Los Angeles and our Mexican Riviera Cruise 2007

Los Angeles &
Mexican Riviera Cruise
on Norwegian Cruise Line
Freestyle Cruising
February 16-26, 2007

Turret House (our B&B in Long Beach) http://www.turrethouse.com/index.html	Stuart acting crazy over those dumplings at the Dumpling Master restaurant in a suburb East of Los Angeles

at Grauman's Chinese Theater	Korean BBQ
another shot of our lunch Sunday at the Korean BBQ (we are definitely going to look for one around here or in NYC)	crazy LA traffic
Mullholland Drive
Rodeo Drive	Venice Beach (A.K.A. Muscle Beach)
Venice Beach (A.K.A. Muscle Beach)	our cabin aboard the Norwegian Star
view of our balcony	relaxing on our balcony
up on deck	view from chair in the spa pool/hot tub area
getting a pedicure from Rochelle on our first day at Sea	the finished product
Our cabin steward wasn't so great at actually cleaning...but she could make a mean towel animal! We think this one is a floppy-eared dog.	Maybe a lamb?
A monkey hanging from the curtains.	Kim dolled up in her wrap dress for 70s night in the disco. This was the best we could come up with on short notice.
Ginza restaurant on board the ship. It was definitely our favorite. We lost track of how many times we ate there.	Kim on beach in Acapulco
Acapulco shoreline
Boat as seen from shore in Acapulco
Kim in town in Acapulco	Eating FABULOUS rotisserie type chicken in Acapulco
looking across harbor at Ixtapa	view of Zihuatanejo from the boat
another view of Zihuatanejo from the boat (we did not bring our camera to the beach this day)	looking up the hillside in Puerto Vallarta
a church in Puerto Vallarta	strolling on the Malécon in Puerto Vallarta
eating OUTRAGEOUSLY GOOD Mexican food in Puerto Vallarta...the guacamole was outstanding!	view from the ship at the Puerto Vallarta Marina
view from the ship at the Puerto Vallarta Marina (notice Wal-Mart & Sam's Club in the background)	another view from our balcony in Puerto Vallarta
Chinese acrobats performing in the Grand Atrium	Chinese acrobats performing in the Grand Atrium
Cabo San Lucas	Cabo San Lucas
on the tender boat going into the marina in Cabo San Lucas	eating Mexican in Cabo San Lucas
mmmm...guacamole in Cabo San Lucas	Cabo San Lucas
Our on our balcony as we leave Cabo San Lucas	Cabo San Lucas
Cabo San Lucas	Cabo San Lucas
enjoying the spa on the last day	another view of the spa and its pool
Chocoholic Buffet (it takes the kitchen staff 2 days to prepare for this buffet)	little black dress in honor of the chocolate buffet
	chocolate fish
another chocolate sculpture	chocolate rooster

Friday, February 16, 2007
The day dragged on, but work was finally done and we headed to the airport for our 6:40pm flight. It being the Friday of the start of school vacation, we got to the airport with lots of extra time in order to navigate the crowds. Well, of course we breezed through everything and were at the gate bored with two hours to spare. We ended up sitting down at the TGI Fridays restaurant in the airport for dinner. So it worked out well. Their little Chinese dumplings weren't half bad and only slightly freezer burnt. Arrived in Los Angeles on schedule at an exhausting 12:30am, rented the car and navigated to our B&B in Long Beach (about a 20 minute ride southeast from the airport) and crashed into bed a little after 2:00am...which was 5:00am to our east-coast bodies of course.

Saturday, February 17, 2007
Well, the clock read 7:00am and our bodies said more sleep please...but our brains just didn't listen because back at home it was already 10:00am and that was late. It will take another day or so to get used to the time change. Kim took advantage of the early hour and ran for a few miles down on the bike path by the water. Long Beach is beautiful, safe and clean...a lovely suburb of Los Angeles.

Our B&B was called the Turret House (http://www.turrethouse.com/) and is owned by a nice couple, one of whom used to live in both Bellingham, MA (5 minutes from our house) and Boston. They came here three years ago and never wanted to move back! It is the cutest little house just a few minutes away from the lively Pine Avenue and the waterfront. Brian and Jeff were wonderful hosts.

The weather is absolutely gorgeous and we lucked out because normal temps this time of year are in the mid-sixties. For some reason they are getting some unseasonably warm weather this weekend and it will be in the 80s today and the 70s tomorrow. Break out the shorts & sundress!!!!!!

We got on the road around 10:30am and headed for Hollywood. Our first stop was Fred62 Diner, a happening spot we had seen on TV (http://www.fred62.com/). Stuart got the Hunka Hunka Burnin' Love Pancake, a peanut butter, chocolate chip and banana pancake served with caramel sauce. Kim ordered the Love Letters French Toast with and apple-raisin sauce.

Breakfast was tasty, but the most exciting thing about breakfast was actually getting there. Everyone knows how much we both love any type of Asian food, well, Los Angeles has not only a Chinatown, but a Koreatown AND a Thaitown. It was very difficult to have to drive through Koreatown on our way to Fred62 and not stop for a snack.

After brunch at Fred62, we drove down Hollywood Boulevard, soaking up the sights. We parked and got out at Grauman's Chinese Theater and looked at all the hand and foot prints of the famous Hollywood actors. From there we tried to hit all the famous spots that you hear about and see in the movies. We drove on Sunset and Wilshire Boulevards, gawked all the way through Beverly Hills, drove down Rodeo Drive and saw the famed Beverly-Wilshire Hotel. We even parked and did a little shopping/looking on Rodeo Drive. One of our favorite things that we did was drive through Bel-Air up to the famed Mulholland Drive. The views of the valley and the mountains in the back were just staggeringly beautiful. We would definitely recommend a ramble down Mulholland Drive to other Los Angeles tourists.

So onto the traffic. You all probably know how much Kim loves to drive. She has driven in Germany, Prague, all over the US including NYC, Boston and DC (all notorious for traffic and bad drivers), Canada, many Caribbean islands, etc. Well, we just want to say that Los Angeles wins the prize for driving. It is NOT for the faint at heart!!!! Kim's famous lead-foot got her as far as the low-speed lane in LA. If you are driving 70, you NEED to stay in the low speed lane because you will be passed as if you are standing still. Speed limits appear to be a suggestion, not the law and cars drive at high speeds in all lanes. We would just like to remind you that we were visiting on a SATURDAY. Can't imagine what it would be like on a weekday. We probably spent at least 90 minutes of our time today sitting in traffic...on the highways, the smaller roads...there is traffic everywhere!

Our last tourist stop on Saturday was at Venice/Muscle Beach and boardwalk. Because of the mini-heat wave, things were really hopping here. The people watching was awesome. We didn't stay all that long. Just walked on the beach for a few minutes (the water was quite cold) and then on the boardwalk for a few blocks. We saw a few muscle-men (or as we like to call them...muscle-heads).

For dinner Stuart had done a little research in advance and we headed away from the city to try the Dumpling Master restaurant. A little hole-in-the-wall place in a Chinese market shopping plaza. We had steamed lamb dumplings, fried pork and shrimp dumplings, and an order of hot and sour soup. It was all VERY good and we enjoyed it in honor of Chinese New Year which starts tomorrow.

After dinner we headed back to Long Beach and strolled down Pine Avenue for a bit before heading to bed.

Sunday, February 18, 2007
Happy New Year! It's the year of the PIG.
This morning Kim couldn't resist another run down on the waterfront before starting the day. Weather was very nice again as promised. We're thinking that's why people move here and never leave. At 11am we checked out of Turret House and said goodbye to our hosts Brian and Jeff, a very nice couple who did a marvelous job restoring the old home. The funny thing is that Brian grew up in Boston and even spent some time living in Bellingham, MA, which is the first town over the line into Massachusetts from Woonsocket. Small world.

Rather than fight the crowds at check-in over at the boat, we made the decision to go have lunch in Koreatown back north in Los Angeles and arrive at the boat later after the crowds had dispersed some. What a FANTASTIC decision this turned out to be. Out of all the Korean places to eat, we just happened to stop at this one with little gas hibachis right in the middle of the table. For $14.99 each, the waitress brings you this huge platter of assorted meats (we declined the tongue) and you grill them yourselves on the little grill and eat them with this smattering of little side dishes that she also brings to the table. The waitress really didn't speak more than a couple words of English, so Kim asked a couple of nice Korean men at the next table to explain a couple of the side dishes. It was such a fun experience and just serendipity that we found that particular place. If it weren't for the horrendous traffic (this was Sunday morning and we even spent about five minutes in a traffic jam on the way to Koreatown), we would go back to LA in a heartbeat just to dine around town even more.

Around 1:30 we headed back to the Long Beach area to return the rental car and take a taxi over to the pier in San Pedro. The only little hiccup there was that we forgot to put gas in the rental car and were just about done with the return process when we realized it. Darn! Back into the car to search out a gas station, fill up, and then do the return thing all over again. Grrrr. If we hadn't fixed our mistake, it would have cost us over $70 because they charge you $7 PER GALLON if you don't return it full. Mind you, the rental car only cost us $43 in the first place because we got this awesome deal on-line. We forgot to mention that the best part of the rental car was that they didn't have the little piece of junk that we rented so they upgraded us to this fast, sporty Mazda.

Finally at the boat around 2:15, we realized what a GREAT decision it had been to go to Koreatown rather than arrive at the boat early. There had been a problem clearing customs that morning and the boat wasn't ready when it should have been so there was this massive crush of people wanting to get on, etc. and when we pulled up, the crowd had just gotten down to a manageable size and we were on the boat and in our cabin in under 45 minutes. Record time! This may seem long to someone who has not cruised before, but picture about 2,300 people all boarding the ship in a two-hour window. It isn't always pretty.

The rest of the afternoon was spent unpacking (our luggage arrived at our door in less than an hour which was super!) and at the mandatory emergency evacuation drill, and then we set out to tour the boat and make dinner reservations at the steak house. We checked out the Internet Café, and Fitness Center (which by the way is a truly amazing facility with tons of brand-new, top of the line equipment!!!!!!) and the Spa. We decided to splurge on the pool membership for couples at the spa for the week. It includes a lap pool, a whirlpool and a bubbly pool thing. The best part though is that there are no children allowed and it has comfy, cushioned lounge chairs overlooking the beautiful ocean view. Up on deck isn't always the quietest and most relaxing place (made worse by the fact that this ship has a pool with cool slides which means screaming little ones...not so bad if you are with your own kids, but if you are on a romantic getaway, it's not what you want to hear all day). Kim also made a pedicure appointment for Monday, our first day at sea. The rest of their services were too outlandishly expensive so we passed.

At 5:30, Stuart worked out in the Fitness Center while Kim attended a complimentary Yogalates class and then we took advantage of that Spa splurge and donned our suits for a relaxing dip in the bubble pool. Ahhhhhhhhh.

For dinner, we went to Cagney's, the steak house, where they don't really have a clue what the words medium-rare mean. After Stuart was brought a nice, WELL-DONE steak TWO TIMES, Kim took a moment to tell the waiter to inform the chef that medium-rare means fairly red in the middle. This time the manager got involved and Stuart got what he ordered. If we were in the main dining room, he would have just sucked it up and ate what arrived. BUT, this is freestyle dining and we were eating at one of the restaurants that adds a $20 per person surcharge for eating there. No way was a steak like that acceptable when were were paying a hefty fee to eat there. Anyway, they more than made up for the fooling around with awesome desserts. A happy-ending to the day.

We were zonked and crashed into bed around 10:15 and went right to sleep!

Monday, February 19. 2007
Kim was up at 6:30am...the time change still has us adjusting. Tonight there is a 70's Dance Party at 10:30 though so we will stay up later for that. After a early morning trip to the Internet Café, we both headed up to exercise. By the way, the Internet Café is actually just a small portion of the grand atrium in the center of the ship. The grand atrium is about 7 stories high and the wireless internet works from any seat all over the atrium so it's a neat system if you have your own computer with wireless. The wireless network also works up on deck by the pool and in the library and reading rooms.

After hitting the fitness center, we indulged in a relaxing whirlpool in the Spa and then Kim got ready for her 11am pedicure. Lunch was at the Ginza, a Japanese restaurant. It was FABULOUS! We started with tempura, but our favorite was the Chow Fun. Kim had a neat dessert...banana spring rolls served with vanilla ice cream and some strawberry sauce. It was all very good. Mmmmmmm. After lunch we visited the library and relaxed.

After listening to a talented young woman play the guitar and sing while Stuart had a pre-dinner drink, we went to Soho, featuring Pacific Rim cuisine. Kim had a delicious shrimp dish and Stuart had lamb chops. Dessert was a cheese course and we also each ordered the tempura chocolate cake...strange, but very tasty!

Some observations today:
· We saw quite a few guys walking around the ship with yellow, plastic football helmets filled with an assortment of beer...very white trash.
· Weather is still a little chilly as we haven't traveled far enough south yet. Should start to warm up tomorrow.
· For someone who doesn't like to socialize all that much, Stuart keeps meeting people in the steam room at the spa who just love to chat. It's pretty funny.
· Why would anyone attend an art auction on-board a cruise ship???

Did we mention going to the comedy show and then tripping the lights fantastic at 70's night tonight? Crawled into bed LATE!!!!

Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Today came a lot early because we had to turn our clocks ahead one hour last night. At least we'll get to make it up on the cruise back. We relaxed ALL DAY...after working out in the fitness center of course. We ate lunch at Ginza again because it was just so good yesterday. Today we tried some of the entrées that we hadn't tried yesterday. After lunch we spent most of the afternoon lolly-gagging about the spa pool area, hot tubbing and lounging in chairs overlooking the ocean while reading (the spa is indoors, not out of doors). We saw dolphins playing in the big waves that the ship was making. Kim liked that a lot! Around 7pm, we headed over to Gatsby's lounge where we enjoyed more singing and guitar playing from the same young woman as last night. Very smooth listening. For dinner we did something we said we wouldn't...ate at one of the restaurants without a cover charge. It was called Endless Summer and is not a meal we would repeat. Mexican food...but not authentic and not all that great. Oh well. We had to eat late because they didn't have any early reservations so having such full stomachs late at night put us to sleep early and so there was no dancing for us.

Forgot to mention that the band playing in the Grand Atrium is hideous! We were subjected to them while dining at Endless Summer and eating sub-par Mexican. It certainly was good for a laugh though. Rather than Name that Tune in a few notes, we were playing Name that Tune in half the song. They were so awful it was taking us that long to recognize what they were playing.

Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Kim hit the fitness center first thing this morning and then ate breakfast on the ship (first time eating that meal on board as we have been sleeping later and then going to the fitness center). Breakfast wasn't so hot...not missing anything! Maybe it would be better in the main dining room. Will have to try that tomorrow.

Approaching Acapulco late this morning was a beautiful sight up on deck. The cliffs and hillsides filled with homes were a real eyeful and we also could see the hotels lining the sandy beach just outside of town. The fort overlooked it all and it was just a wonderful approach to the city. That's where the honeymoon ended. We got off the boat around 2pm and were immediately hounded by Mexican taxi drivers, tour operators and generally people selling just about anything. It was awful!!!! Not surprising mind you, just not what we wanted to experience. (Brook and Anne, if you are reading this...it was worse than when we were in Africa with you! Banjo man just might have learned his technique here. As a matter of fact, we think we met his cousin...Blanket man.)

So finally we managed to escape the gauntlet (about a half-mile later) and headed down some side streets to get a feel for the city. It was dirty, falling apart and filled with lots of shops selling junk to tourists, but an equal number of shops selling wares to the locals. We somehow managed to find a BBQ chicken restaurant on the side of the road where they weren't serving their meals with anything like tomatoes and lettuce. Being in Mexico (and have experienced Montezuma's Revenge in the past), we were a tad leery of eating the local fares. The chicken was awesome. Kim's portion was $2 and Stuart's was $4. With drinks the entire bill came to about $9. This was one of many similar places in what we are now calling Chicken Row. Anyway, the place was packed with locals watching soccer on TV (Barcelona vs. Liverpool). Despite the remoteness of those two teams, everyone was following the game with rapt attention and exploding into cheers whenever Liverpool, their apparent favorite, did something good. After the game, Mr. Bean came on. However this was not translated into Spanish so we had the bizarre experience of sitting in the restaurant with Mexicans watching something we could understand and they couldn't. Why untranslated Mr. Bean episodes are appearing on Mexican national televsion, we have no clue.

After lunch we strolled the market areas (mostly junk, but there were some very nice hand-painted ceramic platters) and then headed over to the beach area. We walked the beach for a bit and then headed back to the ship. Acapulco was fun to see, but not some place that we would choose to come and visit on a separate vacation. This is why we occasionally enjoy a cruise...to see new places that we may or may not want to return to in the future. Acapulco is officially out of the running.

We are embarrassed to admit that we went to Ginza again for dinner. Just can't get enough. The food is superb! Afterwards we strolled the deck taking advantage of the warm air and then went to the Versailles room for dessert. Stuart had chocolate ice cream and Kim had a light hazelnut and chocolate cake. We shared a cheese plate as well.

Thursday, February 22, 2007
We really loved the beach here in Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo. An early fog burned off to some lovely sun and we snorkeled (not so great) and ate Mexican food by the water. Wished that this port would have been all day, but alas it was a 7am-2pm stop.

In the afternoon we relaxed in the spa jacuzzi and in the chairs overlooking the water as we cruised away from today's stop. The dolphins were playing again.

For dinner we were able to snag reservations at Teppanyaki, the Japanese steak house...different from last night's Japanese dinner at Ginza. From there we took in the nightly show. This one was called Band on the Run and featured music from the 60s and 70s. It was fun and we had wanted to see John in action. John was the lead singer and Stuart had met and talked with him in the men's sauna at the Spa.

After the show we went to Aqua and had a cheese plate, chocolate ice cream and chocolate decadence cake (probably the best piece of cake we have ever had on a cruise ship...desserts are not normally their strong point, but this was superb)! What a way to end a great day.

Friday, February 23, 2007
We docked in Puerto Vallarta at 9am this morning and stayed here all day. The pier area is very developed...a Wal-Mart Supercenter and Sam's Club is across a very busy road and we can see the stores from the boat. The actual city and Malécon (boardwalk along the water) is about three miles away and not a good walk because of the road. The taxi drivers/tour operators love it!

We took one of the death defying taxi rides over to the Malecon and walked along the waterfront for a while. The water and waves were very pretty. For lunch we finally found someplace that both looked local and edible. Stuart was all ready to stop at the local street lunch carts, but Kim wasn't that adventuresome. We had more outstanding guacamole, home made chips, and a huge platter with samplings of all their main entrées. It was all amazingly good and we felt as though we were going to have to be rolled back to the ship. We walked some more and then took a cab back to the ship and the boat headed back out to sea at 5pm.

For dinner we had reservations at Le Bistro, the French restaurant on board. After our not so great experience at Cagney's, we had concerns about this place, but it was all for naught. The food was superb (steaks tasted very, very good and were done to perfection) and the service was impeccable. Kim had créme brulée and Stuart had chocolate mousse for dessert.

After dinner we saw a preview of the Chinese Acrobat show that will be in the theater on Saturday night, then we went to see tonight's entertainment, a magic show. Steve Farquar was EXCELLENT. He is about 35 years old and is the past winner of 2 international magic championships...one for slight of hand tricks and the other for big illusion tricks, It was really fun. He is doing a demonstration/talk tomorrow (our last sea day) in the afternoon and we are going to go to that.

Around 10:30pm we headed up to the Spinnaker Lounge and danced to some 50's music for about 15 minutes until the hi-jinx started and then we headed to bed.

Saturday, February 24, 2007
This morning at 9am we dropped anchor in Cabo San Lucas, our last stop in Mexico. We dawdled about the top deck of the ship for a little while in the morning gawking at the scenery and the rock outcroppings that Cabo is famous for and then took the tender over to shore around 11am. We peeked in some shops and then had another (our last) Mexican lunch in town and walked a little more before heading back onto the boat. We decided to forgo a boat tour out to the rocks and Lovers' Beach because the water temperature is a bit cool here. Our view from the boat was spectacular anyway and we could see a lot of people out there, but almost no one actually in the water. Cabo might be some place that we would come back to again. It is getting a bit developed, but not overly so just yet and the beaches are very pretty.

Tonight we decided that we would go to Ginza again for dinner. We just can't help ourselves...the roast duck and chow fun are both just so tasty! But besides our usual fare, Kim tried the squid. It was so amazingly good that we might have to share another order of it tomorrow for lunch. It was fried in a very light batter, and had a fabulous garlic and ginger sauce.

At the ship's theather tonight they put on their new show Cirque Pacific...a cute takeoff on Cirque du Soleil. They did a nice job although I'm not sure how they managed their balancing acts.

At 11pm we went to the Chocohalic Buffet, although we were quite good and only had a very small sampling. The place was packed!!!

Sunday, February 25, 2007
Today we had a rude awakening...actually two. First, the Salon called the wrong room by mistake and woke us up at 8am to tell us about someone else's appointment. Grrrr. The much more grim awakening happened around 9am when the captain came on the loud speaker to inform us that due to a broken engine, our arrival into Los Angeles tomorrow would be delayed by approximately two hours. There went our flight home! The boat set up free Internet and telephone service on deck 12 in the conference rooms, but the lines were a mile long and thanks to snow delays in the middle of the country, the wait times for the airline reservation assistants were staggering. We exercised and then got in line, only to find out an hour later that staying with American Air and changing to a new flight would not only get us home two days later, but would cost at least $2,000. Seemed awfully silly to us that they would even suggest such a thing without cracking up, but they were totally serious. I told them...why would I pay an extra $2,000 to get home two days later when I could just rebook a brand new flight with you or someone else for a much lower cost??? So to make a long story short, we used the Internet to book a new flight home with Southwest and we are only $700 poorer. It seems odd to be using the word "only" and $700 in the same sentence, but this was our only option. Wouldn't you know that the Academy awards are in LA Sunday night and everyone is trying to get home on Monday.

Besides having to book new tickets home, we missed the magician's special show in the theater which was disappointing.

So after that horrendous start to our day, things could only get better. We ate at Ginza for lunch and then spent the rest of the afternoon in the Spa jacuzzis and chairs. Our final dinner was at SoHo (we figured they probably wouldn't let us come into Ginza again...is there a quota? ha ha ha). Kim had a very tasty veal chop and Stuart had tenderloin. For dessert we both had the tempura chocolate cake again and split a cheese plate. The cheese plate was excellent. It's fun things like the cheese plate that you enjoy on a cruise that you wouldn't normally order back at home.

Monday, February 26, 2007
Just when you thought something else couldn't go wrong??? Well, in the middle of the night, another engine broke down on the boat and although I was sleeping, according to Stuart we came to a stop. I think that the engine was being taxed because it was trying to make up for the other one being broken. So rather than arriving into LA and disembarking at 9:30 as planned, we did not get docked into LA until after 10:30am.

Now our new flight on Southwest (thankfully, refundable tickets) was at 1:10pm...and there should have been more than enough time IF we had docked on time. But by this time, half the ship was frantic to get off and make their flights as well. We got stuck in a gridlock of insane cruisers (remember...the boat holds about 2,300 passengers) trying to fight for a place in a LONG line to go through customs and get to the airport. It was not pretty. People just can't mellow out and go with the flow. Like somehow pushing, shoving and swearing is going to make the line go faster.

To make an already long story short, we got off the plane at 11:45am with a 20 mile ride to the airport ahead of us. Keep in mind...LA traffic...and LAX airport...both famous...and not in a good way. Our saving grace was that by this time rush hour was over. We couldn't believe our good fortune when we actually arrived at the airport with exactly one hour before our flight. The lines were horrendous though and the clock was ticking and we had to pay $25 for an overweight bag (we didn't have any time at all to fiddle and shuffle things around between pieces of luggage). We made our flight by the skin of our teeth were only in our seats a few minutes before they closed the door. It was pretty touch and go there.

What a way to end a relaxing vacation. NOT!

So of course only two of our three bags made it because of the time crunch and Kim had to schlep back to the airport on Tuesday afternoon to collect the last piece.

And that is the end of the vacation saga. I think we might need another vacation!