Let's Start 2020 with a Cruise!

Ken and I enjoyed our cruise to Mexico last  January so much, we decided to do the same cruise again this year.  We like it because we can drive to and from the port, it's inexpensive, and nice.  This year, we were on the Royal Princess- the same ship we were on for our transatlantic cruise last April.  It is a bigger ship and very nice.

We left on Friday, January 3rd and traveled to Las Vegas.  We spent the day in the Las Vegas temple.  We then drove to Primm and shopped and stayed the night there.  That put us three hours closer to the Las Angeles port where we boarded the ship on Saturday.

The food on the cruise, as always, was delicious.  We did better at controlling ourselves.  I didn't gain any weight and Ken gained a little, but has since lost it all.  It is random what food I photograph.  But following are some shots of the delicious food.

 Princess often repeats menues.  This avocado shrimp salad is usually served as an appetizer at the first lunch on the ship.  It is creamy and delicious.

And this salmon is usually served at the first lunch.  The sauce is to die for.

I love Princess's clear broth soups.  We both love their soups.  Ken loves all of the chilled soups, too.

This entree' was a bit small, but absolutely delicious.  Five small scallops in a delicious citrus sauce and one piece of crispy pork belly.  My mouth is watering.

This is a mixed seafood appetizer: clams, calamari, shrimp, and scallops in a sauce.

This is my favorite meal on the cruise.  They serve it at the  2nd formal night- the same night as lobster.  But it is better than lobster.  It is beef wellington.  Oh my, it is good.  And I also love the spinach puree' over there.  I never touch the potatoes or mixed vegetables, but how I love that beef dish.  

Now I have your mouths watering, I'll tell you what else we did.  We both read a lot.   I also spent a lot of time studying for my next gospel doctrine lesson.

Ken read this book about his ancestors.  He shared a lot of the stories with me.  What an interesting book!  Now I can't wait to read it.

I finished this book by Amor Towles.  He is a fine author.

Ken gets up early each morning of the cruise and goes on the top deck and walks and walks and walks.  He often takes beautiful pictures of the ships docking and the beautiful sunrise.

We both got colds on this cruise and didn't feel great (I'm still coughing).  We decided not to get off the ship at Cabo San Lucas.  But the next day we had a nice adventure in Matzatlan.  

We took the shuttle off the dock (you had to)

At the dock market

We took a golf cart taxi to Old Town.  I got a better picture of it later.

Old Town was full of people- locals, tourists and vendors selling their wares.  But they weren't just selling to tourists.  This is where locals came to purchase foods and other necessities.

Eggs anyone.  Piles and piles of eggs- not refrigerated.

We then walked a couple of blocks to the beautiful, landmark Catholic cathedral.

Baked goods for sale

Absolutely stunning

This is the only Catholic cathedral that has a star of David in it.  Did the artist just get mixed up, or is there some significance?

Ceiling shot

In the center area was this rameumptom-type stand.

A close-up of the altar piece.

View from the front

Outside

Across the street at the town square, this guy was dancing for tips.

A shot of the front of the cathedral.  You can see the spires all around town.

We took another golf cart taxi back to the ship.  He took us up over the hill and down along the ocean.  The ocean views were gorgeous and I loved seeing the houses and how people lived.

There is a better picture of the golf cart taxi.

Shots off the back of the ship while docked at Matzatlan.

The next day, we were in Puerta Vallarta.  We took a taxi to the Malacon- an artistic walkway along the beautiful beach.

Meet William.  He was employed at a restarant/ bar on the Malacon.  We stopped to rest on this bench near his restaurant.  I had to use the restroom, but others restaraunts required you to purchase something to use their restroom.  I asked William if I could use theirs and he said yes.  He took me back to it.  Meanwhile, he and Ken struck up a conversation.  When I got back, we all had a very good conversation about the church and eternal families.  William is married and the father of three small children. We encouraged him to stop the missionaries when he sees them and ask them to teach him.  He promised he would.  It was interesting.  He seemed drawn to us.  We would say goodbye, and then he would come back and ask us another question.  He did this several times.  We hope he does find the missionaries.

At the town square.

I don't know the significance of these banners, but I thought they were pretty.

Christmas nativity in town square.  Christmas decorations were still up everywhere.  Someone explained that Mexico celebrates Christmas a lot longer than we do.

Puerta Vallarta also has a beautiful cathedral we wanted to see.

This is a hearse.  There was a funeral going on inside.

Ken's friend, Howard, had just visited us from SLC on New Years Day.  He said he loves to crash funerals and weddings when he travels.  Well, we did just that.  We crashed this funeral.

It was an interesting cultural experience

Getting back on the ship

Dressed up for our last formal night

It was a fun cruise and now we just have to recover from the colds!