Carnival Spirit - Mexican Riviera

This Cruise starts our with two days at sea. In my opinion, a couple of days of relaxation after traveling to San Diego was great. It really gives you a chance to unwind.

This was our first time on Carnival and we were pleasantly surprised.  We had expected a lot more younger couples.  The food was first class in the dining room. The buffets were good, but there did not seem to be the selection that we had on some other cruise lines.

The First Formal night was a challenge. We had spent the night before our departure in Eugene, Oregon since our flight to San Diego left early in the morning.  In the morning rush I left our garment bag in the back of our Vehicle.  At the airport my wife asked about the garment bag. After voicing a few superlatives, I looked at my watch to see if there would be time to grab a taxi and retrieve the missing bag. No dice, not enough time.

So the first formal night found me borrowing items from the rest of our party, in order to look somewhat dressed for the occasion.  Fortunately, my wife had packed one dressy outfit in out loggage.

The first port of call was Acapulco, Mexico. 

The weather was warm. Most of our party had booked tours. We had shopping to do. We grabbed a taxi to the local shopping district, purchased some replacement clothing for those left behind and returned to the ship. Nice time to get the hot tub all to yourself, when everyone else is on shore.

We had stayed in Acapulco before and had taken in the Cliff Divers and other must sees. On our prior visit we had flown down in October following 9-11.  It had been a ghost town. There were some Mexican tourists, but almost no westerners. You could walk into a restaurant and be the only customers.

( to be continued tomorrow )