Day 12 – Cruise Ends
December 2, 2006
Our wonderful Mexico cruise on board the Celebrity Mercury has come to a conclusion. On Friday morning, at about 7:00 am, we docked back in San Diego.
Being that we were driving home and didnt have a flight to catch, we had a late disembarkation time. We were able to enjoy a bit of breakfast and take one last stroll around the ship before finally getting off at about 10:30 am. As usual, getting your luggage and getting away from the terminal was a bit of chaos. Since we had parked our car at a lot, we had to wait for the van to come pick us up. There was about 6 groups that had done this and we were the fifth group, so we had to wait for the second van. By the time we had gotten to the car and loaded up, it was about noon when we hit the road for Arizona.
We stopped and got a nice Mexican lunch in Alpine, CA before the trip across the mountains. Traffic was pretty light and the weather was good with unlimited visibility. In a strange quirk, the weather was about 20 degrees cooler than when we had come to San Diego two weeks earlier.
After a brief Wendys stop for dinner in Marana, AZ near Tucson, we finally arrived back home in Sonoita about 9:00 pm. It seemed like a long drive, but with two food stops, and a 1 hour time change, I guess it wasnt too bad. The time would have been shorter if I had driven instead of Suzanne, but hey, those of us relaxing in the passenger seat cant complain too much.
Sue Ellen, our dog, was ecstatic to see us. She was going crazy. We unloaded the car and decided to watch some of our cruise video. And thats the way our night and cruise trip ended.
Only six and a half months until we re-board Mercury for our Alaskan cruise. It will be interesting to see what Mercury looks like after her dry dock refurbishment in April of 2007. Other members of my family will be going on that cruise, so it should be fun. We actually have the same cabin booked for that cruise. Suzanne and Savannah wrote themselves a note and taped it to the bottom of one of the dresser drawers and are anxious to see if it is still there in June.
Hopefully, in the next few days, I will get some of the pictures from the cruise uploaded to Mr Papa’s World.
Days 10 and 11 – At Sea
December 1, 2006
The last two days of our wonderful cruise to Mexico have been spent at sea. We absolutely love the sea days on a cruise and always wish for more of them. To our surprise, the kids have recently said the same thing. I think they get a little bit run down going ashore and doing a bunch of stuff.
Wednesday was another fine day though it started clouding up later in the day. I spent several hours in the Navigator lounge just staring at the ocean, land and any other boats passing by. It was very relaxing. The kids spent a good portion of the day in the Kids club having a ball. Suzanne ended up sleeping all afternoon in the cabin. Thats her version of heaven.
It was also the last formal night of the cruise and the Captain’s farewell dinner and party afterwards. The dinner was again fabulous though a part of me cant wait to get back to the NutriSystem food back at home. I think its my bulging gut that cant wait. As usual on Celebrity, the formal dinner ended with a grand processing and presentation of the Baked Alaska Dessert. The kids had a lot of fun waving their towels as our service staff passed by carrying the desserts.
The formal night activities concluded with the final Celebrity Singers and Dancers tribute to Broadway show in the Theater. The kids have really enjoyed going to the various shows. All of the other kids in the Kids Clubs wondered what they are doing going to shows. Of course, a lot of those kids dont even know the names of their waiter in the restaurant. A lot of the kids dont even eat with their parents. I guess they just drop them off at the Kids Club in the morning and pick them up at night. Not us. Our kids ate dinner with us every night in the restaurant and we enjoyed many other great family moments. After all, its our family vacation time. The fact that they do like to spend some time in the Kids Club does also allow Suzanne and I some alone time.
By the end of the day Wednesday, we started to encounter some rougher water. The entire cruise thus far had been spent on very calm seas. Trying to sleep Wednesday night was difficult as we got tossed about pretty good. Of course, the kids never even noticed and slept right through it. The seas calmed a bit by morning though was still considered moderate.
Thursday was the last day of the cruise and as such was talent show day. Both the kids and Suzanne were performing. Mr Papa was in charge of the camera. As a good portion of the morning was spent in rehearsals, I was able to enjoy some more time in the Navigator lounge staring at the wonder of the ocean.
The kids were up first in the family talent show. Sean and Savannah danced a couple of Mexican Folklorico dances together (La Negra and the Mexican Hat Dance). Both take Folklorico dancing back at home in Arizona. They did exceptionally well and won over the crowd. Savannah also performed her song and dance solo to These Boots Were Made for Walking. Suzanne and Savannah also did another Mexican Folklorico dance together though I cant remember the name of the song/dance.
Next, Suzanne was up to sing Someone To Watch Over Me in the adult talent show. The adult talent show was held in the Celebrity Theater on the big stage and was staged like a regular show. They did a first rate job putting on the adult talent show. All of the singers and performers were quite good. Suzanne was the last to go and brought the house down.
The last dinner was a casual dinner. The kids asked if they could go to the Kids Club for dinner and then stay for the slumber party that lasted until 1:00 am. Since they had eaten with us every night of the cruise we said okay. After Suzanne and I had eaten our appetizer, Sean suddenly showed up in the restaurant. He had eaten dinner with the kids but had decided he wanted to conclude the cruise eating with mama and papa. Plus, he wanted to say farewell to all of the wait staff that had served us the last 11 days. It was a nice little moment for us. Despite having eaten already, Sean still promptly managed to eat an order of escargot, shrimp cocktail, soup and shrimp entree. He also said Savannah wanted to be picked up for dessert. We all then enjoyed dessert again together.
Our farewells to the crew were another fine moment that evening. We had developed some bonds with Cesar our waiter from Peru, Alexis our assistant waiter from Dominican Republic, Marcel our assistant maitre’d from Slovakia, Shiva our sommelier from India and Evonna our cellar master from Poland. They all gave us wonderful service and spent a lot of time at our table just talking to us. Sean actually shed a few tears when saying good bye to all. This is a large part of why we sail Celebrity more than any other cruise line.
After dinner, Savannah went back to the Kids Club while Sean, Suzanne and I went back to the room to finish packing. Suzanne did 95% of the packing and ended up going to bed at 8:30. Sean and I went and played some chess and participated in the final trivia contest of the cruise, tying for first. We picked up Savannah at 11:00 pm and we all retired for the night bringing our cruise activities to a close.
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