M/S Pride - Last Sea Day

Day 7

Our final day motoring back to Long Beach was cold and windy, so we didn't spend much time outside.

Mike and Erin and I participated in the final round of Super Trivia!, which was a bit of a sham of a game. It took place on each of the sea days. The host was a rather grumpy young man who was quite...ummmmm..... anal in his adherence to the answers printed on his card. It was supposed to be a fun game, but there was nearly mutiny among the ranks.

For example, what did the authorities add to the calendar on December 31, 1998, to correct for the earth's rotation? What's that? Did you answer one second? WRONG! The answer is a leap second. Next team, please!

Who raised Romulus and Remus? A wolf, you say? WRONG! The answer is a she-wolf.

Good for Team Alaskans, the host graciously accepted "United States" for one answer when his card read, "United States of America." If he hadn't, I guarantee there would have been mayhem.

We came in fourth, thanks in good part to having to roll a die for points whenever a right answer is given. Not really fair, when a team could get one question right and gain 6 points, and another team could answer 5 questions right and get 5 points. Oh, well.

We also attended the art auction, which is really an art sale disguised as an auction. It was kind of fun, but we didn't buy anything. Mike was tempted by another piece by Yaacov Agam, but he resisted.

The rest of the day was spent goofing off and watching the Olympics. It was nice that we got to see a bit of the Olympics through the week when we wouldn't have otherwise.

The Pride's theme is "Icons of Beauty," so there is a lot of classic artwork around. Consequently, there are a lot of boobies and pee-pees. Reviews of the cruise invariably mention the boobies and pee-pees. Oops--I'm doing it, too! I guess the art causes quite the stir for some families.

Here are some images from around the ship (click for [ahem] bigger pictures).

An interior door.

An elevator door.

At the Mermaid Grill. These were all over the ceiling.

Close-up of of Ms. Maid

A wall in the stateroom hallway.

This gal was right next to our stateroom door (you can see Mike entering the room). Mike was fooling around with this lady one night when the door slammed on his finger. Ouch! His fingernail is all purple now.

A repro of Michelangelo's David.

Now wait a gosh-darn minute! What about the dire warnings about the stage show?? Sheesh!

Here is one of our cute towel animals.

Remind you of anything?

It was really a wonderful vacation! I recommend the Pride to anyone!

M/S Pride - Cabo San Lucas

Day 6

After flying, monkeys, (not Flying Monkeys), and horsin' around, we needed to have an R 'n' R day, and Cabo San Lucas fit the bill.

We slept in late, and then at mid-day, Kevin, Mikey and I took the tender to Cabo. Once there, we walked a ways to the Mango Deck, a bar right on the beach.

Here it is from the ship.


Mike had gotten the 4-1-1 about this place from a friend who took the same cruise a few weeks earlier. It was a rockin' bar.

We had the most delicious chips 'n' salsa and guacamole, and some really good ceviche made with white sea bass. YUM! A few beers, a little tequila: all good!

Izzy tried a jello shot.

After our time at the Mango Deck, we took a water taxi back to the marina, and we put Kevin to work haggling for a few trinkets. Kevin is a great haggler! He got us some good deals. Before long, it was time to go back to the ship.

Heading back to the ship: a successful journey

Friday night was also the second formal night, so we dressed up a bit and had a nice dinner. Erin, it appears, was sick of having pictures taken.



After that performance, I gave one of my own.

"No Photos!"

I'm not sure what those extra white blank squares are; they don't show up on my edit page, so I can't get rid of 'em!

We caught the stage show, a 60s-70s-80s pop music revue, that night. Both in the activities newsletter and on the overhead announcement, they mentioned that there would be skimpy outfits and "lots of skin" and it was not a family show. Pa-shaw! We waited and waited for the skin, but there was nothing more than we could see up on deck. Why is skin so darn scary? I tell ya, some of the singing was pretty darn scary during that show!

We also saw the "R" rated comedian at midnight. He was pretty funny!

At midnight in the dining room, they set up Festivale, the grand gala buffet. There were plenty of unusual, unidentifiable foods, and some wonderful carved ice and carved produce decorations. Here are a few.

Another great cruise day.....and one day left!

M/S Pride - Mazatlan

Day 5




Thursday morning bright and early, Erin and I disembarked to meet Randi from Randi's Happy Horses. I found them on the internet (great cruise forum!), and I'm glad I did!

We got to ride "open-air taxis" (aka pickup trucks with benches in the bed) to a little port. Here, the fishermen bring in their catch. The pelicans hung out in droves.

Erin snapped this great shot!

We took a little motor boat to the island and met with the horses. There were a lot of horses and other farm life.

This mama hen and her babies loved picking throught the fresh manure. The little black one had a hurt foot and couldn't keep up with the others. Sad.

We were paired up with horses based loosely on our previous experience (ie, "Have you ridden before?") Then we headed to the beach!














Once we were at at the beach, we could let the horses run as fast as we wanted. ....and they loved to run! Erin's horse and another lady's had leadership issues, and my horse liked to follow, so we got plenty of great galloping rides! It had been many, many years since I'd ridden a galloping horse. It was great! You would never have that in a trail ride in the US. It was really a thrill.

The scenery was beautiful, too!

Once we stopped, we were asked to stay on our horses until one of the cowboys could get our steed and tie him up. If they didn't get tied up quick, they headed home by themselves, like this guy.


We walked over to Victor's restaurant on the beach and had some yummy food and a couple beers. It was nice to relax on Mexico time and chat with the other riders.

We also got our first taste of the Mexican vendors with their cheap wares. I haggled (badly) for a ring for Erin. I did better later when I got Erin a purse.

One sad thing was that I lost an earring that Mikey had bought me on our first cruise. I was galloping away, and I felt it come out and fly away. That made me sad.


Back on board, we swam in the pool, sat on the deck and relaxed. It was a great day!

That night, Mikey and I really cut the rug! We danced and danced to 70s and 80s tunes in the Beauties club. It was a great night!

M/S Pride: Puerto Vallarta

Day 4


We docked in Puerto Vallarta (sister city of Santa Barbara) early on Wednesday morning. We high-tailed it off the boat as soon as we could, because we needed to go flying! I had booked a trip to the rainforest to try zip-lining. Wow, it was fun!

We were set up with equipment and instructions by some hottie Latin hunks, and then we headed up above the trees to fly down.

Pale, the hunk who put me in my harness!

It really was a thrill to go flying over the rainforest. We zipped down about 10 lines, progressively getting longer, until we flew over the river, criss-crossing several times. Unfortunately, it wasn't possible to take pictures while zipping. But here is a taste of what we experienced.

Quite the Fashion Statement!

Here comes Erin!

Here comes Mike!


Here comes Izzy!


And here comes Kevin!

I bought the DVD that they made of our group and had hoped to post the parts of us, specifically Erin flying backwards with the video gal. It is just too complicated to do, so you'll have to come visit, and I'll show you our few thrilling seconds.

After the tour, we had time to have a snack at the restaurant, and they had some monkeys in cages that they let people in to visit. That was kinda fun. Erin is in the market for a squirrel monkey now.

The man had warned us to empty our pockets, as little monkey hands can find all sorts of things. He didn't warn me about my sunglasses, though! The monkey grabbed them from my head and took them up to a corner to make love to them. He caressed them and nibbled them. So funny! I did get them back....but now I can't return them, cuz they have monkey spit all over them!

Lovin' those glasses!

Ecstacy!


Trying to get the shades back out of my pocket.

After the monkey fun, it was time to take the rickety bus back to the ship. We didn't do a whole lot during the evening, except Mikey played a few hands of Blackjack. And lost.

Bye-bye, Puerto Vallarta!