Our Cruise

We left our house Monday morning about 6:45 AM and picked up Judy and Shan Hubsmith. They are in our ward. Judy is my VT partner and Shan is our HT. Judy is also a travel agent and is the one who got us hooked up for this trip. Plus we enjoy hanging out with Shan and Judy. They are a good match for us so it was a win win set up. We stopped in Vegas for breakfast.

Our port was in San Pedro California. I've never been there before and it is a beautiful area. Getting aboard was a little hectic as there was an extra cruise ship "berthed" there. Fred and Shan dropped us off and then had to go about a mile away to park and then take a shuttle back to our cruise ship. We didn't take any pictures until our drill. Lovely huh? Just sayin now, we didn't take as many pictures as we should have.

Our cabin was small, but the bed was big and very comfy. Next time we will definitely get a cabin with a balcony. No problem with getting sea sick. Being ferry passengers for 34 years we were perfectly fine for the deep seas......

 Our first morning we got off at Catalina Island. 

 Here is Shan and Judy. They were great hosts and very patient to take us places where they had already been. 

 We rented a golf cart to drive around the island. In the background is our cruise ship.

 A few pictures of the ship.

 Here we are.

 Here they are.

 Fred's idea. Shan cooperates.

 Another view at the same place.

 Another view of the bay at a different place on the island,

 Here is our ride. Shan did the driving. Guys in front, girls in the back.

 This is the Catalina Island Museum. Originally it was a casino and big dance hall.

 We took a self guided tour below and learned about Marilyn Monroe who lived on Catalina before she became Marilyn Monroe while she was married to her first husband. Learned about the Chicago Cubs. Lots of baseball history took place here which who would have known that. Very interesting Hollywood history here too. It was a big deal of a place back in the day, but by today's standards no one would be bothered. Too many other exciting places to go to nowadays. We enjoyed it though.

This is the restaurant in the background where we ate. It was a "pub". Good sandwich and fries.

 These three pictures are coming back from Ensenada. We didn't take pictures while in Ensenada. I would not choose to go back to any port like this. After walking about 1/2 block among the street shops, I wanted to leave. The shop and street people hound you and get in your face to buy their stuff. The poor little kids and mom's pretty much beg you to buy. It was so sad. I did want to at least say we had been in Mexico. Now I can say I have been. Never want to go again. I told Judy on any future cruises I only want to go to completely civilized and modern places. I can't handle poor and sad places like this again. I can't take it. I did buy all the grand kids a little something and something for our kids from Catalina and Ensenada, That was the goal. 

 Our last night we ate at one of the speciality restaurants. We ordered the sampler desserts. It was a photo moment.

 We met up with Shan and Judy after dinner. Played some Scrabble (we did poorly) until the show started. It was an Elton John tribute. 

Shame on us for not taking more pictures. I'm not sure why that was hard to do, The first night we went to see a comedian. He was good. The second night we were too late to see the Princess Singers/Dancers. Third night was a magician comedian - really good. This picture was to see an entertainer who sang Elton John music who thought he was "all that". You know the type. Flirting it up with the cute girls on the front row.  After this show, Fred and I went to the Princess Singers/Dancers that did a Disco Tribute. I LOVED IT and Fred enjoyed it too. It was the perfect last night on the cruise. Bling, music, costumes, dancing.
 

It was a long drive home - mostly for Fred. We stopped like four times. I guess we are getting old. 

We learned from this cruise the things we will do the next time.

Guess what? It's NOT ABOUT THE FOOD!