Cruisin

We did it!! We went on a cruise!! We drove down to Los Angeles and got on board the "Monarch of the Sea" cruise ship. We were like little kids at Disneyland for the first time. We couldn't stop smiling and taking pictures. We went from L.A. to San Diego, to Catalina, to Ensenada, and back to L.A. The weather was beautiful and the crew and staff were just great. We ate and slept and worked out, and slept, and went to amazing shows each night. We had one formal night for dinner. We dressed up and had a great time. Each table had a head waiter, a main waiter, and an assistant waiter. Needless to say we were well taken care of. To us the ship seemed huge. They announced that there were over 3,500 people on board. We stayed on the ship for the first two stops, then got off at Ensenada. We shopped and went to a program that featured a mariachi band. Shopping there is quite an experience, (bargaining for the best price) but we had fun and bought a couple of things. I really miss the relaxing atmosphere and being so well taken care of. There were 2 swimming pools, jaccuzzi's, workout room, theater where the programs were put on each night, piano bar, outside running track (.3 miles around) open buffet all day and most of the night, restaurants, shopping mall with glass elevators, basketball court, ping pong, shuffle board, and on and on... I think we most enjoyed the nightly programs. They had singers and dancers two of the nights, and the band and cruise director (who was an amazing musician) another night. The talent was awesome!! The other thing we really liked was the food. We had to workout twice a day to burn off a portion of the food we ate. (it sure was good) We couldn't believe that the 5 day cruise ended so quickly. We plan to do it again someday.