News from the Cruise

Okay, so we're back! I finally have had a chance to get through the stacks of mail and hundreds of e-mails and am ready to report how much stinkin' fun we had!! Our cruise was absolutely the best! It is definitely one of the best trips I've ever been on and I highly recommend the whole cruise thing to everyone!! So here goes:
We left on Sunday and drove with the Hoens and the Tongs to Stateline-Primm, NV which is NOT too happening on a Sunday night. It was a good thing we had some good company. The next morning we drove to the Port of Los Angeles and after waiting a few hours, finally got to board the Monarch of the Seas, where we'd spend the next few days.

After getting settled in we had to try and rearrange our seating for dining. When we had booked the cruise we had done it all together so that we could all sit together at dinner. But, as the crowd got bigger and bigger (the grand total in our group was 12 couples!), it got more complicated and they had totally messed up our seating. We were able to change our dinner time to 8:00 and get three tables that were near each other. This actually worked out great because us, the Tongs, and the Hoens lucked out on getting the best table in the place-a nice, comfy booth. Our waiters, Wayan (from Malaysia) and Ritzke (from Macedonia) were really cool. This was pretty much the only problem (besides the poor Watson's stinky room!) we encountered on the cruise and it ended up working in our favor. Booking together did have its benefits though because we were all pretty much able to get down the same hall-at least 8 couples-Dan & Sara Hoen, us, Bobby & Chelsea Sutton, Jeff & Amber Watson, Spencer & Adrianne Tong, Colby & Casey Jensen, Isaac & Becky Childs, and Court & Casey Griffin. We attempted some pics to kind of show how our rooms were in the hall. The Hales (Jason & Dianne) jumped in our room for the pics since they didn't get rooms in the hall, but no, we didn't have all four of us in the room!

Our hall pics:

So, Monday around 5 we pulled away from the port heading out to the open sea. This was really weird and we totally had to get used to walking around as the boat moved. I totally felt like I was going to fall over the whole first day. We didn't ever get sea sick though, which we're definitely thankful for. The ship mostly did all the traveling at night so it was kind of nice to be rocked to sleep each night. After dinner on Monday, we went down to karaoke and some brave souls from our group took a turn belting it out. We also got in some dancing.
On Tuesday, we arrived in San Diego. We hopped on the train and headed up to Mission Beach. Only a few of us brave souls took a plunge into the actual ocean since it was so cold. Of course, I couldn't pass that up! Most of the guys, and even Casey, decided instead to go to the Wavehouse and try out the simulated wave. Diehard Surfer Spencer "surfed" for two hours while everyone else only surfed or boogie boarded for an hour. It was really fun to watch. Had I not been pregnant, I totally would've loved to try it!
Tuesday night was the formal night on the ship. I am just not a formal kind of girl but I broke down and dressed up. The food every night was pretty fancy but that night it seemed more so. I tried escargot and duck for the first time. The escargot was delicious but I wasn't a fan of the duck. We tried to get our group into a giant picture and did end up getting the majority in our fancy clothes. After dinner, we went to a comedy show done by Sean O'Shea and I only have one thing to say: "Do you like good music?" I'm not so sure I do.
Wednesday we arrived at Catalina Island. You actually have to board a ferry to take you into the island because there's not a dock big enough for the cruise ship. Catalina was such a beautiful island! It looked like an island that would be in the Mediterranean. There aren't many cars there and the main mode of transportation is by using golf carts. We ended up taking the trolley instead and took an extremely out of the way route to get to Lover's Cove so we could go snorkeling. Ben and I have never been snorkeling before and it was by far the highlight of my trip. I am assuming that it wasn't the best snorkeling our experienced friends had ever done since the water was a little murky and there was seaweed and kelp everywhere but it was way cool for Ben and me!
Wednesday night there was another comedian, Tim Jones, who was totally better and then of course, the guys had to watch the Jazz game. When we were trying to find the guys, Sara and I ran up a bunch of stairs which ended up being an awful idea for me. I had contractions and a horrible backache the rest of the night and had to take it pretty easy. We went to a game show later on called Quest and played as a group. It all started out fine with everyone having to find things like purses and belts. When the game started including bras and men's pants our group obviously stood out as the LDS group because we were pretty much silent and not moving anywhere. All in all, we had a fun time, but it was definitely not something our crowd was used to.
Thursday was our final full day. We docked in Ensenada, Mexico that day. Having only been to Tijuana, I was pretty much expecting the same thing and I wasn't surprised. It was Ben's first time to Mexico. It's not a real beautiful place but it was fun to get to go haggle at all the stands selling stuff. We got some pretty great stuff for pretty good deals and of course, we picked up some cool stuff for the kids. Some of our group went out deep sea fishing but we figured that wouldn't be such a great idea with my already queasy, preggo stomach. After we got back on the boat, I headed off for a nap while Ben went to watch the Rock Climbing Wall contest. Our friends pretty much swept the entire contest with the exception of Girl's second place. I felt bad I missed it. Ben got to get in on the rock climbing thing for his first time. Way to go babe!
Thursday right before dinner Ben & I were lucky to get to see a big pod of dolphins out right near our ship. I was getting kind of bummed because the only ocean life we had seen was seals so we were totally stoked. It was awesome! That night we enjoyed our final dinner and time together. We watched some more awful karaoke-no one from our group got a turn, of course. We also had some more fun dancing!
Friday we got up at 5 so that we could be some of the first off the boat. This was, of course, spurred on by the Jazz game that was happening that night. After waiting at customs forever, we drove all day, and got home around 7. Although I was sad it was all over, I was so happy to see the kids again! They were over at my sister-in-law, Cindy's, house because my dad actually had to go to the hospital on Friday to get some kidney stones blasted. Had we known he had them when we left, leaving our kids would have been much more stressful. My dad was a good sport about watching our kids in his dire pain and I was thankful Cindy stepped in the last day. The kids didn't seem overly excited to see us when we walked in. They were actually eating popcorn and I think were more excited about it than us! They were excited about the presents we bought them though!
So now we're back, unpacked, settled, and back to the normal routine of life, although I still feel like I'm rockin' a bit. I hope this ends soon! The cruise was such a blast! It was really such a great deal too because it's such a fun experience and the food was awesome-you can pretty much eat 24/7 if you want. Since none of us drink alcohol (try explaining that to a million foreign waiters who have never heard of the LDS church and our unheard of, yet admittedly, smart, abstinence from addicting substances) the cruise line probably lost money on having our giant group come onboard. We definitely stood out, which was great! We really had the best time of our lives and can't wait to do it again! We're already coming up with some plans.....