which acted as our boarding pass, card to order beverages on beverage package
and credit card for items not pre-paid. We were given a boarding number and
took a seat with the rest of the travelers.
The demographics of the travelers on our ship were
definitely 40-50 plus, couples or families and Caucasian. There were a handful
of Asians, one or two African Americans and little to no Latinos. I remember
meeting a family of six of Latinos from Los Angeles on my last cruise. Here, I
don’t see any. I would be more than happy to increase the number of people of
color to cruising. I enjoy it.
Boarding the ship was easy. After a picture taken in front
of a blank screen, we made our way up the stairs, zig zagged down corridors and
used our card for the first time boarding the ship. We were greeted by
employees and asked if we needed to take the elevator up. Sadly, we headed down
to the first floor to room 1104. No elevator needed. We took the stairs down.
To our surprise, our room was quite spacious. We had a lot of closet space, a
full bath with tub, storage space, a queen sized bed near an unobstructed
window and a breakfast corner with a booth and small table that raises up or
lowers. We are given two awesome bathrobes, a television with movies, TV shows
and live programs like the news.
Our luggage was not delivered yet so we went to explore the
ship. We found the incredible selection of food, the decks, pools and more. We
hung out at bars and I had bubbles. Not tired from not sleeping much and
excited to be on the ship, I was happy to be on the boat.
At 3 PM, a drill was
mandatory for all passengers to go to the designated part of the deck and
listen to instructions and learn how to properly put on the lifebelt. This
training is much more bearable with a glass of champagne in hand. We met a friendly older gentleman named Cornelius. We would continue to see him every day during our trip and slowly meet more and more of his family.
We went back to our stateroom to find our luggage has
arrived. We put on our bikinis and were the first to hit hot tub and waited for
the ship to depart the port. The playlist of songs were a bit off and the same
four songs were repeated. The speaker systems are bit out of date and you can
never really hear what the Captain is saying. Only one 15-year-old boy was
brave enough to come talk to us in the hot tub. He was Vancouver, Washington,
where I lived for about nine months during my sophomore year of high school. He
was very bright and communicated well with answering our questions with his
answer and asked a follow up question. Quite impressed. The city of San Diego
started to fade and we said good bye to Derrick and got ready for dinner.
In dinner attire, we sat at a table with two other couples
also from California. Tom and Susie were the first people we met while still at
the port and were from San Diego. Garry and Cathy were from San Jose. Both
couples were older but we had awesome conversations and a few laughs. The gents were Vietnam vets and Catherine was saying that she isn't exposed to people of that kind of background Susie
stated she thought it was great that we were so young and well-traveled. That’s
the goal, Susie!
The food was incredible. I definitely had an appetite, even
with the rocking of the ship. It was a three-course meal and I had the Caesar
salad with delicious sardines, the New York strip cooked medium with a
cauliflower gratin and greens and an apple crisp with vanilla ice cream for
dessert. I ate every single morsel except the clump of fat on the steak,
including a taste of Catherine’s French Onion Soup which they should have every
day and her spinach and fruit from her entrée. She enjoyed her bread pudding
but I didn’t have a bite. I am going to eat very well on this cruise.
We were going to go to the Singles meeting at 7:30 PM but we
were pretty tired. We later heard from another guest that there were nine single women and one male. Lucky him! We said goodbye to our dining companions and made our way
back to room just a floor below. I changed into my Section 36 tank top and
skiing penguins pajama pants my best friend gave me and climbed into bed. I had
no problems knocking out. I am extremely excited to be on this cruise and the
first day was amazing.
Day 2
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