Traveling as Two - Ensenada

Wednesday dawned bright and early in Mexico. My sweetie wanted to stay on the ship, so I caught up with Princess and The Frog and we took the elevator to Deck 0. My first view of the port included another cruiseship and a barge on beautiful blue waters.

We grabbed a $4 shuttle and took the short drive into Ensenada.

I wanted to buy a few things for the kids at home ..no spoilers, sorry.. and then get back on the ship. There were so many shops! We stopped at some and slipped by others, trying to avoid those desperate for a sale.

When we were finished with our shopping, we slowed for a pic or two and then made our way back to the ship.

After all, it was Valentine’s Day and I wanted to spend it with my sweetie.

We had lunch and then returned to our staterooms. We watched a movie about Whitney Houston's life (it was so sad!) and then it was time for our trip to the kitchen. Wait, let me back up. 

On Tuesday as we were finishing dinner, the maitre d' stops by our table and invites us to visit the kitchen and do a personal sampling of the menu for Wednesday night. Now The Frog has been on many a cruise and his family was never issued such an invitation, so we felt pretty excited to do something new. 

It was just us...

The kitchens were amazing and the food served hot was much better and fresher than on the warming plates at dinner. But it filled us up, so we headed for a karaoke show in the lounge.

I was surprised how good they were. I thought karaoke was supposed to be terrible...

We headed back to the dining room at 7:30. Dinner was good... again...

Yeah. Those are all desserts. Princess says 2 lbs/day for a cruise...

We finished quickly so we could go to the Newlyweds game cruise-style. My sweetie wouldn't let me stand for our 40 years because there was no way he wanted to play, but it turned out that the longest married on the ship were almost 49 years so we were safe anyway.

The show was fun and mostly entertaining, but by the time it was over, I was tired and ready for bed. We said goodnight to the kids and stopped by the deli for our evening turkey sandwich to share before the night was over.

Happy Valentine’s Day!!

Traveling as Two - Catalina Island

Our first port was Catalina Island. Princess and The Frog joined us for breakfast in the dining room so we could eat and make plans for the day. I ordered a parfait with a side of bacon.

Does this look like a side of bacon to you??

After breakfast, we headed to the water shuttle. So many of my girls had been to Catalina Island with the Girl Scouts that I was excited to see it up close.

So we rented a golf cart! They had a scenic route for us to follow that would take about an hour. We rode the first loop and got some beautiful pics. The sky was so blue!

Our ship looks pretty small out there. So we finished the first loop and started the second, but our little golf cart that could on the first Catalina mountain, could not. We turned around and nursed it back to the rental shop. They gave us a newer cart and restarted our hour!! More beautiful pics...

After we finished driving around, we visited some of the little shops and climbed back on the shuttle. There were lots of things to do on the ship! We got ready for dinner. 

Princess brought a different fancy dress for each evening on the ship. I had one skirt...

Dinner was so much fun! Some of the servers danced on the tables.

Then we went to the 80's show in the Liquid Lounge. Since it was still early, we sat in a bar and listened to a latin band. We even danced a little.

We had so much fun! Mexico tomorrow...

Goodbye, Catalina!

Traveling as Two - Sort of...

We had arranged an Uber for Monday morning. She picked us up right on time and $64 later, we were at the Carnival terminal. A porter grabbed our luggage and we headed up the ramp.

Soon we were on the Lido deck and looking for lunch. My sweetie saw an empty table for 4, so he grabbed it while I went off in search of the salad bar. I filled my bowl and grabbed an ice water on my way back to our table. A woman with blond hair seemed to be in my seat. My heart dropped. My sweetie hated sharing our table with strangers. I pasted on a smile and prepared myself for introductions. 

None were needed. I set down my bowl and looked up to see Princess's beautiful face. She started laughing as I did a double-take. I grabbed her and then The Frog in a crazy hug. We had no idea they had booked onto the same cruise we had chosen 6 months ago.

We linked our staterooms and set up chat on the Carnival app. Then it was time to check into our rooms. We were on 7, they were on 1. 

We met again at dinner. We shared a table now that we were linked.

The food was yummy! 

My sweetie went to bed after dinner and I went to the opening show with the kids. No signs of motion sickness. At least not yet!

Traving as Two - Long Beach

I've missed you!! Dog Walker helped out a bit, but my sweetie and I have been on a cruise ship for the last few days.

We left after church on Sunday and climbed onto a much smaller plane that took us to the tiny Long Beach airport. No, seriously, we walked down a gangplank to an airport that only had 2 baggage claims and was mostly outside! I think they are doing some remodeling...

We grabbed our bags and a shuttle that took us to our hotel.

We would have to take an Uber to the ship, but it was much cheaper than leaving a rental car at Carnival parking all week.

We watched the second half of the Super Bowl in our room. Our little party was not nearly as exciting as the one back home.

We were so excited to see the Chiefs pull off another victory! Then we went downstairs and had dinner in the little Bistro.

The Uber was picking us up at 10:45, but we are old now, so we spent to rest of the evening reading in bed. Besides the cruise, my sweetie gave me a new Kindle for my birthday. I wanted to enjoy it too. 

Exciting stuff to come!