Our last port of call for this cruise was Cabo San Lucas, a
favorite of many of the passengers who had done this cruise previously. It is the most “commercialized” with the
primary industry being tourism; it is mostly comprised of resorts, restaurants,
bars, and tourists, lots of tourists.
This was a tender port, which means that our ship would not
berthed at a dock, but would anchor in the bay and passengers would get to
shore using the tenders (or life boats).
Since we would only be here until 2:00 and the last tender to return to
the ship would leave the dock at 1:00, there wasn’t much time to enjoy this
port. I had been here several times
previously (including an overnight on my first cruise to the Mexican Riviera),
I remained on board.
I woke up early, got ready, and headed out to the
International Café for coffee. It was a
little before 6 and for the first time, I encountered a line for coffee. I guess everyone wanted to get off as early
as possible to make the best use of the short time the ship would be here.
By a little after 7, the ship had anchored, was cleared by
the port authorities, and the tenders started taking passengers to shore. Those on ship’s excursions met up and were
escorted to the tenders; those who didn’t have a ship’s excursion booked, had
to go to the dining room to pick up a tender ticket and wait until their number
was called to proceed to the tenders.
The process takes a little while considering the tenders take about 100
passengers at a time, and there are around 3,000 passengers. Of course not everyone intended to go
ashore.
After enjoying my morning coffee, I decided to actually have
breakfast and headed to the Lido Deck buffet; by this time, it wasn’t crowded
at all, since most passengers had eaten earlier in order to get off
earlier. Afterward, I enjoyed sitting at
the aft pool deck, reading and admiring the beautiful view of the bay, the
large rocks in the distance that make up the famous arch, El Arco. It was a beautiful day, and the dark blue
water, light blue sky, and dark and light gray rocks soaring above the
waterline made it a postcard perfect view, although from where we were
anchored, I couldn’t actually see the arch.
Late morning, I headed back to the cabin. I decided to do some packing instead of
leaving it all until tomorrow. While I
was finishing up, Linda came back. She
had been to shore and had done some shopping.
Linda has been on several cruises, but usually goes with her
family. I know they normally spend time
on the beach, swimming and snorkeling and doing things together throughout the
cruise. This time is probably different
for her since we aren’t doing things together.
For me, this cruise is time to get away, and just relax, especially
since I’ve done this cruise before.
Although we’ve met up for dinner, we are pretty much going our own way
and I hope that she is enjoying the cruise despite the fact that we aren’t
doing many things together.
We had lunch together, then she headed to the Lido pool since the adult pool had no shade, and I headed
down to the promenade deck to enjoy the view in the shade. It was very warm, so I stopped to get an iced
mocha, then sat out on the promenade deck intending to read, but kept getting
distracted just watching the view. There
were colorful sail boats in the bay and there were several people
parasailing.
The time passed quickly, and the last tender approached the
ship, discharged the passengers, and the crew hoisted it up as we prepared to
pull anchor and leave Cabo San Lucas. I
watched with several others as we departed the bay. Then off in the distance I could see whale
spouts and whales breaching—a perfect send off for our last port of call.
It was formal night that evening, and we had decided to try
to get into the dining room early, so we got ready, then with a wine glass in
had (we had brought a couple of bottles on board with us), we headed to the
dining room at 4:30 to stand in line for the 5:00 opening. Another couple joined us and we stood and
talked; the time quickly passed, and the dining room doors opened and we were
quickly seated. We elected for a shared
table and the couple we had been talking to also elected for a shared table, so
we were seated together. Another couple
joined us, and we all introduced ourselves.
I had the tomato cream soup followed by veal ravioli, and of course the
lobster and shrimp dinner. It was very
warm in the dining room, while in past cruises I had found it very cool, so for
dessert, I opted for tiramisu ice cream.
Following dinner, we all sat for a while just enjoying the conversation,
but finally headed out. Linda went to
watch the MUTS movie, while I headed to the casino. I didn’t stay long, and went back to the
cabin, took a shower (it had been so warm in the dining room that I had
actually been sweating), then read in bed until Linda got back.
It had been a thoroughly enjoyable, relaxing day.
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