Viva La Mexico...

The Story of Our Engagement...

Spring 2009, Dustin and I decided we wanted to go on vacation together. We went down to the Woodland Travel Agent and got a bunch of info on cruises: Mexican, Caribbean, Alaska. We didn't know where we wanted to go. We choose the Mexican Rivera cruise with Carnival on the Splendor. The saving started, the passport paper work started, the conspiring on how to get alcohol onto the boat started.

We where set to depart on November 8th (coincidentally my Mothers birthday). We drove in my 2 door Honda Civic all the way to the port of Long Beach the day of departure.

Of course we got there super early, I HATE being late (Early is "On Time", On time is "Late" and Late is "You should have never shown up" - College mentality).

We got settled...

Set up the Mini Bar...

Yes...That water jug is FULL of Vodka (walked it right on to the Ship).

We celebrated being on Vaca with a couple drinks and then it was dinner time to meet our dinner mates. We sat with 3 other couples all from the LA area. Dinner came and went, GREAT food, as much as you want. We took a walk around the boat and decided to go back to our room and go to sleep. As I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth and washing my face Dustin was busy fussing around with his luggage. I walked out and Dustin was standing there with his hand behind his back and telling me to sit down. I looked like a mess: hair up, make up off, pj's on, contacts out (I hadn't put my glasses on yet, so I was blind). He kneels in front of me and asked me to marry him. The moment he takes out the ring I started crying (what a baby huh?). I have been holding onto a ring I found when my family was cleaning out my Great Grandmother apartment after she pasted away. It was stoneless and Dustin took it to a jeweler and got stones put in it just for me.

The rest of the trip was amazing. We had so much fun. We saw comedy shows, saw musical shows, gave our money to the Ship (gambled), laid by the salt water pool in the adult area and ate A LOT of yummy food. We went on a Tequila Factory tour in Puerto Vallarta, Rhino 4x4 tour in Cabo San Lucas and just walked around the Golden Zone in Mazatlan...

Tequila Factory Tour

Rhino 4x4 Tour

The Golden Zone Beach

Here is us on one of the Cruise Elegant nights...

I would definitely go on a cruise again...

Funny Side story about our Cruise...

We didn't leave the port until about 6 hours after we were set to depart due to the fact the while the ship was being loaded, a loader hit one of the loading doors with a fork lift cause the door to not close properly. Which they spent all those 6 hours trying to fix and make water tight before the Captain would allow the ship to leave the dock. Then we were on day 2 of being out to sea and had to turn around and go back toward San Diego because we needed to get a passenger back to the USA for medical treatment. We made it far enough for a lift flight to come and land on the ship and take the passenger away...

Fast Forward a year exactly to the date...

This happens...

'Extremely trying' situation for passengers on fire-damaged Carnival Splendor

News Story about our Ship

We made it to all our first destination on time but the cruise was not as slow as it should have been.

I suggest if you want to go on the Mexican Rivera Cruise to avoid the Splendor, especially on or around the first week in November...haha.